Starting Your 1L Year: Here’s How to Be A Successful Law Student
Starting Your 1L Year: Here’s How to Be A Successful Law Student
Starting law school is a stressful and exciting time. We’ve compiled this list of things to keep in mind as an incoming 1L to make your law school career as straight forward as possible.
1) Begin with the End in Mind
- Budgeting – Go to law school with a budget ready. Know how much you need in loans to cover classes, books, housing, etc. Don’t take out more than you need. Having a plan from the beginning will make it easier to Pay Off Your Student Loans when you’re done with school.
- Career Goals – You could do much worse than to have a clear career trajectory the day you start law school. However, if you are one of the many students who don’t know exactly where they want to be after graduation, as a 1L you can start planning what you will do to Stand Out And Get Hired.
If you already know what type of law you want to practice, then start working. As a 1L, most law firms and organizations will not hire you to do legal work. You can, however, get a job other departments with the firm or organization. Try to take a job as a part time receptionist or document custodian. While these jobs don’t qualify as legal practical experience, they do help you get your foot in the door.
2) Get online
- Get Informed – There are some excellent online recourses for law students; find them. Our twitter followers voted on the Top Websites for Law Students, but aside from those there are literally dozens more. The sites can help you on everything from study strategies, to stress management, to advise on which classes to take. Check ‘em out.
- Get Connected – First, read this article by The Girl’s Guide to Law School Why Every Law Student Should Be On Twitter then make a professional twitter account. If you’ve never participated in Twitter before, check out Twitter 101 to help you get started. Another important site is LinkedIn, sign up for that site too. After you’ve created your profiles, begin networking. If you start early, then by the time you graduated both of these social networks will be full of opportunities.
3) Don’t Quit
My first year of law school, we had a person drop out after the first week. I firmly believe that she overwhelmed herself to the point of exhaustion over little things. Don’t let yourself get so flustered that you freak out over dropping a pencil. We’ve compiled a list of simple Stress Management techniques that are worth the 10 minutes it takes to read it.
For more tips on entering law school check out What I Wish I’d Known As a 1L and stay tuned for more updates.
