Academic and Professional Excellence (APEX)
The APEX Program, a hallmark of the Northwestern Law Difference, provides guidance on the process-oriented aspects of law school learning through workshops, programming, and individual meetings.
APEX Programming
APEX offers a series of programs designed for incoming and current first-year students, including:
- The Summer Law Preparatory Program (SLPP), an application-based pre-matriculation program designed to provide a "jumpstart" to incoming students who identify as first-generation or non-traditional. SLPP applications are released in early July.
- APEX workshops, offered throughout the first year and focused on the "hows" of law school, including:
- How to read and brief a case
- How to outline
- How to create a study plan/calendar
- How to structure an exam answer
- How to manage the stress of 1L year
- APEX Coffee Hours, informal topical programming hosted by upperclass students serving as APEX Advisors.
APEX Advisors
Each first-year student is matched with an upperclass APEX Advisor during Orientation. Advisors are selected through a rigorous application process and serve as an initial touchpoint for first-year students; they answer questions related to academic processes and law school idiosyncrasies, facilitate Coffee Hours, and host cross-section social events, which give first-year students the opportunity to meet classmates outside of their assigned classes.
APEX Resources
The APEX Program maintains a resource page for all first-year and transfer students containing APEX Advisor information, a 1L "cheat sheet" defining unfamiliar law school terms, sample schedules, briefs, notes, and outlines, APEX presentations and workshops, and links to other critical 1L information.
Individual APEX Advising
The APEX Director provides individualized advising and counseling for first-year students with questions or concerns about the transition to law school and offers an intensive exam review in the spring semester. Students also have access to the APEX website, which provides a robust collection of academic resources compiled and curated by the APEX Director and Advisors.
For more information about the APEX Program, please reach out to the APEX Director, Jocelyn Francoeur.