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Most deans of
admissions read each recommendation with
three questions in mind: 1) How well does
the writer know the applicant and the
applicant's academic record? 2) What does
the writer have to say about the applicant's
abilities and characteristics which are
important for success in law school and the
profession? 3) In the final analysis, how
enthusiastic is the writer's support for the
candidate's admission to this particular law
school? The answers to these questions are
obviously interrelated, but for the purposes
of this memorandum, it may be helpful to
deal with them individually.
Most letters of recommendation will
partially describe how well the writer knows
the applicant. They usually contain brief
descriptions of the size and number of
courses in which the writer has worked with
the student. Often absent, however, is a
description of the kinds of formats in which
the writer has seen the student perform. For
example, did the student write a short
answer examination at the end of the course
or were there a number of papers to
complete? Did the writer see the student
respond in class on a regular basis? How
much informal contact was there with the
student outside of class? Most readers
generally assume that the larger the class
and the larger the institution, the less
familiar a reference will be with the
applicant. This assumption is frequently
incorrect but an admissions committee will
not realize it unless that is made clear.
Writers will often say, "Mary's academic
record speaks for itself." This,
unfortunately, is not true unless one is
familiar with the particular academic
program. In short, all applicants with 3.8
grade point averages are not judged as being
equal. Some students will have taken more
challenging courses than others. Some
faculty are more demanding than others. A
particular admissions committee may not be
aware of which courses are graduate level
courses or which are part of an honors
program. All applicants are asked to supply
academic references with copies of their
full transcript so that those who write may
comment, to the extent they can, on the
quality of the overall academic record.
There may be little
to distinguish between the abilities and
characteristics which law schools look for
in comparison with those characteristics
which other graduate academic programs seek.
Legal education and the legal profession,
however, do emphasize some skills over
others and the following comments may help
writers who are not familiar with these
distinctions.
Language is the
lawyer's working tool and the best law
students are those who have the ability to
write and speak with precision, fluency and
economy.
Not only must
the student be able to communicate his or
her own thoughts clearly, but he or she must
have the ability to read and listen
carefully with an eye and ear for fine
points and subtle distinctions.
Legal education
demands well developed analytical skills and
the ability to juggle multiple variables.
Legal reasoning at one time or another
involves deductive reasoning, inductive
reasoning, and reasoning by analogy. The
best students can think independently, have
the ability to cut through to the
essentials, and can distinguish the relevant
from the extraneous. Contrary to what many
believe about the law, there are few clear
and distinct legal rules. A tolerance for
this ambiguity and the ability to recognize
exceptions and qualifications which may
modify general rules are characteristics of
successful law students. In short, a
reference should consider whether an
applicant is likely to be stimulated or
frustrated by questions where there are no
"correct" answers.
The nature of legal
education--large classes, competitive
pressure, and substantial amounts of
material to be mastered--may make some
personality traits more important in law
school than in other academic programs.
Students will often learn as much from their
classmates as from the faculty. Thus,
interaction among students is an important
feature of legal education and those who
enjoy engaging in discussion in and outside
of class are more likely to flourish in this
atmosphere. The student who is
intellectually alive and curious is more
likely to sustain academic progress where
there is little reinforcement between
examinations. A student must be diligent and
well organized to handle large quantities of
material. A well developed sense of humor
and a mature attitude are particularly
helpful in adjusting to the pressures which
many students will experience in law school.
Perhaps the most difficult task in reading a
recommendation is interpreting the
significance of such statements as
"excellent," "outstanding," "highest
recommendation," and "recommended without
qualification." Such terms may indicate
meaningful distinctions among applicants
supported by the same writer, but a law
school may not be familiar with the way in
which a particular reference ranks
applicants. This uncertainty can be
compounded where an admissions committee
receives a standard letter which is
submitted to a number of different law
schools. Is the degree of support directed
to the most selective or the least selective
of the schools to which the applicant has
applied? Occasionally a committee member
will know the faculty member writing a
recommendation. In those situations it is
generally easier to evaluate the degree of
enthusiasm for a particular applicant. It is
far more often the case, however, that the
most significant contact with an institution
will be familiarity with its graduates who
have attended the law school in recent
years. Thus, a comparison of an applicant
with other graduates the Committee knows
from the same institute may provide a more
accurate assessment of the applicant's
potential for success than the objective
factors of the Law School Admission Test
score and the undergraduate grade point
average. In weighing the overall assessment
made by a reference it is also helpful to
know how confident the writer is of his or
her own judgement about a particular
applicant.
As law school
admission committees are occasionally
reminded by those who submit
recommendations, the task of ultimately
selecting the most promising students for a
law school is the school's and not theirs.
Helpful letters, however, can make this task
easier.
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