What To Do if You Hate Law School

October is always a difficult month in law school because it's right when your readings start picking up the pace and also when you realize that a month has already flown by and finals feel right around the corner. This is the time when I was starting to struggle as a 1L so if you're in that boat then know that you're absolutely not alone. 

Related: The time I almost dropped out of law school

In fact, even the person who seems to be like they'll be in the top 10% of your class is probably internally struggling just like you. Everyone in law school struggles because it's made to challenge you and better you. As much as I love law school and always tell people that it's not too bad, it does have some pitfalls.But don't be too discouraged! 

I mean, how many of y'all were like me and pulling an all-nighter in college and day-dreaming (4 am is still the daytime right?) about meeting a really rich guy and getting your Mrs. degree so that you can stop with all these group projects. But yet here I am with a Bachelor's degree. Point is, there's nothing in life that will always be easy-peasy lemon-squeezy.

Analyze your situation

First things first, you need to think hard about whether you fundamentally hate law school or if you're just overwhelmed. Law school is a big adjustment because usually you're in a new city at a new school and your daily effort requirement just tripled. That plus you have no clue how you're doing in your classes so you start to stress that you're not doing enough. 

The rest of this post is more for those who feel overwhelmed, but if any of y'all truly absolutely hate law school I have some good news. When I was on my phone interview about my externship, one of the interviewers mentioned that I had included my blog on my resume. I told her how much I love law school and how I blog to try to help out other law students or potential law students. She praised me for loving law school and confessed that she hated it but then said that being a lawyer is nothing like being in law school! She told how glad she was that she stuck it out because even though she was not a fan of being a law student, she absolutely loves being a lawyer. 

Tackle your problems

Looking back on my 1L year, most of my problems would have resolved themselves if I had done one thing— go talk to my professors as soon as I was having a problem. Literally sooo much weight was lifted off my shoulders when I confessed to my LRW professor that I had missed an assignment. If I would've talked to him as soon as I realized that I had fucked up instead of agonizing for weeks over my mistake, then I would've known right then how to solve my problem instead of going off the edge. And if I would've made an appointment with my property professor to go over a few of my midterm answers that I couldn't understand why they were wrong, I could've had a mini-tutoring time and learned where I was messing up so that I could still have confidence in that class.

I know that most of you won't have missed an assignment or failed a midterm yet, but you get the point. It's really, really easy to avoid your problems and it's really, really scary to face them, but I promise you that it's so much better to just get it over with already! If you're struggling in a class, take the time to schedule tutoring with your professor or an upper-classman. Just narrow it down to a few parts that you really don't understand because they can't exactly re-explain a month's worth of class to you.

Don't hide your problems

Sure we all snap how much reading we have to do and whine about it, but it's time to be honest about your struggles. I know it can be embarrassing to admit that you're not doing as well as you wanted to, but holding this in will just put more pressure on yourself to seem perfect and the secret will get harder to keep. If someone is nosy or ever doubted you wouldn't make it through law school (ugh aren't extended family and old classmates the best!) then yeah they deserve to just get "fine" when they ask you how you're doing. But your parents, siblings, and close friends are your allies! Just tell them that you need to rant and let it all out, tears included if needed. 

Undumping on your classmates can be tricky. In one way, you don't know them that well and technically you are their competition so they might not always be the most supportive in this situation. But it's such a relief when you tell your classmate that you honestly don't understand the difference between to similar concepts and she either is like omg me too I thought I was the only one and just dumb! or completely understands it and will take the time to break it down and explain to you how she understands. 

Prioritize your to-do list

If you're feeling overwhelmed, I'm sure a big part of it is because in your head all you can think about is how much reading, briefing, reviewing, and outlining that you have to get done. I know it can seem like a lot so instead of having one never-ending to-do list, break it down and get in a routine. If you review your notes and outline little by little, then you only have to dedicate a few hours a week. This will help clear out your head because you know that you've already got some done and know that you've set aside time to get it done so now that's one less thing you have to worry about.

