[GUIDE] Law School 101 For Freshmen —

On Practical Matters, Mindset, Reading

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Preface
Hi, everyone. I noticed that there’s a lot of incoming freshmen here, and I just want to share my own
piece of advice to help y’all get started, or maybe even some current law students can pick up some
things from here.

There’s really no comprehensive guide on starting law school, you just kind of learn by trial and error.
But I don't think it's helpful for anyone. I don’t claim to be any better than anyone else, all I have is
my experience in going through the law school beast. For what it's worth I did consistently get in the
dean's list; so in the midst of my bar review I just wanted to share some things that I wish I knew
when I was a freshman. Paying it forward.

Just to preface, I am a firm believer that the high mortality rate from law school comes from the fact
that people fail to adjust well entering into their first semester. Because they don’t have any
guidance, they form bad study habits, and this leads to bad foundations. Then they think to
themselves that they're not putting in enough effort, they're not smart enough or they're just plainly
not a good fit for law school.

But that can’t be any further from the truth. More often than not, it’s just a lack of direction in how to
approach law school. Having said that, ANYONE CAN DO WELL IN LAW SCHOOL IF THEY HAVE THE
RIGHT DIRECTION. Yup, you heard that right. ANYONE.

So in this guide, I wanted to address two foundational aspects must be considered to do well in law
school: (i) The practical aspect; and (ii) The mental aspect (mindset) that you need to excel.

A. Practical aspect:
So, you decided to enter the beast. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that the law is a great
equalizer – everyone starts from scratch. You’ve heard the anecdotes where people say “oh, this
guy was summa cum laude in college but didn’t do well in law school”, or “I was just average in
college but was consistent DL in law school”. Have you ever wondered why that is? Law school
isn’t exactly computer science, theoretical physics, chemistry, or any of those complex subjects
where the information just seems IMPOSSIBLE to understand. It’s all taught in plain English.
Do you think that people just suddenly lose all their intelligence when they entered into law
school?
So what makes it so hard? It’s actually NOT because it’s harder as a subject per se, but because
doing well entails an entirely DIFFERENT sets of skills than what you are used to. In college,
you are used to being given X readings then tested on how well you memorized key details (i.e,
history class), or how creative you can be in writing an essay given what you learned in lectures
(i.e, literature or other research classes), or being able to apply technical formulas in equations
(i.e, accounting, mathematics, or finance classes).
But that doesn’t really all translate right? In law, you are not rewarded for your rote
memorization without knowing how to apply it, nor how to write flowery essays, nor solving
technical equations. BUT ONLY TWO THINGS: (i) speaking well; and (ii) writing well. In law
school, there’s a third aspect to it – (iii) information intake, or as I call it, learning well. You
need to learn, but most of all you need to LEARN HOW TO LEARN. These are skills that you
might not have the opportunity of training in college, but these are important things that you
need to thrive in law school. Those who learn it the fastest will easily find themselves at the top.

A.1. Information intake.

