a week or so into law school and just some random thoughts/worries Forum

[Nebby]

Ignore those tryhard losers, focus on what works for you and you'll do just fine.

This is the truth.

Make sure you always do your readings and always go to class. Study however you feel most comfortable. Make sure you leave yourself plenty of decompression time for hobbies, fitness, or whatever else you have fun doing.

[star fox]

You should definitely work hard 1L. Please don't listen to cocky 3Ls with jobs lined up who are too cool for school.

But work smart. Nobody should be pulling all nighters a week in. Those people are either horrible with time management or more likely doing the "I'm so stressed!" Thing for show. For now, keep up with your reading and make sure you're understanding the broader legal concepts, particularly as you wrap up a specific segment (say Pleadings for Civil Procedure). I like E&Es for extra work but don't worry if you don't have those yet. Most people get them like 2 weeks in at the earliest.

If something is really tripping you up and the E&E doesn't clarify things that's when you can turn to horn books or maybe office hours (I never used them but some people find them very useful). Everyone who has ever done well in law school was likely freaking out and concerned about finishing bottom 10 multiple times throughout the first semester, especially. So know that you're not in an unusual position. It won't go away until after you receive your grades. But try the best you can to stay positive, and mostly stay motivated.

Good luck! TLS is a great resource for advice on law school. Remember it's still just August. The exam is months and months away.

[lacrossebrother]

Ignore those tryhard losers, focus on what works for you and you'll do just fine.

This is the truth.

Make sure you always do your readings and always go to class. Study however you feel most comfortable. Make sure you leave yourself plenty of decompression time for hobbies, fitness, or whatever else you have fun doing.

It's probably the truth. Just minor caveat. I think people on TLS have the tendency to try to find classmates to point and laugh at and call gunners. Better to respect their style of studying as just different than yours.

[Leonardo DiCaprio]

I love the nodder. The one in my classes occasionally switches to a shake when a student says something wrong and then returns to nodding with extra vigor when the professor corrects them.

hahaha

[Leonardo DiCaprio]

You should definitely work hard 1L. Please don't listen to cocky 3Ls with jobs lined up who are too cool for school.

But work smart. Nobody should be pulling all nighters a week in. Those people are either horrible with time management or more likely doing the "I'm so stressed!" Thing for show. For now, keep up with your reading and make sure you're understanding the broader legal concepts, particularly as you wrap up a specific segment (say Pleadings for Civil Procedure). I like E&Es for extra work but don't worry if you don't have those yet. Most people get them like 2 weeks in at the earliest.

If something is really tripping you up and the E&E doesn't clarify things that's when you can turn to horn books or maybe office hours (I never used them but some people find them very useful). Everyone who has ever done well in law school was likely freaking out and concerned about finishing bottom 10 multiple times throughout the first semester, especially. So know that you're not in an unusual position. It won't go away until after you receive your grades. But try the best you can to stay positive, and mostly stay motivated.

Good luck! TLS is a great resource for advice on law school. Remember it's still just August. The exam is months and months away.

thanks star fox! and to others too.

[rwhyAn]

I consistently looked like an idiot in class and it had no impact on my end result, just disregard the bs strivers. They seem to end up below median any way.

This. I looked like a fool several times in class and thought I was one of the dumbest people in my section. As it turned out, I'm well ahead of the curve. Don't stress too much.

[monsterman]

yeah i have completely fucked up in class before--think hour long cold calls where I looked like a dumbass the entire time. that hour sucks, but it doesn't mean a thing.

[unsweetened]

If it makes you feel better, I never spent time in the library on the weekends (except during exam weeks) during 1L year and I didn't tab my books either. I did just fine. The best thing you can do is work hard, do what you do best, and trust your instincts. Every person has to do things their own way.

Totally agree with the conclusion, only I always was in the library on weekends because that's when I did the majority of my reading during 1L. Spend a couple hours on each of Friday, Saturday and Sunday reading for the following week and the weekdays turn in to a piece of cake. But everyone needs to do what works for them.

This is the approach that I'm taking. Knock out the week's reading Fri/Sat/Sun or at least get 3/4 of my classes finished up. Spend more time organizing my notes, working out, and meeting new people during the week - at least until it's time to start outlining and panicking from not making headway on the open memo.

[chuckbass]

If it makes you feel better, I never spent time in the library on the weekends (except during exam weeks) during 1L year and I didn't tab my books either. I did just fine. The best thing you can do is work hard, do what you do best, and trust your instincts. Every person has to do things their own way.

Totally agree with the conclusion, only I always was in the library on weekends because that's when I did the majority of my reading during 1L. Spend a couple hours on each of Friday, Saturday and Sunday reading for the following week and the weekdays turn in to a piece of cake. But everyone needs to do what works for them.

This is the approach that I'm taking. Knock out the week's reading Fri/Sat/Sun or at least get 3/4 of my classes finished up. Spend more time organizing my notes, working out, and meeting new people during the week - at least until it's time to start outlining and panicking from not making headway on the open memo.

This is what I did as well last year, and it worked out well for me and helped me relax more during the week. Some people prefer to read the day before so that the cases are fresher in case they get called on, but like others have already said, cold calls are stupid and you shouldn't worry about them.

[unsweetened]

If it makes you feel better, I never spent time in the library on the weekends (except during exam weeks) during 1L year and I didn't tab my books either. I did just fine. The best thing you can do is work hard, do what you do best, and trust your instincts. Every person has to do things their own way.

Totally agree with the conclusion, only I always was in the library on weekends because that's when I did the majority of my reading during 1L. Spend a couple hours on each of Friday, Saturday and Sunday reading for the following week and the weekdays turn in to a piece of cake. But everyone needs to do what works for them.

This is the approach that I'm taking. Knock out the week's reading Fri/Sat/Sun or at least get 3/4 of my classes finished up. Spend more time organizing my notes, working out, and meeting new people during the week - at least until it's time to start outlining and panicking from not making headway on the open memo.

This is what I did as well last year, and it worked out well for me and helped me relax more during the week. Some people prefer to read the day before so that the cases are fresher in case they get called on, but like others have already said, cold calls are stupid and you shouldn't worry about them.

Sweet. It's a relief to hear that this is a tried and true method. There's no way that I could read the night before since I have all five of my classes on Thursday (which is semi-brutal). Really makes "bar review" look that much more attractive.

[chuckbass]

Yep I totally understand. And then generally a month or so before exams when everyone is cracking down, I'd also finish all of my readings for the semester so that I could spend more time studying and doing practice tests.

[Nebby]

This is the approach that I'm taking. Knock out the week's reading Fri/Sat/Sun or at least get 3/4 of my classes finished up. Spend more time organizing my notes, working out, and meeting new people during the week - at least until it's time to start outlining and panicking from not making headway on the open memo.

I did this exact routine. Worked out well for me.

Credentials: TLS megaposter*

Also finished top of my class 1L

[Leonardo DiCaprio]

so when you guys did the readings on the weekends, did you take detailed notes at all or just read and make some small margin notes? I'm thinking about trying this method out

[Nebby]

so when you guys did the readings on the weekends, did you take detailed notes at all or just read and make some small margin notes? I'm thinking about trying this method out

I just used a yellow highlighter. I would spend about 45 minutes before each class skimming back over the assigned cases. I didn't really take notes during the lecture either, and ones that I did take were never super helpful, but that may be due to either the fact that I remember stuff well or I'm just a shitty note taker. I didn't outline during 1L, but I think outlining helps a lot of people if you make one at the end of the year because it helps you review old content.

[chuckbass]

so when you guys did the readings on the weekends, did you take detailed notes at all or just read and make some small margin notes? I'm thinking about trying this method out

I just underlined and made minimal notes in the margins. I generally think, at least for me, spending a lot of time on the reading is a waste of time. I also didn't outline at all during 1L because I got great outlines from 2Ls and figured outlining would also be a waste of time for me.

ETA: apparently Nebby and I are the same person

[Tiago Splitter]

I wrote my reading notes into OneNote. Maybe 5-10 shorthand sentences for a case. Sometimes less, sometimes more. Second semester I skipped a lot of reading but I got a little too lazy.

