Top Law Schools

I've seen a few people on facebook say they're at the law school for class/studying 10-14 hours per day... How is this possible?

Charles Barkley wrote:I've seen a few people on facebook say they're at the law school for 10-14 hours per day... How is this possible?

I've got it down to three possibilities

1. They are lying
2. They are horribly inefficient
3. They are enrolled in an evening physics PHD program

I don't think I could study for that long even if I wanted to at this point. MAYBE around finals.

They are either lying to boost their ego / intimidate their classmates, or embarking on an ill-advised and unsustainable path that will lead to their being a burned-out wreck before finals arrive.

Just ignore everything everyone around you says about studying.

If you're studying even close to 14 hours a day, then you're horrible at law school.

Lonagan wrote:They are either lying to boost their ego / intimidate their classmates, or embarking on an ill-advised and unsustainable path that will lead to their being a burned-out wreck before finals arrive.

Just ignore everything everyone around you says about studying.

Yeah I try to. I mean, I'm putting in about 3 hours a day right now outside of class focusing on E&E's and hornbooks. I get the sense a lot of my classmates don't use these supplements, so if they're just using casebooks, what exactly are they studying?

I have heard that if you do anymore than five hours a day average per week, you are over-doing it. That's about the same as undergrad. But the study habits are different.

1) Look at cases twice, highlight for the crucial dynamics: applicable rules and laws, holdings, the evolution of related case law between cases, etc, and get into the library and take those practice exams. Brief during the first few weeks just to train yourself the way you did for RC on the LSAT with marking passages. But you may do "book-briefing" to substitute later.

2) From what I hear, practice exams are number one! Get copies of your profs' exams and take them regularly and repeatedly.

3) Starting your course outlines early in the term is also extremely important (relates to #2).

4) Looking at E & E's is important.

PDaddy wrote:I have heard that if you do anymore than five hours a day average per week, you are over-doing it. That's about the same as undergrad. But the study habits are different.

1) Look at cases twice, highlight for the crucial dynamics: applicable rules and laws, holdings, the evolution of related case law between cases, etc, and get into the library and take those practice exams. Brief during the first few weeks just to train yourself the way you did for RC on the LSAT with marking passages. But you may do "book-briefing" to substitute later.

2) From what I hear, practice exams are number one! Get copies of your profs' exams and take them regularly and repeatedly.

3) Starting your course outlines early in the term is also extremely important (relates to #2).

4) Looking at E & E's is important.

Re Point #1: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

No.

SBL wrote:

PDaddy wrote:I have heard that if you do anymore than five hours a day average per week, you are over-doing it. That's about the same as undergrad. But the study habits are different.

1) Look at cases twice, highlight for the crucial dynamics: applicable rules and laws, holdings, the evolution of related case law between cases, etc, and get into the library and take those practice exams. Brief during the first few weeks just to train yourself the way you did for RC on the LSAT with marking passages. But you may do "book-briefing" to substitute later.

2) From what I hear, practice exams are number one! Get copies of your profs' exams and take them regularly and repeatedly.

3) Starting your course outlines early in the term is also extremely important (relates to #2).

4) Looking at E & E's is important.

Re Point #1: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

No.

yeah, I book briefed for a week, then quit reading cases, except for the big cases. I just read a brief. But, I will read the text and the notes after the case. my other time is spent outlining and digging into what supplements i can.

but to OP. i spend about 5-6 hours per weekday and 6-7 hours each day on the weekend, studying outside of class. real studying, not dicking around. i guess i'd rather take notes on too much than not enough at this point. and i'm so glad i switched from word to onenote.

I'd never recommend anyone skip reading the cases (though I've done this from time to time), but reading them twice and going bananas with the briefing just isn't necessary.

there are certain things that are huge time sinks, but I cant imagine them taking 14 hours EVERY day, mainly because if you chose to do them, you only have to do it once for every section. My civ pro professor wants cases analogized in the exam, so after we were done with personal jurisdiction I made a table with all the cases we went over-the main principles coming out of them-one line of facts-the holding-sometimes dissent-and rationale. That took about 2 hours..so I guess if you add that onto reading, the time adds up. But that cant be *every* day..it can be once every two weeks

+1 on inefficiency

14 hours a day? Korean high school student says this is easy.

i spend at least 4 hours a day playing X box or watching netflix, i sleep 8 on a good night 6 on a bad, i'm in class for 4:30 hours on the worst day, i hit the gym 3 days a week, and i commute about an hour a day 30 mins each way.

That leaves me with about 6-8 hours a day left for studying, and i can get my work done with in that 6-8 hours to have enough time to waste a bit on TLS/facebook/you tube/etc

i assume everyone advising against 10-14hour a day studying has made Law Review?

