Ellen Cassidy, Founder
The luckiest day of my life was March 18, 2011. My best friend prodded me out of the house to a “hot tub” party I really didn’t want to go to. I was determined to avoid all hot tub-related activity, so I spent the whole party listening to a stranger tell funny stories about her clients. She was a public defender. I thought, “Law is hilarious. I should take the LSAT.”
I bought the PowerScore Bibles on my phone before I even left the party. It was an impulsive, unreasonable decision. It was the opposite of logical reasoning. But when I started doing LSAT, I was enraptured. It felt like my brain had always been running at about 70% capacity until that day, and suddenly it ramped up to 100%.
Prepping for the LSAT was one of the most invigorating experiences of my life. When I got in the car after taking the test, I said, “I wish I could just do the LSAT forever.” I didn’t understand how that could be a realistic life plan, so I figured I had to apply to law school. The best school I got into was Harvard Law School, and I deferred three times before turning them down to teach the LSAT. Turns out, you can do the LSAT forever.
I’ve taught the LSAT ever since. I have the unique privilege of helping my students through what can be a super-stressful time. That’s the purpose of my life. Whether it’s one-on-one, in the classroom, in a book, or online, I’m here to take this dreaded law school process and turn it into something great. That’s why I founded Elemental Prep. That’s why I wrote The Loophole in LSAT Logical Reasoning. That’s why I’ll keep writing LSAT books until there is seriously nothing else to write about.
We’re in this together, reader. Let’s do it.
Molly Murphy
Hi friends, I’m Molly!
After a (short) career as a classical bassoon player I ventured into a career change and, perhaps rashly, decided to study for the LSAT. I was somewhat hooked – I loved learning and practicing a new skill but, starting out as a self-studier, I was frustrated by the generic tools and conventional wisdom. Given my background learning an instrument, I felt like there was something off about eating PTs for breakfast and brute forcing question types until I magically got them right. After all, runners don’t run 26 miles every day until they magically win the Boston Marathon. I was so frustrated because I didn’t know how to break down the building blocks of logical reasoning. That is, until I met The Loophole. A few pages in and I had a total light bulb moment. This! This is it! This will work! I joined the Elemental community and the rest is history.
I have always loved teaching – I’ve coached private students and taught several college and adult classes – and, before becoming all Elemental all the time, I worked in education policy. Now that I’m through with my LSAT odyssey, I’m committed to helping you across to the other side. I love the LSAT because for me it was like rehab or reentry after my classical music career. The LSAT gave me a vehicle to confront and conquer some pretty rough performance anxiety, and it taught me that being intense, caring too much, going too deep, and wanting it too bad were okay, even good.
There is nothing I love more than seeing deep work and persistent effort pay off in real time, and I’ve witnessed some pretty incredible dreams come true in the Elemental fam. So, whatever your damage, we got this – we’re in this together!