Staying organized is a major part of being a successful law student. If you are losing your handouts, taking notes in different places, or constantly losing your study materials, chances are you won’t study effectively.
Thankfully, modern technology can come to your rescue. The phone or tablet you may be reading this on can become your organizational multi-tool. In this post, we highlight several top applications for staying organized in law school. From note taking apps to calendar organizers, this list will get you moving in the right direction to becoming more organized.
Here are some great apps that can help you stay organized in law school:
Evernote
Evernote is perhaps the best note taking application out there because of the things you can add to your typed notes: insert pictures, clip pages from the web, and checklists just to name a few. The result is a rich note taking experience that, of course, automatically syncs across all your devices. You could type notes on your computer and study them on your tablet later in the day.
If managing multiple notebooks for your classes is tough for you, consider Evernote for your note taking. It not only helps you create detailed notes, but also helps you organize and share them. Evernote is free, but if you get hooked on it there are two tiers above the free edition that are packed with even more features. Evernote Premium is the top level of Evernote and has some incredible features for $49.99 a year.
iStudiez Pro
Perhaps the best calendar app for your mobile device, iStudiez Pro is your key to staying on top of all of your assignments and to-do’s. Add your class schedule, professor information, assignments, and even your grades to the app, and it will neatly organize everything in the format you want. While it does cost $2.99, iStudiez Pro rolls so many features into one app that it’s actually a bargain at a few bucks. The time and disorganization it will save you is worth much more than $3!
Genius Scan
Genius Scan turns your mobile device into a pocket scanner. It’s really easy to use: just take a picture of a paper document, adjust the borders of the picture, and, magic, the app scans the document to your phone. The result is a PDF or JPEG scan that you can send to anyone.
No more trips to the library scanner!
As a law student, you may want to convert your handwritten notes to digital format (read why hand writing your notes in class is a good idea) or you may be drowning in hand-outs from all your classes. With Genius Scan, you can easily scan all your paper documents to your phone, which is why we highly recommend you getting this FREE app!
Dropbox
We have talked about the importance of backing up your work in law school, and Dropbox is a great app for that. A free Dropbox account gives you 2GB of storage, but you can get up to 16GB more for free by just recommending your friends. If you want to go all out and use Dropbox as your main online storage, you can sign up for 1TB (1,000GB!) for $99 dollars a year (a worthwhile investment!).
For this post, we want to talk about Dropbox’s value as an organizational tool. We have all run into the problem of trying to email attachments that are too large… Dropbox is a solution to this problem because you can upload large files and share links to access the files online. You can make and share folders, collaborate in real time, and the best part is that all your work is synced automatically.
Online storage is pointless without easy access, but Dropbox excels at providing both. Getting into the cloud storage game is easy to do with Dropbox. Check it out here.
Simplemind
An easy to use, online, mobile, and helpful mind mapping application?? Yes, there is such a thing and simplemind is it. Simplemind is a powerful mind mapping application where you can easily organize your thoughts and notes into an intuitive visual aid. What is unique about simplemind is that it can be used on multiple platforms including Mac, PC, or mobile device. This feature adds portability to one of the most exciting organization tools a law student can use: mind maps.
Law in a Flash
Law school is studying. There is no way around it. We all have our preferred study methods and tools, but let’s be honest, we try and use the method that takes the shortest amount of time. That may be why you’ve never tried flash cards. Well, the Law in a Flash apps wants to change that! Law in a Flash apps are sets of (pre-made!) digital flashcards organized into specific law school topics. But the cards don’t just test terms! There are actual hypothetical situations like you would find on a law school exam. Additionally, you can add your own notes to each card to tailor the information or answers to your professor’s preferences.
There are several card packs you can download, each filled with quality questions and answers: 1L courses, 2L + 3L courses, and an Electives pack that covers topics like transactions law and environmental law. Given their breadth, quality, and ease of use, the Law in a Flash app can help you study for law exams without having to create and keep track of piles of flashcards. Get this app!
Quizlet
Similar to Law in a Flash, Quizlet is a more universal and versatile digital flash card website that allows you to both create your own flash cards or use sets other students have made. There is a developed community of law school students on Quizlet who have already made sets for a variety of law school topics. You can save your favorite sets and share ones you create by making an account. Best of all, you can access all of your saved flashcard sets from your mobile device via the Quizlet application. No more loosing individual note cards in your bags!
We hope this list can serve as a starting point for your embrace of digital organization. Organizational applications are getting better and better every year so we will be sure to update our recommendations as new apps come out!
Do you have a favorite app that is not listed? Let us know!
Looking for some help to do your best in law school? Find out about our law school tutoring options.
Leave a Reply