Law school is tough on almost everyone, including people who aren’t even there! Close friends and loved ones also suffer when a law student is having a hard time. Tempting though it may be to think you can just power through on no sleep, constant studying, and no exercise or time off, you’ll likely be happier (and do better) if you engage in some reasonable self-care along the way.
Read on for tips on staying true to yourself as a law student and ways to ensure you’ll be happy as a lawyer. You’ll also find strategies for balancing law school with other relationships, ways to take care of yourself physically, and how to use your (too limited) school breaks wisely. Finally, see how your personality may influence your law school experience, and check out our strategies for surviving as a women in a male-dominated profession.
Staying True to Yourself as a Law Student
- Video Quick Tip: Getting Involved In this Video Quick Tip Video, Alison will share how getting involved can help you prepare for class and still enjoy the campus experience. Studying is a huge part of law school, but it isn’t the only thing you should do in law school!
- Staying Creative in Law School Staying connected to your creative side in law school can be hard when IRAC seems specifically designed to hammer the individualism right out of you. However, there are ways to sneak your artistry into your law school experience, and doing so can go a long way in making the experience more dynamic, exciting, and aligned with your values, and we're looking at them!
- Being a Law Student & a Functional Human Don’t Have to be Mutually Exclusive: Finding Balance As law students, we are indoctrinated to believe that we need to study all the time. As lawyers. we overwork and stress more than many difficult professions, resulting in persistent dissatisfaction and depression. To keep yourself from following this path, you need to start taking care of yourself from day one as a 1L. In this series, we give tips on how to stay happy and health throughout law school.
- Being a Law Student & a Functional Human Don’t Have to be Mutually Exclusive: Take Care of Yourself Continuing our series on how to be a productive law student while being a happy human being at the same time, here are four suggestions for taking care of yourself in law school.
- Being a Law Student & a Functional Human Don’t Have to be Mutually Exclusive: Do What Works for You Concluding our series on how to be a productive law student and happy human being at the same time, here are four suggestions for, quite simply, doing what makes the most sense for you.
- Podcast Episode 5: Maintaining Authenticity in the Legal Profession Today, we’re talking about a very important topic – how to stay true to yourself and live with integrity as a law student and as a lawyer.
- Podcast Episode 88: Self-Care Tips for Keeping Your Mojo in Law School Law school is stressful enough on a good day, and, with everything going on in the world, global anxiety is at an all-time high. This combo is leading to a lot of stressed out, anxious law students! If this is you, we’ve got some strategies and advice to keep things from spinning out of control.
Balancing Family and Relationships with Law School
- Advice For Parents of New Law Students This post is for parents of new law students who are wondering or are worried about what to expect from their law student. Read on to find out what to expect and how you can support your new law student!
- Parenting in Law School: Surviving Your 1L Year While Raising a Family Law school is challenging especially if you have a family. Here are some tips on surviving your 1L year with kids in tow.
- Relationships and Law School: Can They Coexist? Law school is not easy. It is difficult to keep up with all your work and hard to see the big picture at end (the exam). In the midst of all the law school shenanigans, the “real world,” i.e., the world outside of the law school, continues. While it may be tempting to put your blinders on and focus on school, it is important that you balance your relationships as well.
- Dealing with Death and Hardships in Law School: A Student's Perspective Despite popular belief, your personal life does not cease to exist when you start law school. It is very easy to put yourself in a ‘law school bubble’ in which you focus all your time and energy studying (believe me, it is very very easy). However, your friends and family still expect to hear from you and have a relationship with you. Good things like weddings, births and celebrations still happen. Unfortunately, sickness, hardships, and death still occur as well. How do you deal with all of this though? How do you get through these hardships while trying to succeed in law school?
- For Parents: Helping your Law Student Get Off to the Right Start Law school, more often than not, is a life-altering experience. This is true not only for the student but also the loved ones around them, especially their parents. While I think my parents are incredibly supportive, here’s a list I still wish I could have given them when I started law school.
- Caring For Your Law Student: Top 10 Tips Every law student has friends and family who love and care for them. However, sometimes it is difficult to support law students since you have entirely no idea what law school is like. No need to fret, follow these simple instructions on how to care for your law student for best results on supporting them.
- It's Time To Have That Talk With Your Family To ensure success in the new endeavor of law school, there is one crucial step you must take now – you need to have a serious talk with your family.
- Tips For Military Spouses in Law School Are you a military spouse considering law school? But is it a good idea? The answer is, as always: it depends!
- Married Law Students: Lucky or Unfortunate? If you’re already married and wondering whether that’ll be a drawback if you decide to attend law school, here are some factors to consider.
