Letters to a Law Student: A guide to studying law at university

Product Information

Trytokeepcasesinmindasyougoalong.Becauseit'sarightpainhavingtomemorisethemallatoncewiththepressureofloomingexams. Letters to a Law Student is essential reading for anyone who is doing, or thinking about doing, a law degree at university. Written in a lively and entertaining style, this book offers clear and helpful answers to your questions about studying law, including:

This book really opened up some questions in my mind that I wish could have been answered. The biggest one I still have would be “how long does it take to master these skills?” I found Letters to a Law Student very useful in helping me decide that I wanted to study law, and helping me to make a successful application; I still have a copy sitting on my bookshelf in case I need to turn to it again.

My Book Notes

Law is a more personally transformative subject than any other you can study at university. Studying law properly - leaves its mark on you. You leave university able to think more clearly, argue more effectively, reason more carefully and with greater insight than you could ever do when you were at school.” Forinstancethelecture/readingbalancewillvarydependingonyourcourse,obviouslyatOxfordyou'llbedoingalotmoreself-studyduetohavinglesshoursoftuitionandamoredemandingworkload.Itwillalsodependonhowhighyouraspirationsare.Noteverybodywantstoputtheworkinforafirstandsowillprobablybedoinglessreadingthanthosewhodo. Having confirmed that Law would be a suitable path to pursue, the second section provided useful guidance relating to how to make a successful application. One of the letters gives advice on how to interview well, another on the common traps to avoid in your application, and another on the LNAT (the compulsory admissions test for law at Oxford and a handful of other universities).

All of this helpful information ensured I felt equipped with the essential preparatory knowledge I would need to successfully stay afloat and swim through the next few years of my legal studies. Something I deal with is burnout. It has hit me hard at times when2 I push and pushes meanwhile that light and spark slowly begin to fade. Something I know I am likely to face in law school is exactly this. Many studies, articles, and polls have proven that law school students are at high risk for depression and other mental issues. - The stress, work, competition, and idea of perfectionism are detrimental. Thus, I knew that it was perfect for me to hear out what Mcbride had to say on this matter. Law isn’t for everyone. But as a subject for study, I think it’s tough to find another that is as fascinating, as significant, and as transformative as law is.” As you can see, Nicholas Mcbride is an intelligent man and his book has greatly impacted lives, saved grades, rescued many from endless stress, and helped many improve not only how they work in school, but also, at work!

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Letters to a Law Student relays all that a prospective law student needs to know before embarking on their studies. It provides a useful guide to those considering a law degree or conversion course and helps students prepare for what can be a daunting first year of study. I was recommended Letters to a Law Student by one of my friends who was, at the time, studying law themselves. They suggested that the book would be useful for anyone thinking about doing a Law degree. Studying law at university requires you to make much more of an effort to acquire more in the way of general culture than you would have to if you were studying, say, mathematics or classics.” Learn the skills it takes to succeed as a law graduate with this essential text. Letters to a Law Student, 5th edition, Global Edition by Nicholas J McBride, provides a thorough introductory guide to higher education and learning context for law studies. Voted in the top 6 books that future law students should read, it is an approachable and easy-to-follow guidebook. The text flows as a series of letters between a lecturer and aspiring student, divided into chronological parts from thinking about a law degree to preparing to study law, studying law, writing like a lawyer, and thinking about the future. how to acquire the necessary skills and develop the fundamental qualities to make a good law student

Mcbride pushes out the advice stating that you can’t overwork yourself. You have to take the occasional break and watch out for yourself; or else, you end up in a really bad situation where your work will inevitably decrease in excellence and everything will be so much harder on you. However, while he does express the importance of breaks, he still values focus. “Any student who is restless and easily distracted will tend not to do very well in studying law.” It is well written, readable and wholly absorbing…My only regret is that this book of letters was not available to me when I was a student. Nicholas Mcbride is a professor, lawyer, and author in the United Kingdom. He has published over five books and all of which teach other aspects of law and advice. He is very well known for his excellent teachings and most for his book, Letters to a Law Student. In fact, in an article called mcbridesguides, there are many testimonials in comment sections where people have noted the extraordinary ways Mcbride has affected their lives. A few examples are: “Never felt more confident after reading your book many thanks. A wealth of information that will be useful to any nervous potential law student”, “Read your book and I don’t think I will ever find a comparable and avid teacher and author in one”, and “This book is a classic and should be required reading for any high school senior or college freshman – and not just academically but even for how to live a good life.”To do well as a law student you need to feel driven not to approach the subject superficially, but to try to achieve a very detailed understanding of the law. In other words, you need to feel curious about the law.” To lightly touch on this, Nicholas Mcbride included many extra details in the book that gave you a few extra tips on how you can succeed in law school and outside of it. I appreciated these extra touches of advice! While I learned many things, these were definitely my top, selected few. Ipersonallywouldn'tdreamofhavinga"studygroup"becauseIknowitwouldn'thelpmeintheslightest.Iworkbestbymyself.

Rewritingscruffynotes...Iwouldimaginethat'slesstodowithreassociatingyourselfwiththemandmoretodowithmakingsurethatthey'reactuallylegiblewhenit'stimeforrevision!!Again,thisprobablywouldn'thelpmebecauseI'mquitecapableofcopyingoutvastquantitiesoftextwithoutactuallytakinganythingin. What makes McBride’s book sparkle is the innovative way that he uses imagery to turn the seemingly daunting task of studying law into a fun and thought-provoking experience. Interestingly, he explains how studying law ‘is very much like flying a helicopter’ , how ‘reading cases is a bit like riding a bike ’ and teaches readers about the sources of English law by telling us to ‘imagine…standing on a riverbank, watching the river flow by. The river is English law .’ And if you are not already besotted with the exhilaration of studying law for the next three years, reading Letters to a Law Student will certainly have you feeling that way! Nicholas McBride gives succinct advice suggesting students ought to ‘imagine law is a person…[and] manage to “fall in love” with law’ . Pearson has published the third editions of Letters to a Law Student by Nicholas McBride and Jason Varuhas. Immediately, the first thing I noticed when reading the book was the cover image; it happens to feature a young woman walking towards the end of a jetty looking out onto what appears to be an ocean or great sea, before a great horizon. About to become a law student myself, I held the book in my hand and I felt just how strongly I could relate to that image, nearing the end of a pathway of sixth form studies staring out into the expansive open ocean that would soon become my future in legal studies. Doing well in studying law shouldn’t be beyond anyone; whether someone does well or not depends in whether they want to become the sort of person who can do well at law.”

Letters to a Law Student

Some judges like to say that the most important person in court is the party who is going to lose. Every effort must be made to persuade him that his views have been listened to.”