Orientation Day: Some Thoughts For 1Ls During the Program

  

This morning, I sat in on a talk given by our Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Donald Corbett,  to nervous, but eager entering 1Ls. I thought I would pass along a few of his many great comments:

              You Can’t Always Get What You Want

In college, things tend to come relatively easily. You spend a little time on your studies and you do relatively well. The more time you spend, the better you generally perform academically. That’s not the case in law school. You may put a great deal of time, energy and effort into a course and, yet, you still manage a “C” in the course. What was that about?!?

Law school is an endeavor where you may not exactly succeed in the way that you thought that you might. You must persevere and stay in it for the long run.

   

        Reintroduce Yourself to Friends and Family

Your family and friends may know that you are in law school, but may not appreciate what that exactly means. When you start getting the normal: “Hey, you want to go to the mall,” “ You want to hang out tonight?” “How about that movie?” . . you may have to tell them no. You may have to explain and re-educate those close to you that you are now in a completely different ballgame.

    

       

           Let Go of the Drama

You will travel as a group in your 1L class. Stay focused. When you law school colleagues start to get snarky and start gossiping about others – walk away. Sounds trite? Hardly. This can be serious stuff if you let it get out of hand.

                   Professors can Help From August through April, But not in June

A law student needs to put in the time and effort during the school year to: read the cases, keep up with outlines, and seek out help from professors and tutors in the moment. If you wait till after final exams and start making excuses for underachieving – it’s way too late.

----- 

Good thoughts, Professor Corbett. I thought I would pass them along.

1Ls: "Get Ready, Get Set, Go!"

So you finally arrived in law school. Orientation is next week. The “angst” of the admission process has finally come to an end. Some are still telling you that you are crazy to go to law school in the current climate (perhaps that person is that little voice that you hear from time to time in your head). 

What now?

Get Organized With the Basics

Where am I living (dorm, apartment)??  Alone, roommate? What works for me? By the way, you are now a student of the law. Make sure that you actually read the terms of your lease! I can’t tell you how many horror stories that I’ve been part of with landlords that try and take advantage of unfocused law students.  How do I get to the school from where I am living? What are the best routes? Traffic? When do I need to leave? Safe neighborhood? Do I study late at school? What’s it like to come back home late at night?

Know Your School Building

Where are my classes located? Where in the building? What is the flow of each of the weekdays? Memorize your schedule during orientation week. This will help you move through each day for the first few weeks until you have the routine down pat, eliminating early year “jitters.”  Where am I studying? Home, or at school after class? Do I try and study in between classes?

Speaking of studying, please, please make plans to have "Social Media Free” timeframes. Staying reliant on checking up on your favorite social media sites will simply only cause complications and distractions from what you are supposed to be doing during the day. If you are spending a substantial part of your school day on social media sites, I have a suggestion for you:  . . . “Go home and save the money”

Get Into a Routine, Modify It As Needed, Then Stick to It

Going to law school has a comfortable rhythm. It is not the same for each student. Know who you are and figure out what works for you. As I mentioned above, develop a study pattern. Do you work best at home?

If you have a roommate situation, will that work with your study routine? Are you the kind of person who wants to stay at school until you get all your work done, and then have your home time “free?” How is your family, if married, going to affect your study patterns?

Put the Preparation Time In For All Your Classes

You know full well what is expected. Read the cases, prepare for class. Take good notes. Have a block of time where you actually go over all the notes from a prior class (weekends work well for this) as you prepare for the next day. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare (did I say “prepare?”)

How Do I Study?

Study group, or alone?  There are many variations depending on who you are. I would advise that if you are not a study group kind of person, that you find one or two colleagues to meet (regularly or intermittently) to simply go over all the “stuff.” Law school is not like college where you own work and memory skills served you well. There is an analytical component that requires you to actually first evaluated, then apply what you are hearing inside of the classroom. I am of the view that you simply can’t do that without someone else’s participation. We all need the thinking of someone else to ask “what was he/she (professor) talking about today?”

Don’t Forget Who You Are!

Part of your routine is to remember to find time to talk to do “normal” things and get away from the insanity of law school. I took up running while in law school and it became an integral part of my life, post law school. Be active, do things! Don’t bow down to the shrine of Social Media and blow your entire weekend staring at your smart phone! Ever stop and watch people walking down the street staring at their phones as they blindly step into the road? Ever tried to interact with someone staring at their phone? Is that you?

You like football? All good, but please don’t spend all day Sunday watching the: 1pm game, then the 4pm game, then the Sunday night game! Your life as  a multitask-er has just begun (guess what real lawyers need to do?).

To summarize: find other things to do to take you away from law school. If you do, you will be constantly rejuvenated  and ready to get back into the grind at all times.

“In Conclusion”  . . .

. . . (As they say) . . . I would love to tell you that: “you will look back with fond memories about your law school years” . . . you wouldn’t . . . or at least. .  I don’t! They are three stress-filled years of hard work. That’s not to say that you will not have some good times and make great friends and colleagues.  Just remember to start to develop good habits and simply do the best that you can. Let the law school “neighsayers” whine as they sit on the fence and tell you that law school is a scam. Give it your best shot.

You wanted to be a lawyer, right? Go out and get it done.