LibGuides: Resources for First-Year Law Students: Tips for Success in Law School

Helpful Guides

How to Survive the First Year of Law School
This helpful guide, written by the American Bar Association, provides new law students with helpful advice on everything from orientation to career planning.
How to Read a Legal Opinion
This article will assist 1Ls with learning what judicial opinions are, how they are structured, and what to look for when reading them.

The guides and articles below provide 1Ls with helpful advice on everything from orientation to briefing cases, to career planning.

LibGuides 1Ls may find useful:

CALI Lessons

Advice to a 1L From a Law Professor Podcast
A Question and Answer session with Prof. McFarland, author of several of CALI's lessons in Tort Law and Civil Procedure. Prof. McFarland has been teaching for over 30 years. His comments in this podcast about the first semester of law school focus on the Socratic method, preparing for class, note-taking during class, class participation, "riding out" that "lost at sea" feel common during the first few weeks of law school, the appropriate use of study aids, advice about law school exams, and general advice on doing well in law school.
Preparing for Your First Semester of Law School
Professors Brown and Grohman, are the authors of many CALI lessons. Additionally, both teach 1L courses. In this podcast they share their experiences and insights on time management issues for law school students, preparing for class, how to brief a case, research tips applicable for 1L writing assignments (and the eventual practice of law), how to develop an understanding of the law, and techniques and tips for studying and preparing for the final exam.
How to Brief a Case
This is an exercise designed to introduce first-semester law and graduate students to the basic elements of a typical case "brief" and to teach them general methodology for writing their own briefs. The exercise consists of three parts: (1) an introduction to the purposes and uses of a case brief; (2) a detailed examination of each of the ten components of a typical case brief (with examples); and (3) two actual cases that students are asked to read and then to brief, using the methodology described in this exercise. A sample brief for each of the two cases is also provided, thereby allowing students to correct and modify their briefs by way of comparison.

Online Study Aids

Online Study Aids are accessible within the library. Note that off-campus access requires EZproxy login with NCCU username and password. For more information visit the Online Study Aid Collections webpage.

1L of a Ride, A Well-Traveled Professor's Roadmap to Success in the First Year of Law School
Assigned as required or recommended reading at law schools throughout the country, 1L of a Ride provides a candid, comprehensive roadmap to both academic and emotional success in law school’s crucial first year. Told in an accessible first-person voice, covered topics in the revised and updated third edition include pre-planning, top student fears, first-year curriculum, the Socratic and case methods of teaching, effective class participation, top habits of successful students, essential study techniques, legal research and writing, exam strategies, maintaining well-being, and much more. Combines anecdotes, comments from law students, empirical research, and authentic samples of signature documents from the 1L experience, including exam questions, Socratic dialogue, and student case-briefs, class notes, and course outlines. McClurg is an award-winning professor who has taught at six different law schools.
Get a Running Start: Your Comprehensive Guide to the First Year Curriculum
The first of its kind, this book offers a global overview of the first-year curriculum in a single volume. In short, available lessons, Get a Running Start covers all the major concepts taught in each of the courses most commonly offered in the first year of law school: criminal law, torts, civil procedure, constitutional law, property, and contracts. Each of the courses comprising this book is written by a specialist in the field who is a decorated teacher with years of experience in the classroom. In this volume, they have distilled that experience and expertise to produce the tool they wish they had when they first were thinking about and then actually began law school: a clear, concise introduction to the entire first-year curriculum. Get a Running Start is a valuable tool for first-year law students, giving them a running start on their law school careers and putting them in the best position to enter the profession. By reading through all the lessons for a course, first-year students will get a complete overview of each course early in the semester. As the semester goes forward, students can accelerate their learning and comprehension by reviewing individual lessons when preparing for class. As the semester comes to a close, the lessons in this book provide an invaluable framework for outlining and exam preparation. Get a Running Start is also the ideal introduction for undergraduate students. For formal pre-law or Introduction to American Law courses, this book will provide students with a comprehensive overview broken into concise, digestible chunks that are ideal for further development in lecture or discussion sections. Outside the classroom, Get a Running Start offers a stimulating introduction to fundamental legal concepts that will engage those who might be thinking about going to law school and citizens who simply want to know more about the law as a central feature of public life.
Sum and Substance Audio on How to Succeed in Law School
Sum & Substance Audio Series allows you to assimilate the essentials of the course at your convenience. The information and ideas you struggled with previously are now brought to life simply and succinctly. The audio lecture provides exam tips to maximize your performance. These audio lectures are time saving, convenient and effective.

