1. A Planner
I was never consistent with using a planner in undergrad. However, a planner is critical to have in law school! You’ll have a lot of assignments due, readings, and extra-curriculars, and it’s so easy to keep track of your to do list if you have everything all in one place.
How I used a planner to become more organized:
First, I would plan for each week using an online printable that I found. Every Sunday, I would print it out and fill it up with a list of tasks that I had to complete throughout the week. Then I would hole punch my weekly to do list and place it in the front cover of my binder. This allowed me to check things off on my daily to do list, which allowed me to keep track of how my time was spent during the day. Although it may not be necessary for those of you who don’t need or like checklists, I found it very helpful for me. I realized that I was able to get more done in a day by using a checklist.
Then, I would use my actual planner to plan for the month and to keep track of my assignments, meetings, and extra-curricular activities. During my first year of law school, I had a planner from Target that had space for monthly and weekly planning. I used this planner to write down all of my readings and assignments and also to plan out my study schedule. On the monthly planning pages, I wrote down the due dates of big assignments, dates of meetings, and also my final exams study schedule, which I will explain in detail in a later post. On the weekly pages, I wrote down what my readings were for each class during the week. Then, I would read those and check those off on my to do list printable that I mention previously.
2. A good quality laptop
A laptop is super important for compiling all of your notes and having them in one place. I use a pretty old MacBook, but it’s been super reliable for me, so I didn’t buy a new laptop for law school. To keep all of my notes in one place, I use Google Docs, and I have a folder for each year of law school. In each folder, I have outlines, practice questions, and my typed class notes.
3. A decent sized backpack
Casebooks are HEAVY and HUGE, and if you’re going to use a backpack to carry around all of your materials, you’re going to need one that can fit your books and any additional items that you’re carrying around, such as a laptop, binder, or snacks.
4. Colorful ink pens
As a visual learner, colorful ink pens are so important for me. I used my colorful ink pens to color code my notes. For example, I used pink pens to discuss the facts of a given case, baby blue to discuss the procedural history, purple to discuss the issues, and green to discuss the court’s and holding reasoning for the holding. I also color coded my planner, and each pen color corresponded to a class. So for example, if I had an assignment for Civ Pro, I would write in blue ink that the assignment was due on whatever date, and I knew exactly what course it was for because I color coded. My favorite colorful ink pens were the Paper Mate Ink Joy pens.
5. Highlighters
I used the Sharpie see through tip highlighters, and I was obsessed with them all year! I had the matching pens and was able to color-code using the pens and the corresponding highlighters! As previously stated, I used the pink highlighter to highlight seminal facts in the case. I used the blue highlighter to highlight the procedural history. I used the purple to highlight the issue in the chase. Finally, I used the green to highlight the holding and the court’s reasoning. This allowed me to “book brief” my cases and I was still prepared for class in the event that I got called on.
6. Black and blue ink pens
Self explanatory. Black and blue ink pens are a necessity for taking notes or writing assignments that need to be turned in.
7. Pencils
Some exams will require scantrons. Be prepared on exam day by having your own pencils.
8. A binder
I’m very big on using binders to keep all of my important documents in one place. I found it easy to keep track of everything by having one large binder with binder dividers. That way, I was able to organize my papers by class and quickly flip to the papers that I needed when I needed them.
9. Flashcards
I used flashcards daily in law school! What I would do is write my notes on flashcards after class and drill all of my flashcards for each class every day. So for example, if we covered the rule against perpetuities, I would write on one side “What is the Rule Against Perpetuities?” and on the other side, I would write the answer. I would drill my cards repeatedly until I was able to answer them all correctly. This saved me a lot of stress during finals, because I had already known the material in and out and was able to spend the time closer to finals on doing practice exams and going over questions with my professors.
10. A bookstand
It took me FOREVER to see the value of a bookstand, so I didn’t order one until March of 1L year, but my bookstand was everything I didn’t know that I needed. Hovering over a casebook for hours is not only uncomfortable, but also bad for your posture, so I highly recommend getting a book stand so that you can work comfortably. I had a portable bookstand that I could fold up and easily carry around in my backpack. I couldn’t find a link to my exact bookstand, but I found this one on Amazon.
11. A pencil bag
To hold all of your colored pens, highlighters, and pencils in one place.
12. A stapler
To staple the million and one pages together that you’ll get in law school.
13. A three-hole punch
To allow you to hole punch documents and place them in your binder or pronged folder.
14. A printer
At my law school, printing is not free. We get a $30 printing credit, and after that, we have to reload our printer cards in order to print on campus. I realized early on that I did A LOT of printing, so I figured that it would make more sense to have my own wireless printer at home and print as much as I needed to. That way, I only used the printer on campus to print assignments that I needed to turn in.
15. Post-It Page Flags
I SWEAR by page flags. These are by far my favorite. I used these by writing the overall topic on the flap and just sticking them in my books. That way, if I had a question about something like personal jurisdiction, I could find my page tab and get to the chapter about it quickly and easily.
Black Elle Woods 