My Summer Before 1L Year

“Case brief, IRAC, outline, hornbooks…what the heck are you talking about?” This is a pretty typical reaction for most people entering law school; it certainly was for me. I had learned some jargon from attorneys at work and I had found some surprisingly helpful YouTube videos about case briefing, but I had never actually understood, let alone practiced these skills before. It was therefore only natural that I enrolled in Loyola’s Summer Institute (“S.I.”) program to start that almighty task of learning to “think like a lawyer” and, more basically, to learn what the heck I was supposed to do once classes started. I discovered, however, that the true value of S.I. is in learning about your class and your Loyola support system.

From the start, it was clear that all of the professors who ran the S.I. program were going to be wonderful people. Everyone was exceedingly positive, informative and supportive. On top of that, one of the first assignments was to “get to know your class.” We were to talk to anyone and everyone before, during and after every class. Before we ever even looked at a case, the top priority was clearly to start our legal network. This was not the kind of assignment that I was expecting right out of the gate, but in retrospect, it makes sense.

The practice of law is social and referral-based, but more importantly, it is just plain hard. You WILL need help. There is an understandable tendency at the outset to focus on facts, jargon, and study tricks. The skills are important and (I’m told) they will come with time, but if you want to know what the heck you are supposed to do once you start law school, start by being open and sociable.