Resources and References

The ABA/LSAC Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools, published annually by the American Bar Association and the Law School Admission Council, includes information on law schools in the United States as well as a list of those in Canada. Of particular relevance are the profiles of LSAT scores and GPAs for persons who apply and gain admission to specific schools.  An electronic version of the Official Guide is available at LSAC's web site, www.lsac.org. There are many other sources, some available electronically, containing information on law schools, admissions, pre-law studies, and the legal profession. Among electronic resources, many pre-law advisors recommend in particular the following sources, many of which contain cross-references and links to other resources on the internet.

Electronic References

• Law School Admission Council (LSAC) . This site contains information about the LSAT, LSDAS, and other services available from LSAC.  As indicated above, it also has an electronic version of  The Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools, which allows searching for law schools based on a number of criteria including grades and LSAT scores.
• LSAC Candidate Service representatives can be e-mailed at: lsacinfo@lsac.org
• BC Online Law School Locator (created by Boston College Career Center). Among other information available at this site is "a matrix of median GPA and median LSAT scores for over 160 schools . . . [with] 'pointers' to the Homepages of law schools that have them."
• Financial Aid for Law School . This is a site with numerous links that may help with exploring ways of financing law school.
• Minority Students . This site includes links to Law School Admission Council and American Bar Association programs, to minority legal organizations, to journals and magazines, and to other sites for minority applicants and for minority law students.
• Internet Legal Resource Guide . "This site was established to serve as a comprehensive resource for the information available on the Internet concerning law and the legal profession." It includes information on law schools, law firms, and other law and research sites on the Internet.
• Law Schools and Legal Associations (Washburn University School of Law). This site includes names, addresses, phone numbers, and home page links to law schools and legal organizations throughout the world.
• Phi Alpha Delta National Homepage . This is the main website for Phi Alpha Delta.
• Virginia Tech Chapter Information also available.
• Prelaw Documents (Rice University). This site contains information on topics such as law school recommendation letters, selecting a law school, and useful undergraduate courses for those thinking about going to law school.

Print References

The following printed sources also contain information on law schools, the legal profession, and legal education. An asterisk indicates that the listed source is available at Newman Library.

Deborah Aaron, What Can You Do with a Law Degree?: A Lawyer's Guide to Career Alternatives Inside, Outside, and Around the Law, 4th edition, Niche Press, 1999.

Walt Bachman, Law vs. Life: What Lawyers Are Afraid to Say About the Legal Profession, Rhinebeck, NY: Four Directions Press, 1995. "Describes the unique stresses lawyers face, the increasing demands of the legal marketplace, the 'moral neutering' imposed by lawyers' ethical duty of advocacy, and the deep tensions between lawyers' professional and personal lives."

*Susan J. Bell, editor, Full Disclosure: Do You Really Want to Be a Lawyer? , Peterson, 1989. Includes essays by lawyers on various kinds of practices and on the advantages and frustrations of being a lawyer.

Christen Civiletto Carey, Full Disclosure: The New Lawyer's Must-Read Career Guide, 2nd edition, ALM, 2001. "An indispensable mentoring guide for young lawyers and those about to enter the practice of law..."

Cornell W. Clayton, editor, Government Lawyers: The Federal Legal Bureaucracy and Presidential Politics, Kansas, 1995. Examines several different places where lawyers work in the federal government, including the offices of the attorney general, solicitor general, special prosecutor, White House legal counsel, and counsels in regulatory agencies such as the EPA.

Lawrence Dieker, Jr., Letters From Law School: The Life of A Second-Year Law Student, Writers Club Press, 2000.

*Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, Women in Law, 2nd edition, University of Illinois Press, 1993.

"Atticus Falcon," Planet Law School: What You Need to Know (BEFORE You Go) ... but Didn't Know to Ask, Fine Print Press, 1998.

*Roy B. Flemming, Peter F. Nardulli, and James Eisenstein, The Craft of Justice: Politics and Work in Criminal Court Communities, Pennsylvania, 1992. Reports on the findings of a study of nine felony courts in three states, including interviews with more than 300 judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys.

*Sally F. Goldfarb and Edward A. Adams, editors, Inside the Law Schools: A Guide By Students For Students, fifth edition, Penguin, 1991. Contains "candid firsthand reports from students on maximizing admission chances, campus life, financial aid, academic specialties, and job placement."

*Richard D. Kahlenberg, Broken Contract: A Memoir of Harvard Law School , Faber and Faber, 1992. Details the author's experiences as a member of the Class of 1989 at Harvard Law School, exploring "how and why his ideals, and those of his classmates, began to dissolve." A more negative view than Scott Turow's One-L.

Michael J. Kelly, Lives of Lawyers: Journeys in the Organization of Practice , University of Michigan Press, 1994. Profiles five different kinds of law practice -- in three law firms (one large and one medium-sized corporate law firm, one public interest firm), a government law office, and an in-house counsel's office.

Carroll Seron, The Business of Practicing Law: The Work Lives of Solo and Small-Firm Attorneys, Temple University Press, 1996.

*Scott Turow, One L, Putnam, 1977. Traces Turow's first year at Harvard Law in the late 1970s; gives a good sense of the range of first year courses and of the difficulties and challenges of law school. An interesting contrast to Kahlenberg's account in Broken Contract.

*Frances Utley, Nonlegal Careers for Lawyers in the Private Sector , ABA, 1984.

See the University pre-law advisor/s at Virginia Tech  for a more extensive list of references.