6 LAW SCHOOL TIPS FOR YOUR FIRST YEAR

okay welcome to my law school tips video I guess we could call it I've been wanting to make this video since my first year in law school and did in May but I chose to hold off to just give myself a little time for my head to clear and to really reflect and then I also thought it would be more appropriate to do it now in August when it's a bit more relevant because everyone's going back to school and maybe people are starting law school soon yeah let's dive in I have six tips I guess you could call them they're just six things I wish I knew before I started law school that I learned during and after my 1l year I'm not gonna give you super specific tips of how to study whatever because every person is different every law school is different every professor is different which actually kind of leads me into my first tip which is that studying is not one size fits all so what I mean by that is I just wish I am known sooner to talk to my professors and just flat out ask them what they'd like to see on a final how they like it formatted which part of the answer in an essay for example do they care about the most are they okay with you copying their rule statements if they gave you any or do they like it in the students own words things like that do they doc points if you're heading is it a certain way just ask them the worst professor can do is say no I don't give out that information but most of them will probably just tell you I had the most success on my finals where I did that and asked the professors and I wish I had done that in all of my classes because I sort of like learned that by not realizing I was doing it and then all of a sudden it was like oh wait I'm studying for this final and I know exactly how to study versus some that I didn't and I felt like I was guessing a little more on so talk to your professors that is probably the best tangible tip I can get from this video is ask them what they want okay my next tip is to clerk as a 1l if you can so I went into a job interview in like January or February and I thought it was a summer job I was interviewing for but it actually turned out that they needed clerks during the semester and I am so grateful that I got that opportunity and I was only working five hours one day a week it wasn't any big time commitment or any but it's so I learned probably more from those five hours once a week that I was learning cumulatively in all my law school class in the second semester because there's a common saying that law school teaches you how to think like a lawyer but it doesn't teach you how to be a lawyer in my albeit limited experience that's so true so get out there and start learning how to be a lawyer if that's what your going to law school for yeah get out there talk to usually smaller firms will probably be more willing because bigger firms tend to have like codified systems in place of regarding some are associates and stuff but smaller firms tend to be a little more flexible so just get out in your community ask if they need a clerk chances are they'll be grateful for some intelligent but inexpensive labor I will say with this tip though check with your schools rules because I know at my school I go to ASU for law school we were allowed to work I think ten hours was the limit and we were and that was only second semester one else weren't allowed to work first semester so check with your school's rules and make sure you're not violating any rules but if you are allowed to work I would try to clerk as a 1l okay my next tip is to manage expectations of people around you friends family boyfriends girlfriends whatever I have found that it is a lot easier to just be very explicit hey I've got a paper due in two weeks I'm gonna be totally m.i.a see at the end of the two weeks then it is to just keep saying no sorry I can't tonight I can't tonight or or even like feeling guilted into saying yes and then not getting as much work done as you should have so just be super clear people understand that law students are really busy so just manage expectations I think it leads to less disappointment on both ends and helps preserve your relationships which are so helpful in law school you need your support system so be super clear about that okay my next tip I really don't mean to get too deep but it is sort of like mental health based I guess don't let Law School define you I guess this is a good way to say it so take a look before you start law school or right as your schedule gets going and look at what things prior to law school make you happy made you feel confident do relax things like that and see what is a non-negotiable it needs to stay you're certainly gonna have to give things up when you start law school it's a huge time-suck and it takes a lot of your attention but the mental health statistics and law schools are so bad I don't know if you've looked them up but it's not good and I think a big reason is because it's so easy to just become nothing other than a law student so I just think you should make decisions and stick to them about what things need to be in your life you know for me for example I would say working out too big when I knew I wasn't gonna get that up going into law school and I made sure to work out for the most part this semester I'd say at least five days a week and that's a non-negotiable I would put down my studying or whatever go make time for an hour to get to the gym and come home and I know that I'm better off in the long run doing that and just getting away from things than just doing in law school I teach ballet once a week - I chose not to give that up when I started law school I love teaching I love the kids I teach and I have been a dancer my whole life I still am a dancer so even if I don't have time to like take class or choreograph and things like that at least every week I'm in the studio for several hours teaching getting around dance things like that and it really helps take my mind off of it so don't lose yourself just because of law school I feel like that's a fast track to pretty poor mental health so decide what things you want to keep in but don't take that too far like you started to study but next tip easy to say really tough to do don't compare yourself you shouldn't do it in any scenario in life but in law school really try not to do it they rank you in law school they push comparison on you like that's how it goes but actively stop yourself and comparing yourself to classmates whether that's study habits grades jobs it literally brings no value it doesn't trust me I have gone down the rabbit hole so many times with comparing myself to classmates it didn't motivate me at all it didn't make me work any harder I already work really I already think I have my study habits pretty to did for what I need and so and it didn't motivate me at all it just made me nervous and insecure and it was just so unproductive maybe a better version of this tip is you will compare yourself so develop a plan to stop when you notice yourself doing it because to just say don't do it you're going to law school it's really intimidating and scary and all they do is compare you so find a mechanism to stop for me it's usually to just go do something that's unique to me so that kind of goes back to my other tip about not losing your identity and your hobbies and things like that so that's something that's helped me if I am getting really bad about the comparison thing or whatever I'll go start editing a vlog cuz I like YouTube and that's something that makes me happy and just reminds me of things that are unique to me and things that I'm proud of and yeah are just individual and have nothing to do with anyone else so that's a tip maybe if you need a way to get out of it and everyone in law school is working towards different goals anyways you don't know what other people's goals are they don't know yours it comparing it's it's all apples oranges no matter how you spin it so pretty pointless okay and then my final tip is just to remember that success looks different on different people just remember that success looks different on everyone and there's so many different versions of being a successful lawyer or law school graduate if actually practicing law is and what you want to do with your JD like there's just so many different versions and just keep that in mind I'm the first lawyer in my immediate family so it was kind of easy for me at the beginning to just sort of follow what Career Services told me was a successful lawyer or graduate and in most schools that's gonna be big law and career services has their reasons for you know recommending that and I'm sure you can think of some and I'm not saying Career Services bad they're a great resource especially if you do want to do big law but just remember that that's not everything you know whatever your goals are go for them and don't let other people's versions of success shift yours for me personally I didn't really what type of law I wanted to practice going and I didn't really know what I wanted to do so it's been super helpful to clerk as a 1l as I said earlier and this summer I split my time between two different jobs which was helpful because I just got to expand my horizons and see what happy working lawyers look like in different setting and then once you do identify what it is that your goal is and I'm still working on that myself I'm not sure but once you figure it out don't let anyone's version of success or what they're after cloud yours or make you feel like you need to shift because you don't there's so many different versions of success in life not just in law so those are the six things I learned during the 1l year actually most of them I didn't learn till after it was over and I was kind of reflecting but anyways thanks so much for watching this video and and again just remember that this is a hundred percent my opinion I'm not a counselor of any sort I don't I'm just a girl who finished her first year in law school and on to a second and these are things I wish I knew so these are totally my opinions but yeah thanks so much for watching and I'll see you in my next video which will probably be back to blogging thanks

Channel: Jenn Martin

Views: 23,014

Rating: 4.9722543 out of 5

Keywords: study routine, study tips, studying tips, law school tips, law school advice, lawyer, lawyer vlog, american lawyer, college advice, school advice, university, arizona, arizona state, working, work routine, comparing yourself, confidence, advice on confidence

Id: CBzilMMZ-1g

Length: 9min 35sec (575 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 04 2019