My Law School Morning Routine

We’ve all seen the TikToks of the girls with the perfect law school morning routines. They wake up early, start studying, and spend their entire day devoted to law school. I’m here to tell you that the best morning routine for law school is the one dedicated to anything but law school. 

Now, let me preface this entire post by saying one thing: this is my morning routine if everything in my life is going perfectly. I sleep through alarms, I have mornings where I don’t want to get out of bed, and I have weeks where I am simply too busy with school to do everything I want to. Remember, when you are in law school, you will not be able to keep up with a routine like this every single day. 

This is the morning routine I adopted during my second year of law school. It has genuinely been the best law school morning routine I have followed so far. 

4:30AM: Wake Up 

Waking up at 4:30 in the morning sounds insane. Every time I set my alarm for the morning, I regret my decision to wake up so early. But I motivate myself to get out of bed knowing that I will pay an absurd amount of money if I miss my workout class. 

5AM: Early Morning Solidcore 

I started doing early morning pilates classes during my second-year of law school, and I genuinely wish I would have started doing these classes sooner. I meet up with my non-law school friends for pilates at 5AM and we spend an hour at our pilates class.

Pilates (especially [solidcore], in my biased opinion) is such a great way to start your day feeling physically and mentally strong. You are challenged in so many ways, and it places you in the perfect mental headspace for the entire day. You want to push yourself further mentally and physically. Workout classes are also a great way to maintain connections with your friends - even when your law school schedule gets busy. I’ve also made so many new connections going to these early morning [solidcore] classes. 

6:15 AM - 8 AM: Coffee with Friends/Work

Right after we take our [solidcore] class, my friends and I grab coffee at a local coffee shop and, depending on the week, either catch up or do some work together. Although my pilates friends are not in law school, they take the time to sit in a coffee shop and do any random tasks they need to do, or online shop just so we can spend time together. We normally hang out at the coffee shop until 8AM when they have to head out to get ready for work. 

8AM - 8:45 AM: Drive Home, Get Ready 

At around 8AM, I head home and get ready for the day. I normally finish around 8:45 AM and am ready to start the rest of my day. 

9AM - 12PM: Work/Study

Depending on the day, I either head off to work or spend my morning finishing my readings for class. 

If I’m at work, I dedicate my entire morning to completing any outstanding projects that I am assigned. I have found that I am significantly more productive at work when I wake up early. 

If I am working on my readings for the week, I start by prioritizing any readings that I need to complete for the rest of the week. If I am ahead on readings, I will begin planning out my next week and start diving into those assignments.