Must-Have School Supplies for Law School

Here’s a fun topic for all the would-be lawyers and recent law school grads out there: what are your must-have school supplies for law school?

We’ve talked about a ton of law school-related things, including putting together a guide to law school resources for women, rounding up the best blogs for women law students, and even answering reader questions about what to wear to law school. That said, I don’t think we’ve talked about the best school supplies for law school!

Here are some of the things I would recommend that new law students stock up on for school:

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Bags for Law School: What to Carry to Class and OCI Interviews

Don’t kill your back — as we all know, law school books can be crazy heavy. I don’t recommend this for first-year students, but — sometimes, in law school, if I knew that there was only one or two decisions we’d be discussing in class, I would just print them out from Westlaw and bring the printouts with me.

(An idea for 2020: you could also just upload the cases into a digital journaling app, like Good Notes — that way you can still highlight and scribble notes on it as you go through class. Here are all of my tips for digital journaling.)

In any event, a laptop backpack is probably your best bet — these are some of our favorites if you’re looking for something polished enough that you can use during internships and summer associate events:

{related: here are all of our resources for summer associates!}

Stylish backpacks for work, pictured below: one / two / three / four (also, #5 and #6: not pictured but great!)

Of course, for interviews you may want to consider a simpler tote bag — depending on your system with casebooks you could also get one of these. If you’re going to want a rolling backpack for class (like these), look for a tote bag with a travel sleeve, like the ones from Lo & Sons — the travel sleeve really makes a huge difference!

Above, some of the best work totes for women in 2021: one / two / three / four / five / six (not pictured but also Tumi and Dagne Dover!)

{related: what to wear to law school}

School Supplies for Law School

Some of the favorite pens and other writing utensils that readers have mentioned in the past include these…

As I’ve noted in the past, I love using pretty file folders… These can be hard to find online, but Target’s a good spot to look them (like the ones below from brands like Barker Creek and UBrands). (While you’re there, readers have also noted they love their Blue Sky planners!)

Random Other Must-Have School Supplies for Law School

Psst — check out all of our must-have school supplies for law school; some of the more random things are below (see the post for the fuller explanations!):

Some of my must-have school supplies for law school included a lot of things that are also great for business travel, including:

An extra wall tap so you can “share” outlets without fighting
a extra long charging cord for your phone, like these lightning chargers — a mobile charger with a USB tap is great also!
noise canceling headphones (great for airplanes AND law school libraries!) (Nordstrom also has them if you have Nordstrom Notes to use or want to do a Triple-Point day!)
velcro ties and cosmetics bags (control your cords!)
a lightweight, bluetooth keyboard can help you take electronic notes without lugging a laptop around — if you’re working with tight desk space (such as on an airplane or train tray) I actually prefer to use my bluetooth keyboard instead of a laptop or Chromebook (or, fwiw, my Apple keyboard)
an iPad (if you want to try to mark up cases and docs with digital journaling tools) or Kindle (less mark-up capability, but you can always send lengthy documents to your Kindle to save your eyes)
an Apple pencil or dupe (I have no complaints on this $27 one!)
(I also made major use of hornbooks like Glannon’s during law school (and even while during my pre-1L summer, dork that I am!)