Nicholasnickynic wrote:i assume everyone advising against 10-14hour a day studying has made Law Review?

Are you implying that the 10-14 hour a day approach is necessary for LR?

Absolutely not. I'm implying that if you didn't make law review, I don't want your advice. So, I'm assuming that everyone that is telling me not to study hard has made LR.

Nicholasnickynic wrote:Absolutely not. I'm implying that if you didn't make law review, I don't want your advice. So, I'm assuming that everyone that is telling me not to study hard has made LR.

The real issue is (and what sucks) that LS grades are based on a pre-determined distribution; therefore, if the supreme court justices were the only members of a civpro class not all of them are getting an A (even if each of them studied 14 hours/day)

GATORTIM wrote:

Nicholasnickynic wrote:Absolutely not. I'm implying that if you didn't make law review, I don't want your advice. So, I'm assuming that everyone that is telling me not to study hard has made LR.

The real issue is (and what sucks) that LS grades are based on a pre-determined distribution; therefore, if the supreme court justices were the only members of a civpro class not all of them are getting an A (even if each of them studied 14 hours/day)

I understand that. The point that I am making is that people dish out advice like they know what it takes to succeed (which I define as law review)- when in fact, most of them have not made law review.

I'm not downing anyone that has not made law review- I almost certainly will not. I'm just studying like crazy, and wondering whether all these people telling me not to study hard made LR and I should listen to them or if they are just making themselves feel better about not working constantly.

I will concur with previous posters, but if you are studying that long then you are inefficient and will probably fail in practice with that inefficiency. Perhaps these people don't know how to read, or are taking way to detailed notes during reading or are writing 2 pg case briefs (the best students, especially all the 2L/3L's like me, write half page briefs - its the skill of gleaning the most important stuff from all that reading and only noting the most important; those who do not have this skill write everything down and thus waste time).

dougroberts wrote:I will concur with previous posters, but if you are studying that long then you are inefficient and will probably fail in practice with that inefficiency. Perhaps these people don't know how to read, or are taking way to detailed notes during reading or are writing 2 pg case briefs (the best students, especially all the 2L/3L's like me, right half page briefs - its the skill of gleaning the most important stuff from all that reading and only noting the most important; those who do not have this skill write everything down and thus waste time).

LR?

Nicholasnickynic wrote:

dougroberts wrote:I will concur with previous posters, but if you are studying that long then you are inefficient and will probably fail in practice with that inefficiency. Perhaps these people don't know how to read, or are taking way to detailed notes during reading or are writing 2 pg case briefs (the best students, especially all the 2L/3L's like me, right half page briefs - its the skill of gleaning the most important stuff from all that reading and only noting the most important; those who do not have this skill write everything down and thus waste time).

LR?

I did not participate in LR since I have no interest in biglaw, but finished well within top 10%. But will working 14 hours a day prepare you better for LR, I doubt it.

k, ty.

Charles Barkley wrote:I've seen a few people on facebook say they're at the law school for class/studying 10-14 hours per day... How is this possible?

1L year, I typically spent 10-11 hours either in class or working on supplements/outlines/assigned readings. This is a normal workday for many people. You can get by with far less, but I have found that most students who made top 5%/LR put in this kind of effort.

2L is a different animal. After three weeks of class I have two casebooks still in shrinkwrap.

Nicholasnickynic wrote:i assume everyone advising against 10-14hour a day studying has made Law Review?

I made LR and didn't sniff 10-14 hours a week of studying as a part-time student (while working 50ish hours a week). Some who did much better than I did studied less, others studied more. The only times I put that much time in were weekends before writing assignments were due. I would have liked to have a little more time to study. If I were to go back as a full-time student, I would treat it as a full-time job and focus on school 8-12 hours a day (between classes, meals, studying, meeting with professors, snagging free meals, etc.) during the week and then do any clean-up on the weekends.

Connelly wrote:

Nicholasnickynic wrote:i assume everyone advising against 10-14hour a day studying has made Law Review?

I made LR and didn't sniff 10-14 hours a week of studying as a part-time student (while working 50ish hours a week). Some who did much better than I did studied less, others studied more. The only times I put that much time in were weekends before writing assignments were due. I would have liked to have a little more time to study. If I were to go back as a full-time student, I would treat it as a full-time job and focus on school 8-12 hours a day (between classes, meals, studying, meeting with professors, snagging free meals, etc.) during the week and then do any clean-up on the weekends.

Right on, thanks for the advice. What you listed if you were to do full time is pretty much exactly what Im trying to do.