[Leonardo DiCaprio]

thank you for the tips. i will give that method a try.

as for the outlines, what do i do if the prof doesn't have an outline. as in like, the prof hasn't taught any intro classes for like 2-3 years so there aren't any outlines to get from 2Ls or 3Ls. is it bad if i just get an outline for a different prof? i can't imagine civpro would be that different from prof to prof but wtf do i know

and really for notes in class, what the hell am i supposed to be writing? is there a point during the semester where i know what's important or not? i just looked at my notes for one of my classes and it's just like random gibberish. how am i supposed to make an "outline" out of these gibberish notes?

[Tiago Splitter]

You don't need an old outline. The best way to figure out how to structure an outline is to use the table of contents from the syllabus.

For class notes, there's no right answer but for now I'd write most of what the professor says down. Over time you'll see a lot of it is not important but it's hard to know this early on. Generally what other students say is meaningless.

When the time comes to turn your notes into an outline you'll have a better sense of how to do that. Certain large themes will emerge during the semester.

[chuckbass]

I'm not the best to ask about notes since I ended up not taking notes really after the first few weeks.

The problem with getting an outline for a different prof is that you may cover some material that another prof doesn't cover. Also, there are some aspects of the law that profs disagree on, and you'll want to note what your prof's views are for the exam. For example my civ pro prof liked one approach to Eerie, which differed from one of the approaches taken by Freer (writes a great supplement/has great online lectures from Barbri). If the class is civ pro, fwiw I basically used an outline of the Freer lectures and watched the lectures over and over and that got me a good grade.

[Leonardo DiCaprio]

You don't need an old outline. The best way to figure out how to structure an outline is to use the table of contents from the syllabus.

For class notes, there's no right answer but for now I'd write most of what the professor says down. Over time you'll see a lot of it is not important but it's hard to know this early on. Generally what other students say is meaningless.

When the time comes to turn your notes into an outline you'll have a better sense of how to do that. Certain large themes will emerge during the semester.

i think I'm in trouble because this particular prof's syllabus is basically like:

week 1: case, # of pages in textbook
week 2: case, # of pages in textbook; case, # of pages in textbook
and so on

there are no headings or breakdowns like my other professors, where you see things like:

I. SOME TOPIC
A. blah sub-topic
B. blah sub-topic
C. blah sub-topic

it's just weeks 1,2,3... and then names of cases.

[chuckbass]

Well the textbook will have headings fwiw, I think you'll be ok, and again themes will also appear to you over time once you start seeing how things fit together.

[Leonardo DiCaprio]

I'm not the best to ask about notes since I ended up not taking notes really after the first few weeks.

The problem with getting an outline for a different prof is that you may cover some material that another prof doesn't cover. Also, there are some aspects of the law that profs disagree on, and you'll want to note what your prof's views are for the exam. For example my civ pro prof liked one approach to Eerie, which differed from one of the approaches taken by Freer (writes a great supplement/has great online lectures from Barbri). If the class is civ pro, fwiw I basically used an outline of the Freer lectures and watched the lectures over and over and that got me a good grade.

hmmm i see. pretty crazy that you didn't take notes at all though!

[chuckbass]

I'm not the best to ask about notes since I ended up not taking notes really after the first few weeks.

The problem with getting an outline for a different prof is that you may cover some material that another prof doesn't cover. Also, there are some aspects of the law that profs disagree on, and you'll want to note what your prof's views are for the exam. For example my civ pro prof liked one approach to Eerie, which differed from one of the approaches taken by Freer (writes a great supplement/has great online lectures from Barbri). If the class is civ pro, fwiw I basically used an outline of the Freer lectures and watched the lectures over and over and that got me a good grade.

hmmm i see. pretty crazy that you didn't take notes at all though!

I didn't take notes because I already had good enough outlines that had all of the tidbits from the prof that you should be focusing on in class. Again, you'll find what works for you, but that worked for me. Other people really do need to make outlines for themself, or take detailed notes, or whatever. We all learn differently.

[Tiago Splitter]

Well the textbook will have headings fwiw, I think you'll be ok, and again themes will also appear to you over time once you start seeing how things fit together.

yeah the textbook should help. More than anything don't worry too much now though. This stuff will be pretty easy to figure out in a couple of months.

[lavarman84]

I recommend making your own outlines. But I know a lot of others don't. Outlines were the last piece of the puzzle for me when it came to memorizing everything I needed to know for the exam. Which is important.(albeit, less important than understanding how to analyze the issues)