5 essential things you should have for law school

A book stand. As I mentioned in my go-to law school advice post, a book stand is an essential item for law school given the hefty amount of reading you’ll be doing. A book stand raises your book so you aren’t hunched over it studying, and provides easy access to your readings when in lecture. There are all kinds of book stands, the $13 one I purchased can be found on Amazon here. There’s also cool collapsible stands that can easily fit into your bag.

A Quimbee subscription. Essentially, Quimbee is Sparknotes for law school. You can read what I have to say about it on this blog post. To quickly summarize, it’s a great tool to help you learn and check your understanding of the readings, but don’t get lazy.

A large enough backpack or purse. You’ll be carrying a laptop, books, and notebooks in your backpack, plus all of your essential supplies and snacks for long days on campus. A large backpack like the North Face Recon is perfect for fitting everything you need. If you want to go for something more stylish, a large purse like the Kate Spade tote would be a nice fit. I’ll link a more affordable Target version of a large tote as well (I have this one in black/brown and it’s great).

A lunch tote. You’ll be spending quite a bit of time at the law school, so a lunch tote is a must. My law school has fridges where students can place their food, so I just pack up my lunch bag and place it in the fridge until lunchtime. I also pack snacks and a dinner when I plan to stay on campus for longer.

A water bottle to keep you hydrated. I keep my trusty Hydroflask on my desk during class and carry it around everywhere during the day. I have the 32oz., so that I don’t have to refill it often.

Misc other must-haves: Supplements and the Bluebook! I personally attribute any success in my law school courses to the Examples and Explanations supplement books. These books are available to check out in my school’s library, but I prefer to buy them so I can write in them. You can find them on amazon for a wide variety of law school subjects. You’ll also need a Bluebook for your legal research and writing class, and any journal you plan on joining. You can find it on Amazon as well, for probably much cheaper than your university bookstore. I’ll link some common supplements and the bluebook for you to view below: