Starting to study for next Fall?

[mnewboldc]

Thanks much for your comments.

In general, what sort of background(s) did the pundits on this thread have before entering? I'm hoping to be able to relate study to the pair of jobs I've previously held in law firms, and the three pre-law classes I took in undergrad. I've also been out of school for 4 years, and am worried that I'll need a little more of a running start than someone coming straight from undergrad/grad school.

Is reading and relating (the latter of which hasn't been comprehensive by any means) fundamentally leading in the wrong direction, or is it to be dismissed simply because of its inefficiency? Lawyers bill in 5-minute increments, after all, and there are better ways to spend the summer.

[scooby21322]

I came straight out of undergrad.  If by relating to jobs you've had, you can get by by doing the 8-5 approach.  However, there are times that I wouldn't recommend it.  I'd say there are some days when you can do only a couple of hours of reading and be prepared for class the next day, and there are other days when there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day to even get done.  I don't think there's a formula.  You just have to go with what your personality requires. 

Reading cases and such is what you'll do in law school.  I guess it's in the right direction, but it is very inefficient.  The way law school goes is like any class in undergrad.  There is a unit.  That unit has subunits.  The cases you read will apply whatever law you're learning about to real facts.  However, the difficulty is that you don't know which subjects each individual professor will cover in a particular semester.  Honestly, I don't think preparing for classes like Contracts, Property, Civ Pro, Torts, etc. will help.  Your professors will beat those subjects to do death anyway. 

If it makes people feel any better, law school isn't hard, it's just a lot of work.  Conceptually, most of the time law school seems logical.  To do well, just put in the time once you've started.

[mnewboldc]

thanks!

[UMKb]

OK - I'm not so worried about doing any prep regarding course material for 1L classes, but the two things that worry me are that I'm a pretty slow reader and don't have a lot of experience with outlining/briefing.

Any suggestions?

[Harsh Reality]

It's worth doing these pre-law school programs.  Any edge you can get over your competition will pay off.  If you don't figure out how to outline until a month into the semester, the smart student who knew how to outline properly from day 1 already has the edge on you and you won't make it up for lost time.  The smart student will exponentially improve while you struggle and hover around mediocrity. 

The students that hit the ground running on day 1 never looked back while the average student never catches up in law school and in life.

[jsb221]

I never took any of the prep courses, so I can't speak to their effectiveness. A few of my classmates did, and some of them say it benefited them, others said it was useless.
As for learning to brief, I agree it is probably the most valuable thing you will need to know, particularly first semester. At my school, at orientation, we did a briefing section. Up until that point, I had no idea what I was doing. I followed what they said, but tweaked it somewhat by making it my own, and apparently it paid off as far as my grades. As the semester goes on, you'll get quicker at briefing. Personally, I was afraid because everyone said briefing takes so long. I didn't find it took me so long to do it and I always seemed to pull the rules out of the cases as the prof wanted us to. Good luck.

[Alecto]

It's worth doing these pre-law school programs.  Any edge you can get over your competition will pay off.  If you don't figure out how to outline until a month into the semester, the smart student who knew how to outline properly from day 1 already has the edge on you and you won't make it up for lost time.  The smart student will exponentially improve while you struggle and hover around mediocrity. 

The students that hit the ground running on day 1 never looked back while the average student never catches up in law school and in life.

I have read a lot of posters on this forum that have said all the outlining and briefing didn't really help them at all.  I mean, I'm a 0L, so I don't have any experience, but I also don't think you're going to always be playing catch-up if you don't use a prep class.