The first thing that you need to get is knowledge. You need information. You can't recite, and
you can't answer exams if you don't know the law. So there are three main sources of
information that you need to wrap your head around: cases, codals, and commentaries.
 READING CASES. Case assignments will be a constant throughout your law stay, and
they are there for a reason. Cases are the lifeblood of learning the law, they not only give
you doctrines to use in solving problems, but the SC always gives a master class on the
underlying principles behind the rationale of the law.
o Read cases in the originals. It’s easy to say that the law says X. But it won’t
stick to your mind unless you know WHY the law is that way. When you know
that WHY, no matter what kahit anong bali-baliktarin pa yan na problem, you
would always know the answer because you know if your answer will be
fulfilling that underlying rationale – rather than just reading one bullet point in a
textbook/reviewer.
o Start slow. Learning the law is like learning a new language. As I said in another
thread, reading cases in the originals is like exercising a muscle. Hard at first, but
it gets easier the more that you do it. You just really need to take your time. At the
end of the day, REMEMBER — it is plain English. If case is hard to read, start
with one paragraph. If that paragraph is too hard, do one sentence. If one sentence
is hard to read, do one word. If one word is hard, you have Google, ChatGPT,
whatever at your disposal. The point is, you need to take your time in reading
cases.
o Cultivate discipline. The more you read in the originals, the better AND faster
you will be. The better you are, the more comfortable you are with it. And with
comfort comes discipline. When you cultivate that discipline of reading cases in
the originals, what you learn in law school will be 10x deeper than if you just read
bullet points off of a reviewer. So don't fret if it takes you 20 minutes just to read
a single case, do it often enough then you can eventually do it in 10. But you have
to put in the work to get better at it.
 o Always look at the big picture. Use the syllabus as your guide. Your professor
put it there for a reason. What is this case trying to teach you in relation to the
overall topic? Where does this case fit in? It seems similar to the previous case?
Find out what makes this different. Treat the SC decisions as how you would treat
a textbook.
o For more, will post a comment on the anatomy of a case to get you started
 CODALS AND MEMORY WORK. There’s no going around it, law school requires
memorization. Elements of a crime, exceptions to the general rule, enumerations for
jurisdiction, etc. Be comfortable with memorizing.
o TIP: Memorize when you're tired. This came from a professor. It might sound
absurd, right? Memorizing when you’re tired? But the logic behind that is that
reading cases takes ENERGY – you need to analyze, you need to filter
information, and when you’re tired you can be reading the same paragraph 10x
and not retain anything. BUT when you’re memorizing, it’s a matter of muscle
memory. You just need to say it over and over again, write it over and over again,
spaced repetition and what have you. It’s actually a lot more straightforward
compared to reading cases if you think about it.
o Memorize with understanding. For codals, it’s often a lot more efficient to just
memorize the ones that are often asked in exams, then just familiarize yourself
with the rest. That will get you by. Know that you brain has limits, and it is very
impractical if not outright wrong to memorize your codals from chronological
order verbatim. In other words, be smart with what you learn.
o Do not lose sight of the forest for the trees. Credits to my Oblicon professor. Do
not read anything in isolation, but as you read make it form part of a bigger
mental picture that involves everything that you have learned in the subject.
Memorize with purpose.
o Explore memory techniques. Different things work for everyone. Spaced
repetition, mnemonics, mnemonic pegs, writing stuff down, etc. are all some of
the techniques I've used throughout the years. Some people also like to make
memory aid reviewers with just the essentials (elements, requisites,
enumerations). I found that Anki works great as well, if you know how to use it
effectively. Find what works best for you. (See: Unlimited Memory by Kevin
Horsley to understand how memory works, and how you can use different
techniques to your advantage.)
 READING COMMENTARIES. Commentaries help you consolidate the law in relation
to the cases you've read. People often make this mistake that in reading commentaries,
it’s about sitting for 2 hours and saying “oh, I finished 100 pages. I must have learned
the material!” News flash: No, you didn’t. You just highlighted everything. Close your
book, test yourself, what is everything I learned? Chances are, when you start discussing
to yourself, you will notice that there are memory gaps. You might have understood that
information at the time, but do you have the capacity to remember it when it matters?
o KEY ADVICE: Information intake is a completely different skill from
information recall. So how do you learn the material without it drifting away the
moment the book closes? First of all, actively take notes. Do not just highlight.
Highlighting tricks you into thinking that you know the material. Whereas if you
 take notes in the book, you would be FORCED to summarize to yourself what
you just read.
o Test yourself. Do not just take what you read for granted. Ask things like: “Why
does it say in this case that ________, but on the other example it says the
complete opposite? What could be different? “; “What if X fact changed, would
the answer have been different?”
o The difference. You see, in the first mindless way of reading books, you would
just have a sense of accomplishment without actually learning anything (aka
"pseudo-studying"). Whereas if you’re actually actively reading, you train your
brain to have better skills to deal with hypothetical problems come exam time.

