Studying is the ultimate drinking game.
Something tells me Folly and I will be starting a slightly different group in a few weeks when we flunk out. 
Since time is scarce, figure out what you need to know and learn it the first time through, rather than spending time focusing on that which is not necessary. Think of it as a three year LSAT – deal with what you can do, rather than fritter away time for marginal returns.
Our group always had coffee while studying. Didn’t mean beer couldn’t be consumed later, however.
Another volunteer group/activity you may wish to look into is the law school legal clinic, if there is one. Get involved there, and you might get a bit of courtroom experience, which also looks good on a resume. At the very least, you’ll be dealing with real clients who have real problems, which is also valuable–you’ll have to deal with them eventually; might as well start now.
Regardless, good luck to RNATB and Folly!
My first exams are in a month, I started in May, same as you, work full time, school part time.
Love it, grades are pretty good but I’m scared shitless of my finals.
I have to remember to breathe!
Good luck, law is awesome! Ask me again in November to see if I passed my first semester…
Good luck with your law studies Really Not All That Bright. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the experience.
I completed a law degree several years ago. I worked full-time and studied part-time for five and half years. If you’re organised, reasonably efficient with your study techniques, and do at least the basic reading as required, you shouldn’t find it too difficult.
Working full time and simultaneously going to school seem rather difficult to me. Good luck to you all, but why not a loan?
Congrats and good luck!
Advice nobody gave me: Technical exam-taking skill matters as much as substantive knowledge. Think of your exams as a Christmas tree, not an Easter-egg hunt. The natural tendency is to treat exam questions like an Easter-egg hunt. Ooh, I found an issue! Look, another one! This is the path to disappointment. Think of your course outline as a big box of old ornaments, and the exam is a tree. Your job is to figure out where on the tree each ornament goes. That hideous nativity scene from Aunt Thelma doesn’t fit? Look again. It’s on the tree every year and it’s going up there this year. If an issue isn’t there, it isn’t there, but the point is, start from your outline and look for each issue in the exam. In fact, since professors never test the same issue more than once in a given exam, it helps to give all the questions a quick skim first so you can place all the issues right away.
Glib but more true than you may realize: You can and should be on law review. Every school uses a writing competition to supplement grade selection. Find out everything you can about it – you don’t have to be a gunner, but show up for information sessions, ask people when the subject comes up, etc. Understand that 75% of your classmates will download the competition packet, but most of them will not even look at it until the weekend before it’s due. Put in the time, and block out a full day at the end just to check your cite form and proofread, and your chances are pretty good. And fair or not, it’s a credential employers notice.
Most of all, enjoy nerding out! I know I did.
–J.D. '09
Well, I’ve got somebody’s word about a job when I get out (someone I trust), but it’s not in writing, and hence not worth jeopardizing my and my wife’s futures if the job market hasn’t picked up by then.
I’ve basically been putting off law school for six years, so I’ve got nobody to blame for myself for going at a time when I’ve already got responsibilities.
My wife wants to start breeding in two years, which is more of a worry.
Having said that, I know a girl who just graduated from the same program, while working 50 hours a week and being pregnant for most of her senior year. She gave birth three weeks after finals. So, you know, I can’t really bitch about my situation.
applause It’s a tough road dude. I hope you make it.
Me too. Shit’s expensive.
Good luck an god bless. The best years of your life.
I bristled only at the “should be” aspect of your advice. You certainly can be on Law Review, but I wouldn’t add the pressure that it is something that should be done by law students in general. Employers may notice, but I simply told them I had read Huck Finn, and declined to get involved in such a resume-padding nonsense. From an outsider viewpoint it seems that it’s a lot of work without a lot of payoff. I recommend clinical work as much as possible.
It’s your first day of Law School? You shoudl either be reading or asleep. There is no free time.
Technically, it was the first day of orientation, not the first day of class. Monday will be the first day of school proper.
That said, we’ve had more reading assignments so far during orientation than I ever got in a week of actual classes as an undergrad - and that’s not even including school policies and forms to sign and so on.
What law school is it, btw?
Basic survival skill as a law student or as a lawyer: learn to pull out the significant bits from your readings rather than get bogged down trying to cover too many words in too little time. Think of the texts and cases as techincal manuals, from which you pick out only the necessary information, rathern than as novels which you read in entirely.
“Should” came off sounding kinda douchey. What I meant was, your odds are good enough to justify a serious effort in the writing competition, and, at least in my limited experience, the payoff is decidedly worth the time commitment (aside from the fact that if you’re a big 'ol nerd like me, you may find the experience rewarding anyway). So I give this advice to any new law student online or IRL. If you don’t, or can’t, or have better things to do with your time, it’s not the end of the world.
Florida A & M.
Agreed. Reading cases is a skill that comes with time, but if I had to give any advice as to how to read a case, it would be this:
Facts: What facts give rise to the dispute?
Issues: What legal issues arise from those facts?
Law: What is the law that applies to those issues?
Analysis: How does the judge apply the law to the facts/issues?
Rationale: What reason does the judge give for making his or her decision?
Understand the answers to those questions, and you understand the case. It sounds easy, but like I said, it is a skill that comes with time. First-year law is designed to give you that skill in a reasonable period of time. Do your first-year readings, understand the rationales of the cases you’re assigned to read, and you’re well on your way to success at law school.
And if your first case seems impossible and takes forever to get, don’t worry. It’s supposed to be. With practice (i.e. reading), you will get to the point where you can digest a case in about 15 minutes, tops.
Too bloody true.