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ADVICE-EXPLANATION Remember the proverb, "A word to the wise is sufficient." In this article, and the articles related to it, there are many wise words about law school based on the thoughts of second semester law students. Hopefully, these words will assist you in having a good law school experience. At the beginning of one spring semester, during the time I taught at the University of Montana School of Law, I asked the first-year students in my legal writing classes two questions to try to understand their experience better. Those two questions were: Question 1: Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently to prepare for law school? Question 2: What should professors have told you about law school in the first month of law school that would have helped? In the articles Advice-Question 1 and Advice-Question 2 are the responses of my 40 students. Although these articles provide the responses of only 40 students who were beginning their second semester of law school, in my opinion their words accurately reflect what first-year law students have experienced for many years, are presently experiencing, and will experience for many years to come. Despite the significant technological advances in society in the last thirty years, legal education is practically the same it has been since the 1870s when the present style of legal education was introduced. All 40 students responded to the first question, and only 38 students responded to the second question. One thing that is obvious about the responses to the two questions is that the top two responses for both questions are the same. Those responses refer to improving basic skills (reading and writing skills) and outlining. For the first question, basic skills was mentioned by 12 out 40 students (30%), and for the second question 8 out of 38 students (21%) referred to exam writing. For the first question, outlining was mentioned by 7 out of 40 students (17.5%), and for the second question 8 out of 38 students (21%) mentioned outlining. Also, keep in mind that for every response provided, a few more students thought that that response was important, but it was not the first thing on their mind. If they would have been asked for their top 2 or 3 responses for each question, improving basic skills and outlining would have been mentioned by even more students. Please read these law students' words not just once, but more than once. During each reading you should be thinking, "What can I do based on this advice to prepare for and improve my law school experience?" Below are two additional articles that discuss the law school experience and making the adjustment to it. Good luck in law school! Michael Santana
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