Suggested Reading for 1Ls

Starting law school off right is vital for 1Ls. Below are just a few of the resources in the Law Library that can assist with developing good study habits and provide other important information about how to get started off right in law school and what law school is truly like.

More resources can be located using the Library's Online Catalog and searching with subject headings and search terms.

The Bramble Bush by Karl N. Llewellyn; Steve Sheppard (Introduction by)
Call Number: KF273 .L55 2008
ISBN: 9780195368451
For over seventy years, there has been one book law students have read to prepare for what they were about to encounter. That book is The Bramble Bush. After all these years and many imitators,The Bramble Bush remains one of the most popular introductions to the law and its study. Llewellyn introduces students to what the law is, how to read cases, how to prepare for class, and how justice in the real world relates to the law. Although laws change every year, disputes between people haven't altered all that much since Llewellyn first penned The Bramble Bush, and the process of moving from private dispute to legal conflict still follows the patterns he described. Moreover, the steps of a legal dispute, from arguments to verdict, to opinion, to review, to appeal, to opinion have changed little in their significance or their substance. Cases are still the best tools for exploring the interaction of the law with individual questions, and the essence of what law students must learn to do has persisted. If anything, many of the points Llewellyn argued in these lectures were on the dawning horizon then but are in their mid-day fullness now.
Hard-Nosed Advice from a Cranky Law Professor by Austen L. Parrish; Cristina K. Knolton
Call Number: KF283 .P37 2010
ISBN: 9781594608025
Publication Date: 2010-05-01
If students wish to survive and excel in law school, they must approach it correctly. Students also need to understand what professors expect of them, or they will be left behind. Hard-Nosed Advice from a Cranky Professor explains some of the correct ways to approach law school and provides insight into professor expectations.

This book is designed for new law students who would like to improve their chances of doing well in law school. Written from the perspective of a cranky, cantankerous professor, the book side-steps pleasantries to provide no-nonsense, sometimes hard-nosed advice that is intended to instruct students on what they must do to succeed. While blunt, the practical advice is provided in a light-hearted, humorous way. The book¿s aim is to give concise answers to questions that most students have when they begin law school.

