Law School Advice

I just got an e-mail from someone starting law school in the fall.  Maybe this exchange will be useful to someone, so I figured I'd post.  Mostly I just figure I wrote a long-enough response that I may as well repurpose it as blog content.  I've taken out some identifying details just in case, although it's all really generic.  I also kind of want to apologize to the actual e-mailer, because re-reading my response I realize I was probably unfairly glib and dismissive of real concerns about law school.  I don't know, the tone of the e-mail -- what I see as excessive concern about nothing, typical of a lot of my classmates -- set me off a little bit.  It's the first sentence of #7 where I probably crossed a line, but I stand by the response enough that I'm willing to post it, so I'm not sure why exactly I'm apologizing.

Hi there,

I'm going to go to [top law school] this fall, and I've been reading your blog lately... I was wondering if you could give me some advice on the following things:

1. In terms of study aides, should I choose Emanuel's or Gilbert's for the commercial outline part?

2. Other than the commercial outlines, should I also buy the E & E for each of the core courses?

3. Is there any other study aide that you think would be helpful?

4. [...] Other than having my resume ready, do you think I should spend time during the summer making a rough draft of the letter that I'll be writing to the different firms and trying to figure out the whole mail merge thing? (which is completely foreign to me) I just can't imagine having to look for a job during school because I thought the whole purpose was to spend time on my studies!

5.) What else should I do to prepare for the 1L firm job search?

6.) Should I do something before law school (during the summer) to prepare for law school?

7.) Is there something that you wish you would have known your first 1L semester that you didn't know and which you think would have helped you do better/study more efficiently/or be happier?

[Person],

 

1. - 3. It's impossible for you to think about study aides before you start your classes and know how your professor teaches, what kind of material he/she focuses on, what the casebook you're using is good at or bad at, how you learn the material best, what level of detail you'll be expected to know, whether your exam is closed book or open book, whether the questions on the test will be issue spotters or policy questions or a grab bag of whatever the professor feels like asking, whether the professor's focus is on the actual rules of law or the policies behind them....... Frankly, study aides aren't much help anyway.  Because they're generic, meant to apply to people at schools where the law is taught very differently than at [any top law school] None of them go beyond surface-level stuff, none of them cover the kinds of things you're going to need to know in order to do well on exams. In a few classes -- and you won't know which ones until you're pretty close to the exam -- maybe you'll be so lost that you need something to just give you a picture of the basic-level stuff.   BUT, most of the study guides are probably in the library, you'll spend a couple hours reading it, and that'll be it. The stuff I ended up buying was different for each class, and for most classes I just found some old exams from that professor and didn't buy anything. I bought a treatise that my property professor had written. I bought a useless study guide for Civil Procedure that ended up being the opposite of what I needed, because it was so basic and fooled me into thinking I knew things well enough when really I didn't.  The commercial study guides are largely a waste of money because they're for people at schools where only the most basic things are taught and where exams are closed-book and multiple choice.  Most of your exams will not be and most of your classes will expect a lot more out of you, even to get a B, than what's in the commercial guides. That's not to say the classes are hard. They're not. They just focus on different things, all shaped around whatever the professor happens to care about more than merely the topic you think the class will be about. Stop worrying about study guides until halfway through the semester because there's no way they will be valuable before then, I promise.

4. [...] Once again, you're thinking about this waaaaaaaay too early.  [...] Update your resume, sure. But I don't even think cover letters matter, all the firms will care about is your resume and for non-firm things they probably want to know something about why you're interested in them and part of that may come from actually having been in law school.  The people who get firm jobs 1L summer get them either because they have a connection, or they're willing to work in a city that isn't too big (Columbus, Nashville, etc), or they have an amazing resume.  I can't imagine the cover letter even gets read.  I don't think it would hurt to have a draft of a cover letter, but I also wouldn't think that should take more than 20 minutes to write, so I'm not sure why you're so concerned.

5. You should get to know hiring partners on a social basis so that six months from now when you ask them to hire you, they will say yes because they are your friend. Really I don't know what else to tell you.  1L firm jobs are hard to get, the people who get them get them because they're lucky or they have connections or they want to work in a smaller city, where the [top law school] name will get you the job so there's also nothing to do to prepare.

6.  Sleep.  Spend time with friends.  Law school requires nothing from you on the first day.  I found some online summaries (1-3 pages each) of the classes I'd be taking and read them.  Took about an hour.  It was as useful as anything else I could have done.  The people who read ahead in the casebooks didn't get any value out of it because every professor teaches differently and all of them start assuming you know nothing and wanting you to know nothing.  That said, if you don't have any experience with economics, reading a microeconomics textbook would actually be somewhat useful for Torts class.  The people without an economics background seemed to have some trouble. If you're desperate, read Grant Gilmore's The Death of Contract -- most of the contracts professors seemed to like that one, it talks about the theory behind contracts and torts.  Don't worry if it all seems like a foreign language, just take from it whatever you can and you'll be really far ahead of the game.

