UVA Law Students Taking Questions Forum

[5ky]

You're right, I'm dumb. Since interviewing starts next week it just feels like that's when school starts up. edited.

That was my next worry - did I have the start date wrong? Given I don't seem to be close to having my work finished I was having a moment of panic!

Not work like, reading E&Es and stuff, though, right?

[albanach]

Not work like, reading E&Es and stuff, though, right?

No, there's a huge pile of those sitting unread. I meant finishing my day job and documenting what I've done for the past several years in the hope that they won't need to call me after classes start.

[bgdddymtty]

Srsly. You guys wanna pool some money together to get him a really nice token of our appreciation?

Yes

I'm going to revive this thought given how shitty it must be to be in the CSO and see the manner in which the school keeps making the news. IMO we should give a gift to the whole of the CSO, though.

Still think it's a good idea. Somebody needs to make the initial move.

I agree that we should do something for all of CSO. Obviously, everyone in the office works like crazy to help us get jobs. I'm happy to run the point. I'd love some ideas, and I also need to know how much you guys are comfortable with spending. $10 per person? Do we want to send this out to the section listservs? Feel free to either discuss here or PM me.

[RVP11]

The relative consensus among older students seemed to be that sections A, C, and L had the best lineups of professors.

A and I are the best, to my mind. I'd say A >>>> I >> L > C. K has a relatively weak lineup.

Also, are there no more 90-person, 3 section classes for 1Ls?

[5ky]

The relative consensus among older students seemed to be that sections A, C, and L had the best lineups of professors.

A and I are the best, to my mind. I'd say A >>>> I >> L > C. K has a relatively weak lineup.

Also, are there no more 90-person, 3 section classes for 1Ls?

Apparently not. I actually liked having a 90 person class. It at least gave you somewhat of a reprieve from the Socratic method, plus it added one more section you had class with.

[dailygrind]

The relative consensus among older students seemed to be that sections A, C, and L had the best lineups of professors.

A and I are the best, to my mind. I'd say A >>>> I >> L > C. K has a relatively weak lineup.

Also, are there no more 90-person, 3 section classes for 1Ls?

I suspect that K may be getting a slightly rough review cuz Johnston's a relative unknown so people are assigning him a mediocre grade, but he might've been my favorite 1L prof.

[bgdddymtty]

The relative consensus among older students seemed to be that sections A, C, and L had the best lineups of professors.

A and I are the best, to my mind. I'd say A >>>> I >> L > C. K has a relatively weak lineup.

Also, are there no more 90-person, 3 section classes for 1Ls?

I suspect that K may be getting a slightly rough review cuz Johnston's a relative unknown so people are assigning him a mediocre grade, but he might've been my favorite 1L prof.

Is his faculty photo relatively recent? (I suspect it should be since he's a recent addition.) If so, way to go, dude. That might be the youngest-looking 55(ish) I've ever seen.

Speaking of Johnston, and therefore of Law & Game Theory, how does getting into a class off the waitlist work here? What if you're signed up for a back-up class that meets at the same time, so you can't crash the class you really want? Is it still possible to get in?

[Faceplant]

Incoming 1L here. Thanks Vanwinkle for starting this thread and thanks to all the other posters like cavalier rvp11 ycrevolution kohinoor dailygrind thesealocaust vandemic jawsthegreat stringerbell dgouzoul bgdddymtty joeschmoe gladiator and on and on (let me know if i forgot you and i'll edit the shout out )

This site is unbelievably helpful!

What do you guys think about buying used books? Am I going to want to keep all my law school books forever or will I be itching to get rid of them the minute final exams are over?

What's with all the different sites that require password level security that china couldn't crack? There's SIS, lawweb, cavlink...how many more? I have taken to writing down my login and password info in a paper notebook just so I don't get everything mixed up.

I got my university id the other day and now there's this email in my inbox telling me to update or create my cavlink account. Is that even necessary? I might have done it already but I tried logging in with my other logins and passwords and THAT didn't work.

[Faceplant]

What's with the financial aid lady sending out a mass email in July reminding incoming 1L's to fill out a fafsa before time runs out? Who makes it to the july before 1L without filling out a fafsa?

[dgouzoul]

Faceplant,

I am honored to be included on that list. But if you are going to be editing, I think you should probably remove me if it is for helpful people only.

See you around

[Cavalier]

What do you guys think about buying used books? Am I going to want to keep all my law school books forever or will I be itching to get rid of them the minute final exams are over?

I prefer new books because I hate having to deal with the previous owner's highlightings and other markings. You should feel free to sell your books after exams; if for whatever awful reason you ever need to refer to one again, you can probably find a copy in the library.

What's with all the different sites that require password level security that china couldn't crack? There's SIS, lawweb, cavlink...how many more? I have taken to writing down my login and password info in a paper notebook just so I don't get everything mixed up.

Never heard of Cavlink--hopefully I'm not missing something important. There is basically just SIS, LawWeb, and Symplicity for jobs stuff (you don't need to worry about this now), so you'll need at most three passwords, but you can always reuse one.

[Faceplant]

I guess cavlink and symplicity are the same thing

https://virginia-csm.symplicity.com/students/

[Cavalier]

Oh, that explains it!

[berkeleykel06]

I think CavLink is for finding non-legal jobs.

[gladiator]

I think CavLink is for finding non-legal jobs.

It's geared mostly toward the undergrads. I don't think they even tell law students about it, at least not that I remember.

