Getting into law school? What like it’s hard? Ok, in all seriousness, it is. While many decide in college that they want to go to Law School and become a lawyer, more and more students are figuring out that this is their path earlier. We work with high school students all the time who hope to become lawyers and they always ask us “what can I do in high school to become a lawyer?” It’s kind of a hard question to answer. But we like to start by suggesting classes and clubs that will build the right set of skills to become a lawyer. Let’s break down what those classes look like.
Sociology, Political Science, Psychology, ETC.
Most colleges do not have a dedicated “pre-law” track. Instead, hopeful lawyers usually major in subjects like Poli-Sci, Sociology, ETC. Not all high schools have these types of courses, but if yours does it is a helpful introduction to what you might want to major in college.
High-Level History
History is a very popular major for pre-law students as well. On top of that History is often when high school students are first introduced to the basics of the American legal system. We recommend taking History and especially US History/History of the Americas at the highest level available: IB, AP, Honors, etc.
Latin
This isn’t a must, but if you are on the fence between Latin and French, Latin’s a valuable class to take. A lot of legal jargon comes from Latin. Latin can help you remember the difference between De Faco, De Jure, and De Novo (trust us there is a difference in the law). Not every lawyer knows Latin, but they do know a lot of Latin words.
Public speaking “courses”
Most schools don’t offer public speaking courses anymore. These used to be more common and have been fairly phased out of a lot of curriculums. If your school has one, you should take it. Lawyers need great public speaking skills. However, if your school doesn’t offer a course in public speaking, they probably have a club that will help you build these skills. Popular clubs that will let you flex your public speaking skills include Mock Trial, Model U.N., and Speech and Debate Team. Check out the available clubs at your school, there is a high chance they have one or more of these types of extracurricular activities.
Work on your Reading and Writing Skills
Lawyers have to be great readers and writers. Taking courses like AP English, Creative Writing, Literature, and actually even History again can help you build these skills. Another popular course to take to work on these skills is Journalism. At some schools, Journalism is a class and at others, it is a club, either way, it's a great choice. Whether it’s joining the school paper or taking an extra English elective, working on your reading and writing skills will help you later on.
Logic
Logic is often technically a math course, but has a lot of real-world applications and can even help you one day pass an LSAT. This is a class that most high schools don’t offer. For these types of classes, we often encourage interested students to look for opportunities to take this type of class outside of school. There are a couple of ways to take a class outside of your high school. Popular options include summer sessions at colleges, taking a course at a local community college, or taking an online course. If you are hoping to take a logic course online, has a free Intro to Logic course you can sign up for. also offers a less math-based and more critical thinking-based online logic course.
Intro to Law Courses
This is another class that most high schools don’t offer, but many summer programs do. and summer programs offer a ton of pre-law courses. Many colleges offer intro law classes as part of their pre-college summer programs so feel free to check out their course offerings if you are interested in a specific college. If your summers are already booked up or if the price tag of a summer program is prohibitive, you can also check out online courses again. We suggest UPenn’s or . Yale also offers a great intro to and Case Western has one on . There are a lot of these types of classes online so find the ones that speak most to you.
Philosophy
If your school offers a Philosophy course, it can give you a great background on morality and critical thinking. Both will serve you well as a lawyer. However, this is another class that not all high schools offer. Thankfully it's another class that is really easy to take a summer course, community college course, or online course. If you don’t know where to start, Columbia has a popular Philosophy summer program, and and have great online intro courses.
If your school doesn’t offer all the right classes, it's ok. You can always take the classes they do offer, take what high-level classes they do offer, and supplement your learning outside of class. Many academic pursuits will set you up to go to law school so follow what you are passionate about.
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