Especially after 1L year, law school is a balance between many competing demands. Preparing for exams, looking for a summer job, working on your Law Review cite check, or taking a well-earned nap — what’s the highest priority? This is a question you’ll often face! (Generally the nap is the right answer.)
Read on for information on different law school extracurricular activities, thoughts on how to maintain a life outside of law school, ways to sustain motivation, and some strategies for improving your academic results.
Enjoy!
Law School Extracurricular Activities
- Should I Enroll In a Clinic? If you are a 1L or 2L and contemplating your schedule for next year, and debating whether or a not a clinic is right for you, here are four things to keep in mind as you weigh this decision.
- The 2L Slip: Will Trying to Get a Job Doom Your GPA? 2L year is when you’re supposed to be "worked to death," since the “scare” of the 1L year has dissipated, and the “bore” of being a 3L has not yet set in. Perhaps it is the decline of the curve, or summer vacation, but frequently, 2Ls begin to slip. What are the problem areas, and how can the 2L slip be prevented?
- The 2L Slip: Are Your Grades in Danger of Dropping Because You Have Too Much to Do? Some 2L classes can be deceptively hard. Even if the curve has relaxed somewhat since your 1L year, the competition is still tough. Here are some tips on how to keep your grades up as a 2L.
- What to Expect in Moot Court As a spring semester 1L you diligently went out for every extra-curricular offered: law review, mock trial, moot court, anything that would boost your resume. But with exams and looking for a summer job, you might have chased down these opportunities without exactly understanding what they were or what it would be like to actually be accepted. So for those of you looking towards a year of moot court but feeling unsure of what you’ve gotten yourself into, here’s what you can expect.
- How to Approach a Moot Court Argument It is that time of year when many law schools are having moot court arguments for their first-year law students. Find out the best ways to approach this new and important law school activity.
- How to Get the Most Out of Law School With Extracurricular Activities While you may be skeptical of any addition to your already burdensome schedule in law school, adding just a few extracurricular activities beginning as early as 1L year can be very valuable to your education and future.
- 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!
- Should You Join Law Review? While Law Review is a great way to get experience and can help you stand out from your classmates, it’s also time consuming and might not be worth your time and energy. Whether you’re thinking about applying or were already selected based on your GPA, here are some things to keep in mind when making your decision.
- Should I Do a Law School Extracurricular? Skeptical about giving up so much valuable study (or sleep) time to participate in law school extracurricular activities? Here are some reasons to take part that may not have occurred to you before.
- Podcast Episode 35: What Extracurricular Activities Matter in Law School Today we are discussing extracurricular activities in law school. You may be tempted to focus exclusively on studying and maintaining your grades, but extracurricular activities can help break up the monotony of law school and bolster your resume for the future.
- Podcast Episode 37: Surviving Law School Moot Court Today we are talking about how to find success during law school Moot Court. This can be a stressful experience for any law student, especially those with a fear of public speaking.
- Podcast Episode 42: Acing the Law Review Write-On Competition In this podcast we are discussing the Law Review write-on competition and why you should (or shouldn't) participate. We've also got tips for success, should you decide you want to do it.
- Podcast Episode 103: Setting Yourself Up to Be a Mock Trial Rockstar (With Sara O'Connor) Are you interested in learning more about mock trial, either as a class or a competition team? This is the podcast episode for you!
- Podcast Episode 115: Tips for Settling into Law School Settling back into law school after your first month can be difficult, even if you're a 2L or a 3L. In this podcast we talk about making sure that you're making proper adjustments and taking good care of yourself through this stressful time.
How to Have a Life Outside of 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!
- The Care and Upkeep of Your Inner Law School Child Sometimes the resemblance between kids and law students can be scary.
- 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 Tips for Balancing Work and Law School After the toil and tedium of 1L year, most students look forward to gaining some practical experience at a legal job as 2Ls and 3Ls. Working at a law firm, government agency, court, or other legal office will expose you to different practice areas and give you a chance to learn real world skills (hopefully while getting paid). But balancing a job and a full-time law school course load will come with challenges.
- 6 Ways to Make Time to Exercise in Law School How many times have you found yourself saying that you’re too busy or overwhelmed to exercise in law school? While it’s true that the majority of your time should be spent studying and going to class, making time to exercise is also critically important to your success in law school: not only will keeping your body active help you physically, but it also helps you be more mentally engaged as well.
- 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!
- Why It's Worth Spending Your Saturday at a Conference After graduating law school, you are joining the legal community. This community is one where you will want to continue growing and learning. Relationships are critical and going to events allows you to meet people and network. Your career doesn’t start when you graduate from law school; your career is starting right now.
