hey guys welcome back to my channel i'm
angela vorpal of angelavorpal.com and
the law school network facebook group
and i'm a law school strategy coach so i
help law students get the grades and
strategically maximize the next three
years so that you can start your life
and your legal career on your own terms
in today's video we are going to be
tackling the very common question how do
i prepare for law school and a lot of
you guys may have heard by this point
that there is absolutely nothing you can
do to prepare for law school that you
should just rest and relax and spend
time with family and friends and travel
and while yes all of those things are
important there are definitely strategic
steps that you can take to position
yourself before law school begins to be
as successful as possible so that is
what we're gonna dive into in today's
video so if you guys are excited smash
that like button and let's go all right
so in terms of getting really prepared
for law school before you begin there
are three categories that i would
consider the most important the most
critical and the first one is to clear
all life distractions so when law school
hits it starts fast and furious you are
going to be underwater immediately that
first week and that has to do with just
the sheer quantity of information that
you're going to be expected to learn
right off the bat the complexity and
density of that information that is
really hard to wrap your mind around and
then just the time commitment the amount
of time it takes to keep up with the
reading and to truly internalize it and
understand it and so because that
experience is so inundating and so
intense starting from day one we want to
make sure that there is absolutely
nothing else on your plate no other
boxes to take on your to-do list so that
you can apply as much of your time and
energy solely to law school as possible
and so a lot of the categories that you
can get out of the way before law school
starts are things like housing so if you
are moving to a new city for law school
definitely give yourself two to three
weeks to find an apartment find a place
to live get settled in so you don't have
to be in the midst of a move
or otherwise uncomfortable and kind of
trying to figure out the logistics when
law school starts the other piece that
usually comes up for people is financial
aid and or testing accommodations so
just make sure that if either of those
things applies to you which it does for
the majority of students that you get
all of those details figured out so
again you don't have to worry about it
you don't have to spend any time or
mental energy figuring that stuff out
ahead of time
another piece that applies to all of us
is getting your doctor's appointments in
order so most of us are probably not up
to date with our yearly check-in
appointments and so if you have the time
definitely definitely get those knocked
out because law school demands a lot of
you physically and mentally and so we
want to make sure your body and your
mind is as strong as possible so that
you can really go all in and give this
experience everything you have so both
in terms of physical health and in terms
of mental wellness make sure that you
are up to date on your appointments and
again if you are in a new city making
sure that you find physicians that you
can
rely on if you need them in the moment
another piece of this puzzle is with
respect to personal relationships so i
think that law school is a lot more
intense than most of us expect it to be
and so we still think that we can hang
out with our friends and spend time with
our significant other and if you are
going all in on law school and really
really competing for those top grades
law school is going to be all-consuming
especially that first semester and
especially that first year and so
getting really really clear with the
people in your life that you care about
and that you used to see on a daily or
weekly basis and just letting them know
that you're going to be a bit m.i.a for
the next nine months as you go all in on
your first year of law school just so
that they're not blindsided and also so
that if you have responsibilities at
home child care responsibilities home
responsibilities that you can really
talk that out with your significant
other and come up with a plan that works
for the both of you and the last piece
that i would put under this category is
big life events so please please please
do yourself a favor and try not to
schedule any weddings or pregnancies or
long vacations during that first year of
law school it is already so stressful
and so overwhelming as it is that i
don't want you guys to be in a position
where you have additional stressors that
can be put off and delayed for later the
next category in terms of getting fully
prepared for law school is of course
your law school tools and so there are a
lot of fun ones out there a lot of
exciting ones to think about but the
need to knows i would definitely argue
are the following four so number one a
laptop without a doubt this is going to
be your biggest ally in law school you
guys are going to be taking so many
notes and working with those notes and
organizing them and studying them and so
having a good laptop with a decent
battery life is definitely tool number
one tool number two i would argue is a
good note-taking software and so a lot
of people just take notes in microsoft
word which is totally fine but if you
haven't used microsoft onenote i highly
recommend checking it out it's a very
easy user interface and it's something
that i used all through law school and
just kept my notes incredibly incredibly
well organized which is half the battle
when you are learning so much
information so quickly so i would argue
note taking software is number two for
number three you definitely of course
are going to have your textbooks and so
there is
somewhat of a debate between hardcopy
textbooks and e-textbooks i'm a big fan
of e-textbooks because it helps
facilitate the note-taking process but
if you're on the fence or if price is a
consideration because of course the hard
copy textbooks tend to be a lot cheaper
and you can rent them or buy them used
then i would recommend going half and
half so if you are interested in trying
out e-textbooks but you don't
necessarily want to go all in you could
have hard copy textbooks for two of your
classes and e-textbooks for the other
two and then see which one you like
better and see if it's worth the higher
price tag to go e-textbooks for some of
your classes and then the last thing i
would say on that list is a suit so you
definitely don't need a suit for the
first day of class but you are
