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.

Preparing for the LSAT

[Please see my original post here.]

We can argue about the merits of using a test score to determine whether an individual has the aptitude for law school. We can argue until December or February or June or September but if you want to go to law school you're going to take that test. And the LSAT is not an easy test. It's long and it's created to be challenging and it uses both sides of the test-taker's brain, sometimes simultaneously. If you want to take it only once, and you want to get into the law school of your choice, and you want to maybe earn a scholarship, you probably want to be ready on test day.

So you've made the choice. You've signed up for the LSAT. You've got your ticket. You know where your testing center is and now maybe you're just going to wait. If that's what you want to do, that's fine. You don't need to keep reading here. But if you're as worried as I was about taking the LSAT, you probably want to do something to get ready. My score wasn't as chart-topping but it was high enough to get me to law school and I did well enough on the LSAT that I didn't take it again. I'm obviously not an expert, and I certainly didn't ace the test, but I can tell you what I did that seemed to work for me.

So what do you do now?

Buy a book. Seriously; go to a bookstore and buy an LSAT prep book. Or two. When you're in law school you're going to spend thousands of dollars on books. You're going to spend tens of thousands of dollars on tuition. You're going to pay for study aids and student bar association dues and you're going to pay to prepare for and take the bar exam. If you don't do well on your first go at the LSAT, you will probably pay to take it again. Just spend the $20 and get an LSAT prep book. The people who write the books are not trying to rob you; they're trying to help you.

Now use the book. First read the chapters about how to approach the exam as a whole and each section individually. Treasure the tips and memorize them. I swear: they will make a difference when you take the exam.

Now practice. Work the untimed practice sections and check your answers. Use the margins of the page to do your work; you probably won't get scrap paper when you take the exam. Work all of the practice questions. Watch yourself get better and faster at answering them.

Then start taking full practice exams. Time yourself, sit in a quiet place, and take an entire practice exam in one go. Do you see how unprepared you are for this test? Don't worry about it; just keep practicing. Make another go at a practice exam, and another. Order the old LSATs from LSAC. When you receive them, use them. Take them from start to finish; time yourself and check your answers.

When test day comes, try to relax (but not completely. Having some adrenaline in your system will keep you alert. Adrenaline kept me going even through the last section, when my brain was exhausted.) Dress in layers and bring lots of sharp pencils and erasers. You'll do the best you can do, and that's the best you can hope for.

Preparing for Law School II

[Check out this post for updated info on how I prepared for law school.]

It's come to my attention (thanks, Google Analytics) that the keywords that most often bring people here are "preparing for law school." My previous post on the topic was entirely unhelpful. Trust me; I wish I had the answer. But since I want to serve my readers I thought I'd offer a short post on what I've done to prepare myself.

Most helpful was Andrew J. McClurg's book, 1L of a Ride. See my previous post. Some reassurance came with knowing a little bit about what to expect this fall. And I think I now have a sense of how hard it's going to be. (Of course I don't.)

I've also been reading law blogs (called blawgs). I recommend Bloglines for keeping up with blogs. Once you create an account you can read the highlights of each blog you follow through the main page. Check out Blawg Review and Above the Law to get started.

Other than that, I've been trying to do what most people recommend: take it easy and enjoy the last bit of simple life I'll have until I retire. I'm running and painting and messing around on Facebook. You know, doing all those things I won't have time to do once school starts.

Seriously, though; come back in November so I can give you a REAL answer. Meanwhile, take a look at "Fearfully Optimistic" and start writing.

Please see my original post here: http://lauramcwilliams.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/preparing-for-law-school-ii/
.
.
.
.

1L of a Ride

I'm reading Prof. Andrew J. McClurg's book, 1L of a Ride. The first year of law school seems incredibly intense and formidable but also quite exciting. I've been working a low-stress job for the last three years and I'm ready for some stress and intellectual rigor. Law school will certainly provide that. Law school will also turn my life into a ball of business, much crunch, and lots of urgency.

I think I'm looking forward to it. I think. Ask me again in three months.

Preparing for law school

I'm sorry if you came here looking for the answer to "how do I prepare for law school?" I don't have it. Yet. (Please check back around November-ish. I'll do my best you help you guys out. Or look here)(Update: check out the books I read in the summer before law school.)
I just googled "preparing for law school" myself and didn't find a whole lot of advice. So here's what I'm planning to do:

1. Stop reading about how attending a tier 4 law school is going to ruin me as a lawyer. I'm still attending the school. I turned down two decent tier 1s because my tier 4 offered a full-tuition scholarship. Obsessing about this choice won't get me very far now. (Note: reading about my abysmal chances of obtaining the job I want after tier-4 law school HAS opened my eyes to the fact that I'm going to work very, very hard for the next three years. It seems that that is the best, and perhaps only, way to mitigate the seemingly miserable reactions I'll earn by listing the school on my resume.)
2. Read. I've resumed daily reading of the New York Times. I have The Jurist bookmarked on both my work and home computers. I'm reading A Civil Action and plan to move next to a survey book on American History. (I fear that my undergraduate art degree didn't provide me with a background sufficient for law school.) If I see the phrase"The Supreme Court" anywhere, in anything, in any context, I read as much of the surrounding text as I have time for. I'm reading law reviews that I often barely understand as practice for, well, reading things I barely understand.
3. Write. I'm tweeting and blogging and keeping a private journal. This is more writing than I've done since I worked as a freelance art critic three years ago and is intended to sharpen my writing skills and vocabulary.
4. Turn off the television. I just this morning read an article in The Times that quoted William James: “My experience is what I agree to attend to.” I don't want to remember this summer by the episodes of NCIS I hardly watched. It's better, I think, to prepare my mind for focusing on one difficult task than it is to use a t.v. for passing time. I pass enough time at work.

I don't know whether any of this can really prepare me for what I know will be an excruciatingly difficult first year and two rigorous years after that. I do know that busying myself with law school preparation keeps me from reading those nasty discussion posts about my tier 4 decision.



Footnote: After careful consideration I settled on this history book: Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. I'll keep you informed.