Interviewing for a legal assistant position is not very different from applying for other jobs. As with any job interview, you should be well prepared, present yourself effectively, and make sure you leave a pretty good impression on your interviewer. However, there are some key points that you have to remember if you want to increase your chances of landing a legal assistant position. Below are some helpful tips for a successful interview.

Do your homework

Before your interview, it is important that you do some research about the organization and gather information on the company's background, performances and future plans. Find out all that you can about the company through personal contacts, written materials, or the internet. It is also best to know the biographies, accomplishments and legal practices of the attorneys that you might be working with in the future.

During the interview, you should ask relevant questions to show your interviewer that you have indeed done sufficient research about the company. Also, make sure you find out what kind of law the company is specializing in. For example, if the position of legal assistant is for real estate law, you should have some knowledge about closings and real estate law.

Refresh your memory

Most people tend to forget certain terminologies over time. It's either you have been out of work for a long time, or simply don't encounter all the technical or legal terminologies in your previous or current job. It's time to go back to your old notes and books, and refresh your memory with some of the legal terminologies that the interviewer may use during the interview.

Wear appropriate business attire

You should wear the appropriate business attire. Though law firms have casual business attire, it is still advisable to look presentable during your interview. Prepare the relevant materials that you will need to take with you, like a complete portfolio containing copies of your resume, transcript of records, certifications, references, and other pertinent materials that show your accomplishments.

In addition, make sure that you have a pen and a piece of paper with you so that you can take down notes during the interview.

Be on time

Show your enthusiasm to join the company and let your interviewer know that you are very interested in what they do and what they can offer. In the legal world, time is very important. Never arrive late for your interview; you should make it a point to arrive at least 15 minutes early. This will show the interviewer that you are serious about the job you are applying for.

Stress on your best qualities and always stay calm

Try to present yourself as a person who is helpful, thoughtful and trustworthy. Bear in mind that legal assistants are required to keep confidential business information, so being prudent is very important. Remember to maintain eye contact at all times, listen attentively to the interviewer's questions and take time to organize your thoughts. Make sure you take part in an interesting conversation about the firm, your work, and yourself. Relax and stay calm throughout the interview.

Relate qualifications to the need of the company

When you are asked questions about your qualifications or experience as a legal assistant, you should direct your answers to what you know about the company, and relate your strengths and accomplishments to the needs of the company.

Give specific examples of your credentials as a legal assistant, and if possible, give a complete account of the different projects you have done in the past, your responsibilities in those projects and the importance of those projects to your position as a legal assistant in your previous working environments.

Do not pass judgment on your former employer

Never say anything awful about your current or previous employers. Always keep in mind that the legal world is very small. Who knows, the person you are spiteful of may be a friend or relative of your interviewer.

Show interest in the position you are applying for

As the interview comes to a close, you should let your interviewer know that you are very much fascinated with the position that the company is offering and inquire about the next step that you will need to take to complete your application. It is also good to ask when you can expect to hear from them about your application. At the same time, don't forget to shoot a thank you email within 24 hours after your interview.

Watch the video related to law assistance

This is a strange one. Claudia Smith of California Rural Legal Assistance threatens to press charges against Jeff Schwilk of the San Diego Minutemen for throwing away a tortoise shell. The shell is what's left of a turtle used by illegal aliens in a Santeria sacrifice in the mcgonigle Canyon shanty town on the Northern Edge of San Diego County. Claudia Smith and California Rural Legal Assistance are currently under federal investigation for wrongfully using federal tax money to fund frivolous litigation and class action lawsuits on behalf of unidentified "members of the general public." (illegal aliens)

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About Author

Amy Nutt

One of the top Toronto Colleges offers Legal Assistant classes for you to succeed in the Law area.

Individuals from all different career and college backgrounds make their way into law schools. The best method for preparing to become a lawyer is to gain a broad range of basic skills. There really is no set major for pre-law undergraduate work. From English to philosophy and science to art, people with all sorts of backgrounds are considered for entrance into law school. So since there is no set degree requirement, what are law school admission counselors looking for?

