First Year of Law School: Five Steps to Starting Off Right
I very vividly remember my first week of law school classes. Orientation was a bit overwhelming. There were workshops and lectures and even my legal writing class. I was meeting new people, hearing stories about the challenges of the first year, filling my car with the heaviest books I had ever purchased, and starting to tackle my first reading assignments. And I was starting to think longingly about the job I had just left, which came with a paycheck and regular working hours.
I was re-entering school after years in the corporate world. It was interesting to be back in school with people from all different walks of life — those coming straight from their undergraduate universities, those returning to school after a few years of work, and those coming to school to completely change careers.
Everyone approaches law school differently. The one thing true for everyone is law school is different from what you did before. So it is critical that you approach law school in a way that will help you get started on the right foot, manage your time well.
Here are five tips to starting law school off right.
Buy all your books: Believe it or not I have had some students who think they don’t need to purchase books or who think they can share books with another person. Nope, that is what those school loans are for. Buy your books.
Don’t buy supplements — yet: There is an entire section of the bookstore with supplements or commercial outlines. It is tempting to just go in and buy a huge stack of supplements. That isn’t the best idea for a number of reasons.
You don’t at this point know what sort of help you will need. Some supplements are organized around outlines of the law. Some are in a lecture format (examples and explanations) and some are strictly to help you practice multiple-choice questions. Hold off on buying supplements until you have a clearer understanding of the help or clarification you need. See if your professor recommends any supplements or talk to students who may have taken the class before. Some supplements align more closely with some professors’ take on the law. Remember, the bookstore isn’t going anywhere. You can come back and buy supplements later.
Think about organization: You are going to have a ton of class notes, reading notes, and handouts from professors. How are you going to organize your materials? Are you going to have a binder for each class? Are you going to type out class notes and briefs? Do you have a professor that does not allow computers in the classroom? These are important things to ask yourself. If you go into classes with an organizational structure, you can continue to mold it into the best format for your classes. But going in without an organizational plan is a very bad idea.
Schedule, schedule, schedule: You must, and I repeat, must, have a calendar and a schedule. Do not try to keep your class schedule, study schedule, group meetings, etc., in your head. Your head is going to be spinning with the information you are learning the first few weeks. You need a good calendar that shows when you are in class and when you have study time. And you need to block out those hours of study time to make sure you have enough of them. And don’t forget to schedule in “life” items like exercising, eating, and seeing friends and significant others. That is important too. It can be on paper or it can be on your computer. Doesn’t matter, it just needs to exist.
Make a to-do list: You must have a to-do list. This is the only way you can keep track of all of your assignments and other homework. This list needs to be something you work on every day. It should be somewhere close to your calendar. You want to constantly update it and, my favorite part, cross things off when they are complete. Keep track of it on paper, or use a great program like Teux Deux.
Think of law school as a job, but you are your own boss. Taking these tips into consideration heading into your first week will help make sure you are ready to tackle your first semester of law school. Good luck!
Eugene Kim
Great post, Lee. I will pass it along to my students.