Break down your to-do lists for what needs to get done today, this week, this month, and next month. Then keep coming back to this list and check off what's done and re-organize. It really helps me go from "oh I need to get this memo done before the end of the semester" to "okay researching cases this week, organizing my arguments next week, working on argument #1 the next week" because then I feel like I'm more in control of my life.

Related: How to make a study plan

Enjoy yourself

One reason why a lot of people end up hating law school is because they hate who they become in law school. Of course you don't have the time to skip class and Netflix all day when you're just not in the mood, but you will have time to something other than just class and read. Think about what you used to love doing in college and try to do a modified version of that. For example, I used to have so much fun bouncing around frat houses going to the different themed parties. I can't do that now, but I can still meet up with some of my close friends to have some drinks and enjoy ourselves. And I used to read all the time and now even though I only have time for about 10-20 pages a night, I still am able to work my way through a book that doesn't have cases in it.

This is also why I've become a fan of studying really hard from 9-4 and then taking time off. Most likely if you're feeling overwhelmed it's because you're also starting to feel burned out. I know it's scary because your to-do list feels overwhelming, but if you don't take some me-time then you are going to lose it. That's not a threat, that's a promise. Shut your brain off from the law every now and then and you'll be amazed at how much more you learn when you come back to it.

Related: Ways to de-stress in law school

Remember why you started

This is probably the most important tip I have! When you're feeling discouraged, think back on the stars that were in your eyes when you were explaining your future plans to your college professors when you asked for a rec letter, how excited you felt when you got your first acceptance letter and thought omfg I'm going to law school! I'm going to be a lawyer!, and how proud you were when you told your parents and besties and all of Facebook! 

Don't forget how hard you worked to get here. How grateful you were to be accepted. How long this has been your dream. Don't forget how much you truly want this! Zoom out and don't think about the little hard topics and view it big picture— you are currently living out your dream that you worked really hard for! Don't disappoint little 19 year old you that put in the extra effort studying for finals because you knew you needed good grades to get into law school or little 20 year old you who skipped pool parties all summer because you knew you needed to get that LSAT score. You've worked so incredibly hard to get here for so many years so don't disappoint yourself. My favorite (albeit slightly cliché) quote for y'all: When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. So go be tough and conquer the mid-semester slump!  

let's be friends!

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5 Habits for a New Semester

Happy first day of school!!! Well, for me at least. Guys some how I have ended up as a 3L and trust me I'm just as surprised as you are that we've made it this far! Since this is my very last semester of school ever (I keep saying that because it still doesn't feel real yet), I only have one goal for this semester: stay productive and don't let senioritis get the best of me. To keep me on track with this goal, I'm trying to develop some new habits that will keep me productive.

Stay on top of emails

I always check three things first thing in the morning: school email (in hopes that class is canceled), the Skimm (to stay updated and be a smarty pants), and the weather (it helps knowing if it's going to be cold all day or get hot after lunch). But one thing that I'm really bad about is not reading through the rest of my emails that don't have a subject line of Class Canceled. 

I recently came across a blog post mentioning the "touch it once" method where essentially instead of reading an email and then flagging it and coming back to it later, right then and there you reply to it if necessary or add the event to your planner or whatever. The touch it once method applies to more than just emails, but I'm taking baby steps to get my life in order and once I can get this down, I'll start applying it to more aspects of my everyday life (hopefully).

Stay on top of study schedule 

Every semester, I come up with a general study schedule for how I'm going to study every day and make little goals of how much I want to study before finals.

Related: How to Create a Law School Study Plan

This semester, I want to make basically a spreadsheet and keep up with how much I've studied. I hope this habit of tracking how much I study helps me be in the habit of studying a little each weekend. I know that a big part of this is learning how to prioritize what needs to be done for each class and when it needs to be done. I'm making a study spreadsheet for each class to hold me accountable on working on my outlines, flashcards, and practice problems. I'm still not sure if I'll end up having an outlines day one week and a flashcards week another, or if I'll have a banking day one week and a tax day another, so we'll see which works best after I experiment a little!

Stay on top of life schedule

Speaking of schedules, this semester's going to be a toughie for me. This will be my first semester working while in law school so I'm super nervous about making sure that I don't overcommit myself. On top of class and work, I've also got to make sure that I block out time to participate in all of my mediations for my clinic and be a good law school senator at my university's SGA (which is separate from SBA). 

