Prospective law school student seeking HELP!

[jvan2619]

Ivan-  I also am entering law school in the Fall and actually just bought the Civil Procedures E&E.  Like you, I haven't seen a real "con" to getting a jump on learning the terminology, etc.  I am already out of school and have a boring job that affords me a lot of time during the day to do so.

best of luck!

The school I will most likely attend actually has a summer intro course for entering 1Ls.  Anyone know about these and if they are worth it?

[duckasourus]

I would have to say overall reading before you start is a waste of time.  It is hard enough to remember a case you read a week in advance.  I would enjoy my last summer of freedom instead of wasting time.  I agree it may give you more confidence, but at the same time if you get nailed the first day all your confidence goes out the window.  Not only that you will begin to think I studyed all summer and didnt have a clue what the prof wanted, I am doomed, which is not true.  Before you start you have no idea how to go about reading a case and so your first time being called on will most likely not be pretty but its a learning curve.  So go enjoy your summer while you still can, oh and profs have been known to switch books at the last minute also.  If you really want to prep just practive briefing cases, but overall most if not all the reading will go to waste. 

[LostMyMonkeys]

I have to say that while it may be helpful in YOUR mind to get a head start, I think it can also backfire. I have seen paralegal after paralegal fail miserably in law school because they came in with preconcieved notions about "LAW". Being a paralegal is not being a lawyer without the JD. But they think because they know some terminilogy or can draft the right number of copies of a complaint, they are ahead of the game when in fact, all that stuff hinders them and makes them unable to let go of their past thoughts and learn what the professor is trying to teach them.

I think to some extent trying to read ahead in the summer is going to be counter productive in that same sense. Maybe not to the degree, but to a point. You are going to read this E and E (which I admit are the best thing since peanut butter and chocolate ice cream) but without any context, without any background, without purpose. Hell, they are sometimes difficult to understand when you are reading them in conjunction with your casebooks and classes. Without a frame of reference, or background that the professor gives you in class, how knowing what "promisorry estoppel" is in a vacume won't help you in the end and I think it will do more to confuse you, rather than help you. Because you will have read this great chapter on it and think you have an inkling of what it means, but without th eperspective of the classroom teaching and the casebooks, you will actually be pretty misguided, I think.

I see nothing wrong with wanting to familiarize yourself with the jargon and terminology and concepts prior to going, but once you walk in that door on the first day of 1L, EVERYONE is on the same bottom rung. It doesn't matter what you did in a previous life, or if you cured cancer, or worked as the paralegal for the top law firm in the country. The day you start law school, you are all equally as stupid.

[sdlaw]

If you really want to prepare for life as a law student you need to start building up your tolerance for drinking and be able to work with a hangover.  I agree that reading before summer is somewhat of a waste, also reading fast is not always a good thing because you can tend to miss small important details.  It is better to read a case slowly and pick up on all the small details, but you wont be able to know what to look for until you start so I say go have a drink.  Trust me everyone drinks in law school, I went to USD which is on your list, its Roman Catholic yet the dean throws a kegger every know and again (well the old dean did) and friday nights are law review nights which is a night at a bar with discounts for law students.

[dft]

prepping is a good idea. nuff said.

[LostMyMonkeys]

what bar was that? I was in San Diego for 12 years (undergrad and law school). I think I missed that bar!

[sdlaw]

They chose a different bar each week, and would get a group discount for all the law students.  So all the students would go to the same bar as eachother.  It changed each week though.

[LostMyMonkeys]

They chose a different bar each week, and would get a group discount for all the law students.  So all the students would go to the same bar as eachother.  It changed each week though.

Ah.. gotcha. We always just went to Kelly's in Old Town, since we could just walk

[majorporcupine]

I passed all my classes first semester.  My advice to you is to also attend Yale.  Failing that, there is an ancient Buddhist remedy that is very helpful in establishing the long-term concentration you will need at other schools.  Each morning, wake up before sunrise and greet the sun wearing only your underwear.  Dance the Happy People Dance and then rub coconut oil all over yourself.  I guarantee that this will bring you unlimited ecstacy, which is always helpful during lectures.  A lot of times people drop out of law school due to low levels of unlimited ecstacy, so heed my advice.

[LostMyMonkeys]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.  I'm not sure what to make of all the suggestions because they have been conflicting.  One post, in particular...

I have to say that while it may be helpful in YOUR mind to get a head start, I think it can also backfire. I have seen paralegal after paralegal fail miserably in law school because they came in with preconcieved notions about "LAW".

... scares the Hell out of me because I just got a job as a paralegal!  Well, it's only a 5-month stint so i'll try not to internalize the procedures too much (newayz, the pay is great so I'd be foolish to pass it up).

But, one thing I will point out is that I am not planning on studying the materials as if finals are right around the corner.  However, I most certainly want to familiarize myself with the terminology, basic concepts, and black letter law.  I can't imagine that learning the general principles will circumvent my studies later on.  (isn't circumvent a legal term? lol) 

Also,

If you really want to prepare for life as a law student you need to start building up your tolerance for drinking and be able to work with a hangover.  I say go have a drink. 

the tolerance/drinking thing has been covered long, long ago.  I only wish this was a part of my Torts final 

Ok, when I am talking about the paralegals, I am talking about the ones who fell into the job after high school out aof a lack of anything better to do and stayed with it for 10+ years and now because they feel they are equally as smart as lawyers, only without the JD behind their name, they are going to cruise through law school, knock it out of the way and go to their 'guaranteed' job at their firm after graduation. If you get a job as a paralegal after you decided you wanted to go to law school, and have only been doing it for less than (10) years... I think you are going to be just fine. You won't have that same mentality. I am not knocking paralegals, they are certainly useful and good at what they do, (hell I was one for a while in between law school gigs), but there is an entire camp of them who beleives that because they have been a paralegal since God was a kid, that they 'know' the law and quite frankly, the paralegal world and the law school world are not even in the same galaxy, let alone on the same planet.
I think you will be just fine (and if you do end up in San Diego, you will have plently of drinking spots to keep you sane.. and balanced!)

But for god's sake, Nick.. don't get caught up reading this BS now... you have plenty of time and reading ahead of you. Read a novel or 8, take a vacation, read a newspaper, take a tour of the budweiser factory.. all things you can't do once you start school. Oh, for the day I can read a novel for fun!! (I'll be damned if I don't finish "Wicked" before I graduate!)