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Wondering what to know before 1L? Today our new law school correspondent, Nicole, is sharing the things she wishes she had known about before going to law school. Readers who've been to law school, we'd love your thoughts — what things do you wish you had known before 1L year?
(A note from Kat: I'm pleased to welcome Nicole to the blog today! She'll be our new law school correspondent — she's graduating from a Midwest law school in May 2021 (congrats, Nicole!) and gearing up for life in Biglaw. Welcome to the blog, Nicole! Readers, what other topics do you think we should cover in our occasional law school series?)
You're not supposed to know everything right away
Law school administrators and upperclassmen are deliberately not telling you certain things as to not overwhelm you the first couple of months of law school. Things such as outlining, journal write-on, OCI, and clerkships will be explained in time. Some other students will know lots of details about these things, but you don't need to know it yet!
Try not to let things you specifically haven't been told about yet stress you out. Everything will be explained when you need to know about it, and you won't waste time worrying.
Avoid (for the most part) asking hypotheticals
If you find yourself wondering about something that's slightly off-topic (but still relevant), go to office hours! Don't waste class time on hypotheticals. I promise you will not impress your professor in class with your creativity (they have heard it all), and you will end up suffering in the end because it wastes time.
Typically in law school there is a certain amount of material you have to get through, and asking irrelevant questions uses up the time the professor could spend explaining concepts. “Hypos” are for office hours since they are specifically for your understanding of the material rather than for everyone.
{related: How to Prepare for Law School}
Answer only answer the question asked
I can't even count the number of cold calls that have been derailed because people answer the question correctly — then keep talking. Try to just answer the narrow question asked and then stop. Your law school professors are experts in these subjects, and the more you talk, the more opportunity you have to get tripped up. Worry about impressing your professor on the exam where it matters and when you have a more complete understanding of the material.
Readers who've been to law school, we'd love your thoughts — what things do you wish you had known before 1L year? (What other topics should we cover in our occasional law school series?)
Sloan Sabbith
Good advice, especially that you’ll find out what you need to know when you need to know. I’d add:
– If you got through high school and college without much difficulty, you might have more of a challenge in law school than you expected. Don’t let it get you down- especially if your first quarter/semester grades aren’t as good as you would have liked. You figure it out over time.
– Figure out a routine that works for you. You’ll probably re-structure it over time, but for at least the first few months, set a routine. In addition to studying, make sure it includes time to work out or at least be active outside, time to eat, time to relax, and enough time to sleep. WIthout those four things, you will not be a good student. I wish I’d figured that out before I graduated. ;)
– Remember that everyone is going through the same thing. It’s very, very unlikely that another guy in your secttion “educating” you about the law understands it much better than you do, if at all. Feel free to ignore him. Also, don’t talk about finals with people. There’s really no reason to do a post-mortem on something you can’t do anything about except worry you missed something.
– Take what classes you want to take. Don’t take anything you do not care about JUST for the bar. Bar prep teaches you what you need to know. Even if they’re not required I’d take admin (not a bar exam topic on the UBE but helpful), criminal procedure (although I didn’t, I wish I had) and evidence in addition to the 1L core classes, as well as at least one upper level writing class.
– Externships and clinics are the way you figure out what you want to do, so do them. I would not take classes your 1L summer- that’s the summer you can do pretty much anything without being locked into a “track” like 2L summer. Work for legal aid! Work for the ACLU! Clerk for a judge! Go to the Hague! Intern in DC! Do whatever interests you. I would never have gone into the job I ended up with without my 1L summer internship, which I had only a nominal interest in before I started.
Anonymous
Buy the hornbook for all your classes. Read it first.
And it’s not too late to drop out and do something other than law…
Anone
Seriously, DON‘T GO
EB
Do some extracurriculars, have fun, and make lots of friends. You’ll likely know some of them the rest of your life. Even in a big state, the legal community is a small world. And one day, they’ll be the General Counsel of a potential client. Or something.
