Starting law school in the fall? Congrats

If you're starting law school in the fall and are (for whatever reason) looking for something to do this summer, here are my suggestions for what they are worth.

First, buy everything you can used or new from Amazon rather than your law school bookstore. At the end of the semester or the school year, you can sell them back through Amazon if you want- you'll save tons of money. If you are really business/tech savvy, you should learn how to do it, and your friends will want you to sell their books for them and pay you a fair 25-33% commission. You should get the books by sometime in August and you are, in most cases, buying them from other law students. Study guides (as explained below) can be bought at any time.

As far as a study routine your first year, I would outline Fridays until I was done, so I generally recommend to do the same, meaning outline on Fridays, or, as may be slightly more effective, to outline as you are finished on topics. The important thing is to keep up with it.

As far as volunteering in class, I think you'll get more from listening your first semester and for that matter, your first year. It will be obviously within the first few days of class who (and in some cases, there will be a group of ten) who constantly volunteer for everything. In my experience, these are the ones who don't usually walk the walk when it comes to grades. Of course, there's a time and a place. You should volunteer when appropriate. When it is your day to be called on, do your best and everybody will be glad it wasn't you. At a graduation party the other week, we were joking with the guy in our section who was called on the first day for Pennoyer v. Neff, but he did a good job explaining it.

I typed all my notes the first year and typed all my exams. I would definitely type all my exams and obviously do your outlines on your computer, but second year and third year, I handwrote all my notes. I feel i got a much better comprehension since i found it's much easier to type and not listen than to actively listen and write things down. I have successful friends who do both and obviously i have tried both and prefer writing - it's a matter of preference really. See what works for you by flipping a coin. I would stick with whatever method for at least a month though (in the beginning), if not the first semester altogether.

As far as finding a study group, that's sort of a matter of circumstance - chances are the library people who you will see most often will probably not be study group material until they realize you are smart, which won't happen until you grade on to the law review and are considering various other options. The secret is that anyone can do well in law school if you are willing to do the work, so with whatever group you wind up being a part of, just be the anal one in the group who forces everybody to meet on Sunday afternoons to go over stuff. By the first month, it will be so routine that you will all do well the first semester.

After the first year, your study group probably becomes more of a social group than anything else, but it's still good to have someone to talk to about stuff. You'd be surprised how much you bounce off of other people as far as coming up with odd scenarios and really digging into the material. In the end you have to learn the material yourself obviously, but it's good in the beginning to find a group of 2 or 3 (4 max plus yourself) who will ultimately be your closest law school friends. Of my study group, two graded on to law review, two wrote on, and we had 3 out of the top 10 in our graduating class, including the valedictorian, and the fourth was in the top 15. Anyone can do well if they are willing to put in the work.

Use the study guides for supplements. Read all you can, in depth, the first two weeks or month so you really get your head around the stuff since most of it is new. Glannons for Civ Pro and Torts is particularly great for supplemental reading. By mid-semester if not faster, and definitely by the second semester, you will have learned what and how you need to read.

My only other advice is to treat law school like a job - develop a routine and stick to it. If you have one or two tv shows to watch, you still can, just make that a reward. While I tend to watch a lot of tv now, I certainly didn't my first year. Work an 8-6 day six days a week and review with your study group either Saturday or Sunday afternoons. Follow this advice and you'll develop a routine that works for you, trust me. Learn the material and the final will be fair, tough, and you will do fine. Don't worry about the curve, if you work hard, you will be on the front end of it. If you're at a top ten school, you should be able to roll out of bed and beat half the people, which is really all you need. If you're at a lower tiered school, you need to work a little harder, but it's all the same.

If your grades wind up being less than you expect, that's fine also - you can still write onto the law reviews and what not and position yourself to succeed. If you don't do well, you should seriously consider cutting your losses because it may not be worth the debt for the job opportunities that present themselves afterwards. Again, this is a personal decision as well.

