Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[Spritzpiggy]

Edit: Found the necessary info online. 

[Stinson]

Current students: Con Law (1st or 14th) professor recs/warnings?

Take 14th with Klarman, no brainer. Parker is an excellent if unconventional professor; if you take 1st amendment with him the class will center around his own theory of constitutional interpretation - popular constitutionalism. There will also be humorous dramatic readings of Justice Kennedy opinions, Bon Iver music video breaks and Clint Eastwood watching in class. It is a great experience, but if you want conventional look elsewhere.

[arez]

Current students: Con Law (1st or 14th) professor recs/warnings?

Take 14th with Klarman, no brainer. Parker is an excellent if unconventional professor; if you take 1st amendment with him the class will center around his own theory of constitutional interpretation - popular constitutionalism. There will also be humorous dramatic readings of Justice Kennedy opinions, Bon Iver music video breaks and Clint Eastwood watching in class. It is a great experience, but if you want conventional look elsewhere.

Thanks for the advice. Do people ever take both 1st and 14th or is that not a thing?

[ph14]

Current students: Con Law (1st or 14th) professor recs/warnings?

Take 14th with Klarman, no brainer. Parker is an excellent if unconventional professor; if you take 1st amendment with him the class will center around his own theory of constitutional interpretation - popular constitutionalism. There will also be humorous dramatic readings of Justice Kennedy opinions, Bon Iver music video breaks and Clint Eastwood watching in class. It is a great experience, but if you want conventional look elsewhere.

Thanks for the advice. Do people ever take both 1st and 14th or is that not a thing?

People take both. They are totally discrete and separate classes focusing on different issues. 14th is the most basic and general Con Law course that probably more closely resembles other school's "Con Law" classes. 1st Amendment is more narrow and something you don't necessarily need to take. 14th is pretty much a need to take class at some point.

[Blessedassurance]

2ls/3ls...how many classes per semester is normal for 2l? can one just do 3 per semester (plus the occassional 1 or 2 credit seminar) and graduate?

[Hattori Hanzo]

2ls/3ls...how many classes per semester is normal for 2l? can one just do 3 per semester (plus the occassional 1 or 2 credit seminar) and graduate?

You need a total of 26 credits per year during your 2/3L to graduate. If you take a 3cr class over the winter term, that leaves 11.5cr per semester. So yeah, 3 is totally doable. As someone who always aims for the easiest way out, I always tried to maximize the credits to minimize the number of classes. This is esp. important because you roughly put in as much effort into a 2/3cr class as a 4cr class (save for class time) so I always go for higher cr. That said, I have chilled/coasted through my 2/3L and never wanted to be a lawyer so YMMV.

[Mista Bojangles]

if you're doing EIP, is it safe to assume employers will be able to see the courses you've selected to take for fall 2013? and if so, is there a particular need to appease them with certain kinds of classes at all or should that not even be a remote consideration

[GertrudePerkins]

if you're doing EIP, is it safe to assume employers will be able to see the courses you've selected to take for fall 2013? and if so, is there a particular need to appease them with certain kinds of classes at all or should that not even be a remote consideration

I think not even a remote consideration. I think you'd have to create an extremely weird/slacker schedule before they would care. Employers presumably understand that EIP is long before add/drop is finished, so it's not like your schedule is certain to stay the same in any case.

[Blessedassurance]

As someone who always aims for the easiest way out...

That said, I have chilled/coasted through my 2/3L and never wanted to be a lawyer so YMMV.

Thank you. We share the same motivations. I was beginning to worry I might be the only one with such a mentality.

[wert3813]

As someone who always aims for the easiest way out...

That said, I have chilled/coasted through my 2/3L and never wanted to be a lawyer so YMMV.

Thank you. We share the same motivations. I was beginning to worry I might be the only one with such a mentality.

What do the two of you plan on doing after graduation?

[Blessedassurance]

i'm not tragically opposed to being a lawyer, it's law school i hate.

[Hattori Hanzo]

As someone who always aims for the easiest way out...

That said, I have chilled/coasted through my 2/3L and never wanted to be a lawyer so YMMV.

Thank you. We share the same motivations. I was beginning to worry I might be the only one with such a mentality.

What do the two of you plan on doing after graduation?

Consulting.

[AllTheLawz]

As someone who always aims for the easiest way out...

That said, I have chilled/coasted through my 2/3L and never wanted to be a lawyer so YMMV.

Thank you. We share the same motivations. I was beginning to worry I might be the only one with such a mentality.

What do the two of you plan on doing after graduation?

Consulting.

Mind if I shoot you a PM? Considering consulting route.

[Hattori Hanzo]

Consulting.

Mind if I shoot you a PM? Considering consulting route.

Sure. Always happy to help.

[Doorkeeper]

Assuming one is planning to take 1st, 4-5-6, 14th, Admin Law and Fed. Courts, how "necessary" is it to take Corporations, Evidence, and/or Tax?

