What should I be doing to prepare for law school?

[byebyeny]

warning: listening to random people online who claims to be top whatever percent of their class can lead to miserable first year experience. Do study. Do prepare. Do whatever it takes to learn the law. Understand the structure of law school. Most of the advice people give are 'common sense' that you already know, but won't help you at all once you get to law school, this is because law school demands many things from you that you might not have. Understanding this can take a long time, especially for those who are stubborn about their approach. Be humble, but be smart and selective about what you listen to. Don't listen to trashy advice. That's deadly.

[TheCause]

warning: listening to random people online who claims to be top whatever percent of their class can lead to miserable first year experience. Do study. Do prepare. Do whatever it takes to learn the law. Understand the structure of law school. Most of the advice people give are 'common sense' that you already know, but won't help you at all once you get to law school, this is because law school demands many things from you that you might not have. Understanding this can take a long time, especially for those who are stubborn about their approach. Be humble, but be smart and selective about what you listen to. Don't listen to trashy advice. That's deadly.

Yeah, this is probably true, which is why I said:

I don't know you (OP), so take my advice for what it's worth.

I don't think my advice was novel or outstanding, I just gave general advice.
Everyone is different, and that's why focusing on the basics (or "common sense") is a good strategy.

[Thane Messinger]

warning: listening to random people online who claims to be top whatever percent of their class can lead to miserable first year experience. Do study. Do prepare. Do whatever it takes to learn the law. Understand the structure of law school. Most of the advice people give are 'common sense' that you already know, but won't help you at all once you get to law school, this is because law school demands many things from you that you might not have. Understanding this can take a long time, especially for those who are stubborn about their approach. Be humble, but be smart and selective about what you listen to. Don't listen to trashy advice. That's deadly.

Sorry, all, for the delay in jumping back in.  [Cheering . . . ?!]

Many good and interesting comments in this thread, and excellent points, above.

Perhaps what might be best for the original poster and for lurkers is to consider psychology.  It's natural and flattering to state some version of "I didn't study and did great." or "I didn't get top xx%, but I didn't study and who cares anyway?"  It's most painful to take the opposite approach, and if one *does* study and still doesn't do well, that's doubly hurtful.

There are many, many things going on in law school, simultaneously and sometimes in conflict.  The key as an individual is to decide which ways to lean, and then to be consistent and careful in the approach.  There are many ways to study.  Unfortunately for law students, the patterns of study that worked before will not work in law school.  One reason is that these study habits really weren't all that good before; they were effective because you were at the top of the academic heap.  It shouldn't be surprising to state that that's no longer the case.  So, it should follow that "study" assumes far greater importance in a law school environment populated almost exclusively by the academic cream.

While I try (I really do!) to avoid too much in terms of "expert" advice, I thought I might share something as the connections between excellence (preparation, dedication, etc.) and result (grades, success) struck me while I was reading it.  

I just received a manuscript for the third book in Morten Lund's Jagged Rocks of Wisdom series.  (His first book is Jagged Rocks of Wisdom: Professional Advice for the New Attorney.  His second book is Jagged Rocks of Wisdom--The Memo: Mastering the Legal Memorandum.  Although they officially compete with mine, I like them so much I wrote forewords for both, and heartily endorse them.  You really should read them before you start your first law job (either clerkship or as a first-year associate.)  They will almost certainly help in your first years.]

Morten is all the things one would read of a legal star:  Yale Law School, partner at a national firm, and a shockingly nice guy.  (Although you might not guess that from the tone in his books.)

His third book is on negotation.  Aside from being insightful, it struck me that his book models what "thinking like a lawyer" is all about.  His sentences are direct, almost abrupt.  His message is precise, almost surgical.  As to the substance, he doesn't care whether you like it or not: this is the truth from his side of the table, learned after many years of experience and missteps, so take it or leave it.  I encourage you to take it.

(Among other reasons, it is a refreshing and honest change from the feel-good flap-doodle that passes for critique in grades K through 16.  (Yes, feel-good flap-doodle is expected and good in K . . . as in Kindergarten . . . but not as one approaches Year 16.)  What's sad is that, when leaving the relatively protected worlds of college, law school is the first real shock for many, followed by the REAL shock of a senior partner with ungodly expectations and zero patience.  This is one reason firms are so strict about their grade expecations.)

If you've a chance, find a copy of Lund's book(s) in your library or Amazon, and see if you agree.  This is the sort of precision and concision that is expected of an attorney.  And it is the same type of thinking that is extremely helpful in law school.  (The Memo book is a must prior to your first job.  The first book, and mine, are a good way to get mentally set for that job.)

And . . . I hope this helps,

Thane.

PS:  As to certain other books for new lawyers, well, let's not go there.  = :  )

[Thane Messinger]

Here is a third thread with numerous points (including some going against me) that should be of use to the new law student.

Can't emphasize this enough:  it's not about "prepping" or "burning out too soon" or any of that.  Those are signs of bad habits, which abound in law school.  If you're doing law school right, it's not a chore, it's not (excessively) hard, and it is fun.

Best of luck to all,

Thane.

