1L Success

Neonzeus
Sun, 09 Dec 2012 20:10:31 +0000

Agree about Getting to Maybe (good book), outlining, and not to panic. Study groups can be tricky as a 1L. I thought some of the students in my own study group were smarter than I was, and learned I was wrong after the first semester grades came out. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that someone is smarter just because they talk all the time.

I don’t agree with Demosthenes about legal bootcamp. Its purpose is not to teach Contracts, Criminal Law etc. They teach what to expect, how to brief cases, how to read cases (using the most well-known cases in each subject), how to write exams generally, etc. I looked at the materials, and thought they were excellent. More importantly, my kid found the experience to be very useful for his first semester. (The wide range of prospective law students who attend, including students from all of the T4, suggests that not everyone thinks this experience is useless.) There are lots of reviews pro & con out there from attendees.

On the other hand, I do agree that not everyone can afford the classes and you’re going to learn all of this stuff anyway. If you can’t afford the class, no biggie.

Interesting story about legal bootcamp. My kid met students from Yale, Harvard etc. Hadn’t heard from them for three years…but after he passed the bar this summer and started working as a lawyer, suddenly he’s getting contacted by them on Linked In and Facebook. (One even tried to use their brief acquaintance at boot camp to reach me for a job. I guess he discovered the connection on LinkedIn.)

Ultimately, you can collect advice from dozens of people and everyone will have different suggestions. There’s a fun DVD for prospective law students called All About Law School, which covers a lot of different subjects. Students at Harvard, U-Michigan, UCLA and other schools talk about different aspects of law school, such as outlines, exam strategies, gunners, etc. It was issued back in 2004 or 2005, but you might find it entertaining if you can find a copy for a buck or two. Not much changes.