[joeshmo39]

Books:

I buy my books used because I'm cheap. The previous owner's use usually doesn't bother me and I've moved away from taking notes in the book as much. I usually just do it on my laptop. The end of the semester is a tough time because you had the book all semester and it was your life. Sometimes I get a a little weepy selling a book when I spent so much time paging through. I also know I'm getting ripped off big time at the book cart. 2 hours later, when I convert my book cash to gin and tonic, I don't care at all. You'll always have your outline plus notes and and EVERY case in the book is famous enough to have a brief of it online, or a wiki entry, or even the full case. If not, westlaw and lexis will undoubtedly have the case. If you keep your books I doubt you ever open them up again so I say sell.

[vamedic03]

With my books, I usually:

(1) Purchase them new from Amazon (typically 20-30% cheaper than the bookstore). I prefer new because I can't stand other people's highlighting.

(2) I trade in my books at the end of the semester through Amazon's textbook buyback store. Free shipping and I typically get $60-$70 / casebook in Amazon credit.

[ResolutePear]

With my books, I usually:

(1) Purchase them new from Amazon (typically 20-30% cheaper than the bookstore). I prefer new because I can't stand other people's highlighting.

(2) I trade in my books at the end of the semester through Amazon's textbook buyback store. Free shipping and I typically get $60-$70 / casebook in Amazon credit.

You can't sell to underclassmen?

Still, selling back to Amazon is legit. Cheggs, too.

[bgdddymtty]

Books:

I buy my books used because I'm cheap. The previous owner's use usually doesn't bother me and I've moved away from taking notes in the book as much. I usually just do it on my laptop. The end of the semester is a tough time because you had the book all semester and it was your life. Sometimes I get a a little weepy selling a book when I spent so much time paging through. I also know I'm getting ripped off big time at the book cart. 2 hours later, when I convert my book cash to gin and tonic, I don't care at all. You'll always have your outline plus notes and and EVERY case in the book is famous enough to have a brief of it online, or a wiki entry, or even the full case. If not, westlaw and lexis will undoubtedly have the case. If you keep your books I doubt you ever open them up again so I say sell.

Word to all of that. You'll also figure out soon enough that for areas of the law that don't evolve all that quickly, older editions are fine. I just bought my Trusts & Estates for less than $7 (including shipping) rather than $150 or whatever because I'm willing to bet that any changes in the field from 2005-2009 were minimal, and I can look up new cases on the interwebs.

That said, anyone have a Tax casebook they're looking to sell?

[omg]

With my books, I usually:

(1) Purchase them new from Amazon (typically 20-30% cheaper than the bookstore). I prefer new because I can't stand other people's highlighting.

(2) I trade in my books at the end of the semester through Amazon's textbook buyback store. Free shipping and I typically get $60-$70 / casebook in Amazon credit.

Anyone else notice how vamedic's posts involve numbered lists very, very often?

[Gerry B]

Books:

I buy my books used because I'm cheap. The previous owner's use usually doesn't bother me and I've moved away from taking notes in the book as much. I usually just do it on my laptop. The end of the semester is a tough time because you had the book all semester and it was your life. Sometimes I get a a little weepy selling a book when I spent so much time paging through. I also know I'm getting ripped off big time at the book cart. 2 hours later, when I convert my book cash to gin and tonic, I don't care at all. You'll always have your outline plus notes and and EVERY case in the book is famous enough to have a brief of it online, or a wiki entry, or even the full case. If not, westlaw and lexis will undoubtedly have the case. If you keep your books I doubt you ever open them up again so I say sell.

Word to all of that. You'll also figure out soon enough that for areas of the law that don't evolve all that quickly, older editions are fine. I just bought my Trusts & Estates for less than $7 (including shipping) rather than $150 or whatever because I'm willing to bet that any changes in the field from 2005-2009 were minimal, and I can look up new cases on the interwebs.

That said, anyone have a Tax casebook they're looking to sell?

I have a basically brand new Tax casebook that I bought last spring as well as the tax code book. I thought I was going to take the class and then decided that it wasn't for me. It only has 2 pages highlighted.

[paulinaporizkova]

so, does everyone type notes in class or would I be totally dumb to write out? I got Circus Ponies but I'm still resistant to the idea cuz I always took notes out of a notebook in UG. thoughts?

[Cavalier]

so, does everyone type notes in class or would I be totally dumb to write out? I got Circus Ponies but I'm still resistant to the idea cuz I always took notes out of a notebook in UG. thoughts?

I took all my notes by hand and I never had a problem keeping up. Having typed notes can be advantageous when you're trying to find something (Ctrl+F is much quicker than flipping through pages) and also when you're making outlines, but I'm way too easily distracted and if I have a laptop with me I'll simply spend the entire class gchatting and surfing the Internet.

[paulinaporizkova]

so, does everyone type notes in class or would I be totally dumb to write out? I got Circus Ponies but I'm still resistant to the idea cuz I always took notes out of a notebook in UG. thoughts?

I took all my notes by hand and I never had a problem keeping up. Having typed notes can be advantageous when you're trying to find something (Ctrl+F is much quicker than flipping through pages) and also when you're making outlines, but I'm way too easily distracted and if I have a laptop with me I'll simply spend the entire class gchatting and surfing the Internet.

thanks. this is (pathetically) gonna be a tough decision for me to make

[crossingforHYS]

so, does everyone type notes in class or would I be totally dumb to write out? I got Circus Ponies but I'm still resistant to the idea cuz I always took notes out of a notebook in UG. thoughts?

I took all my notes by hand and I never had a problem keeping up. Having typed notes can be advantageous when you're trying to find something (Ctrl+F is much quicker than flipping through pages) and also when you're making outlines, but I'm way too easily distracted and if I have a laptop with me I'll simply spend the entire class gchatting and surfing the Internet.

thanks. this is (pathetically) gonna be a tough decision for me to make

why don't you try it on a computer for a couple of weeks, then move to writing for a couple...

or even better use one class as a test run for either method.

I knwo how you feel, since I am much better at writing out my notes...but for speed and time might switch ti typing