I also always have post ideas in my head so my goal is to at least keep up with 2 posts a week but I'd really like to squeeze in 3 posts if I can. This is my last semester being able to live-blog my struggles so I got to get it all down while I can! My plan for this is to think out realistically how much I can get done in each day and put that in my planner, because I've realized that if I have way to much on my planner, I just end up ignoring it all completely.

Stay on top of procrastination

Y'all this one is a biggie for me. I always aim to do a load of laundry a day but then end up pushing that all until the weekend. And I mean to write my papers a little each week so I can have time to revise and edit, but I always end up waiting until the weekend before it's due. I'm right at the edge of being in the real world so I know I have to rein this is in quick before I end up blurting "my procrastination" when I get asked "what's your biggest weakness?" in an interview.

To get this habit started, my plan is to first make a general to-do list of everything that I need to get done in my life and then break that up into lots of little manageable tasks. I set an alarm in my calendar for every Sunday evening to update my planner and throw a few of these little tasks in throughout my week. The goal here is to just stay mindful of what I can start getting done now.

Stay on top of relationships

If law school has done one thing, it's made me a terrible friend. I end up ditching my friends way more than I should simply because by the time hanging out with them comes around, I'm exhausted and just want to do nothing. I'm also really bad at responding to texts because I'm such a procrastinator. 

Luckily for me, my friends are understanding and don't hold this against me, but I know that I could be a better friend. It sucks when I finally do meet up with them and realize how much I've missed out on. Even if I have to put it in my planner to text one different person a "hey what's up!" text each day, I'm going to try. Law school is a very good excuse to get a little sloppy with your friendships, but it's no excuse to be a neglectful friend!

I've heard that it takes 28 days to form a habit, so I created a habit tracker to help you keep up with your good habits :) Click here for your free habit tracker!

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Law School Books: Buying New v. Buying Used v. Renting

Guys I say this all the time because it's true... I really do love it when y'all email me! True story I am very invested in y'all's law school success so I take it very seriously trying to help y'all out. I hope you never think twice about emailing me a question because so far I've had an answer to every question (if I don't know I'll find it for ya!) and sometimes even the answer will turn into a blog post. So today I'm offering my thoughts on the low down when it comes to books. 

TL;DR- rent if you think you won't need to write in your book, buy used when you can.

Buying new

The biggest incentive to buy a new book is that no one has ruined it. I don't use "ruined" lightly here. In law school, it's just the thing that you highlight, underline, and write in the margins of your books. If you get a new book, you get a blank canvas. 

Related: How I write/underline/highlight in my book for open-book finals

If it bothers you to deal with other peoples' writing, then this might be the way to go, but honestly new law books are expensive and you easily will be spending over $1,000 on this. But the good news is that you can always just sell your book on Amazon and it will be worth more than selling a used book because it will probably be in better condition and not marked up too much.

But there are some things that I really suggest you buy new to keep and that's guides. Some guides that I've kept are abridged statute books. You might need the full statute book with commentary for class (more on that later), but if you don't then these are so cheap that you might as well just buy them. For example, this past summer I brought my book from 1L Civ Pro and was looking up FRCPs for a motion for summary judgment that I was having to draft for a class (this is what I'm talking about).You'll use your BlueBook at some point in every year while you're in law school, especially if you're on a journal, so it's worth the buy (here's a great post on how to use a Bluebook). And if you're in Texas, go ahead and get the GreenBook too.

Buying used

If you're on the fence, I would play it safe (and cheap) and get a used book first and if you don't like having a used book, then next semester you can switch to new.  The thing to be careful about is don't go too cheap because generally the cheaper, the worse the writing is. I know this might sound like nbd, but last year I got a book that was really cheap but clearly had multiple owners in the past and the idiots were highlighting on top of each other so literally some parts were highlighted in yellow and purple because they each had their own color system for highlighting.

