The Law School Rules: 115 Survival Strategies to Make the Challenges of Law School Seem Like "Small Stuff" [Hardcover]

Marion T.D. Lewis Esq. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0609605283 | ISBN-13: 978-0609605288 | Publication Date: August 3, 1999 | Edition: 1st Harmon

Ace law school with 115 rules from a recent graduate who remembers the experience all too well.

Do Away with Your Common Sense and Think Like a Lawyer
Shake the Jitters
Keep a Law School Journal
Don't Fall in Love with Your Professor
Accept That All of Your Professors May Not Like You
Don't Agonize over Atrocious Grades
Learn to Spot the Bad Professors (Types I and II)
Scope Out the Smarty-Pants
Keep Good Friends
Make Lots of Whoopie!
Take Soothing Baths
Throw a Party

Marion T.D. Lewis, a recent law school graduate, tells you exactly what you need to know to survive those hellish law school years. Ms. Lewis provides valuable insight into what your life will be like personally and professionally on and off campus, in class and out -- along with 115 rules and lots of simple advice guaranteed to help you become a well-rounded, happy, healthy, and successful law student.
        
Here are the words of wisdom you'll need, dispensed in a sympathetic way, by one who remembers how it felt to sit in class and to be terrorized by difficult professors. This insider information covers a wide range of topics, from believing in yourself, studying, sizing up professors, dressing for success, and managing money to relaxing and having fun.
        
Whether you're just starting law school or in your third year, this advice may well be your key to success, because surviving the paper chase takes much more than just hitting the law books!

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Ace law school with 115 rules from a recent graduate who remembers the experience all too well.

Do Away with Your Common Sense and Think Like a Lawyer
Shake the Jitters
Keep a Law School Journal
Don't Fall in Love with Your Professor
Accept That All of Your Professors May Not Like You
Don't Agonize over Atrocious Grades
Learn to Spot the Bad Professors (Types I and II)
Scope Out the Smarty-Pants
Keep Good Friends
Make Lots of Whoopie!
Take Soothing Baths
Throw a Party

Marion T.D. Lewis, a recent law school graduate, tells you exactly what you need to know to survive those hellish law school years. Ms. Lewis provides valuable insight into what your life will be like personally and professionally on and off campus, in class and out -- along with 115 rules and lots of simple advice guaranteed to help you become a well-rounded, happy, healthy, and successful law student.
        
Here are the words of wisdom you'll need, dispensed in a sympathetic way, by one who remembers how it felt to sit in class and to be terrorized by difficult professors. This insider information covers a wide range of topics, from believing in yourself, studying, sizing up professors, dressing for success, and managing money to relaxing and having fun.
        
Whether you're just starting law school or in your third year, this advice may well be your key to success, because surviving the paper chase takes much more than just hitting the law books!

From the Back Cover

"What makes The Law School Rules different is that it is written by a recent law school graduate, as opposed to a professor or practicing attorney. As such it gives the reader a real sense that the writer is 'in the loop.' Her observations and suggestions often sound like those of a 'third year' who has taken a 'One L' under her wing. Ms. Lewis distinguishes herself from other recent graduates by avoiding the urge to boast and to tell her own war stories disguised as advice."         
--New York Law Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Harmony; 1st Harmon edition (August 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609605283
• ISBN-13: 978-0609605288
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,641,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #89 in Books > Education & Reference > Education > Graduate School Guides > Law

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cute, yet surprisingly not completely obvious, June 25, 2001

By 

I am C, Not X - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Law School Rules: 115 Survival Strategies to Make the Challenges of Law School Seem Like "Small Stuff" (Hardcover)

This is the kind of book an uncle or aunt gives you as a present before you are about to start law school; you brush it off but then notice it's comforting to have around every now and then when you feel a bit crummy or discouraged during your 1L year. Definitely a fun little book to browse through. It's a little book of "tips" that are not totally commonplace (a lot are, but there are a few to pick from that aren't that bad...and work). For example, it may seem silly to use this as an example from all the tips, but the one on using air fresheners around your home is something small yet it really does make it a bit more pleasant to be home...and study...she explains it much more eloquently. But it all falls under the theme of giving yourself room to unwind in the stress that befalls your life during 1L year. As long as you're mentally prepared for it, you CAN begin to see that's it really is all just small stuff!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Common Sense Need Not Be Exclusive From Law School Education, February 21, 2005

By 

squeakysoul - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Law School Rules: 115 Survival Strategies to Make the Challenges of Law School Seem Like "Small Stuff" (Hardcover)

I got this book the summer before law school, the same summer I read Law School Confidential, Princeton Review's pre-law book, and anything else that might give me some insight into the mystifying process that is law school. I think that for me, this book might have been among the best of the lot.

Most law school prep books overwhelm you; quite frankly they freak you out needlessly about law school with their cynicism. To make it worse, their advice is often cumbersome and difficult to follow. In contrast to those books, this book had a very refreshing style. It was brief, friendly, humorous and uncynical. Not only was it a comfort to pull out and read on occasion during my 1L year, it presented, in a friendly way, some very solid common sense advice. A good example was the exhortation to sign up with a bar review as soon as possible after entering law school - something some other law school prep books tell you not to do. It's true that a lot of it was stuff I could have talked to a 3L about on my own - but when I went to law school, well I didn't know anyone there. Remember your 1L year? No matter how friendly your school is, starting law school is an intimidating time. I thought this book demystified a few things I wound up having questions about later on, and it was right at my fingertips.

Why I gave the book four stars: The advice is not supremely detailed, and though what it has is just fine, it could have done with some more detailed descriptions of study advice. (That's really the hardest thing to come by, is concrete and genuinely useful study advice - for non-robots and non-geniuses - for law school.) Also, there were some fluff tips the book didn't really need ("Make Lots of Whoopie"?). But even those little tidbits just added to the light and breezy tone of the book. And you don't get much light and breezy in law school!

If you are heading off to law school - this is a nice book to get used. I gave my copy to a friend of mine who is now applying to law schools. But do try to get a copy or at least flip through it when you need to come down from the inevitable tension that law school can impose.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful tidbits for people entering law school, December 19, 2001

By 

Mark Johnson (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Law School Rules: 115 Survival Strategies to Make the Challenges of Law School Seem Like "Small Stuff" (Hardcover)

This book isn't perfect, but it does have some great common sense advice. Definitely check this book out if you're entering law school. A lot of the info contained here, such as how to handle the stress, most people (such as myself) don't figure out until their third year.