Today, we're going to talk about how NOT to prepare for law school. So stick
around and get a head start.
Here at Legal Eagle, we've talked a lot about
what you should do before you start law school so you can get a head start and a
leg up on your classmates, which is really important because you're going to
be graded on a curve, so every advantage you can get is important. But there's a
lot of bad information out there and there's a lot of mistakes you can make
before starting law school. Here are some of the worst things that you can do
before starting law school. So the first thing you should not do before starting
law school is you should not read your case book. This is a case book it's a
compilation of all the cases that you're going to read in your class. Now the last
thing that you should do is start opening it up and reading inside.
Number one, you're not going to cover everything that's in the book. Number two, every
professor is different, so even different professors would use the same case in
different ways, and you're going to have to learn how your particular professor
uses that case book. Now on top of that, if you did start reading it, a lot of the
cases wouldn't make a lot of sense. That's because the law needs to be
interpreted. Sometimes you use the facts from a certain case as a point of
reference. Sometimes you only use bright-line rules, and you ignore the
facts, and it's up to your professor to tell you what's important to take away
from every particular case. In addition, it's really complicated stuff, and there
are hundreds of books that are out there to help digest that material. Books like
commercial supplements and commercial outlines, so digging into your case book
while it might seem like a good idea and a good way to get ahead is actually a
terrible idea. It's just going to create more stress. And speaking of commercial
don't read those either. Here's a commercial outline from Gilbert's
on torts. A commercial outline contains a summary of a particular subject, in this
case torts. But it's a bad idea to sit down and read those too - first of all, it's
hundreds of pages long and these are big pages. It would be a huge task to
try and read through it, and you have at least three substantive courses every
semester. You're not going to get through it, and even if you did you probably
wouldn't really understand it, even in its broken down components. And again you
have to understand the law as your professor presents it to you. Your
professor is the one that's going to be giving you a final exam, and that
professor is going to write their final by themselves. So it's really important
to understand the law as your professor gives it to you. Now,
we love commercial outlines and supplements at Legal Eagle, they play a very
vital role when you're studying for class. But the summer before law school
starts is not the right time to read it. It's a recipe for disaster, it's just not
worth it. Which leads me to my third point: don't try understanding the law
before you get to law school. It would take an incredibly long time. Lawyers
spend their entire careers learning very small portions of the law. And any
advantage you would have in learning the substantive law would quickly be erased
as people started boning up themselves on the law itself. Which leads me to my
next point: don't freak out. Law School is a very stressful time no doubt about it.
But it's also wonderful. You'll meet great people, you will
stretch yourself academically in ways that you didn't think you were capable
of. You will learn things that you had no idea existed. Every day you're going to
learn something new, and if you play your cards right in law school you're going
to have a great time and it's going to be worthwhile. I can tell you as a
practicing trial attorney it was an incredibly worthwhile experience and I
would do it again if I had to. Which brings me to my final tip: don't do
nothing. Now sure it's tempting to just sit back on a beach and relax before you
start law school, but now is the time where you really can get a head start.
And you get a head start not by studying the law, but by studying law school
itself. So many people go into law school not knowing anything about the process
itself, and specifically they don't know anything about how to take law school
exams, but law school exams are kind of like the LSATs.
There are strategies and there are tactics to do better, and you can
practice those tactics ahead of time. In our video on the two pillars of law
school success, we talked about how you have to both master the law and master
the tests in law school. Everybody masters the law in law school
but so few people put in the time to learn how to take law school exams well.
And when your entire grade is based on one single exam, it's so important to
learn how to do that exam. So while it's tempting to just sit back, don't do
nothing before you start law school. So there you go. Those are the things you
should not do before starting law school. Hopefully that helps before you begin.
You'll have a great time, it's definitely worth it, and from everyone here at Legal
Eagle, remember to study smart through law school.
Oh and one last thing,
if you're getting ready for law school check this out
we put together a free ebook called the "Ultimate Pre-law Checklist." Just click
the link below to download it. It's some of our best tips and strategies for getting
ahead before you start law school, and it will put you miles ahead of your
classmates. Just click below. And also, if you like this video, please subscribe to
our channel. We come out with new videos on how to crush law school all the time.
So thanks a lot, thanks for stopping by.