Preparations for Going to Law Classes

An important rule in obtaining the necessary information is "Go to class." As Woody Allen aptly observed, "Eighty percent of life is just showing up." It is true that a law class may be a frustrating experience from time to time. The Socratic method of teaching, still employed by many law school professors, often seems like a game of "hide the ball" or "guess what I'm thinking now." However, except in rare cases, the questions asked and the discussions initiated by the professor will provide some insight into the things she thinks are important and the way she thinks about the course material. If you only read the casebook and avoid going to class, you will lose the opportunity to gain these insights. These insights are extremely valuable, especially when exam time rolls around. Even if you have not prepared for class, you should attend.

Being prepared for class will also help you take coherent notes. Having good class notes is a fundamental requirement for doing well in most law school classes. For this reason, write your notes so that they are legible and easily understood. Short, simple sentences work best for this purpose. When taking notes in class, avoid the trap of trying to write down every word the professor utters; rather, you should focus on being sure to get all the main points of the discussion. Shortly after class, review your notes to make sure they are clear. If not, talk to your professor and fellow students to fill in any gaps. This little bit of extra work will yield significant dividends when you start outlining your law courses.

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If you cannot attend a particular session of a class, have a classmate tape-record the class. Supplying your own tape recorder and tape, as opposed to borrowing them, is preferable because you will impose less on your classmate, you will have more control over the quality of the recording, and you will have more flexibility in using the tape.

Listen to the tape recording of a class session you missed as soon as possible. Leaving all your tapes until the end of the term will overload you with unnecessary work at a critical time. Additionally, if you do not listen to the tape shortly after the class actually took place, your knowledge of the course will suffer from gaps. This can create difficulties in integrating the course material into an understandable framework. As you listen to the tape, take notes just as you would in class. While you may miss some of the conversation, you can control the speed with which you listen, starting, stopping, and replaying the important parts. Attending class sessions is preferable to listening to tape recordings, though, because you can participate in the discussion, ask questions, hear remarks from different areas of the room, and better understand and follow the discussion. However, listening to a good quality tape recording is a workable "next-best" alternative.

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If you are unable to get someone to tape-record a class session for you, try to obtain a copy of someone else's notes from the session you missed. If possible, establish a reciprocal relationship with someone who takes good notes. You give him your notes for classes he missed, and he gives you notes for classes you missed. In this way, each person gains from the relationship.

As with the tapes, review the notes as soon as possible. The person who made them is more likely to be able to clarify them shortly after the actual class session than several weeks or months later. Additionally, delay will only make understanding the big picture of the course material more difficult.