My First Year in Law School

It is official that I have finished my first year in law school and never felt better. The stress, the 6/7am starts, long hour lectures and catching up on notes has finished for time being. Even though I have complained, cried and burned myself out throughout the academic year, it has been a rewarding and wonderful experience. Going to career and networking events and law balls has boost my confidence as well as getting on track to my dream legal career. Being part of a law school has opened up many opportunities and broadened my horizons and perceptions of the world. If there is any degree that makes you see the reality of life, then it is law which of course makes sense since it affects everyone's daily life. 

I started law school with knowing little information about the law and the legal systems that govern England and the world. I had little knowledge on the differences between civil law and common law jurisdictions. I felt like every other student on my course knew more about the law than me as some studied it at A Level or done more legal work experience which did not help with anxiousness. The first two weeks of law school focused on the English legal system where we covered the basics, which helped me understand more complex rules and how they worked in practice.

So what did I learn from first year in school school?

________ Networking // Mooting ________

Having the opportunity to meet solicitors, barristers or even the judiciary at networking events is the most amazing experience. Many people have told me over the years that, to get a career in the legal profession or any profession, it is about 'who you know' as opposed to 'what you know'. I never really thought about saying much until I went to my first law network evening. Network sessions are so important, especially in second and final years of university, as they are designed for you to make contacts that will help build your career in the future. 

Meeting lawyers at network events are not just about making contacts, they help you build essential life skills such as communication and confidence. Some people go to university with a lot of confidence and network events are not such a big deal, which in reality they are not, but the thought of going to talk to a successful solicitor, barrister or judge can be rather daunting. My first thoughts were: I hope I do not ask any silly questions or talk to them about irrelevant topics. I told myself that it was pretty normal to have these thoughts on your first networking event. After a few networking events, I noticed I start to build more confidence and knew what good topics of conversation are with lawyers.

________ Routine and Organisation ________

The exam and assessment period is one time of the year where I am actually in a routine. I did not have much of a routine in first semester; I was settling into my flat and try to go to as many social events as possible as well as keeping on top of my workload. During the semester, my typical day would start at 9am and finish around 4pm or some days 7pm! When I had a day spare, my earliest starts were from 9/10am as I started to work better in the afternoons in the wintry months. After Christmas, I tried to keep to my revision schedule for my January exams which was difficult since I had a dental abscess and many heavy colds. 

I changed my attitude in second semester and focused on my studies more as the pressure and workload increased immensely. From February to June, I was in a whirlwind where I was trying to race against time to do all my assessments, keep in good health and rest. My timings for the days changed a lot in second semester. When it came to mid April, I needed to do more in my day so I would start studying at the latest from 8am. I had some early starts from getting up at 5:30/6am and getting on with my work half hour later. With the sun rising early, I felt much better getting up a ridiculously early time compared to the dreary winter months. 

________ Do not leave seminar work until the day before ________

There was a few occasions when life would get in the way and I did not do my seminar work. Perhaps you are thinking this is due to hangovers and staying up late, which to an extent is true. Seminars are designed for students to research topics and subjects in depth so lecturers give you a reading list and questions to complete in order to be prepared for the seminar. My aim for second year is to be in front and complete all my seminar work before going to events and socialising.

________ Make use of the library ________

I have never really been much of a library person when it comes to studying. Having access to several libraries on my campus, it seems a waste not to be using one of the beautiful libraries especially with the beautiful scenery of books. I still struggle to sit in a library when it comes to hard core revision as I get distracted easily and end up talking to people, however, I am going to try more to type up my notes after lectures or do some readings between lectures and seminars in one of the several libraries. 

________ Read key facts and information ________

The stereotype that law students must read absolutely everything is to an extent true. The reality is that the key to success for law students (or any student for that matter) is reading effectively by spotting what information is the most important. Take a legal case for example, there is no good reading every single sentence in the background or judgment. It is the decision that matters the most which creates the law.

________ Understanding, not just memorisation ________

After a few months being at university, I learned that doing a degree is not knowing all the facts about your course, it is about understanding what the facts mean and what your opinion is of the topic. The hardest part I found was putting your opinion into an essay without being subjective and using personal pronouns etc. I have learned in law using scholars and authorities from legislation and case law that supports your argument gives you a bigger understanding of a topic. I did not use many academics arguments in my assignments in first semester so I tried my best in second semester to include scholarly arguments in my essays where relevant. 

_______ Westlaw & Statute Books ________

When I first started law school, I never heard of Westlaw and it looked rather daunting when I first saw it. A lot of the students told me to 'Google the case' which I did sometimes but over time I realised I was not getting the correct facts and rules from the case. WestLaw is my go to guide when I am searching for a case; it abbreviates the facts that allows you to understand what happened in the case. From here onwards, Westlaw is my guide.

I used to always see statute books in bookshops and when I first purchased mine in October, I thought, I will never learn and understand what this legislation means. Now, I do get a thrill from applying legislation to a problem scenario and seeing how it works in practice. 

________ Type your notes up ________

Typing notes up on your computer or MacBook is so much easier than writing them beautifully in a notepad. I have aways been that person who prefers pen and paper over technology when it comes to homework or anything in general such as making lists. Now it is end of the year, I have decided I am going to type up my notes up on Pages or Microsoft Word in second year to make my life easier. Lecturers give you lots of information on lecture slides and it is important to make sure that you have every fact; typing notes up will make sure that I will not miss anything crucial that I need to revise. I will still use notepads for lecture and seminar work since it helps me more with memorising the material. Always going to be a mind map lover!

                                       ________ Wider reading // research ________

Reading and revising lecture notes and reading one textbook is not enough, wider reading and research is necessary if you want to achieve those higher marks. Befriending journal articles and hefty textbooks helps understand the law from an academic perspective.

________  Listen to feedback _________

Professors and lecturers do not mark your work for no reason, they mark it to show you how well you have performed and what improvements you could make. I like to acknowledge what I have done well at on an assessment instead of just focusing on the improvements.. However, looking at your feedback and improvements is so helpful. After my informal assessments that did not go towards my final grade, I would get a felt tip and a piece of A4 paper and bullet point clearly what I needed to include in the summative assessments. When it came to the assessments, I would have these A4 posters full of feedback in front of me when I am writing my essay or memorise the bullet points for exams.

_________ Cases are more fascinating than legislation _________ 

Although there is some people out there who love to read legislation and statutes in their spare time, I prefer to read a case where you can picture what has happened from the facts that are given and see what the judgment will be from the judiciary themselves. Finding some obiter dicta from the judges is always good to have especially when you are trying to be perceptive in an essay. Cases tell you about real life and daily problems that gives you more of an understanding to the reality of the world than legislation ever will. Unfortunately, legislation will always be a big part to a law student / lawyer's life. 

There are my tips and experiences from my first in year law school. I go into my second year of law school in a few weeks and starting to prepare for the upcoming semester.

What was your first year of law school or university experience like? I would love to know.

Love always,
Paige xo