I enjoyed it. I liked the way it was very basic and high level; as it allowed me to simply take in the material presented instead of digesting concepts.

It was great.

- I want to investigate the claim that the average trial lawyer lives 53 years. I can't beleieve it.

- Grad Student are you doing the competition?

- I was suprised with the number of 1L's there, is the ADRA a new organization?

- Neither of you are the Machiavelli guy are you?

Yeah, I'm doing it. I'm not sure if y'all got the paper that being passed around but we (my friends and I) were the guys that put 3L, 4L, 5L in a row on the sign up sheet.

No, Machiavelli was annoying...I feel sorry for you guys b/c he'll only get worse.

All I can hope is that Machiavelli is not in the PT section. I don't feel like hearing him for 4 years. I am a 1L part time so I used this as a dry run for how I am going to plan my schedule, park, check traffic around that time, etc.

I'm PT also. I'm a little nervous because I time my commute from me leaving work at exactly 5pm, and I walked into the doors of the school at around 5:50. The traffic approaching downtown is a real burden.

I have asked in the past about whether or not profs are strict about being in class precisely on time. I have heard that this is not a major issue but I am concerned since it looks like I am going to be walking into class a few minutes late every night.

Also, parking at creme de la creme was very convenient, but it costs 6 bucks. Is there a monthly pass at this place that makes it 3 bucks per night like I have heard people mentioning or is this in another garage?

There is a student parking lot pretty close by, it's 2.00 per entry (no in/out privileges). It appears you have to fill out an application first though. I found it on the STANLEY website.

Where are you coming from work wise?

The parking garage at creme de la creme is $50 a month for students. There is another garage catty-corner to it that's $40 a month that I park in. I find my garage to be nicer and not as many sketchy folks in it.

I work around Eldridge and Briar Forest in West Houston (Eldridge I-10 area).

The construction they are doing at I-45 and I-10 is what kills me. I sit there for 15 minutes waiting to exit I-10 onto I-45.

yes that I-10 I-45 blows big time. My office is at I-10 and Mason Rd out in Katy. But I will be taking the westpark tollway because it seems to be a lot faster.

Westpark to what? 59? I'd be glad to try an alternate route.

yeah westpark to 59 then there are a couple different exits you can take depending on DT traffic. I think Polk is the most straight forward.

How did the Mediation tournament go for everyone?

Little less than a week away for you guys, are y'all getting excited? Nervous? Not thinking about it? Orientation I think starts Wednesday? It will be fun and there should be food and y'all get SWAG.

Orientation is Fri-Sat. I was shocked to see required assignments for orientation, very different from undergrad. Touney was interesting it was fun getting to semi argue in a psuedo real world environment.

The competition was fun, though me and my teammate ended up going against a 3L team due to a last minute drop-out and replacement, it was still a good learning experience, and we ended up settling for less than what we thought we would have to

I did the reading for my 1st Torts class today, I didn't think it was too terrible, of course I didn't brief the cases yet, and this prof specifically requires written briefs. I then did the orientation assignment reading and learned we will be writing a brief and having it critiqued this weekend, so I think I'm going to hold off on writing the briefs for Monday until I go through that exercise.

Pretty exciting!

On a gloomier note, I've had a last minute potential career change wich might be requiring me to travel. It's a good opportunity for me, but it would cause me to have to defer attending this year and just apply again next year since I don't think travelling Monday through Thursday would work out very well with law school. I'm chatting with my boss in tomorrow to get a final answer. Timing always sucks!

Sounds good guys. Don't let them overwhelm you during orientation. Do the reading/briefing. The professor will come in and cold call someone and ream their ass. Don't be that person or you'll be that person all year. Have fun and talk to everyone. There will be some clique-y assholes so ignore them.

I had a young lawyer work for me a few years ago who attended South Texas COL. He had nothing but good things to say about the experience. For my part, I thought that he was very well trained as a lawyer.

For you people new to Houston your going to love it! I almost wish I stayed just because there is so much to do there. I would not worry too much about getting embarrassed about not knowing everything there is about a particular case you were suppose to brief for the day. It is not like it will effect your grade anyway. Just keep on top of the black letter law and KEEP a good outline! I cannot stress the importance of doing YOUR own outline enough. This is a marathon not a sprint. The students that keep up with the work all semester are usually the ones who end up doing well in law school.

Planning on applying to South Texas for fall 2011. I currently attend the University of South Carolina and have a 3.0 gpa with a 155 lsat. I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight into what my chances are with my current numbers. I am also planning on retaking the lsat in oct.

You'd probably get in. Retake and see what you come up with.

Grad Student, do you remember around what date grades are available for the fall semester?

My last final is on Dec 14th. I'm asking because I am getting some tuition reimbursement from my employer and it is granted on a calendar year basis, but only after grades are returned with a C or higher (funny thing for law school huh).

In other words, I need to know if I am going to be able to get my grades in time this year in order to get my tuition reimbursed before the end of the calendar year, otherwise I lose on this year's amount, and the amount will be applied to next year.

It's all dependent upon the professor. Obviously, earlier finals will be turned in early. Typically though, if grades aren't in by Dec. 20th, they won't be in until after the 1st of the year.

edit: I should note that grades are released as they become available. So if K's comes in on the 16th, it will be posted asap. The registrar won't wait for all grades to be in and then release them.

Good to know, thanks a lot.

I'm not real optimistic since my LRW I final isn't until the 14th. I can imagine not receiving that grade until after the 1st, and since I applied for reimbursement for that class and contracts (I only get 5k per year) I will need that grade. Plus it takes about a week to process the expenses, so I can imagine I'm going to get paid out in 2011.

It's ok though it just means I don't use any fund this year and overall I'll only get 20k instead of 25k. I'm not complaining, 20k is still very helpful.

P.S. I know it's still really early in the semester, but after one week I feel really good about this school.

Good deal, you'll meet a lot of great ppl as you go through school. Try to enjoy these first few weeks of school. Maybe Happy will chime in on his experiences

Am I to infer a subtle warning here?

Thanks for the advice. I'm enjoying it and trying to maintain a realistic view that things are going to get much more difficult.

After the first week I have to say I am enjoying STCL and law school. As sad as it sounds I really enjoy studying. I find myself looking to my casebooks instead of hulu to fill my free time. Which works out well because so far I have found that picking up the concepts has been a challenge (especially in K law). I think I have re read the chapter on consideration 3 times and still have lots of questions.

Overall, I find my class extremely polarized at this point. Luckily, the gunners haven't emerged from their shells, but I think we have something else, can we call them dummers? There are a few folks that constantly chime in with comments that are always from left field, they don't add to the discussion, and to me seem stupider for asking the question.