7. I apologize if this sounds harsh, because I don't mean it to, but the one thing I wish I'd known before law school is that most of my classmates were the kinds of people who were thinking about study guides 4 months before class started and that made them not a ton of fun to be around.  And they didn't do any better than the rest of us did, and just drove themselves crazy hating school and worrying about everything and making themselves miserable.  It doesn't have to be that way.  Law school is really just school, you do as much of the reading as you can, you go to class, you pay attention, you try your best to understand what's going on, you re-read everything before the test, you take the test, you'll do fine.  No one fails, no one even gets a C [at most top law schools]. And if your goal is to work at a firm, really, I don't know anyone who didn't have a half-dozen offers, everyone gets a job, even if you're at the very bottom of the class, which you won't be, because the people at the bottom of the class never went to class and played video games all day and got drunk every night.  Some of your classmates will be idiots, even though they got into [top law school].  You'll be fine.  Everyone graduates.  Everyone succeeds.  You might get As, you might get Bs, much of that will depend on how well you take tests and get into the professor's head, and not on how many study guides you buy.  Really.  But whether you get As or Bs you'll get a job and, if it's at a firm, you'll be really miserable but at least you will make a lot of money.

What might have helped me do (slightly) better would have been getting copies of old exams earlier and reading them so I knew what kinds of things to focus on during class.

To be happier, stop worrying about it and realize you're smart enough, you'll do fine, it's not that hard.  You got into [top law school], you already won.  No one outside of your first legal employer will ever look at your grades, and even if they do, everyone gets good grades.

Good luck

--jeremy

I just want to add this to this post, not from my e-mail reply: I realize this is all a little glib, and a lot of it doesn't apply if you're not at [top law school].  That sucks, and isn't fair, and I don't think it should be that way, but I also think it's probably reality.  People I know at less top law schools had more trouble finding jobs and had a wider range of grades.  They don't know any less law, they probably know more, and they're probably better lawyers.  That isn't fair, the system should be different, etc etc etc.

Comments

[Carrie]

As someone who graduated from a school ranked in the low 30's i would have to say that I agree with everything except the whole grade thing. at least 25% of every class was given a C. and two years out I am still asked for my grades (and these are not firm jobs, but federal government) But seriously, there is nothing you can do before hand...and if future law students are freaking out this much before school starts, then good luck.

[L.]

My school gives Cs, and even Ds. And the people who get them did work hard. The worst grades I got were when I studied the hardest and read for every class. A lot of people I know (and know them well enough to know how they spent their time) just got better outlines from upper classmen and read the cases a day or two before the finals. The people who did really well worked hard, but also tended to have an in wiht a prof and usually a relative in teh law too.

I get that you were trying to make the guy feel better. I just think that wholoe, "only the slackers don't do well..." thing isn't very helpful either, once classes start. I went to a top-50 school, though, not a top 12.

[StephanieWestAllen]

Hi, Jeremy. Here's an article entitled "Law Students: Create a Well-Rounded Life." It is from the current edition of The Complete Lawyer.

http://www.thecompletelawyer.com/volume3/issue3/article.php?ppaid=2076

[m.]

i completely disagree with what you are all saying. Why shouldnt this person try hard? i mean, he/she must have worked really hard to get into the top law school. this would have included preparing for classes in advance and trying to find every source necessary to attain a high mark. For all of you to go out an criticize his keeness seems really condescening.

[anon]

i graduated magna cum laude from a top law school, and went on to a federal appellate clerkship in one of america's three biggest cities. Jeremy is completely right - relax kiddo.

[Eric]

I just finished my first year at Emory, and I can't agree more -- there's typically no point in trying to prepare for a subject/class until you know what the professor wants. Contracts, torts, civ-pro, property -- different teachers all wanted different things.

Use old exams. Ask the prof how you should approach things. Go from there.

[Brian]

Hey jerk! I went to a "top 80" school and even we didn't have multiple choice tests.

[jason]

umm....so yeah Jeremy is totally right and maybe should have even been a bit more harsh. A big part of the reason why law school is so bad for the rest of us is gunners like this who try to read Gilberts over the summer. There is really no reason to do that, and it won't even help, because as was pointed out, the professors just do their own thing. All that reading those things will do is make the other students in the section dislike you.

[Jeff]

Hey Jeremy,

Agree with most of what you said, though not about the commercial outlines.

I went to a top 5 school, and almost all of my exams were open book. I barely read any cases, just got outlines from upper classmen and read the commercial outlines. Come test time, I issue spotted from the test, cobbled together an outline using the commercial outline and the school one, and presto-B+ or A-. Best grade I ever got was when I copied verbatim from Emanuels!

[Remy]

That nonchalant "etc. etc. etc." which closed the post suggests the author has been utterly co-opted. Or do I mean corrupted?

[japhy]

if anyone actually bothered to read jeremy's addendum, you would realize that most of this does not apply if you didn't get into a top law school. i never went to class, rarely read and still managed to never get lower than a b. i honestly don't think they gave out c's and i sure as hell don't know anyone who got a d or actually failed.

and yes, law school sucked because of kids like this who have only found meaning in their lives through school. ugh... even med students aren't this bad.

[MD]

Japhy, sadly, med students ARE that bad!

[japhy]

having done both MD, i can tell you firsthand med students are no where near as retarded and anal as law students

[anon]

Totally agree with all of his advice. Worry about the finals (when they come-not months before hand). You'll regret all the time spent worrying about commericial outlines and mail merges (whatever that is), I'd suggest enjoying lawschool-- you're not going to have nearly as much free time when you're a lawyer!

[alkali]

"1L firm jobs are hard to get, the people who get them get them because they're lucky or they have connections or they want to work in a smaller city..."

I agree with most of what JB has to say but I would note that at least this year (and probably next) the market is a little tighter from the firm point of view and so there are likely to be more 1L openings, even some in New York. Probably not enough to substantially change your calculus in any material way, but still.