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Pre-1L Guides

Summer Before Law School

Month-by-month plan from May through August. The high-ROI activities, the wastes of time, and the rest you actually need before 1L starts.

Last updated: June 2026.

Month-by-Month Plan

Each month has one main focus and a short do/skip list. Don't try to do everything; do this month's thing well.

May

— Finalize the school and the money.

Do

  • Send seat deposit if you haven't.
  • Sign up for orientation and 1L registration.
  • Apply for federal financial aid (Direct + Grad PLUS if needed).
  • Compare scholarship offers and read every stipulation in writing.
  • Build a real cost-of-attendance budget including bar prep + foregone earnings.
  • Take a real break from law-related thinking after admissions.

Skip

  • Reading casebooks. Stop.
  • Buying supplements (E&E, Glannon, Quimbee). Wait until October.
  • Optimizing your study system before you know your professors' style.
June

— Housing + logistics.

Do

  • Find housing close to campus. Sign a 12-month lease — you'll be on campus 60+ hours/week.
  • If career-changing, give notice or wind down your current job with a clean handover.
  • Read Getting to Maybe. Take notes — you'll re-read in October.
  • Read A Civil Action (or another narrative legal nonfiction) for context and motivation.
  • Get a routine physical, dental cleaning, and vision check. You won't have time in November.

Skip

  • Pre-briefing cases.
  • Reading hornbooks or Chemerinsky's treatise.
  • Joining too many pre-1L Facebook/Discord groups (they amplify anxiety).
July

— Equipment + mental shift.

Do

  • Buy your laptop (8+ hours real-world battery, comfortable keyboard, reliable Wi-Fi).
  • Test the exam software your school uses (ExamSoft is most common).
  • Set up your note-taking system — pick one and commit. Don't switch in September.
  • Start fixing your sleep schedule. Classes start 8-9am at most schools.
  • Read Law School Confidential or 1L of a Ride for context on the week-1 experience.
  • Plan one actual vacation or extended rest period. The semester will not have one.

Skip

  • Buying every supplement just to feel prepared.
  • Memorizing legal vocabulary lists.
  • Doom-scrolling Reddit threads about 1L horror stories.
August

— Final 2-3 weeks before classes.

Do

  • Skim the intro chapter of each assigned casebook — Civil Procedure, Contracts, Torts, Criminal Law, plus Property or Con Law depending on your curriculum.
  • Walk campus. Find your classrooms, the library, financial aid, the registrar.
  • Pre-cook 1-2 weeks of meals or set up a meal-prep rotation.
  • Confirm your laptop, Wi-Fi, exam software, and printer all work.
  • Get to orientation rested. Don't show up depleted.
  • Stop reading anything about how hard 1L is. The doom-content is unhelpful by August.

Skip

  • Long IRAC briefs of pre-assigned cases.
  • Buying anything else in panic.
  • Last-minute LSAT thinking — you've moved past it.

High-ROI Summer Activities

Ranked by what actually moves the needle on your 1L semester.

Reading Getting to Maybe

~10-12 hours

Direct framework for how 1L exams work. Most useful single resource in your entire summer.

Building a real financial plan (with cost calculator)

~2-3 hours

Saves you 6-12 months of avoidable financial stress during 1L.

Locking in housing within 20 min of campus

~10-20 hours of search

1-2 hours/day in saved commute over 9 months = 200+ hours of study or sleep.

Reading A Civil Action

~15-20 hours

Narrative context for Civil Procedure. Keeps motivation high.

Fixing sleep schedule

Behavioral change, not hours

Better cognition for the entire semester. Bigger than any pre-reading.

Setting up note-taking + exam software

~3-5 hours

Saves a panicked week-1 setup when you should be focused on cold-calls.

Skimming casebook intros (last 2 weeks)

~5-8 hours

Vocabulary acclimation. Your first cold-call won't blindside you.

Low-ROI Activities (Skip These)

Common “productive” summer prep that doesn't actually pay off.

✕ Reading all of Erwin Chemerinsky's Constitutional Law treatise

Excellent reference text. Wrong tool for pre-1L. You'll forget the substance by October and your professor will teach it differently.

✕ Briefing pre-assigned cases in long IRAC form

Builds the wrong habit. The skill is calibrated to your professor, not to your imagined version of the class.

✕ Memorizing Black's Law Dictionary terms

Vocabulary sticks in context. Memorizing definitions gives brittle knowledge that doesn't help on exams.

✕ Watching dozens of YouTube videos on Property or Torts

False mastery. Watching is passive. The active recall and outlining that actually drive grades don't happen until you have a real syllabus and professor.

✕ Buying every supplement (E&E, Glannon, Emanuel, Quimbee)

These are valuable in October for specific weak spots. Buying everything in June leads to opening none of them.

FAQ

What should I do the summer before law school?+
Focus on three things: (1) finances — build a real cost-of-attendance budget including bar prep and foregone earnings, (2) logistics — housing within 20 minutes of campus, laptop, note-taking system, sleep schedule, and (3) one or two books about how law school actually works (Getting to Maybe is the unanimous pick). Skip casebook pre-reading and supplements. Take real rest in July or early August. The summer is not for getting ahead on substance; it's for being prepared and rested when classes start.
Should I take a vacation the summer before 1L?+
Yes. The 1L semester does not have a real break — fall break is short, winter break is bar-applications-and-recovery, spring break is OCI prep. Take 1-2 weeks of genuine vacation in June or July. Don't read law during it. The students who burn out in November are often the ones who never had a real rest the summer before they started.
Should I work a job the summer before law school?+
Yes, if you need the money. Optimize for savings (you can't work much during 1L due to ABA Standard 304) and ideally a low-stress role that lets you rest. A pre-1L summer job won't help your law school grades or 2L OCI prospects — those depend on 1L grades. The value is purely financial. Take real time off in the last 2-3 weeks before orientation; arriving exhausted is worse than arriving with $2k less in savings.
Should I move to my law school city early?+
Yes, ideally 2-3 weeks before orientation. Moving the weekend before classes start is brutal and predictably leads to a chaotic first month. Use those weeks to learn the city, set up your apartment, walk campus, pre-cook meals, fix your sleep schedule, and confirm your routine. The students who arrive with their living situation already sorted out have a meaningful head start.
Is there any substantive law I should learn before 1L?+
Almost none. The only useful substantive prep is skimming the introduction chapter of each casebook in the final 2-3 weeks — just enough vocabulary so your first cold-call isn't a complete surprise. Beyond that, substantive prep produces low retention and often builds the wrong reading habits. Trust the professors to teach you the law. Your job is to show up ready to study; the prep is logistics and mindset.
Should I take an LSAT-style prep course for law school skills?+
Generally no. There are paid courses promising to teach 1L skills before law school starts (e.g., 'law school boot camps') — they're high-cost and most students report low ROI. The skills they teach (case briefing, outlining, IRAC) are taught in your legal writing class and your doctrinal courses. The exceptions might be career-changers far removed from academic writing or students who feel they need extreme structure — but most people get more value from Getting to Maybe ($25) than from a $2,000 boot camp.
Can I pre-meet my professors or attend a 1L class?+
Most schools won't allow you to sit in on 1L classes before orientation. You can usually attend the school's orientation events, which include faculty introductions. Some schools host pre-orientation programs for students from underrepresented backgrounds or career-changers — if your school offers one, attend. Otherwise, don't worry about meeting professors in advance; the relationships you build during the semester through class participation, office hours, and quality of your work matter much more than face time before classes start.

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