Why my Best 1Ls Earn A’s and A+’s: Think Competitive Advantage

Each year an increasing number of my students are in the top 5% or more of their 1L class. Much of it has to do with the way I help them to view law school at the out set. Before you decide how to study as a 1L you should remember that some of the mainstream advice you get is not designed to give you a competitive advantage.

Would a football team facing its regional rival take the referee’s advice on how to win the game? The answer is no. The referee has no good faith interest in helping one team over another. Like the referee the law school administration is primarily concerned that the players (students) understand and follow the academic rules throughout the game (law school). As a student you must follow the academic rules but you are there to compete and to win.

Like a coach, my role is to understand the rules of the game well enough to lead my clients to their winning goal. On occasion, when my clients have questions about why I am advising them differently than the law school I remind them that we have different roles and different objectives. My goal is to motivate my individual client to win with the tools I train them to use. A law school’s goal is to see that the school wins with higher ranking, more prestige, better faculty and increased advancement (money from wealthy alums). If I reach my goal then my client necessarily reaches their goal. If the school reaches its goal, however, that achievement doesn’t guarantee a particular student’s success.

Most law schools have staff whose job it is to provide academic support for students. Sometimes the staff oversees a group of student mentors. Notice that the term is academic “support” and not academic “advantage”. These staff members are giving every student the same information and the same resources. Their primary goal is to encourage students to follow the timeline and study approach the law school administration established. It is this very time line that I study to assure that my students are better prepared than their peers. If the law school tells its team to take practice exams two weeks before exams then I train my team to begin practice exams six weeks before then or even over the summer before classes even start.

The point is that when you take advice you should consider the source and what motivates them. The source of the advice from academic support or student mentors is the law school administration (the referee).

So what exactly do the law schools advise? No matter the law school, their instructions are nearly identical and would read something like this:

If you want to do well, they say, go to every lecture. When in lecture, pay very close attention and take copious notes. Prepare for every lecture by reading all assigned cases and writing your own detailed case briefs. During lecture engage in the Socratic method your professor uses so that you can learn to think like a lawyer. When you have questions or get stuck, visit your professor during office hours. Don’t use commercial supplements or outside sources. Also, don’t read very far ahead but at the same time never get behind on your assignments. Continue this process for the next 12 or so weeks. Around Thanks Giving or Spring Break (depending on whether it is Fall or Spring semester) begin outlining your courses. One week before exams classes will not be held (reading period). During this time wrap up and memorize your outlines. Also, try and make time to review practice exams with a study group.

Essentially, the law school advised you to spend all of your time preparing and attending class. You have been advised to hold off preparing for your exam until there is very little time to master your performance.

Should you follow that advice you may find yourself under very stressful circumstances at a time of the semester when anxiety is a bitter enemy to top performance.

Two years ago I worked with a student I began preparing for 1L over the summer. I had already prepared her for what to expect the law school to advise her regarding how to study. In an abundance of caution, she took advantage of all of the law schools workshops led by its academic support staff. She was not surprised when most of the advice was of the ordinary sort I described above.

This particular year, however, the program director went out of her way to discourage students from working with professionals such as my self. She warned that our approaches were dangerous and had led students to fail courses. Ironically, that was the same year I had successfully transferred the most students from that law school. It was clear that the law school was feeling the pressure of loosing top performing students and countering with an assault.

The law school’s assault did not work with my student. She continued implementing our approach throughout the semester. She nailed mid term and final exams. After her first year, several Tier 1 law schools admitted her for transfer.

One of the biggest challenges my clients face is resisting the urge to take their law schools’ advice about how to prepare. As a result, I don’t spend a lot of time convincing clients that my approach works or that the law schools’ does not. I give them the pros and cons of both approaches so that they can make an informed decision on what is right for them. Your legal education is a major investment and the more you are informed about the ways to maximize that investment the better.

Article Summary

1. Academic advice from the law school is not intended to give you a competitive advantage

2. Your law school’s advice is based on a timeline that will not leave you time enough to fully develop competitive exam skills or content knowledge

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