Outlining Forum

[Rock Chalk]

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[kalvano]

So if I am used to a job working 60-70 hours a week, will I have more or less free time in law school?

This depends on how much time you choose to put in. You can put in less, or more. That's entirely up to you.

Thanks for that very lawyer-like response.

It's been said many, many times on this forum, but how well you do in law school and how many hours you put in has an extremely low correlation. For some people putting in more time will be necessary to do well, for others it won't help at all. Some people do well even while putting in only a small amount of time each week. So there's really no guide for how many hours you need to put in, it really does depend on you.

So I'm taking the right path by waiting to see what law school is like and not really worrying about it, instead of reading 137 books telling me what it's like and telling me how to study?

[vanwinkle]

So I'm taking the right path by waiting to see what law school is like and not really worrying about it, instead of reading 137 books telling me what it's like and telling me how to study?

I would only recommend one book prior to starting law school, and that's Thinking Like A Lawyer: A New Introduction to Legal Reasoning by Fred Schauer (or some equivalent intro to legal reasoning book). It's a book that's meant to be readable by 0Ls and gives you a little idea what "thinking like a lawyer" involves. You can succeed in law school without even reading that. Studying substantive law as a 0L is a waste of time and could actually harm you. You're making the right choice by not diving into it.

[kalvano]

Thanks, I'll pick that one up. I've been looking for a good one.

I figure studying is studying. I know how to, I just don't know what to study. And everything I've heard from people that know what they are talking about says that you never know how or what a professor will teach, so just wait.

[Paichka]

I usually outlined after we finished each major topic. So, for Civ Pro II, he broke up the class into Discovery, then Pretrial, then Adjudication Without Trial, then Trial, then Appeal and Res Judicata. I outlined once we were done with each. Then, come reading period, I would download a couple of outlines off the outline bank for comparison (both from my professor and from other professors, just to see how other professors explained stuff -- my professor's explanation trumped, though). I tried to be done with outlining by the last day of classes, so I could spend the reading period taking practice exams and tweaking my outline until it was as user-friendly as it was going to get.

I wouldn't necessarily compare your outlines to your friends'. One of my study partners made flowcharts, another had a bare-bones 8 page outline, another had a 45 page monstrosity in weensy font. My outlines were usually about 20-25 pages, 12 point font.

I think my time commitment was usually 1-2 hours in the morning before class, then another 2-3 hours during the afternoon break, then another 4 hours in the evening (usually 8-12). I usually picked 1 or 2 days per week to stay until 10pm so I could get ahead of the reading. I would work maybe 4 hours on the weekend each day (except right before LRW assignments were due, when I worked longer hours). I made time to watch my favorite TV shows on the weekends, and kept 6-8pm open daily to hang out with my daughter. If I needed more sleep, or needed to get an extra gym session in for stress relief, I did that instead of studying. Sometimes the afternoon break would devolve into my friends and I goofing off, but towards finals that happened less and less.

[RUQRU]

So I'm taking the right path by waiting to see what law school is like and not really worrying about it, instead of reading 137 books telling me what it's like and telling me how to study?

You might want to look at this book by Prof John Delaney:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/096085 ... hs_product

He presents beautiful examples of "case-parsing," which is what good legal analysis involves. In fact, he's brilliant, but without being flashy about it. To read his book is to rise above all the drudgery and the minutiae of the first-year of law school, and to see the beauty of what's involved in "Thinking Like a Lawyer." It is inspiring.

Yet, the book isn't some "ivory tower" fantasy on the Wonders of the Law. It's very down-to-earth, nitty-gritty, in the way you actually have to go about applying the law to the facts.

Too many prospective law school students are only interested in a "quickie" book that they kid themselves will help them adequately prepare for what lies ahead. They'll be sorry. Learning Legal Reasoning is NOT "Law School Lite." But it is a delight. - Atticus Falcon, Author of Planet Law School II

[Kobe_Teeth]

So I'm taking the right path by waiting to see what law school is like and not really worrying about it, instead of reading 137 books telling me what it's like and telling me how to study?

I would only recommend one book prior to starting law school, and that's Thinking Like A Lawyer: A New Introduction to Legal Reasoning by Fred Schauer (or some equivalent intro to legal reasoning book). It's a book that's meant to be readable by 0Ls and gives you a little idea what "thinking like a lawyer" involves. You can succeed in law school without even reading that. Studying substantive law as a 0L is a waste of time and could actually harm you. You're making the right choice by not diving into it.

I'm reading this as a 0L. I'm a fan. Like you said, easy to read, entertaining yadda yadda.