Top Law Schools

Would a PhD in Economics be a boost for a 'top 14' law school admissions?
Although I enjoy academic research, I have realized that I would want to apply the economic concepts I have acquired into many legal issues. Particularly, I would want to use them to solve problems facing my home country (not US).
I'm currently scoring 155 on the LSAT (not much studying) and have a below avg GPA from a top private school in addition to having an unusual background: Came to the US at age 21 from a Latin American country (not considered URM) and worked throughout my education.
I feel like a law degree would be a great complement to my current education and future goals.
Thanks beforehand for your time and advice!!

qkitolindo wrote:Would a PhD in Economics be a boost for a 'top 14' law school admissions?
Although I enjoy academic research, I have realized that I would want to apply the economic concepts I have acquired into many legal issues. Particularly, I would want to use them to solve problems facing my home country (not US).
I'm currently scoring 155 on the LSAT (not much studying) and have a below avg GPA from a top private school in addition to having an unusual background: Came to the US at age 21 from a Latin American country (not considered URM) and worked throughout my education.
I feel like a law degree would be a great complement to my current education and future goals.
Thanks beforehand for your time and advice!!

Not enough of a boost to overcome a 155 LSAT to get into a T14. Not even close. Especially with a poor GPA.

Considering the (probably) lofty goals, I suggest just pursuing the Economics PhD and the academic position that comes with it (though I think there are some non-academic options to Economics PhDs not available to, say, humanities PhDs).

bjsesq wrote:Not enough of a boost to overcome a 155 LSAT to get into a T14. Not even close. Especially with a poor GPA.

Exactly. A PhD is a nice soft, but at the most it might work out to the equivalent of a 1-point boost on the LSAT. If that. It's not going to get you into a law school that you couldn't get into based on your LSAT/GPA.

If you want to use economic concepts to solve problems in your home country, get the PhD in econ and then go work in your home country. It can be a more "applied" PhD than a humanities PhD, and the JD isn't going to add much of anything.