Gifts for Incoming First Year Law Students
A friend recently asked for gift suggestions to give to a new incoming law student. This request had a certain irony, as those who know me well know that I am completely gift-challenged (and doubly ironic, as another friend had asked me about gifts to give law professors). So, at the risk of further exposing my gift-incompetence to the world, here’s the suggestions I made:
Books to help with the first year
* Eugene Volokh, Academic Legal Writing
* Bluebook
* There are some packages of commercial outlines covering the full range of first year courses, like Gilbert Law Summaries: First Year Program
Media depictions of the first year:
* Scott Turow, One-L
* DVD of Paper Chase
Tools to help professional development:
* Student membership in the ABA or another geographically proximate or topically relevant bar association, such as INTA for trademark students. Getting your recipient involved in a bar association might be a great way to jumpstart his/her networking/job search/expertise development, so this is a gift that could, in theory, keep on giving.
* How to Pay for Your Law Degree
* Multi-color highlighter set. This is partially a joke–recall Dahlia Lithwick’s meltdown over her choice of highlighter colors. But I think a lot of law students burn through a lot of highlighters in law school, so why not help them out a bit?
Fun stuff:
* Silly shirt from a Cafe Press shop
* Gift certificate(s) for stress reliever (massage, LaserTag, weekend getaway, etc.)
Let me know if you have any other ideas!
[note: some links go through Amazon Affiliates]