Q: How do I get started?
A: Call Law School Coaches at (310) 499-4918 and leave your name, telephone number, law school, year in school, and which services interest you. We will call you within 24 hours. Space is limited and appointments fill quickly, so call now!

Q: How does it work?
A: We come to your law school library to meet with you in a private study room one-on-one for 2 hours once a week for a total of 15 weeks. The meetings currently take place on Saturdays and Sundays only. The first appointments begin at 8:00 a.m. and the last appointment ends at 10:00 p.m. First we will assess your strengths and weaknesses to target the areas for improvement in your study habits, your extracurricular activities, and your overall law school survival strategy. Next, we will review your course materials, class notes, course outlines, and your own professors' practice exams to hone your skills in these specific key areas. Finally, we will monitor your performance with the same practice exams, so you can see for yourself your growing mastery of the course topics. We will review your notes, outlines, and practice exams every week in a similar fashion for each of your courses, all of which preparation will culminate in a proctored 3-hour practice exam for each of your substantive courses just before your final exams.

Q: What materials do you use?
A: Your course syllabi, casebooks, commercial outlines, professors' old exams, and other students' outlines, if available-namely everything you should be using to study for your exams. In addition, we use our experience and research to teach you how to use all of the above efficiently.

Q: Will I have to study more?
A: Not if you're already studying the recommended 3-4 hours outside of class for every hour of classroom instruction. This works out to 4-6 hours per night of nothing of but reading cases, not including briefing cases, outlining, taking practice exams, visiting professors' office hours, or participating in study groups. But if you are "studying" that much already, you will actually study less if you follow the F.O.C.U.S. Method. Needless to say, a lot of this "studying" will be streamlined. You will do less, but do it more efficiently.

Q: How long are the sessions?
A: Two-hours per session once a week for 15 weeks. For price, see Q: "How much does it cost?" below. Or, you can purchase one-hour sessions one at a time for $150 per hour. Cash or check must be cleared before the appointment.

Q: What will I learn in the 15-week program?
A: How to take less-yet better-class notes. How to first prepare thorough outlines, then how to whittle them down to mere checklists that will enable you to remember all of the critical data during the exams. How to anticipate what your professor will test on your exams. How to do all of this efficiently so you can sleep, exercise, and eat regularly, let alone relax and have fun once in a while.

Q: Do you guarantee better grades?
A: No. "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Also, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." All of our best advice can't get you better grades if you don't follow it. Nevertheless, you can judge for yourself whether you are benefiting from our services by your own performance on your own professors' old exams, which we review with you weekly.

Q: Who does the coaching?
A: Law School Coaches currently has only one coach, the founder of Law School Coaches herself, Ms. Shanel Yang. See About Us for additional information.

Q: How long has Ms. Yang been coaching?
A: Law School Coaches is Ms. Yang's first opportunity to coach law students professionally. However, she has mentored UCLA and other law students in the past on a volunteer basis.

Q: How do you know it works if you've never done it before?
A: "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." The weekly monitoring with your own professors' practice exams should be all the proof you need. We know it works because we have mentored other law students who have agreed it works.

Q: How does coaching differ from mentoring?
A: Coaching focuses on achieving specific results (better grades) with clear step-by-step directions from your personal coach once a week for 15 straight weeks. Mentoring consists of general advice about the law school experience from an upperclassman or a graduate who may or may not take the time to answer all of your questions in depth, and who may or may not know all the answers to your questions, but who, nevertheless, does NOT have the specific objective of teaching you how to get better grades in each of your 1L courses.

Q: How is Law School Coaches different from its competitors?
A: Law School Coaches does NOT have any competitors because no other company provides one-on-one personalized coaching to each law student. The companies that do provide one weekend or one week of lectures to classrooms filled with law students are not-and cannot be-tailored to each student's particular needs.

Q: How much does it cost?
A: $4,000. The $1,000 deposit to be paid before the first session counts toward the total. $1,500 is due after the first 5 sessions. The balance of $1,500 is due after the next 5 sessions. Finally, the remaining 5 sessions will be provided after final payment is received. See F.O.C.U.S. for why this is worth every penny!

Q: What if I quit after a few sessions?
A: If we can fill your remaining pre-scheduled sessions with other students, your money will be refunded. If not, all paid monies will not be refunded. This is to compensate for having to turn away other interested students to reserve your appointments.

Q: Can I change my mind after I pay the deposit but before the first session?
A: If we can fill your 5 pre-scheduled sessions with other students, your money will be refunded. If not, all paid monies will not be refunded. This is to compensate for having to turn away other interested students to reserve your appointments.

Q: Can I get a discount if I bring a friend?
A: If you refer friends who pay the $1000 deposit for the 15-week program, we will pay you a rebate of $500 per new student. However, if you wish to attend the weekly sessions with a friend or two, additional sessions must be purchased to make up for the additional time required for each additional student.

Q: What if I miss a few sessions?
A: We will do our best to accommodate any missed appointments if the Coach's schedule permits. However, there are no guarantees that any sessions that you miss for any reason can be "made up" due to the Coach's full-time litigation career and other students' pre-scheduled appointments. You must cancel your appointment at least 48 hours in advance to obtain credit toward a future make-up session otherwise the cost of that session is forfeited. However, if we can fill your canceled appointment with another student even after the 48 hours, then we will refund you the cost of the late-canceled session as well.

Q: Is Ms. Yang familiar with my law school? My professor? My course?
A: Ms. Yang is a 1995 graduate of the UCLA School of Law and has interviewed numerous recent graduates of other local Los Angeles law schools, such as USC and Loyola. As you might expect, the similarities among the different law school campuses for 1L law students far outweigh the differences. Hence, just as the same commercial outlines are useful at most all law schools, so are Law School Coaches to most all 1L law students, regardless of campus, professor, or course.

Q: What are Ms. Yang's qualifications to coach?
A: Ms. Yang has the natural talent of a born teacher. See About Us for her professional qualifications. However, see your own professors' practice test results after the first few sessions because nothing will convince you more!

Q: Where is your office?
A: Law School Coaches currently does not have an office address. All inquiries and comments can be sent to the email addresses provided or left as voicemail messages at the telephone number provided. See Contact.

Q: What happens in the Mock Interview?
A: Again, we will meet in your law school library private study room. You will be asked to come as you would to both an initial and a callback interview. You should bring your transcript, cover letter, resume, and writing sample. Bring anything else you think may be appropriate. Dress as you believe would be appropriate. And, act as you believe would be appropriate. We will "interview" you for 30 minutes for the initial interview. Then we will excuse you for 5 minutes and ask you to return in 5 minutes for a "callback" interview. Next, we will interview you in depth for 1 hour. Immediately afterwards, we will carefully critique your performance for 30 minutes (your appearance, your body language, your voice, your questions and answers, etc.) until you feel comfortable in your knowledge to do it correctly for your very next interview. Although the Mock Interviews are tough, the constructive criticisms are gently conveyed.

Q: How much is the Mock Interview Program?
A: $300 to be paid in cash, or check to be cleared, before the appointment.

Q: What happens in the Resume Review?
A: Again, we will meet in your law school computer library private study room. You will be asked to bring your resume and laptop computer if you have one to enable direct edits. (If the study room does not have an outlet, make sure your battery is charged for up to 2 hours.) Also bring a printout of all desired employers' names, addresses, types of organization, and descriptions of positions sought. We will review the potential employers and draft cover letters and customized resumes for each employer, as needed. Depending on the number of your desired employers and different types of positions sought, this service could take 1-2 hours.

Q: How much is the Resume Review?
A: $150 per hour to be paid in cash, or check to be cleared, before the appointment.

