The start of a new year is always something to look forward to. But for you, pre-law student, it’s especially exciting. This is the year you take the first step toward your future legal career, and that’s worth celebrating! Here are four New Year resolutions you should adopt as an incoming law student.
Start Creating Healthy Habits
According to University College London, it takes 66 days to create a habit. Law school is stressful and deciding to start working out or eating healthier in the middle of your first semester is just setting yourself up for failure. It’s never too early to get started on the path to honing positive habits.
Now is the time to start building healthier habits like running, going to the gym or eating better. These routines and habits make a big impact on your well-being, which then affect your law school grades.
Increase Your Reading Speed
By now you’ve probably learned that you’ll be reading a lot in law school. If you’re a slow reader or want to optimize your time as a law student, start taking steps toward increasing your overall reading speed. It’ll help tremendously when you start to receive your 1L workload and will allow you to keep up with your professors.
Check out this HuffPo article on how to increase your reading and comprehension speed or download one of the many apps available like Spreeder.
Enhance Your Typing Speed
Having good notetaking skills is important to your overall success in law school, and the best way to take notes and write outlines is on your computer. Why? Because by typing your notes and uploading them to a cloud storage platform (iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox) your notes are now searchable, indestructible and impossible to lose.
In case you didn’t already assume, your law school professors will not wait up or reiterate something because you missed it. Taking fast notes is crucial to your success and can even impact your performance on your final exams.
Get Social, Learn How to Network
Learning how to connect with people can have a huge impact on your success in law school and your legal career. Making friends in law school can be tough considering they’re your competition. However, the friends you make in law school will also serve as great study buddies and will be imperative when it comes to your 1L exams.
Networking isn’t just about making friends, it’s about making long-term connections. Network with your professors. Network with your career services folks. Network with your Starbucks barista. Trust me, every connection counts, especially as a lawyer.
Also, it wouldn’t hurt to make sure your LinkedIn profile is as close to perfect as possible.
Sign Up for a Law Preview Course This Summer
Want to learn how to get to the top before even starting law school? Sign up for a Law Preview 1L Summer Prep Course. Taught by top law school professors, our courses are geared to help incoming law student learn the skills they need to start their 1L year ahead of the curve.
Here’s what you’ll learn by taking a live or live stream course:
- An overview of core 1L material
- Proven exam taking strategies
- Note-taking and outlining best practices
- Academic success skills, and more
Learn how to become a top law student before day one with Law Preview.
