There are few students that I admire more than those choosing to brave the trials and tribulations of 1L year while also taking care of a child (or children). Parenting is hard enough on its own without also throwing eccentric professors, unending homework, and 3 hour final exams into the mix. For those of you preparing to take on this challenge, I offer you the following suggestions (and recommend investing in a good coffee maker). [Read more…] about Parenting in Law School: Surviving Your 1L Year While Raising a Family
Get Personal: Why You Should Be Socializing at Your Summer Clerkship
For most students, the main purpose of obtaining a legal education is simple: to get a good job. To achieve that goal, it is absolutely essential to gain practical work experience, whether it’s a clerkship at BigLaw or volunteering at a non-profit. The work experience you gain throughout law school, and particularly during your first summer break, is often just as important as your academic record when it comes to securing a full-time job post-graduation. While you’re toiling away at your summer internship, keep in mind that this is not just an opportunity to build your resume (although that’s important), but also an opportunity to establish personal connections within the legal profession. [Read more…] about Get Personal: Why You Should Be Socializing at Your Summer Clerkship
8 Tricks to Mastering Multiple Choice
It’s a familiar scene: the 1L sitting in her first day of class, nervous but excited, not quite sure what to expect yet sensing that this is the vocation for her, cautiously listening to the opening remarks her professor is making about the class. Then it happens. The professor informs the class that the final exam will be 50% essay and 50% multiple choice. What!?! You came to law school to write and pontificate, not to bubble in scantron sheets like a 10th grader taking the PSAT! [Read more…] about 8 Tricks to Mastering Multiple Choice
5 Strategies for Surviving Your First Week of Law School
For most students, the first week of law school is an equal mix of excitement and apprehension. It can be easy to get overwhelmed by the dense reading, the cranky professors, and the new social environment. Below are five suggestions to help you manage your first week of law school and get started on the right foot. [Read more…] about 5 Strategies for Surviving Your First Week of Law School
The Value of Issue Spotting and Strategies to Improve your Skills
Despite its prominence as the first letter in IRAC, issue spotting doesn’t get much attention in the law school classroom. Legal writing has an entire class devoted to it, legal analysis is practiced daily through case briefing and in-class dialogue, but rarely, if ever, are students allowed to practice spotting miscellaneous issues from long fact patterns the way a final exam requires them to. [Read more…] about The Value of Issue Spotting and Strategies to Improve your Skills
Procrastination Rehab: Release the Responsible Law Student Hiding Inside of You
Law school success requires consistent preparation, frequent review, and self-discipline. In other words, it requires you to be the antithesis of a procrastinator. If you’ve ever found yourself creating an outline two days before the final or furiously typing out your legal writing assignment the night before it’s due, you might be in need of some procrastination rehab. Some of the following strategies might seem extreme, but drastic action is often necessary to be jolted out of bad habits. Don’t worry, the first step is admitting you have a problem.
Don’t worry, the first step is admitting you have a problem. [Read more…] about Procrastination Rehab: Release the Responsible Law Student Hiding Inside of You