Can a Memory Expert Conquer Law School? I’m About to Find Out.

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What happens when someone who has spent decades teaching memory techniques enrols in law school to find out if everything he teaches actually holds up?

That’s exactly what I’m doing.

Mind you, I’m not the first person to try a learning feat like this. Nor am I the first to document the journey of applying mnemonic methods to the law.

In 1491, Peter of Ravenna published The Phoenix, a manual designed to teach his approach to the “Art of Memory.”

It’s a short, but detailed memory improvement book that explains Ravenna’s techniques and how they enabled him to possess a massive amount of civil law code in his mind.

His legal knowledge isn’t the only thing that made Ravenna legendary.

As I explain in my previous writing about him, he could also recite mountains of scripture and speak multiple languages.

Myself, I’ve memorized more than enough scripture to demonstrate the teaching I’ve offered in my own memory improvement manuals. Likewise, I’ve absorbed enough skills with enough languages to prove the concept.

I hold a PhD in Humanities from York University and two MAs. But what I haven’t done is attend law school.

Now, later in life, I have finally enroled after decades of thinking about it.

This isn’t a career pivot, mind you.

Having co-authored a well-received book with a lawyer years ago on memorizing legal terminology, I am already more than personally interested in law.

But since I never went to law school myself, I’ve always wanted to pressure-test every memory technique I teach against what has to be one of the most volume-intensive, high-stakes disciplines on the planet.

This page is the hub for that experiment.

Whether you are a law student drowning in “legalese” and tired of the “bad memory” excuse, or a memory enthusiast looking for a high-stakes demonstration of the ancient memory arts in action, you are in the right place.

I’m going to share with you all the learning tools I’ll be using throughout the experience.

And you can follow my real-time study log below to see exactly how the man Tony Buzan called a “Warrior of the Mind” intends to conquer the law, one Memory Palace at a time.

Why Legal Material Presents Special Problems for Memorization

In my version of Ravenna’s original book, called Phoenix Reborn, the famous jurist is far from modest. He writes:

When I was young, I prepared 10,000 places because I wanted to surpass all the men of Italy with an abundance of remembered facts and holy scriptures, including both Canon law and Civil law. I also wanted to be an authority on many other things.

By “places,” Ravenna is referring to the method of loci. It is the basis of the Memory Palace technique, something many law students have used across history.

I’m only a week into my first trimester readings, and I have a feeling Ravenna might not be so boastful in our times. Medieval law was in no way simple. But it’s unlikely Ravenna dealt with nearly as much study material as contemporary law students.

For one thing, nearly everyone knew Latin back then. This means he wouldn’t have needed to memorize the Latin needed when he studied to become a Doctor of canon and civil law.

The topic of international law would have been much smaller during his time.

And laws relating to media, Internet and Artificial Intelligence? All of these vast fields of legal material would not appear for hundreds of years.

Nonetheless, many of his techniques still apply and will help contemporary law students avoid cramming. Here’s how I’ll be using them based on my own version of the techniques Ravenna describes.

What Happens When a Memory Expert Enrols in Law School:
The Magnetic Memory Method for Law

A lot of study advice treats complicated topics like the law like any other memorization task.

Gareth Evans says in a YouTube video called How I Memorised Everything in Law School that he essentially used a combination of spaced repetition and the Leitner box technique.

There is nothing wrong with these approaches. I’ll be incorporating them too.

However, not everyone is going to get the same results from just those two fundamentals from the world of accelerated learning techniques.

The Memory Palace Technique for Law

Since you don’t get partial credit for vaguely remembering that a case exists and need the name, the year, the principle, and how it applies, I’m pulling out the same technique Ravenna describes in depth as my core learning strategy: the Memory Palace.

In case you’re new to it, the Memory Palace technique for studying uses familiar locations subdivided into various sub-locations. It’s almost like a living, breathing mental filing system.

By placing information on those sub-locations, or what I prefer to call “Magnetic Stations,” you provide yourself with a canvas for layering vivid mental associations.

For example, I’ve already memorized the name and date of Derry v Peek (1889) and the basic three-part test it established for fraudulent misrepresentation.

If you’d like more information on this technique, check out my full guide to the Memory Palace technique.

The PAO System For Law

When it comes to section numbers and dates like 1889 in Derry v Peek, I’ll be using a 00-99 PAO System.

Now, this kind of mnemonic system is something I’ve developed over many years. And for most of us, it’s not something you can develop overnight.

Indeed, most of us base our PAO System on the Major System. Or, more rarely these days, some people still use the Dominic System.

The key is that when you have to memorize a section number, you can instantly place an association in a Memory Palace.

PAO System Example Applied to Law

For example, last week I memorized the name of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and a chapter and section I’m interested in (Chapter Two, Section 18).

I used a combination of my aunt Cassie’s computer station in a former home with associations drawn from my PAO System to rapidly commit this information to memory.

Later, I can add more relevant details. But for the time being, I have what I call a “Magnetic Bookmark” that helps me cite the act and find the relevant section quickly.

