- Law school is really expensive.
And it's easy to assume that the only good resources
in law school are also really expensive,
but that's simply not the case.
Today, we're gonna talk about the free resources
that you should be using to supercharge
your law school education and get better grades.
(bright instrumental music)
The first free resource
that I would recommend in law school is called Anki.
Anki is a digital flash card software.
Simply put, there is no better way
to help you memorize things.
Paper flash cards get a bad rap,
and part of that is deserved.
But there's been a lot of research into the science
of memorizing things over the last 20 years.
Recently, study after study has shown
that something called spaced repetition learning
can supercharge your ability to recall things.
The basis of the system is simple.
The more you remember something,
the less you need to study it.
The less you remember it,
the more often you need to see the flashcard.
Anki has this kind of periodization
or spaced repetition built into it.
It's been used by language learners for years.
It allows people to learn entire languages in just months.
In fact, I'm using it to learn Japanese right now.
So, for example, if I am displayed a flashcard,
and I get the answer right, then I tell the software
that I got that card right,
and I won't see that card again for a day.
But if I got the card wrong,
then I'll see that card again within one minute.
I'll keep seeing it until I get that card right.
This system is the fastest way to remember things,
like elements of a cause of action
or memorizing the facts of a particular case.
If you use visual cues like pictures or mnemonics,
you can really supercharge
your ability to learn these concepts really fast.
Not everything that you need to learn for final exams
is conductive to being memorized via flashcards like Anki,
but I say that at least 80% is.
If you wanna memorize things in the minimum amount of time,
use Anki or another spaced repetition flashcard system.
It is a great system.
Very few people use it,
and it is perfectly free on a laptop.
The next free resource that I would use is Westlaw.
Westlaw is not just the thing that you have to use
in your legal writing and research class.
It's also a wonderful tool for shortcutting your study time.
Lawyers are very lazy.
They are willing to pay a ton of money to have things
spoonfed to them, and Westlaw and LexisNexis fill that need.
Every American case is reported
and analyzed by an army of lawyers.
Here at Legal Eagle, we recommend commercial outlines
and case summary services like Quimbee,
but you can get 90% of the benefit
of those things straight from Westlaw itself.
They summarize the facts, and most importantly,
they give you the black letter law.
Find what works best for you and your professor,
between commercial supplements and outlines,
but don't forget the West head notes as well
and read those first before you dive into your case book.
It will make your reading so much clearer,
save you headaches, and save you time.
We go into this in more depth
in our Guide to Law School Cases.
You can get a link to that down below.
The third free resource you should use
is your law school librarian.
Your law school librarians can help you
with just about anything: writing assignments, research
assignments, law review articles, just about anything.
But the most important thing
that they can help you with is practice tests.
Unfortunately, law schools tend to keep a tight lid
on their practice tests, so they make it hard to find,
and they certainly don't advertise them.
Your law librarians are the gatekeepers.
They are your best resource for finding prior exams
from your school, and,
most importantly, for your particular professor.
I talk about practice exams a lot on this channel.
It's one of the most important things
you can do to get better grades.
So, go get them from your law librarians.
Get as many as you can.
Get exams from other professors.
It doesn't matter.
Just do them.
Your grades will thank you.
Okay, the next free resource that I would recommend
in law school is Dropbox or Google Drive,
some sort of cloud storage system.
Everyone has a horror story about their laptop crashing
the night before a writing assignment is due
or losing their outline just before they started studying.
All of your law school files should be pretty small,
just Word documents, mainly.
So sign up for a free Dropbox or Google Drive account.
Automatically save your work to those folders,
and while you're at it,
tell Word to auto save your work every few seconds.
Your peace of mind is worth this free resource,
and there's just no reason in this day and age
not to have some sort of cloud system.
The next free resource I would recommend
is your school's gym.
It's too easy to get completely out of shape in law school.
Thanks to the arms race between colleges, odds are,
you have access to a really nice gym on campus.
And that probably includes classes
that are free to take at the gym.
Part of doing well in law school
is staying mentally and physically fit.
So don't neglect your gym,
and don't neglect your body or your health as well.
It's too easy to fall into the trap of eating nothing
but junk food and just studying all the time,
but in the long run, it is better for you
to stay mentally and physically fit, and that requires
that you go to the gym every once in a while.
The next free resource you should
absolutely use in law school is your professor.
You should go to office hours.
It is amazing how few people
actually go to the professor's office hours.
These people are experts in their field,
and more importantly, they're the ones
that are going to test you on your final exam.
So find out what they in particular
think about a certain section of law.
Their version is more important than any other resource.
If your professor contradicts a commercial supplement,
go with your professor.
That's the version that's going to be on the test.
But you can use your professor to clarify things
that you don't understand.
If your professor offers practice exams, do them,
and then talk about the practice exam with your professor
and talk about what you can do better.
Find out what you did wrong and what you did right.
Get to know the professor.
Your professor is genuinely interested in the law;
otherwise, they wouldn't be a professor.
And hopefully, you are too.
If so, talk shop.
Go to office hours.
Getting good grades is only one way to get a good job.
Remember that getting a referral from your professor is
another perfectly legitimate way of getting a 1L or 2L job.
So get to know the professor.
Show some genuine interest,
and use them to build your network.
Oh, and you know what else will help you get better grades
on your final exam is our Guide to Law School,
which you can download for free down below.
You can also check out our master class,
where we show you all the tricks and step-by-step
instructions on how to crush every legal exam
and how to think like a lawyer.
Also, subscribe to our channel.
We come out with new tips all the time.
So, from everyone here at Legal Eagle, see you next time.
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