Hastings Class of 2015 Forum

[DildaMan]

I heard lwr counts this year in your gpa too, lol

Ouch....

[ilovesf]

I heard lwr counts this year in your gpa too, lol

Ouch....

They're getting a better overall curve though

[Winston]

Contracts-Knapp
Torts-Diamond
Civ Pro-Ratner (new)
LWR-Yates

I have a feeling many of you have had/heard about Knapp and Diamond, but nothing on Yates and obviously nothing on Ratner since he's new. Anyway, any input/help is appreciated!

Also, random question, but are outlets at a premium in classrooms or are they available for every seat?

[ilovesf]

Contracts-Knapp
Torts-Diamond
Civ Pro-Ratner (new)
LWR-Yates

I have a feeling many of you have had/heard about Knapp and Diamond, but nothing on Yates and obviously nothing on Ratner since he's new. Anyway, any input/help is appreciated!

Also, random question, but are outlets at a premium in classrooms or are they available for every seat?

Every seat. I had knapp for ks. It was a love/hate relationship

[a male human]

Has anyone successfully negotiated with the fin aid office for a higher grant amount?

[weaselology]

Legal Writing & Research: Mon 5-7pm - Lambert

Is that Fred Lambert? If so, I'm sorry

He's easily the most respected transactional-focused professor at Hastings. He is also a heavily in demand expert witness for securities litigation and business litigation cases. He treats the students just like partners treat associates in real life.

[Mick Haller]

Legal Writing & Research: Mon 5-7pm - Lambert

Is that Fred Lambert? If so, I'm sorry

He's easily the most respected transactional-focused professor at Hastings. He is also a heavily in demand expert witness for securities litigation and business litigation cases. He treats the students just like partners treat associates in real life.

I never had him, but heard bad things. Seems like the guy you want if you really want to be pushed to learn, and don't care too much about your GPA.

[skyflyer]

Hi Everyone! New to TLS.

Here is my schedule:

Torts: Takacs
Contracts: Martinez
Civil Procedure: Hillman
LWR: Ray

Any section mates?

Any advice/feedback/insight would be greatly appreciated! Thank you

[apollo2015]

Any section mates?

Yep!

[restless]

Rising 2L here. These were my professors:

Martinez - Contracts: really sweet professor, but can be moody because he's got a lot on his plate right now. You can tell when he's visibly stressed because he's now the president of Association of American Law Schools; he will also outright say, "No hard questions today, everyone." (Seriously? Then what's the point?) Moreover, his final involves short answers and one long essay question, which would be fine if he actually gave practice/sample short answers. His final was a serious time crunch because no one in the class could practice taking the short answers and we doomed ourselves in the long essay. I talked with him the following semester and he said that the highest grade in our class didn't spot 50% of the issues on the long answer. Yikes. If his format for the final stays the same, I suggest doing the long essay FIRST and then the short questions (since the latter are worth less).

Diamond - Torts: great guy who is very enthusiastic about what he teaches. I'm not sure about how he teaches Crim Law, but he wrote both the Torts and Crim Law books, so he knows the torts material like the back of his hand. The supplement for Torts is also very straightforward and helpful. He seems to be generous in terms of grade distribution because a lot of people in our class received A's. Be forewarned that he has a crazy style of teaching. He tends to be disorganized and easily distracted, but just do the work and you shouldn't be too stressed.

Lee - Crim law: AWESOME professor that cares about his students. He's also my faculty advisor and he hooked up a few people in my section with summer jobs who struck out elsewhere. He comes off as a "bleeding heart liberal" in criminal issues, but is also a technocrat. Lee teaches the subject material very thoroughly, but sometimes allows too much time for class discussion. Sometimes that's good for seeing all sides of a problem; other times, you zone out because you know people just like to hear themselves talk. That said, his final was fair, but pretty hard. Make sure you defend your policy arguments solidly and that you don't waste time eliminating all the wrong answers one by one. Just give him the right ones and get straight to the point.

I didn't see any other professors I had listed here, but I check back every few weeks and I'll update then. Hope this helps. Good luck, all!

[success888]

Legal Writing & Research: Mon 5-7pm - Lambert

Is that Fred Lambert? If so, I'm sorry

its actually brian lambert

[success888]

Hey all! Was wondering who is running the Hastings c/o 2012 FB group, because they haven't accepted my request to join yet.

So, who is in my section?? This is my schedule:

Legal Writing & Research: Mon 5-7pm - Lambert
Torts: Mon,Wed 10:50-11:50am -Reiss
Property: Tues, Thurs 1:10-3:20pm - Depoorter
Contracts: Mon, Tues, Weds, Thurs 9:40-10:40 - Prince

Any tips or possibly notes for these professors? Thanks!

Send me an email address, I'll send you something about depoorter

messaged you with my email address. thanks!!

[ilovesf]

saw it i've been really busy lately but i'll respond to all the messages probably over the weekend

[DildaMan]

Contracts-Knapp
Torts-Diamond
Civ Pro-Ratner (new)
LWR-Yates

I have a feeling many of you have had/heard about Knapp and Diamond, but nothing on Yates and obviously nothing on Ratner since he's new. Anyway, any input/help is appreciated!

