Being a law student isn’t easy, and there is no doubt about that. Yet, among all students, law students perhaps bear the most burden.
The fact that law is a highly practical and complicated field where you must stay aware of every single update makes their lives even harder. Graduating from law school is no walk in the park.
You must be cautious of every habit you develop if you want to perform optimally at law school. But, on the other hand, it is great to learn from the experience of other people. For example, Karla Dennis is one of America’s most hardworking and successful tax advisors.
Making it to the top in a male-dominated field despite being a black woman and belonging to a marginalized community is a huge achievement in and of itself.
Karla Dennis is the CEO of Karla Dennis and Associates, Inc., a professional accounting and tax firm that operates in all 50 states of the United States.
Karla believes two habits made law school easier for her and helped her the most in her immense success over the years.
- Discipline
Karla believes that being disciplined made studying law easier for her. If you aren’t disciplined, she says, you will find it unbearable to sit down and study.
She says:
“Discipline is the best remedy for dealing with a hectic routine.”
- Flexibility
As a law student, you want to keep an open mind. This is because tax laws keep changing rapidly. If you have a strict mindset, you might be unable to adapt to the change.
She says:
“If you want to be a great law student, you need to accept the fact that you should remain a student and learner of the law forever.”
We all know that studying is challenging for almost every student. Moreover, tax law is perhaps one of the most complicated subjects out there. Karla Dennis believes that if you want to make studying tax law easy and worthwhile for yourself, you have to work alongside studying.
She recommends all tax law students volunteer in a tax office or a tax law office. In this way, she says, you will get an understanding far greater than you can read in a book. Without a context, you wouldn’t be able to make sense of what you study in your books.
Habits Every Law Student Must Avoid
Many habits can make your life as a law student very hard. However, Karla explicitly highlights two habits that every law student must avoid:
Procrastination
There is just too much course content to complete and study as a law student. Law students can’t afford even a little bit of procrastination. Stay organized and stick to a routine.
Laziness
It’s okay to enjoy it once in a while. However, that doesn’t mean you should compromise on your studies. You cannot simultaneously be lazy and a good tax law student, says Karla. There are landmark cases you need to know, read and understand. You will have to put in the work to commit them to memory.
Characteristics of Successful Tax Advisors
Karla believes that a successful tax advisor is someone who loves tax law and loves people. If you don’t love the law, you wouldn’t be able to keep yourself updated with recent changes because you are not interested in them.
Tax laws change frequently, and only if you are passionate about them can you keep up with them.
She says you have to love people because your primary focus as a tax advisor should be helping people and not just earning.
Keep in mind that you are helping people non because they are paying you but because you want to see them do well.
Lastly, Karla believes that you have to be curious. Tax cases are really intricate, and if you are not curious, you wouldn’t be able to see what’s beneath the surface.