First Year of Law School Tells All

Dear Future 1Ls, congratulations on your acceptance! As a rising 2L, I’ve had the time to reflect on my first year of law school. Here are some tips and advice that I wish someone told me on Day One: **1. Your first year is the hardest** Everyone will tell you this, but I didn’t believe them. Your first year of law school is literally the hardest thing you’ll ever do. You’ll enter law school feeling like the smartest kid in the room, and leave feeling dumb, lost, and unprepared. If you can survive your first year, the rest is easy. **2. Read the assigned materials, but don’t overdo it** The key to surviving law school is to learn how to read efficiently. This means don’t read the entire case. Don’t read the entire chapter. Read the headnotes and the editors’ notes. Read the assigned pages, but don’t kill yourself. **3. Brief, brief, brief** Briefing cases is the single best habit you can have as a law student. Write down the procedural history, the facts, the issue, the holding, and the ratio. This is literally all you need to know for the exam. I used to make huge outlines that were impossible to review, but my case briefs were always more valuable. **4. Practice exams are your best friend** First year, I shit on the idea of practice exams. I thought that my notes and my outlines and my adaptive bar prep would be enough. Practice exams are your best friend. Take practice exams during the summer, take practice exams during reading week, take practice exams during finals. **5. 1L curve is real** Don’t let the 1L curve scare you. You’re not going to fail out of law school. The curve is in place to ensure that everyone has a fair chance at getting good grades. 1L curve means that everyone will do equally shitty. Unless you’re that one gunner who grades out of date rape… **6. Ignore gunners and people who shit on the curve** Speaking of gunners, ignore them. Ignore the people who tell you that “curved grades breed mediocrity.” Ignore the people who say that an uncurved system is more fair. If you want to be a gunner and think that you can outdo your friends, you will inevitably fail. **7. Make friends, or die alone** Speaking of friends, make friends! Your first year of law school is a shitshow, and it’s way more fun with good friends. I was too busy being a gunner to make friends, and my first year was miserable. Join clubs, go to events, attend study groups. Be social and make friends. **8. Don’t let law school define you** Law school is literally the worst. It’s the most stressful thing you’ll ever do, and it’s the most miserable thing you’ll ever do. Don’t let law school define you. Go to therapy, stay physically active, do extracurriculars. Join clubs that have nothing to do with the law. Do whatever it takes to maintain your mental health. **9. Grades don’t matter** Your grades don’t matter. Unless you’re top 10% at a T14, nobody cares about your grades. The only thing that matters is that you pass the bar and that you’re a good lawyer. **10. Be selfish** Finally, be selfish. Law school is your life for the next three years. It’s your entire world. And it’s okay to be selfish. If you want to skip class to sleep in, skip class. If you want to go home on the weekends, go home. Alright, that’s it. Good luck. (EDIT) Wow, this post blew up. Thanks for the attention, and good luck to all of you.

First Year of Law School Tells All

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