Dear 1L: What to read the summer before law school

Here are book and movie titles that lawyers and law students have recommended for the summer before law school.

 ⭐️ Note that “Enjoy Your Summer” and other tips rank above reading any particular book. (See original post with top 7 pre-law summer recommendations, linked in a comment below).

Reading is recommended, but you may prefer to read other fiction books, newspapers or magazines. I recommend only that you read something well written.

Finally, find out if your particular school provides its own titles for recommended summer reading.

BOOK LIST

1. 1L of A Ride (Andrew McClung)

2. Getting to Maybe (Richard Fishl)

3. One L (Scott Turow)

4. Doing Well and Being Well (Shailini George)

5. Thinking Like A Lawyer (Frederick Schauer)

6. Untangling the Fear in Lawyering (Heidi Brown)

7. The Bramble Bush (Karl Llewellyn)

8. A Civil Action (Jonathan Harr)

9. The Buffalo Creek Disaster (Gerald Stern)

10. Gideon’s Trumpet (Anthony Lewis)

1. Plain Language for Lawyers (Richard Wydick)

2. The Elements of Style (Strunk & White)

1. Becoming (Michelle Obama)

2. My Own Words (RBG)

1. Women in Law (various)

2. Law 101 (Jay Feinman)

3. Deconstructing Legal Analysis: A 1L Primer (Peter Wendel)

4. The Path of Law (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

5. The Nature of Judicial Process (Benjamin Cardozo)

6. The Uses of Argument (Stephen Toulmin)

7. On Rhetoric (Aristotle) 

MOVIE LIST

1. Erin Brockovich

2. My Cousin Vinny

3. Legally Blonde

Fondly,

Amanda

P.S. Follow —> #Dear1L (1,024 followers) to receive future letters.