Law school admissions counselors typically look for individuals with excellent analytical and problem solving skills. For those still getting their undergraduate degrees, it would be wise to seek out a pre-law advisor to help you select your coursework. In addition to analytical skills, law schools also look for individuals with excellent communication skills (both writing and oral communication). Critical reading and researching are also important skills to master and be able to prove.

While there is no specialized path for undergraduates seeking to become lawyers, it is important to maintain a high grade point average. Most graduate programs only accept students with a 3.0 GPA or higher and law school is not exception.

The higher your GPA, the better off you'll be (but rest assured that you can still go to law school without a 4.0 or even a 3.5 GPA). In addition to your GPA, extracurricular activities are also a plus. Any activities that show leadership or problem solving skills will only be a beneficial.

Selecting the right law school

When you decide to seek admittance to law school (which can be during your senior year in college or after you've taken a break from college altogether), you will need to narrow down your options. Typically, the following factors play a large role in deciding where to attend law school; location, cost, areas of specialty, financial aid, and prestige of the institute.

You will also need to take into consideration your strengths and weaknesses. Since there are costs to apply to law school, you also need to factor in your background (i.e. your GPA, LSAT scores and letters of recommendations). Unfortunately, if you barely earned a 3.0, scored poorly on the LSAT, and lack the experiences that a law school admissions counselor would look favorably upon, then you probably don't want to only apply to top tier Ivy League schools. If you do, then you may find that you aren't accepted into any law school come the next school year.

LSAT

The LSAT is the law school admissions test. All law schools approved by the ABA require LSAT scores for admissions. This exam does not cover any legal topics. Instead, it tests you on reading comprehension, analytical reasoning and logical reasoning. Law schools want to make sure you possess excellent analytical and problem solving skills and the LSAT sets out to do just that.

Scores for the LSAT range from 120 to 180 (with 180 being the highest). The average LSAT score falls around 150. The higher you can score on the LSAT; the better off you will be (although if you have strengths in other areas, you can still get into law school with a lower LSAT score).

Admissions

While admissions requirements vary from law school program to law school program, it is common for the requirements to include the following; undergraduate GPA, LSAT scores, letters of recommendation and a personal statement.

You will need to provide official transcripts and LSAT scores to show your qualifications. Usually, you will submit these to the LSDAS (the law school data assembly service). The LSDAS streamlines admissions for most all law schools in the country. You will also need to submit your letters of recommendation and the personal statement to the LSDAS.

When selecting people to write a letter of recommendation for you consider asking those who know your abilities to solve problems and realize your potential to become a lawyer. College professors and employers are excellent choices.

The personal statement should essentially let the law school admissions counselor know why you want to be a lawyer and inform them of your qualifications. You would want to stress any qualifications that relate to becoming a lawyer. For example, work as an intern in a law firm would be important to showcase (as are countless other examples).

Tie in your experiences with your desire to go to law school. Be sure to write your essay concisely, keeping in mind grammatical rules. However, there is no reason to write in legalese. Just write naturally and personably.

Remember that law schools accept people from all sorts of backgrounds. If you have an interest in pursuing a law degree, then you should start pursuing it today.

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Help answer the question about law school

What is law school like? Is animal rights law a good field to go into?
I am a college freshman right now and I am trying to decide exactly what I would like to major in! I am very interested in law, especially animal rights and environmental law. Is law school as stressful as I have heard? I was also wondering what kind of lawyer has more of a research based job as opposed to a court room job. And if you are a lawyer, do you enjoy it? Thanks so much for any of your answers!

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Although I understand that this can be very difficult to do, you must view the popular published law school rankings, skeptically. These rankings are not only untrustworthy, but mislead students into thinking they need to attend a highly ranked school or they will be second rate lawyers do to their "substandard" law school education. This is simply not true.

What is true, in my opinion unfortunately, is that going to a highly ranked law school can have an enormous financial (note: NOT educational) impact on your early legal career. That is why I wrote Covert Tactics for Getting Into the Law School of Your Choice. As I explain in that book, however, even if you do not attend a highly ranked law school, you are not absolutely doomed to suffer professionally and financially for the rest of your life. Indeed, many times you may be well-served, both educationally and financially, by attending a lower ranked law school.

But back to law school rankings. In addition to a number of studies suggesting that the data underlying the rankings is inaccurate, due to schools trying to misrepresent the true data in order to achieve a higher ranking, it is impossible for any ranking to consider all of the relevant factors, which may vary from individual to individual.

Also problematic is the fact that most of the ranking are based, at least in part, on the subjective opinions of individuals at the various schools. Of course, such subjective opinions are likely to simply reinforce the historical opinions regarding the "top tier" law schools. Indeed, if you look at these rankings historically, you will find that they really haven't changed much over the years.

The reason that it is important that you understand the invalidity of the rankings is that you should understand that the quality of your legal education is likely to be nearly as good, and in some respects may be better, at the University of Idaho as opposed to Harvard.

Depending on who you are, you may be much better off, for a variety of reasons, attending even a very low ranked school. This may be the case even if you have the opportunity to attend a higher-ranked school.

For example, if your intent is to establish a small town practice in rural South Dakota immediately after law school, it may be unwise to attend Stanford Law School over the University of South Dakota School of Law.

Why? Let me give you three good reasons, though there are likely many more. First, you are not going to be particularly highly paid in rural South Dakota, regardless of where you attended law school. As a Stanford Law graduate you are likely to either be saddled with a high debt load or have spent a significant amount of your savings getting through school. Although few law schools are cheap, you should carefully consider whether it is worth spending and extra $100,000 to have a fancy name on your wall.

Second, as a small-town practitioner, you are going to be very reliant on relationships with other attorneys, the business community, and potential clients in general. Spending three years in Palo Alto, far away from the center of your future universe, will do very little to develop those relationships, so law school rankings are virtually meaningless.

Finally, the education isn't going to be much better at Stanford than at USD. Believe me, in writing this I have prepared myself for the inevitable barrage of criticism that will inevitably be hurled my way. I say this with confidence, however, because I know lawyers from a wide variety of law schools and find a relatively equal distribution of idiots among alumni from top 50 and bottom 50 schools. It really depends on what you are willing to put into it - not what they give you.

There are even some law schools not approved by the American Bar Association that may be worth considering in limited situations. Depending on what you want to do, and the particular laws of the jurisdiction where you intend to practice, a non-ABA accredited school may be a worthwhile choice.

At the end of the day, you need to make a wise choice that you will be happy with for the rest of your life. Don't put a school on your list just because it is a highly-ranked law school or fits a formula or because you think it will look good on your resume.

Even if we find a cure for cancer in the next decade, you are not likely to live much more than 90 years on this earth. Don't spend 3.5% of it in the wrong place.

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author's name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

My Friend H. Jefferson, Jr. is an expert on on law school admission, having applied to and been admitted by 11 of the top law schools in the United States. To learn more about the the techniques and strategies you can use to get into the law school of your choice, visit lawschoolacademics.blogspot.com,

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Help answer the question about law school

Can I work at the law school I attend and get a discounted tuition price?
I want to go to law school, but it is expensive. When attending graduate school, a student can work for their university and either have tuition paid for, or get some type of discount or financial aid. For example, working at the undergraduate university's academic affairs office or something similar and having your tuition paid for by the university. Can you do the same thing in law school?

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It seems that many people dream of one day becoming a high profile lawyer, setting lofty goals for themselves as they move forward through school. However, without knowledge of how to get into law school and what to expect while there, those dreams can never become a reality. Where does an aspiring law student start? To whom should you turn for more information?

The best place to start your path to law school is by speaking with a prelaw advisor. Your advisor can be found at your undergraduate institution and would be happy to help you determine whether or not you are a candidate, where you should apply, and what course you should follow to achieve your goal.

Law school is not for everyone. Critical thinking and writing abilities are required, as well as a feeling for the humanities (social sciences, natural sciences, art, and other things affecting human experience). An education in logical reasoning, written and oral expression, and critical analysis provide a good basis for acceptance to law school, regardless of your major. Excellent performance and rigorous course schedules are very important in providing an acceptable educational history to a law school.

