Want To Excel In Law School? Learn These Skills

You just got accepted to law school. You’re excited yet anxious about how you’ll spend your next three years.
While your time will pass by quickly, it’s important to focus on developing certain skills if you hope to make the most of your three years.
Dr. Amarendra Bhushan Dhiraj, CEO and editorial director at CEOWORLD Magazine, recently highlighted a few key skills students should focus when studying in law school.
“Surviving a law school is not necessarily a humungous task, as they say,” Dhiraj writes. “Much of what you hear is a bunch of stereotypes which only aggravate common fears about law graduates and their colleges. A law school is like any other higher education school; the only difference is that you might require different skill sets to survive it.”
Reading Skills
Reading is a huge part of the law school learning experience. And, Dhiraj says, if students hope to get ahead in law school, it’s critical to get ahead in reading.
“Yes, when they say that law students read a lot, they are saying an absolute truth,” he writes. “The world of law is about what you know, what you tell you know, and how you tell what you know. You need to be informed of what makes the legal system what it is and how people treat it.”
Communication Skills
Communication, similar to reading, is also a big part of law school.
Whether it’s conveying an argument or networking with peers, communication is integral to success both in law school and after.
Michael Ende, associate dean for career services the Marshall-Whythe School of Law at William and Mary, says the department strives to help law students develop their communication skills.
“We focused on communication skills and styles, and understanding how people communicate and how to adjust your communication style to the people around you, how to present information in a persuasive way,” he tells US News.
Research Skills
Nearly every class you take in law school will amount to hours of research.
Dhiraj says if students hope to stay ahead, they’ll need to develop strong research skills.
“As a law student, you will end up searching through volumes of case laws, statutes, books, journal articles and what not,” he writes. “Even though we do not have to go through the trouble of finding and reading hard-bound books in the library (as was done in the past, but thanks to technology!), you will have to anyway read up matter online and it can be stressful.”
The key to building research skills? Read, read, and read, he says.
“Read enough and you would know what keywords pertain to your research area and then you can very well use the resources in the library or online,” Dhiraj writes. “Do not base all your knowledge on one lengthy article you find; read extensively!”
Sources: CEOWORLD, US News