What are the top 5 tips you would give an incoming 1L?` Forum

[aliarrow]

For those of you 1Ls who compiled information about where you might apply to work for 1L summer, where are you getting the information from (specifically for judges and firms), if you would be so kind to share?

I'm a 0L, but I've already started compiling info so hopefully you don't mind me sharing -

For judges you really just have to go on the circuit websites or whatever other original sources. It isn't too bad though.

To get you started:
Federal Court of Appeals Judges
US Court of Appeals for 2nd Circuit (NY)
9th Federal Circuit (West Coast)
New York State Supreme Court

To add to what TTH said - On the Nalp Directory if you go to Advanced Search you can actually filter out firms that hire 1Ls
Other than that just use Martindale to find medium or small sized firms, this is more of a crap shoot since you don't know if they actually hire 1Ls.

There are also quite a few Corporate legal internships that look interesting.
NBC Universal Legal Internship (LinkRemoved)
Directory of 1L Summer Jobs

Duke's CDC site has some good tips for finding a 1L summer job:
http://www.law.duke.edu/career/profdev/summer

[queenlizzie13]

I will be applying to places that my current company has a connection with and also utilizing NALP.

But will need to do some more digging for judges, etc.

[Calla Lily]

Thank you TTH and alia! It definitely can't hurt to start thinking about the different opportunities and what I could put in my cover letters that applies to them...though I am still totally uncertain at this point about what I will want to end up doing during my 1L summer. I appreciate the help!

[holeinone600]

since GTM seems to be the book of choice for 0L summer, anyone want to part with a copy? I'll pay for shipping and a fair price for the book itself

[Dany]

since GTM seems to be the book of choice for 0L summer, anyone want to part with a copy? I'll pay for shipping and a fair price for the book itself

Amazon?

[Curry]

since GTM seems to be the book of choice for 0L summer, anyone want to part with a copy? I'll pay for shipping and a fair price for the book itself

Amazon?

Download straight to Kindle!

[soaponarope]

since GTM seems to be the book of choice for 0L summer, anyone want to part with a copy? I'll pay for shipping and a fair price for the book itself

Before you buy the book check to see if your law school library has it in stock. (mine did).

[FGCUguy123]

.

[shepdawg]

I have compiled the information into 5 topics so far. I am still compiling the best tips for getting a summer job. Here's what I have so far:
--LinkRemoved--

[northwood]

thats a nice way to keep the info.. would you mind if i printed out a copy for myself?

[gokickrocks]

Awesome info in here. Thanks everyone!

[NYC Law]

I enjoyed this part

o Have sex regularly

[shepdawg]

thats a nice way to keep the info.. would you mind if i printed out a copy for myself?

I don't mind. I'd only be uneasy if you found a way to profit off of it, mostly because I haven't thought of a way to do so.

[cornellbeez]

1) Keep up with your work. I fell super far behind 2L year and never caught up with the material. It's really easy to miss a couple weeks of work and find yourself 500 pages behind.
2) Find a really, really good outline from a previous year and use that or work off that. I never learned that much from making my own outline, so I'd just work off others' outlines. You can work off those, too.
3) Do practice problems. I think I got semi-f'd in Civ Pro because I didn't do any practice problems at all.
4) Study groups can be beneficial for issue spotting essay exams. It's a time waster though for other types of exams. (I think I spent most of time just chatting with friends.)
5) Cold-calling means nothing. 2L year I looked like an idiot on almost every cold-call. 1L year I cared more, and tried, but most of the time, profs won't factor cold-calling into your grade.

Also, I think for me, taking notes on what I read helped a lot. I never "outlined," but I would take notes (at least 1L year) and it helped me learn all of the little stuff. And remember, reading cases thoroughly is a waste of time. Most of the time you just need the holding. (Some classes you need fact patterns, but this is rare.) I would pay attention to the notes in between the cases, and learn all the tidbits on those.

And finally, have a little fun. 1L year is scary because you don't know what to expect, but I honestly think a lot of people really over-hype law school.

[Naked Dude]

I googled CALI. Is this it or is it something else? http://www.cali.org/

[shepdawg]

I googled CALI. Is this it or is it something else? http://www.cali.org/

That's the correct site. Your school should have information for you to get your free account.