Law school will equip you to analyze legal issues and stay abreast of the continuously changing laws and policies. A lawyer must be able to think on his or her feet and adjust to the evolving legal environment in which they must function. Lawyers must be able to provide useful and intelligent counsel to individuals regarding the law and its functionality. Clear speaking and writing abilities are also a must. Law school will prepare you for all of the aspects of being a lawyer, as well as teaching the arts of persuasion and negotiation, which also become a large part of a law career.

There is no specific curriculum that a law school follows; they do vary from school to school. However, most states require a lawyer to have graduated from an American Bar Association approved law school in order to earn admission into the bar. These schools provide the basic information and training necessary to take and pass the bar exam. Typically, states require a law student to attend the law school institution for at least three years full time or four years part time. Most law schools, though providing training for different sorts of legal professions, gear their curriculum toward training a lawyer, though some have special programs that gear the learning experience toward a combination of law and other topics, such as business, science, technology, or public administration.

Many law schools will start out their first year students with subjects such as civil procedure, contracts, criminal law and procedure, constitutional law, property law, legal writing, and tort. Eventually, in their goal of training a lawyer, the schools will place students in internships, which are used toward academic credits. Others emphasize using the governmental and legal resources of the community for training purposes.

There are many questions involved in preparing for law school, and this article only touches on some of the basics. Again, the best place to start you off on a successful career path in law is with a prelaw advisor, who can assist you in clearing up any matters not addressed here.

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Probably one of the funniest chapters i found on the DVD "All About Law School." Oddly, it seems to teach an important lesson as well. Check it out.

Help answer the question about law school

What law school would be better to attend?
I'm planning to apply to go to law school next year and have been looking at some potential schools. I'm looking at the some schools in the D.C. area and also Regent University. Trying to get an idea on where I should look at more seriously. If anyone can give me some advice.

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Every law school has a set of requirements, what I have referred to as the law school requirements, that are the bare minimum standards that all students - no matter how "special their situation" - must meet. For the most part, every law school shares the same objective and subjective requirements, though the quality of these requirements may vary from school to school.

The first law school requirement for essentially all law students is that they obtain an undergraduate bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university before attending law school. In connection with obtaining this degree, the graduate must submit a transcript to his or her prospective law school so that the school can evaluate the student's grade point average ("GPA").

Next, every prospective law student must take the Law School Admission Test ("LSAT"). As with the GPA, different schools may have different standards when it comes to their minimum required LSAT score, but every school requires that a score be submitted.

The above factors constitute the objective factors that every law school will use to evaluate law school candidates. Fortunately, most law schools do not make law school admission decisions based solely on objective criteria unless your GPA and LSAT scores are exceptionally high.

Many of the subjective factors are not requirements, but two generally are. These are the personal statement and recommendation letters. The law school application personal statement gives prospective law students the opportunity to demonstrate their individuality, address deficiencies or other problems in his or her application and, of course, demonstrate writing ability.

Similarly, letters of recommendation give the law school admissions committee the opportunity to gather extrinsic information regarding the law school candidate from someone besides the prospective candidate.

There are other subjective requirements that may be considered by a law school in making an admissions decision, such as diversity issues and familial relationships with the school, but such matters are not required to be considered for admission.

The above items are the law school requirements, but the greatest success goes to the law school applicants who go above and beyond the law school requirements and give the law school admissions committee something extra. The greatest rewards in life go to the outstanding, and when it comes to getting into law school its no different.

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author's name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

My long time friend and mentor H. Jefferson, Jr. is an expert on on law school admission, having applied to and been admitted by 11 of the top law schools in the United States. To learn more about the the techniques and strategies you can use to get into the law school of your choice, visit lawschoolacademics.blogspot.com

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Help answer the question about law school

Is it possible to prepare for both law school AND medical school with a degree in bioengineering?
I am a senior in high school planning on attending the University of Washington this fall.
My GPA is currently 3.9, I got a 2060 on the SAT, and I have taken several AP classes.
The branch of law I am interested in is patent law/intellectual property law. And for medicine I am interested in becoming an anesthesiologist. Is it possible to prepare for medical school while gaining the same qualifications to get into a good law school?
Thanks a lot!

