Much perhaps too much has been written about the skills one needs to obtain a legal job. From our point of view as administrators on either end of the law school experience, it is clear that many of the attributes sought by law school admissions committees are akin to those sought by prospective employers. We counsel students and attorneys to consider how the “soft skills” they relied on to gain entry to law school will serve them equally well as job seekers.
Discipline
Admissions committees need to discern which students have the ability to thrive in what will likely be their most demanding academic program to date. It takes discipline to prepare for and concentrate in class every day when the exam is three months away and consistently avoid distractions while studying. The disciplined student welcomes such a challenge; it is not surprising that she tends to perform well in a law school’s competitive environment.