Yes, law school will be stressful, but you can manage it. You should do whatever doofy law school stuff they offer (e.g., Halloween parties, St. Patty's day parties, etc.) so you meet the rest of your class. Don't be the one who always volunteers, but like I said, take a stab at the softballs the profs lob to you since nobody else will. If you have a question, don't be afraid to ask it; I always felt stupid not asking things and relieved when someone asked the same question as me. You may develop the idea that your questions unfairly benefit the class, but that philosophy is a mistake - most people aren't paying attention. You should ask if you're confused or utilize office hours if you feel that more appropriate. There will be plenty of competitiveness, just rise above it and try not to contribute to it.

Presummer reads:
Law School Confidential. I highly recommended to read this book in the summer before you start. Lots of people will probably read this one but if you stick to their routine (and mine outlined below), you'll do fine. If you get only one book on this list, this is the one to get.

The Brethern. I think I bought this used for like five bucks.

One L. It's okay but law school (and Harvard) really isn't like that anymore. If you do read it (and it's not bad, I would also watch the movie The Paper Chase to get the opposite perspective on the same professor).

Acing Your First Year of Law School. I thought this was a good pre-orientation summary on how to brief stuff.

Getting to Maybe. This gives you a summary of how to take tests for law school - I found it somewhat useful. I had a friend who was on the verge of failing out, read it on my advice over spring break and graduated a couple of weeks ago. She studied a lot more also.

I also read "How to succeed in law school" and "Slaying the lawschool dragon" because someone gave them to me for free. They were okay but I wouldn't have bought them.

From Here to Economy. This is sort of an economics for dummies book, but i found the review of economic theory as a good backdrop for a lot of classes.

The point of all of this is that you need to get used to reading a lot because you will be doing more reading over the next three years than you ever had. Expect to either need glasses before you graduate or a stronger prescription.

Study guides:
Civ Pro: Civ Pro is like learning the rules to Monopoly without actually having ever played the game. Nevertheless, I would recommend Glannon's Civil Procedure book and Emmanuel's Civ Pro. The combination of the two got me an A. This is also the only Emmanuels book I would recommend, as I found Gilberts to be much more useful over my three year career.

Torts: Glannon's Law of Torts should be useful for about half the course depending on your professor. Gilbert's Torts book is a good supplement for the rest.

Property: I would get Gilbert's Property book although I hardly ever used it. Our professor had Sprankling as a supplement which was a great synopsis for much of the course.

Crim Law: I used Gilbert's and I got an A-. It was good enough.

Contracts: I bought Emmanuel's per Law School Confidential's recommendation but I would get the Gilbert one instead. I prefer Gilbert's over Emmanuel's because there are a lot more problems in the back of the book. Either one should be fine though. I would also recommend the example and explanation book for Contracts although I didn't use it. The two in our group that did got As in the course.

Con Law: There are two example and explanation books (Individual Rights and National Power) - I would get them both.

At the end of the semester, you may want to buy Siegel's multiple choice books (I have a couple of them) which are pretty good but you have to differentiate between what your professor taught and what the book gives as the answer. I suppose you have to do that for everything but I found that less of a problem during the semester with the Gilbert supplements and examples and explanations books than anything else.

Also, as far as what version to buy, the law (except for maybe constitutional law) hasn't really changed too much so you should get the cheapest versions you can find - the updated versions may be good for your ego, but for a fraction of the price, you can get the older version which is just as good. For textbooks, you usually don't have that luxury though, so I would get whatever version your prof assigns.

I bought a new laptop for law school. If you don't already have a PC laptop, I got a Dell, but as long as you have a built in wireless card (your school should tell you which one they recommend) and XP Pro, you should be fine. Some people have macs and they work fine also, but they aren't compatible with exam soft (although it depends on the school since I know the newer macs can run both platforms). I also bought a laser printer for under $175 (including shipping) and it didn't run out of ink until spring semester of my second year. You probably will have to buy a printer cable also - i would get one at least 6' (since my 3' has proven to be a pain in the ass most of the time).

Eventually you'll get access to Lexis Nexis and they have a bunch of commercial outlines to download, some of which are okay as supplements. The more useful outlines come from upper classman who have taken the course with that professor. I strongly recommend that you make your own outlines, however.

I think that's it. Good luck.

Tags: becoming a 1L, first year law school advice, new law student, law school, starting law school, law school summer reading, pre-law school books, law school study guides