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There are many reasons why people quit law school - it's a difficult and taxing time for any students, and thousands quit at the start of their first year. Let's look at the top 10 reasons why students drop out of law school.

1. Cost - The primary reason that people leave law school is because of the cost. It is very expensive to go to law school. Law school students will amass over $100,000 of student loan debts that they will be paying back for quite some time. While it's true that lawyers do make a lot of money, they don't start out that way and these debts can be a little overwhelming.

2. Job competition - Finding a job after law school is very difficult and there is a lot of competition for the best jobs. Jobs at top law firms throughout the country are highly competitive for students just out of school. This is something that even first year law school students learn quickly. Coupled with the massive debt, students are all the more deflated when they find out they will likely be making under $40,000 for the first five years after they are out of school - put this up against more than $100,000 in student loans and you find many students dropping law school for cheaper schooling careers.

3. Hours - Law school takes a lot of time - not only do you have to attend classes, you have to spend hours upon hours cramming the information into your head for the examinations and, eventually, the bar. Many law school students still want to have a social life and find that they don't have any because of the studying and homework they have to do. As a result, this cycle doesn't end out of law school - the hours in a law firm are long and arduous too.

4. The Bar Exam - The bar is a brutal exam - two to three days of testing of questions that are hard to answer because it seems a real answer doesn't exist. The preparation for the bar exam is intense - months of studying and cramming. Over 40 per cent of law students fail the bar on the first try which means doing it all over again in six months. Over 33 per cent of law students fail the bar on the second try.

5. Lack of Applicable Knowledge - Law school focuses on how to make you think like a lawyer, which doesn't really translate well to the work you will be doing. Many students figure this out in the first term of law school and find out that this isn't what they want to be doing.

6. The Need for Money - Most law school students need to have a part time job to help pay for school, and work full time during the summer. Breaks aren't spent having fun partying with friends, rather they are spent working to improve a resume and the time off from work is spent studying and reviewing material.

7. Brutal Competition - Most law school students figure out before they even get to law school that college will be a time of buckling down to get the work done. All students know that it's imperative to be near the top of the class - those are the students that land the high paying jobs. However, not all students can be at the top of the class so the competition in class is brutal, resulting in a lack of social scene; not to mention the long hours of working and studying that are also cramping their social life style.

8. Difficult Teaching Styles - Many law students can't take the heat from their professors, who are arrogant and pretentious while they are trying to drill a bunch of information into their heads.

9. Final Examinations - The final exams for any semester are almost as grueling as the bar exam itself.

10. Dealing with Others - many people will ask a law student about law, trying to get lawyer information for free on an issue they are having. Law students can do nothing to stop this endless harassment - it is something they will cope with from friends and family forever. Many can't take the constant barrage of questions and queries and thusly drop out of law school before it becomes a life long nightmare.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for reasons why law school students leave law school. If you are a law school student, you need to seriously weigh your options - school loan officers don't care if you drop out - you'll still have to pay those back. Is dropping out worth it?

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www.thetrialsoflawschool.com. The first Trailer of The Trials of Law School, the first feature documentary film about the US Law School system. Order the DVD online now at www.thetrialsoflawschool.com Featuring Rob Miller, Patrick Schiltz, Randy Barnett, Angela Davis, Taunya Banks, Elizabeth...

Help answer the question about law school

What is the best engineering and law school in the Philippines?
I want to take ECE and I can decide what school to go too. My dream is to study in De Lasalle or Ateneo but people say that Mapua is the best school here. What school shoul I pick and Love law too so i dont know what tp do is it gonna be Law or engineering.

About Author

Mark Warner is a Legal Research Analyst for RealDealDocs.com. RealDealDocs gives you insider access to millions of legal documents online drafted by the top law firms in the US that you can download, edit and print. Search For Free at http://www.RealDealDocs.com.