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I am still a sophomore UG, and only recently became interested in going to law school. I had no direction so college felt pointless (in the back of my mind i always knew this was a cop-out) and I have really effed around the past 3 semesters. my LSDAS GPA is currently a 2.95, the GPA on my transcript is a 2.845.

This semester I am doing well, however and expect at least a 3.5 GPA, which pushes me right around a 3.0-3.1. This means unless I get 4.0 GPA's for the rest of my college career I will not end up with a 3.5 GPA

I am already strongly considering adding a second major and staying a fifth year to help my GPA recover, but I am also considering taking classes at community college over winters and summers in order to boost it further. My main question is: will this help my chances or will law schools see through this and think i am a schemer? it would be great to take 4 or 5 classes at CC and get an entire semester's worth of A's in my gpa, but i don;t want it to reflect poorly if they see my GPA is being heavily influenced by getting A's at CC and b-'s at my alma mater (which i am changing).

Basically I am just trying to create the best situation possible for myself going forward. Can someone please give me some advice on overcoming my bad start?

They'll see it and probably recognize what you're trying to do by taking summer CC classes, but they won't care a whole heck of a lot. They MOSTLY care about the LSDAS GPA that they have to report. You might lose a tiebreaker between someone with a similar GPA earned entirely at their regular UG in real classes, but it's not likely to make or break you. Having a higher GPA can only help.

Law schools care about the numbers they report. Since you are a sophomore, you have plenty of time to raise your GPA to a somewhat decent level. Focus on one semester at a time and shoot for that 4.0. If you fall short, maybe consider taking a couple CC classes that could be relevant to your major or GE requirements (as a disguise). If you take a ton of CC classes, I'm sure they will catch on, but in the end, all that matters are your LSAT and LSDAS GPA numbers.

CC classes aren't necessarily any easier than classes from a 4 year university. At least they shouldn't be, and were not from the cc and 4 year university I graduated from. But I don't think it will matter to your application either way, especially if the classes are relevant to the degree(s). Plus the cc classes are usually much cheaper.

I went from around a 2.0 on my first year of college to graduating with above a 3.5 LSAC gpa. Stay focused on straight A's. If you find a professor you enjoy, take as many classes as possible from that professor that are relevant to your degree. Over a 3 semester period i completed 21 hours in one professors classes, all A's. I knew what she would be looking for on assignments and tests so that worked well for me. Also, try making a spreadsheet, for motivation, of where your gpa can go if you make straight A's with maybe a couple of B's factored in.