Volumes and Volumes of Material

I am currently sitting in the law library, surrounded by volumes and volumes of very official-looking books (having words like “law reports” and “legal digests” in their titles) going as far back as the 15th century. I am now realizing the key to success in law school (and probably law practice): learning how to deal with loads and loads of information being bombarded from all sides.

In preparation for exams (which start next week!), I have created a summary of what I learned in every course. These summaries range from 30 to 50 pages per course and there are six courses. I don’t think I have ever dealt with this much information that was not cannot be dumped into a spreadsheet or database. And yet I have to have all this information in mind when I write the exam.

I’ve been told that law school (especially first year) would be hard. I believe I was misinformed. Law school is not hard. The material is relatively simple to anyone who can make a reasonable argument and then see its counterargument. What makes law school “hard” is that volume of material can be overwhelming. The trick is to stay on top of it and organize it in a way that makes sense.

That and to make your own summaries.

This entry was posted on December 1, 2009 at December 1, 2009 and is filed under Law School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.