eventually going to need one during that
first semester because of networking
events recruiting events and one else
summer internship opportunities come
online as early as october and november
and so again kind of in the spirit of
getting everything out of the way that
we can before law school starts i would
recommend investing in a suit so that
you never have to think about it you
don't have to worry about it and if a
networking opportunity a recruiting
opportunity an interview
opportunity comes along then you already
have a suit and you're already set and
you do not want to be spending any of
that critical studying time on anything
other than your courses and so consider
getting a suit as well the third
critical category for best positioning
yourself and best preparing yourself
before law school begins is to
understand the law school studying
strategies so law school for a lot of
different reasons is a completely
different animal than undergrad or grad
school and is so much more challenging
in so many different ways and it has
more information than most of us are
used to learning the amount of time that
we have to allocate to studying is
astronomically greater just the
complexity and density of the material
and the concepts we're learning the way
that final exams are structured how
you're graded against your classmates
all of these different pieces come
together to form and require a very
unique study strategy and so the same
things that we did in undergrad are not
going to be directly transferable to how
to study and do well in law school and
because of that so many students who
have done well their entire academic
lives come to law school and then are
completely disappointed by their grades
that first year because they don't
reflect the work that they've put in so
if you guys are interested in digging
into what those study strategies look
like definitely check out my free 1l
master class here we go through the
three main components for a successful
1l year strategy so that your grades do
reflect the amount of work and energy
and effort that you put in so those are
the three most important most critical
categories in my book in terms of
getting fully prepared for law school
but there are also some nice to have
categories where if you have additional
time if you have in the inclination you
can take additional action steps to get
even more prepared for law school so
just take these with a bit of a grain of
salt because i don't want you guys to
feel like you have to put these on your
plate and then it actually becomes more
overwhelming and more stressful and
therefore more harmful than good so
definitely definitely be really
intentional about which ones of these
you're going to take action on so again
you don't over burn or overwhelm
yourself the first one i would say are
practical skills so there are definitely
some skills that will make you a
stronger law student and a stronger
lawyer
and again just like with any skills
these take time and energy and
repetition to get good at so just be
really intentional about which ones
you're choosing and which ones you are
investing time and energy in and those
skills i would say the three most
important ones are public speaking
writing and typing so i will drop some
resources in the description below this
video so you guys can start to
investigate which ones of those you
might want to take action on the second
nice to have category are your 1l summer
internship materials now i know it
sounds kind of nuts preparing these a
year before the internship would start
but the truth of the matter is is that
some of these summer internship
opportunities come online as early as
november and december which incidentally
is smack dab in the middle of you
preparing for your final exams and so
if you have the time before law school
starts definitely get your resume your
cover letter and your diversity
statement in fighting shape so that you
don't have to divert the energy and
attention during the semester and the
good news is that 99 of what you're
going to put in those documents has
already happened to you there's very
very very little tweaking or
customization that needs to happen when
you're applying for your 1l summer
internship opportunities and so again if
you have the time definitely i would
recommend getting those ready to go so
that if an internship opportunity comes
online you can grab it go for it and not
have to spend any time or energy
preparing for it and the third nice to
have category in preparing for a law
school is to build your network now i
know this sounds incredibly overwhelming
incredibly time consuming so if you are
close in time to starting classes for
law school don't worry about this don't
put this on your plate but if you are
far enough out and you are looking to
take action steps then definitely this
is something that is incredibly valuable
and can last you throughout law school
and your entire legal career and so in
terms of getting started and building
this network things to keep in mind are
to number one definitely set up your
linkedin profile because that's where
all of the lawyers are hanging out
number two attend a virtual networking
event either on linkedin or with your
local bar association in the city where
you live and three begin to reach out to
lawyers and conduct informational
interviews we're talking lawyers who are
working in the practice areas that you
think you might be interested in and in
the geographic areas where you think you
might want to live work and practice
after law school and i actually did an
awesome video on informational
interviews with dave straussberg that i
will link in the comments below this
video so you guys can check that out but
definitely breaking that seal on the
intimidation factor of reaching out to
people and talking to people and
building that network is so amazingly
powerful and once you get the hang of it
you can keep repeating it and keep that
network strong throughout law school and
the rest of your legal career all right
guys so those are the things that i
recommend doing to get fully prepared
before law school begins and if you
haven't yet be sure to join us inside
the free law school network facebook
group where you can meet and get support
from other amazing people going through
the same journey you are so if you
enjoyed the video be sure to hit
subscribe for more videos on these
topics and if you are interested in
building that legal career that you
absolutely love then check out these two
amazing videos over here as well i am
sure they will give you a ton of value
so that's it for today and i will see
you guys in the next video
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