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Law application review · current public rubrics

Law school personal statement review built on public rubrics

Check your personal statement, perspective statement, addendum, why-school essay, or OLSAS statement against a public rubric — with your own school's prompt and limits pasted above your draft. Every review is of your own writing, with an AI-authenticity check. Your first Full Review costs $5.

Browse the law rubrics
2 free Quick Reviews each dayFirst Full Review: $5

Personal statement · Perspective statement · Addenda · OLSAS · First Full Review: $5

First Full Review

typically ready in about 2–3 minutes

$5

Included

  • Scores for the selected rubricSee how the draft performs across the criteria for that application—not a generic writing score.
  • Critiques tied to your exact textEach critique points back to the sentence or passage that created the issue.
  • Specific revision suggestionsMove from “something feels off” to a prioritized list of changes for the next draft.
  • AI detection powered by Pangram LabsSee clear, lightly assisted, or flagged signals with sentence-level context when available. Treat detection as a signal, not proof.
  • A review you can shareInvite an advisor, mentor, or trusted reader to respond to the same critiques and evidence.
About our Pangram Labs partnership
Start with 2 free quick reviews each day. Pro includes 10 Full Reviews for $50.

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Law admissions feedback

What the law statement review checks

Law readers move fast through open-ended statements. The review checks whether your draft makes its case with specific evidence and a clear line to legal study — without requiring any one topic, arc, or disclosure.

01

A specific center, not a resume in prose

The statement builds around experiences you can show, not a list of titles or a childhood-certainty cliché.

02

Your school's prompt sets the standard

Paste the school's current prompt and limits above your draft — the review scores against what your school actually asks, including multi-part prompts.

03

Addenda stay factual and specific

GPA, LSAT, gap, and character-and-fitness addenda are scored for clarity and coverage of what the question asks — never for remorse performances or extra disclosure.

04

Perspective without a required arc

Perspective statements are scored the same whether your school's prompt is experience-framed or category-framed — and no hardship story is ever required.

6 public law rubrics

Pick the rubric that matches your document

Six JD rubrics: the personal statement, the post-SFFA perspective statement, application addenda (explanatory and character-and-fitness), the why-school essay, and the two Ontario OLSAS statements. Applying for an LL.M.? The LL.M. personal statement has its own rubric in the law library.

Law School — Personal Statement

Review your own law-school personal statement against the current school prompt, with narrative, reflection, prompt-fit, and AI-authenticity checks.

This rubric looks for a focused, applicant-centered narrative that shows what you did, observed, or questioned and how it shaped your thinking. It also checks that your reasoning is clear, your claims are supported by the experiences you describe, and your response answers the school’s current prompt. If a prompt asks why law, that connection should grow specifically from your experience rather than rely on broad statements about justice or a lifelong calling.

For applicants writing a personal statement for a U.S. law-school application.

Inspect the complete public rubric
01

A Personal Center

Whether the statement selects one bounded applicant-centered subject and establishes why that subject belongs in this response.

02

Experience in Action

Whether the statement shows the applicant encountering, choosing, testing, observing, or changing something rather than relying on role labels or conclusions.

03

What You Make of It

Whether the statement interprets its evidence by showing an earlier assumption, a complication, and a resulting change in judgment, question, or conduct.

04

Why Law When the Prompt Asks

A law-motivation claim only when the supplied current prompt asks for one or the response voluntarily presents one as positive evidence.

05

Every Part of the Prompt

Whether the statement completes the countable jobs in the supplied current official prompt without relying on an unseen application field.

Compliance-first review

Built to respect your school's rules

Absence is not permission

Schools set their own authorship and AI rules and they do not agree. Our policy pages quote each one as published. Cornell, Penn, NYU, Stanford, Chicago and Northwestern published no J.D. rule on record when we checked on 2026-09-01, and a school that publishes no rule has not granted permission. Columbia's AI certification sits inside the application form — read it there. The certification you sign is the sentence that applies.

Georgetown: feedback on drafts is expected — the writing is yours

Georgetown’s J.D. FAQ says “While you can (and should) receive and incorporate feedback on drafts…” and that “the only person who may be engaged in the actual writing is you.” Checked 2026-09-01.

