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Advice before starting law school?

AmorRoark

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Jul 28, 2002
Messages
21,182
I'll be starting law school in a couple weeks so I was wondering if anyone has any advice for nervous Y1 students? Any wise words are greatly appreciated. :)
 
hey amoroark...

do you have any advice for someone looking to go to lawschools? (i.e me)

LSAT advice? when /how to study? any classes particularly helpful? what do they look for in terms of grades vs everything else?
 
In all the accounts I've heard and books I've read it's about 85% LSAT, 10% grades and 5% personal statement/Letters of Recommendation (LOR).

It's REALLY heavy on the LSAT. Study your ass off and it'll pay off. I'm stupid and didn't take a class. I really regret it. I've heard Kaplan's is pretty good but if you have a bunch of money to throw around I might try to get a private tutor. I'd study for at least 6 months before you take the test.

The test itself takes a long time so when the day comes for you to take it make sure you got plenty of sleep the night before (I know, tough, because you'll be thinking about the test) and eat a good breakfast.

Also, when you take the test remember to take an analog watch so you don't have to look up at the clock to see how much time you have left on the particular section.

If I were you I'd try to get my LOR's in order as soon as possible.

The LSAC website is where you have to go through to take the test, fill out the law school applications, and submit your LOR's. It's basically the headquarters of law school entry so you must go through them.

To be honest just getting into law school was a royal pain in the ass. So many steps and hurdles but I think it'll be worth it. Good luck to you. :)
 
Work at a law firm for around 10 hours a week :) There's no substitute for experience. You'll be in an environment that, yes, is high-pressure, but you'll be surprised at how many people will be happy to share tips and tricks of the trade with you. I've not been to law school, but when I attended school, the law firm I worked for was very understanding about my schedule and even allowed me to study when I had downtime.
 
I made the personal mistake of choosing law. I got to my second year and everything got more and more confusing and I was then diagnosed with Dyslexia and ADD. My memory was in the 1st percentile which means that out of 100 peple my age on average I had the worst memory! I think it was drug induced (benzos) personally.

It was a shame as I did enjoy the first year. Tips for the nervousness is not to try too hard to make friends, if you come across like you need them in order to function on the course you'll be disappointed. This is the mistake I made thinking that I had to be friends with everyone or I would look stupid, needless to say I only made a few friends and was a nervous wreck around people because of the demands I placed on myslef. Through CBT I learned now that I was thinking in All or Nothing terms, disqualifing the positive and making rigid demands on myself. I also did the thinking error of mind reading i.e thinking people didn't like me etc. This lot on top of the diagnoses I received blew my head. I am now helping myself by doing some self taught CBT (godsend) and looking to move to Psychology or Pysch Nursing,

I don't know why I even chose law as I wasn't even that intrested- mostly family pressure.I know this story is negative, but if my negatives are not your negatives you'll sail through and love it!

Good Luck
 
no advice, but congrats amy. i didn't even know you graduated.

i'm so behind the times.
 
ya my bad I misinterpreted "previous casework" as
meaning something else.

Obviously knowing the cases you can apply to a case is key.
 
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