Also, random question, but are outlets at a premium in classrooms or are they available for every seat?

Diamond is a fun teacher. He's very enthusiastic and thoroughly enjoys teaching the subject matter. He's also very willing to go over hypos/old tests early in the semester.

Knapp is a good teacher. You'll have to do a fair bit of self-study/office hours as the classroom discussions are easily hijacked.

[skyflyer]

Rising 2L here. These were my professors:

Martinez - Contracts: really sweet professor, but can be moody because he's got a lot on his plate right now. You can tell when he's visibly stressed because he's now the president of Association of American Law Schools; he will also outright say, "No hard questions today, everyone." (Seriously? Then what's the point?) Moreover, his final involves short answers and one long essay question, which would be fine if he actually gave practice/sample short answers. His final was a serious time crunch because no one in the class could practice taking the short answers and we doomed ourselves in the long essay. I talked with him the following semester and he said that the highest grade in our class didn't spot 50% of the issues on the long answer. Yikes. If his format for the final stays the same, I suggest doing the long essay FIRST and then the short questions (since the latter are worth less).

Thanks for the info.

[nagelbett]

Any section mates?

Yep!

One more right here!

btw, did you notice that the break-down of the grading for Torts w/ Takacs is 15% group assignments, 15% individual, 10% attendance/ partic. and 60% final exam.
It seems a pretty rare set-up from the "final exam only" plan that I have heard most people have. Also, it mentions that the assignments will be done in combination with Civ. Pro...

did any of the 2L or 3L's have this?

[DildaMan]

Any section mates?

Yep!

One more right here!

btw, did you notice that the break-down of the grading for Torts w/ Takacs is 15% group assignments, 15% individual, 10% attendance/ partic. and 60% final exam.
It seems a pretty rare set-up from the "final exam only" plan that I have heard most people have. Also, it mentions that the assignments will be done in combination with Civ. Pro...

did any of the 2L or 3L's have this?

Yup, although our distribution was a little different. I believe we had 15/25/60 w/ no participation grade. He setup a schedule for who was on call each lecture.

[ilovesf]

Any section mates?

Yep!

One more right here!

btw, did you notice that the break-down of the grading for Torts w/ Takacs is 15% group assignments, 15% individual, 10% attendance/ partic. and 60% final exam.
It seems a pretty rare set-up from the "final exam only" plan that I have heard most people have. Also, it mentions that the assignments will be done in combination with Civ. Pro...

did any of the 2L or 3L's have this?

LOLOL GROUP ASSIGNMENTS

He grades those ridiculously hard. Make sure to cite tons of cases even if they are in the case notes.

[WhiteDove]

Any section mates?

Yep!

One more right here!

btw, did you notice that the break-down of the grading for Torts w/ Takacs is 15% group assignments, 15% individual, 10% attendance/ partic. and 60% final exam.
It seems a pretty rare set-up from the "final exam only" plan that I have heard most people have. Also, it mentions that the assignments will be done in combination with Civ. Pro...

did any of the 2L or 3L's have this?

Who else in this section was lucky enough to get Fridays off?

[apollo2015]

Any section mates?

Yep!

One more right here!

btw, did you notice that the break-down of the grading for Torts w/ Takacs is 15% group assignments, 15% individual, 10% attendance/ partic. and 60% final exam.
It seems a pretty rare set-up from the "final exam only" plan that I have heard most people have. Also, it mentions that the assignments will be done in combination with Civ. Pro...

did any of the 2L or 3L's have this?

Who else in this section was lucky enough to get Fridays off?

Heck yes!

[surfSD]

I know this is a long shot but do any of the 2Ls or 3Ls have have their old syllabus for Crim- Lee, Property-Shwartz, or Civ Pro- Dodson?

[hiima3L]

Are there any 2Ls or 3Ls who had:

Reiss - Torts
Depoorter - Property
Leftsin - Contracts
Wagner - LW&R

Any insight or suggestions?

Thanks[/quote]

I didn't have Reiss at UCH but had her as a GSI at Cal. She is an extremely helpful and great prof. Everyone who had her 1L loved her. Be prepared for awesome socks.

[a male human]

Reiss is a mess. She has a thick accent and her writing can be hard to read. She does do a quick review of the previous class in the beginning of each class, so that's pretty nice. She also offers four take-home midterms, of which two are required. Good for getting feedback I guess, but the final is a lot harder than the midterms. She also makes us do group work and presentations.

[Lasers]

Reiss is a mess. She has a thick accent and her writing can be hard to read. She does do a quick review of the previous class in the beginning of each class, so that's pretty nice. She also offers four take-home midterms, of which two are required. Good for getting feedback I guess, but the final is a lot harder than the midterms. She also makes us do group work and presentations.

seconded. she's terrible.

[hiima3L]

Reiss is a mess. She has a thick accent and her writing can be hard to read. She does do a quick review of the previous class in the beginning of each class, so that's pretty nice. She also offers four take-home midterms, of which two are required. Good for getting feedback I guess, but the final is a lot harder than the midterms. She also makes us do group work and presentations.

seconded. she's terrible.

But...the socks, man.