[xyzbca]

Once an exam is over don't talk to anybody about it. Seriously. Your exam is turned in and there is nothing you can do to change it. Figuring out which issue(s) you missed on the exam (and you will miss at least one issue) won't help you at all. The next exam is all that matters.

[NotMyRealName09]

Once an exam is over don't talk to anybody about it. Seriously. Your exam is turned in and there is nothing you can do to change it. Figuring out which issue(s) you missed on the exam (and you will miss at least one issue) won't help you at all. The next exam is all that matters.

This is very true. Moreover, the point you talk about with another student and realize you got wrong will overshadow the fact that that same student got something wrong that you got right. Just let the professor decide who is best.

[FantasticMrFox]

Awesome info in here. Thanks everyone!

[théo]

Awesome info in here. Thanks everyone!

[mi-chan17]

1) Study in whatever way feels right/best for you. I watched a lot of people needlessly expend a lot of energy worrying about how other people were studying for things or trying to emulate them. Don't do it. Everyone learns differently, so just focus on feels like it's working for you.

2) Treat school like a full-time job. This means you should go to class everyday and you should be devoting a significant portion of your week to school stuff. This also means that you should not devote ALL your time to law school.

3) Know yourself. I don't use my computer to take notes, not because it's a bad idea but because I have a short attention span and I KNOW that if I have my laptop out during class I will not be giving the class my full (or even partial) attention. Being aware of this is the primary reason I passed my classes.

4) Make your outline. Now, this doesn't have to be from scratch; there are plenty of people who can do really well by grabbing a good outline from someone else and tweaking it. But do put the effort into revising that other person's outline to make it yours. The reasoning behind making your own or revising one is mostly memorization; the more times you are forced to look at the material the better you will remember it. Remembering the law will cut down on how much time you need to spend looking for it during the exam and give you more time to actually apply it to facts.

5) If at all possible, get your graded/commented exams back from professors. It's obviously too late for that class by then, but there might be something you're doing that isn't working that is common to all exams. This is pretty much the only way you can get exam feedback, so take advantage of it.

[goodolgil]

To echo what some others have said here, do not worry during the first two months, especially during the first semester. This time is the most freedom you are ever going to enjoy as a law student, so take advantage of it. Of course, still do the reading, but beyond that any "extra" stuff you learn in this time you are just going to have to re-learn anyway. 1L classes only teach you a limited amount of material and you reach a point of diminishing returns by studying the same things over and over again.

Also, during finals time don't make a bunch of super-organized (tabbed, chaptered, etc...) study materials unless they're necessary for you--don't make them because others are making stuff like that. I frankly feel that a lot of people wasted time putting together elaborate tables of basic information that they already knew, instead of studying stuff that they actually didn't know.

Finally, if you're a person that needs to go out (as I am)--then go out, even during finals time. I got (semi) dirty looks for coming into morning classes at the end of the semester with a bunch of stamps on my hand, but I've always needed to go out to be sane. This is not to say don't study--I studied a lot during finals time. But if you're studying all day until midnight and feel like you need to go get a drink, go get it.

[ridleyroses]

1. Read all the relevant E&E books before the semester. It seems silly to me when people say that you shouldn't do this, because there will be so much work during the semester, and you'll burn out. The fact of the matter is there isn't all that much work during the semester if you're working efficiently and not being nuts/stupid about getting into fact patterns. Studying the topic in full before you learn it again would help tremendously, in my opinion. You'd give yourself a very solid background, and classes with particularly straight-forward teachers sometimes are literally quoting from books like gilberts, just to give you an idea of how useful the E&Es are.

[jjlaw]

Several people ITT have already mentioned "do what works for you", which is a tip I've heard outside of TLS as well. I was wondering if people could go into a more detail about what worked for them? I am just curious to see the different methods that people used. I've read MegaTTTron and Arrow's detailed advice about how they studied throughout the semester, but it would be great to see a little more of everyone's system that they used.

Did you use flashcards? Binders to organize topics? Combine your outline with other people's outlines throughout the semester to build a master outline? Did you read E&Es and supplements along with cases for each night of reading? Or did you just stick to cases and go to E&Es/supplements later in the semester? How did you juggle reading with legal writing assignments? Basically, it would be great if people could tell us what they did in detail the 1st half of the semester vs. the 2nd half of the semester.

[emorystud2010]

party.