Representatives from law schools around the country will be on campus today for the 19th annual law fair to meet aspiring lawyers and ease their fears about the admissions process.

The fair, which is the largest student run law fair in the country, is being put on by the Phi Alpha Delta pre-law fraternity and will be attended by 99 schools.

Students will be able to get general information about what law schools are looking for and they will be able to talk to representatives on a one-on-one basis.

"The law fair is a good arena for students to ask questions, " said Sirena Roberts, a business economics senior and law fair chairwoman. "It's a more personal way in getting information from law schools."

Verlaine Walker, the coordinator for the pre-law advising office and a Phi Alpha Delta advisor, said that for anyone considering law school, the fair is important in order to make contacts.

"Sometimes law school representatives will remember students from the year before," Walker said.

"Law schools want to get their names out too," Walker said. "Something like this allows for law schools to get a sneak preview of students interested in coming."

Law school admissions has become more competitive recently, so any contact a student can make with a law school representative could be to their advantage, she said.

According to Andrea Sossin Bergman, assistant director of admissions and recruitment for UCLA law school, more students are going to graduate schools due to a lack of jobs.

In 1996, UCLA law school, which will be represented at the fair, had over 3,500 applicants, and over 7,000 applicants in 2003, Bergman said.

UA's law program has seen an increase in applicants as well. In 2003, there were close to 3,000 applicants to the James E. Roger College of Law, which was up from about 2,000 in 2002.

A weakened economy and an increase in applicants have made the law school admissions process more competitive, Bergman said.

"I would encourage students to go and get good information from someone intimately involved in admissions." she said.

There will be representatives at the fair not only from UCLA and the UA, but also from the more competitive Ivy Leagues such as Yale.

But Walker said that the area of law that a student is interested in might be more important to keep in mind than a law school's Ivy League status.

"It's better for students to go to a law school that has the best program for what they're interested in," Walker said. "A school's rank doesn't always necessarily matter. If a student is interested in something like environmental law, then they'll want to go to the University of Vermont or Lewis and Clark in Oregon."

Having a large fair with a variety of schools can also help those students interested in law schools who do not have a perfect GPA.

"Having smaller schools at the fair too is important for students that maybe don't have the best grades but have the desire to be a law student," said Dan McGuire, president of Phi Alpha Delta and a political science and journalism junior.

Amy Hermalik, a political science and sociology junior and executive vice president of Phi Alpha Delta, said that the fair is a good way for students to be introduced to schools they might not have considered or known about.

"I know a few people who talked to representatives at the law fair and then applied to schools they weren't originally interested in," Hermalik said.

While juniors and seniors might seek out information on law school admissions from the fair, freshmen and sophomores are encouraged to attend.