The book's user-friendly style is one of its greatest assets. In tight, to-the-point chapters, the book addresses those tasks that students commonly face in law school: from reading and briefing cases, to outlining, to preparing and taking exams, to being called on in class. The book also provides advice on success outside the classroom, including preparing for the bar exam. In many ways, through the professor's grumblings, the book promotes professionalism and common sense. At the back of the book are sample case briefs and exam answers.
Learning Outside the Box by Leah M. Christensen
Call Number: KF283 .C48 2011
ISBN: 9781594606922
More law students than ever before come to law school having been diagnosed with a learning disability. The purpose of this book is to provide research-based learning strategies for law students who learn differently. If you are a student who has been diagnosed with a learning disability or if you simply have a unique learning style, you may need to outline differently, read cases differently, and approach law school in a more active, engaged and efficient manner. This book offers learning strategies grounded in empirical research to help law students who learn differently maximize their academic success.
''One L of a Year'' by Leah M. Christensen
Call Number: KF283 .C485 2012
ISBN: 9781594609473
Many books give law students advice about how to navigate through their first year of law school. This book strives to be something different. The purpose of "One L of a Year" is to focus on the reading, studying and testing strategies used by the most successful law students. This book is more than advice--it is a learning guide based upon empirical research and statistical correlations between law student learning and their law school GPAs. Most importantly, this book attempts to show you what high-ranking law students have done to achieve success during their first year. It's one thing to read about how to take a law school essay exam--it's quite another thing to see examples of student essays, outlines, legal memoranda, and multiple choice questions. With drive and determination, most students can get through law school. However, "One L of a Year" gives you the research-based skills to maximize your own success.
Starting off Right in Law School by Carolyn J. Nygren
Call Number: KF273 .N97 2011
ISBN: 9781594608254
Law school is different. Incoming students, confronted with an entirely new vocabulary and unfamiliar with the discipline's unique and demanding educational methods, are often disoriented. This book is designed to give these students a head start, both by introducing them to the fundamentals of the legal process and by helping them acquire the study skills necessary for success. Starting Off Right in Law School introduces new law students to the practice and study of law by following a lawsuit from its inception through the appeals process, illustrating what lawyers actually do, how they prepare, how they interact with clients and in courtrooms, how a lawsuit proceeds, and how students can effectively read and analyze cases, outline, and apply what they have learned on the exams.
The Zen of Law School Success by Chad Noreuil
Call Number: KF283 .N67 2011
ISBN: 9781611631210
The Zen of Law School Success offers a comprehensive approach to succeeding in law school. Zen is about simplicity, balance, knowing your universe, knowing yourself, and staying focused on the path to enlightenment. Similarly, these principles should be the foundation for success in law school, and this book details how to put these principles into practice in order to maximize your ability to have a successful law school career. Like the Zen path to enlightenment, law school success is about balance (between studying and other aspects of life, as well as balancing your study time between subjects, outlining, etc.), knowing your universe (knowing not only the subject matter tested, but knowing how the questions are constructed, knowing what to look for, etc.), knowing yourself (what type of essay writer you are, what type of learner you are, what type of exam taker you are, etc.), and staying focused on your path (when to study, what to do when you are stressed out, what to do when you don't know a subject very well, etc.). In addition to offering a comprehensive approach to succeeding in law school, the book also offers practical advice for doing well during the classroom Socratic method, navigating the law school environment, managing law school stress, and getting a job after graduation. Moreover, the Zen of Law School Success focuses on doing well on final exams, including specific strategies and tips for both essay and multiple choice exams. The book includes many exercises and model answers that will benefit any law student and is an ideal resource for any law school Academic Achievement Program.
Finding Your Voice in Law School by Molly Bishop Shadel
Call Number: KF283 .S52 2013
ISBN: 9781611630732
Publication Date: 2012-12-28
Drawn from interviews with students and attorneys from leading law schools and firms, Finding Your Voice in Law School delivers winning strategies for succeeding in law school and beyond.

Many college graduates aren't prepared for the new challenges they will face in law school. Intense classroom discussion, mock trials and moot courts, learning the language of law, and impressing potential employers in a range of interview situations -- it sounds intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. Finding Your Voice in Law School offers a step-by-step guide to the most difficult tests you will confront as a law student, from making a speech in front of a room full of lawyers to arguing before a judge and jury. Author Molly Shadel, a former Justice Department attorney and Columbia law graduate who now teaches advocacy at the University of Virginia School of Law, also explains how to lay a strong foundation for your professional reputation.
A Student's Guide to Law School by Andrew B. Ayers
Call Number: KF283 .A947 2013
ISBN: 9780226067223
Publication Date: 2013-10-13
Law school can be a joyous, soul-transforming challenge that leads to a rewarding career. It can also be an exhausting, self-limiting trap. It all depends on making smart decisions. When every advantage counts, A Student's Guide to Law School is like having a personal mentor available at every turn. As a recent graduate and an appellate lawyer, Andrew Ayers knows how high the stakes are--he's been there, and not only did he survive the experience, he graduated first in his class. In A Student's Guide to Law School he shares invaluable insight on what it takes to make a successful law school journey. Originating in notes Ayers jotted down while commuting to his first clerkship with then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor, and refined throughout his first years as a lawyer, A Student's Guide to Law School offers a unique balance of insider's knowledge and professional advice. Organized in four parts, the first part looks at tests and grades, explaining what's expected and exploring the seven choices students must make on exam day. The second part discusses the skills needed to be a successful law student, giving the reader easy-to-use tools to analyze legal materials and construct clear arguments. The third part contains advice on how to use studying, class work, and note-taking to find your best path. Finally, Ayers closes with a look beyond the classroom, showing students how the choices they make in law school will affect their career--and even determine the kind of lawyer they become. The first law school guide written by a recent top-ranked graduate, A Student's Guide to Law School is relentlessly practical and thoroughly relevant to the law school experience of today's students. With the tools and advice Ayers shares here, students can make the most of their investment in law school, and turn their valuable learning experiences into a meaningful career.