Study 45 hours/week for a healthy law student life

Well, as to my credentials, I graduated Magna cum Laude, on law review, and in the top 2% of my class. I studied about 2 hours per week for every hour I spent in class, as a rule of thumb. Under that formula, if I took 15 semester credits of classes amounting to 15 class hours a week, I studied an additional 30 hours a week. If you do the math, this is about 45 hours a week. Not a terrible burden, and certainly not more time than you will spend in law practice. (Read more: Joseph McFaul, JD Magna cum Laude, from Seattle University [1983]. Answered May 17, 2019. How many hours of study should one perform if they want to excel in law school? https://www.quora.com/How-many-hours-of-study-should-one-perform-if-they-want-to-excel-in-law-school.)

For each class I would do the assigned pre-class reading, briefing and note taking. I took almost verbatim notes in class and then would compare the pre-class notes and class notes after class to assemble an outline for that course. Often the pre-class notes and class notes would either not make sense or conflict. I’d then read law review articles and hornbooks. Obviously, some classes took very little outside effort and others took more, but overall, it averaged about two hors outside of class for every hour in class.

45 total hours per week still leaves substantial time for weekends off, recreational activities and socializing—all very important to having a happy, healthy life and avoiding law school burnout. (I was a young parent while in law school.) For what it’s worth, I don't know anybody who did well academically that studied obsessively.

I had mentioned in an answer that I never ever studied past midnight at any time in law school. All of my papers were turned in on time and I routinely got 8 hours of sleep. I beloved that I was disciplined and efficient in my study but five 9 hour workdays a week was not terribly onerous.

I’d also add that “excel at law school” has different meanings to different people. My first year study group consisted of “older students” — me (age 27), a guy working as a plumber (also 27) and two women (25ish) raising children at home while their husbands worked. Some of my classmates defined “Excelled in law school’ as doing well enough to go to work at a small firm in the home town in an intellectually and financially rewarding but relatively low stress career. All my study group members excelled at law school for their purposes. (Read more: Joseph McFaul, JD Magna cum Laude, from Seattle University [1983]. Answered May 17, 2019. How many hours of study should one perform if they want to excel in law school? https://www.quora.com/How-many-hours-of-study-should-one-perform-if-they-want-to-excel-in-law-school.)