- Finding a Mentor in Law School Finding a mentor in law school can be challenging. We're looking at how to go about finding the right mentor.
- How to Manage Relationships While in Law School Law school is a tough experience, a serious investment. The last thing you want is to let anything get in the way of you achieving this goal. Yet, succeeding in law school won’t really mean anything if you can’t share it with the people you love. So, how do you maintain those relationships while also devoting yourself to law?
- Podcast Episode 59: Conquering Loneliness in Law School This podcast focuses on something that comes up for a lot of new and seasoned law students - being lonely or feeling isolated in law school.
- Podcast Episode 109: Life as a Woman Entrepreneur With Meg Keene of A Practical Wedding In this podcast we talk about the path to entrepreneurship, challenges of running a business as a woman and mother, not to mention the challenges faced by the partner of a law student/lawyer! Tune in to hear more from Meg Keene.
- Podcast Episode 148: Handling Toxic Behavior in Law School Today we’re talking about handling toxicity in law school – whether it’s bad behavior from your classmates or overbearing expectations from other people, including your parents, professors, friends, or even yourself.
- Podcast Episode 182: Navigating Motherhood in the Legal Profession (w/ Jennifer Warren) We’re talking to Jennifer Warren about the realities of motherhood, and parenthood in general, in the legal profession.
- Podcast Episode 191: Wisdom 2.0 - What We Learned About Relationships We are talking about what we earned about relationships at the Wisdom 2.0 conference we attended in March.
How to Be a Happy Lawyer
- Lawyers Can't Follow Their Bliss, Can They? It turns out, following your bliss is more pragmatic than it seems, and lawyers don't have to be excluded.
- Take a Moment to Give Thanks We know this is a challenging time, right before final exams. But it is always good to do a reality check that what you are going through right now is just school. Life is going on all around you and when prompted we all can find things we are thankful for.
- The Battle of Commuting to Law School Unlike in undergraduate, most law students do not live on campus. While you have the freedom to live off campus in any location, the battle of commuting is a struggle. Unfortunately, your commute is something you cannot avoid if you want to get to class. However, it does provide the benefit of preparing you for commuting to work daily when you are a practicing attorney.
- The Care and Upkeep of Your Inner Law School Child Sometimes the resemblance between kids and law students can be scary.
- Why the World Still Needs Lawyers Like You Contrary to what many say, we need more lawyers, lawyers who want to make a difference. Read our thoughts here.
- Got a Job Offer? Not Sure If You Should Take It? Here are Four Tips to Help You Decide If you get a job offer at the end of your internship, everyone expects you to be over the moon. But what if this job just isn't quite the right fit? Here are four things you should do before you accept.
- Self-Care During Midterm Exams in Law School Do you have midterms coming up? Here are some ways to make sure that you're taking care of yourself during this stressful time of the semester.
- Things To Do During Break to Prepare for the New Semester The semester is over, and it is finally time to not be focused on law school! I am sure you know that law school is very stressful. Thus, it is crucial that you take your break seriously. Breaks are very important for your health. They allow you to catch up on your sleep, see people you (probably) have not seen in awhile, and just de-stress in general. Follow these tips in order to prepare yourself for the new semester while on break.
- 5 Ways to Fight Though Law School Burnout Law school is a mentally exhausting endeavor. Even the most dedicated aspiring lawyer can suffer from law school burnout. Whether it is fueled by fatigue, frustration, or just plain apathy, don’t let a momentary state of mind break your will to fight through the hard patch and re-engage. Here are five low-impact ways to motivate you to get back in the law school game so you can stay on track and accomplish your law school goals.
- How Do I Remotivate Myself in My Last Semester - 3L Perspective Here are some reflections from a 3L on her own personal slump and how she is trying to remotivate herself in her last semester of law school.
- Ways to Manage Stress in Law School Managing stress is a skill that every law student should develop, but it’s also something that is always harder than it sounds. Here are a few things to consider doing to manage your stress in law school.
- Podcast Episode 10: Why are Lawyers so Unhappy? Today we are trying to answer an important question: Are lawyers actually more unhappy than other professionals, or do they just like to complain a lot?
- Podcast Episode 82: The Happy Lawyer Project (with Okeoma Moronu) Today we’re talking with Okeoma Moronu, a BigLaw mid-level associate and creator of The Happy Lawyer Project. Are you a law student wondering if you can be happy as a lawyer? Are you a lawyer looking for happiness? It’s really not impossible. Tune in for fresh ideas!
