Heather Wallick has been the director of Wallick Global Consulting for seven years. She was also the erstwhile Assistant Director of Admissions and Financial Aid for the Graduate Program at Harvard Law School prior to co-founding Wallick Global Consulting.
Prior to joining Harvard Law School, Heather worked as a lawyer and Immigration Law Specialist focusing on Business and Family Immigration. Her career has led her to review thousands of applications for admission, financial aid, and US work visas. An expert in the field, she has provided end-to-end counselling sessions which include,
Helping lawyers define their short, medium, and long-term goals.
Vetting internship, publications, and placement opportunities, analysing university choices, time management and trade-offs, and managing expectations and outcomes.
Support and feedback for developing a personal narrative or research proposal in a more thorough and professional way.
Locating lesser-known financial aid opportunities.
Successes
Wallick Global Consulting has achieved success with their clients securing advanced law admissions to multiple top tier graduate law programs in Harvard, Cambridge (LLM and MCL), Oxford (BCL and MFA), Stanford (all 4 programs), UC Berkeley, UPenn, Cornell, U Chicago, LSE, UCL, and Kings.
Apart from LLM, Wallick has also helped MBA aspirants with their application strategies for HBS, Stanford GSB, Yale, Yale Silver Scholar, MIT Sloan (MBA/MS), Kellogg, INSEAD, NYU and many other MS programs.
Experience in India
Having given lectures on 'Early Preparation' at top law universities in India and virtually, Heather has interacted with law students as well as enrolled advocates who are applying for an LLM after several years of experience. Heather has also given talks at IITs, engineering colleges and various universities in over 20 states. This exposure has integrated her pre-existing experience of the requirements of the top tier universities with local practices and challenges.
Common issues in 2024
Heather has seen a few common mistakes and offers advice to law students who are interested in applying for advanced legal studies as part of their legal career planning
LLB grades matter the most: Students need to pay attention to their marks or grades or CGPA from year one to achieve academic excellence. From her own cohort of clients, Heather says that the trends suggest the top 5 in the batch have a better advantage to the top 5 postgraduate law programs (LLM, BCL, etc.). This entails that a student must develop a rigorous study and revision plan from day one of the LLB program.
Writing is an integral part of the LLM program: If a law college provides academic rigour through examination alone, then the student will have to look out for writing, mooting, or research opportunities on their own. Many students graduate from exceptionally good law colleges without any legal research or writing to demonstrate their competence in those areas. Since most advanced law degrees have substantial writing and research components, writing skills must be developed while studying in the LLB programs.
Avoid misaligned writing projects: Student aspirations are often not aligned with their goal of attending a top-tier LLM program. Heather opines that universities like Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge demand that their students dig deeply into legal scholarships and begin authoring papers and publishing them early in their LLB programs. However, more often than not, students do not align their articles with the area in which they see themselves practicing.
Practitioners 'only working': A major constraint is the time needed for 'extra-practice' activities while balancing practice responsibilities and caseload. Heather finds that practitioners often neglect writing and research opportunities in lieu of solely focusing on their workload. She asks that they must continue publishing articles and speak about issues in need of resolution where it does not contradict their employer's policies.
First generation lawyers: Additional support is needed to make networking and internship opportunities available to first-generation lawyers. Wallick Global can assist with the planning, advice and guidance from as early as the beginning of legal studies.
Changes in the Application Processes - 2024
There are a few notable changes in the LLM application process to US Law Schools and National University of Singapore as of September 1
1. As of September 4, 2024, Columbia Law School has released a link to its new LLM application located on its website. Students are now required to apply directly to Columbia through the Columbia website but send documents and recommendations via LSAC.
2. Due to the prevalence of AI software, universities are now clearly restricting the use of any AI software, and some like Berkeley Law and Northwestern Pritzker are giving optional/required video interviews.
3. NUS Applications opened on September 1 and closed on October 15. This seems to be a somewhat earlier deadline than in prior years. Please plan accordingly for future applications to NUS.
Wallick Global Consulting Private Limited (WGC) serves local clients as well as clients from across the globe.
WGC is open in the evening Tuesday through Sunday 19:00 - 23:00 to cater to working clients and provide career planning to them as well.
The key to a successful legal career is to plan and start early. To request a free consultation, call +91 8851119559 send in your resume to Heather at info@wallickglobalconsulting.com or click on the 'Free Consultation' button on the WGC website and complete the short questionnaire.
The WGC team will reach back to set up your consultation. To book Heather for a speaking engagement at your law school, firm or for an event, please ask for Prashant at the number listed above.
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