Two CSUN alumni, a judge and a practicing attorney, will speak to students about the pros and cons of going to law school.

The speakers include Judge Gerald Rosenberg, a 1972 CSUN graduate, attorney David Schwartz, 1992 CSUN graduate, and Tom Stern, marketing manager for the Princeton Review testing preparation service.

Dr. Martin Saiz, chair of the CSUN political science department, said panel members will discuss the importance of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and give advice on how to get into law school.

“They’re going to talk about what the everyday life is like for an attorney,” Saiz said. “They talk about legal training and what that provides, how the law touches upon almost every aspect of life, and so legal training is actually very broad.”

Students will get question and answer time with the panelists. They can also get tips on preparing for the LSAT.

Dave Woods, marketing assistant with Blueprint Test Preparation, said a student’s LSAT score is the most important factor in law school admissions. It is weighted anywhere between 50 and 70 percent in the law school acceptance formula that admission committees use.

Saiz said the pre-law information panels are offered once a semester and many political science seniors go on to law school or graduate school.

“A lot of them take the LSAT,” Saiz said. “When there are students who take the LSAT, we know about it because the law adviser gets a notice.”

Schwartz said that as an attorney he enjoys helping people.

“I do estate planning so it’s a lot of hand-holding with families,” Schwartz said. “I really enjoy that part of it.”

He said  he figured out he wanted to be a lawyer during his time at CSUN.

“I took several courses and one of my teachers, who became a mentor, was Dr. Eugene Price,” Schwartz said.  “I really enjoyed the way he organized the class, asked a lot of questions, (used) the Socratic method, and established good dialogue. It was very telling for me that (law school) was what I wanted to do.”

Schwartz said the pre-law classes CSUN offered helped him prepare for his three years of legal study.

“(They) prepared me to a good extent as to how we read cases and how we analyze them and so on,” Schwartz said. “How we start preparing to think on our toes … so (law school is) a combination of preparing as you do your bachelor’s work and it’s also a new experience.”

Schwartz added that it is difficult for everybody.

“You have to up your game,” he said.