- Podcast Episode 123: Mental Health in Law School and the Legal Profession (With Sarah Weinstein) Today, we are talking about a very serious and important topic: mental health in the legal profession. The staggering statistics and heartbreaking stories of depression, substance abuse, and even suicide in law schools and in our legal profession have raised our concerns and the concerns of others. Because of this, we have reached out to attorney-turned-executive consultant and licensed psychotherapist, Sarah Weinstein, to talk about this topic.
- Podcast Episode 129: Self-Care During Bar Exam Prep We’re talking about something that’s incredibly important for everyone who’s preparing for the bar exam, which is self-care. Because, let’s face it, studying for the bar exam is stressful and, actually, so is legal practice. So, working on self-care during the bar exam study period is one thing that will probably help you pass and also help you in your career later.
Law Student Personality Types
- Introverted Litigators: How to Go from Good to Great Introverted lawyers face particular challenges, but these tips will help you go from good to great at your job.
- What Does Your Personality Test Really Say About Your Career? Personality tests can be helpful when trying to figure out what you want to do with your life, but make sure you're honest with yourself when you take them in order to get accurate results.
- It's My Party, I'll Network If I Want To: Law School Networking for Wallflowers and Gunners Alike Networking can be difficult for even the most outgoing students, but it can be even worse if you’re shy. Here are some tips to make your next networking event easier and more enjoyable for everyone.
- No. The Gunner to Your Left Doesn't Know What He's Doing Either. Ignore him. Many students struggle with the first year of law school. Even those who you think know it all.
- Non-Traditional Law Students: Exploit Your Strengths, Meet Your Challenges Don't fit the average description of a college grad or twenty-something law student? You still bring unique strengths and challenges to law school, and here are some tips on how to make the most of it.
- Video Quick Tip: Dealing with Mean Law School Classmates Not everyone you meet in law school will be your best friend. In this Video Quick Tip, Alison talks about a somewhat sticky topic: how to deal with mean or unpleasant law school classmates.
- Finding Your Community at Your New Law School To help ease the adjustment to your new routine and your new locale, it’s important to invest some time into finding a community at your school. Here are some suggestions that may help you find yours!
- The People You Will Meet in Law School We're looking at some of the eccentric characters you'll meet in law school, as well as tips on etiquette for getting along with your classmates.
- Podcast Episode 51: The Characters You'll Meet in Law School Today we’ve got an entertaining topic – the eccentric characters you'll meet in law school, along with some tips on law school etiquette (if you don’t want to find yourself on this list in the future).
- Podcast Episode 98: Top 1L Questions: Non-Traditional Law Students Are you nervous about going to law school with an unconventional background? We have some tips that might help you feel more comfortable!
- Podcast Episode 107: How to Build Positive Relationships in Law School Today we’re talking about building relationships in law school with everyone from professors to classmates and potential employers. Of course grades are important, but building relationships can not only make your law school experience more pleasant, it can open doors of opportunity in the future.
Physical Self-Care as a Law Student
- 10 Reasons to Exercise in Law School As you begin law school you will face some of your toughest academic challenges yet. And unless you are one of the lucky few (I was not) who can get by on 6 hours or less of sleep (which I don’t recommend trying in law school), it will be exhausting and stressful. This is a perfect time in your life to continue any exercise routines that you have been doing, and if you don’t have one, then there is no better time to start.
- Food for Thought: Ten Tips for Better Nutrition in Law School When I started college I didn’t know the difference between proteins and carbohydrates or which foods kept me full the longest, or gave me the most energy. One night before finals, I cooked pasta with a homemade tomato sauce and vegetables. Then I packed up my books and went to the library to study. No sooner than I was sitting down to study at the library I started feeling hungry. I didn’t understand how I could be hungry so soon.
- How to Maximize Your Sleep I think by this point in your legal career (law school graduates and beyond), you all know how important sleep is for your body. Besides making you feel better, sleep has proven benefits such as improving your memory, focus, lowering stress (or aiding in your general ability to cope) and helping you to stay healthy. We offer some tips to maximize your nightly sleep!
- Let’s Talk About Sleep Let’s take a moment to talk about sleep. Or, really, lack of sleep. Because that is what you should be concerned about going into final exams (and throughout your law school experience). What happens if you don’t sleep?
- You Are What You Eat! Eating Well in Law School Eating well in law school is crucial! Here are some reasons you should be extra careful with your eating habits once you start law school.
- Video Quick Tip: The Most Important Thing to Do in Law School In this Video Quick Tip, Lee talks about the most important thing you can do to set yourself up for success: take care of yourself!
- This is Your Brain on Stress Are you paying attention to your studies and neglecting yourself? Making your mental and physical health a priority can be a brain-saver!
