Law School 101: Tips and Tricks

By Josephine ‘Jo’ Ferraro, edited and supplemented Nicholas ‘Nick’ Troy

I. Introduction

I’m going to start with the obvious: law school is draining. But guess what? It doesn’t have to be! You don’t have to be motivated every-day, dreaming about legislation, cases or moots. You just need to keep yourself in check. If you are struggling with Murdoch Law, please keep reading. If you are not… read anyway; you might learn something! In this article, I have presented six tips & tricks for how I am and will continue to, survive law school.

II. Don’t Fixate On Grades

In my first Criminal Law lecture, I was taught one precious lesson: ‘C’ grades are good grades! You probably left high school knowing that ‘A’ is good, and therefore ‘HD’ must be good, right? True… you are correct. But ‘D’ and ‘C’ grades are also good. When you get that ‘C’, pat yourself on the back because you’re a law student and law is draining. That being said: if you’re a C student, aim for D. If you’re a D student, aim for HD. Strive for your better self!

Also, quick FYI… You are never going to walk into a firm and have a solicitor preach their property law grade to you. Entering the legal profession is not just about the grades; it is also about the experience. The marks get you in the door, but experience keeps you inside.

Are you receiving Shirley Jones emails? Are you connected to the MSLS Education & Careers Facebook page? These are two marvellous starting points for getting in the know for legal positions that arise! My first experience was a legal volunteer position one day a week. Then I did a SCALES unit. Now, I am doing a Criminal Injuries Compensation internship, and I have a clerk position! However, please know, I didn’t realise experience was important until my second year… If you can start early: F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S. If you start later in your degree, better late than never!

The point is: BUILD YOURSELF. Do not fixate on your grades. Recruiting teams will glance look at your Grade Point Average or your Weighted Average Mark, but they will look closer at your experience and your initiative to gain this experience. An interviewer may say ‘Jo, your grades are immaculate’. But then they will say ‘Jo, what legal experience do you have?’. Make sure you’re able to answer that question because a good grade doesn’t equal good practical experience.

III. How To Study

Oh, for the days in Torts when Sarah Howe made the most beautiful lecture slides… I can tell you right now, those slides are exclusive to Sarah and no-one else. As you progress in the years, if you do not study or take the opportunity to ask questions, there are no Sarah Howe lecture slides to fall back on.

KEEP. UP. Do not be that person in the 24/7 area of the library at 2:00 am with bloodshot eyes, on your fifth Red Bull, and having watched only the sixth out of the 12 lectures needed for the exam the next day. Honey, good luck to you.

If you are a workaholic, manage your time to watch your lectures every week. Set one day a week to work, that’s all you need! Not a fan of the monotone lecture? Do your weekly readings. Can’t you make time for each unit? Take fewer units. The grey hairs and anxiety are not worth it. Time management is even better with a study plan! You could even write down when all your assessments are due and have it on your laptop desktop or the fridge. This way your mind knows ‘this week, I think about it’, ‘this week I research’ and ‘this week I write’. The goal is to avoid doing this: ‘9pm I think about it’, ‘10pm I research’, ‘11pm I write’, and ‘11:59pm I submit’.

This might be obvious but GO TO CLASS. Lectures and textbooks are one thing, but without classes, I wouldn’t have a clue how to legal problem solve anything. Legal problem solving is like a tree, there are hundreds of branches that lead to different legal conclusions. Your workshop/tutorial scribbles do mean something.

But legal problem solving is more than just having notes and cases. It’s also about applying some common sense to the issue. So many students have wasted valuable time looking through their notes to find the case that says what will happen in a particular scenario. My advice is just to guess what should happen. 99% of the time, the law will agree because the law tries to follow common sense. The law attempts to be fair, the law attempts to be just, but most of all, it tries to be logical. So just decide what you will say is going to happen and then use the law to support your answer, not to find the answer in the first place. Most problem-solving questions are open to different views; that is why there are two sides in every case.

Something you might find weird but effective is the ‘Good Law Student’ and ‘Leach’ method. Take Nick and me for example. I am the ‘Leach’ who latches onto him for pro-tips and basically one on one tutoring. He is the ‘Good Law Student’ who finds me to help make sure he can explain the law as well as he can (because if you cannot explain the law to another law student, how do you think you’re going to put it in your exam?). You use each other and then both get HD or D in the exam. The ‘Good Law Student’ and ‘Leach’ method works even better if you can find a friend to be your other half. It’s thanks to this that I got 91% in my Criminal Law exam.

