You are here: Home / Archives for tips

Why Learning to Be Positive is the Best Thing You Can Do for Your Law School Career

July 16, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Why Learning to Be Positive is the Best Thing You Can do for Your Law School CareerWe welcome back guest writer Alexandra Muskat, to talk about positivity in law school and why it can help you in your law school career.

Even before law school starts, you will have been inundated with messages from people in your life telling you how hard law school is – how hard the curve can smack you down, how scary cold calling is, how grades can make or break your career, and how ridiculous the bar exam feels. Then you start school, and it’s just as hard as these people made it out to be. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Surviving Law School Tagged With: , , ,

Trigger Warnings: What Are They?

July 2, 2019 by Leave a Comment

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.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Surviving Law School Tagged With: , , , ,

Kicking Up Your 1L Reading List

June 25, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Kicking Up Your 1L Reading ListThis week we welcome guest writer and Law School Toolbox tutor Natalie Holzaepfel to talk about what to read the summer before 1L year to get ready!

With the summer before law school in full swing, you’re probably going and back forth between being both thrilled and terrified about law school starting in a few months. Your summer before law school is a great time to relax poolside with some reading that will not only remind you why you decided to go to law school, but also what it’ll take to get you through. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Preparing for Law School Tagged With: , ,

How to Use Your Summer to Reset for the Following Year

June 18, 2019 by Leave a Comment

How to Use Your Summer to Reset for the Following YearThis week we welcome back guest writer Alexandra Muskat to discuss how to use your time during the summer to start out on the right foot in the fall as a law student.

In undergrad, we generally spend our summers working and relaxing, but when you get to law school, you learn that your summer should be used more wisely. I don’t know if “wisely” is really a good way to put it – what I mean is, summers should be used to reset for the following year.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Surviving Law School Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How to Balance Screen Time as a Law Student

May 14, 2019 by Leave a Comment

How to Balance Screen Time as a Law StudentThis week we welcome back guest writer Christen Morgan to talk about how to make sure you’re not overdoing it on screen time as a law student.

Immersed in an era of recurrent tech developments, it’s no secret that we’ve transitioned from a point where screen time was optional to a point where it’s a mandatory portion of any school curriculum and workplace agenda. I recall my time in college where my laptop spent most of its time in my dorm room mainly to be used for additional research or the final draft of a class project. I rarely saw a need to bring it to class because all of my notes were handwritten, and as much as I enjoyed the independence it gave me from being tied to the library desktop computer, its clunky and slow pace was oftentimes more of a nuisance than anything. Needless to say, too much screen time wasn’t much of an issue. Fast forward just a year later to law school, with a new laptop and smartphone in hand, I arguably spent more time on my screen than interacting with actual people. Complex course lectures pushed me into typing my class notes and my case briefing, memo writing and brief writing assignments resulted in my spending endless hours on Lexis Nexis and Westlaw. My increase in screen time had not just become more of a reality, it was now a requirement bordering on the wall of obsession. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Surviving Law School Tagged With: , , , , ,

Does your Law School Supplement Spark Joy?

April 30, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Does your Law School Supplement Spark Joy?

This week we welcome back guest writer Alexandra Muskat to discuss how the KonMari Method of tidying can be applied to law students.

If you’re a Netflix addict like myself, you’ve likely heard of the popular new series, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.” The hit series based on an international best-selling book, brings the decluttering Japanese technique, KonMari, into American homes. Throughout the series, Kondo enters the home of several families, gets to the root of core issues that influence the mess in their home, then walks them through the five KonMari steps aimed to declutter their surroundings and give them peace of mind. The series most definitely triggers emotion, as we witness firsthand how this method benefits a family whose hectic schedule, complete with caring for two toddlers, causes a rift in their marriage. We see how this method helps a grieving widow who finds it difficult to say goodbye to the items of her loved one who has passed on.