Get off social media and the internet and just buckle down. There’s no comparison for hard work, especially in law. If you can focus while you’re supposed to be focusing, there will definitely be time to relax and have fun too. (Also, even though I can type this out right now, I STILL suck at it. I have to leave my phone on the other side of the room. And, here I am, commenting on this thread.) But seriously, I cannot stress this enough. In a world where you’re expected to perform billable work for X hours per day, it behooves you to teach yourself how to get that done in as short a period as time, so you can go do other fun things.
Don’t take it all TOO seriously. Some people in law school were horrible–catty and competitive, and I promise the rest of us remember. The legal profession takes congeniality seriously, and that starts with sharing your outlines.
Midori
All of this.
Anon
Concisely explain your reasoning when answering questions. “The decision in X stated that the facts only applied because of the plaintiff’s unusual circumstances, which are not present in the hypothetical. Therefore, the fact pattern is most similar to Y, which would mean that the defendant would likely prevail.”
Do not fall behind. Even if your early outlines are a hash, even if the reading material is a slog, keep up with your work. It is nearly impossible to catch up.
Peach
– Pick some areas of law that interest you, and talk to lawyers who practice in those areas before you go to law school. Ideally, try to buy them lunch. They are doing you a favor by talking to you. Make it worth their while. Ask what they like and what they don’t like about the area of law they practice. What would they have done differently in law school? Do they know of any interesting internships in the area you might want to check out?
– Not all legal jobs pay a lot of money. Be sure to research what is a reasonable amount of debt to take on.
– Once you get your outline together with the “rules” and exceptions, start early in the semester to memorize them. I took my outline (or flash cards I made) to the gym and went through them while working out on a stationery bike as a regular practice, and it helped me so much.
– Law School Confidential is a great book
Baby Weight
1. Do you love doing homework under tight deadlines and want to do homework under tight deadlines for your entire work life?
2. Look at how much you’re borrowing. Do you still really want to go or could do any other job to meet your goals?
3. Do you understand that school and the profession are a pie eating contest and the winner gets more pie?
signed, a reasonably happy BigLaw attorney
Cat
-The higher ranked the school you go to, the less your class rank matters or whether you get onto law review or a ‘lesser’ journal. Getting BigLaw interviews at a T14 is easy, so unless you want absolutely top grades for a future career in academia or the Supreme Court, people were generally collegial and cooperative (lending notes, passing around prior detailed study guides, etc). At a lower ranked school, the firms may say they’ll only interview those in the top 10-25% of the class. This makes competition at lower ranked schools absolutely awful in comparison.
-If you focus during the day (basically treat school as a full time job) then you can still have a life. Don’t forget the connections-making part of school. Eventually this will be a built-in network of other firms and in-house or government positions.
-Take a mix of ‘responsible’ classes and those that just interest you for fun or curiosity. Pay attention to the dates of finals when choosing and whether it’s an exam or paper.
-If you are considering taking out a lot of loans for a lower-ranked school seriously, seriously reconsider your choice.
Midwest lawyer
I took out a lot of student loans to go to “lesser” read lower-ranked law school. I graduated at the end of the Great Recession and the job market was awful. Couldn’t get a job at a respectable firm despite graduating with honors and passing the bar. Ended up on a totally different job track and not sad about it. Going to law school changed my professional life for the better. That said, I worked before law school and applied the concept of working full time to 1L and beyond. Tricks I used: always come to class having done the reading, use Wikipedia as a resource for cases, Wex Law as the go-to dictionary. First semester gunners often shut up second semester once grades get posted. No one really knows what’s going on. There is a special place in heaven for professors who post sample exams. Some people do well in law school because it’s easy for them. Others do well because they work really hard. I was in that second camp. Some work hard and never have the grades to show for it. If classes give you points for class participation, take them up on the offer. I’m sure that boosted my grades over time. Good luck!