Jody Hallam

About Jody Hallam

My relationship with Kaplan began twenty-five years ago, when I took Kaplan classes to prepare for the SAT. After graduating from Brown University, I took a Kaplan course to prepare for the LSAT. I entered law school at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I taught Kaplan LSAT classes during law school. I am currently a criminal defense attorney in Arizona. I began teaching LSAT classes for Kaplan again in 2009. I live with my husband and three children in Scottsdale, Arizona, and when I am not teaching for Kaplan, I am a volunteer supervising attorney at the Arizona Justice Project where I prepare Post-Conviction Relief Petitions and Clemency applications for prisoners who have been wrongly convicted or received unjust sentences.
Author Archive | Jody Hallam

LSAT Preparation Best Practices

By on March 19, 2012 in LSAT Test Prep

Practice is the key to achieving a top LSAT score.  The key to successful practice is in the details.  As you begin your LSAT preparation, test day should dictate how you study.  Build good habits and make sure you have developed a method so your test taking rituals are second nature by test day.  Details, such as what type of pencils to use, may seem insignificant, but making test day as seamless as possible is necessary to achieving the score of your dreams.  Assemble a LSAT bag of pencils, highlighters, erasers and pencil sharpeners and use it whenever you practice.… Read full post

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On the LSAT and in law school, Suffice it to say, this stuff is necessary – Part II.

By on March 5, 2012 in Law School & Legal Life, LSAT Test Prep

Last week I explained the basic, abstract concepts of necessity and sufficiency, let me show you a brief example of how they relate to law school and the practice of law.  On the first day of my criminal law class, my teacher called on some poor, terrified boy and asked him to stand up.  Ah, the joys of the Socratic method.  As the young man stood trembling, the professor asked him about the case, Proctor v. State, 176 P. 771 (1918), we were assigned to study.  In the facts of this case, Mr. Proctor was convicted of keeping a two story building, with the intent and for the purpose of unlawfully selling malt liquors.  The student, who was gaining confidence as he answered the professor’s litany of questions, recited the facts correctly and correctly stated that the Oklahoma Appellate Court vacated Mr.… Read full post

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Suffice it to say, this stuff is necessary – Part I.

By on February 27, 2012 in LSAT Test Prep

Sufficiency and necessity are the most consistently tested concepts on the LSAT.  Mastering these two skills will vastly improve and stabilize your LSAT score.  In the Kaplan LSAT class, we introduce the concepts of sufficiency and necessity during the first class session.  Not only must LSAT students understand these concepts, but the ability to manipulate these abstract terms is the hallmark of a student poised to achieve a top LSAT score.  When an LSAT student begins to grasp the essence of how sufficiency and necessity relate and affect each other, LSAT scores begin to make dramatic leaps.  So, let me explain what sufficiency and necessity are and why they are such important LSAT skills.… Read full post

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Top Ten LSAT Etiquette Rules

By on February 6, 2012 in Law School Admissions, LSAT Test Prep

Over the past four years I’ve taught hundreds of LSAT test-takers and heard countless stories of the trials of Test Day.  On my own path to becoming an attorney, I had to take the LSAT.  Granted when most of you walk into the exam you’ll be doing so for the first time, but as someone who has been the metaphoric fly on the wall for numerous administrations, please, I implore you, adhere to the following rules of Test Day etiquette.  If all test-takers did so, the whole experience would be immeasurably more pleasant:

Bring lots of pencils.  Why?  Because it is thoroughly annoying to sit next to someone who is incessantly sharpening their pencil.  I know the rules say that you can bring a pencil sharpener, and, by all means, bring it.  Just don’t use it until the breaks between sections.  Better yet, sharpen and pack enough pencils in your one gallon ziplock bag, that you can make it through all five 35 minute sections and a writing sample without sharpening anything.… Read full post

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