The Summer Before 1L: What to Do (and What to Skip)

Do one thing the summer before 1L: set up your life so you can treat the first six weeks like a full-contact sport. That means logistics first (housing, commute, laptop, quiet study setup, health stuff, budgeting), a calendar that actually reflects reality, and a simple system for tasks, notes, and email so you don’t leak hours once classes start. Then read exactly what your school tells you to read, if anything, and stop. The classic trap is “pre-studying” contracts or torts to feel responsible; you end up learning a version of the game you won’t be graded on, and you arrive tired and weirdly overconfident, which is a dangerous combo.

Skip the outline arms race and do a different kind of prep: performance prep. Ask yourself a blunt question: when stress hits, do you go rigid and perfectionist, or do you go avoidant and scroll your life away? If you’re the rigid type, your summer job is practicing “good enough” reps: short, daily work blocks, a hard stop time, and a hobby that forces you to be bad at something on purpose. If you’re the avoidant type, your job is building frictionless routines: same wake time, same study location, meals you can repeat, and a weekly reset ritual. Law school doesn’t reward who “knows the most” in August; it rewards who can execute cleanly when everyone else is melting.