In 1992, Fernando Bermudez was convicted of murder. He spent 18 years in prison before his conviction was overturned in 2009 by State Supreme Court Justice John Cataldo on the grounds that he’d “demonstrated his actual innocence.” Judge Cataldo continued, “This court wishes to express its profound regret over the past 18 years. I hope for you a better future.”

As a member of the team that produces Life of the Law‘s podcast and blog, I have had the privilege of hearing Fernando’s story firsthand. On May 3, at WNYC’s The Greene Space, you’re invited to hear it, too (for free!).

LIVE LAW: Stories from the Legal Edge is produced by Life of the Law and will feature true stories told live by Fernando and others, including The Lady Aye, a sword swallower (for real); Steve Zimmer, former kid; Gretchen Greene, a lawyer-turned sculptor; and Yannick Morgan, a semi-narcoleptic attorney. Drinks will be sold to buy and to drink.

I am posting about it here not just because I’m directing the show, but because I am so excited about it and know that many of you might be interested in coming for the same reasons you’re interested in law. I hope if you do, you’ll introduced yourself (or say hello). Seats are free but going quickly; make a reservation here. I hope to see you there!

Where:
The Greene Space
44 Charlton Street (on the corner of Varick)
New York, NY 10013

When:
May 31, 2013

7pm-8:15pm (doors open at 6:30)
Free admission
Beer, wine and light refreshments for sale

Build Your Own Law School Rankings (Lawyerist)

If you just want to know which law school will do the best job preparing you to go solo or work at a small or medium-sized firm, try this new ranking tool.

Firms Want Lawyers with Emotional Intelligence –Huh? (The Careerist)

Partners often say that hiring those with emotional intelligence—that is, people with interpersonal skills—is a priority.

Harvard Law School Speeds Up Admissions for Juniors (The Wall Street Journal Law Blog)

Harvard Law School says it will start accepting applications from Harvard College juniors who want to spend two years in the workplace before enrolling under a pilot deferred admissions program.

Turn a Law School Internship Into a Job (U.S. News Education)

Legal interns who work hard can hope to land a job soon after graduating from law school. Here is some advice for how to leverage an internship to gain full-time employment.

‘U.S. News’ Top Law Schools Fall Short on Diversity (The National Law Journal)

If you want to find the most racially diverse law faculties, The National Law Journal advises to look outside U.S. News and World Report‘s top-ranked schools—way outside.

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments or tweet @ManhattanLSAT

Three of my favorites:

It’s pretty high. You go first.

Wasn’t noticed so I painted trains.

It was worth it, I think.

You may recall the LSAT haiku I birthed into the world on this very blog last year at this time. Today, I share my own six-word LSAT memoirs, all  based on my real test-day experience.

Nine Six-word LSAT Memoirs By Me

Bike, watch, map. Pencils in baggie.

Ma’am this map is not allowed.

Hide prohibited bike map in bush.

Anxious neighbor claims I stole pencils.

I did not steal anyone’s pencils.

Anxious neighbor finds pencils in pocket.

Experimental’s logic games! God does exist!

Having to pee’s in the mind.

Five sections. One essay. Two margaritas!

…

What’s yours?

Just one month until the June 2013 LSAT! When you need a break from studying, check out a handful of our favorite law school related articles from the week:

The Biggest Problem in Legal Education: The Mismatch Between How Law Schools Teach Their Students and What Lawyers Do in Practice (Legal Skills Prof Blog)

Many wonder whether the current legal education system is adequate for the future lawyers of American, or do law schools need to take a different approach to legal education?

The Best Online Law Schools: JD and LLM Programs (Above the Law)

Set on getting an online law degree? Above the Law picks a couple of the best.

The Best Law Schools in the World (Above the Law)

Can’t get enough rankings? Neither can we! Here’s the best law schools in the world.

Law School Gunners Don’t Suck; You Do (Lawyerist)

A few law school gunners have come under fire lately for sending obnoxious emails to law professors and classmates, reports Lawyerist.

How to Interview for a Job like a Pro (Paralegal Alliance)

By the time you are through an interview, the potential employer should have a clear idea of your strengths, talents, and skills, and know that you are the right person for the job.