These seem to be the 8 classes thrown around as "must take" by different people. Is there any real harm if one doesn't take one of the three classes listed? Do firms, judges, gov or PI places care about any in particular?

[ph14]

Assuming one is planning to take 1st, 4-5-6, 14th, Admin Law and Fed. Courts, how "necessary" is it to take Corporations, Evidence, and/or Tax?

These seem to be the 8 classes thrown around as "must take" by different people. Is there any real harm if one doesn't take one of the three classes listed? Do firms, judges, gov or PI places care about any in particular?

Doesn't matter. Take what interests you/related to your area of interest, if you have one. Tax is not a must take class. Evidence and Corporations are pretty usefull though. You can't take everything though.

[PMan99]

Assuming one is planning to take 1st, 4-5-6, 14th, Admin Law and Fed. Courts, how "necessary" is it to take Corporations, Evidence, and/or Tax?

These seem to be the 8 classes thrown around as "must take" by different people. Is there any real harm if one doesn't take one of the three classes listed? Do firms, judges, gov or PI places care about any in particular?

The CW is that judges care about FedCourts (and so you need to take Conlaw, prob 14th). Other than that, don't think employers really care.

[PriOSky]

Current students: Con Law (1st or 14th) professor recs/warnings?

Who's the most BBL-focused of all 14th profs?

[Glassjar]

This might have been asked before - feel free to shout at me (and please point me in the right direction) if it has! Tried searching for it but found nada.

How much do final semester of undergrad grades matter, and how? A friend at HLS mentioned that she slacked off in her final semester once getting accepted at HLS. She said this ended up biting her in the butt once it came time to apply for jobs later on in the year, because apparently Harvard lets out grades late, and because of that potential employers often rely more on all of the undergrad transcript?

Let me know if this is true. I'm really slacking off just because I have so many commitments this semester, and it will be in stark contrast to past years.

[Blessedassurance]

This might have been asked before - feel free to shout at me (and please point me in the right direction) if it has! Tried searching for it but found nada.

How much do final semester of undergrad grades matter, and how? A friend at HLS mentioned that she slacked off in her final semester once getting accepted at HLS. She said this ended up biting her in the butt once it came time to apply for jobs later on in the year, because apparently Harvard lets out grades late, and because of that potential employers often rely more on all of the undergrad transcript?

Let me know if this is true. I'm really slacking off just because I have so many commitments this semester, and it will be in stark contrast to past years.

people get 1l positions before grades come out. at that point, all you really got going for you is the harvard name, it's what gets you in the door, so to speak. anything you can add to that can only help (e.g. work experience, ties, undergrad grades, undergrad name, or a combination thereof). so yes, it can make a difference. i know people that got 1l firm jobs purely based on their undergrad grades and the fact that they go to hls. i wouldn't slack off for the hell of it. undergrad is significantly easier than law school. just grind it out.

this is not to say you should freak out if you've already tanked your last semester. some firms wait for your law school grades before making hiring decisions.

[pupshaw]

Hey guys, two questions for you all:

1. To the extent that judges care about Fed Courts, is it important to take it 2L rather than 3L?

2. Recs/warnings about Ad Law professors? Has anyone taken Vermeule? Sunstein?

Thanks!

[ph14]

Hey guys, two questions for you all:

1. To the extent that judges care about Fed Courts, is it important to take it 2L rather than 3L?

2. Recs/warnings about Ad Law professors? Has anyone taken Vermeule? Sunstein?

Thanks!

1. Not important.

[Doorkeeper]

2. Recs/warnings about Ad Law professors? Has anyone taken Vermeule? Sunstein?

I've heard nothing but bad things about Sunstein and nothing but good things about Rakoff. I don't know anything about Vermeule or Freeman. Freeman has very high ratings on course evaluations, but who knows how much that means.

[PinkCow]

2. Recs/warnings about Ad Law professors? Has anyone taken Vermeule? Sunstein?

I've heard nothing but bad things about Sunstein and nothing but good things about Rakoff. I don't know anything about Vermeule or Freeman. Freeman has very high ratings on course evaluations, but who knows how much that means.

I'm in Sunstein's right now. I am approximately 75% lost, but I think his teaching is good and his tons of hypos help explain the material.

He does move pretty fast during class and often doesn't provide a clear answer to his hypos (probably because there isn't one). The course is a bit disorganized too, but I blame that partially on the book.


IDK, once I see the exam I guess I'll have a better opinion. I definitely think he's more good than bad as far as teaching goes though.



EDIT: In case this is a factor, his cold calling is all over the place. I've never been called on, and he's called on a few people probably 5 times by now.

[Langdell]

Sorry to ask, but does anyone have an outline for Leadership in Law Firms? Any outline will do as the only one I've found is quite bad and doesn't reflect the current syllabus.
Thanks.