Attending Law School Fairs & Forums

What is a Law School Fair / Forum?

The LSAC Atlanta Forum is a full day open house style event where students can speak to a huge variety of law school representatives in one place. They will also have panel discussions on a variety of aspects of the application process including financial aid and the LSAT. This is a good chance to get face-to-face feedback and questions answered from a huge number of law schools.

Schools will be set up with booths, and students can wait in line to speak to representatives. Generally there are not appointments or 1-on-1 sessions, but there may be exceptions.

This is a low stress, low stakes event. As long as you are polite, prepared, and professional, your chances of admission will neither go up nor down based on these events.

What you should do & expect

For Seniors / People Applying This Year or Next Year: Be Prepared. You should already have done research and know a lot about the specific schools you want to talk to. See the advice below on what you should know and how to get started.

For Underclassmen: The below advice is slightly less important for you, and it’s okay to go to the fair with a less defined idea of what you’re after. Ask some questions, meet faculty or admissions officials and just get a sense of the field.

Things TO-DO:

  1. Dress business casual. Be polite, friendly, and professional.
    1. You don’t need to wear a suit, but you’ll certainly make a better impression if you look professional. Be friendly and professional – making a bad impression can sink your chances with that school.
  2. Do some research in advance: try to find answers yourself first
    1. This really shouldn’t be the first time you’re thinking about these law schools. If you’re asking them questions that they can just send you a link to, or that you can easily find out online, you’re not really getting much bang for your buck are you? Ask them questions that you haven’t been able to get answered easily elsewhere
  3. Ask about things unique to the school, and things that you can’t learn online
    1. Every single school cares a lot about your GPA and LSAT. Every single school teaches Torts, Contracts, Criminal Law, etc. What does this school do that is different or unique? You should already know what programs exist, but see if they can expand on them.
    2. Soft questions: What’s the school culture like? What is student life like outside of the classroom? How collegial is the environment? What do they like about the city and town? What’s the cost of living like there?
    3. Harder questions: how many students are getting jobs through on-campus interviews? What is career services doing to improve the reach of the school’s employment network? How does the school do at placing grads outside of their state or nearest city?
    4. NOTE: you should use the websites Law School Transparency and Law School Numbers to see the trends in whether schools are getting applicants jobs, and whether grads are passing the bar. Don’t be rude, but use these meetings to ask hard questions about any concerns you have in those trends.

Things NOT to do:

  1. Don’t ask them how to study for the LSAT
    1. The advice on how to study for the LSAT is basically the same person-to-person. You’re unlikely to get different answers from different schools, and there’s tons of advice and resources online. You’re wasting your own time and theirs, and you might be signaling that you’re a bit unprepared.
    2. This is also true of panelists and guest speakers. LSAT prep is a question for Pre-Law advisors. When you ask this of someone at a limited time event, it is a wasted opportunity.
  2. Don’t give them a resume, business cards, or any other materials – unless they ask for it.
    1. These schools aren’t making admissions decisions on that day, and the most likely thing you’re doing them by handing them a resume is giving them one more thing to throw away. Bring them with you, but only give them out upon request so as not to annoy the representatives – every impression matters!
  3. Don’t ask whether you will get in or whether you will get a scholarship.
    1. They can’t tell you. They might be able to tell you the average stats of their incoming classes, but that’s information you can easily find yourself online.
    2. They might be able to point you in the direction of some scholarships to apply to, but that’s about it.
  4. Don’t ask how to prepare for law school.
    1. This is what pre-law advising is for. Again, the answer for one school here is going to be exactly the same as the answer for all the other schools. You only have a limited time, spend it asking questions specific to that school.

The two most important things to keep in mind:

  1. You are being sold a product.
    1. Law schools want students. They also want applicants. The more applicants a school rejects, the more prestigious and exclusive they look. It can even affect their rankings! Law school admissions officials are trying to increase applications to their school and will want to sell you on doing so. This doesn’t mean that they’ll lie to you, but it does mean that they’ve got a pitch – and nobody is going to show you the downsides of applying/attending. Follow up with your own research and verification after the fact.
  2. You won’t get in to law school based on a fair, but you might knock yourself out of the running.
    1. Conduct yourself professionally. No one at a law school fair is going to guarantee you admission, but if you make a bad impression they might bring that up during application season.