However, the episode that I connected with most deeply was episode five. This episode titled, “From Students to Improvements,” surveys the mess of two recent graduates, now turned writers whose personal libraries have become overwhelming. As a recent graduate myself, I’ve admittedly held on to books and papers trailing all the way back to my junior year of college. Therefore, I personally felt the frustration of this couple as they struggled to discard books or papers. However, I was amazed at how freeing the KonMari method was in improving their home and benefitting their lifestyle. So this got me thinking. More specifically, it got me thinking that if this method can be effective for former students, how much more so could this method benefit current law students? Well, let’s find out.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , ,

Law School SOS: Help! I Might Fail My Final!

April 23, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Law School SOS: Help! I Might Fail My Final!!We welcome back guest writer and current 3L Shirlene Armstrong to talk about dealing with finals approaching and what to do if you’re worried you won’t do well.

One of the most daunting parts of law school for many students are final exams. You spend an entire semester trying to learn the law and apply it to real life facts. However, the law is confusing, and it is very easy to be left frustrated at the end of the class, still trying to figure out what the heck you were just taught. So, what happens if you feel like you are going to fail your final exam? And what should you do? You probably are feeling extremely stressed and no matter how much you prepare, you believe your grade is a lost cause. While it is understandable to feel discouraged, you don’t have to give up and feel like you’re going to fail! Instead, here are some tips to help you through this exam season and help you get back on the success track. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Exams Tagged With: , , , ,

Could A Designer Purse Cost You a Job Offer?

April 16, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Could A Designer Purse Cost You a Job Offer?This week we welcome back guest writer Christen Morgan who discusses how to dress for a job interview and what questions to ask yourself before making certain fashion choices.

Could a designer purse cost you a job offer? Well, according to an attorney who posed this question at a diversity conference I attended, it sure could. Do I think that this opinion should impact how you prepare for an interview? Well possibly, but keep reading to find out.

We typically all want to look our best before going into an interview, so it only seems logical to pull out your absolute best suit and accessories that serve to complement the image of perfection and professionalism you want to convey. Right? So what’s the issue if your absolute best includes a pair of Christian Louboutin’s, a Dolce & Gabbana blazer or a Hermes purse? Well according to the attorney I saw at the conference, this image could rub some people the wrong way. She stated that she was once conducting an interview for a legal intern position and the candidate came in with a designer handbag. She said that this accessory choice made her wonder why the candidate would even need a job in the first place. She said that this handbag communicated that the candidate was likely well off and therefore not particularly in need of additional income and as a result she did not offer the candidate the job. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Interviewing Tips Tagged With: , , , , ,

Test Anxiety: What To Do When You Struggle With Multiple Choice Tests

April 9, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Test Anxiety - I Suck At Multiple-ChoiceThis week we welcome back 3L guest writer Shirlene Armstrong to talk about her struggles with multiple choice exams.

I have always considered myself to be an excellent student. I have always loved school and learning. I would get excited for the start of the new school year: the fresh pencils, the crisp notebooks, and the thrill of what new adventure would come my way. However, the thing that I always hated about school was multiple-choice exams. Simply put, I suck at multiple-choice questions. Unfortunately, multiple-choice questions are a part of every student’s life, especially law students. And since I am a 3L and in my last semester of law school (haha, stressed??), I am going to be dealing with the worst and most important multiple-choice exam of my life: the bar exam. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Exams Tagged With: , , , , ,

Highlighting: A Feel-Good Waste of Time

March 26, 2019 by 2 Comments

Highlighting: A Feel-Good Waste of TimeThis week we welcome back guest writer Christen Morgan to talk about why highlighting might not be the best strategy when trying to memorize in law school.

What’s your favorite study strategy? Do you delve deep into using flashcards or do you plaster note tabs and sticky notes by each important point to create a roadmap for your brain? Do you outline diligently throughout the semester or entirely procrastinate then cram it all at the last minute and pray that through some magnetic force the information will ultimately stick? Regardless of your study style, I’m sure that you may have relied on highlighting at some point or another as a way to quickly remember the most important points in your dense case law reading. However, if highlighting is your chosen study technique, I have some bad news for you, “highlighting doesn’t actually help you remember anything.” In fact, research shows that highlighting is simply a waste of time because it fails to embed knowledge into your brain. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Studying Tagged With: , , ,
Next Page »