DFWFellow wrote:The first year is brutal!
You will learn a lot about yourself during this journey. Furthermore, you will become an expert at time management. You will likely work the most that you have ever worked in your life. 80 hour weeks will be the norm.
I second both of these sentiments.
The biggest bitch your first year will be finding time for the writing assignments. I basically blew off my readings for my other classes in the week or two before papers were due. Luckily, being in a night program, so did everyone else. Second year was actually harder for me because in my program they increase your credits in the second year, plus I had law review work which included a 25+ page comment to research and write. That said, I did it, I'm better for it, and I ranked top 10 in my section in both of the first two years.
In my experience, the key is to basically give up your weekends during the school year. I spend all day Saturday and Sunday in the library. Friday nights are my night off, which I need after 4 straight 14 hour days.
I'll also echo DFW's point about taking PTO for finals. I used nearly all my vacation time for finals the last two years. If you have a Monday exam you can get away with just taking a half day on Monday, provided you use the weekend exclusively for studying for that exam. I actually really like this method for a Monday exam because you can get some shit done at work which will take your mind off the law for a couple hours.
After the first semester, you'll almost definitely have two exams in the same week for one of the two weeks. My suggested PTO schedule for two exam weeks is as follows:
M/Tu Exams: take off F/M/Tu/W
M/W Exams: take off M/Tu/.5W/Th
Tu/W Exams: Only work on Friday
Tu/Th Exams: TAKE WEEK
W/Th Exams: TAKE WEEK
W/F Exams: half day Wednesday, take rest of week off
Th/F Exams: Only work Monday
Your 1E and 2E grades are CRUCIAL--you don't get a second chance and they will define your post-grad job prospects. If your boss is flexible like you say, I'd just ask for the whole week off any time you have two exams in the same week; grades are just too important not to. I had two in a week both weeks in the spring last year. I took 9 days of "vacation," but it was definitely worth it. I do like to sneak in half days where I can just to catch up on email and make sure nothing blew up while I was out. I always do them the day of an exam, where I know I've had 48 hours of studying and could use a change of scenery before the big show anyway.
Especially for your first semester, you'll want the day after each exam off. I came into work late, looking like a zombie and was completely useless the day after my first exam--don't be like me. Worst work day of my life. Take the day off, sleep in and start studying for the next one after breakfast.
Final note: DO NOT go part time at a school that doesn't have a dedicated night/part-time program. You would be putting yourself at a wild disadvantage because of how the curve works--everyone else will be dedicating all the time that you are at work to studying, making it much harder for you to score near the top of the class. Props to DFW for pulling it off, but I wouldn't recommend it.