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments or tweet @ManhattanLSAT

The June 2013 LSAT is just one short month away.

Breath. Breath. Breath.

To kick off the one month countdown and help ease the anxiety, we’re going to make the full version of our LSAT Arcade App FREE for one week. Beginning today, May 10th through Thursday, May 16th, you can download the arcade to your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad free of charge. Using thousands of questions, the eight different mini games will stretch your ability to make inferences, draw diagrams, analyze arguments, and understand conditional statements. The four unlocked games are adaptive, delivering harder or easier questions depending on your performance and scores are based on number of questions correct.

Whether you’re looking for a fun way to change up your prep routine in time for the June LSAT or you’re just beginning to study, don’t miss out on this special opportunity. Working from the computer? Don’t forget that you can also play our Free Online LSAT Arcade via our website. The app will resume full price May 17th, so use this week as a time to stop studying and start playing!

No need to rush, the LSAT is here to stay

When I was 22, I started studying for the LSAT in August and planned to take it in December. I’d just moved to New York after graduating from college, and I was working a few jobs to cover my bills: being a production assistant at a theater during the day, bar tending at night, and grading papers for a professor during my off time. On the weekends, I’d huddle in the corner of the 1.5 bedroom (1BR with wide hallway) I shared with two other people and try to learn logic games. I did my best to focus under these less than ideal circumstances, and gradually but steadily, found my practice test scores going up.

Then, in November, just a few weeks before the exam, my long-distance boyfriend broke up with me. When I called my mom crushed, our conversation turned to the test. AND HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CONCENTRATE WHEN I’M SUCH A MESS?! I wailed, to which she replied, as if it took no thought at all: don’t. Postpone it.

At the time, this sounded like the dumbest thing anyone had ever said. Postpone it? I’d been studying for (two) MONTHS! I’d sacrificed nights out for this dumb test. I’d spent my half-hour lunch breaks smushed in a dingy dressing room on 42nd street trying to put M, G, L, and F in order as fast as I could before resuming work, i.e. delivering small paper cups of water to attention-obsessed actors. The truth was, I wanted to be done with the friggin LSAT. I told her this.

“Mary Patricia” (she calls me that), she said, “You don’t get dumber as you get older. You get smarter. You won’t be any dumber in a few months.” Huh.

The test was in two weeks. I wasn’t yet ready, but more importantly, I wasn’t in a position to become ready; I was in a position to buy a magnum of Yellowtail with my roommate and watch 24 for six hours, interspersed with recitations of my ex-boyfriend’s worst qualities. So that’s what I did, and when March came around, and I was ready to get back in the game, I started studying again. I took the test in June feeling prepared and confident, and that decision is one I’m glad I made.

This is all to say: if you’re not ready–if your life circumstances aren’t making space or time, literally or emotionally, for you to do your best on this thing–there is *so nothing wrong* with waiting to take it. Apart from real reasons not to postpone–and I’ve heard very few of those over the years–the “reasons” people give are often priorities that can be demoted as easily as they were promoted to primary considerations. I’ve heard:

“But I want to start school next year.”

“But I’ve already been studying and am sick of it.”

“What am I going to do for another year if I don’t start next year?”

Of course you want to start this year. Who doesn’t want to get their profession underway as soon as they’ve chosen what it’s going to be? The problem, however, is that because the LSAT carries so much weight, in the case of law school, being in a rush to take it can have extreme consequences for your career, not just in the short term, but in the long term. This isn’t news to anyone. Second of all, the beauty of postponing is that you can take a little break from studying (and should, if you’re that sick of it) and come back to it later. Believe it or not, you won’t have forgotten what you learned; in fact, the reprieve can be beneficial. Finally, not knowing what you’re going to do for a year can be a gift. During mine, I worked in HR at a non-profit, learned about employment policy, made a friend who became one of my closest, and wrote a play that, years later, was produced in New York. I don’t regret waiting, and so if you find yourself in a situation in which you know that postponing is what’s best for you–for your life, for your score, or both–my advice is: it’s okay. The LSAT will be there in October, and then in December, and then February, and so on. And by then, you’ll be wiser anyway.