Related: My highlighting color system

But if you choose carefully, then you might end up with the just-right amount of highlighting. I got a book last year that someone had put their color system on the inside cover (very handy) and so then I could just read through the case and already know like oh hey there's the rule right there and it made things a lot easier and faster. I always prefer to buy used from Amazon because I get free shipping as a student and I can choose between buying used-like-new or used-acceptable. 

Renting

Renting is another great option because it's so cheap! But remember what I said— cheap comes at a cost. While some places will allow you a little writing in the books, a lot of places are picky and if you write/highlight in the books then you'll be forced to buy it back at new price (even if you didn't get it new). The worst part is the amount of writing/highlighting they'll allow is up to the discretion of whoever happens to be in charge of accepting your book that day. I had a friend rent a casebook and then a week into the semester decided she just wanted full rein on marking up her book and just went to town on it and when she tried to buy it back from them, she ended up paying more than what a new book cost because they charged her fees for having to get a new book!

I don't personally recommend renting casebooks, but that doesn't mean I'm anti-renting. What I do suggest you look into renting are statute books. I always just rent mine because these books are updated constantly due to new case laws or legislation being passed so most likely by the time you're practicing, a section or two in your book is outdated. I always just reason with myself that I'll have more money when I'm an actual lawyer to buy this. Plus, it's kinda pointless to have the family law statute book when you want to be a personal injury lawyer. Pro tip: if your professor allows you to bring your statute book in to your final, you can just use removable tabs to mark the big pages and just underline the main parts of the statute in pencil. Buy a jumbo eraser at the end of the semester and then you should be able to revert the book back to looking unused and should be good to go!

Another thing that I always rent is supplements (here's a post explaining what a supplement is). If you get an E&E or Crunch Time to help you study last minute, then just rent it and you can return it after the semester because you'll never need it again. One warning that I learned the hard way is go ahead and rent it now because by time midterms/finals come around, they're going to be scarce and extra-expensive. I always love to rent through Chegg because they send you little freebies with your order and I've never had a problem with them requiring the books be due before finals (law school finals tend to be more spread out and finish later than undergrad finals so this can be a problem when renting from a local bookstore). 

 

Free

If your school pays for you to use WestLaw (you'll sign up for it at orientation), there's no need to buy or rent Black's Law Dictionary!

• Go to Westlaw
• Under the Browse Area, All Content Section, click Secondary Sources (7th link)
• Look to the far right for an area titled Tools & Resources 
• Click on the first link, Black's Law Dictionary
• Save this page as a favorite to your browser and boom —> free legal dictionary always available to you

And if you need the UCC for Contracts (and later Commercial Law/Secured Transactions), you can get that here for free, too! My Commercial professor would let us use our laptops in class and I would just have this pulled up. Then when it came time for our open-book final, I just went to our law library and checked out the hardcopy to bring in to my final.

Other free codebooks: Federal Internal Revenue Code, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and Federal Rules of Evidence!

Hope this helps! If you're still nervous about getting ready for your first day of law school, then check out my posts 21 must-have supplies for law school and 7 things to do before law school. Oh and obviously email me if you still have any questions!!

How to Build a Law School Capsule Wardrobe

Almost exactly 2 years ago, I was a nervous little 0L who had no idea what to wear in law school. I even wrote this post about it. Coming from being a sorority girl in college, my entire wardrobe was nothing but Nike shorts and oversized frat tanks or forever 21 dresses. I seriously didn't even really have a pair of jeans that still fit, so I basically had to build up an entire new wardrobe for law school. 

What I said in my original post is still mostly true and if you do a Pinterest search you still pretty much only find pictures of Michaela Pratt (from HTGAWM) outfits. But I'm here to give you the low down on what law school is really like so let me be the first to warn you that if you show up in business casual on the first day of school, you'll be a little overdressed. In general, you'll probably only need a pencil skirt for major events or interviews and will be fine dressing a lot more casually the rest of the time.

Related: The difference between business professional, business casual, and casual

But let me warn you not to dress too casually. One day my 1L year I was dressed like a slob and of course that was the day when my school email was like *surprise* the Court of Appeals justices are on campus today for lunch. I was too embarrassed to show up looking so sloppy because I didn't want to be disrespectful so I missed out on a great opportunity simply because of my outfit. And this summer I wasn't in the mood to put on makeup or do my hair and of course that was the day that my professor decided to move up my presentation to that day so I had to stand up in front of my class looking like I just got off a 12 hour flight. 

