Advice Round-up: The law school saga begins

Last week, we welcomed a new group of 1Ls to the law school fold. As part of the initiation, we asked for tips from readers on how to best tackle the first year of law school. Readers provided lots and lots of good advice. And bad advice. And healthy debate about which outlines to use. And many exhortations to “quit now,” before major student loan debt is incurred.
For those 1Ls who have dismissed the naysayers, we’d advise reading through the comments, and ignoring all the “run for your life” stuff. In case you’re already immersed in fact patterns and footnotes, here’s a quick round-up of the advice proffered.
The #1 Piece of Advice: “Grades. Grades. Grades. Grades. If you want Biglaw, clerkships, or top-shelf government work, GRADES.” and “Get good grades, especially If you don’t go to a top school. Grades in law school matter, big time.”
Recommended reading:
Con Law – Chemerinsky
Contracts – Chirelstein
CivPro – Glannon
Legal Writing – Volokh
School tips:
-“Don’t join a study group. They are time wasters.”
-“Take practice exams. Talk to your professors about them. Take more. Practice exams. Practice exams.”
-“If you don’t make Law Review, do another journal or moot court as a 2L and be sure to have some ‘other activity’ you enjoy outside of class as a go to answer during OCIs.”
-“Participate in the writing competition for the journals.”
-Take notes by hand, or, if you’re laptop-dependent, disconnect from the Internet while in class.
Lifestyle tips:
-“Never pay for your own lunch. There is always free pizza to be had at lunch time if you look hard enough.”
-“The law is a human endeavor, directed at regulating human conflict and most other human endeavors, so try being a human being and not an a**hole.”
-“Don’t use student loan money to make investments in the securities markets with the thinking that you can get a better rate of return than the interest on the loan that you will one day repay.”
-“Don’t have sex with classmates until your second year.”

That’s not an exhaustive list, but we hope it helps. If you’re still all in, good luck!
Earlier: The law school saga begins (Or, Tips for 1Ls)

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