You already know that if you want to be a lawyer, it’ll take hard work, dedication, and a lot of time in school. Having a great library of law-related books on hand can also help. If you’re headed off to law school soon, you should consider picking up some of these early favorites – we can almost guarantee you’ll need them at some point.
- “Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams”, by Richard Michael Fischl & Jeremy Paul. Law school exams can be notoriously brutal, and if the thought of them is stressing you out, get prepared by learning some strategies from this book before you head out to school.
- “Reading Like a Lawyer: Time-Saving Strategies for Reading Law Like an Expert”, by Ruth Ann McKinney. You’ll be combing through law cases pretty quickly once you get into law school. This book has plenty of great examples and explanations that will help you get comfortable with the style of your future reading material.
- “One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School”, by Scott Turow. The legal education system may have changed since this book was published in 1977, but it’s still a very influential memoir about life at law school.
- “The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style”, by Bryan A. Garner, Jeff Newman, & Tiger Jackson. This extremely helpful book functions as part legal dictionary, part writing style manual. It’s an invaluable tool for the many papers you will have to write throughout your academic years.
- “24 Hours with 24 Lawyers: Profiles of Traditional and Non-Traditional Careers”, by Jasper Kim. This book features interviews with lawyers practicing all different kinds of law, giving an insight into their day-to-day lives. This is a helpful resource for anyone trying to figure out what they would actually want to do with their law degree.
- “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving”, by Roger Fisher. Negotiating is a skill that sometimes doesn’t get as much attention in law school, making this book a great resource. It teaches you the great tactics of negotiation – a skill that can make any lawyer more successful.
- “Thrive: A New Lawyer’s Guide to Law Firm Practice”, by Desiree Moore. While you may not actually use the information this book until you graduate and start working in a law firm, it never hurts to be prepared for what you may experience your first year working.
- “The Legal Analyst: A Toolkit for Thinking about the Law”, by Ward Farnsworth. A good legal mind knows how to analyze the facts logically, and Farnsworth’s book offers an excellent overview of how exactly to do that.
- “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges”, by Antonin Scalia and Bryan Garner. This book, co-written by a lawyer and a Supreme Court justice, is packed full of 115 practical rules that tell you how to make a case that a judge will listen to.
- “MacCarthy on Cross-Examination”, by Terence F. MacCarthy. As the title implies, this book deals specifically with cross-examination, a skill every good lawyer should master. MacCarthy’s workshops on cross-examination techniques are renowned, and here he compiles that same advice into a practical, easy-to-understand volume that every law student will want to read.