Law School Cheat Sheet: Terms to Know as a 1L - 3L

Whether you’re staring law school soon or are well into your journey as a law student, the new language of law school can be hard to tackle. In this blog post, we are giving you a quick cheat sheet to refer to the next time someone says a phrase that they assume you already know.

If we missed any, let us know! We’ll be updating this list as needed once we hear from you.


0L - 3L

Law school classes are referred to as the year they’re in and the letter L following it. A 1L is a first year law school student, and so on through 3L. 0L refers to an incoming law school applicant. 

ABA

The ABA is the American Bar Association. In the admissions process, you will likely hear schools referred to as “ABA-accredited.” Schools go through a process to insure national uniformity and quality in the legal education that they are providing. Once a school meets that standard, they become ABA-accredited. 

If you attend a school that is not ABA-accredited, it may impact your ability to sit for the bar exam in various states. Anyone who attended an ABA-accredited law school is eligible to sit for the bar exam in any state.

Associate

An attorney who works at a law firm or other professional organization. Associates do not have an ownership stake at employment 

Appellant

The person/party that is appealing to the higher court to reverse a lower court decision.

Appellee

The respondent (see below) in an appeals or appellate level case

Appellate court

The court for appeals. Basically any court that has power to hear a case that’s already been to trial or some other lower level court/tribunal. Like SCOTUS.

Bar

The professional governing body for lawyers in each state; also refers to the exam you must pass to receive your license to practice law.

Bar Exam

See “Bar”

Black’s Law Dictionary

A legal dictionary. You should always look up legal terms using a legal dictionary versus a normal dictionary, as sometimes the terms will have different meanings. Any trustworthy legal dictionary will suffice for this, it just so happens that “Black’s” is the most famous.

Bloomberg

A subscription service used for online legal research. 

Bluebook

(noun) The book of legal citation. You will need to purchase this book. Get the newest edition, things tend to change.

(verb: bluebook, bluebooking) The act of formally citing a case in your writing or checking the citations in a legal piece of writing.

Book brief

The lazy way to brief, usually involves highlights/underlining the relevant info and helpful margin notes. 

Brief

The “cheat sheet” for a case. Usually taught in 1L orientation, and contains the relevant information from a case (name/citation, facts of the case, issue, holding, reasoning, dissent/concurring opinions, analysis).

Case Brief

See “brief.”

Casebook

The books you will study in law school. They are very heavy, usually expensive, and full of the cases and extra info that you’ll be expected to discuss in class, 

Callback/Flyback

The in-depth interview(s) students have in an employer's office, generally after a preliminary screening interview/OCI with the employer.

Class Rank

Class rank reflects an individual's academic performance as compared to his/her classmates. Some schools have chosen not to rank all of their students. Even at schools that do not rank all students, those students earning various academic honors may well still be "ranked" in recognition of their academic achievements.

Clerking/Clerkship

The job title for someone that works for a judge. Usually a prestigious position, and a great first job after law school. 

Clinic

An experiential course (usually in 3L year) where you serve as a student attorney for real-life clients, under the supervision of either clinical faculty or current practitioners.

Cold Call

Often the scariest part of 1L year. When a prof calls on you with no warning or prep and proceeds to ask you every question they can think of about a case you were supposed to read prior to attending class. 

Con Law

Short for constitutional law. Usually a 1L class that covers law related to the constitution.

Concurrence/Concurring Opinion

An opinion that agrees with the majority opinion but does not agree with the rationale behind it.

Common Law

The body of law derived from cases, rather than a statute.

Crim/Crim Law

Criminal Law. Also usually a 1L class covering crimes. 

Defendant

The individual, company, or institution sued or accused in a court of law.

Dissent

When a judge refuses to agree with the official opinion and writes their own opinion 

E&E/Emanuel’s

Two widely used supplements. E&E or Examples and Explanations provides an alternative perspective to help you understand your casebook and in-class lectures using hypotheticals and detailed explanations. Emanuel’s covers a variety of supplements, most popularly their Law Outlines - a commercial guide keyed to many popular casebooks.

Fellowship

A program that matches law graduates with public service organizations or with law school programs. Fellowships are variously funded and very competitive and are usually for a prescribed number of years following graduation.