A.2. Speaking well.

The bad news: recitation is a major part of your law school journey.
The good news: Speaking well is a skill that can be trained.
 Be deliberate in how you speak. You will be reciting cases for the next four years, so
the best thing you can do is to practice it early on. No winging it. No rambling endlessly
either. Make one step flow from the next. Make it easy for your professor to understand
you.
 Teaching mindset. The mindset here is that, in most classes your professor won’t
lecture, they will simply say, “(Your last name), next case”. You know why they don’t
teach? Because in class, YOU are expected to be the teacher. Fill that role and I promise,
you’ll get higher grades than your blockmates. And the best way to teach is to have
structure.
 KEY TIP: So always flag the parts of your recitation. I recommend the following: (i)
Sir, in the case of X, the facts are _________. (ii) So the issue here is / The problem here
is that ____________. (iii) Therefore, the Court ruled that ___________.
o Fill those up, you have a pretty good recit, probably you’ll get a base line of
around 80-85.
 Want to do better? Stand out. Bibo as it is, professors would appreciate it if you add
input to the lesson, saying something like “In relation to our lesson _____________”,
or “This case is important because ____________”. No one else does that and it makes
you sound like you’re looking at the big picture. I did this and averaged the highest in our
Consti class for recit under a pretty terror professor.
o If you professor gives you a hypothetical, do the ALAC method even.
Answer: "(Yes/No), (Sir/Ma’am). According to the (codal/case/law), (summarize
the rule). So in this case _________."
 Have a system. A lot of people struggle when there are so many cases assigned in a
single meeting, but a system will get you through it. Please, do not mindlessly try to
memorize a 20-page case from start to finish. That's a waste of brain space and will drive
you insane.
o Sample routine. What I do is that I read the originals, I simultaneously have a
printed out copy of the digest in front of me. The digest is what I put my notes on
and what I bring to class.
 The trick here is knowing that in reciting a case, you only need to know
the gist of it to “kwento” it in your own words. That’s why it’s important
 to read in the originals because you’ll understand the story more. That’s
what I use my long-term memory for.
 But I still need to sprinkle it with some specific details, so at the same
time, I utilize my short-term memory by putting in the key-terms (e.g., key
concepts, enumerations, requisites, names of the parties, sometimes dates
for pogi points lol) and simpler notes at the margins of my digest.
 So what happens is 1-2 minutes before reciting, all I review are those very
short notes instead of panicking through a 20-page original text or even a
3-page digest.
 Long-term memory (understanding the case enough to make a story)
+ Short term memory (quick details and key terms to review) = Good
case recit.
 Practice, practice, practice. Especially early on, be comfortable with reciting cases.
Practice in front of a mirror. Try to see if you can finish a case in the format I mentioned
earlier. Are you satisfied? Think it deserves a 90? No? Get better at it. Because if you
can't perform well at home alone when nobody is watching with a freshly read case, then
what hope do you have of doing well in the classroom?

A.3. Writing well.

