How to Succeed in Law School

Law School requires much more discipline to excel than undergrad.  Your coursework is more extensive and more difficult to understand than most college courses.  Below are some keys to success in law school with extra tips to help along the way.

How to Succeed in Law School

The first tip is to pay attention in class.  Your professor's word should be considered golden as that is what most likely you will need to repeat back on your final exam.  This does not apply to all professors but for the overwhelming majority, their word rules and you should listen intently.  I recommend you take extensive notes while trying to absorb as much of the material as you can.  Both dictation and learning are very important.  One with out the other will leave you lacking.  Try collaborating with a friend in your section should you miss out on something in class.

It is also extremely important that you do not fall behind in your coursework.  Most professors will assign you 25 pages per night.  Try your best not to fall behind on these assignments.  However, you also need to understand that you can't spend forever on one class.  The result will be that you become more efficient in your studies and learn to extract information and retain it more quickly.  Its ok to start slow at first, but if you spend too much time on your assignments, other parts of your life will be neglected.  I recommend striving for 2 hours and 30 minutes of reading and outlining.  I also recommend outlining as you go.  Read a law student blog to see how students in law school deal with their various assignments and find time to maintain relationships, exercise, run errands, and have fun.

A third piece of advice for succeeding in law school is to seek help when you feel lost.  If there is something you don't understand, don't be afraid to ask a professor for help or ask other students.  Also, take advantage of tutoring sessions if your school organizes these.  Most professors encourage you to visit their office when you are legitimately having trouble understanding the material. 

Fourth, don't rely on supplements to carry you through your courses.  It's best if you compile your own law school briefs.  Commercial outlines can be helpful as aids to help you understand text when it is not clear to you after reading, but relying solely on canned briefs can create problems because your text might not coincide with the commercial briefs or your professor may have wanted you to focus in on something the law school briefs didn't cover.  Also, canned outlines will not always have all the cases to your text.  This is not to say commercial books can't be very helpful, but you really shouldn't try to short cut your way through the reading.  There may also be information between the cases that you miss.

Last, stay organized.  I recommend you keep a calendar along with separate notebooks or tabs (whether on your computer or paper) on all your classes.  Date each class and put a sticky note reminding you when you missed a class or if you missed an assignment.  Additionally, file all your papers including syllabus, assignments, and handouts from a class rather than just shoving them in your backpack.  In law school, organization is a tremendous asset as efficiency saves you time and increases your grades.

These aren't the only tips for "how to succeed in law school", but this advice will have you off to a great start in your law school career.  To a large extent, what you put into your courses is what you will get out of them.