So long story short, it is worth it to put some effort to look decent for class. If you're coming straight from college and have no clothes like I did, this can get really expensive really fast. Luckily from my experience of spending 5 months abroad, I've learned about the magic of a capsule wardrobe. It's genius because you only have to invest in a few basic pieces that all mix and match to make a lot of outfits with not a lot of clothes. 

The basics

Jeans — Start with jeans, because you can get by with one or two pairs of jeans to begin with. A pair of light wash boyfriend jeans and a pair of skinny black jeans will literally go with anything. Yep, you can be that level of casual with jeans in law school. 

Leggings — Actually, you can even pull off leggings in law school. Just try to look nice and instead of a big t-shirt, try wearing a cute top and a cardigan. Since it is grad school though, I usually dress up my leggings with the rest of my outfit just a little so I at least don't look like I've just been out running errands.

Shirts — With shirts, make sure that they match each pair of your jeans (this should be easy) and that they're versatile. What I mean by that is that the same shirt will look just as good on you standing up in class reciting a case as it will while you're at dinner on a date. The easiest thing is to start out with neutrals like a white, gray, black, and black and white striped shirt. Monochromatic is a classic color scheme that not only will match each of your pants, it will also be super easy to add color in. 

Dresses — The next thing I suggest you look in to are the nicer basics. I looove t-shirt dresses and probably wear one to class at least once a week. They're comfortable but not so casual that I would feel embarrassed meeting a new lawyer in. Start with a chambray one, a striped one, and a solid color. Another thing I'm obsessed with is rompers. Both of these are great investments because you can make them work for both class and bars on the weekend.

Cardigans — Another nicer basic to invest in are cardigans. Either the AC will be blasting in your classroom or it'll be cold outside so they're always good to have on you. I keep one stashed in my carrel and if you have a job that's semi-casual, you can use these to get away with wearing spaghetti strap shirts to work. 

Sweaters — One last thing to add is a chunky knit sweater. You can wear them with jean shorts when it starts getting cooler or leggings when it's actually cold. They also are great to wear with long socks for a Netflix marathon over Christmas break, jussayin.

To make getting a new wardrobe cheaper, I suggest getting these basic shirts and then every month or so get a few new shirts in color and by the end of the year you should have a pretty solid wardrobe foundation.

The extras 

Here's something that I've learned that's crazy— shoes make the outfit! I know this sounds very Carrie Bradshaw, but hear me out. You can make one outfit work in all sorts of situations just by changing out the shoes. Here's what I mean...

See what I'm talking about?? Shoes aren't usually as "trendy" so a pair you buy this weekend will probably still be in style in 3 years. And to get real with y'all real quick, stress eating is a real problem in law school but the nice thing about shoes is that if you gain 10 pounds they'll all still fit you just as well. 

When I got to law school, basically the only shoes that I had were my Chacos and club heels so this is where I had to stock up the most because you can't exactly wear skinny jeans with chacos and you for sure can't wear club heels. So one day while I was procrastinating reading, I decided to shop around real quick and ended up on Zappos. It's basically the Amazon of shoes because they have everything plus 2-day shipping. Here's how I built up my shoe collection...

Sandals — As you may remember, I worked at the Texas Capitol during the summer when they're not in session so everyone tends to dress more casual. One day I saw a girl wearing Tory Burch Miller sandals and even though they're basically flip flops, they looked soo classy and actually not out of place at all. Obviously I had to get them so I got the black patent leather sandals and they've turned out perfect. What's funny is that in my office this summer, four other girls have worn these to work! Another sandal option that goes with everything but is half the price of Tory is Jack Rodgers. Both of these sandal brands are well known for their quality that lasts for years and also are always in style.

Sneakers — I love my Converse because they go with everything plus are super comfortable. I wear them several times a week to class and they're my go-to shoe to pack when I'm traveling. Even if you're just wearing leggings to class, swap out your tennis shoes for these and go for a Piko if you're set on wearing a baggy shirt and you'll look way more put together while still being just as lazy. Converse sneakers are classic, but another great sneaker to consider is Adidas. They're a little more in right now and look great with a pair of ripped jeans and a t-shirt.