This is your game time. Exams. The first thing you need to understand is just like how
information intake is different from recall, exam-taking is another skill. You may think that you
learned the material, but can you actually bring out that knowledge when you're confronted with
a problem? The only way to prepare is to identify exam-taking as another distinct skill that you
need to train separately.
 Again: Practice, practice, practice. As always, there is no way around it. You don't
learn issue spotting, for example, from your cases and commentaries. Think of it like
swimming. You can read as many books as you want on swimming, but the only way to
get better at it is actually doing it. By way of analogy, in basketball if you want to get
better at your shooting accuracy, you have to perfect your free throws. So do everything
you can to practice your exam-taking skills: samplexes, bar questions, anything humanly
possible that tests your APPLICATION of the law.
o Learn from others. Often times I look at a past exam question and think, this is
impossible to answer. Then I see how another student got full points and realize
that the answer isn't as complicated as it might seem. So I try to reverse engineer
that and re-assess how I can approach the question. Same goes with Past Bar
Q&As.
 KEY TIP: Always strategize. Even before you start your exam grind, learn what kind of
questions your professor likes. It’s like Pokemon, you don’t go to a rock type gym just
bringing your Pikachu (Hello, Pokemon Yellow). What are the common topics that come
up? Make a survey of the things that he usually asks and what kind of questions –
straightforward, objective, issue spotting based, MCQ, jurisprudence, codal? This will
guide you into your review.
o It’s all about the 20/80 principle. Roughly 80% of results come from 20% of
causes. It’s impossible for example to learn everything humanly possible for
Consti, but 80% of the questions will just revolve around the same topics that
come up every year because those are the most important topics. The remaining
 20% are curveballs so just familiarize yourself with the rest. Stated otherwise,
80% of your effort should be put in the top 20% of topics. Important thing is that
you do not use the samplex to memorize the answers, but use it to strategize well
— what are you knowledge gaps? what do you need to learn? how do other
people approach this problem? ultimately, how should you allocate your effort?
 Master the ALAC method. It’s there for a reason. Don’t try to deviate. Why? Because it
gives your professor all the things he needs in order to know your answer, and it is a very
logical process. But most people don’t know how to use the ALAC method to their
advantage. Let me illustrate:
o A — Answer. “Yes/no”; “Bob is correct”; “No, the petition is unmeritorious”.
Just be responsive to the question. Basic, but essential. If you’re answering the
wrong question, then you won’t get the points.
o L — Legal basis. Do not try to be fancy if you’re unsure of the case or codal.
Start with “According to the law”, “The law provides that”, “Jurisprudence
provides that”, or “Under the Revised Penal Code”. Then mention the rule.
 KEY TIP: You do not have to do this verbatim! You can summarize
the rule in your own words! Just take note of the key terms or as a
professor calls it, "buzz words". The beauty of it is that once you master
structuring the rule in your own words, you can answer any exam question
even if you don’t know the law. The question asks, is X correct? Don’t
know the answer? Make up a rule! “X is correct. The law/jurisprudence
provides that when a person does so and so, such is prohibited/allowed,
provided that ___________.” (Jurisprudence is usually safe because your
professor doesn't know what you're talking about with the thousands of
cases out there, don't quote me on this though lol).
 Mortal sin: Do not leave blanks. So many people fail by leaving blanks
when they don’t know the answer when they can just as easily come up
with a rule and have a 50-50 chance for getting a lucky answer, or worse
come to worst, at least getting partial points. Some professors don't like
failing, but giving them a blank answer is pretty much asking for it since
there is zero basis for points.
o A — Application. Be specific with your facts. Just apply the rule! The law says
this, so what? The law doesn't matter if it is not applicable to your case. Then you
have to say, okay so let’s apply this rule in this case. “Here, (X did so and
so)/(ABC happened)” then make the situation fit under the legal rule that you just
laid down. Try to use the same phrasing that the question uses for the facts, as if
straight up copy pasting key phrases.
o C — Conclusion. It’s really just a summary, or even just reiterate the answer.
Start with “Therefore,…” or “Hence,…”. And then just say “...because ABC
happened, (this situation is clearly prohibited by law)/(this is a void
contract)/(anything else that answers the initial exam question)".
 Be in peak condition when you take the exams. Just my personal style, but I never do
an all-nighter before an exam. Give your brain time to breathe. Because you don't want to
be overloaded with crammed information hours before the exam.
o First of all, you will panic because all the new info in a short span of time will
confuse you.
 o Secondly, there's a very high chance that you get mental block because your brain
is fried.
o My personal routine is to aim to stop studying 10 hours before the exam, get
enough sleep, and exercise in the morning. I would much rather lose X amount of
pages of reading books than lose hours of good sleep. Why? Because as long as I
can think straight, I can come up with an answer even if I did not finish the
material. I trust that I did my daily grind well enough to think logically through
the problem. Whereas if I do an all nighter, with my groggy state all that
knowledge goes out the window and I'll be fighting just to think of anything. Do
not underestimate the power of a calm mind.
 You do not need to know everything, you only need to know one question at a
time. People worry a lot about not knowing X and Y a few hours before the exam. But
trust me, 95% of the things you worry about in last minute review won't come up in the
exam. Trust in the popcorn effect, it is a leap of faith. But know that you did the work
throughout the semester.
o Trust that the answer will come when you see the question — like popcorn
cooking and popping inside your brain. Remember what I said earlier about
reading the cases in the originals and how it pays off. You might not remember
the words but the logic will stay.
o So breathe. There is no need to cram. It's not worth losing your composure. Focus
on relaxing and take the exam with a fresh mind.

