Entering into law school, I was warned by countless attorneys about the
intense grind of the first year. They warned against the dangers of a
lack of sleep, organization, and not keeping a healthy diet. It all went
in one ear, and out the other. Indeed, I remember telling myself, “hey,
undergrad was a breeze, I’ll just utilize my same study habits and
methods whilst in law school- it worked for me then, it should work for
me now.” FAIL.
As I progressed through my first semester in law school, I
realized I had been tackling this behemoth of a task completely
inefficiently, and, quite honestly, pathetically. By the end of the
semester, during finals week, I found myself staring blankly at what was
my finals schedule, desperately trying to come up with a reason as to
why, after weeks and weeks of preparation, I felt so…unprepared. All
things being said, I rose up from that humbling experience, and swore to
become more efficient as a law student.
The following five mistakes are those that I committed during my
first semester of law school. I list them so that aspiring law students
acknowledge them and avoid such simple, yet greatly impactful, success
stoppers. They will by no means ensure scholastic success, but they will
at the least help alleviate or prevent the helpless feeling of being
underprepared when finals finally roll around.
5. Do not accept every invite to social functions: this
includes “quick” in-between class lunch breaks; dinners, or drinks
nights .
It is not until your law school orientation that you realize how social
law school actually is. In fact, if there is one thing I learned during
my first semester, is that the field of law is essentially comprised of
one large web of social networki connections. Do not fall into the
practice of accepting the invites of all of your new found friends to
social functions and justifying by saying, “it will only take an hour or
two”, as it will distract you from your class preparation and will
ultimately find your self in class with a blank stare as your professor
explains the Battle of the Forms and RS 347.
4. Do not just ‘read’ the cases.
Initially, I found myself simply reading through the cases that
professors assigned in preparation for class. And by reading, I mean
scanning. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until about the end of the first
month that I realized that in law school, you essentially teach yourself
through your reading of assignments. Professors ultimately only clarify
certain concepts, and for the most part, you rely on the rules of law
conveyed from each case form which you will piece together the entire
concept of a field, such as Contracts or Civil Procedure. Take the time
to actually comprehend what you read, and not simply dash through to the
finish line.
3. If using a laptop to take class notes, do not activate an instant messenger program to function during class.
After buying my MacBook Air, I had officially joined the ranks of a law
student. It’s incredible- a law class is essentially one large tree
composed of tiny white apples lighting the room, which means that every
one has instant messenger, which means that anyone can contact you, at
any time… The message warning will pop up on you screen, to which you
will naturally pay attention to and in the process happen to miss the
entire conversation about a crucial rule of law pertaining to the
subject matter you were supposed to be learning for the final exam.
Considering you pay over $400 an hour to sit in class, even missing out
on 5 minutes of lecture is too rich for my blood. Messaging in class,
and looking at face book is a way to easy and effective way of
guaranteeing severe gaps in your class notes, and ultimately, your final
exam outline.
2. Do not begin preparing your class outlines until a couple of weeks into the course.
Speaking of outlines, start them early! What are outlines you say? Well,
lets just say they will become your golden ticket to your success in
law school. You will have piles of class and reading notes, all of which
will, hopefully, end up being condensed into one succinct packet of
crucial notes form which you will study and grasp about 3 months worth
of material. They are the key, the map, to your success on the final.
So, do yourself a favor, and start them early! I made the mistake of
starting them well after half of the semester had gone by, and by the
end, I was scrambling to put them together. No joke, you cannot study
without an organized outline- don’t mess around, and make it a priority.
1. Do not simply save your notes on the laptop or desktop- back it all up! As Juvenile the rapper would say.
I took class notes and book notes. In fact, I had saved all these on my
personal desktop. I had roughly 500 pages of notes comprising three of
my doctrinal law courses. One week before one of my final exams, I
decided to pull up an outline to finalize it. Unbeknownst to me, I had
plugged the power chord of my computer to an outlet that was connected
to a switch on a wall. As I worked on my notes, my room mate came in,
and casually leaned on the switch, turning it off, along with my
computer. My computer didn’t like that. My 65 page outline was gone. The
computer rebooted, but without the outline. I had several days until my
final exam, and no outline to study from. It was by far one of the most
traumatic experiences of my life- one which I do not wish upon any law
student! So, if there is a lesson to be learned from all this, back up
your notes to at least two sources and avoid a catastrophe.
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