Think about what that means if you’re in an exam or a tutorial and someone references the Competition and Consumer Act. Or even just working as a lawyer who cares about your clients.

Instead of that sinking feeling where you know you’ve read it but can’t place where, the section number leaps to mind. You cite exactly what the situation requires and move on while everyone else is still flipping through their notes.

Active Recall Combined with Physical Notebooks

I have been teaching active recall principles since long before I knew there was a scientific name for them.

In brief, the core process involves calling information to mind and then writing it down, ideally in a notebook reserved for testing. You do not use rote repetition or cheat by looking at the answers during the process.

You only make corrections later and use the data produced by your mistakes to work out how to fix issues in your recall.

Training yourself to write down answers from memory is mission critical for passing exams, as is analyzing your answers so you can make any corrections before handing your work in.

I’ll be doubling down on this practice substantially.

Optimized Flashcards and Zettelkasten

Whether it’s for language learning, philosophy or general learning, I’ve used a particular process for taking notes that I’m already employing as I read as much as I can before my first class starts.

These processes have been covered before in detail in my posts and podcasts on:

• Flashcards
• The Zettelkasten technique

I don’t know what, if anything, will change about my approach as I enter law school at my age.

But I will keep you posted if anything does.

Mind Mapping Essay Assignments

Although I sometimes do use mind mapping as a memory technique, I anticipate that I’ll be reserving it in law school for planning any essay assignments I have to submit.

That’s because mind mapping is a far greater tool for brainstorming in my practice than it is a memory aid.

But you never know. I might find ways to deepen the ways that I’ve combined mind maps with Memory Palaces for language learning that apply to the law.

For my existing teaching on mind mapping, check out this playlist of videos on YouTube:

Keeping a Study Log

Although creating to-do lists has its place, I’ve found throughout my BA, two MAs and PhD that using course syllabi and a simple calendar is more than enough to keep various deadlines sharp in memory.

What’s more useful for me is to diligently track what I’ve read and when.

I use a simple spreadsheet for this purpose, along with tabs for keeping various links.

Since I’ll need to read a lot of online resources for my first trimester, this habit is especially key and will keep all the links in one central location for easy access.

Other Law Memorization Tactics & Strategies

Beyond these learning tactics for law memorization, I’m not yet sure what else I’ll need apart from solid places to study and a decent group of fellow students.

So far, I’ve been studying at home and am already signed up for a group dedicated to discussing one of the first courses I’ve enroled in. It’s called “LA1101 – Legal Institutions and Processes.”

I’ve also signed up as a student member of the Queensland Law Society to receive regular updates.

The Benefits of Context & Immersion

Although this membership might seem like a distraction, I’m actually tapping into what scientists call context-dependent memory. Although far from bulletproof, this principle shows that we tend to remember more when we regularly dive deep into related topic areas.

In other words, if you study history regularly without interrupting yourself with biology, you’ll tend to remember more history with greater ease.

As my research on polymathy and autodidacticism shows, some people think that masters of multiple fields are scattered. In fact, most polymaths go deep into just a limited set of fields at a time.

And because they spend a lot of time in each lane, they benefit from more context as they learn.

More on Why This Mnemonist is Studying Law At Nearly 50 Years Old

I mentioned above that I co-authored How to Learn and Memorize Legal Terminology years ago.

One reason that happened is simple:

Following the success of my first book on memorizing German vocabulary, tons of people reached out to me. Many of them were either law students or had used memory techniques during law school.

One of them asked if he could help me produce a book and so I took some of his examples and credited his contributions even though they weren’t that intense.

A Very Personal Background Interest

But the real reason I was interested in the law actually started many years prior. My nose had been broken and I was required to provide a victim impact statement when the case went to court.

Long story short, the defendant’s lawyer told her client that he should plead guilty right away rather than have me testify on the stand.

Her client took the advice and after the Crown lawyer representing the Canadian government asked me if I’d ever considered going to law school. When I asked him why, he said that my victim impact statement showed promise in how I’d written it.

“Clinical,” was the word he used to describe it. And he said he thought the field could use more people with that kind of descriptive skill.

But as someone who prefers to finish what I start, I kept going with my MA in English. And although law school regularly came to mind, I also finished the PhD in Humanities I had my eyes on, along with a second MA in Media & Communications.

The Real Estate Detour

A few years ago, I decided I was going to develop a physical Memory Palace. Part of this project relates to my ongoing research into Simonides of Ceos. Another part relates to my polymathy research.

But above all, I realized that I needed to not only learn a lot about real estate to pull off the project.

I also needed to learn about how real estate agents use and abuse the law to avoid traps.

So, I completed a real estate license course and encountered a lot of law during that course. It has helped me proceed in many ways, and that’s part of what has kept my mind on the law leading up to starting this new study venture.

Enter Peter of Ravenna

I’d first heard of Peter of Ravenna when concentration and focus issues from depression drove me towards memory techniques during my PhD.

