Current situation as a re-applicant

Montecarlo

So I'd like to give some background regarding my current life situation and my statistics applying to law school. Last year, my LSAT score was 148 and I have a 3.4 GPA. I had an amazing personal statement and letters of recommendations were great. I also had a couple months experience working at law firms at the time. However, I was naive and chose not to retake the LSAT and really was on the shit end of the stick. I was waitlisted everywhere and didn't get in to any law school. There is nothing I can do except to look forward and move on and learn from my mistakes. So, I retook the LSAT for November 2023 and I got 154 LSAT. Now, I spoke with my law school advisor and he is telling me that I absolutely need a new letter of recommendation (preferably from current employer which is a law firm) and to add what I have done in the past year in to my personal statement. I'm skeptical on how much this really matters in comparison to my LSAT score jump and I'm just not sure if it's worth going through the hassle of getting a letter of recommendation from my employer, who is a pain in the ass tbh.

So here are my current stats - 154 LSAT, 3.4 GPA, bachelor's degree in philosophy from UCI, 1 years and 10 months experience working at law firms, great personal statement, letters of recommendation, and resume, a re-applicant, I've attended a few schools law school events and have gone on campus tours, and I'm applying in December.

I'm applying to local schools in Southern California - Loyola, Southwestern, California Western, USD, and Western State.

Now my questions and concerns are as follows:

1. I understand that an updated personal statement definitely matters and I will update it within this week. However, is it really worth getting a new letter of recommnedation when my old letters of recommendations were already solid?

2. As a re-applicant, I'm very unsure how these law schools will look at me and my application. I know my LSAT score is a big plus but do law schools really care about the other things in my application compared to my LSAT score?

3. Is the fact that I applied with my previous LSAT score and chose not to retake it until a year after I got denied a bad look? After all, I have a +6 boost in my score.

4. I could just be overthinking and need to chill tf out. If this is the case, please drop a comment telling me to do. It would be much appreciated.

Thanks to all who took the time to read through my post and current life situation. I look forward to seeing your guys comments.

AlexLSAT.

1. If this new recommender could add a different perspective, then yes absolutely its worth it. If you already have 3 solid recs with at least 2 being from your undergrad institution, you're probably fine on not getting another one, especially since you're set on applying soon.

2. You need to have a reason for reapplying. Even something like "I kept working to gain professional experience in the field I want to practice law in and improved my LSAT score" will do. Some schools don't favor reapplicants and some schools do... not too sure on the schools you listed though.

3. I don't think they care. You improved your LSAT score, that's really all that they care about anyways.

4. You are definitely overthinking. Change your PS a bit and give a reason for reapplying and you will give yourself a good shot at the schools you listed.