- Surviving a Law School Winter With Indoor Hobbies Let's face it, law school winters can be depressing. But they're less bad if you develop some winter hobbies!
- 6 Quick Tips for Busy Law Students It gets pretty crazy trying to balance school and all of the extracurricular activities in law school. Follow these tips to make your hectic life a little bit easier.
- 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!
- Should I Get a Part-Time Job in Law School? Are you considering a part-time job to help defray the costs (or cut back on the loans) related to being in law school? Here are three questions you should ask yourself in order to make the best decision for you.
- Mid-Semester Check-In - 3L Perspective We hear from a current 3L about where things stand for her half-way through 3L year and some general thoughts on looking ahead to the last semester of law school.
- 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.
- 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!
Improving Your Academic Results
- Hey, 2Ls: How You Can Get Better Grades This Year? Many 2Ls across the country are starting out the year with one question—how to pull their grades up from last semester. Students are feeling really feeling the pressure on many fronts, from jobs to even the bar exam. So what do you do?
- Back to School - What to Do Differently This Year For those of you returning to law school this year as a 2L or 3L, here are some things to do differently this time around.
- Strategies for Using Your 2L Year to Distinguish Yourself The start of 2L year is generally something to look forward to – the uncertainty that surrounds the first year of law school is in the past, the stress of final exams are months away, and you get to pick electives for the first time! 2L year has a lot going for it, but you shouldn’t let your newfound confidence as an upperclassman make you complacent.
- Are You Coachable? Get the help you need. Tips for making yourself more coachable in law school.
- Tips for Handling Grade Frustration Law school is stressful enough as it is, but when combined with the fact that your entire grade performance for a semester-long course is determined by one final exam, the pressure can become crippling. If your grades aren't what you hoped for, here are some ways to deal with your frustration -- and how to bounce back next time.
- Podcast Episode 9: How To Raise Your Grades as a 2L or 3L If you are a 2L or 3L who’s struggled in law school, this episode is for you. Today we’re talking about how to overcome a 1L year that was less than stellar and raise your grades for the rest of your tenure in law school.
- Podcast Episode 61: Making the Most of Your 2L and 3L Years of Law School Today we’re talking about what 2Ls and 3Ls need to be thinking about as they get into the swing of the later years of law school. If you want to make the most of your final years of law school, tune in.
- Podcast Episode 79: Making the Most of Your Second Semester in Law School Today, we’re talking about making the most of your second semester of law school. By now, you probably have some or all of your grades back, so this is a good time to take stock of where you are and make any changes necessary to get the most out of your second semester.
Finding and Maintaining Motivation
- Dealing with Law School “Time Regret” While it’s normal to feel regret about things you did in the past that maybe didn’t work out so well, it’s not productive to spend lots of time dwelling on mistakes made! We all mess things up — that’s how we learn.
- How to Maintain Your Motivation Throughout the Semester As the last few weeks of the semester approaches many students start to feel their motivation slump. The initial excitement of a new school year has worn off and is replaced with a pile of lengthy reading assignments, outlines that aren’t up to date, and the anxiety-inducing knowledge that finals will be here in no time. It can be tempting to revert to bad habits or become disengaged as the semester drags on, but slacking off now will likely lead to more stress later on. Law school requires consistent, methodical preparation throughout the semester, so if you find yourself becoming complacent, use some of these tips to help you re-motivate and finish the semester strong.
- Overcoming the Mid-Semester Slump It’s normal to feel unmotivated, especially as the professors increasingly mention exams and your brain starts to lose its edge. When these moments happen, there are a few things that have helped me.
- The 3L Snooze Per the infamous adage, 3L year is when “they bore you to death.” But your third year of law school can be important for several reasons, though (besides graduation!). So it’s crucial to pay attention, despite how mind-numbingly tiresome it may be. Here are a few things to consider as you try to wake up and keep your head in the game through the home stretch.
- Time for a Mid-Semester Check In: How Are You Doing So Far? My school just finished fall break, which means, like most schools, we’ve reached the halfway point of the semester and final exams will be here in the blink of an eye. At this point, self-evaluation is a great way to gauge where you are and what changes you can make to put your best self out there. Below is a list of questions to ask yourself to help evaluate your work up to this point.
- Podcast Episode 128: Regrouping and Dealing with Grades Second Semester We’re talking about taking stock, regrouping, and a few resolutions you might want to consider for the new school year. The first few weeks of the spring semester are a great time to evaluate what worked for you – and what didn’t work – last semester.