Preparing for Law School III

Please see my original post here.

Mailing the seat deposit to my chosen school was the final act.

I had spent months preparing for the Law School Admissions Test, weeks on my application essay. I laid out my acceptance letters and compared the financial aid packages. I'd finished everything. LSAT; FAFSA; LORs to LSAC; it was all done. After a year of balancing sequential pieces of the law school application process, I'd arrived at a sudden lull. This waiting business was no good.

Lots of websites told me that I didn't have to do anything except enjoy my last free summer. Much of the internet, in fact, told me that I couldn't do anything to prepare for law school. That advice wasn't true. I did some things to get ready that did help me transition to law school.

I read a really great book: 1L of a Ride: A Well-Traveled Professor's Roadmap to Success in the First Year of Law School, ISBN: 978-0-314-19483-1, by Andrew J. McClurg. If you're going to read one prep book, read this one. (See my review here.) Professor McClurg offers lots of really fantastic practical tips about how to be an effective student. Of all the tips offered in 1L of a Ride, the one that I'd swear by most is this: "[K]eep all of your course materials together in one place. [...] One efficient...way to do it is by putting all your materials for each course into a separate three-ring binder notebook." (McClurg, p. 167.) If you keep all of your notes on your laptop, you may only need one binder for all of your materials (but for the love of god, back up everything!). If you need to see things on paper, as I do, or you take your notes longhand, a binder is a great way of staying organized. Some of my classmates keep notes in spiral notebooks and some students just keep everything in a folder. I swear by my three-ring binders. (And in the beginning you're going to think you don't need the three-inch binder that McClurg recommends. Like nearly all first week first impressions, you're wrong.)

I then moved on to Succeeding in Law School, ISBN 1-59460-189-5, by Herbert N. Ramy. Professor Ramy's book has more specific academic advice, which isn't surprising since he's the director of his university's Academic Support Program. Succeeding in Law School has actual practice exercises: try out writing a case brief; answer some multiple choice questions; change some hypotheticals. If you're going to read two books; grab this one. It's a really good second preparation book; we're moving from general to specific here.

The third book I read is 1000 Days to the Bar: But the Practice of Law begins Now, ISBN 0-8377-3726-5, by Dennis J. Tonsing. As with anything, take Profesor Tonsing's advice with a grain of salt. His book is the most specific of the three books I read and therefore quite helpful in the awful waiting-game days just before the start of the semester, but don't let Tonsing scare you. His proscription of laughter in the classroom is unwarranted. It's true that you should never laugh at a student who is struggling, but it's completely false to say that "smiles are usually the most appropriate responses to the humorous professorial comment." (Tonsing, p. 46.) It's also not true that "humorous remarks made by fellow students...are often out of place." Id. Law is a serious profession but the law school classroom is probably the place where I laugh the most. Students do often make funny and completely appropriate jokes. Also--surprise!--your professor may be one of the wittiest people you meet in school. Class isn't comedy hour but there is room for laughter when it's appropriate (and you'll know when it's appropriate).

Now, in the summer before law school try to cram in as much of the things you really enjoy as possible. If you're a reader, grab some fiction. (I re-read the entire Harry Potter series.) If you're a runner, train for a last race. You're about to become very, very busy and your past life will almost completely drop away from you in spite of your best intentions. Try to relax. Law school is hard but not impossible. The admissions committee believes you can do this and you'll do well to start believing them ASAP.