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Tips To Follow Throughout the Semester of Your Law School

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  6. Tips To Follow Throughout the Semester of Your Law School

published July 30, 2013

By Author - LawCrossing
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( 1 vote, average: 4.3 out of 5)
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  1. Read Your Assignments Regularly.

    Make no mistake, law classes require a lot of reading. Sometimes first-semester students are deceived when they see reading assignments of 20 to 30 pages per class. They might be tempted to believe that if they fall a little behind, they will be able to catch up at a later date. The reason that they have been deceived is that they may not realize that it takes a lot longer to read and understand 20 pages of case law than 20 pages of a history textbook or a novel. Unlike a textbook or a novel, which is probably organized to culminate in the assertion of a specific point, a legal case is organized to convey a lot of information that may be tangential to what you ultimately need to understand after reading the case. Cases may discuss facts, jurisdictional issues, and arguments that the court has rejected. Often this information masks the more important "rule" conveyed by the case and requires students to spend extra time seeking out the rule. Every case is assigned for a reason. It is important to allow yourself enough time to read the case and to reflect upon why it is important. In addition, in many law school classes, the professor may call on you to discuss the case at any unexpected time. Most professors (and classmates) will be sympathetic if they can tell that you have read a case, even if you do not understand its nuances. However, their sympathies will likely diminish significantly if it appears that you have not attempted to prepare for class.


  2. Take Notes about the Cases That You Read.

    "Preparing for Class," one excellent way to study for exams during the semester is to brief your cases. Some first-semester students type or write formal half-page (or longer) briefs of every case that they read. Other students write less formal notes about each case in the margins of their casebooks. Because you will bring your casebook to class, it is easy to refer to notes that you have made in the margins when you are discussing a particular case. Some students prefer this method of taking notes because it is less time-consuming than writing a more formal case brief. Additionally, it encourages students to refer to the actual language of the case when they look back at their notes about the case.

    Neither of these methods-briefing or taking less formal notes in your casebook-is necessarily superior. You might want to try both during the first semester. The important thing is to develop some method for recording notes about the cases that you read. This will assist you in participating in and following class discussions. It will also assist you in refining any notes or outlines that you decide to create and use in preparing for final exams.

  3. Take Copious Class Notes.

    It is important to understand and record what you hear in class. Your professor's perspective on the importance of a case, and his or her approval or disapproval of the way it was decided, can be crucial in understanding cases and in thinking about the types of issues that you are likely to encounter on your final exam. Moreover, many professors are skilled in facilitating classroom discussion to reflect a variety of viewpoints on the issues that you study in each case. Therefore, the comments that fellow students make about the reasoning in each case, and the implications of the decision, can help you think about and understand perspectives that you might not have otherwise considered. There are multiple sides to every issue. The adversary nature of our legal system is built upon this fundamental belief. Use class discussion and create class notes that will help you understand and recall the multiple sides of each issue.

  4. Review Your Readings And Notes Frequently.

    One of the pitfalls of the fact that many law school classes require exams only at the end of the semester is that students are tempted to move from week to week and topic to topic without reviewing what they have learned. They already feel like they spend a great deal of time reading and preparing for class each day. Therefore, they do not spend any time on the "extra work" entailed in reviewing what they have already completed. This is a mistake. Precisely because law school exams test a full semester's worth of work, it is imperative to review each section of the course as you complete it. Although the topics in various sections of law school courses often build on each other, students can often identify the most important issues in each section of the course after they complete it. Paying specific attention to legal questions that appear to be unresolved by the cases you have read will help you focus your attention in later sections of the course and may be an indication of potential exam questions.

  5. Consult With Other People.

    It is difficult, if not impossible, for any one student to master all the doctrine and policy issues in a course merely by reading and attending class. Inevitably, you will misinterpret a key case or forget how a prior decision influenced a court's reasoning. No matter how hard you try, you can never get everything that the professor says into your notes correctly. For these reasons, and because your entire legal career will be filled with consultations with other people, you should take the opportunity to confer with your professors and, more importantly, with other students throughout the semester.

  1. Legal Jobs
  2. Legal Articles
  3. Law Students
  4. Law Student Career Advice
  5. Surviving Law School
  6. Tips To Follow Throughout the Semester of Your Law School

published July 30, 2013

By Author - LawCrossing
( 1 vote, average: 4.3 out of 5)
What do you think about this article? Rate it using the stars above and let us know what you think in the comments below.

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