First-Generation

For law school students, first-generation students are defined as students whose parents did not complete a law degree. First-generation students are also sometimes referred to as “first in family.” You can find more on first-generation law school students here.

Hiring Attorney/Hiring Partner

The attorney/partner who is chair of a legal employer's Hiring Committee.

Holding

The court’s decision on a matter of law, sometimes called a judgment or a ruling.

Hornbook

A book containing an overview of a particular area of law.

Hypo

Short of hypothetical. Your professors will often give ‘hypos’, which are fictional scenarios, to help explain the law. In addition, your exams will consist of “hypos” you should answer. You might also hear others refer to “practice hypos”, which is one way of preparing for exams.

Informational Interviewing

A specialized form of networking in which a student/graduate takes 20 to 30 minutes to speak with a professional in a practice area or career in which they are interested.  Informational interviewing provides an opportunity to learn more about specific jobs and career paths, current developments in the industry, and other useful contacts.  The purpose of an informational interview is to gather information and make contacts, not to interview for a specific position. 

IRAC/CREAC

Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion OR Conclusion, Rule, Explanation, Application, Conclusion. These are the two most common formats for approaching a legal problem and the format you’ll use in your legal research and writing classes and/or your exams.

Judicial Externship/Internship

A judicial externship/internship is typically an unpaid summer or school term position for a law student working with a judge to gain experience with legal research and writing in state or federal court. 

K (Contracts)

Used to refer to the actual contract in a contracts course. 

Law Review/Law Journal

The legal publication(s) for a law school. Contains articles about legal things written by professors, practitioners, and sometimes even students. Often requires participation in a writing competition that takes place after you finish your last finals in your 1L year.

LexisNexis

A legal search database. You will likely have unlimited access to these as a student but they will cost money when you become a lawyer. 

Moot Court - A co-curricular activity (or academic course) for students interested in the principles of written and oral advocacy. Students represent either the plaintiff or defendant in writing briefs and presenting oral arguments in a mock oral argument/appellate advocacy setting.

OCI

OCI stands for On-Campus Interviewing/Interview. Once you are a student at a law school, you will have the opportunity to participate in OCI. Various law firms, government agencies, organizations, and corporations will visit law schools to perform interviews on campus for summer associate programs or regular hires. 

During the admissions process, we suggest looking into career services to see what companies typically do OCI there and what other support they offer. 

Outline

This is how you study for exams. It will become your most valuable piece of work the closer you get to finals. Will cover the high points and basics of everything you’ve learned over the semester.

Paralegal

An individual who has received either formal academic training or on-the-job training to assist lawyers with certain aspects of law practice. The responsibilities of paralegals vary from employer to employer.

Partner

A lawyer who has become an owner of the firm and is paid a percentage of the firm's profits that reflects the lawyer's contribution to the firm. Sometimes called a shareholder or equity member of the firm.

Petitioner

One who appeals a judgment.

Respondent

The party against whom an appeal is taken; appellee.

Reverse

When an appellate court overturns a lower court’s decision.

Remand

To remand is to send something back, typically meaning to reverse a previous legal decision and have the original court reevaluate the case

Statute/Statutory Law

Law passed by a legislative body. This is different from common law. Examples of this are the FRCP, UCC. And more.

Supplement

A supplement is a collection of books designed to help you understand the law. They are not case books. Your library will have more information on the various types of supplements, and what they are used for. 

Summer Associate

Law students employed as law clerks during the summer.

TWEN

The West Education Network. An online class platform for law school. 

UBE (Uniform Bar Exam)

See, Bar Exam. Only this time it can be used in a variety of states!

Westlaw

Thomson Reuters' electronic databases of cases, statutes, regulations, newspapers, journals, business magazines and other materials used by lawyers in doing legal and non-legal research. WESTLAW includes the West Legal Directory (a database of attorneys throughout the country) and other databases which are useful to students in searching for possible employers and to career services and recruitment professionals.

Writ of Certiorari

Granted by the Supreme Court of the United States when it agrees to hear a case. Often “writ of cert” or “cert”. 

Write-On

How students join law review if they were not invited to join based on their grades. Students are given a legal writing task and law review/journal editorial board reviews and chooses the best to invite to join.

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