Struggling to Manage Law School Workload
6
Hi, I’m a first-year law student, and I’m struggling to manage the workload. There’s a lot of reading involved, especially cases and journals related to criminal law, and I find it overwhelming to balance understanding the topics while keeping up with the volume of material.
On top of that, I want to gain work experience or internships to strengthen my chances for vacation schemes, but managing my time is proving to be a challenge. With 9-to-5 classes and then studying afterward, it feels like there’s hardly any room to fit everything in.
Do you have any tips on how I can manage my studies and make time for internships effectively?
On top of that, I want to gain work experience or internships to strengthen my chances for vacation schemes, but managing my time is proving to be a challenge. With 9-to-5 classes and then studying afterward, it feels like there’s hardly any room to fit everything in.
Do you have any tips on how I can manage my studies and make time for internships effectively?
Reply 1
Original post
by sR1RHi, I’m a first-year law student, and I’m struggling to manage the workload. There’s a lot of reading involved, especially cases and journals related to criminal law, and I find it overwhelming to balance understanding the topics while keeping up with the volume of material.
On top of that, I want to gain work experience or internships to strengthen my chances for vacation schemes, but managing my time is proving to be a challenge. With 9-to-5 classes and then studying afterward, it feels like there’s hardly any room to fit everything in.
Do you have any tips on how I can manage my studies and make time for internships effectively?
On top of that, I want to gain work experience or internships to strengthen my chances for vacation schemes, but managing my time is proving to be a challenge. With 9-to-5 classes and then studying afterward, it feels like there’s hardly any room to fit everything in.
Do you have any tips on how I can manage my studies and make time for internships effectively?
ngl g just put in place a routine that u can follow cuz i got a morning routine which makes me stay awake at night and do my **** like gym, running, and studying and other stuff so yeah then it will be calm law can be lightwork if u know what u doing
Reply 2
As Robotcops says in his or her inimitable style, you have to organise your work, rest, and play. Treat studying as your job. As with a job, plan your day, and be sure to take time off for eating, exercising, socialising, and sleeping.
Learn how to speed-read a case, article, or book. Use the ICLR law reports. Those are in any event the ones which Courts prefer lawyers to cite, so using those reports above others is a good habit to acquire if you intend to practise law. The headnotes in ICLR reports identify the key passages in each judgment.
Practitioner textbooks are a secret weapon for law students. They are less discursive than student textbooks, and they have very clear tables of contents. For example, Chitty on Contracts is way easier to find answers in than any student book on the law of contract.
Do not fret if you don't read everything on a reading list. Aim to read about three quarters of the material if you can. Tutors may guide you on which items are more important than others. If a tutor specifically mentions something on a list, be sure to read that.
You should find that your capacity for work increases year on year. Bear in mind that the workload at university is light compared to the workload in legal practice, so if you after trying to assimilate to the workload you still don't like it, that's life telling you not to become a lawyer!
Learn how to speed-read a case, article, or book. Use the ICLR law reports. Those are in any event the ones which Courts prefer lawyers to cite, so using those reports above others is a good habit to acquire if you intend to practise law. The headnotes in ICLR reports identify the key passages in each judgment.
Practitioner textbooks are a secret weapon for law students. They are less discursive than student textbooks, and they have very clear tables of contents. For example, Chitty on Contracts is way easier to find answers in than any student book on the law of contract.
Do not fret if you don't read everything on a reading list. Aim to read about three quarters of the material if you can. Tutors may guide you on which items are more important than others. If a tutor specifically mentions something on a list, be sure to read that.
You should find that your capacity for work increases year on year. Bear in mind that the workload at university is light compared to the workload in legal practice, so if you after trying to assimilate to the workload you still don't like it, that's life telling you not to become a lawyer!
(edited 11 months ago)
Reply 3
PS: Internships and the like are for the vacations, not term time. Make some time in vacations to read ahead for the following term, but also take time off.
Reply 4
sR1R
OP
6
Original post
by Stiffy ByngAs Robotcops says in his or her inimitable style, you have to organise your work, rest, and play. Treat studying as your job. As with a job, plan your day, and be sure to take time off for eating, exercising, socialising, and sleeping.
Learn how to speed-read a case, article, or book. Use the ICLR law reports. Those are in any event the ones which Courts prefer lawyers to cite, so using those reports above others is a good habit to acquire if you intend to practise law. The headnotes in ICLR reports identify the key passages in each judgment.
Practitioner textbooks are a secret weapon for law students. They are less discursive than student textbooks, and they have very clear tables of contents. For example, Chitty on Contracts is way easier to find answers in than any student book on the law of contract.
Do not fret if you don't read everything on a reading list. Aim to read about three quarters of the material if you can. Tutors may guide you on which items are more important than others. If a tutor specifically mentions something on a list, be sure to read that.
You should find that your capacity for work increases year on year. Bear in mind that the workload at university is light compared to the workload in legal practice, so if you after trying to assimilate to the workload you still don't like it, that's life telling you not to become a lawyer!
Learn how to speed-read a case, article, or book. Use the ICLR law reports. Those are in any event the ones which Courts prefer lawyers to cite, so using those reports above others is a good habit to acquire if you intend to practise law. The headnotes in ICLR reports identify the key passages in each judgment.
Practitioner textbooks are a secret weapon for law students. They are less discursive than student textbooks, and they have very clear tables of contents. For example, Chitty on Contracts is way easier to find answers in than any student book on the law of contract.
Do not fret if you don't read everything on a reading list. Aim to read about three quarters of the material if you can. Tutors may guide you on which items are more important than others. If a tutor specifically mentions something on a list, be sure to read that.
You should find that your capacity for work increases year on year. Bear in mind that the workload at university is light compared to the workload in legal practice, so if you after trying to assimilate to the workload you still don't like it, that's life telling you not to become a lawyer!
Reply 5
Original post
by sR1RThank you for your help! I will definitely look for the ICLR law reports & practitioner textbooks.
See if your university has the grey hardbacks of the Common Law Library, or if those texts are accessible via the online subscriptions to which your university provides access.
The ICLR reports are the green red, blue, and brown ones available in every law library, and online. They include summaries of the arguments of counsel and topical headnotes, but be sure to focus on the judgments more the headnotes.
I am not generally a fan of case books, but Lord Burrows' casebook on the law of contract is very good, and he is both the ruler of Oxford law and a justice of the Supreme Court, so he's the dude.
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