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What should my weekly law school study schedule look like?

A good law school study schedule can make a big difference in your grades. A good study schedule can also save you stress, give you a sense of control and lower your anxiety during law school. If you are looking for a way to improve your law school grades and lower your stress level, consider creating and following a hand-crafted study routine.

Note: if you haven’t yet downloaded our   free guide on how to succeed in law school, do so here !

Even better, join our   FREE law school prep course here ! We discuss how to create a study schedule in great detail! 

How to craft the perfect law school study schedule

There are two steps necessary to plan your ideal study routine: First, before your semester starts, choose when and where you will study. Second, each week of the law school semester, plan what you will study.

Step one: before the semester starts, choose when and where you will study

You can complete step one as soon as you have your class schedule. The best way to do this is to have a blank weekly calendar in front of you with all seven days of the week on it. Make sure that you have a lot of space to write under each day. It helps if you divide your time into half-hour increments. Start from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed.

After you have your blank weekly schedule in front of you, complete the following steps:

1.  Fill in the days and times that you have classes with one color

It is important to go to every class in law school!

2. Fill in your daily obligations and tasks. Some necessary tasks might include:

• Getting ready in the morning
• Eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and taking breaks
• Commuting to/from school

You should also include:

• Time to do something you enjoy and/or to spend with friends
• Any other commitments (e.g., religious or family commitments)
• Meeting with a study group (if you benefit from studying in a group)
• A break for a few hours, a half-day, etc.

3. Plan time for sleep and exercise

• Make sure to schedule 6–8 hours of sleep per night.
• Plan time to be active—whether it’s going to the gym or going on a walk. It is good for your body and your brain. It will also help to relieve stress. We recommend planning to exercise at least five days a week, even if only for a short time.

4. Decide when and where you will study

• Consider whether you are a morning person or a night person. If you cannot bear the thought of getting up early, schedule your study sessions for the afternoon and evening.
• Consider the best environment to study in: Is it at home, a library, or a coffee shop? Be true to yourself. If you really cannot concentrate in the law library, don’t go to the library to study simply because you feel you should.
• Study for at least one-hour chunks at a time. Aim to study several hours each day.
• Take breaks if you are studying for a long period of time.

An example of a law school study schedule might look like this:

The above schedule is for someone who studies best in the afternoon and evening, rather than in the morning. The schedule allocates about several hours per day to studying. Your study schedule may look completely different.

Now that you know when you will study, it will be automatically programmed in your day! So, how do you know where to begin when you sit down to study?

Step two: once you start your semester, plan your daily to-do list each week

Sit down once a week for an hour or so and prepare a to-do list for each day. The list should contain everything that you want to get done each day for the whole week. It is best to incorporate planning your weekly to-do list right into your study schedule, ideally at the beginning of the week (Sunday or Monday). This will make it easy to sit down and study because you will have a plan in place. Rather than just saying, “I am going to study for two hours,” you will have an actual checklist of things to do.

When you are making your list of things to do, be as specific as you can. Here are some tasks that you should include in your list.

• Go to class
• Develop your outlines
• Review your outlines
• Practice exams
• Work on legal writing assignment
• Prepare for class
• Other: do something you enjoy, exercise

By automatically programming studying into your day, you will be sure you are studying enough. By making to-do lists, you will know what to do when you sit down to study and you will minimize the risk of not getting everything done or becoming distracted. We discuss creating a daily to-do list more next.

Go to the next topic, What is an example of a daily law school study schedule checklist?

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Top 14 Assignments Law Students Have to Deal With

4 Effective Ways to Build a Reputation As a New Lawyer

Advice For Students Who Want to Become Car Accident Lawyers 

Being a student always means having to deal with loads of homework. This statement is true for all students, regardless of their academic level or the major they choose to study. However, while the scope of homework is about the same for everyone, the types of assignments can slightly vary depending on the subject that you study.

In this article, we are going to tell you about the four main homework types facing law students, in particular. So, if you are a law student yourself, read on to learn what will be expected of you in a law school. 

Practice Homework

The first and the most common of the four main homework types is practice homework. The core goal of such assignments is to help students expand their knowledge and reinforce their newly-acquired skills by means of putting them to practice. This kind of homework is the one that makes the most of the academic program, which is why law students struggle with it the most.

The most common assignment that represents this type of homework is essay writing. Just like the rest of their peers, law students are being assigned dozens of essays and other academic papers every year. A load of such assignments is so huge that students often look for the write my essay online writing services and platforms. But, it is an integral part of the educational process, so there is no way to avoid academic writing.

Some other examples of practice homework that you can face in a law school can include:

• Memorizing local laws;
• Reading court records;
• Examining subject-related literature, etc.

Extension Homework

The second one of the four main homework types is extension homework. In a nutshell, this type of homework is used by professors to encourage their students to pursue knowledge individually and in ways that are more imaginative than simply reading a textbook. Also, extension assignments are used to help students connect what they learn in the classroom with real-life and apply their existing skills to expand their knowledge.

Common types of law assignments that represent this type of homework include:

• Writing literature reviews;
• Researching local law news;
• Compare and contrast events, etc.

