header-logo header-logo

Law school & the route to success

06 October 2023 / Mark Pawlowski
Issue: 8043 / Categories: Features , Profession
printer mail-detail
Mark Pawlowski provides some useful guidance on how to achieve success at law school

The first few weeks of law school are challenging for most students fresh from school or colleges. There is the inevitable challenge of locating lecture rooms, adapting to new styles of teaching and the expectations of tutors. There is also the awkwardness of meeting large numbers of new people and engaging in a variety of social events. Before a law student has time to adapt, they have to hit the ground running with large swathes of reading and class preparation. Much of this will be very unfamiliar. In writing this short piece, therefore, I decided to set out some helpful guidance on what the law student should aspire to in order to achieve success at law school.

Thinking ahead

A good opening strategy is to take your studies seriously and to plan ahead. In each law subject there exists, of course, no substitute for sound knowledge of the course material, so a student who hopes

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—Ed Williams

DWF—Ed Williams

Public sector disputes capability bolstered by partner hire in Leeds

Blake Morgan—Scott Hilton, Joan Yu & Melia Hirst

Blake Morgan—Scott Hilton, Joan Yu & Melia Hirst

Firm strengthens corporate, real estate and insolvency teams with partner trio

Seddons GSC—David Seal & Emma Clifford

Seddons GSC—David Seal & Emma Clifford

Consultant and solicitor join commercial real estate team

NEWS
Judging is ‘more intellectually demanding than any other role in public life’—and far messier than outsiders imagine. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC reflects on decades spent wrestling with unclear legislation, fragile precedent and human fallibility
The long-predicted death of the billable hour may finally be here—and this time, it’s armed with a scythe. In a sweeping critique of time-based billing, Ian McDougall, president of the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation, argues in this week's NLJ that artificial intelligence has made hourly charging ‘intellectually, commercially and ethically indefensible’
From fake authorities to rent reform, the civil courts have had a busy start to 2026. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold surveys a procedural landscape where guidance, discretion and discipline are all under strain
Fact-finding hearings remain a fault line in private family law. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors analyse recent appeals exposing the dangers of rushed or fragmented findings
As the Winter Olympics open in Milan and Cortina, legal disputes are once again being resolved almost as fast as the athletes compete. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Ian Blackshaw of Valloni Attorneys examines the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS's) ad hoc divisions, which can decide cases within 24 hours
back-to-top-scroll