Big Law Expectations (Ep. 398)
Thinking LSAT
Nathan Fox and Ben Olson
4.8 • 868 Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2023
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
You are online 24-7. The client is always right. “I don’t know” is never an acceptable answer. These are a few of the “non-negotiable expectations” of an attorney working in big law. Nathan and Ben react to a leaked training slide that recently went viral for showing how big-law associates are expected to devote their lives to their jobs. Later, the guys consider reasons for liking a particular law school when all law schools are basically the same. They distinguish between effective and ineffective approaches to reviewing Reading Comprehension. And they explain what they mean when they say, “Don’t pay for law school.”
4:22 - Big Law Expectations - Listener Michael shares a leaked list of “non-negotiable expectations” for associates at a big law firm. Ben and Nathan recommend that anyone with big-law aspirations take note of this glimpse into their future.
22:31 - Conditional Scholarships - Nathan and Ben suggest resources for investigating different schools’ conditional scholarships. You can avoid inferior scholarship offers altogether by applying early and broadly with your best LSAT score.
27:57 - Why Like a Law School? - Ben and Nathan think law schools are all pretty much the same. So what are some reasons for liking a particular law school? The guys discuss three factors: cost, location, and big-law placement.
35:52 - Reviewing RC - An anonymous LSAT Demon student feels that their improvement in Reading Comprehension has stalled. Nathan and Ben urge Anonymous to actively review their mistakes rather than passively watch video explanations.
48:47 - Reapplying - An anonymous listener asks whether they should revise their personal statement when reapplying. Ben and Nathan redirect Anonymous to focus on what really matters: their LSAT.
54:02 - Pay for Law School? - Listener Justin contemplates a conditional full ride to Hofstra versus an unconditional 95% scholarship to Albany. Nathan and Ben doubt that a conditional scholarship is worth the risk. The guys explain the nuance in their mantra “don’t pay for law school.”
58:41 - Online J.D. Programs - Listener Noora is exploring fully online J.D. programs like the one offered by St. Mary’s Law. Ben and Nathan see great benefits to such programs as long as the price is right.
1:06:57 - Should I Take the September LSAT? - The guys encourage an anonymous listener to take the LSAT multiple times and not to latch onto a particular application cycle.
1:10:16 - Application Deadlines - Listener Michael shares an email from UF Levin with a funny typo.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to episode 398 of the Thinking El-Sap podcast. |
| 0:11.3 | I'm Ben Olson with me is Nathan Fox. We're the co-founder of |
| 0:15.0 | L-Sat Demon.com and the L-Sat Demon Daily podcast. You can be |
| 0:19.4 | L-Sat famous just share news and ask questions on our website that's thinking |
| 0:23.7 | else at.com this is gonna air on Monday April 17th and if you're catching this in |
| 0:31.1 | the morning I don't even know when it comes out on Monday, but I'm going to be teaching a class today at 1 PM Eastern. |
| 0:38.0 | It's a reading com class. You can sign up at Elsat.link forward slash Ben. You just need a demon free account so you don't need to pay anything. It's a free class. I hope to see you there. |
| 0:50.8 | Yeah, not too late. People can probably see a recording of that too, can't they? |
| 0:54.8 | Yeah, they certainly can. If they go to else at demon.com forward slash classes and just search for me, search for Ben or go to Monday April 17th and you will find it. |
| 1:07.6 | Yeah, just scroll up and see the most recent stuff that's available. |
| 1:10.9 | You can always do that at else at demon.com forward slash classes. Yep. |
| 1:16.0 | Deadlines to worry about oh I guess we do have to talk about it now the June 2023 registration is has a deadline of April 25th. |
| 1:26.7 | So if you're hearing this somewhere close |
| 1:29.6 | to the launch date, you've got about a week |
| 1:31.6 | to decide whether you're going to register for the |
| 1:33.3 | June L-Sat. It's really a pretty simple calculus. Are you happy with your practice test |
| 1:38.1 | scores? Then go ahead and register. Are you unhappy with your practice test scores? |
| 1:42.4 | Then don't register. If it's somewhere in between Are you unhappy with your practice test scores? |
| 1:42.6 | Then don't register. |
| 1:43.8 | If it's somewhere in between, then it's somewhere in between. |
| 1:46.3 | And we can't really give you specific advice if you're three or five or seven points away. |
| 1:51.0 | We don't really know what to tell you, but if your practice tests are good, then there's no reason not to register and go ahead and take the test. If your practice tests are bad, then you should not take the test. That would be foolish of you. I guess it's also the deadline the registration |
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