Creative Homework

Despite the fact that law students spend most of their time studying complex and serious subjects, there is still a place for the next type of homework – creative homework in their curriculums. As you can guess from its name, this type of homework often takes different creative forms. The key goal is to help students develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills through completing creative projects.

There are plenty of examples of creative homework assignments that you can face in a law school. Basically, pretty much any type of individual project can be considered a creative homework assignment. However, to help you grasp the idea, here are a few examples of the most common law assignments of this type:

• Research projects;
• Photo essays;
• PowerPoint presentations, etc.

Preparatory Homework

Finally, the last of the four types of homework is preparatory homework. The key goal of such homework is to help students gain solid background on a specific unit of study in order to prepare them for future lessons. Simply put, preparatory homework is the type of homework that helps you collect initial knowledge on the subject you are studying. And it can also be called one of the most common types of assignments facing law and other students.

What assignments can be considered as preparatory homework? In fact, there are many. To name a few, here are some of the most common examples of this type of homework:

• Tests and exams;
• Completing exercises from the workbook;
• Reading textbook chapters to prepare for the next lesson, test, discussion, etc.

The Bottom Line

Whether you are just planning to enroll in a law school or are already a law student, knowing about different types of homework that you will have to deal with can empower you for better academic achievements.

After reading this article, you should have a better idea of different homework types that you can face studying in a law school. Hopefully, this will help you prepare for your academic path and ensure success.

Camilla Uppal

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6 essential law school cases: a 1L’s guide

In the six major courses of your first year of law school, there’s bound to be a case you’ll never forget.  Each of the following cases lays down a foundational principle upon which the rest of a required 1L class will build.  

6 essential cases to know for 1L

1. contracts: hawkins v. mcgee (new hampshire, 1929) .

The infamous “Hairy Hand” case, made even more noteworthy by the famous scene in “ The Paper Chase .”  

• Facts: A boy burns his hand on electrical wire, a surgeon guarantees a “one hundred percent good hand,” the skin sprouts hair, and the rest is history!
• Issue: It’s clear there was a breach… but what is the appropriate measure of damages to which the boy is entitled?
• Significance: The court awarded the boy the difference between the value of the perfectly good hand he expected, and the hairy hand he got.  This solution, known as expectancy, is the very heart of contract law.

2. Civil Procedure: International Shoe Co. v. Washington (U.S. Supreme Court, 1945) 

The case doesn’t feel like much at first glance -- it’s about the tax obligations of commissioned shoe salesmen -- but by the end of the course you’ll be talking about the “Shoe Test” in your sleep.

• Facts: A Missouri company maintained a staff of commissioned shoe salesmen in Washington State, but refused to submit to Washington state taxes, as it was not “situated” in the state.
• Issue : How much of an operation must a business have in a particular state in order to be subject to a lawsuit in that state’s courts?
• Significance : This case defined personal jurisdiction: a state court’s ability to haul out-of-state defendants in to face a lawsuit. A defendant needs to be subject to “minimum contacts” within the state, such that the exercise of jurisdiction “will not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.”  But what that really means is yours to find out.

3. Torts: Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co. (New York, 1928)

If you don’t read this in your torts class, then your professor has clearly been negligent!  

• Facts: Helen Palsgraf was minding her own business on a train platform when two railroad employees, in a misguided attempt to help a passenger onto his train, accidentally discharged a package of fireworks from the passenger’s hands.  An ensuing chain reaction ended up with a scale falling onto poor Ms. Palsgraf, who sued the railroad.  
• Issue: Is the railroad liable for unforeseeable damages which occurred as a result of its employees’ actions?
• Significance: Then-judge (and later-Justice) Cardozo ruled for the railroad, reasoning that the employees’ actions were not the “proximate cause” of Ms. Palsgraf’s injuries.  Fair hand of the law, or railroad apologist?  I’ll let you have that debate for yourself.

4. Criminal Law: R v. Dudley and Stephens (England, 1884)

This one I guarantee you’ll never forget.

• Facts: An English ship wrecks in the middle of the ocean, and four survivors board a lifeboat.  After many days at sea, one becomes ill and the other three kill him, to feed themselves.
• Issue : Did they commit murder?
• Significance : The seamen claimed necessity, but the court denied that defense and sentenced them to death.  (Fortunately for them, the case gained wide public sympathy and their sentences were commuted.)  What crimes does necessity actually justify?  You’ll have to read the rest of the cases to find out…

5. Property: Pierson v. Post (New York, 1805) 

Property can be a dry subject, but this case is anything but.

• Facts: Post, a fox hunter, chases a fox onto a vacant piece of property, where Pierson kills it.  
• Issue: Has Pierson committed a trespass against Post’s property?
• Significance: No law covers such a case, so the court turned to ancient precedent to determine that, no matter how rude Pierson was, merely chasing the wild fox had not given Post possession of it.  In my opinion, it’s about as exciting as property law gets, but you’ll be the judge of that.

6. Constitutional Law:  Marbury v. Madison (U.S. Supreme Court, 1803)

Con Law is full of cases you might have learned about in a U.S. History class, and this is one of them.

