Anna M. answered • 10/23/20
JD with years of coaching experience
The best advice I got before starting law school: you didn't get here by accident. It takes both academic skill and emotional resilience to get here. Law school is full of people telling you the "one way" to do law school: the one way to read cases, the best way to brief, the only way to outline, the extracurriculars you must do -- but you know best how you learn. You know best how you make time for yourself. You know best what your goals are. Certainly seek advice -- go to office hours, see if any of the student groups you're a part of have outline banks, ask your mentors for help, see if your school has a tutoring program. But once you've gotten the advice, adapt it to what works for you. Try one thing (one thing at a time), and see if it works. Did that style of case briefing help you understand that week's cases? Think about why or why not, and tweak the method. Each week, you'll get a little bit closer.
And of course, don't forget to make time for yourself outside of being a law student. Especially right now, getting through law school is a marathon, not a sprint. Taking space to build yourself back up will help you to be more effective when you have to get back to the case books.
