Status Check with Spivey

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike, joined by LSAT experts Graeme Blake and Ellen Cassidy, discusses the changes coming to the LSAT this August and the federal class-action lawsuit that LSAC is currently facing over CAS fees. Graeme has been teaching the LSAT for over 15 years and is the founder of LSAT Hacks , and Ellen is the author of The Loophole in LSAT Logical Reasoning and f...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Legal Education Access Pipeline (LEAP) Founder & CEO, Cindy Lopez, joins us for a conversation with Paula Gluzman, Spivey’s Director of Diversity & Inclusion and a J.D. Admissions Consultant. Cindy is a retired career Deputy Attorney General for the State of California, served as Board President of a college access nonprofit for underserved you...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike has a conversation with Orin Kerr, a prominent law professor and legal academic who currently serves as a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and a Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. In his 25+ years as a law school faculty member, Professor Kerr has written 75+ law review articles, authored casebooks, and been cited in 4,500+ aca...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Anna Hicks-Jaco discusses the strategy of reapplying to law school, joined by former law school admissions officers and Spivey consultants Sir Williams and Julia Truemper . They give a great deal of insider insights and strategic advice, including common reapplication mistakes (8:11, 17:57, 34:26), how to explain why you’re reapplying (32:15), whether...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike has a conversation with Vincent Sheu, an attorney and AI startup founder with a JD and a Master's in Computer Science from Stanford (in addition to degrees in Statistics, Molecular and Cell Biology, and Bioengineering). Mike and Vincent discuss how he uses AI in his legal work today (19:20, 22:20), how he expects to be using AI in legal work i...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Anna Hicks-Jaco has a conversation with two Spivey consultants and former law school admissions officers, Kristen Mercado and Nathan Neely , on the decision whether to reapply to law school. What are good reasons—and what are bad reasons—to reapply? How much of an LSAT improvement is enough to justify reapplying (6:00)? How much of an impact can improv...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike has a conversation with Rob Baker , a long-time practicing entertainment lawyer who has served on hiring committees for multiple law firms, ranging from biglaw to mid-law to a small firm, and who leads Spivey Consutling’s new employment coaching and law school mentorship program. Rob discusses his law school application process (3:49), what it was...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike discusses the five reasons that being denied from law school hurts—and the concrete ways that you can handle it. Mike mentions a few other podcasts and a video clip in this episode: Dr. Guy Winch on Overcoming the Stresses of School, Work, & Admissions (Status Check with Spivey) (long discussion of rumination) Dr. Guy Winch on Handling Rejecti...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , we take questions from Reddit ! Mike Spivey , Mike Burns , and Anna Hicks-Jaco discuss just how slow this cycle is (10:19) and how that might impact late-cycle applicants (6:47), why law schools place applicants on “holds” (1:23), decision timelines and how/why they vary (4:23), advice for scholarship reconsideration (11:20), whether schools rescind ad...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike has a conversation with Dr. Nita Farahany—speaker, author, Duke Law Distinguished Professor, and the Founding Director of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society—on the future of artificial intelligence in law school, legal employment, legislation, and our day-to-day lives. They discuss a wide range of AI-related topics, including how signif...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Dr. Guy Winch returns to the podcast for a conversation about his new book, Mind Over Grind: How to Break Free When Work Hijacks Your Life . They discuss burnout (especially for those in school or their early career), how society glorifies overworking even when it doesn’t lead to better outcomes (5:53), the difference between rumination and valuable se...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike interviews General David Petraeus, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Four-Star General in the United States Army. He is currently a Partner at KKR, Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, and Chairman of KKR Middle East. Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served for over 37 years in the U.S. military, culminating in command...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Anna has an in-depth discussion on law school admissions interviews with two Spivey consultants—Sam Parker, who joined Spivey this past fall from her position as Associate Director of Admissions at Harvard Law School, where she personally interviewed over a thousand applicants; and Paula Gluzman, who, in addition to her experience as Assistant Director...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike interviews Miller Leonard, author of How to Get a Job After Law School: The Job Won’t Find You (free online ⁠here⁠ ), on the lessons he’s learned about networking and getting a legal job in his 25+ years as an attorney. Throughout his career, Miller has been a prosecutor, public defender, legal aid attorney, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, and Mu...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Anna Hicks-Jaco has a conversation with two of Spivey’s newest consultants—Sam Parker, former Harvard Law Associate Director of Admissions, and Julia Truemper, former Vanderbilt Law Associate Director of Admissions—all about the law school admissions advice that admissions officers won’t give you, discussing insider secrets and debunking myths and comm...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike has a conversation with Dayna Bowen Matthew , Dean of the George Washington University Law School, where she has led the law school since 2020. Prior to her time at GW, she was a Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, the University of Colorado Law School, and the University of Kentucky College of Law, and she has served as...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Spivey consultant and former admissions dean Nikki Laubenstein discusses the financial aid and student loan considerations that prospective law students should be thinking about post-"Big Beautiful Bill," joined by Sydney Montgomery, who is the Executive Director & Founder of Barrier Breakers, and Kristin Shea, who has led the law school...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike interviews Elizabeth Vargas, journalist and television news anchor, on her journey to learning how to cope healthily with lifelong anxiety and panic attacks, on overcoming professional setbacks, and on advice for young people facing the stresses of the LSAT, law school admissions, law school, and finding legal employment. Elizabeth Vargas anchors...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Spivey consultants Derek Meeker and Paula Gluzman catch up with two former applicants and aspiring environmental attorneys, Shasta Fields and Cameron Moody , with whom they worked years ago and who are both now law school graduates. They discuss their experiences in law school, reflections on their application processes now that they've graduated,...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike sits down with the original LSAT cheating scandal whistleblower, who we call "Travis" in this podcast, and Dave Killoran, Founder and CEO of PowerScore. They discuss Travis' investigation process, how he tried to sound the alarm, LSAC's response, why he came to Mike and Dave, and an analysis of what happened and what's next f...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike Spivey hosts Trey Cox, co-chair of Gibson Dunn's global litigation practice group, on his legal career (4:18, 31:27), law school selection (9:20), hiring philosophies (16:42), and advice for aspiring law students and lawyers. Trey and Mike both recommend the book Brain Rules by John Medina, which you can learn more about here . You can listen...

The landscape of legal recruiting in law school has changed significantly over the past 5-7 years. What should prospective law students know about what's changed so rapidly, and how has it impacted how admissions officers make their decisions? What caused these changes (11:04), how do they impact 1Ls (16:15), and what are admissions officers increasingly valuing in the application review proce...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Anna Hicks-Jaco interviews Natalie Blazer, Assistant Dean for Admissions and Chief Admissions Officer at the University of Virginia School of Law, on the upcoming 2025-2026 admissions cycle, how applicants should be thinking about and taking into account relevant current events, and advice for prospective law students preparing to submit their applicat...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Mike interviews William ("Bill") Treanor on his long and recently-concluded tenure as Dean of Georgetown University Law Center as well as his experiences and perspectives from a 40-year career. Bill talks about the the biggest changes he's seen during his time in legal education (16:06), the coming changes he foresees in the short-term fu...

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey , Spivey J.D. admissions consultants Danielle Early (former Associate Director of Admissions at Harvard Law School and military/veteran admissions specialist) and Mike Burns (former Director of Admissions & Financial Aid at Northwestern Law and Navy veteran) interview Brian Henson, a former consulting client of Danielle's, Navy Intelligence Officer,...