What should I do to prepare for law school Forum

[Helmholtz]

I would argue that there is a difference between trying and desiring and further difference between trying the right way (which only students who have done well and graduated can be sure of, and then only in so far as it applies to them) and simply trying.

Ok, but you went to 4 classes and thought that you witnessed students who weren't "trying the right way," even though you didn't really know what you were looking at.

Are you suggesting that paying attention hurts your chances of doing well?

Dude. Shut the fuck up. You're not even in law school. You have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Jesus. I don't think the OP started this post to get some advice from another fucking 0L.

[dakatz]

I would argue that there is a difference between trying and desiring and further difference between trying the right way (which only students who have done well and graduated can be sure of, and then only in so far as it applies to them) and simply trying.

Ok, but you went to 4 classes and thought that you witnessed students who weren't "trying the right way," even though you didn't really know what you were looking at.

Are you suggesting that paying attention hurts your chances of doing well?

Do you guys really not get the point here? No one said or implied messing around on the computer helps you. No one said or implied that paying attention hurts you. All anyone has said is that you shouldn't assume someone won't do well solely by virtue of what you see them do during class. That is all people are trying to tell you: that you shouldn't make assumptions.

[Hank Chill]

you should buy all the E&Es and read them in page order

i.e. read every page 1, then every page 2, etc.

you'll absorb the info better this way, especially if you are drunk

I like this advice the most.

[Hank Chill]

I don't think the OP started this post to get some advice from another fucking 0L.

[Heartford]

Are you suggesting that paying attention hurts your chances of doing well?

Nope. Although in a prior post I suggested that paying attention might have hurt my chances in a particular class.

You said that "trying the right way" can only be determined by students who have done well and graduated, and "only so far as it applies to them." So what I was suggesting was that the four classes you've attended are insufficient experience to establish that you are a graduated law student who has done well, and therefore you are unable, by your own rule, to quantify the "right way," even for yourself. Yet you claimed to be able to determine which students were not "trying the right way" on your field trips. So basically, you have no idea what you're talking about. Have a nice day.

[Fark-o-vision]

I would argue that there is a difference between trying and desiring and further difference between trying the right way (which only students who have done well and graduated can be sure of, and then only in so far as it applies to them) and simply trying.

Ok, but you went to 4 classes and thought that you witnessed students who weren't "trying the right way," even though you didn't really know what you were looking at.

Are you suggesting that paying attention hurts your chances of doing well?

Dude. Shut the fuck up. You're not even in law school. You have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Jesus. I don't think the OP started this post to get some advice from another fucking 0L.

Good answer?

Edit: Helmz, don't threaten to shit in my neck. Or was it mouth rape? I can't remember your more exotic threats.

[thecilent]

I don't think the OP started this post to get some advice from another fucking 0L.

You don't really have to be in law school to tell an 0L not to read all the EEs and instead just relax and have fun. hth, Hank.

[JazzOne]

I don't think the OP started this post to get some advice from another fucking 0L.

You don't really have to be in law school to tell an 0L not to read all the EEs and just relax and have fun instead. hth, Hank.

No, you don't have to be in law school to give that advice, but it's pretty inconsiderate to give advice on something as life changing as law school success without any firsthand knowledge.

ETA: I believe 0L prep helped me a lot.

[thecilent]

I don't think the OP started this post to get some advice from another fucking 0L.

You don't really have to be in law school to tell an 0L not to read all the EEs and just relax and have fun instead. hth, Hank.

No, you don't have to be in law school to give that advice, but it's pretty inconsiderate to give advice on something as life changing as law school success without any firsthand knowledge.

While I don't like the direction frank took this all in, re-read the OP. Look at what he asks. It's not inconsiderate for me or another 0l to answer. but yeah i know what you're saying

[Fark-o-vision]

I don't think the OP started this post to get some advice from another fucking 0L.

You don't really have to be in law school to tell an 0L not to read all the EEs and just relax and have fun instead. hth, Hank.

No, you don't have to be in law school to give that advice, but it's pretty inconsiderate to give advice on something as life changing as law school without any firsthand knowledge.

