Law School Study Tips and Techniques

Law School Study Tips and Techniques by Law Office Portal Staff

From the Ivy League to the Third Tier, all law schools have at least a few things in common: New students with a fear of the unknown, tedious core coursework, and tests to exacerbate both issues. And whether your school scores on a B or C curve, or you're called a first year or one L, the same study tips and techniques can work for all law students in all subjects.

Choose the tips that most appeal to you and fit your study style:

- Outlining. This is among the more popular study tools, but also quite time-consuming. The purpose of a good outline is to provide an overview of all relevant materials. The most effective outlines organize and meld class notes with cases and other assigned readings. Use headings, subheadings, bold, italics, underlines, and bullets to highlight each point.

- Study Group. If you learn better by interacting with others, choose people of like overall ability and study habits (i.e. similar schedule, commitment, organization). Avoid the temptation to use this as social hour. Groups are most useful if members each bring different strengths and weaknesses, as well as study methods, to the table. For example, there's little asset if all four group members make outlines and ace torts but get hung up on civ pro. Ideally, each member will approach the subject with a different study aide and share it with the group. If necessary, create more than one group, but avoid too many simply for sanity's sake.

- Study Guides. Law summaries and guides offer a thin overview of cases and generally correspond with assigned readings. While these can clarify confusing points or help organize your own outlines they're not meaty enough by themselves. On the flip side, nutshells and hornbooks are far more in depth, but can get expensive (particularly hornbooks). As both references involve more than just cases and statutes, they are great for background info and understanding the larger legal picture.

- Flowcharts. Particularly useful for civ and crim pro, you can fit an entire case - complaint to judgment - on a single piece of paper. Put several sheets together to chart class action suits, removal, and multiple party counterclaims. Conventional charts work for understanding the differences and similarities among corporate and other structures at a glance.

- Games. Though this study method can be complicated to create, it has high entertainment value and thus can be easy to remember. Games can be for one or more players and include flashcards, Jeopardy, and simple board games (think Legal Trivial Pursuit).

- Class review sessions. These are often held the day or two before midterms and finals. Some professors just take questions from students; others reiterate the larger points they've covered throughout the semester before opening a discussion up to the class. If you attend, don't ask if a particular subject will be on the exam - if it was covered in class or an ancillary reading - it's fair game.

- Upperclassmen and Professors. Professors keep office hours for the sole pleasure of answering your questions. If you feel uncomfortable going to your professor, ask an upperclassmen. They have the benefit of having been through it all and may be able to better explain the answer as well as offer it in a context of the larger picture.

- Law Dictionary. Keep your dictionary of choice (I use(d) Blacks) nearby. Nothing kills a solid grasp of a statute faster than misunderstanding a few key Latin phrases.

- Past Exams. Some professors put copies of their old tests on file in the library for review so you can get an idea of format and how questions are phrased. Don't limit your studying to the subject matter on the tests - review everything from class!

- Notetaking. Organize your notes in class while you're taking them to avoid an extra step when you get home.

- Assigned Readings. Active reading is far more engaging and beneficial here than the passivity and tedium with which most of us regularly read casebooks. Highlight and notate IRAC and other key points (ignore past highlights - you can't trust they knew what they were doing). Then, move said points directly to your study aide (flashcard, outline, chart, etc) to save time later.

- Whiteboard. After you've studied charts, played games, and attended review sessions, make a separate list of things you're having trouble memorizing. Whiteboards are great because you can easily erase newly memorized points as you master them. Post-it notes also work well for this.

- Setting. Study wherever you can feel comfortable and spread out all your reading and reference materials. If you prefer peace and quiet, study at home or carry earplugs. Don't assume the library offers either, as most people speak in forced whispers and don't think twice about disrupting each other with questions, not to mention the tension level around exam time. As an alternative, you can reserve a private study room or be anonymous and visit another library.

- Time management. This is one of the most useful and important skills to master. The key to proper time management is to create a reasonable study schedule and stick to it. Avoid last minute cramming and be sure to plan downtime and breaks - your law school experience should be enjoyable so try to have fun whenever possible. To keep healthy and help retain all that info, be sure to sleep and eat regularly.

- Memorable. No matter which study techniques you utilize, make them memorable or they'll be worthless come test time. Color code sections, topics, statutes, rules, or anything else you want to stand out in your mind, but be consistent with your colors to avoid confusion. Use creative association, acronyms, mnemonics, inventive lyrics, and graphic triggers for difficult to remember terms.

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