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Harvard Law School J.D. · 2026-27 J.D. applicants (entering fall 2027)
Answers
For every question: which parts of an applicant's background to use, how they connect to what the question tests, and the points to hit - not a script. See it for our sample applicant, or upload your LSAC application and get it for yours.
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Your answers, from your application: for each question, what in your background to use, the angle to take and the points to hit. The words are yours to find.
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· ·
Sample applicant: Leila. A 2022 economics graduate from the University of Arizona, applying to Harvard Law School's J.D. program after four years analyzing utility rate cases for a small ratepayer nonprofit in Tucson. She came to law through a $412 electric bill, a senior thesis on time-of-use rates and a spreadsheet error a utility's lawyers caught before she did, and she wants to work on energy and administrative law.
Leila is fictional, and so are the Sonoran Ratepayer Alliance and the Desert Lantern Café; the application was written for this sample. Every answer below uses only what's in the application, the way your own will. Read Leila's application (PDF).
Opening
What are you most proud of from your time in college? Sample applicant
Based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your LSAC application to get this from your own background.
Material
- Senior thesis 'Who Pays for the Peak?' and the Outstanding Senior Thesis Award (one of two, 2022) The clearest college achievement, and it grew from your mother's $412 bill, so it shows what you value.
- Turning the sophomore 3.08 into a 3.92 over junior and senior years while working A quieter source of pride that answers the addendum without sounding defensive.
- Treasurer, Wildcat Renters' Association: $6,200 budget and the move-in lease-review table Pride in something done for other people, which fits a ratepayer advocate.
The angle
Pick one thing and say why it matters to you, because the follow-ups will come from your choice. The thesis is the natural pick, but you already call its conclusion too simple in your essay, so be proud of the method and the question, not the verdict. That invites a follow-up you're ready for. Your interviewer did state commission work and values candor, so that honesty will register with him.
Talking points
- Name the thesis and the prize in one breath; skip the $412 story or keep it to a phrase, since he's read it
- Say what you're proud of: five years of meter data and the $9/month finding for the lowest-income quartile, done while working 20-25 hours at Desert Lantern
- Add that you'd now reach a different conclusion, and point to the bill cap and weatherization question from outside counsel
- Optional: connect it to the pre-med exit and the 3.92, as the work you chose once you found economics
- Which thesis moment (a dead end, an advisor conversation) shows the work behind the award?
To think about
What happened during the thesis itself, such as a data problem or an advisor's push, that would make it more than a line on your résumé?
Avoid: Don't retell the personal statement word for word, and don't oversell the thesis's impact. It was a student paper that you have since revised in your own mind.
Tell me about yourself.
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Four years at Sonoran Ratepayer Alliance, promoted to Senior Policy Analyst in January 2025 This is your present identity and the core of the file.
The angle
Talking points
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How have you changed as a student, and how do you expect to change in law school?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Addendum: pre-med, the C- in organic chemistry, your father's surgery, then economics and a 3.92 Concrete academic growth and how you changed course.
The angle
Talking points
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Why law and why Harvard
Why do you want to go to law school? Sample applicant
Based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your LSAC application to get this from your own background.
Material
- Personal statement: outside counsel asking about a summer bill cap and weatherization, which flipped your position It shows the exact moment you saw what a lawyer adds that an analyst can't.
- Bill-impact model (1,100 household bills) used by outside counsel in every case It shows you already feed the legal work and can name the step you can't yet take.
- Post-Chevron line: questions in your field are now legal ones It turns a personal wish into a reason grounded in your field.
The angle
Your reason is not abstract. You have spent four years one step behind the lawyer, building the model and drafting the testimony, and you watched counsel reframe a question you had missed. Make clear the gap is specific: you can model a rate design but can't argue the case. Owen did state-commission litigation, so concrete detail about the hearing room will land with him.
Talking points
- Start at the Arizona Corporation Commission: your model, counsel's argument
- Counsel's bill-cap and weatherization question, and the Commission adopting two of three conditions
- Name the tasks you hand off: cross-examining, briefing statutory authority, deciding who can challenge
- Tie to post-Chevron: how much a commission can decide on its own
To think about
Which specific hearing or filing made you think 'I should be the one arguing this'?
Avoid: Don't retell the whole personal statement. Pick one moment and add what isn't on the page, such as what counsel actually did next.
Why law school now? Sample applicant
Based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your LSAC application to get this from your own background.
Material
- Four years at Sonoran Ratepayer Alliance, promoted to Senior Policy Analyst in January 2025 It shows you are leaving after a deliberate run, not drifting.
