Should You Listen to Music While Studying?

Should You Listen to Music While Studying?This week we welcome back guest writer and lawyer John Passmore to discuss the positives and negatives of listening to music while studying.

Should you listen to music while studying in law school or during bar prep? As with most all study skills questions, one-size rarely fits all. So this post will not demonize your earbuds or bless them. Maybe the answer is even different for different study tasks or different subjects. The key is to appreciate the good and the bad and to make your choice an intentional part of your study plan. If you are trying to decide if study tunes are on your road to law school or bar exam prep success or failure, consider the following pros and cons: [Read more…]

Experiencing Grief in Law School

Experiencing Grief in Law SchoolThis week we welcome back guest writer Zoila Sanchez to discuss surviving grief during law school.

The loss of a loved one can be difficult to process. When loss strikes while you are in the middle of law school, you may want to hit the pause button so that you can properly grieve. Generally, we get a few days to gather ourselves before jumping back into the swing of things, which is a harsh reality as there may be a lot of feelings hitting you all at once.

If you find yourself facing the loss of a loved one as a law student, here are a few tips to help you along the way so that you can feel the comfort and support you need to heal from your loss: [Read more…]

Law School Depression and Anxiety

Law School Depression and AnxietyThis week we welcome back guest writer Zoila Sanchez to discuss dealing with mental health issues as a law student.

Late and long nights of reading confusing case law. Preparing for being called on during the dreaded cold calls. Feeling like you are faking it until you make it. Competition to make it onto prestigious journals and into extracurricular activities. Is law school supposed to feel miserable? Is it normal to feel like you are a failure? Do you experience muscle tension, mood swings, feelings of sadness?

These experiences may be shared across law students and are somewhat normalized. After all, we all voluntarily signed up for this difficult endeavor.

How do you know when your mental health needs attention during law school?

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Trigger Warnings: What Are They?

Trigger Warnings: What Are They?This week we welcome guest writer Emma Case Beasley, a tutor with Law School Toolbox, to discuss what trigger warnings are and how you can navigate this issue in law school.

Unless you’ve been ignoring the news for the last few years, you’ve probably heard the phrase “trigger warning” or “content warning.” A trigger warning is defined as “a statement cautioning that content (such as an assigned text, video, or class discussion) may be disturbing or upsetting.” The original intent behind these warnings was to avoid triggering emotional or physical reactions (such as panic attacks) in people who suffer from conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), although they are sometimes used more generally to label material that contains difficult or potentially offensive content.

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