After I started the Magnetic Memory Method project, I would consult his memory training book, The Phoenix from time to time, always thinking that I should do my own edition.

But it was only when AI and various internet disruptions started challenging the idea that I’d be able to easily access Ravenna’s book that my “Reborn” series came to mind.

I finally did produce my own edition of his book, and it’s been one of my most popular memory training offerings.

Undoubtedly, that’s because we have independent confirmation of Ravenna’s memory skill. And although he was famed for his language learning prowess and ability to memorize scripture, it’s his command of the law upon which most of his legend rests.

As I continue my studies of ancient memory techniques, I expect I’ll keep revisiting and expanding based on how I’m applying some of Ravenna’s law-specific mnemonics.

In fact, there’s one part of his book that I think will apply to remembering sections in law that I’m excited to try very soon. I’m not sure it will change the Magnetic Memory Method approach that I’ll be using, but that’s the most exciting part of being a memory expert who applies these techniques frequently to course work.

I’m in the trenches and always taking you with me to learn more about memory techniques together.

Frequently Asked Questions About Memorizing the Law

I’ve received dozens of questions about memorizing law over the years.

I believe all my answers still stand, but also expect I’ll be coming back to this page to update a few things as I get deeper into my own “legal immersion.”

For now, here are some direct answers taken directly from my inbox as I’ve helped people over the years.

What is the best way to memorize law?

There is no one single best way. Rather, a combination of techniques is likely to work best.

The reason the Memory Palace technique is universally admired has to do with the power of spatial memory. Locations have long been considered a powerful resource going back thousands of years.

Combining the Memory Palace technique with spaced repetition and other active recall-based strategies leads to deeper encoding and recall than using any single technique on its own.

How many Memory Palaces do you need for law school?

The core Memory Palace system I’ve used involves 26 Memory Palaces, one for each letter of the alphabet.

This choice is based around ideas in Aristotle’s On Memory, Ramon Llull’s Memory Wheels and innovations offered by the Renaissance memory master, Giordano Bruno.

When you have one Memory Palace per letter of the alphabet, you can run the art of combination, or ars combinatoria. This means that if you have a Latin phrase like Res ipsa loquitur in tort law to memorize, you never have to wonder what Memory Palace to use.

In my case, R is my friend Rick’s home because that’s the first letter of his name. I choose it and use him as a core mnemonic association due to the sound and spelling of the Latin term. Since the term means, “the thing speaks for itself,” I imagine Rick engaged in actions that remind me of the sound and meaning of the term.

For memorizing section numbers, it’s possible to build a second Memory Palace Network based on a 00-99 PAO System. I’m not yet sure if I will do that, but they are relatively easy to develop if you have developed skills with this kind of mnemonic system.

If you have both systems for law, you will have 126 Memory Palaces. That is almost certainly more than enough.

Can you use mnemonics for the bar exam?

Yes, but make sure you know how to spot issues and actually provide the answers your examiners are expecting.

The BARBRI website talks about using memory techniques for the bar in this article. The only thing missing is that they don’t say nearly enough about Memory Palaces.

They also focus a lot on visualization, which is not technically necessary when using mnemonics.

How long does it take to memorize a legal rule using a Memory Palace?

I consider this what I call a “magic number” question.

In reality, it’s not possible to know how long absorbing any piece of information is going to take. That’s because information is not equal.

However, if you get good at memory techniques, you’ll find that you can get quite fast. And all the faster when you combine the techniques of memory with regularly putting yourself in contexts where you use what you’ve learned.

Are flashcards or Memory Palaces better for law school?

This question creates a false dichotomy because the answer is both.

Also, it’s helpful to understand that a well-created flashcard is not unlike a station in a Memory Palace.

If you include a quick sketch that involves three or more colors and use active recall principles to test yourself, you’ll find that you can think back to that card with greater ease.

Then, you can reproduce the target information, much like you would revisit a Memory Palace station and reconstruct knowledge through decoding during the learning process.

This still doesn’t mean that using one is better than the other. That’s because you can have each flashcard refer to a station in a Memory Palace for even better results. So in summary, I suggest you use both and combine them.

Join the Journey

Peter of Ravenna documents his memory methods exactly as he used them. I’m excited to do the same.

Except this time around, I’ve got more memory science on my side, a camera and a microphone.

If you’d like to join this journey and get regular updates, start now by completing my free Memory Palace course:

You’ll learn how to create well-formed Memory Palaces and apply them to anything you’re studying. And that includes complex, high-volume material like the law.

Before we go, let me recap how years ago, a Crown lawyer told me my writing was “clinical” and suggested I consider law school.

At the time, I had an MA to finish. Then a PhD. Then another MA, followed by many other courses, books and an edition of Ravenna’s The Phoenix (Phoenix Reborn).

It took me decades to finally get enroled in law school.

This page will grow along with my studies, so feel free to bookmark the page and check back in as things develop.

The “Warrior of the Mind” as Tony Buzan once called me is finally going to law school.

I hope you’ll follow along and apply how I’m using the Magnetic Memory Method to your own learning goals.