Heels — I'm 5'2 so I personally love wearing heels to class just so my feet can touch the ground (short people probs lol). To pull this off without looking too overdressed for class, my favorite heels to wear are wedges when it's warm and booties when it's cool. My 2L year I got a pair of Steve Madden wedges and have been wearing them to my summer classes because they're so comfortable. To save money, get one pair of booties that will go with everything. The Toms Majorca is my personal favorite because it's brown and black so it basically goes with everything plus it's a peep toe so your feet won't get too hot and you can wear them Spring - Fall. 

Boots — Get you a pair of cognac riding boots. They look great with dresses without seeming too dressy (plus keep your legs warm in the fall) and always look cute with both jeans and leggings. Once it starts to get cool, I basically wear these every day to class. Another set of boots to save up for (or ask for birthday/Christmas) is quality rain boots. After years of making due with cheap Target boots, I finally got a pair of Hunter Rain boots my senior year and I literally get so excited when it rains so I can wear them. Get them in red! I swear every time I wear them I get complimented on the color. They run big but don't size down and then in the winter you can wear thick socks and make them into snow boots.

And that's it! I know this doesn't sound like a lot, but that's the point. If you get shoes that go with practically any top or a dress that versatile for almost any situation, you won't need to get a whole lot. You'll see that this is a good thing because if you're going to law school then you're about to be paying like at least $90k. To build up a wardrobe on a student budget, keep an eye out for when any of these things go on sale, and buy them once they do. The Zappos sale tab is great for this because there's always something on sale! Another easy way to make this as cheap as possible is to start out with the bare minimum (one pair of jeans, two pairs of shoes, and three tops) and buy one or two things each month. 

Huge shoutout to Zappos for collaborating with me on this post!

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Law School Vlog Roundup

Hey everyone so today I was a little bored and I wound up on YouTube and of course I ended up watching like hours of videos about law school 😂 So I thought I'd share with y'all some of the videos that I found! For the most part, the vloggers are mostly just on YouTube for fashion/makeup or whatever and just happen to be in law school and share their experiences so that's why I'm sharing specific videos rather than their whole channels. These are all a theme of why law school/law school advice/what law school is like. Just because I'm sure y'all get tired of reading so much so here's a break from reading!

Grace of Lipsticks and Lattes

Jessica of Victoria's Closet

Mae of MaeBad

MyDailySweet

Ashley of Ashley Aloha

Kayla of CutesyGirl09

LawSchoolAdviceGuy

Krystina Christiansen

Lynnea of LoveLynnea

Lily of LilyLike

Kameron Monet 

Brittany Ann

Angel & Sam LLP

LSAT & Chill

Buzzfeed

let's be friends!

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Choosing Law School Classes Wisely

Hi guys! Long time, no talk! After I came back to blogging about this time last year, I've made it a goal to be pretty regular for you guys but then life happened these past few weeks. First I had a pretty tough midterm, then I've been interviewing for a possible externship (more on that later), then it was spring break, and oh yeah my sister is moving to my city (YAY) so I've been house hunting with her. But now my life has slowed down a bit so more posts are coming your way :) 

The time after spring break is when things really get moving and part of that whoosh that you're about to feel is registering for classes. You may recall that I kinda already did a post like this, See Registering for 2L Classes (haha a little Bluebook humor). But now I'm older and wiser so I have more to say about registering for classes. By the way, the post is more about planning classes, but if you want to know what classes to take, go check out that post!

Think ahead

Without trying to stress you out too much, the best way to go about thinking what classes you should take next semester is to go ahead and plan out all of your classes until you graduate. I know this is hard to do if your future is uncertain like mine was last year because I was planning on transferring and wasn't sure what kind of law I wanted to practice, but it really would've helped me if I came in knowing what all classes I aimed to take before I graduated.