- Meal Plan Services For the Hangry, Busy and Thrifty Law Student After a long day of classes or studying in the law school library, there is nothing more appealing than coming home to a hot delicious meal. Sadly, this isn’t a reality for most law students and is even further from the truth for a bar exam prepper. In today’s millennial age, there is no shortage of meal delivery services geared towards meeting the taste buds, the diet and the pockets of each diverse law student. We offer some suggestions!
- Four Ways to Stay Physically Healthy in Law School Below, we’ve outlined the four ways I found to stay physically healthy in school.
- The Importance of Sleep in Law School Sleep is important generally, but it's very important to law students. It's probably necessary to get more sleep at a higher quality than you are right now, and we're looking at how to do this.
Using Your Law School Breaks Wisely
- Why I Don't Feel Guilty For Going on Vacation During Spring Break - A 2L Perspective There may be plenty to do looking at the last part of your spring semester, but we're looking at why it's also important to take some time off and re-charge, and spring break can be the perfect time to do it!
- How To Turn Off the Lawyer Brain Whether you’ve just started law school or you have been there for a while, you probably suffer from ‘lawyer brain’. What does this mean and is it a good thing?
- Summer: A Time for Discipline While most law students gasp for the summer as the period of well-deserved rest, the interim months provide a great opportunity to rewhip new discipline into a tired routine without having to open a casebook. Pursuing deliberately curated activities that surreptitiously infuse discipline into daily life may indirectly help breed academic discipline into mentality – a clear advantage come the fall semester.
- 5 Ways to Make Your Winter Break Productive Tips on how to use your winter break productively. Use it as a chance to rest up and get caught up on things you were behind on.
- Legal Films for the Aspiring Lawyer Need to remember why you're in law school to begin with? Check out these legal films for inspiration!
- How to Spend Your Spring Break During Law School Do you have plans for spring break? Just in case you’re debating between a sandy beach and a dark corner of the library, here are a few suggestions to keep in mind.
- 6 Questions to Ask to Set Yourself Up For a Successful Spring Semester in Law School Winter break is a great opportunity to reflect on the fall semester and think about how you want to approach the spring semester. If you’re wanting to improve your academic performance, critical self-reflection is a key part of the process. It involves evaluating what you learned, how well you learned it, and what adjustments need to be made. Although self-reflection often occurs intuitively, it’s worth taking a few minutes to explicitly and honestly evaluate your performance. Here are a few questions you need to consider as you’re evaluating your fall semester.
- Getting the Most Out Of Your Winter Break Congratulations on finishing finals! You should be so proud of what you have accomplished no matter what the outcome may be for you in a few weeks. You have truly earned this break to relax and reflect on your time as a law student, but this is also the time to focus on other matters. Below are some ideas on how else you can spend your days this winter break.
- How to Spend Your Law School Winter Break Winter break can be a time to rest up or get prepared for the next semester. We're looking at some ideas for spending your winter break wisely.
- Using Winter Break To Set Yourself Up For a Successful Spring Semester To make the most of winter break, make sure you invest (at least a little) time and effort into the following.
- Ways to Utilize Your Law School Spring Break Whether you have a vacation planned or want to utilize the time to study, balancing some time to relax with preparing for the remainder of the semester can help you re-charge before the last few weeks of the semester.
- How You Can Prepare For the Next Semester Over the Summer The summer between law school semesters can certainly be a break for some people, but it's important to take advantage of it to get ready for the next school year. We're looking at some ideas about how to do this.
- Podcast Episode 76: Making the Most of Your Law School Winter Break Today, as finals wind down, we’re talking about what you can do over winter break to improve your law school (and legal career) experience. Don’t worry, a lot of it is fun! Not just more work – you’ve done enough for now. Winter break is a time to recuperate, but we do have a few suggestions!
- Podcast Episode 178: Resolutions For a New Year (And a New Semester) We’re talking about resolutions we suggest for the new year and new semester.
Surviving as a Woman in the Law
- How Should a Young, Female Attorney Navigate a Male-Dominated Firm? Navigating the waters of a male-dominated firm can be tough for a young female lawyer, but these tips will help you feel more confident.
- Podcast Episode 31: Why is it So Horrible to be a Woman Lawyer? This week we are talking about something very near and dear to our hearts - being a woman in the legal profession. Are we really still having this same tired conversation about women in the workplace? Yes, yes we are.
- Podcast Episode 109: Life as a Woman Entrepreneur With Meg Keene of A Practical Wedding In this podcast we talk about the path to entrepreneurship, challenges of running a business as a woman and mother, not to mention the challenges faced by the partner of a law student/lawyer! Tune in to hear more from Meg Keene.