You will learn fairly quickly during your first year of law school that this type of school environment is very different from your days as an undergraduate (or even graduate) student. For example, reading takes much longer to complete and you have to be prepared to recite what you learned from the reading in class. Are you making sure you prepare correctly and allow yourself time to think and study the material?


Let’s look at five mistakes law students often make during their 1L year and how you can avoid them.

1. Spending Too Much Time Reading

I realize I just said you should spend significant time reading. However, there are right and wrong ways to go about reading and preparing for classes. I tend to advise students to spend one to two hours of reading for each hour of class you attend in a week. This tends to equate to somewhere between 13 and 30 hours of reading since most students have 13 to 15 hours of class per week. If you find yourself spending more time than this on reading, it’s likely you are reading materials that are not necessary.

2.  Don’t Read Supplements Before Class as Required Reading

Supplements can be very helpful in law school. But it’s important to remember that they are just that: supplemental. Most students find them helpful when reviewing topics after class or when working on outlines. The danger lies in you trying to read the material before class. You may end up spending too much time on material that will contradict what your professor thinks is important.

I recommend saving the supplements until you need them.

3. Don’t Google Cases Before You Read Them

It’s hard to imagine learning anything before the days of the Internet. But preparing for law school classes pre-Google was probably for the best. Some students regularly search cases online before reading them in order to make the reading go faster. This is tempting and you may think there’s nothing wrong with it. However doing this does not give you the opportunity to struggle with the material, which is how you will learn it. Remember Google will not be around during exam time.

4. Don’t Brief Cases While You are Reading Them

Remember when you were preparing for the LSAT Reading Comprehension section and the instructions were always to read the entire passage first, then go back and answer the questions? That approach will serve you well in law school too. You may think briefing cases while reading will save you time in the long run. But in reality, the reading time should be used to comprehend the information. Briefing while reading is like deciding you know the most important chapter in a book before you get to the end and see how everything turns out. You are much better off reading first and then briefing the material. This will force you to remember what the case is about and help you decide what is important.

5. Don’t Spend Time Learning What You Already Know

I see so many students studying for multiple tests who spend their time disproportionately on the class they either like the most orunderstand the best. It’s easy to understand why this happens. We feel good when we know and understand the material. But the problem comes with the materials you don't know. That information is more challenging, and will likely be on the test. If you only study what’s familiar, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Instead make a plan balancing your study time between subjects. When studying a given class, start a list of topics that you are weak on or still need to memorize. Keep that list with your outline and when you sit down to study, start with that list. And make sure you complete practice questions on the difficult material.