[Thane Messinger]

Can't emphasize this enough:  it's not about "prepping" or "burning out too soon" or any of that.  Those are signs of bad habits, which abound in law school.  If you're doing law school right, it's not a chore, it's not (excessively) hard, and it is fun.

For anyone who missed this in the other thread (and via the good folks at LSAC), here's a helfpul list:

http://www.lsac.org/pdfs/Resources-for-the-Prelaw-Candidate.pdf

[Posted here again because there are also resources of value to current law students and grads.]

[Cicero]

I read Law School Confidential before my 1L year, but I don't know how much it prepared me. I can tell you the 1st couple weeks felt like being tossed in the middle of a  forest and having to find my way back because you have to figure out how to read the cases, figure out how to study, do a ton of reading, stress about the Socratic method, etc. (plus I was doing a 4 hour per day commute the 1st 6 weeks). However, everyone in my section seemed to be lost at first. After the first 2-3 weeks, you start figuring it out. Then, at some point it all just clicks and you know what to do.

If I could do it over again, I would probably read some in the E & E's or Gilbert's, but not much. You don't want to get burned out before you start. If you want to do well in law school it will be a bit of a mental marathon, especially at the end of the semester, so you don't want to tire yourself out before you start.

[Thane Messinger]

I read Law School Confidential before my 1L year, but I don't know how much it prepared me. I can tell you the 1st couple weeks felt like being tossed in the middle of a  forest and having to find my way back because you have to figure out how to read the cases, figure out how to study, do a ton of reading, stress about the Socratic method, etc. (plus I was doing a 4 hour per day commute the 1st 6 weeks). However, everyone in my section seemed to be lost at first. After the first 2-3 weeks, you start figuring it out. Then, at some point it all just clicks and you know what to do.

Juleface & All -

I try not to comment negatively about other books--really I do--but this deserves some attention.  Your statement ought to be shocking: how can we read an "advice" book and still be lost in the first weeks?!  In any other context this would be malpractice, flat out.  Yet your experience is very much the norm.

The answer is that the conventional ways of thinking about ANY school (and which underlie much of the bad advice out there) are simply wrong for law school.  We hear over and over and over again that law school is "different," yet we seem to accept the same advice as if that's of course the only way to go.  Maybe we just have to run faster?  Massive note-talking, endless case-briefing, mindless color-coding.  Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Sorry for getting a bit riled, but I too read the conventional wisdom.  Luckily for me I mostly disregarded it.  But many of my classmates did not, and the misery was just so palpable, sad, and completely unnecessary.  Sure, it was good for me (gradewise, anyway), but not really.  It was awful, and it need not have been.

Also, you might be a bit too charitable, as it doesn't click for everyone.  In my experience, many simply tune out, and "survival" replaces "success" as the overriding goal.  (Were this not the case, there wouldn't be nearly so much panic in the last weeks before finals, and a nearly complete lack of connection between how one thinks one did on a law exam and how one actually does.) 

To all, be very, very, very careful about any advice that mirrors the advice one gets in grade school through college. 

Thane.

[Cicero]

Yes, it would have been so much better and less stressful if I had known what to do to do well when I walked into law school. Law School Confidential was the book that the school had recommended and it had good reviews, so I bought it and read it. Part of the problem with it for me was the conflicting advice--the book would say to do one thing and the school would say to do the opposite. I ended up doing what the school said over what the book said. Another thing that I did was to try to incorporate a number of different ways of studying, hoping that 1 of them would stick and help me on the finals. I briefed everything, typed up notes from the books (typing/writing helps me remember), took lots of notes in class, made my own note cards for all of my classes, made my own outlines, did Cali exercises, consulted the supplements like E&E for outlines or whenever I was confused, did lots of practice essays, used the Law in a Flash cards, used Q&A, etc. (I also had to be make sure that I wasn't teaching myself something that went the opposite way of what a prof said--ex: 1 prof said transferred intent only applied to assault and battery, but all of my other resources said that wasn't true.) Anyway, I'm sure that was overkill, but I continued most of these study practices the 2nd semester. This method of combining many different ways of learning the material and testing my knowledge of the material has worked very well for me. By working so hard, law school did click for me.  I do agree that it didn't seem to click for some people in the class, but it generally didn't seem like those people tried very hard.  On the other hand, there were some people in the class who worked very hard, and for whatever reason, it was not reflected in their grades. (So I guess it didn't click that well for them either.)

[bigs5068]

I found a website that has HELPED ME SO MUCH!!! It is called ecasebriefs.com it has case briefs keyed to each book and multiple choice questions & outlines. Cali Lessons are also amazing and I did not know about either of these things until second semester and my rank skyrocketed using them. They are just so helpful.

I am sure there are books that help us all, but those two things I found to be lifesavers.

[Cicero]

Yes, CALI is awesome (except for studying Civ Pro).

I was thinking about another thing you can do to prepare for LS. You could watch Law School Musical on youtube (just a couple minutes long).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8ABhatAfsA

It won't mean that much to you until you've finished your 1st semester, and a lot of people say 1st year. It is kind of a downer's look at LS, but it is more and more hilarious the more you can relate to it. There are days in LS that everyone feels like the guy in the video.

(There are a lot of other funny LS videos on youtube you can look at when you need a study break--Boalt Torts shuffle, Barbri Girl, etc.)