at the past school year, these are some of my thoughts for incoming 1L's:
1. Make sure you really want to go to law school. There are too many miserable students who did not put alot of thought into it but are now stuck because they've invested too much time & money. Law school is tough & you should be prepared mentally.
2. If you have debt, pay down as much of it as you can, especially credit card debt, before starting school. Student budgets are very tight & you won't be able to afford to pay back those debts during the 3 years you'll be in school, unless you are making good money in the summer. One of the girls I'm working with will graduate with about $200k in debt. You don't want to be that person.
3. If you know for sure you are going to pursue a law degree, go to the cheapest undergrad college you can get into, unless your parents are fronting you the money or you have a full ride. In the big scheme of things, having good grades & LSAT scores will make up for whatever college you went to.
4. But, go to the best law school you can get into, in the state you want to practice. The law profession is a fickle one and school ranking does matter when trying to get your career going. Getting to transfer to another state takes quite a bit of leg work so if you are not willing to do that, don't go to a school in New Mexico hoping to practice in California. It's even more work if you go to a lower ranked school because chances are, no one would have ever heard of it.
5. You don't have to be in a study group to do well. I was in a study group my first semester & found it to be a waste of time. The biggest problem was spending lots of time talking about non-law related stuff, "girl, you ain't gon' believe what happened to me....." Maybe, try one around exam time just to work out whatever kinks you may have in your notes, but again, it's not necessary. Profs tout them at every opportunity but ignore them. Try it & if it doesn't work out, don't worry about it.
6. Don't be a gunner. I was lucky that we had only one gunner in my class but he was pretty hilarious so he got away with it. Unless you get called on or the prof asks for volunteers, try not to raise your hand because more likely than not, what you have to say will not contribute any value to your classmates' education. While she wasn't a gunner, I remember one girl who would always ask the prof to clarify things she did not understand. Ridiculous. Please hold the "I don't understand" questions till after class or use LEXIS/Westlaw to post your questions. Profs are more than happy to answer them there or meet with you after class. Most everyone doesn't follow what's going on but work out those issues at your own time.
7. Be nice to everyone. Sounds corny but these are your peers & will probably recommend/interview you for jobs in the future & if you were an a$$ in school, people will remember.
8. Do well in your legal writing class. It's a 2-credit class but do take it seriously. Writing is a must for all attorneys & it's pretty hard to explain away a bad writing grade. But if you do get a bad grade, don't feel bad. You are being graded according to your prof's writing style which is a very subjective standard to be measured against.
9. Study smart, not necessarily harder. Just because you are burning the midnight oil at the library does not mean you will do better than the person who has never seen the inside of it. There's a method to all the madness & you will figure it out. Remember, law school exams are graded on curves so you only have to do better than the best student in the class. But if you don't do as well as you expected, here's what my Civ Pro prof told us: "A" students become professors; "B" students become judges; and "C" students become attorneys.
10. Finally, don't take law school too seriously. It is just school. You are a smart person & you will make it through just fine.
In a 5-4 decision, the SCOTUS struck down voluntary integration plans in Seattle & Louisville, holding it was unconstitutional to use race as a criteria in deciding which high schools kids could get into. Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, et al. While these cases only affected K-12 grades, in the very near future, affirmative action, as it pertains to higher education, will be a thing of the past. With a stab at Alito & Roberts, Justice Breyer summed it up best: "Never in the history of the court have so few done so much so quickly."
