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July 26, 2017
June 2017 LSAT takers are up — plus, new LSAT dates and Washington, D.C. forum attendance data

Some 2017/2018 early data and 2018/2019 new LSAT test dates. June 2017 LSAT takers are up by 19.8% or 4,555 takers for a total of 27,606 LSATs administered. This is the biggest increase in 8 years. Numbers are also up for attendance at the Washington, D.C. LSAC forum with a total of 853 attendants, up 23.4% from last year's forum. Additionally, the rate of attendance from registrants increased from last year -- a greater percentage that registered showed up. We also have the dates for the LSA

May 20, 2017
About That New LSAT Retake Policy…

If you haven't heard, the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) recently announced a change in their LSAT retake policy.

February 9, 2017
Spivey Consulting in USNWR on a successful Harvard Law resume

Hi Mr. Spivey, I wanted to thank your for your review of my resume in yesterday’s U.S. News & World Report article on law school resumes [http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2017-02-02/a-law-school-resume-that-made-the-cut] . Surely, my success is due in-part to your willingness to support prospective applicants via your guidance on the Top Law Schools forums. I do not believe I would have applied to Harvard without the encouragement I felt from readin

November 16, 2016
Spivey Consulting To Co-Sponsor Scholarship Program Through Writing Competition

We'll be providing free legal employment consulting and job search services to the selected law student.

June 29, 2016
Welcome to My World: Panel Discussion with Law School Admission Deans

Join us for this informative discussion featuring comments from highly experienced current and former law school admission deans who will reveal the human side of admissions, how and why some applicants "come alive" in the review process, and the inner dynamics of how law school admission decisions are made. Following panelists' remarks will be a Q&A segment during time webinar participants will be able to ask questions of the admission professionals. Panelists and bios: Mike Spivey is the fou

May 14, 2015
Karen Buttenbaum Interviewed by USNWR on the “gap year”

For the record we (and many law admissions officers we know) don’t necessarily agree with the terminology “gap” — which originated to describe the space between a year off before going to undergraduate. But semantics be damned, here [http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2015/05/14/smart-ways-to-make-the-most-of-gap-years-before-law-school] is the article. - Getting ready t

July 10, 2013
This Time Around, the Revolution Will Not Be Televised...

Thoughts on an article by Vic Fleischer.

October 30, 2012
Partnership with Pro Bono U Announcement

Spivey Consulting Group is pleased to partner with Pro Bono U.

October 2, 2012
Upcoming Events and Speaking Engagements

Upcoming speaking engagements and events!

Podcasts

October 9, 2020
Overview of LLM Admissions

This podcast is hosted by Dr. Peter Cramer, our LLM & International Admissions Consultant. Dr. Cramer has been working in legal education for over 25 years. He started his law school career at Indiana University Maurer School of Law and later went to Georgetown University Law Center where he served as the Associate Director of the Center for Global Legal English. For nine years prior to joining Spivey Consulting Group, Dr. Cramer worked as the Assistant Dean for Graduate and International Students at Washington University School of Law, where he focused primarily on admissions, course counseling, and instruction.

In this podcast, Dr. Cramer gives an overview of the elements of a successful LLM application, as well as common pitfalls to avoid. You can listen via the YouTube video below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

November 13, 2020
Law School Admissions/LSAT Q&A with Mike Spivey and PowerScore’s Dave Killoran

In this podcast, Mike Spivey and PowerScore founder Dave Killoran ask each other questions about law school admissions (Mike's wheelhouse) and the LSAT (Dave's specialty).

You can listen to this podcast through the video below, or through SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts. You can also check out PowerScore's options for LSAT prep here.

Please note that our reservation list for next cycle (2021-2022) is now open.

November 23, 2020
Introduction to Law School Admissions for Under-Represented Minority (URM) Applicants

Today's podcast is from our consultant Sir Williams, former Director of Admissions at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he led the successful implementation of UW’s first pre-law diversity pipeline summer program. In this podcast, Sir gives a broad introduction to law school admissions for under-represented minority (URM) applicants — what "counts" as URM for admissions, why it matters, and some special considerations URM applicants might want to flag.

A few links mentioned in the podcast:

You can listen below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

Please note that our reservation list for next cycle (2021-2022) is now open.

December 22, 2020
Holiday Law School Admissions AMA with Mike Spivey

In this podcast, Mike Spivey takes questions from Reddit!

You can listen to this podcast below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

Happy holidays from all of us at Spivey Consulting Group!

  • 0:00 – Introduction
  • 1:30 – Character & Fitness
  • 4:43 – Scholarship vs. debt load in choosing a law school
  • 8:08 – What to do if you make a mistake/typo in your law school application
  • 12:37 – How much will LSAT medians move this cycle
  • 14:09 – uGPA's importance this cycle
  • 16:02 – How will splitters do this cycle
  • 16:33 – Competitiveness of particular schools/bands
  • 18:02 – In-person vs. remote law school next year and effects on deferrals/WL movement this summer
  • 18:55 – How high LSAT-Flex scores will be seen in future cycles
  • 20:00 – Non-traditional applicants this cycle
  • 21:12 – Part-time programs this cycle
  • 21:45 – What is Georgetown up to?
December 8, 2020
Staying Calm in the Law School Admissions Process

In this newest episode of our podcast, Mike Spivey talks about how to stay calm in the law school admissions process.

You can listen below, or on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

  • 0:24 — outline
  • 1:42 — good news for this cycle
  • 4:43 — biological reasons for stress and how to manage it
  • 11:07 — long-term optimism
December 15, 2020
Law School “Yield Protection”: What It Is & Steps to Take to Prevent It

In this podcast, Mike Spivey discusses the phenomenon in law school admissions known as "yield protection," and explains steps you can take to prevent being waitlisted as a result of it.

You can listen to this podcast below, or via SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

As promised in the podcast, here are some resources for how to choose which law school to attend: