• Create a separate “data” folder on your computer specifically for law school.
  • My system looks like this: c:\data\law\…
  • In this directory, create a separate folder for each of your classes.  If you wish, you may also want to further subdivide these folders into more specific elements.
    • c:\data\law\pretrial skills\
      • cases
      • statutes
      • motions
      • interrogatories
      • etc…
  • Not only does this folder help you stay organized, you can easily backup this directory of all your law school materials onto a flash drive for safe keeping.
• Have a 3-ring binder for each of your classes to organize outlines and class handouts.
• Keep a calendar of deadlines for writing classes and other classes that require periodic work to be turned in.
• Track the week you studied certain areas in both your casebooks and your notes.  This provides easy reference when you study for the final exam.  I have found that those small book tabs work very nicely.
• Know how long it takes to prepare for each class and manage your time appropriately.  Some classes just take longer than others to read or write for.
• For non traditional law students that have kids, have a place that is reserved specifically for your law school materials.  Do not keep them in areas where kids are likely to get at them.  I have a special bookshelf and desk that is separate from other bookshelves.
• Keep a list of your professors and their contact information.  Not only will you need this during law school, it may come in handy when you begin your career.

These are just a few of the things that have helped me keep organized in my busy life of family, work, and school.  I hope you too will find them useful and helpful.  God bless and have a great day.

If you want to keep sane – especially if you are a non traditional law student – you must take time for yourself often.  It does not need to be a long time, but you simply must take time.  If you go through law school without taking the proper time to just relax and enjoy yourself your brain will literally melt.  Well, it may not literally melt, but it won’t do it any good.

When I get overwhelmed I take 20 minutes and go outside.  That’s it.  I love God’s world around me.  I look at the animals, the trees, and the flowers.  It relaxes me.  You may not like the outdoors like I do, but there is something that you like to do that relaxes you.  When law school (and live in general for that matter) gets you down, do what you like to do for a while.  You will thank me later.  And your brain won’t melt.  God bless and have a great night.

For the most part, a traditional law student will devote most of her time to school (study, law review, moot court, etc.).  For the non traditional law student however, law school is in addition to work, family, and probably many other responsibilities.  Of course we must also balance the fact that many non traditional law students do not attend full time either.  That notwithstanding, most stresses for traditional law students come from school, while for the non traditional law student they come from many more sources.

That being said, for a law student who has basically all of her time to devote to school, she will probably obtain a very nice GPA if she wants to.  For the rest of us, it may be almost impossible to pull the same GPA simply because we do not have enough time to devote to our studies.  Does that mean that we are not as intelligent or as hard working as our traditional counter parts?  No.

I do not have a 4.0 GPA.  But I work full time.  I have a wife and six children.  I cut the grass and pay the bills.  I take the kids to activities.  The list goes on and on.  If you are like me, and I know some of you are, you know exactly what I am talking about.

I am very competitive and put a lot of pressure on myself.  During my first few terms I did very well grade wise, but my family and personal life suffered somewhat as a result.  In my later terms I have decided that being a 4.0 student is not worth three years of alienating my family, church, and friends.  This is not to say that I do not strive to do the best that I can do.  This is only to say that I realize that I must prioritize my life and create a proper balance.  Grades are certainly important, but they are not the most important.

I carry a class load that I feel comfortable with; that I can maintain a good GPA and still have time for the other important things in my life.  I have just had to except the fact that if I want to graduate from law school before I am, ahem, too old, I will probably not attain the GPA that I wish I could.

But consider this.  If you can average a 3.0 (or even a 2.5) with a moderate amount of study time, just think of what you can do if you really apply yourself during your study for the bar exam.  If you are serious about learning you will learn the material.  When you go for your bar review course it will all come back to you.  Then you can take 2-3 months and really cement the material into your mind.  Moreover, once you are a lawyer you will not have a full time job other than that of lawyer.  For me this means 40+ hours a week that I will have to familiarize myself with areas of the law that I did not have each week I was in law school.  After all, ethics do not require you to know the law in an area before you take a case.  They do require you to be able to learn the law through proper research and preparation.

So if your GPA is not as high as you would like it to be, take a moment to reflect why.  Is it because you are lazy?  Is it because you really just don’t care?  Or is it because you have made the commitment to prioritize your life and accept the fact that law school is not the most important thing in the world to a non traditional law student?

Don’t read this and think for one minute that I am promoting any slackers out there.  I study hard.  I just don’t study as much as I would like to because there are only 24 hours in a day (and I like it when my kids remember who I am.)  If you are doing the best you can, and you are not on academic probation, buck up and be happy.  When the bar review rolls around you will kick some booty!  God bless and have a great day.

I have often been asked, “how do you do it?”  My reply is always the same, “I just don’t think about it.”  I have found that the more I think about everything that I have to do the more stressed out I feel.  This is not to say that I do not care or plan for situations.  What I mean when I say that I just don’t think about it is simply this: I know I must do it, so I just do it.

In one of my very first posts I outlined what I thought about before deciding to attend law school.  If you can follow this method then why continue to dwell on everything you are doing?  The time for dwelling or planning is before you make committments.  After you have committed to law school you should quit dwelling on all the work, time, and energy it takes and just do it.

I knew what my responsibilities were before law school and so did you.  I heavily researched what law school entailed and (presumably) so did you.  Although I could not envision everything law school would entail, I knew it would be difficult.  But I also knew that I could do it.  You can do it too if you don’t think about it too much.  Keep your mind on the goal and not the journey.  Your mind will thank you in the long run.  God bless and have a great day!

Of course, the word “difficult” is a relative term.  Generally what they mean is that the class will require much more study to master the legal concepts.  For non traditional law students this means more time devoted to study and less time devoted to everything else.  When you have “easy” classes the temptation is there to get a little lax with your studying.  It is sometimes difficult when we fall into this trap to get back in full swing and excersize our legal minds.  On the good side though, by the time you take secured transactions you should have your legal mind pretty well trained.

Remember that more time studying will take its toll on the others in your life that may have become used to your “regular” study routine.  Just be sure to keep your head on straight and inform the others that may be affected by some extra study time that this term may be a little more intense.  I am sure they will understand.  Keep focused and don’t slack off.  By now the end is very near and the light at the end of the tunel is getting brighter.  God bless and have a great day.

If you are studying for the MPRE I wish you the best of luck.  I realize that this is probably our first “real” exam that is required for our professional license.  Just remember that there are other classes that must not be neglected.  Study hard, manage your time, stay focused, and take time to relax.  You will do fine.  Hopefully, so will I.  Good luck on the exams, God bless, and have a great day.

Disclaimer: Before you study at work be sure to have your supervisor’s permission

This is not a bad thing, just a fact of life.  I love to spend time with my kids, but law school is very demanding and I need time to study and prepare.  Balancing family, work, and law school can be a very, very big challenge.  But it is doable if you are willing to put in the time and effort.  No matter what the family must come first.  I just explain to them that I need to study and it will not be for much longer.

They are very understanding and generally leave me to my studies.  But I take the time to play with them and listen to what they have to say.  A conversation with your kids will go a long way.  If you ignore them they will only increase their efforts to vie for your attention.  This causes frustration for both you and them.  Take time out of your day to spend with your kids and they will be much more likely to respect the time you must take with your law school studies.  God bless and have a great day.

If you have a law school that allows you to attend nontraditional hours of class time I would recommend taking it slow to begin with. Once you have a “feel” for the way things work you can gradually increase your load. Besides that the first two years are usually your core courses. In the last year you can concentrate on your electives and what interests you most. God bless and have a great day.