Going off that, think about what you want to do your 2L and 3L years. If you are interested in taking a clinic at your school, try to take classes that are relevant to that clinic. If you're looking into getting an internship or an externship, same thing. Things like these are very competitive so it will help your application stand out if you can show that you're highly interested in this position and that you're prepared for it. 

Related: How to get in to a law school clinic and How to get accepted to an externship

Stock up on required classes

The last thing you want is to be denied from a program or have your graduation delayed because you forgot to take your required classes. Check with your school and see what classes they require you to have for graduation, and also if they have any time requirements (ex. must take so many per semester/year). Also, ask around to any upper-level students you know and see what classes fill up the fastest. This will help keep your whole planned schedule from getting thrown off if you go to register for classes and half of them are full.

Related: Classes to take in law school 

Take PR early on

Also, as a personal opinion, I would say try to take your Professional Responsibility class sooner rather than later. It's an ethics class that the ABA requires all law students to take and *surprise!* you have to take and pass the MPRE in addition to passing the Bar to get a law license. The good news is that you can take this whenever so if you get this class out of the way early, you can take this test as a 2L whenever it's convenient for you and have that out of the way.

Related: Everything you need to know about the MPRE

Besides all this, any job or program you get in to really likes it if you've already had this class. Sure they'll have you sign non-disclosure forms, but it also gives them a little peace of mind to know that you know what would cause them to be sued for malpractice and will avoid doing that. I'm sure you already know about lawyer-client confidentiality (which is different than lawyer-client privilege, bet you didn't know that), but there are a lot of other ethical duties that lawyers have that are super important to know. Oh and wondering why the ABA requires everyone to take the same class and has its own test for it? You can thank all of the lawyers who did some not-so-ethical things during the little scandal referred to as Watergate. 

Don't be afraid of summer classes

Let's have some fun (jk) and break down the math. You'll need 90 credits within 3 years to graduate. That's 30 credits a year. That's 15 hours a semester. This might sound do-able because you got about 30 hours done your 1L year, but how did you feel about it? Did you feel swamped with reading and as if you were always in class? Now think about how bad that will be trying to take 15 hours a semester in upper-level classes, where professors expect even more reading to be accomplished in a night and the material is even more complex. Sounds like a recipe for disaster doesn't it?

This is why I recommend you consider summer classes. Not only will it help alleviate your schedule for future semesters, it also can open up more possibilities for you later down the road if you don't have a cramped schedule. For example, I'm planning on doing a program in the spring of my 3L year that's 12 hours and doesn't allow you to take any other classes. If I didn't take a summer class, I would be stuck trying to take 18 hours the other semester to stay caught up. It also might give you a more flexible daily schedule so that you can work a few hours a day instead of going to a class. Or you never know, you might just get burnt out your 3L year and want to take only the minimum hours ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

A few answers to questions that I had about summer classes at first:

If I can barely keep up with the reading for a class that spans a full semester, how will I survive when that schedule is condensed? Am I going to be reading 200 pages a night to compensate? No, professors aren't that mean and so they don't just take a semester-long syllabus and cram it into a few weeks. Instead they modify it to be reasonable. Although, you probably will be in classes for a lot longer at once so don't think just because it's summer classes it'll be super easy. Maybe just a little easier.

What about a summer job? How would I have time for both?? Most employers are very understandable about you having a job, so it shouldn't hurt your job prospects. You can work during Summer I and take classes during Summer II (or vice versa). You could also agree with your employer that you take a Tuesday/Thursday class(es) and work Monday Wednesday Friday. Another option is to take all morning classes and then go to work afterwards. Just let them know upfront when you're interviewing and then be prepared to be flexible with your hours.

Related: How to balance clerking and summer classes

What about paying for all of this? I only got a loan to cover spring semester? There are loans for summer school, too. Don't stress too much about having to take out yet another loan because generally summer classes are a little cheaper.

What if I'm planning on going back home for a few weeks during the summer? Your school probably offers some classes online so that won't be a problem.

