Hermanas in the Law with Professor Paulina Vera (Ep. 229)
In 2018, Paulina Vera created an online community to engage and support Latinas who were heading to law school, in law school, or working in the law. Since Hermanas In The Law has grown to a thriving community of over 10,000 #Lawtinas. Nathan and Ben talk to professor Vera about issues facing minority law students and answer listener-submitted questions. Nathan and Ben also cover the recent test-date announcement from LSAC, they take a look at a scholarship offer from Suffolk Law, and they hear about a pearl of wisdom that helped give an RC boost to a law school hopeful. Plus, the guys talk about whether Ben’s feeling peckish on his new caveman diet.
As always, if you like the show and you want to get more from the Thinking LSAT community, check out the links below. You can connect with other folks studying for the LSAT, and get more useful resources from Nathan and Ben.
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Important Dates
2.11.2020 – Don’t oversleep! It’s the registration deadline for the March LSAT.
2.22.2020 – Hearts-for-eyes emoji! It’s the February LSAT
3.30.2020 – The March 2020 LSAT
8:42 – 2020 Test Dates Announced
It’s time to stop gnawing away at where your fingernails used to be, dear listeners. You can ease off the edge of your seat and take a deep breath. LSAC has, at long last, announced the test dates for the 2020 LSAT. Ready?!
June 8th at 12:30
July 13th at 12:30
August 29th at 08:30
October 3rd at 08:30
November 14th at 08:30
That brings us to a total of nine tests in 2020. Remember that you can take three tests in any given cycle (June 01 thru May 30) and a total of five tests in five years. That means you can max out your LSAT quota in a single year…and for some of y’all, you should. Nathan and Ben talk strategy for packing in tests, getting your best score, and applying EARLY in the cycle—like preferably by September, 1.
17:01 – Full Ride At Suffolk Law??
Lookin’ for a sweet ass law school to link up with? Suffolk Law in Boston is avaaillllaabllleee! Ben and Nathan read through a rather alluring email from the school that touts full-scholarship availability for folks with LSAT scores above 154. Now… will you get a full ride with at 155? It’s hard to say, and the guys are skeptical. But! Based on some of their stats, Suffolk might actually be a decent regional law school to attend if you’re considering a career in law in the great state of Massachusetts.
26:27 – The Ol’ Thinking LSAT RC Boost
All this LSAT sh*t the guys talk about week after week?? They’re not bullsh*tting y’all. Seriously. In fact, M writes in to describe how the pod has given them a significant lift in RC. The pearl of wisdom that unlocked higher scores for them? Simple. M heard the guys advise actually staying engaged with the passage instead of mindlessly letting your glazed-over gaze drift over the words on the page. Instead, at the guys’ urging, M used their finger to guide their reading. M found that being physically dialed into the passage can keep you more alert and attentive while reading. They saw their RC score improve by 10 ish points. It’s a tip that might work for y’all, so give it a try!
33:07 – Interview with Paulina Vera, Esq.
Paulina Vera, Esq. supervises GW Law Immigration Clinic students and provides legal representation to asylum-seekers and respondents facing deportation in Immigration Court. She is a professorial lecturer in law, and for the 2019-2020 academic year, she’ll lead the clinic and teach Immigration Law I. She also created the thriving online community, Hermanas In The Law where she offers perspectives, advice, and resources for Latinas thinking about law school, Latinas in law school, or Latinas who are working in the law. In this interview, Nathan and Ben ask Paulina questions submitted by Thinking LSAT listeners. They discuss why Vera created Hermanas in the Law, the disproportionate debt burden on minority law students and how minority students can best equip themselves for a career in law.