Would you like to know how to start law school right?
Worried that you’re missing something?
Let me share with you 10 things you need to do to help you succeed.
Hello lawlings, this is Professor Beau Baez.
Law school is hard, and many law students make it harder by failing to take into account
the following 10 factors.
By the way, I’m not going to spend much time on each issue, but I will link to longer
discussions for the more important ones.
And don’t forget to stay to the end, when today’s bonus law fact discusses the court
that was named after a tablecloth.
Now, in no particular order are the things you should do when starting law school.
1. Books.
We just finished the first week of classes and several of my students still don’t have
their books.
Make sure you have your books before classes begin.
I get it, you’re trying to save some money, so you go to Ebay or Amazon,
and you have to wait a couple of weeks for the books to arrive.
You don’t have that kind of time to lose.
2. Reading.
Talking about books, keep up with the reading.
This isn’t high school, where you can skip your assignments and make it up before the finals.
One of my high school friends tried that in law school, flunked after one semester.
Also, be aware that almost every law professor has material assigned for the first day of class.
3. Case briefs.
Preparing your own, short case briefs is essential to ultimate law school success.
When I’ve talked to other law professors, almost to a t, they all wrote their case briefs when they were students.
Just make sure you follow the FIRAC method, which I discuss in another video.
4. Seating.
I strongly recommend that you sit towards the front of the room.
This will help you stay focused, and you might actually participate more in class.
For those that sit in the back, they're going to be distracted by all the others in the rows
in front of them.
5. Study groups.
Find a group of committed classmates that want to work on law school and not socialize.
Make sure that all group members are as committed to working together as you are,
otherwise find another group.
Now there are different approaches to small groups, with some dividing the material out between
members, with each person handling a different course.
And keep the group relatively small, maybe 4 to 5 classmates.
The best students usually work in study groups.
6. Outlining.
After the first week of law school, begin to create a rule outline that you will use
in preparing for final exams.
This doesn’t mean you won’t ever use a commercial outline, because you will.
But it is essential that you first prepare your own outline as that will help you to learn
the material at a deeper level.
The reason that your outlines, that you create, are so powerful is that it forces you
to engage with the material,
creating strong neural connections to what you've already studied.
Then on exam day, it will be so much easier for you to retrieve that information.
I have another video that goes deeper into outlining.
7. Exercise.
Exercise is not only important for our bodies, but also because it helps our brains.
Studies show that we can think better right after we exercise.
When I know that I'm going to have to do some heavy-duty mental work, I first go out and do some exercise.
8. Extracurriculars.
You will be bombarded with dozens of groups that you can join, and you will be tempted to join
many of them.
They're some great groups out there.
You don’t have that kind of time.
Maybe join one, two, but certainly don’t commit to any leadership roles during your first
year of law school.
You need to master the law, and that means most of your energy needs to go into your studies.
9. Study Aids.
Some of your professors may tell you: do not purchase study aids.
This is because you might not understand how to use them effectively.
A study aid should be used after you've done all the hard work yourself and you're
ready to see if your work product is accurate.
But many students fail to create their own outlines, notes, or briefs, as they rely almost
exclusively on study aids.
That's going to hurt you on exam day, as you're not going to know the material at a deep level.
10. Exam Preparation.
After the first week of law school, start dedicating some time each week for exam preparation.
First, read a few articles on how to write a law school exam.
Second, find the professor’s old exams, if they're available.
And third, begin writing short practice exams using the IRAC method.
The practice exams, maybe start in your third week of law school.
Now, for today’s bonus law fact.
The Court of Exchequer was initially created by William the Conqueror,
shortly after he conquered England in 1066.
And he created it to handle the King's treasury.
Over time, the court expanded it’s jurisdiction to handle both law and equity cases,
until the court was abolished in the 19th century.
Concerning the court’s name, the word exchequer is Latin for from the checkered.
Apparently, when the court was created the officials happened to be using a checkered tablecloth,
which gave the court its name: Court of the Exchequer, or today, we would say
Court with the Checkered Tablecloth.
But Exchequer just sounds a whole lot better than Court of the Checkered Tablecloth.
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