So you’ve decided you’re going to law school in August. Here’s what you can do your 1L year to prepare for life after law school. Oh and one more thing…
It’s gonna suck.
Your 1L year they scare you to death, your 2L year they work you death, your 3L year they bore you to death.
It’s true yall. It’s all true.
Have you every seen How to Get Away with Murder? 98% of that show isn’t true but there is one part that rang true in a very uncomfortable way. In the opening scene of the first episode the camera is panning across the classroom, you overhear everyone talking, and the gamut of emotions runs from incredibly excited to they vomited the night before – that is so true.
I’m not going through all the hurdles you have to jump through to get into law school (maybe that’s a different post) but there are a few things you need to do in your 1L year to prepare for life after law school.
I know that sounds weird but sign up for Kaplan or Barbri within your first month. There are others but these two are the best. I taught Kaplan LSAT prep in college and law school. It’s a wonderful company. When you sign up these companies have books, outlines, and tutorials for your core classes that you get IMMEDIATELY. While this should not be your only way to study it’s a great backup. Plus, you can get the opportunity to be a representative for these companies. I was one for Kaplan, I sat at a table one hour per week and those hours counted towards paying for my bar prep class. I didn’t pay $1 for my complete bar prep class because I started paying for it my 1L year. Trust me, you’d rather work one hour a week and not drop over $4k at the end of school.
These people are going to become your safety net; they are going to help you study for tests, review your memos etc, and keep you sane during the entirety of law school. You’ll mainly find them in your section 1L year. The trick is you really don’t know many people when you walk in at the beginning so get to socializing. Go to whatever pre law school events and meetings there are. You know who goes to those kind of things? People who want to get good grades – aka the gunners and smarties. You want to study around those people because they know what their talking about. I feel zero shame telling you I was a gunner. Proud of it! Make friends and set a study group time each week. It’s useless to start your study group right before exams start.
I get the lure of computers, I’m a millennial. But they are not helpful in law school. My civ pro professor did not allow laptops in his class and that was just one of things I love about that man. He’s brilliant and he literally wrote the book on civ pro. Taking handwritten notes forces your brain to process the information. You can make connections and draw symbols/arrows to other parts of your notes. With computers you end up writing down every single word the professor says without comprehending what they’re actually saying. This was the best way I found to structure my lecture notes. You should also be taking reading notes – mine were structured like this.
All that shit you did in college no longer counts – congratulations. You need to continue to volunteer and work. I know you’re not supposed to work your 1L year but you need to volunteer and get ready to work/intern in the summer. Participate in outreach and network so you’ll know people who can help. My aunt had gone to high school with the Judge I ended up interning for my first summer. (Here’s my guide to standing out as an intern) Start early because if you start your 3L year you’re SOL. This is important to do your 1L year to prepare for life after law school. Not only do you need to build your resume from the ground up again it needs to look professional. Sign up below to get a completely editable professional resume template.
In college I hated coffee. I still hated coffee when I walked into Target my first week of law school and bought a keurig. Then I really hated coffee when I drank my first cup of black coffee (ugh) the night before my memo was due. When I dropped off my memo to my professor my hands were literally shaking from the caffeine. Figure out how you’re going to caffeinate yourself and stock up.
Professors should be able to put your name to your face and they shouldn’t make that connection because you stammer your way through cold calls. You need to go to their office hours, ask them a follow up question after class, have a connection with them. These are the people who can write rec letters for you. Remember that civ pro professor I told you about? The one who wrote-the-book-and-is-super-connected wrote a reference letter for me.
Does your law school have a mentor program or an alumni social where you can meet with those in the legal profession? Reach out to people who might know lawyers in the community you can ask to have coffee with or shadow for a few days. If you’re in the Austin area I’d love to grab a cup of coffee with you and chat about law school or law careers. My 1L year I found mentor through a mentorship program my school had and while ultimately I didn’t go into family law, he gave me some incredible advice and it was only because of his mentorship that I figured out I didn’t want to do family law.
These are keys steps you can take your 1L year to prepare for life after law school. Do you have any questions about law school or preparing for life after law school? Reach out and we can talk!
