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:

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 the digital age: 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!}

Update: Hunting for the best work backpacks? Some of our favorites in 2024 are below — see the full post for all the details!

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!

{related: our best on-campus interview tips and resources}

{related: what to wear to law school}

School Supplies for Law School

{related: the best office supplies to get for yourself}

Also, if you're a tax law student: bible highlighters will help you highlight the Tax Code without bleeding through. (You're welcome.)

{related: where to get cute office supplies}

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!)

Readers, what are your must-have school supplies for law school?