Duke and Michigan: no generative AI, proofreading and feedback allowed

Duke’s J.D. application page states that “All writing samples must be your own work” and that “you wrote all drafts and the final product without the assistance of generative artificial intelligence,” and adds that this “does not preclude asking family members, friends, pre-law advisors, and others for proofreading assistance or general feedback.” Michigan writes that applicants “ought not use generative artificial intelligence tools as part of their drafting process” and that they “may, similarly, ask pre-law advisors, mentors, friends, or others for basic proofreading assistance and general feedback and critiques.” Checked 2026-09-01.

UCLA and UVA: no AI tools — read the sentence before you decide

UCLA publishes “The use of any artificial intelligence tools to assist in the completion of this application is prohibited.” UVA’s J.D. admissions FAQ publishes “The statement should be written in your own voice without the help of artificial intelligence tools.” Both checked 2026-09-01. Where a school says that, this page will not tell you to work around it.

Your own writing, reviewed — never rewritten

Feedback identifies issues and points to exact passages. It never drafts replacement language, so your certification that the work is yours stays true. The AI-authenticity check is a signal, not proof — a reason to re-read your own sentences, never evidence about who wrote them.

A $5 first review in a $3,000+ market

Published law admissions packages we checked on 2026-09-01 run from about $3,000 to about $9,000. Your first Full Review costs $5 and is typically ready in about 2–3 minutes.

US and Ontario in one place

The OLSAS statements have their own rubrics built for character limits and Ontario school structures — not re-skinned US advice.

What the rubrics flag

Mistakes the public law rubrics flag before an admissions reader does

Each flag below comes from the published profile of one of the 4 public law rubrics this review uses. The review points to the sentence that triggers it; you decide what true detail belongs in the revision.

Turning the essay into a resume

Listing roles, awards, and activities can leave the reader without one experience or question to follow. Give sustained attention to the subject that changed your reasoning, and use other details only when they add needed context.

Law School — Personal Statement rubric

Relying on a label alone

Naming an identity or category without explaining the setting, relationship, responsibility, or recurring condition behind it leaves readers without the context of your perspective.

Law School — Perspective Statement rubric

Relying on a generic reason for law

Saying law has always been your calling does not show the current question, experience, or responsibility behind your interest. If you discuss legal study, connect it to something visible in your own experience.

OLSAS Law — Personal Statement rubric

Opening with uncertainty or apology

Starting by saying you were unsure whether to include the essay delays the information the reader needs. Begin with the context or purpose of your response instead.

OLSAS Law — Optional / Part B Essay rubric

Using a title instead of an action

A role such as president, captain, or paralegal does not show what you actually did. Describe a decision, interaction, observation, or unresolved question from that role.

Law School — Personal Statement rubric

Using hardship as the whole argument

A difficult experience does not need to prove that you deserve admission. Explain your position and the meaning of the experience without treating pain as something to rank.

Law School — Perspective Statement rubric

Turning the statement into an activity list

Titles, dates, awards, and role names do not explain what you did, decided, observed, or learned. Develop the experiences that changed your understanding or responsibility.

OLSAS Law — Personal Statement rubric

Combining unrelated leftovers

An optional essay can lose focus when it gathers achievements, explanations, and interests that did not fit elsewhere. Choose one connected subject that serves the prompt.

OLSAS Law — Optional / Part B Essay rubric

Format at a glance

Limits and review areas: public law rubrics

Limits and review areas below come from 4 of the public law rubrics; the rest are listed above. Paste the complete draft for the rubric closest to your prompt; a Full Review is typically ready in about 2–3 minutes.

See how the review system works

Application sources

Always follow your school's current instructions

Prompts, limits, and assistance policies vary by school and change by cycle. Paste your school's current wording above your draft. Where a school restricts AI tools, that published sentence and the certification you sign are what apply to the document — the call is yours.

