Starting Law School in August, what should I expect?

[SackUp]

[ QUOTE ]
The first year will suck, but two and three are much easier. Also, if you know which state's bar exam you are taking, figure out which subjects they test and take as many of those subjects as you can. You might have to pass on some fun/interesting elective like sports law or something, but do it. I never understood these students who plan on learning secured transactions etc. entirely from Bar/Bri (commercial bar review program). Those people are nuts IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll give a different take on this. I took the California Bar and did not take Wills and Trusts or Community Property prior to the Bar. I did not think the classes were necessary and most people said they were not very helpful as far as the bar was concerned.

Also, there is a good chance the elective classes will not be on the bar and if they are they will only be on one essay. You can learn more than enough in the Bar review class for this purpose IMO.

I think elective classes like Evidence, Crim Pro, and Corporations would probably be hard to just learn in the Bar class though.

[NozeCandy]

I read none of this thread but I'm pretty sure you can expect 3 years of fairly easy school/fun time followed by a lifetime of hell and regret.

[UnlikelyNinja]

Treat law school like a job. Show up at 9 every day even if you don't have a class until 11. Read and brief. Attend classes, take notes on everything the professor thinks is important. When classes are done at 3:30 or so, read until 5:30 or 6:00, then go home. Generally, that's plenty of time to keep you going through the bulk of the semester.

One Saturday afternoon every 3 weeks, organize your reading and lecture notes. If you're using a laptop, this shouldn't take more than 90 minutes a class, if that. Condense your notes into black letter statements of law: e.g., "Strict scrutiny places the burden of proof on the government that a piece of legislation is narrowly tailored to support a compelling government interest."

Three weeks before classes end, take a weekday evening at the library photocopying every test and answer sheet your professors provide. If they don't have any, get a few from other professors in the same class. Read over these questions - many times you'll see similar questions in the future.

Learn the IRAC method. People call it different things, and may alter the order slightly, but the general idea is this: first you write the potential issue, then you write the rule regarding the issue, then you discuss if the facts fit the rule, then you give a conclusion about the issue. For example:

"Billy being uninsured could raise an uninsured motorist claim. Under the Uniform Insurance Code, an uninsured motorist claim may be made in <situation X> and gives <result Y>. Here, <how the facts do or do not fit situation X>. Hence, there will or will not be an uninsured motorist claim."

Some professors will not want you to reach a conclusion. By reading their model or offered answers, you'll usually know. But it's important to know that they will test you on your reasoning, not whether you get the right answer. If you don't know the rule, make one up that sounds close and treat it just like a real rule for the sake of analysis. Reasoning is more important than outcome.

It's extremely important from day 1. Crush your first semester, and you get job or clerkship offers for your first summer. Stay on top in the second semester, cruise into your first summer job, and the second summer job usually falls into your lap. The second summer job usually gets you your post-graduation job. The importance of getting out of the blocks quickly cannot be overemphasized.

You should probably bring your own hot chicks. Law school will not supply them.

Good luck. It's not that bad.

[Zeestein]

dont play pokah

[Zeestein]

fwiw law school has plenty chicks who ring my bell

[miajag]

[ QUOTE ]
dont play pokah

[/ QUOTE ]

I played more poker during my first year of law school than any other time in my life, and I did pretty well at both.

The difficulty of first year is really overstated imo. Do your reading, pay attention in class, and take good notes. If you do these things and you're not a moron, you'll do well. It's not rocket science.

I do agree that there are plenty of hot chicks in law school though, I don't know where one would get the impression that there aren't.

[XXXNoahXXX]

[ QUOTE ]
fwiw law school has plenty chicks who ring my bell

[/ QUOTE ]

Since this thread belongs in Student Life where it has been done and is currently being done, I hereby hijack this thread.


This girl is in my law school class. Apparently she thought posing was a good idea.




Go BC!

More Pics from Barstool Sports

Where you can see the video from the shoot


I won't bother linking to the news articles.



Bonus points for finding the Brooklyn Law Student this year who filmed a soft-core porn, involving her handling a gavel naked, showing her vagina, and being spanked.

[Zeestein]

no you can still play pokah well and manage schoool, but I'm now ridiculously unmotivated and lazy since my expected net annual salary for grinding 70+hrs/week of boring mundane lawyer work is like a 2-3 months of clicking mouses