5/5/13 - Online- Zen and the Art of LSAT with Brian Birdwell- 8:30PM- 10:30PM (EDT)

5/11/13 - Austin, TX- Free Proctored LSAT Practice Exam- 9:30AM- 1:30PM

5/11/13 -La Jolla, CA- Free Proctored LSAT Practice Exam- 9:30PM- 1:30PM

Looking for more free events? Check out our Free Events Listings Page

Finals coming up? Take a break with some light(er) reading

Happy Friday everyone! Here’s our roundup of news articles and helpful law school tips from the week:

Can’t Keep Up? 10 Easy Life Hacks That Will Save You Time During Finals Season (Ms. JD)

Here are 10 simple life hacks that will save you time during finals season and give you more freedom to focus on studying during the final stretch.

5 Ways New Attorneys Can Add Value (Lawyerist)

Working in a legal setting this coming summer? Here are five great ways to add value as a new lawyer and get the most out of your job.

Top 3 High Paying Legal Careers (The Law Street Journal)

From lowest to highest, this list takes a look at some of the highest paying legal professions and outlines what they entail.

Is the Legal Job Market Really That Lousy? Conventional Wisdom Ignores the Long Term, Law Prof Says (ABA Journal)

Employment statistics on jobs held by law grads nine months after graduation don’t tell the whole story, according to an associate dean and professor at Widener Law School.

Should You Go to Law School? (Foreign Policy)

A Foreign Policy writer shares the good, the bad, and the ugly about getting a J.D.

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments or tweet @ManhattanLSAT

5 Top Tips for Networking in Large Groups (Ms. JD)

Networking is an extremely important part of your law school career. In part one of this two part series, Ms. JD shares five top tips for how to successfully network in a group.

The Most Influential Lawyers in the World: Meet the Attorneys on the Time 100 (Above The Law)

Last week, Time Magazine released its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Above The Law has the details on the top lawyers who made the list.

Take 2? Answering Your Top LSAT Retake Questions (Law School Podcaster)

Wondering if you should cancel your LSAT score or retake it? Or how law schools will view multiple test scores? Take a minute to listen to this week’s podcast featuring Manhattan LSAT’s Norah Teitelbaum.

Law School Do-Over: 7 Things I’d Do Different (Lawyerist)

Here’s a personal take on how to achieve law school success. If you’re headed to law school or working your way through now, Lawyerist reminds you that “being a law student does not make you a Jedi.”

Tips For Going Abroad: Seeking International Work as a Law Student or New Lawyer (Happy Go Legal)

Looking to take your legal education and career abroad? Taking an international opportunity could actually have a much more significant impact for you, depending on your goals post-graduation.

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments or tweet @ManhattanLSAT

Be cautious and carry an umbrella. "Even if" it's sunny.

In flaw questions, you’ll often see an answer choice that reads, [the argument ignores the possibility that] “even if [blah blah blah], X will happen.” How to understand this sentence?

The “even if” in an answer choice to a flaw question is referring to a premise. The part that comes after the “even if” is going to be a premise of the argument. Think about it–“even if” is a way of saying, “we accept that this is true.” What do we accept as true in assumption family arguments? Premises!

Since “even if’s” often appear after question stems that read, “The argument ignores the possibility” or “The argument fails to consider,” note that these phrases are referring to the part of the answer choice that the “even if” is not modifying.

So if you have the argument:

It’s sunny outside –> Samantha won’t take her umbrella today

… and one of the answer choices is, “The argument ignores the possibility that, even if it’s sunny outside, Samantha could still be carrying an umbrella.” The part that’s being ignored is: that Samantha could still be carrying an umbrella. The premise is: it’s sunny outside.

The reason this matters is because often you can get rid of an answer choice based on how it presents the premise. It may say something like, “even if it’s raining,” which wouldn’t be right, because we don’t have a premise telling us that it’s raining. So you’d get rid of that answer. Or it might say, “even if Samantha doesn’t take an umbrella,” which would also be wrong, because that part is the conclusion, not the premise.

And in general, breaking down the abstract answer choices to flaw questions into smaller, manageable parts is the way to get your head around them. Ask: What part of the argument is this clause referring to? Is it describing it correctly? If not, the answer isn’t correct–even if there’s another part of it you don’t understand.

See, for an example of my “even if” scenario, Preptest 68, Section 2, Question 24.