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 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/
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Review: 1L of a Ride

I just finished reading Andrew J. McClurg's book, 1L of a Ride. McClurg writes from this premise: You think you know how hard law school will be. You're wrong. And now you think you know. You're still wrong.

Then the book goes on to explain how to thrive in (or at least survive) the environment of law school. (Don't drink too much. Get enough rest. Brief your cases. Sit in the front row; use 3" binders for each class; buy a sturdy 3-hole-punch and use it religiously; use a medium-point pen if you write essays longhand.) Clearly the tips range from the general to specific.

The book finishes with actual comments from actual law students just finished with their first year of school but written before the final exams. One piece of student advice: "Don't work ALL of the time, only most of it." Another: Don't let yourself fall behind. "There is never enough time to get things done in law school, so what you think is free time, really isn't or shouldn't be." A third commentor felt full of "EXHAUSTION. I have reached a new level of mental exhaustion I did not know existed." Another commented that "I know I am exhausted, but can't feel it because I am under so much pressure and stress while preparing for exams."

The theme here? You think you know how hard law school will be. You're wrong. And now you think you know. You're still wrong.

Oddly,though, the book is reassuring. I'm now pretty sure that if I can just keep myself consistently, rigorously, efficiently, and diligently organized I will glide through my first year. Professor McClurg's credo is, in fact, CREDO. His characteristics of successful law students are these: Consistency; Rigor; Efficiency; Diligence; Organization. I am most of those things, so this might just work out for me.

And yet: You think you know how hard law school will be. You're wrong. And now you think you know. You're still wrong.

Ok, so 1l of a Ride doesn't offer to make the first year easy. It simply suggests ways to make it a tiny bit less difficult. And by describing various aspects of law school's first year, McClurg dissolves a bit of its mystique.

Also, it includes this great piece of student advice: "Drop the Ho-Ho's and back away from them. True, they whisper nice, sweet things in your ear, and call out to you in the middle of the night, but when you have to get all gussied up for your oral argument, you're going to look like a fat man in a little suit."

Good to know.