First Year of Law School:
Opportunity and Challenge

A law student’s performance during first year—and first semester, in particular—can have a significant impact on the remainder of his or her legal career. Law review eligibility and summer associate opportunities, for example, depend largely on first year grades.

While maintaining good study habits during first year is crucial, the fact remains that, to a degree, everyone is in the same boat once classes begin: so many concepts, so little time. Most students will not be able to improve their basic skills during this highly demanding experience.

Photo: law school bootcamp. A supportive and collegial environment facilitates learning.

LSAPP^® Law School Bootcamp Overview

One way to increase your odds for a good first year is to be as prepared as possible before it arrivesT. That’s why we created the Law School Academic Preparation Program^™ (LSAPP^®). It's the class we wish we'd had ourselves.

This “law school bootcamp” is a four-day, eight-hours-per-day (plus one hour for lunch) workshop that takes place over two consecutive weekends in the summer. Designed for people who are already admitted to law school, the LSAPP introduces students to five classic first-year topics, namely:

• Legal Writing
• Contracts
• Criminal Law
• Civil Procedure
• Torts

Students will also have one assignment per day for each of the five days between the two weekends. During this time, each student will receive one-on-one feedback on his or her writing from the professor.

We’ll also touch upon some basics of the law school experience to give students a broader sense of what’s ahead.