Gavriel “Gavri” Schreiber is a current 3L at HLS. As a student who experienced a better-than-most virtual law school experience in the last months of the 2020 Spring semester, we asked him if he could provide some advice to 1Ls about how to make the most of a virtual experience.
The hardest part of my 1L year was the lack of feedback. With dense and unfamiliar material, no midterms or homework to track progress throughout the semester and a pedagogy premised on tripping up students with cold calls, 1L seems tailor-made to deny students a sense on how they are learning the material. Many of my 1L classmates looked elsewhere for feedback; they turned instead to casual conversations, professional networks and observation. However, those secondary metrics to evaluate 1L in real time will be more difficult to access during this remote semester. Below are seven lessons I learned during 1L that might be harder to learn over zoom but that you will learn nonetheless.
Lesson 1: Nobody knows how they are doing. Chatting over lunch with some of my most polished and articulate classmates, they would often confess being baffled by the day’s reading material. It reassured me to not be alone in my confusion. I can assure you that you will not be alone in yours.
Lesson 2: There are countless ways to stay on top of the material. Every class I could look down the row and see a half-dozen different note-taking strategies. I saw people excel using publicly available outlines, homemade case briefs, commercial study aides or highlighters and legal pads. There is no “silver bullet” or singular right answer to doing it right.
Lesson 3: Whatever got you here probably works, but it might need to be adapted. I have always worked best in the mornings. To stay on top of my 1L reading, I had to wake up earlier. When we went online, I found myself missing the fresh air and light exercise of my walk to campus, so I made sure to take a walk before and after every zoom class. Stick to what works for you but don’t be afraid to make adjustments.
Lesson 4: Your most successful peers are taking care of their mental and physical health. I would often see my classmates heading to the gym right after class, socializing in the evenings or relaxing outside while eating a beautiful homemade salad. You are more than just a law student — take care of your whole self.
Lesson 5: Nobody notices — or cares — when you botch a cold call. I remember one specific cold call. It was early in the morning, I had read the material a few days prior and my professor was intense and intimidating. I floundered badly, and I spent the next hour feeling embarrassed. In the hall after class, I mentioned the awkward cold call to a few friends who had witnessed it only to discover they had all totally forgotten that I had even been cold called that class. Law school moves too fast for others to note your mistakes, so do not dwell on them.
Lesson 6: HLS has a million different opportunities. Campus usually teems with lunch events, speaker series and posters advertising student groups. I learned about the Harvard Law Review — my favorite community at HLS — when a friend dragged me to an information session. Even then I only tagged along for the free ice cream. This semester, you might have to make extra effort to find your HLS home, but do not let the opportunities pass you by.
Lesson 7: Grades might be an important metric by which to judge your law school success — but they probably are not. Only a sliver of legal careers require exceptional grades. I watched peers cry over their grades as 1Ls only to witness them find them unimportant come 2L and 3L. If you are unsure of what you want to do with your degree, odds are high that your transcript will not be the most important part of your job application. GPAs were a reasonable way to evaluate success in college, but HLS is different.
At its worst, 1L is like running a race in the dark: You do not know where you are going or how well you are doing, but you hear people scurrying all around. Do not let panic lead the way; take a breath and trust yourself. Three years from now you will cross the finish line with a shiny HLS diploma. The journey can be a pleasant one, if you let it be; I hope you get to enjoy it.