Top Law Schools

Will being a paralegal for 2 years significantly help my chances of getting into law school?

That depends what you would do instead and where you are planning to work, but generally it will help your application to have work experience

If you have $200 to pay for the CRS and $150 to pay for the LSAT, you will get into a law school.

Will being a paralegal help you get into a school worth going to? Maybe, but probably not much more than having any other professional work experience.

My impression is that being a paralegal won't really provide an advantage over other types of professional work experience when it comes to admissions. However, it seems to be a good opportunity for people to get a taste of working in a legal environment before making the commitment to go to law school.

It won't help with admissions. It may help a little with OCI. It will definitely help you a get an idea of the practice of law, especially if you work at a smaller firm where you can take on more responsibility (like highlighting depos, assembling binders for argument on a motion, etc.)

If you can land a paralegal with a biglaw firm like Cleary (who is seeking one now) It should be quite a positive. Some paralegal jobs (slim) do actually let you do some drafting and attend negotiations on meditations or meetings with clients. I am sure my NYC biglaw two years of experience with accomplishments helped me get a top 10 admit.

Some law schools have a higher percentage of students with WE than KJD. It shows a genuine interest in the field

There are a couple advantages:

1.) A good answer for "why law" that will probably be more convincing than people with other WE, and definitely more convincing than K-JDs.

2.) WE always a positive, but in this case it is relevant and should make you a more attractive candidate to employers that specialize in the area(s) of your current firm.

3.) Connections/references/money.

You could even potentially have a job lined up before your 1L even starts, but I don't know how common that is.

For what it's worth, a lot of people (maybe a fifth) I met at ASWs for top schools were paralegals.

Unless the paralegal job is with biglaw, do something you are passionate about before law school to gain w.e.

Paralegal for a few years to make sure you actually like working in the legal field. It's worth it. Way too many people go to law school having no idea what the practice of law is actually like and end up miserable afterwards. Do it do it do it.

Holly Golightly wrote:Paralegal for a few years to make sure you actually like working in the legal field. It's worth it. Way too many people go to law school having no idea what the practice of law is actually like and end up miserable afterwards. Do it do it do it.

You don't have to be a paralegal (and definitely not for a few years) to understand what the practice of law is like. But I do think it's good advice for everyone to find out what practice looks like before law school.

BlakcMajikc wrote:

Holly Golightly wrote:Paralegal for a few years to make sure you actually like working in the legal field. It's worth it. Way too many people go to law school having no idea what the practice of law is actually like and end up miserable afterwards. Do it do it do it.

You don't have to be a paralegal (and definitely not for a few years) to understand what the practice of law is like. But I do think it's good advice for everyone to find out what practice looks like before law school.

I could not be happier about the fact that I was a paralegal for several years before law school. I was able to make an informed decision because I knew exactly what I was getting myself into, and it's helped me perform better in all of my jobs/internships/clinics. Highly recommend.

If you want to work at a law firm, try to get a job at a firm. If you want to work at a nonprofit, do some work there. etc. Not a college internship where you show up somewhere every couple of days and make copies. No, you don't have to be a paralegal, but it's smart to do something that will show you what practicing is actually like before taking the jump.

Holly Golightly wrote:

BlakcMajikc wrote:

Holly Golightly wrote:Paralegal for a few years to make sure you actually like working in the legal field. It's worth it. Way too many people go to law school having no idea what the practice of law is actually like and end up miserable afterwards. Do it do it do it.

You don't have to be a paralegal (and definitely not for a few years) to understand what the practice of law is like. But I do think it's good advice for everyone to find out what practice looks like before law school.

I could not be happier about the fact that I was a paralegal for several years before law school. I was able to make an informed decision because I knew exactly what I was getting myself into, and it's helped me perform better in all of my jobs/internships/clinics. Highly recommend.

If you want to work at a law firm, try to get a job at a firm. If you want to work at a nonprofit, do some work there. etc. Not a college internship where you show up somewhere every couple of days and make copies. No, you don't have to be a paralegal, but it's smart to do something that will show you what practicing is actually like before taking the jump.

We can agree to disagree. Working as a paralegal is fine, most likely won't boost admissions (w/ a tiny exception for some biglaw esp. if you use it properly), and yes, helps you understand the practice of law. But w.e. no matter what is beneficial and would help with performance as an SA/intern/RA, and more importantly at OCI (I didn't do a clinic, so I can't comment on that). My advice to those who are trying to figure out what do before law school is get work experience doing something you're passionate about. If being a paralegal falls into that boat, then so be it.

BlakcMajikc wrote:We can agree to disagree. Working as a paralegal is fine, most likely won't boost admissions (w/ a tiny exception for some biglaw esp. if you use it properly), and yes, helps you understand the practice of law. But w.e. no matter what is beneficial and would help with performance as an SA/intern/RA, and more importantly at OCI (I didn't do a clinic, so I can't comment on that). My advice to those who are trying to figure out what do before law school is get work experience doing something you're passionate about. If being a paralegal falls into that boat, then so be it.

I'm not saying everyone should paralegal. But I think everyone should try to do some work in the legal field they think they're interested in before they blow hundreds of thousands of dollars on law school having no idea what it actually entails. Not talking admissions at all. Just talking making good life decisions.

I think it will help at certain schools - I have had deans tell me that it interests them, but whether it will help significantly with admittance is questionable. It likely will depend a lot on the kind of work you are doing as a paralegal also. That job title is pretty broad. If you get to do some significant drafting, attend hearings, depos, trials - that might be weighed more heavily.

That said, if you think you'd be interested in being a paralegal anyway and need to earn some income before attending school, it will probably help you have a better understanding of how courses relate to each other in 1L. It will also show you what practice is like and give you an idea of the areas of law that interest you more. You'll see a lot of attorneys who are a bit burnt out and can weigh their feelings into your decision making.

But, I would not defer school just to accrue that experience for admissions value if you feel confident that law is the right profession for you.

jd2017.8 wrote:I think it will help at certain schools - I have had deans tell me that it interests them, but whether it will help significantly with admittance is questionable. It likely will depend a lot on the kind of work you are doing as a paralegal also. That job title is pretty broad. If you get to do some significant drafting, attend hearings, depos, trials - that might be weighed more heavily.

That said, if you think you'd be interested in being a paralegal anyway and need to earn some income before attending school, it will probably help you have a better understanding of how courses relate to each other in 1L. It will also show you what practice is like and give you an idea of the areas of law that interest you more. You'll see a lot of attorneys who are a bit burnt out and can weigh their feelings into your decision making.

But, I would not defer school just to accrue that experience for admissions value if you feel confident that law is the right profession for you.

Disagree with you there for a million reasons. Here's one: K-JDs who lack interviewing experience usually don't outperform their transcript at oci. But w.e. can definitely give you a boost. (This is anecdotal from H, but just an fyi). Generally, imho work experience is beneficial for law school - more prepared for the grind, less stressed, have some savings, etc.

If you have the technical skills (data management, stats, some math, etc.), consider doing economic consulting. They work with law firms to assess damages, loss causation, and other technical aspects of litigation, so you get pretty good insight into what litigation really looks like, and you also build real skills (programming, analysis), in case you end up hating law. The firms to check out are NERA, Cornerstone Research, Analysis Group, Charles River Associates, etc.