How to Prepare for Law School
- Third Year Law Student
- May 27
- 4 min read
Many incoming 1Ls have one question: What can I do to prepare for law school?
The summer before starting law school, many of us feel like we need to start preparing for law school in some way or else we will inevitably fall behind all of our classmates. Let’s be honest, many incoming law students (including me) are academic overachievers who do not know what to do with their free time. Before I started law school, I watched a ridiculous amount of videos on how to prepare for my first year. Looking back at it now, all of the preparation that I tried to do did nothing to prepare me for law school.
To put it simply, you should not do much to prepare yourself academically for school. You don’t need to - nor should you - read any cases before starting 1L. You will learn how to brief cases as you read throughout your semester. You will learn all of the academic tools that you need to succeed during school.
For all of the incoming 1Ls wanting to prepare themselves for their first year of law school, I have one piece of advice: The best way to prepare for law school is to prepare your life for law school.
Take time to focus on the relationships in your life.
The summer before law school will be one of the last stress-free periods of your life over the next three years. Take time to focus on being present with your family and friends. Make plans with the people who are important to you. Travel with your family. Do whatever you can to enjoy this time. Taking a complete break from school will help you mentally prepare for the year to come.
Try to build a social network outside of law school.
In my opinion, having friends outside of law school is the best way to survive your first year. I’ve had many professors joke that students without friends outside of law school need to get a life. My non-law school friends are the only reason I have kept some level of sanity over the past two years. When law school gets hard, these are the people that will ground you and remind you that there is so much more to life than your midterm exam or a perfectly color coding your outline.
Finding new friends when you move to a new city is not always easy. Before you start school, sit down and think about how you enjoy spending your free time. Do you enjoy running? Do you like crafting? Do you enjoy nights out? Find groups in your city that bring people together with these common interests, and, eventually, you will make a friend or two. These will be the people that keep you grounded when school feels overwhelming.
Focus on making your living space a sanctuary.
I know - this one sounds a bit ridiculous. Preparing for law school isn’t just about learning how to study or take exams. It is also about making the place you go home to at the end of a long day a mental and physical sanctuary.
Whether you are living with family, a roommate, a significant other, or by yourself, you need to make your house feel like your home. Take the time to decorate your space. Put up pictures of your family and friends. Make your home somewhere that truly feels like yours. I promise that you will thank me later.
Read books on 1L success.
This feels counterintuitive to the “don’t prepare yourself for law school” advice that I am offering here. Again, remember that we aren’t trying to academically prepare ourselves for law school, we’re trying to prepare our life for law school.
I have read a lot of books on how to succeed in law school. However, here are my top two recommendations for incoming 1Ls.
This book was my bible for 1L. The beginning of Juris Types discusses the psychology behind studying and law school success. The book then provides you with an in depth analysis on how to study based on your specific juris type. It also provides you with time management and exam taking strategies for your juris type.
Personally, I found this book the most helpful for preparing for law school. In all honesty, I lacked any study skills from the LSAT and my undergraduate career, so I needed to find the studying systems that worked for me and my personality. This book helped my figure out how to organize my time during my first year and was vital to my personal success.
The title of this book says it all - it is a guide on how to be sort of happy in law school. It discusses ways to address the law school dynamics that tend to take a mental toll on many and subsequently addresses how to combat these issues.
One of my favorite professors recommended this book to me. I had been struggling with burnout and the overall competitiveness of the law school environment. After reading this book, I can genuinely say that my perspective on law school has changed. I recommend this to any and every law student.
Buy all of your law school materials.
I’m a sale junkie. So, I recommend slowly compiling all of the law school materials that you need to buy and purchasing each item as it goes on sale. I have compiled a list of the items that I recommend here. Your university will likely notify you of how to buy textbooks. Buy those as soon as you can to ensure that you can do all of your advance reading assignments.
Focusing on how to prepare your life for law school is truly the best way to prepare for law school. We’re a few months out from the start of your 1L year, so keep all of these things in the back of your mind over the summer.
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