Please remember, law school is not a race nor a competition, but a step into the legal profession. Are you thinking right now: ‘I cannot keep up with my work, I am a piece of rubbish’? No, you are a law student – a superior being that can do anything. If motivation to manage your time is what makes you think you are ‘rubbish’, keep reading.

IV. Get to Know Your Academics

When I say this, I don’t mean go to your lecturer’s door with a bottle of wine introducing yourself as a genius. What I mean is, as you take your core units, see how you vibe with their teaching methods. If you do, fantastic! More than likely, you will also vibe in the electives they teach. The more your vibe, the more you will succeed and enjoy. If you don’t like their techniques, don’t take their electives! Learning law often isn’t just about cases like Mabo, sometimes it is actually about the vibe.

Generally, lecturers are friendly! In their unit guide, they’ll usually put in their contact hours. MAKE USE OF IT. Many lecturers will welcome anyone into their office at any time for a chat. They will not bite your head off. If you get lucky, you even might walk out of their office with some handy guidance for your assessment, *cough*Steve Shaw*cough*. Likewise, if you want to negotiate marks, give it a go (unless it’s Robyn, don’t go picking fights with her).

Academics are there for a reason, utilise them! They are not the 2020 Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher; they do have your interests in heart and want you to succeed.

V. Get to Know Your Peers

As important as knowing your academics can be, getting a good support group is even more critical. I don’t know if you know yet, but mental breakdowns in the MSLS café courtyard is a common occurrence (and nothing to be ashamed of)…

Nick and I are in a study group of about 15 people. These people are my RIDE OR DIE, crew. They save me every day in law school because I know I am not alone! I wouldn’t stay up till 2am learning mortgages with anyone else <3. Our group came to be in many ways; meeting on an exchange, taking a moot together, being on MSLS committee together, or even sitting at the same table ten hours before Property A is due and sharing the last white Mother from the vending machine.

TLDR: Friends = Sanity. Friends = Support. Friends = Someone Else Feels Your Pain!

Having a support group also has its perks. You share notes! Ideas! You can ask a question, and someone almost always has the answer!

But remember, the people around you are not just your fellow students, they are also your future professional colleagues – so don’t start any feuds!!! Instead, make friends. Meeting your RIDE OR DIE crew is not an instant thing! This crew didn’t officially form until Year Two Sem One. If you came to law school with friends, you are very lucky! But there are others out there waiting to be befriended. And, if you are anything like us, getting involved is key!

VI. Get Involved

Have you heard of the MSLS café? Of course, you have. This might be one of the best ways to meet many peers. In my first year, I walked in and had a chat with almost everyone about potential committee positions, how my first year is going, and shortcuts on getting to my class!

A step further is applying for a committee position. For me, I made most of my friends by being on the committee. It’s like having 20 colleagues, and 90% of the time you are friends for life after working together! <3

If MSLS is not your thing, there are many other extracurricular activities to get involved in! The one I will never forget was my three-week exchange in Jakarta, Indonesia. I went knowing only two people and came back glued to the rest. There is nothing like travelling to a new place and being forced to engage with people in the same situation to make new friends.

Another great way to get involved and do more is to participate in a moot. A moot is a fictional dispute, like mock trials, where the contention is based on the law, not on facts. This is a great way to learn how to research, write submissions, and think like a lawyer. Even if you don’t want to speak, numerous moots have a solicitor position — so you can be part of it without having to do public speaking (like me). This also means you’ll meet new people, especially ones who can help you with notes or tips because many of them will be in later years than you. TLDR: moots are incredible – do some!

Getting involved doesn’t just give you benefits

at the time, they also boost your experiences and resume. So, whatever you do, as long as you’re doing something, then that’s worth it.

VII. Conclusions

If you have made it this far, *clap* *clap*. I hope you will take at least one of these tips and tricks away with you to use for your benefit! I wouldn’t ‘do’ law school any other way! Good luck!

[Note from the editor: I pretty much agree with everything above, law school is about learning law, but it’s also about experiencing what your future holds. Do some socialising with your future colleagues, get some experience with legal practice outside of the classroom, make law school as good a time as you can… because if you only ‘do law’ then you’ll have a boring time (unless you’re like me and live for law) or worse; a bad time.]