Q: Can you come to my law school (or my home), which is farther away?
A: Unfortunately, not at this time. The restriction on traveling is necessitated by Ms. Yang's need to remain close to her law firm in case her litigation duties require additional weekend work. However, you are more than welcome to schedule appointments at either the UCLA or Loyola law school libraries, whether you attend these law schools or not, during either Saturday or Sunday, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., remaining space permitting.

Q: Can you do it during the week?
A: Unfortunately, not at this time.

Q: Do you offer your services in any other languages besides English?
A: Unfortunately, not at this time.

Q: Do you offer services for the disabled, such as for the blind or deaf?
A: Unfortunately, not at this time.

Q: Do you offer any scholarships or financial aid?
A: Unfortunately, not at this time.

Q: Do you have services for 2L's or 3L's?
A: Other than our Mock Interview and Resume Review services, no. But, if a 2L or 3L is taking a course that is typically taught in the first year of law school, such as Civil Procedure, Contracts, Torts, Property, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, or Constitutional Law, then, yes.

Q: Do you coach for the Bar Exams?
A: No. There are many other companies that specialize in that service. We leave that work in their competent hands.

Q: What if I'm not a law student yet?
A: Give us a call as soon as you get accepted to law school in the Los Angeles area to reserve a time slot during your first semester.

Q: Do you have references or testimonials?
A: As this is our first time providing these services, we do not yet have references or testimonials. However, we expect to post some before the next semester begins!

Q: Why this business?
A: Because law school is exhausting, confusing, lonely, and perhaps the most difficult existence law students have had to endure up to that point in their lives. And no one seems to understand. Everybody cares, but no one can truly help the struggling law student. A business should fill a need. And here is a great need! Since Ms. Yang has figured out a system for improving law students' grades in their first year of law school, she has decided to create a business to fill that need.

Q: Why is there no other business like yours?
A: Because most lawyers want to practice law and never want to look back too closely on their agonizing law school experiences. Ms. Yang sees things differently. She wants to make a difference for present and future law students. Kaplan did it for college applicants and law school applicants by offering tips on taking the SAT and the LSAT. Bar/Bri and a host of other companies did it for bar applicants by offering tips on taking the Bar Exam. Now, it's time for Law School Coaches to do it for first year law students by offering tips on taking first year law exams but more than mere tips, one-on-one personalized coaching!

Q: My grades are failing, is it too late for me?
A: This is a serious decision to be made after meeting with your family, close friends, and Dean of Students. However, ultimately, it's your decision to make.

Q: How important are grades?
A: In law school, there is a forced curve grading system. This means that out of an entire class of 1L students who are used to getting mostly "A's" and a few "B's" throughout their entire formal educational career are now faced with a grading system that results in every class in their first year (except, in some schools, Legal Research and Writing) in only about 10 percent "A's," 20 percent "B's," 20 percent "C's," and the rest are failing grades. The problem is, your first semester grades get you (or bar you from) your first summer associate positions, clerkships, etc., which then lead to (or keep you from) your second summer jobs, which then lead to (or keep you from) your first full time legal position out of law school. How important are first year law school grades? Employers at the most desirable legal jobs NEVER stop asking to see a copy of your law school transcript.

Q: Can't I make up my bad first grades during the rest of law school?
A: Unfortunately, no. This is so for a couple of reasons. First, 1L courses have more units than most 2L and 3L courses. Secondly, many 2L and 3L courses are not graded on forced curves. Thus, even if you get an "A" in one of these fewer unit 2L or 3L courses, many more of your classmates may also be getting "A's," thus keeping the relative distances in GPA's. Therefore, you never get a chance to catch up to the better students' grades because their lead, gained from sprinting out of the starting gate, is continually protected by these dual mechanisms.

Q: How good do my grades have to be?
A: That depends on what you want your grades to do for you. If you want to choose amongst the most desired legal jobs, you need straight A's. However, in the current job market, if you want any paying legal job at all in any metropolitan area, you need more than a straight C average.

Q: Are you accepting applications for jobs?
A: Not at this time. However, if, after you pass the bar, you would like to become a Law School Coach, we would love to discuss your future with our company.