Heavier than my GPA?

I will be using two big soft factors to sell myself to law schools. The first is clear from this blog. I am relying heavily on my PhD in chemistry (physical chemistry if you want to specific. Ultrafast laser spectroscopy is you want to get really specific) to cancel out my undergraduate GPA. I did my graduate work at VCU, which isn't the most famous university, but I have five papers in very well regarded journals. I even managed to get a paper into the Journal of the American Chemical Society. JACS publishes very high impact papers. (I asked my adviser to tout the impact factor of the journals in his letter of recommendation, it didn't feel right to do it myself.) I also have a publication from my undergraduate research. I have done some research in connection to my projects at work (work experience discussed below). I'm giving a poster at a big pharmaceutical conference in November, and I'm working on a paper with one of the senior scientists in my building. I am hoping that it is developed enough for me to at least include it as an in progress entry in my resume.

My other big factor is my career. I worked in industry before I went to grad school. I went back to the same company when I finished my PhD. I've done well in my job. I have a meeting with my manager tomorrow. I have to update her on some projects that I've been working on, but after I've filled her in on all the progress I've made, I am going to talk to her about writing a letter for me. I really have no idea how she will react. We're in a bit of a transitional phase right now so I'm hoping she will have that in mind when I talk to her about this law school plan. I am going to approach it in a very careful manner and provide plenty of rationale. We'll see how it goes.

I have a few other interesting facts about myself. I'm married (10 years next month) and I have two kids. My job and family keep me pretty busy so I don't have any other activities. I have a good reason why I am pursuing this crazy plan too.