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I'm in a somewhat odd situation for recommendations. I had two professors originally, but one of the professors emailed me recently saying he wouldn't be able to write me a recommendation. A lot of the schools that require more than one recommendation allow one of them to not be from a law professor (like, UVA allows one of the recommendations to be one from the original law school application, UPenn only "prefers" that the two recommendations be from professors, etc.). I can try to go to another professor, but it might be too late, and arranging it through email (or juggling to meet them in person) can be difficult during the summer. In the meantime, the professor I have is my rhetoric professor instead of one from a doctrinal class; is less weight given to them?

Given that 1L grades seem to be the most important factor, would it hurt my application if only one of my recommendations was from one of my professors, or should I try to get another professor last-minute?

(I realize that my question doesn't apply to schools that do require two law professor recommendations; I'm just wondering whether this hurts my application given that most people applying will probably have two professors anyways.)

bump.

What doesn't hurt is trying to get a rec from a law professor asap.

Though I don't know for sure, I'd guess that recs from law school profs look better, simply because they know how you do as a law student. That doesn't mean your original recs are "bad," however. I'd think a good rec is still a good rec. Of course, this is just my line of reasoning, no real understanding of how the admissions process works behind it. I'd say you should try to get a rec from a law professor, maybe e-mail admissions to let them know what's going on, and if you can't get a rec so soon, use one from your original application.

Gordon Comstock wrote:one of the professors emailed me recently saying he wouldn't be able to write me a recommendation.

What a dick.

I'd definitely try to get another law prof to write one. Worst they're going to say is no, and it's quite possible you'll never see them ever again. Time to throw up some hail marys.