- LSAT retake: 163 to 170 after four months of morning study during rate-case work It shows you made a planned commitment while working full time.
- 'While the field is being rebuilt, not after' It is your timing argument in your own words.
The angle
Your timing has two halves: what you've finished at SRA and what is changing in the law. Show that you've gotten what the analyst seat can give, including the model, testimony drafts and training interns, and that the post-2024 shift makes waiting costly.
Talking points
- What the senior role added, and the point where the learning curve flattened
- The 2024 Chevron decision and the legal questions now showing up in your rate cases
- The retake as the moment you committed: four months of mornings
- Who takes over the bill-impact model, and how you've planned that handoff
To think about
What would staying two more years at SRA cost you, concretely?
Avoid: Don't make it sound like urgency about Chevron alone. Ground it in your own readiness, not commentary on the Supreme Court.
Why do you want to attend Harvard Law School? Sample applicant
Based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your LSAC application to get this from your own background.
Material
- Your work on utility rate cases and administrative questions It points you toward legislation and regulation in 1L and the Law and Social Change or Law, Science and Technology programs.
- Bilingual medical-hold guide and the shutoff-complaint line It connects to clinical credits and the 50-hour pro bono work you could do.
- 1L reading groups, for example on climate change regulation They match your energy and heat-season work.
The angle
Harvard teaches legislation and regulation as a required 1L course, which maps directly onto your post-Chevron question. Name specific clinics and professors you researched yourself, connected to ratepayer, energy or administrative work. Owen will notice whether the research is real.
Talking points
- 1L Legislation and Regulation, and why that matters for a commission's authority
- Which clinic you'd use your 16 clinical credits on, by name: do you know?
- A climate or energy reading group, tied to summer heat-season outreach
- The Ames Moot Court program as your first chance to argue, not just draft
To think about
Which HLS professors or clinics working on energy or administrative law have you actually read up on?
Avoid: Don't list website facts or course counts. Each item needs a link to a specific piece of your SRA work.
What are the downsides of attending Harvard for you?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Your Tucson base and the Arizona Corporation Commission work You'd be leaving the regulatory community you want to practice in.
The angle
Talking points
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If you were admitted, how would you decide whether HLS is the right school for you?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Your 'second person checks every exhibit' rule after the 2023 double-count It shows you verify things rather than trust impressions.
The angle
Talking points
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Is Harvard your first choice?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Your fit with the 1L regulation course and clinical work It backs up any yes with reasons.
The angle
Talking points
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What are your immediate and long-term career goals?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Expert testimony drafts and data requests at SRA They point to regulatory litigation before commissions as your near-term goal.
The angle
Talking points
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What have you learned about what you do and don't want in your legal career?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Argument with a colleague over leading the 2023 shutoff report with the oxygen patient vs the 38% figure It shows you want work that combines numbers and people.
The angle
Talking points
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Your work, studies and plans
Tell me more about your work at [an experience on your resume]. Sample applicant
Based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your LSAC application to get this from your own background.
Material
- Shutoff-complaint line (2022-2023): 640 calls, 38% of medical-condition callers unaware of medical-hold protection, bilingual guide now used by two county health clinics Shows the full arc from a raw task to a finding to something that changed what people receive, which is what 'tell me more' is probing.
- The week-long argument with a colleague over leading the 2023 shutoff report with the man on oxygen versus the 38% figure Lets you show how you talk about a colleague you disagreed with, generously and specifically.
- Supervising three interns a year and coordinating heat-season outreach with three community groups Gives a short follow-up about working through other people, not only alone with data.
The angle
The interviewer did shutoff appeals pro bono, so the complaint line is the item he will most want unpacked. Show how logging calls turned into a pattern (the 38%) and then into a practical tool. Credit the colleague whose instinct for the human story made the report better. That shows care for colleagues and the people behind your numbers.
Talking points
- Set the scene: six-person nonprofit, you answering the shutoff line in your first year
- Give the numbers: 640 calls logged, and the moment the 38% medical-hold gap became visible
- Say what you did with it: bilingual one-page guide, now in two county health clinics, and why Spanish mattered
- Bring in the colleague and the man on oxygen: what she saw that you didn't
- Bridge briefly to the bill-impact model built from 1,100 bills if he asks what you do now
To think about
What did a specific caller teach you that the spreadsheet didn't? And how do you know the guide has helped anyone?
Avoid: Don't retell the personal statement's report-argument paragraph word for word. Don't overclaim that the guide changed outcomes, since you only know it's being handed out.
What surprised you during your recent studies or work? Sample applicant
Based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your LSAC application to get this from your own background.
