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This episode of the Hey Future Lawyer Podcast kicks off with Ben Parker explaining a major LSAT shift: starting August 2026, the LSAT moves back to in-person testing. He gives quick context on how remote testing became normal during COVID, and why that convenience is now ending.

Ben digs into the real driver behind the change: test security. He breaks down how remote testing created new cheating avenues, including remote “ringer” test-takers and the recording of live test content, which becomes a huge problem when LSAC needs to reuse questions.

He also explains the behind-the-scenes logistics most students never think about. Online testing windows forced LSAC to create far more test forms per administration, and compromised forms made that workload even worse, which is part of why in-person testing relieves pressure.

From the student perspective, his takeaway is simple: the move is mostly an inconvenience, not a game-changer. You may have to travel to a Prometric center, and he points out that some states have very limited site availability, which could create scheduling bottlenecks.

Next, Ben switches to the NALP Class of 2024 National Summary Report, using it to cut through internet myths about lawyer pay. He emphasizes that medians matter more than averages, because Big Law salaries skew the “mean” upward and can mislead people about typical outcomes.

He walks through how salaries differ by job type, showing the big gap between private sector outcomes and public-interest, clerkship, and government roles. The theme is clarity: you cannot “choose” a high-paying track just by wanting it, and career plans should be based on real employment data, not TikTok and Reddit vibes.

He closes with a practical LSAT strategy Q and A: how to review questions you got wrong. His core message is that review quality beats volume, and that copying stems and making performative wrong-answer journals can distract from the only thing that matters: understanding exactly why the right answer is right and the wrong answers are wrong.

Study LSAT with us at HeyFutureLawyer.com

In this episode, Ben and Madeline jump into a question almost every LSAT student fixates on: when you should actually retake the LSAT. They react to a popular LSAT company’s retake advice, agree with most of it, and roast how obvious and poorly written it is, while still pulling out the core takeaway: if you have points left on the table and those points change your admissions or scholarship outcomes, retaking is usually the right move.

A big theme is “stop gambling.” Ben and Madeline talk about the slot-machine mindset, where someone keeps taking official LSATs hoping a higher score just appears, without changing preparation. They push a much simpler standard: don’t take the LSAT until your practice scores are where you want them, and if you retake, do it with a real plan instead of wishful thinking.

They also hit the money angle hard. Beyond admissions, they stress that higher LSAT scores often translate into better scholarship offers, which can dramatically change your debt and your life after graduation. Ben goes on a mini rant about how many applicants misunderstand student loan interest and underestimate how brutal it is to carry big law school debt into average-paying legal jobs.

Then the episode shifts into a real applicant scenario: a high-GPA student with a low-150s LSAT weighing offers from Lewis & Clark and Gonzaga, plus a waitlist at Seattle. Ben and Madeline walk through the real cost of attendance, explain why “outside scholarships” rarely move the needle, and argue that taking a year to raise the LSAT even modestly can be the difference between manageable debt and a long financial grind.

Finally, things get weird and entertaining: they read and dissect an infamous personal statement connected to the Epstein files, supposedly from a former Olympian trying to get into Harvard Law. It becomes a brutal lesson in why elite “facts” do not save bad writing, why trying to sound smart backfires, and why law school admissions is still a writing-and-precision game, especially for non-native English speakers.

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Nick Cohen on LinkedIn

Matador Solutions

Nick’s Email- nick@matadorsolutions.net

Cohen Injury Law Group

Nick Cohen joins the Hey Future Lawyer Podcast to break down an unconventional path to becoming an attorney while building a fast-growing legal marketing business. Nick is a partner at Cohen Injury Law Group in Los Angeles and the COO of Matador Solutions, a marketing partner and think tank serving more than 175 law firms nationwide.

We dig into why Nick chose a night program at Loyola Law School, what his weekly schedule looked like while working full-time, and why part-time students often end up more efficient and less cutthroat than the typical “1L culture” you hear about. Nick also gives the real trade-offs of night school, including the extra year, the lack of “summers off,” and why the financial upside can still make it the smartest choice.

Nick explains how small law firms actually get clients, why referrals are only one side of the game, and what “bottom-of-funnel” marketing looks like for lawyers who need high-intent cases coming in the door. We also talk about why so many firms get burned by snake-oil marketing vendors, how realistic timelines matter, and why “results in 3 months” is often a red flag.

On the law student side, Nick shares a no-nonsense approach to performing well in law school: crystal-clear writing, clean structure, and focusing on what actually moves the grade instead of spinning out on details. He’s strongly anti study groups, but gives a smarter alternative: one partner who thinks differently, independent prep, and then a targeted checklist review that catches blind spots.

Finally, we talk AI in the legal industry: what’s real, what’s hype, what tools still aren’t ready, and why “being human first” will become a major differentiator as tech accelerates. Nick closes with practical advice for aspiring lawyers: do not go to law school unless you feel good about a legal career, consider night programs for cost control, pay attention to bar pass rates, and choose schools that align with where you want to practice.

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