Maybe Atticus Finch has been your hero since you first read To Kill a Mockingbird. Or maybe you just found an undergrad law class really, really interesting.
The point is — you want to go to law school. Now what?
It’s a situation many Western grads before you have faced. And thankfully, they’ve decided to share their wisdom.

Where to Start

The process of applying to law school starts years before the application deadlines.
Keeping your grades up through university is half the battle, according to Steph Ramsay, second-year student at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.
Second-year Western law student Chris Sinal offered a different perspective. “My average was monstrous,” he says. Yet, with a stacked resumé including the University Students’ Council presidency, he presented himself as a well-rounded candidate.
“Do not construct your undergrad experience […] based on the fact that you want to get into law school,” Sinal says.
“Law schools can tell; they see it all the time. And does that really differentiate you? No. Because everyone else is doing it.”
Extracurriculars balance your application, first-year Western law student Tyler Wagg says, since well-rounded experience is important. “They don’t want to see you’ve spent the last four years in your room studying. That 85 per cent doesn’t look so amazing anymore.”
However, this doesn’t mean resumé padding. “Having 10 clubs on your personal statement isn’t going to help as much as one club that you got a lot of experience out of,” Sinal adds.

Acing the LSATs

Law school hopefuls must take the LSAT, or Law School Admission Test, to assess their logical and verbal reasoning skills.
With five 35-minute sections on subjects like logical reasoning, logical games, reading comprehension and a written component, the LSAT is a challenging and time-consuming test to prep for.
And according to Ramsay, there’s no right way to do it.
While some find LSAT courses helpful, she says, others find them confusing. “What worked best for me was to study from a guide-type book that used actual LSAT questions.”
“Buy an LSAT prep book a year ahead of time, and read it, just to see if you find it vaguely interesting,” Sinal agrees. “If you don’t, you probably won’t like law school.”
Wagg used both prep books and took an Oxford LSAT prep class, which he says forced him to understand the reasoning behind the exam.
Regardless of their method, law students agree the most important approach to studying is to practice, practice, practice.
“The test has a lot to do with timing, so writing real tests, under real time constraints, was the most helpful, in terms of getting into the rhythm of the test and feeling comfortable for the real thing,” Ramsay says.
“It’s like playing a sport,” adds second-year McGill University law student Malcolm Aboud. “You can’t have anyone tell you how to do it, but the more you do it the better it gets.”
In terms of the test itself, Sinal says the LSAT doesn’t penalize you for skipping questions — so you need to be smart enough to remember the time constraints and skip questions you’re unsure about.
It’s also good to keep in mind there’s no shame in writing it again.
“A lot of my classmates wrote [the LSATs] twice,” Ramsay says. “Some people even wrote it five times. Anyone can have a bad day or get nervous.”

The Application Process

While schools out-of-province require separate applications, the Ontario Law School Application Service will allow you to apply to all Ontario law schools.
The applications vary slightly between schools, but typically require a personal statement, references and a verifier for everything mentioned on the application.
Picking the right referees is crucial, according to Sinal.
A good referee, he says, will back up what you say in your personal statement. A great referee will discuss any problems you might have, augment your personal statement and advocate on your behalf.
So how do you determine who’s a good reference? “Just ask them flat out,” Sinal says — they won’t mislead you.
Ramsay suggests law school hopefuls should prepare a package for their referees with their grades, a resumé and samples of their written work.
As for the rest of the application, she found it helpful to ask family and friends to edit various drafts of her personal statement.
“Aside from typos and stuff like that, it was good to have someone tell you if you are being unnatural or wordy or highlighting the wrong types of experiences,” Ramsay says.
“For example, I had someone tell me that instead of talking about my writing skills, I should just show the admission’s committee by submitting a well-written statement. That was great advice.”