Understand the game. The first year of law school is a formulated drama designed to give students what they expect: a frightening, exciting and occasionally embarrassing classroom experience based on the Socratic (Q&A) method. This is obtained by: assigning students an impossible workload of confusing cases; making students nervous with staged intimidating threats, put-downs, and somewhat irrelevant insults; waiting for the inevitable laps in student prep/composure; and taking the opportunity to make an ass of students in front of the class so that they are too paralyzed by mental anguish and drama to realize that most first year subjects just aren't all that hard. The truth is that law school can be fun if you work hard, enjoy studying, and look on the bright side.
Skip the drama and start learning. Get commercial outlines, audio lectures, and good outlines (your school and teacher) for 1L subjects. Daily study should be: make outline of class notes, insert information from student outlines; read/insert relevant commercial outline info, get practice exams and practice them (even if you don't know everything yet), read the important cases (about 10%-20% of those assigned), and fill up all your time between things by listening to audio lecture to preview upcoming material (while commuting, walking, cooking etc).
Shower Power. When you are in the shower, or taking a walk, run, or bike ride recite the basic black letter law for each subject out loud (best) or to your self as you go. You need not recall all the details just the basic analytical steps that form your outline. If you have memory issues make an audio tape of what you need to know and play the tape until you build up your memory. Eventually, you should get to the point where the entire outline is memorized. Do this mental exercise (and try to get some physical exercise) at least a few times a week.
Practice makes perfect. The more experience you get taking practice exams, the better your performance will be. The goal is to get to the point where you have acquired more than enough experience taking practice exams to sort through fact patterns and answer exam questions with confidence. The more issues you spot the better. Get hold of old exams for your school and teacher. Get the exams on the first day if possible (before the Prof. has had a chance to pull any of them), and check for additions as the year continues. Seek advice from second and third year students. Get hold of a law school exam writing system/book that teaches law school exam taking methods. Learn the system. Then adjust it to fit the questions presented.
Don't get too upset by the fact that you are not doing the assigned homework (reading all cases). Be sure to read the important cases, but let the others go. Use the Westlaw summaries(free and good)/case notes (expensive, not as good and hated by profs) to get the case facts. If you have trouble with this step keep in mind that generations of law students have wrestled with this problem and largely come to the same conclusion: if you waste time reading every single case, you will probably not have time to learn the black letter law. This is bad for you, your grades, and your future clients. Once you know the black letter law in a given area, reading cases in your law practice will be much easier because you will know exactly what to look for.
Form a study group to meet to review black letter law and outlines. The study group should not meet more than once a week. Once every two or even three weeks is usually fine. Do not get caught up in study group drama. Do not become freaked if you are not invited into the group that you want. In truth, there is no real way to predict who will be the best student from speaking with someone a few minutes on the first day or two. The students on "merit" scholarships will most likely form their own exclusive group. They probably won't let you in (no matter what you say or do) unless you're on a merit scholarship (or you have gotten top first semester grades without their help). Any study group (populated with reasonable, mature, hard working individuals) will help you make your knowledge solid by repeating what you know to others. It is also an opportunity to forge strong personal and professional connections.
Understand that you will likely be embarrassed at least once during 1L.
Here is how it works.
The Prof. bellows loudly: What if this were a courtroom? What would your client think?
If (actually, when) this happens you should politely, confidently, and calmly state what you know about the case and/or the law. Express polite regret about what you don't know. Speak calmly like you are trying to calm a nervous dog.
To achieve the necessary calm and unembarrassed attitude think about (but do not state) the following: This happens to everyone at least once. The chances are good that Prof. can count on one hand the number of times that he/she has actually been in court. If this person is/was a litigator, they know that all litigators ask for extra time on an almost daily basis, because they are not prepared. This poor fool is doing his/her best to put on a show for the sole purpose of hanging on to their job. He/she is probably not really enjoying this moment either. You (the student) will have the last laugh if you are prepared for your exams and you know the black letter law. Your classmates will respect and remember your calm in this difficult situation. Therefore, you (the student) a winner on this day in this moment because no one can take your dignity unless you give it.
Prevent bullying in the future by picking a few important cases, mastering them, and then running your professor into the ground with your logic, comments, and your common sense application of the cases and rules. If you do this correctly, you will contribute positively to the class (and the professors will not want to pick on you). Your fellow students will be impressed. Remember that your professor is not a deity but a mere mortal trying to earn a living (doing something other than practicing law full time).
Don't gossip or put others down. Try to say positive things to your fellow students, especially if they have had a bad day. If you support someone on their worst day, you will have a valuable connection, and possibly even a friend, for life. If anyone asks you about your bad day, thank them. Explain that you are focusing on exam prep and not class prep. Realize that these moments are once in a lifetime oportunities to forge a strong connection as well as to start building a good reputation in the legal community.