• Facts : John Adams makes several 11th-hour appointments, which Thomas Jefferson immediately tries to repeal.  The case makes its way to the Supreme Court.
• Issue : Can the Supreme Court strike down an Act of Congress?
• Significance : John Marshall, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, creates out of thin air the doctrine of judicial review -- giving the Court the authority to rule on the constitutionality of Acts of Congress -- and the entire field of constitutional law was born.  What a rich field it has become!

And now you might be asking: with those summaries, do I even need to go to law school?  Well, of course!  These are the highlights, but there’s much more where these came from. Enjoy it!

Related Content

Daily class assignments are found in the All of the class outlines for this year may be found by the day on which they were posted under . After we have the class I will substitute the class outline that we used this year. The tab contains a number of essay questions from previous years, usually accompanied by a fairly elaborate memo that outlines what I was looking for and what I got. Over the course of the semester you will have the opportunity to submit written answers to a set of problems about disability provisions in adverse possession statutes and/or a sample exam question. I will post the set of problems about disability provisions and a preliminary version of the sample exam question by Fri., 20 Sep. You should be ready to take a crack at one of the issues in the sample exam question when we reach the end of the section on adverse possession. It is posted below. When we talked about adverse possession, we looked at a sample exam question that involved that issue. I have now posted the entire sample exam. It raises some issues that we will not cover until November, but there’s plenty to think (and write) about now. The issues about which you should wait are those that concern the document that Andrew and his neighbors signed in 1980 and those raised by the statute about burial grounds. (There is an issue in it about public control of land use, but that issue is mostly a ‘red herring’. Anybody who is taking a course in Legislation and Regulation should be able to handle it.) Next to the question there is also a link to a memo about the question. You should not look at the memo if you want to test yourself. You should note that I have made some changes, particularly in the dates, that make the problem a bit different from the one that I distributed earlier in the semester when we were focusing exclusively on adverse possession. If you get me an answer before Thanksgiving ( ), I promise you that I will return it to you with a grade, maybe some comments, by the time that you get back from Thanksgiving. Most of you took the sample exam, and I was able to send all of them back to you with comments. I can’t promise the same thing any more, but if you want to take a crack at it and send it to me ( ), I’ll try to put a grade on it and send it back to you. I also have posted below a memo that describes what I was looking for the in the sample exam. You can use it for self-testing. The assignment about disability provisions should be relatively easy for people who are taking a course in Legislation and Regulation. It has ten questions, which involve comparing two statutes about disabilities in conjunction with adverse possession. It requires a paragraph for each question (perhaps two on the first one). The ‘answers’ to the questions, in terms of the bottom line, are given in the question. The trick is to justify the answer (or to come up with another one). The exam question is more complicated. You’re not ready to do all of it right now, but what you are ready to do right now are the parts that deal with Andrew Stark’s will and adverse possession. The question is does Ebenezer have any argument that he is the owner Stark Farm now that Clarissa is dead, that her intestate heir is not Ebenezer but David, but that Ebenezer has been living there for some time, and still is living there. If it turns out that there is more than one way to make this argument (and there is), the question then becomes what is the best argument that we, Ebenezer’s lawyers, can make. I’m a great believer in starting to write early. Students have a tendency not to do so until the end of the semester. I would urge you to take a crack at one or the other of the problems now. Send me your draft ( ). I’ll take a look at it, try to make some comments, and post the result anonymously on the website. Below you find a link to the entire sample exam question. You should be ready to do it after the class on Wednesday, 9 November. (There is an issue in it about public control of land use, but that issue is mostly a ‘red herring’. Anybody who has taken a course in Legislation and Regulation should be able to handle it.) My deal on the sample exam question is this: If you get me a draft answer to the question by 4:30 on Wednesday, 25 November (send it to me by ), I promise to get it back to you with a grade on it within a week. (I usually am able to provide brief comments as well, but that’s not a promise.) If you get it to me after 25 November, I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise. The sample objective questions (linked below) are self-testing. The answers (with a bit of an explanation) are given at the back. During reading and exam period, I will take email questions about the course. Send me a question ( ) about something that is bothering you. I'll try to answer it in a short period of time. I will then post the question and the answer anonymously here, under the broad topics listed below, with the number of questions in parentheses. You might want to check the existing questions. They are all quite good and may help your thinking. We now have a large number of questions from the last three times that I gave the course, ‘Future Interests (basics)’ contains what is virtually a tutorial on the classes on that topic.

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Student Answers to the Preliminary Sample Exam Question with CD Comments

(25)	(20)	(2)	(15)	(57)
(23)	(20)	(5)	(6)	(38)
(13)	(1)	(5)	(2)

There is a set of objective questions that deal solely with estates and future at common law. A student in this class (in 2017) answered them according to ‘modern’ law, as we have defined it ( Word Doc ; PDF ). If you want to try your hand at the questions before looking at the answers, click here .

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Please send comments to Rosemary Spang URL: http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/cdonahue/courses/prop/assign/index_assign.html last modified: 12/06/19 © 2000–2019 Charles Donahue, Jr.