What Law School Taught Me About How to Learn

Preparing for law school taught me that learning doesn't follow a set path. There's no required undergraduate degree for law school, so I built my own. I never became a lawyer, but everything I learned came with me into business.

When law school was the plan

There was a time when law school was my future. It was all I thought about day and night. From researching the top legal fields, to understanding how tiers of law school impacted my future earning capability, I had it all down.

There was one problem, a degree plan. There is no undergraduate degree plan for law school. No certified required courses. No recommendation from the Bar Association. And that drove me crazy.

The American Bar Association still says the same thing today. Students are admitted to law school from almost every major, and the ABA recommends the skills to build instead of a specific path: writing, reading closely, research, problem solving and public speaking.

Building my own degree plan

I wanted to be told the best way to prepare. I wanted the easy way out. So I created my own solution. Instead of buying up all the LSAT prep books I could find, I created my own undergraduate degree plan.

Looking back, that mix was a plan for understanding people and systems. Communications teaches you how to make a case. Political science teaches you how power and rules work. Psychology teaches you why people decide what they decide. Business teaches you how money moves.

Then everything changed

I felt great. I finally had my guide to success. Then everything changed. I launched a website my junior year for fun that ended up gaining meaningful traction. Nearly a million people visited the site in it’s first year, and my love for technology and digital strategy was born.

That website set the direction for the rest of my career. It led to growth roles, to running teams, and eventually to building and investing in companies. Law school stayed a plan I never needed.

Nothing I learned was wasted

But here’s what I learned. All that law school prep that I did translated to my future career. I was not actually preparing to be an attorney, I was preparing to be a well-rounded individual.

Every skill on the ABA's list is a skill I use in business. Writing a clear memo. Reading a contract. Researching a market. Making a case to a board. The degree was built for one job and ended up serving a different one.

• Communications helped me pitch, write and lead teams.
• Political science helped me understand how decisions get made inside large companies.
• Psychology helped me understand customers and the people I hired.
• Business gave me the language to talk with investors and operators.

Prepare to learn

This is why learning is powerful. It goes with you no matter what twists and turns life may take. So, instead of preparing for a specific future, prepare to learn.

Founders face this constantly. No one hands you a degree plan for starting a company either. You decide what you need to know and go get it. I wrote about the same idea from another angle in unlearning your MBA.

How to build your own plan

1. Start with the skills the work needs, not the title you want.
2. Pick a mix of subjects that build those skills from different sides.
3. Make something real while you learn. A side project teaches faster than a class.
4. Stay open to the project changing your plan. Mine did.
5. Keep learning after school ends. If you're deciding whether to start something yourself, try the founder or employee tool.

What I'd tell a student today

Take the classes that make you better at thinking and communicating, even when they aren't on a required list. Learn how money works early. Spend time with people outside your field.

Most of all, start something small while you're still in school. A website, a club, a side business. The stakes are low, and you'll learn things no syllabus covers.

If it fails, you still keep the skills. If it works, it might become your career. Either way, you'll know more about yourself than any degree plan could tell you.

Why this matters more now

Careers change faster today than when I was in school. Jobs that look stable can be reshaped by AI within a few years. A narrow plan built for one title is riskier than it used to be.

Skills that work across fields hold their value. Writing clearly, understanding people, reading numbers and making a case will matter in whatever job comes next. Those are the same skills the ABA points law students toward.

If you're early in your career, worry less about picking the perfect path. Pick work that builds those skills, and keep making things on the side. One of those side projects might change your direction, the way that first website changed mine.

Learning never stops

I'm still building my own degree plan today. AI, investing and leadership all keep changing, and nobody hands you a syllabus for any of them. The habit I built preparing for law school, deciding what I need to know and going after it, is the one I use most.

The path you plan is rarely the path you take. The skills you build on the way are the part you keep.