B. Performance mindset.
1. Doing well in law school is not about intelligence, it is about PERFORMANCE. If
you noticed on how I approached the practical skills section, there’s one thing in common
– they are all TRAINABLE. These are all skills that do not take 200 IQ to learn, it’s not
rocket science, and it is something that anyone can work on. Sometimes it’s hard because
people put in the effort but they do not know where to put it towards. But if you have
these concrete sets of skills that you know you need to perform in, you can always look
towards that goal.
2. On burnout: Fatigue management is one of the most important things that you have
to learn. It really is a marathon, not a race. The daily grind is not really so bad, only a
few hours each day maybe. But consider the fact that you will do this for months on end
– everyday being a chance for recitation. It’s kind of like the metaphor of the rock being
withered down by water. Hard at first, but gets taken down by time. If you don’t give
your body time to rest, your body will do it for you. Trust me, you do not want to be at
that point. Because the worst that can happen is that it’s in the middle of the semester,
you’re completely sleep deprived, you still have cases to read, and you are at zero
motivation with brain fog for weeks. That will kill you both academically and physically.
3. On sleep: Sleep is important. Do not fall into the habit that in order to be a good
student, you need to give up on sleep. Study in the morning if you can, just purely
anecdotal but most of the people who topped my class I noticed were morning people and
slept early. My theory is that it has something to do with the lack of disturbance in the
morning / having a natural nocturnal cycle. Case in point: notice how after a long day you
can be reading a paragraph 10x and not absorb anything, but the next morning you only
 needed one read to understand the entire thing. There’s also physiological effects of
tiredness/fatigue buildup in your system that you can only flush away with sleep. Hence,
why stay up all night for 5 cases when you can do 10 cases half the time in the morning?
It’s not only good for you but efficient as well.
4. On goals: Do not aim to “not fail” — aim to do well. If you’re only aiming to pass, you
will study just enough to hope for a 75. But if you’re aiming for the top, then even your
worst case scenario will still be a passing mark. Your goals define your habits. If your
battlefield is at the top, then even failing means still passing. On the other hand slipping
up when you’re aiming for a 75 could mean the end of your law school journey before
you know it. You owe it yourself to live up a higher standard.
5. On anxiety: Anxiety will always be there. But there’s a secret that a professor taught
me once: Anxious? That’s normal. But the only cure for that is understanding. Perfect
understanding. Because when you understand something perfectly, no matter how your
professor twists the question, you answer will always be the same. So aim to understand
everything perfectly. The other thing is to replace anxiety with excitement. The professor
giving a hard case for recitation? No one can answer the question? Be excited because
you perfectly understand the case and you can show what you learned. Let the prospect of
success overcome the fear of failure.
6. On failure: Advice on processing failure. Do not let failure define you. No, I’m not
saying this as some thoughtcatalog bullshit that is just meant to soften the blow. Shit
happens. It’s easy to fail for the stupidest of reasons. Know that since law school is about
strategizing and performance, failing just means that you did something wrong and you
can always fix it. Maybe nagkamaling diskarte ka lang, mali yung approach for the exam
since you studied codals and your prof asks cases. Do not make the mistake of thinking
that it has to do with intelligence. Again, it’s all about performance. You lose when you
take failure personally. Learn from it, adjust, and try again. Take it from me, I nearly
failed one subject in first year by a THIN margin, re-calibrated myself and have been
consistently topping the dean’s list ever since. Not saying this to brag but just to prove a
point that the next recit, the next exam, will always be a clean slate. So don’t waste time
doubting yourself and just perform better. (See: The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy
Gallwey)
7. Active learning. I’ve touched on this before, but I’ll say it again: do not settle for blindly
highlighting your materials! Always ask yourself again, challenge yourself. It’s easy to
read cases and know the rulings. But you know what’s hard? When you’re confronted
with a brand new case in the exam. Question the decisions! What if this happened
instead, what would have happened? The court says that this is a principle, but how about
in this absurd situation would it still apply? Test the logic to the limits. And again, recall
is a VERY different skill from absorption. Train yourself to always test information that
you read. Better yet if you have friends from the block, make it a habit to bounce
questions around each other. You benefit from both teaching and answering questions
because you develop the habit of explaining things in an understandable way.
8. Have a good support system. Be kind. Being a self-made person is nothing more than a
delusion. We all survive law school together. Share your reviewers. Why? Because even
if it doesn’t benefit you at that time, you support creating a culture of people helping each
other. This will define how your professors see your block. They kind of get a vibe for it.
 But on a more human level, you’ll be here for 4 years, try to make it a nice place to be for
everyone around you. You don’t get higher by dragging others down.