Related: Tips for surviving an online law school class

Final Thoughts

This is just another post of me overthinking things, but once again I'd rather y'all be over prepared rather than have a mental breakdown because you didn't plan out. Also, remember these are all just my little musings so in no way think that you're doing your scheduling wrong or are behind if you don't do it exactly how I do it. Hope y'all get in to all of the classes you want for next semester 😊 

PS - I also think this is a great post about Choosing Law Classes. I really agree with them and honestly in hindsight I think I would've been fine not taking Family Law and instead just learning what I need to know in a Bar course. Then I could've taken a class that is more relevant to what I want to do or at least one that I think would be a harder subject on the bar for me.

Bouncing Back from a Bad Grade in Law School

I know I just got done bragging about my grades, but it was a struggle to get there. To be real with y'all, I got a few C's my first year of law school. Luckily mine were at least C+ and I got more B's than C's so I was content with that. But I know realistically some of you reading this didn't do so hot your first semester. First off just know that I'm here for you if you want to vent or talk about your grades or anythings else. I hope y'all feel free to email me whenever you have something to ask me. So here's what you can do. 

Related: How to Get an A in Law School

Calm down

I know that's the easy thing to say right now but I'm being serious. Don't be too hard on yourself. Yes you didn't do as well as you had expected and even if you did slack a little, what's done is done and beating yourself up isn't exactly going to help you stay positive next semester if and when school gets hard again. In law school, you really do have to learn to be your own cheerleader or this can get really overwhelming. Sure a little kick in the rear might be what you need to get yourself together and get motivated, but seriously don't waste your energy tearing yourself down. 

Also, know that in law school it's super common to get a C so even if you got a D you're not that far behind everyone like you might be if this is undergrad. And don't you dare start trying to find out what your friends made or compare yourself to them! It's toxic and it literally won't help your self esteem at all. Even if you did better than your friends thats not going to help you at all when you're trying to improve yourself. 

Related: Keeping You Confidence in Law School

Figure out what happened

If you got a bad grade then something went very wrong and you're going to have to figure out what it was. If timing was your issue and the test simply ended before you had time to finish, then this semester you need to work on doing full length practice problems until you get faster. If you had okay answers but got your grade because of the curve, you'll need to start strategizing on how to point chase better. If you had a nervous break down and just couldn't (you think I'm kidding but this actually happens), then you need to get to know yourself and learn what you can do to keep yourself calm, cool, and collected. Of course, most of the answers to your questions will come from when you meet up with your professor to review your test/grade. Trust me, I know that it's embarrassing to go in there and feel like an idiot but you can't expect to improve your grade when you're not certain about what your test grader is looking for. 

Related: Tips for Law School Finals

Be careful with asking for help

Not to talk badly about anyone's job, but through undergrad and going to two different law schools I have learned that academic support is either a hit or miss. Sometimes they will basically just say what I said in my last point but will know of resources that your school has, such as tutoring or subelements for subjects in the library or old tests to practice on. Other times they might just scare you in to thinking that if you do not wake up at 6 am to study before class and then study from after class until midnight then you will definitely for sure absolutely flunk out. I advise you to ask around to any upperclassmen that you might've met to make sure that they're the first type before you make an appointment.

Also be a little careful asking a new friend to help. You don't know for sure that they actually did well on their tests so it could just be the blind leading the blind. And their study methods might not even help you. For example: I like to zone out on review days right before finals because other people's questions tend to confuse me on topics that I already understand, but for other people these are the classes where they can get some last-minute learning in. Everyone is different so don't think just because your study style is different that it's any worse. What's more important is working to find what study style does work for you!

Power on

If there is one thing that I learned last year is that "fake it 'til you make it" should be the mantra for all 1L's. Seriously, even the top people in your class are probably still confused about a lot of legal concepts. You gotta keep pushing on. You might not realize what it was that was detrimental to you at once, but you still need to be trying to improve yourself. If you wait until you're the perfect student to start studying then you're going to miss most of this next semester and seriously screw yourself over even worse. Again, the bad grade happened, it sucks, but you still gotta get through this next semester.

And remember, C's get degrees. Realistically, only like your first one or two employers will care about your grades. The rest will care more about your legal skills and reputation. Getting a bad grade in law school doesn't necessarily mean you'd be a bad lawyer, it just means that the other students that you went up against just so happened to do better than you on that one particular test.

Related: How to save your law school GPA