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Recs, Resumes, and Essays

Recommendations

Choosing your recommenders

Academic recommendations are the most highly valued, work recommendations are second, and recommendations in community or extracurricular activities are least highly valued. As a general rule, recommendations from alumni or political figures who happen to know you are worthless. Always waive your right to see the recommendation letters. Admissions officers place more weight on a recommendation if the writer's privacy was guaranteed.

In choosing your recommenders, sit down with a copy of your transcript; it may help jog your memory. Try to show that your work is valued in different areas, by getting recommendations from instructors in three different subject areas: one in your major, the other two in subjects as diverse as possible. (If you had a double major, try to get a recommendation for each major.) English, history and philosophy are the admissions officers' favorite subject areas, since they tend to require substantial amounts of reading, writing, and analyzing. These are the best subjects for recommendations. Look for instructors for whom you wrote papers, especially instructors who wrote notes on papers you saved, which you can show to refresh the instructor's memory.

What a good recommendation says

Law schools are very clear about what they want from a recommendation.

1. It should explain in what context and for how long the writer has known you: "I taught Ms. Zeigler in three different classes over a four year period; one of these was a writing seminar in which she produced a paper which was later published." Or, "I have been Mr. Davidson's supervisor for eighteen months. I review his work on a daily basis, and periodically receive feedback from other departments for whom he does projects."      
                     
2. It should give the reader a benchmark for evaluating you compared to others with whom the recommender has worked: "John is the best student I've had this year." "In my twenty years as supervisor, I've had only a dozen employees who showed such insight." "Last year I recommended James Abbott and Rachel Schulman to your school; I would say that Kim Everett is of a higher caliber than they."                                                          
3. It should give details of the work you did for the recommender, with appropriate comments: "John's paper on the effects of poverty on preschool development was thoroughly researched, citing every major source on the subject. His ability to integrate and critically challenge the major theories in this area showed both an understanding of the concepts and the insight and courage to support his own view."                                                       
4. It should give a general evaluation of your skill at writing, organizing, analyzing and integrating information, and understanding abstract concepts. It may also mention other skills helpful to a lawyer, such as the ability to understand and communicate with others, diligence, perseverance, and determination. If the writer has a legal background, (s)he may offer an opinion of your potential for success as a lawyer.                       
5. It may, but need not, assess your character and personality on a more personal level: "George is one of the kindest, gentlest people in the nation. His presence in the class has been a point of light in a sea of darkness."

What if I'm not in school now?

Anyone who has been working full-time for two or more years should try to get an employment reference. If you graduated college in the last two years, most schools will still want to see an academic reference. If you graduated college more than a year or two ago, an academic recommendation may be difficult to obtain. If you had a favorite professor, try to contact that person. If you had previously obtained a recommendation from a professor for a different reason, see if you, the professor, or the career planning office has a copy on file. The instructor may be willing to update or at least reissue the earlier recommendation.

If you have been out of school five or more years, your work record may well be more important than an academic recommendation. This is especially true if your work has been on a management or professional level. However, these recommendations can present special difficulties. In addition to the problem of getting the recommender to commit your good qualities to paper, you may not be ready to tell your employer that you're planning to leave the job. In that case, look around the workplace for someone whom you trust to be both discreet and objective. A coworker on the same or higher level, or (office politics being what they are) a supervisor from another department may be willing to recommend you. You can include a note explaining the absence of a recommendation from your direct supervisor, or you can ask the chosen recommender to discuss the difficulty.

How Do I get the Recs to the Law Schools?

You send them to Law Services as part of the LSDAS service.  See the section on the LSDAS in "How and When to Apply."  To skip directly to that section, click here.  Follow the online instructions carefully. I've prepared a "cheat sheet" explaining the system and how to use it, but Law Services is the final arbiter, not me.  If my instructions don't seem to work, use theirs.