C. Reading Recommendations.

I’ve seen a lot of people ask for reading recommendations. These are just some mindset (non
law-related) books that I think people should read prior to entering law school and even the legal
profession.

1. The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success by Albert-László Barabási. Get out the
notion that success is only attainable by the chosen few. Know what it actually takes to
be successful, and how to interpret “failure”.
2. The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak
Performance by W. Timothy Gallwey. A must read for learning how to perform well in
general, knowing that too much effort can also be detrimental, and knowing how not to
beat yourself up for mistakes will actually make you a better law student.
3. Unlimited Memory by Kevin Horsley. More of a practical book. Started this in 4th year
only when I realized that my memory game needed to be in shape for Bar review. But
man, I do wish I read this earlier. It was game changing – knowing that rote
memorization isn’t the only way to remember things. Using visualization and imagination
made things so much easier for me it’s honestly crazy.
4. The Bramble Bush: On Our Law and Its Study by Karl Llewellyn. Hard read, but an
inspirational one. I read this before entering law school, I suggest at least reading the first
few chapters. Helps you romanticize what really you are studying the law for. At the
same time, it gets you prepared for reading difficult things.
5. Deep Work by Cal Newport. Helps you learn the value of focused work, deep study, in
a very distracted world.
6. Study Tips from Dr. K, 2.5 GPA to Medical School to Harvard Residency | Dr. K
Explains. HIGHLY recommend. Teaches everything about study habits -- the scientific
process of learning, the importance of sleep, and how you can use it to your advantage.
7. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma. It's about a superstar lawyer who
had a near-fatal heart attack in the midst of his career, eventually realizing that there is
more to life than just work and getting burnt out. I'm sure a lot of people will relate.
Teaches you how to approach the law with passion rather than suffering.

That’s it! I wish you all the best of luck, and feel free to message if you have anything on your
mind. I’m sure there’s a couple more things that I want to add, especially for mindset, but it’s
4:30 am and my brain is not braining anymore.

Again, just paying it forward, I just hope that this helps at least one person fulfill their dreams of
becoming a lawyer in the future.

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." - Edmund Hillary

Edit: Updated formatting for easier read.
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