Staying organised in law school
Much of the challenge at law school is being organised enough to complete your coursework on time and with enough time to ensure it is of a sufficient standard. I can admit that understanding and applying the law was not something that I took to easily and to receive the marks I did, I needed to devote substantial amounts of time to learning and completing assigned work, all whilst not burying myself so deep in the content that I simply burned out (and so I didn’t neglect other areas of my life, such as seeing friends and family, exercising, or enjoying other hobbies).
PLANNING
The first step for any law student is to get themselves a planner which can be accessible to them at all times. This might be a digital planner (such as a Google calendar, or a PDF planner on a tablet), or it might be a physical planner (I have collected a few Erin Condren academic planners throughout my degree). The purpose of your planner is to give you a more holistic view of your time and capacity, enabling you to schedule time off studying without sacrificing your grades. It also serves as a reminder of your work and keeps it front of mind - law school professors will remind you that ignorance of due dates is never an excuse.
Developing a planning system will maximise the utility of your planner and reduce any friction in actually using your planner. Personally, my system involves the following:
colour coding my classes to see at a glance which class an assignment due date relates to;
Scheduling all my assignments in my planner at the beginning of term; and
Timeblocking assignment work and study time at the beginning of term.
TO DO LISTS & PRIORITISATION
Often planners will have to-do lists embedded in them to provide you with an all-inclusive productivity experience. Depending on what kind of planner you adopt, you may opt for a separate to do list. I have used the app Todoist as it enables you to split tasks into subtasks, allocate certain tasks to an overarching project, schedule tasks by date and time, and flag them by priority so you can see at a glance what tasks require urgent attention.
At the beginning of each term, I create a project for each class and note every assignment as being due 1 or 2 days before the actual due date. In alignment with planned and scheduled study periods, I list subtasks under each assignment to outline the process of completion. For a 1000 word essay, it might look like this:
By dumping all of my assignments into my to do list ahead of time, it leaves nothing to chance. I am terribly forgetful and would otherwise not hold myself to account and get the work done.
Prioritisation is the next skill that comes into play. Usually, you are balancing multiple classes and/or work and exercise and friends and hobbies. Using a to do list with a priority feature may help you identify non-negotiables that must be done on a certain day, and others that can be done at a later time if necessary.
Prioritisation is a learned skill, as it can be affected by emotion which might prioritise instant relief and gratification and cause stress later on. There are different prioritisation methods which will each be suitable in different circumstances. My favourites are below:
Eat the Frog - The origin of this method stems from a quote attributed to Mark Twain: “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first in the morning.” What this means, is getting complex or difficult tasks out of the way first. If you are scheduling your school tasks among your personal tasks you might prioritise drafting a portion of an essay over doing a load of laundry (for example) as the former is more time consuming and difficult than the latter.
Eisenhower matrix - This method involves assessing each task on its level of importance and urgency. As a result, tasks will either be:
Important and urgent
Important but not urgent
Urgent but not important
Neither important nor urgent
READ AHEAD
After your first term of law school, you have a better idea of what to expect and can plan ahead more effectively. Using student forums and university libraries, I seek out previous reading guides and textbooks in advance of the next term. Although the reading materials change from time to time, reading some of the materials 1 or 2 weeks ahead of term commencing may help save me time during time when I am more time-poor and enable me to use that time to do extra reading or spend more time wokring on assignments.
It is not always possible to obtain reading guides and class materials ahead of time, but where it is, I ahve found it to be the most valuable way of freeing up time during the term and giving myself a more comprehensive understanding of the subject.
CONSISTENCY
Lastly, success in academic work can come down to the habits we have around studying. Regular studying balanced with down time may be more effective than last minute cramming, particularly if your goal is to retain the information you are learning long-term.
Accordingly, I try to break down each assignment or reading into smaller tasks to do each day to make completing work a habit and to reduce the possibility of an all-nighter when assignments are due. I use James Clear’s principle of making habits attractive by rewarding myself when I achieve a task - rewards ranging from the satisfaction of checking the task off my to do list, to taking the rest of the day off. As I then associate the habit with the reward, I start to enjoy the habit, which promotes consistency.
Of course, there is not just one way to approach law school and to stay organised. These tips are general and worked for me as I balanced law school, work and a social life and hobbies.