Law School Success

Acknowledging that law school is a competitive environment, this podcast catalogs areas of law school that are most competitive. And, it provides four tips for doing your best in law school.

This podcast explains the difference between case briefing, class note-taking, smaller writing assignments, and exam essay-writing. It’s a podcast that emphasizes exam strategy as beginning early with practice exam-writing, offers encouragement and thought exercises on overcoming self-resistance to practice, and describes how to use practice as a tool to conquer “freezing” on finals.

This podcast will help you understand active reading. It will provide you with tips to help you read more efficiently for law school and strategies to improve your reading skills to be more fully prepared for class.

This podcast discusses the benefits of using the IRAC structure (Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion) when outlining your answer to a law school exam essay. 

Everyone has heard the rumors about law school. Do your first semester grades determine the job you will get after law school? Do you really not have any time to eat, shower, or see friends? In this podcast, four Academic Support professionals take on a series of law school myths. 

In this podcast, four Academic Support professionals discuss the importance of setting realistic expectations in law school, and provide guidance on how to do so.

This podcast provides 10 practical tips and best practices, along with common mistakes you can avoid, for law school essay exam writing.

This podcast discusses why outlining in law school should really be called synthesizing, and gives tips to help you outline (or synthesize!) more effectively. 

This podcast discusses the importance of collegiality and professionalism in law school and in practice, and gives concrete tips on how to practice being more professional, cooperative, and respectful in your everyday interactions.

This podcast discusses early warning signs that a law student may be struggling, and gives advice on how to effectively overcome these struggles. The podcast addresses students who may be experiencing difficulty understanding the material as well as students who are having a hard time keeping up with the volume of work.

In this podcast, Melissa Hale, academic support professional and fellow first-generation student, speaks with two of her students about what it’s like to be a first-generation student in law school.

This podcast begins by explaining the differences between exams in undergrad and law school. It then introduces the three types of law school exams: multiple choice, short answer and the long essay. Each type of exam is discussed and the student is provided with tips to achieve the maximum number of points for each type of question. 

This podcast includes tips students can use the night before their exam and the day of the exam to be better prepared. 

This podcast discusses methods to use to make you more comfortable with class participation, including case briefing templates. The podcast will provide you with the opportunity to do a freewriting exercise, explore some research in the field, and learn a few tips on how to hone your approach to speaking out loud in class. 

Law school is a vastly different experience from undergraduate work. In this podcast, four Academic Support professionals reflect on what came as a surprise to them when they entered law school, and share things they wish they would have known then. 

This podcast provides critical information that you should consider before you begin to study for the bar exam. There is a lot to think about even before you start your bar review, whether that’s meeting deadlines or preparing for hurdles. This podcast offers tips and considerations to help you navigate the process more smoothly.

In this podcast, four Academic Support professionals provide strategies for dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic while in law school. The pandemic introduced even greater uncertainty into an already stressful environment. This podcast provides tools to succeed at law school during these unprecedented times.                     

This podcast discusses tips to help you remember more information and to perform better on law school exams. Three learning strategies are explained: spaced repetition, the testing effect, and cognitive schema. Briefly defined, spaced repetition incorporates periodic studying throughout the semester. The testing effect can be more challenging and is exactly what it sounds like; it is testing yourself to see whether or not you know the material. Lastly, the podcast explains how to create a cognitive schema as an organizational structure that you can use to retain information.

For more on this subject, look at the CALI Lesson "Secrets to Improved Memorization."

This lesson is designed to help part-time, evening, weekend, or flex J.D. law students maximize their limited study time as they navigate multiple obligations, balancing law school with full-time work, care, or other responsibilities. The lesson encourages self-reflection on when and how the student learns best, and walks them through the basics of time-blocking and time management, encouraging frequent reflection and adjustments to schedules as necessary. The lesson can be completed or revisited at any time during law school, and might best be completed by students before/upon entering the first semester of law school.

Recognizing and understanding policy in cases is a challenging task - and an invaluable tool. Knowing the policy behind case law and statutes and understanding the underlying policies helps us apply the law on exams and when representing clients. Engaging and practicing these skills throughout your law school career is essential.

Law students are excellent readers, and this skill will lay the foundation for success throughout life. However, reading in law school requires more precision than previous educational activities. This lesson will deepen individuals reading skills specifically within the context of legal reading.

As you start law school, you might notice that reading cases is rather difficult. This lesson will explain why reading cases feels so hard, and give you tips on how to make things slightly easier.

Have you ever compared your essay to a sample answer, or one with a higher grade, and wondered what was different about yours? Especially if you seemed to use all the correct law? It's likely that you aren't using your facts enough!

This lesson will explain why it's important that you use your facts, as well as help you to do just that!

This lesson will take you step-by-step through a method of representing the content from cases in an outline.