Which is why I specified my limited experience. OP can then do what they want with it. Not like I misrepresented myself as an expect. In fact, I outlined exactly what my law school experience was, four lectures, and out of context, and what I took from them. I have no problem with someone saying their experience is different, or greater, than mine, but why can't it all be shared?

[Helmholtz]

I don't think the OP started this post to get some advice from another fucking 0L.

You don't really have to be in law school to tell an 0L not to read all the EEs and just relax and have fun instead. hth

No, you're right, you don't need to be in law school to repeat what the prevailing advice from actual law students is to other people who have the same real world experience as you do, as far as law school is concerned. But then again, OP did start this thread in the Forum for Law School Students, so I suspect that he may have wanted something more than hearsay from somebody who's never taken a law school class in their life.

If you tell OP that he should relax and have fun, and that any substantial prep is not going to help, that's fine. Are you basing this off of what's worked for you or what you wish you could have done differently after having completed at least one semester of law school? No. It's just secondhand knowledge with no real experience attached.

And thinking that you can discern the usefulness of certain 0L prep by sitting in on four classes as a non-student is just absurd.

[BruceWayne]

This isn't substantive but I think it's a really good idea; and I wish I had done it.

1. Learn the bluebook (particularly the white pages). This will prevent you from having to teach it to yourself during the semester (when every second of your time is valuable). That way when the journal tryouts come around you will be ready to go and you won't have to fall behind on your reading, outlining, etc.

2. Learn to type FAST. I really had no idea how important this was before coming to law school. Even TLS doesn't play it up as much as they should. Every A+/top exam I've seen for the professors I took last semester was 18+ pages (written in 3-4 hours).

3. Improve your writing skills. This will come in handy for every facet of law school/your legal life. Learn proper grammar usage rules etc.

[Helmholtz]

This isn't substantive but I think it's a really good idea; and I wish I had done it.

1. Learn the bluebook (particularly the white pages). This will prevent you from having to teach it to yourself during the semester (when every second of your time is valuable). That way when the journal tryouts come around you will be ready to go and you won't have to fall behind on your reading, outlining, etc.

2. Learn to type FAST. I really had no idea how important this was before coming to law school. Even TLS doesn't play it up as much as they should. Every A+/top exam I've seen for the professors I took last semester was 18+ pages (written in 3-4 hours).

3. Improve your writing skills. This will come in handy for every facet of law school/your legal life. Learn proper grammar usage rules etc.

+1 to all. Good advice. I put a lot of time into improving my typing speed over the summer, but looking back, I wish I would have gotten to know the bluebook better and had spent some time with both a general and a legal grammatical guide.

[thickfreakness]

If you've been out of school for any time at all it may be beneficial to peruse some books on political philosophy, general philosophy, economics, etc. before you start. Not because any of this substantive stuff matters per se, but because it will get your brain accustomed to processing dense and complex arguments very quickly, and will (hopefully) help you get into a groove of reading actively and critically. I think these skills are really important for efficient class preparation. Efficient class preparation, in turn, goes a long way towards pulling important concepts (see, e.g. actual legal rules, policy rationales, etc.) from both the cases and your classroom discussions. This, in turn, helps you on exams.
You should maybe read Getting to Maybe before you start, as that may give you some perspective on the pedagogical goals of most 1L classes and how you can learn content in a manner that will help you show mastery of those skills on your exams.
Other than that, I'd try to relax and settle in to your new location. Move to school a few weeks early, if at all possible, so you can get everything squared away before any law school related stuff begins.

[JazzOne]

While I don't like the direction frank took this all in, re-read the OP. Look at what he asks. It's not inconsiderate for me or another 0l to answer. but yeah i know what you're saying

Point taken. The OP was fairly whimsical, and he didn't seem to be looking for actual advice. But....

I worked at a biglaw firm for six weeks last summer. That doesn't mean I should go around giving advice on how to make partner. Even if I thought I knew how to make partner, I'd probably let other people offer opinions until I actually, you know, make partner.

[thecilent]

This isn't substantive but I think it's a really good idea; and I wish I had done it.

