Many, like Yair Bengio, senior student at the Shepard Broad College of Law, can find entering law school a daunting process.
“In law school, you get a lot of work that needs to be prioritized and handled at different times,” Bengio said. “Managing that can be very stressful.”
Below are some questions that may help new law students be prepared.
Does having a background in law provide an advantage in law school?
While Bengio has a background in biochemistry, he believes writing-based majors can be especially beneficial for law school.
“Majoring in something like English, journalism or any subject that has a lot of writing will be a huge help in law school,” he said. “Even though legal writing is very different, the practice you get in undergrad can be very helpful.”
Michael Richmond, professor emeritus at the Shepard Broad College of Law, said it is important to be open to new knowledge, regardless of undergrad education.
“The bottom line is: be prepared to learn,” he said.
Richmond also said that majoring in a law-related field in undergrad may be of less benefit than many think.
“The comfort of having law knowledge prior to law school can be deceiving, as overconfidence can be a weakness,” he said.
What do networking opportunities look like in law school?
Marc Consalo, professor at the Shepard Broad College of Law, said that, today, students have ample opportunities to reach out to peers, teachers and legal professionals for help, which was not the case when he entered school in the fall of 1996.
“It was very different than now,” he said. “The internet and email were still just beginning and communicating with your professors via email was not commonplace.”
The Shepard Broad College of Law also hosts many networking events for law students to stay connected with each other.
Bengio likes that networking events enable students and professionals to meet.
“There are many events offered by the law school where students can interact with Broward County judges and attorneys,” he said.
What are helpful routines to tackle your classes?
Alex Kanner, sophomore student at the Shepard Broad College of Law, likes to keep his academic life organized to reduce class stress.
“My methods to reduce stress are creating a weekly outline, reviewing subject-related videos, creating note cards, and finding out what the professor is looking for,” he said. “Repetitive memorization is a helpful method to learn coursework.”
Richmond suggested law students practice briefing cases and form study groups.
Consalo had a daily routine to prepare for his classes when he was in school.
“I got to school two hours early before classes began and went straight to the law library. There, I would review my readings from the night before,” he said. “On average I would have 50-100 pages of reading per class, so it required taking notes to remember everything both before, during and after class. Once class was over, I would go back to the library and do the same thing again for the next class.”
He said that memorizing and understanding the course lessons are the best methods to tackle law school curriculum.
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