Law Schools

How To Best Prepare For Law School As A 0L

Some suggestions on what pre-law students should do to put themselves in the best position for success.

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In this column, I will touch on a broader 0L topic that I have often heard when talking with those considering law school.  What should one do before law school to put them in the best position for success?

To maximize success from an academic perspective, the simplest piece of advice is the best.  Talk to law students and lawyers.  Whether they are friends from college or former professional colleagues who are making their way through law school or even family friends who are currently in practice, the most profound insight as to how you might fit within the ecosystem of a law school, and even the broader legal community, is going to come from those who know you best.  If some of your contacts happen to currently be in law school, go pay them a visit.  One of the most eye-opening looks I got into the lives of law students stemmed from a trip as a 0L visiting a high school friend who was then a 1L at UVA.  It is one thing to be told that law school is akin to high school, but everyone is highly intelligent, but it is something entirely different to see the adage play out before your eyes.

If you do not have any connections to the legal industry — and even if you do, this advice is worth taking — acquire some firsthand knowledge.  Got to a law school, either one you are interested in attending and/or one that is close by, and take a tour, sit in on a class.  The first time you witness the Socratic method should ideally not be during your opening day of Civil Procedure.  Once you make it to the stage of the application cycle where you are being admitted to schools, plan on attending as many Admitted Student Days/Weekends as you can.  These programs are designed to show you as much about a law school as possible over a limited period of time.  You can talk to professors and students at each school, giving you a chance to see how you might fit in.  Take advantage of the opportunity and gather as much information as you can before making the monumental decision of where to enroll.

Even though your legal career can seem comically far away before you have even started law school, there are steps you can take as a 0L to bolster your professional opportunities.  If, like many students, you think you want to start your career in Biglaw, there is no better way to test that notion then by working at a firm before law school.  I once spoke with a 1L who said he had long wanted to be a lawyer, but he went to work for a firm prior to law school to see if he could deal with getting yelled at on a not infrequent basis.  Since we had that conversation in my Vanderbilt office, it seemed that he was able to deal with it.  This is not to say that Biglaw is reminiscent of boot camp at Parris Island.

But it’s probably even less reminiscent of Don Draper’s contribution to Coca-Cola’s advertising history.

Even for those 0Ls who have corporate experience, spending some time at a law firm can be valuable, because there are few other comparable professional environments.  This lack of comparison is not because working in Biglaw is uniquely difficult or requires putting in hours not seen in any other portion of the employment spectrum — my wife is a general surgeon in private practice, having to check one’s Blackberry every few hours pales in comparison to resecting a colon on 20 minutes’ notice at 3 a.m.; it also smells a lot better — but rather because the structure of law firms are different than most corporate entities and intensity of the interpersonal interactions can be hard to simulate.

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0L work experience does not have to be limited to private law firms.  If public service is more in line with your post-graduation employment plans, try to land a position at a non-profit to see what life is like for those attorneys.  Ideally, you could compare that lifestyle to their Biglaw counterparts and see which is more personally desirable.

Diving into the pool that is law school and the practice of law can be a daunting proposition for anyone, but with the right preparation as a 0L, you can look like Rodney Dangerfield nailing the Triple Lindy.

Nicholas Alexiou is the Director of LL.M. and Alumni Advising as well as the Associate Director of Career Services at Vanderbilt University Law School. He will, hopefully, respond to your emails at abovethelawcso@gmail.com.

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