Notes

Tip #5- Read some introductory texts
You probably started this when writing your personal statement. Introductory texts can provide you with a useful insight into law school, the law itself and critical perspectives. By reading these, you can gain a better insight of what you’re in for. ‘Letters to a Law Student’ is a great text for this.

Tip #6- Read a piece of academic work
Having done this, when I started law school, it didn’t feel like a massive jump since my A Levels involved research. Use Google Scholar and type in a phrase like ‘criminal law’ and click on a journal article. Once you find one, see if you can identify the arguments presented by reading the introduction, conclusion and topic sentences as opposed to the whole thing. The more you practice, the better you’ll get.

Be sure to check out your university’s course page for a reading list or reach out to someone in the department who can provide one, if one is not available on the site. Aim to read a couple during the coming months to best prepare you for your upcoming course.

Apply to a law firm or a barristers’ chambers using the appropriate summer internship and mini-pupillage application pages on their websites.

Improve Your Reading Speed and Comprehension
Law schools teach students to “think like a lawyer” through the appellate case method developed by Christopher Langdell of Harvard Law School in the late 19th century. The appellate case method of instruction—embraced by nearly all U.S. law schools—encourages students to review appellate court decisions. The student will analyze the judge’s reasoning and findings and deduce general legal principles from specific cases.


During the course of your first year of law school, you will be required to read and brief—or summarize—hundreds of cases. Students are typically assigned about 30 pages per credit hour, which amounts to approximately 450 pages per week. To tackle this large volume of reading, you must learn how to read quickly while comprehending complex material.

Comprehension is as important as being able to read through all the pages. You have to be able to pick out the pertinent information and connect diverse pieces together. Then you must be able to take this information and communicate it to others. Comprehension requires you to pull from your experience and language as you read to form new meanings and understandings of the written text.

Experts say that the brain is a complex information processor capable of processing and comprehending complex information at greater speeds through practice. Before you begin your L1, you may want to complete exercises or take courses that will help improve your reading speed, comprehension, memory, and problem-solving abilities.

Sharpen Your Writing Skills
Exceptional writing skills are essential to every first-year law student. A large part of the law school grading process rests on your ability to craft a well-written essay. You must be able to:

Analyze and gather information
Identify issues
Organize your data
Draft a well-reasoned argument
Sum it up with a conclusion

Moreover, your response must be delivered in clear and concise prose under tremendous time constraints. Like any skill, essay writing takes practice. You can brush up on your writing skills by taking pre-law writing courses, completing practice exams, or reading resources on the craft of writing.