Every law school essay guideThe full set of law guides, organised by document type, topic, and concern.Law school personal statement examplesConstructed openings and full statements, read the way a committee reads them.Law school personal statement clichés and fixesThe openings admissions readers see most often, and what to write instead.Law school essay prompts 2026-27, school by schoolEvery school's required and optional pieces, with the length each one publishes.What a law school personal statement review costsThe 2026 price ladder for one statement, from free readers to full packages.OLSAS personal statement limits by schoolOntario character limits and the sketch, per law school.How the law statement review worksWhat the review reads for on each law document, and what it does not claim.Law school perspective statements after SFFAWhich schools ask, in whose words, and what the prompts actually request.Perspective statement examples, line by lineConstructed drafts annotated sentence by sentence, with no required hardship arc.Harvard Law: statement of purpose vs statement of perspectiveTwo required essays, two different questions, and how to cover both.Explanatory addendum vs character and fitnessOne label, two documents — and the disclosure rules that separate them.Law school addendum examplesLSAT, GPA, and work-gap addenda written short and factual.The why-this-law-school essay is invited, not requiredWhere schools ask for it, where they tell you not to, and what fit means here.Master of Laws (LL.M.) personal statement guideHow the LL.M. statement differs from the JD statement, limit by limit.LL.M. personal statements for foreign-trained lawyersWriting a practising lawyer's record for a US admissions reader.LL.M. statements: who is allowed to helpWhat published school rules say about assistance on an LL.M. statement.Law school letters of recommendation (LSAC)One letter, submitted once, copied to every school — and what that changes.Can you use AI on a law school essay?School rules quoted as published, verb by verb, with the certification you sign.Law school AI policiesWhich law schools restrict AI use on applications — checked against official language.Law school personal statement AI checkerSee which sentences might read as AI-written, with your school's own rule beside the result.What you sign: AI attestations in applicationsHow application certifications about AI and outside help actually work.Remote LSAT is ending — in person from August 2026What changes for test-takers, and the dates LSAC has published.Is remote testing ending? The LSAT, AI, and the costWhy proctoring moved back in person, and what it costs applicants.Graduate school essay review guideHow rubric review differs from editing, and how to use feedback across drafts.

Questions

Law school statement review questions

Do I need a dramatic hardship, courtroom experience, or leadership role?

Law School — Personal Statement rubric

No. A routine interaction, work task, family responsibility, class, hobby, community experience, text, relationship, or question can provide the basis for the statement. What matters is showing your own encounter, choices, observations, and thinking.

Do I need to write about a protected identity, trauma, or adversity?

Law School — Perspective Statement rubric

No. You may discuss an experience, community, background, identity, responsibility, or recurring context. No protected identity, adversity, discrimination, travel, unusual biography, or category label is required.

Do I need to explain why I want to study law?

OLSAS Law — Personal Statement rubric

Only if the school’s prompt asks for it or you choose to include it. When you do include it, make the reason specific to your own experience, question, responsibility, or goal.

Do I need to disclose hardship or an unusual identity for an optional essay?

OLSAS Law — Optional / Part B Essay rubric

No. The essay can provide additional context, an intellectual experience, future direction, background, identity, barrier, circumstance, or another relevant purpose. It does not need to justify itself through hardship severity, unusual identity, or exceptional achievement.

What is included in a law school personal statement review?

A Full Review scores your draft against the selected public rubric — evidence, structure, prompt coverage, and economy — with critiques tied to exact passages and specific revision suggestions. It never drafts language for you.

Which rubric should I choose?

Pick the rubric that matches your document: personal statement, perspective statement, addendum, why-school essay, or the OLSAS statements for Ontario. Paste your school's current prompt and limits above your draft — they are what the scoring follows.

How much does a review cost?

You can run two free Quick Reviews each day. Your first Full Review costs $5; Pro includes ten Full Reviews for $50.

Do you offer a discount for LSAC fee-waiver recipients?

There is no separate fee-waiver program. The published offer is the same for everyone: two free Quick Reviews a day, and your first Full Review costs $5. Pro includes ten Full Reviews for $50 if you are reviewing several documents across a school list.

Is a review allowed at my school?

It depends on the school, and the sentence it publishes is the answer. Georgetown says you can and should receive feedback on drafts as long as the writing is yours; Duke and Michigan prohibit generative AI in drafting while allowing proofreading and general feedback from advisors, mentors, and friends; UCLA prohibits AI tools across the application, and UVA’s sentence bars AI tools on the personal statement. Read the rules quoted above and the full set on our law school AI policies page, then decide. Absence of a published rule is not permission, and the certification you sign is the sentence that applies.

Does the review use AI to give feedback?

Yes. The review reads writing you already wrote and scores it against a public rubric; it is never a writer or a rewriter, and it never produces replacement prose for your statement. Whether you may use it is decided by your school's own rule and the certification you sign — where a school prohibits AI tools on the application, do not use a review on that document.

Make the statement specific to your case

Your first Full Review costs $5 and is typically ready in about 2–3 minutes. Two free Quick Reviews are available each day.