Yes, they're smart and some may even be right, but unless your professor puts her explicit seal of approval on a student's contribution to the discussion, it's most likely not worth a spot in your notes. DON'T write down what your fellow law students say.This, after all, is where learning takes place in law school, not simply from memorizing and regurgitating rules and laws. It can be tempting to transcribe lectures if you have the typing ability, but you'll be losing valuable time in which you should be engaging with the material and group discussion. This holds especially true if you're using a laptop. DON'T write down everything the professor says verbatim.If something is unclear either conceptually or factually, now is the time to clear it up either with your classmates in a study group or with the professor.ĭon't Do This When Taking Law School Notes DO review your notes after class to make sure you understand what you've recorded.Does he bring public policy into every discussion? Does he painstakingly parse words of statutes? When you find these themes, pay special attention and take particularly copious notes as to how the professor's reasoning is flowing this way you know what questions to prepare for both for lectures and exams. DO take note of recurring themes in your professor's lectures.These things may be difficult to pinpoint at first, but you'll get better at this as your law school years go on.
DO write down important concepts, rules of law, and lines of reasoning.As the semester wears on, you should see the two increasingly converging if not, you're probably not picking up important concepts and what your professors want you to focus on, so get thee to office hours! Whether you do the classic case brief or something more free-flowing and whether you're using computer software or handwritten notes, use a different color or entirely different pages to separate class notes from your personal notes.
DO consider preparing your own notes before class.The link section below has some reviews of note taking software if you need a starting point. Try some out early on in the semester, but decide quickly which one suits your learning style best and then keep going with it. There are now lots of options for law school note taking from software programs to the good old paper and pen method.
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