1. Learn the bluebook (particularly the white pages). This will prevent you from having to teach it to yourself during the semester (when every second of your time is valuable). That way when the journal tryouts come around you will be ready to go and you won't have to fall behind on your reading, outlining, etc.

2. Learn to type FAST. I really had no idea how important this was before coming to law school. Even TLS doesn't play it up as much as they should. Every A+/top exam I've seen for the professors I took last semester was 18+ pages (written in 3-4 hours).

3. Improve your writing skills. This will come in handy for every facet of law school/your legal life. Learn proper grammar usage rules etc.

+1 to all. Good advice. I put a lot of time into improving my typing speed over the summer, but looking back, I wish I would have gotten to know the bluebook better and had spent some time with both a general and a legal grammatical guide.

When usually are journal tryouts?

[JazzOne]

This isn't substantive but I think it's a really good idea; and I wish I had done it.

1. Learn the bluebook (particularly the white pages). This will prevent you from having to teach it to yourself during the semester (when every second of your time is valuable). That way when the journal tryouts come around you will be ready to go and you won't have to fall behind on your reading, outlining, etc.

2. Learn to type FAST. I really had no idea how important this was before coming to law school. Even TLS doesn't play it up as much as they should. Every A+/top exam I've seen for the professors I took last semester was 18+ pages (written in 3-4 hours).

3. Improve your writing skills. This will come in handy for every facet of law school/your legal life. Learn proper grammar usage rules etc.

+1

I am a 2L with good grades (law review and all that). I spent the last few weeks reading through the Bluebook because I never did that as a 1L. Last year, I used the Bluebook like a reference book and only looked things up as I needed to. In retrospect, I wish I had read through the Bluebook once before 1L. It wouldn't have made any sense, but I would have recalled the existence of particular rules, even if I couldn't remember the exact substance of the rule. It's a lot easier to look up specific rules when you have a firm grasp of the book's scope.

[Hank Chill]

Point taken. The OP was fairly whimsical, and he didn't seem to be looking for actual advice.

It was fairly whimsical at first. However, I do appreciate all the great advice I'm getting. I found this especially interesting....

This isn't substantive but I think it's a really good idea; and I wish I had done it.

1. Learn the bluebook (particularly the white pages). This will prevent you from having to teach it to yourself during the semester (when every second of your time is valuable). That way when the journal tryouts come around you will be ready to go and you won't have to fall behind on your reading, outlining, etc.

2. Learn to type FAST. I really had no idea how important this was before coming to law school. Even TLS doesn't play it up as much as they should. Every A+/top exam I've seen for the professors I took last semester was 18+ pages (written in 3-4 hours).

3. Improve your writing skills. This will come in handy for every facet of law school/your legal life. Learn proper grammar usage rules etc.

Thanks, BruceWayne.

[Helmholtz]

This isn't substantive but I think it's a really good idea; and I wish I had done it.

1. Learn the bluebook (particularly the white pages). This will prevent you from having to teach it to yourself during the semester (when every second of your time is valuable). That way when the journal tryouts come around you will be ready to go and you won't have to fall behind on your reading, outlining, etc.

2. Learn to type FAST. I really had no idea how important this was before coming to law school. Even TLS doesn't play it up as much as they should. Every A+/top exam I've seen for the professors I took last semester was 18+ pages (written in 3-4 hours).

3. Improve your writing skills. This will come in handy for every facet of law school/your legal life. Learn proper grammar usage rules etc.

+1 to all. Good advice. I put a lot of time into improving my typing speed over the summer, but looking back, I wish I would have gotten to know the bluebook better and had spent some time with both a general and a legal grammatical guide.

When usually are journal tryouts?

I know that the competition for LR starts almost immediately after finals are done here, but you're going to start doing some legal writing and bluebooking pretty early into your first semester. Eugene Volokh, in his book on legal writing and law review competitions, stresses that you should be extremely familiar with the bluebook and a general/legal style guide long before that time even rolls around. You'll save yourself some time and anxiety if you're already plugged into those guides. And unlike law courses, which, for the most part, can differ wildly from professor to professor, what's good bluebooking/writing at Harvard is good bluebooking/writing at Cornell which is good bluebooking/writing at UIUC, generally speaking.

