My go-to advice for people starting law school

Starting law school can be a little daunting. Who am I kidding, law school can be TERRIFYING. The set-up is different, the exams are different, and your whole legal career depends on your performance here.

Since starting as a 1L, I’ve given plenty of advice to friends of mine starting law school themselves. From textbooks to study habits, it’s helpful to have someone who has already gone through their first year give you the tips and tricks. I will say, however, that everyone has their OWN study habits. Advice for law school is not a one-size-fits-all. With that in mind, here are the main pointers I have gathered for incoming law students:

• Keep your studying on campus/in a designated area. Hopefully your law school provides you with a carrel or locker, and you can keep your textbooks there. I force myself to stay on campus to get my readings and outlines done and never take my textbooks home. I find that this motivates me to get my work done right after classes are done for the day, and prevents me from getting lazy when I get home. Sometimes, I will take a book or two back with me if I don’t plan on coming to campus on the weekend (I try to relax on Sat/Sun). Keeping your books on campus also saves you from having to lug multiple heavy textbooks back and forth every day. My designated study area at school was my carrel, in a quiet study room where no one bothered me.
• Take time for yourself. You might be entering law school thinking, “When am I ever going to have time to do anything besides school?” Well, I thought the same thing going in. The thing is, if you stay on top of your work, you can absolutely have time for self care and hanging out with family/friends. As I mentioned above, I generally block off Saturdays and Sundays for plans unrelated to studying (I get my Monday readings done a couple days in advance– usually on Friday). Another great way to take some time for yourself is to schedule hang outs/Facetime calls with your friends and family. Law school is temporary, but friends and family are forever. It’s good to keep up to date with them. I spend many weekends on dates with my boyfriend or grabbing brunch with my friends, simply because it’s nice to talk about things completely unrelated to law school.
• Hand-write your lecture notes if you can. As much as I love my Macbook Pro, handwritten notes are just more effective in helping with information retention. Some classes ban technology in lecture altogether. Not only does a laptop distract you during class, handwriting your notes can provide a great opportunity to go over them again later in the semester when you transfer them to a digital version for your outline.
• Quimbee is a huge blessing. You may or may not have heard of Quimbee at this point in your preparation for law school. I heard about it first from some 2L’s I had chatted with during the orientation week. Quimbee is basically Sparknotes for law school readings. They have case briefs for basically anything you’ll read in your first year, as well as videos explaining concepts, practice exam prompts, and outlines. It’s subscription-based, but 100% worth the money. One thing I will say though, is don’t buy Quimbee and get lazy with your readings. Read the cases, and then go to Quimbee’s case briefs to check your understanding. Use it as a supplement, not as a cheat sheet (if you couldn’t do the day’s readings for whatever reason though, it’s nice to be able to print out the Quimbee briefs right before lecture in case you get called on).
• Buy a book stand! A small book stand like this one for $13 on Amazon is a very helpful purchase for law school considering all of the reading you are going to be doing. In my classes i’ve seen all kinds of book stands, even collapsible stands that fit nicely into your backpack. Bring the book stand to lecture to easily reference your readings.
• Try not to compare yourself to others. This one is the hardest piece of advice for me personally. I have always struggled with imposter syndrome, as the law school grading curve/ranking system don’t exactly lend to a harmonious atmosphere. UC Davis Law isn’t exactly the most cut-throat, competitive campus, but even here the students are fighting to be in that top 10%. I’ll admit, i’m only an “average” law student in the eyes of the grading curve, and it’s difficult not to compare myself to my classmates. If you find yourself in this situation, remind yourself that you are doing the best you can. Getting into law school is an incredible accomplishment on its own, and you should be proud of that. On top of that, everyone has their own study habits and routines. The girl next to you in Contracts might have a specific study schedule, or a guy in your Criminal law class might have a fool-proof method of briefing cases, but that does not mean you need to copy them. Everyone studies and takes notes in their way.
• On that note… know what you’re getting into. As I mention all the time, imposter syndrome was a huge slap in the face for me when I entered law school. I did a whole post on this topic that can be found here, where I explain every aspect of the law school system that contributes to the stress and anxiety of law school. This isn’t meant to convince you drop out or not come to law school, just as a PSA that you might endure some tough situations while going through your law school experience.
• Plan out some cute outfits! Law school style is not exactly business-wear, but also isn’t too casual. Plan on wearing outfits to class that are a bit more dressy than casual, such as a nice pair of jeans and a cute top. No one really shows up to class in sweatpants. I have a whole post on this, which can be found here.

I hope these tips are helpful to you in some way and good luck on law school!