Material
- Outside counsel asking what happens with a summer bill cap and free weatherization, which reversed your thesis conclusion A real moment that complicated a position you had won a prize for.
- The 2023 double-counted fixed charge ($4/month) that the utility's lawyers found first A surprise about how adversarial process uses a small error. This interviewer explicitly values hearing how you fixed a mistake.
The angle
Your best surprise is that a lawyer's question, not more data, changed your mind about time-of-use rates. That moment also explains why you want law school. A former regulatory litigator will recognize it. Pick one surprise and go deep rather than listing both.
Talking points
- Start from your thesis claim: lowest quartile paid about $9/month more, so you opposed TOU
- Second-year drafting against the utility's expansion, then counsel's cap-and-weatherization question
- What rerunning the numbers showed, and the Commission adopting two of three conditions
- What surprised you about the legal framing versus the economic one
- If time or asked: the $4 exhibit error and your two-person check against raw bills
To think about
Is there a newer surprise from your Senior Analyst years (2025 on), perhaps something post-Chevron in a rate case, so this isn't only the essay story?
Avoid: This is the essay's centerpiece, so he has already read it. Add what you haven't written, like how it felt and what you asked next. Don't present the reversal as a tidy epiphany.
What have you been doing since graduation, and what will you do before law school starts?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Four years at Sonoran Ratepayer Alliance, promoted to Senior Policy Analyst in January 2025 Shows how you've used the time since graduating in May 2022, with growth.
The angle
Talking points
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What are you excited about for law school, and what are you apprehensive about?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Personal statement line about not being able to argue the case, and the post-Chevron shift in your field Anchors the excitement in a specific HLS opportunity rather than prestige.
The angle
Talking points
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Character and judgment
Tell me about a time you handled a disagreement or a difficult conversation. Sample applicant
Based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your LSAC application to get this from your own background.
Material
- The week-long argument with a colleague over how to open the 2023 shutoff report (oxygen story vs. the 38% figure) A genuine disagreement with someone you respect, resolved into something better than either draft.
- Answering utility data requests and facing opposing lawyers in rate cases Shows you engage with the other side's challenges as routine work, not as personal conflict.
The angle
Harvard wants to see how you react when someone pushes back on your reasoning. Your shutoff-report argument shows you held a real position (the 38% medical-hold figure) and still took your colleague's view seriously enough to build a combined opening. Owen litigated utility shutoff appeals, so he will know why both the story and the number matter.
Talking points
- Set up the stakes: the 2023 shutoff report and who would read it
- State your position on the 38% figure and why you feared an outlier story could be dismissed
- Give your colleague's case for the man on oxygen fairly, in their terms
- How the week of arguing actually went: what moved you, what you held onto
- The result: story first, number in the first paragraph, and why it worked
To think about
What specifically did your colleague say that made you willing to give up the lead? Do you know how the report was received?
Avoid: This is in your personal statement nearly word for word; add what isn't there (how the conversations went) rather than retelling it, and keep the colleague sounding smart, not stubborn.
Tell me about a time you changed your mind. Sample applicant
Based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your LSAC application to get this from your own background.
Material
- Your award-winning thesis 'Who Pays for the Peak?' arguing against time-of-use rates Your starting position, held with evidence and a prize behind it.
- Outside counsel's question about a summer bill cap and free weatherization, and the rerun numbers The concrete trigger and the data that changed your view.
- Supporting the plan with conditions; the Commission adopted two of three Shows the changed mind had real consequences.
The angle
You changed your mind on the subject you know best, against your own prize-winning work, which is a stronger signal than a minor reversal. The real point is that a legal question reframed an economic one, which ties straight to why you want law school.
Talking points
- Start with the thesis conclusion: about $9 a month extra for the lowest-income quartile, so you opposed the plans
- Your second year: drafting comments against the utility's expansion
- Counsel's question about a bill cap and weatherization, and running the numbers
- Supporting with conditions; two of three adopted
- What it taught you about asking the question a lawyer would ask
To think about
Was it hard to drop a position you had defended publicly? Who were the families who still didn't come out ahead under the new plan?
Avoid: Don't recite the statement's closing line about the lawyer changing the question; also don't imply the thesis was wrong, since its data still held.
Tell me about a time you were frustrated with a co-worker. How did you handle it?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Training and supervising three interns a year at the Alliance A different relationship from the report colleague, which keeps your examples varied.
The angle
Talking points
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Tell me about a time you faced a challenge in a group project in an academic setting.
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Team lead, spring 2022 applied policy practicum: four students studying late-payment fees for a regional water utility The one explicit academic group project on your file, and you led it.
The angle
Talking points
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What would you say are your main strengths and weaknesses?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- The 1,100-household bill-impact model counsel uses in every case Concrete evidence of a quantitative strength.
The angle
Talking points
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Tell me about a humbling experience.
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Watching an opposing witness use your exhibit error to question everything you had filed A public setback with real consequences.
The angle
Talking points
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Fit: classroom, community and you as a person
What will you be like in the classroom and community at HLS? Sample applicant
Based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your LSAC application to get this from your own background.
Material
- Personal statement: changing your mind on time-of-use rates after outside counsel asked about a bill cap and weatherization Shows how you take a hard question from someone with more legal training and actually rework your view - the core of a Socratic classroom.
- The week-long disagreement with a colleague over leading the 2023 shutoff report with the oxygen-patient story vs. the 38% medical-hold figure Shows how you behave with peers when you disagree, and that you can land on something better than either side's draft.
- Training and supervising three interns a year; shift trainer at Desert Lantern Café Shows the community side: what you give to a section of 80 or a reading group, not just what you take.
The angle
You'd arrive as someone with four years in Arizona Corporation Commission rate cases who has been corrected in public, by opposing counsel and by your own lawyer, and got better each time. Show that you'll bring real-world numbers into 1L discussion (your 1,100-bill model) while staying the person who can be wrong out loud. That matters to an interviewer who practiced regulatory litigation and says he values candor.
Talking points
- Open with how outside counsel's bill-cap question reframed your thesis conclusion - that's the kind of question you want to be asked in class
- Name what you'd add: what a tariff or a rate case looks like from the inside, e.g. in Legislation and Regulation or a reading group
- Use the shutoff-report argument with your colleague to show how you disagree with peers - and what the final report took from each of you
- Community side: the interns you train each year - what kind of section-mate or study-group member that makes you
- Ask yourself: are you more likely to talk too much or too little in a room of 80, and how will you handle it?
To think about
Which time in college or at work did you mostly listen in a group discussion, and what made you speak up - or not?
Avoid: Don't retell the personal statement's changed-mind story in full; he's read it. Use one line of it and move on. And don't position yourself as the class 'expert' on utilities - work experience should sound like something you'll share, not lecture with.
What brings you joy?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Interests: open-water swimming at Saguaro Lake, restoring a 1974 Schwinn, night hikes in the Tucson Mountains The only part of the file that's purely you, not your work - exactly what this question is fishing for.
The angle
Talking points
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How will you handle the move to Cambridge?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Lifelong Tucson base: University of Arizona, Desert Lantern Café, Sonoran Ratepayer Alliance You've never lived outside Tucson per the file - he'll want to see you've thought about leaving.
The angle
Talking points
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Closing
Is there a question you wish I had asked you? Sample applicant
Based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your LSAC application to get this from your own background.
Material
- The 2023 double-counted fixed charge exhibit ($4/month overstatement caught by the utility's lawyers) If it wasn't covered, it's the strongest unasked story, and the interviewer says he'd rather hear how you fixed a mistake.
- Addendum: sophomore 3.08, father's back surgery, 25 work hours, then 3.92 and LSAT 163 to 170 It lets you address the one soft spot in the file on your own terms, briefly and without excuses.
- Shutoff-complaint line: 640 calls, 38% medical-hold finding, bilingual guide used by two county clinics It shows the human side of your rate work, which your essay only touches on.
The angle
Use this to add something the conversation skipped, not to repeat your personal statement. Pick whichever of your strongest pieces went unasked. The exhibit error shows the candor this interviewer values. The calls line shows who your models are actually about. Make it a short, concrete add-on that shows what kind of law student you'd be.
Talking points
- Pick the gap: was the exhibit error, the shutoff line or the GPA already covered? Choose one that wasn't
- If it's the exhibit: name the $4 double-count, telling outside counsel, the filed correction, and your raw-bill second-check habit since
- If it's the shutoff line: one caller pattern from the 640 calls, the 38% finding, then the bilingual guide now at two clinics
- Tie it to the hearing-room goal from your essay in one phrase, then stop
To think about
Which caller or moment from the shutoff line do you remember specifically, beyond the statistic?
Avoid: Don't use this slot to re-explain the sophomore GPA at length or retell the time-of-use reversal already in your essay. Keep it to about a minute, not a second personal statement.
What is your one most important question about Harvard Law School?
A preview, based on Leila, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your LSAC application to preview your own.
Material
- Your essay's post-Chevron motivation and work before the Arizona Corporation Commission It points to a question about how students actually engage with regulatory and administrative law at HLS.
The angle
Talking points
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