Oh, and I forgot something else. This may sound ridiculously premature, but get some of your 1L summer job stuff done before you start LS. You're going to be overwhelmed as things get moving and around Dec. 1st, you're probably going to be feeling the walls of your first exams start to close in. This is really my biggest regret re: 0L prep. I wish to god that I had the foresight to take care of the bulk of all things 1L summer early on.

[thecilent]

I know that the competition for LR starts almost immediately after finals are done here, but you're going to start doing some legal writing and bluebooking pretty early into your first semester. Eugene Volokh, in his book on legal writing and law review competitions, stresses that you should be extremely familiar with the bluebook and a general/legal style guide long before that time even rolls around. You'll save yourself some time and anxiety if you're already plugged into those guides. And unlike law courses for the most part, which can differ wildly from professor to professor, generally speaking, what's good bluebooking/writing at Harvard is good bluebooking/writing at Cornell which is good bluebooking/writing at UIUC.

Oh, and I forgot something else. This may sound ridiculously premature, but get some of your 1L summer job stuff done before you start LS. You're going to be overwhelmed as things get moving and around Dec. 1st, you're probably going to be feeling the walls of your first exams start to close in. This is really my biggest regret re: 0L prep. I wish to god that I had the foresight to take care of the bulk of all things 1L summer early on.

I've heard the bolded a couple times and def planned on working on that. Never heard about familiarizing with bluebooking though. Any recommendations on style guides? thanks btw

[beach_terror]

If you try to learn the ins and outs of the bluebook before law school, you might end up throwing yourself off a building.

[Fark-o-vision]

While I don't like the direction frank took this all in, re-read the OP. Look at what he asks. It's not inconsiderate for me or another 0l to answer. but yeah i know what you're saying

Point taken. The OP was fairly whimsical, and he didn't seem to be looking for actual advice. But....

I worked at a biglaw firm for six weeks last summer. That doesn't mean I should go around giving advice on how to make partner. Even if I thought I knew how to make partner, I'd probably let other people offer opinions until I actually, you know, make partner.

If you reread my post, I wasn't even giving advice. I said how I was going to approach things, indicated the experience I had, and then stated my new feelings toward it. I never suggested that I'd uncovered the secret, or that I had the answer, or even told the OP to do it my way. I just shared a thought, really.

Post finals burnout?

[JazzOne]

This is really my biggest regret re: 0L prep. I wish to god that I had the foresight to take care of the bulk of all things 1L summer early on.

Right. Law firms start accepting applications on December 1. That's a horrible time for law students, and the ones who wait until then to think about summer jobs, well, they don't usually get summer jobs. If I could do it over again, I'd start researching firms and networking before 1L.

Also, the advice about the Bluebook is credited because there is basically no supplement for LRLW. It's one class where you really need to be proactive from the beginning.

[thecilent]

Frank stop now. Real advice/thread going on.

[JazzOne]

I know that the competition for LR starts almost immediately after finals are done here, but you're going to start doing some legal writing and bluebooking pretty early into your first semester. Eugene Volokh, in his book on legal writing and law review competitions, stresses that you should be extremely familiar with the bluebook and a general/legal style guide long before that time even rolls around. You'll save yourself some time and anxiety if you're already plugged into those guides. And unlike law courses for the most part, which can differ wildly from professor to professor, generally speaking, what's good bluebooking/writing at Harvard is good bluebooking/writing at Cornell which is good bluebooking/writing at UIUC.

Oh, and I forgot something else. This may sound ridiculously premature, but get some of your 1L summer job stuff done before you start LS. You're going to be overwhelmed as things get moving and around Dec. 1st, you're probably going to be feeling the walls of your first exams start to close in. This is really my biggest regret re: 0L prep. I wish to god that I had the foresight to take care of the bulk of all things 1L summer early on.

I've heard the bolded a couple times and def planned on working on that. Never heard about familiarizing with bluebooking though. Any recommendations on style guides? thanks btw

Everyone seems to like The Redbook. I think it's a bit overrated, but it's adequate.