Texas 2L, Law Review, Taking Qs Forum

[UT1502]

I'm done with my summer gig and am bored at home. You ask 'em, I'll answer 'em. I don't know 'em, I'll bullshit 'em.

[steelersrule]

how are job prospects at UT right now? were most of your friends able to get summer work that they wanted?

[The Valkyrie]

What're your favorite parts of living in Austin?

[CanadianWolf]

What percentage of the first year class make law review ? Grade on ? Or writing competition for all ? Thanks !

[UT1502]

how are job prospects at UT right now? were most of your friends able to get summer work that they wanted?

I'm not sure how folks who graduated this year did, so take whatever I say only for what it's worth. As for 1Ls, nobody except URMs got biglaw 1L SA positions, but nobody did anywhere, really. Everyone I know who wanted a judicial internship got one, although some had to live in Laredo for the summer. I got a (moderately) paid position with a firm of roughly 50 attorneys without any real problems; not a lot of people that I knew wanted to work at smaller firms, but everyone who did got something. The only people out in the cold that I know of had some crippling defect, like atrocious grades or looking like a serial killer in an interview. Also, a fair number of people worked for professors as research assistants, but I couldn't really tell you anything about their experience. So basically, everyone who was realistic about their situation got work they wanted to do.

[UT1502]

What're your favorite parts of living in Austin?

Oh man, how much time do you have to read? I could go on for pages. But in no particular order:
-LIVE MUSIC. Live music live music live music. I've seen more shows in the last year than I did in all of UG.
-There's a place called Spider House that's a magnificent coffee shop and bar. I've probably done 50% of my studying there, which is to say, I'm pretty familiar with it.
-FOOD. Franklin BBQ was just named by Bon Appetit the best BBQ in AMERICA. Trudy's was recently named the best Tex Mex in the universe by me, but that didn't make the news. Everything is interesting and delicious. Uchi, TacoDeli, the list goes on and on.
-Every bar is different and awesome (except on the UG part of 6th street, but some people are into that).
God, what else? Barton Springs, Shady Grove...oh, and everyone bicycles everywhere. Great for a cyclist like me.

This is of course all what I've been able to fit in around the main event, which is studying. I guess the real question is, what do you like to do? I can tell you what Austin has to offer. If you're really into cross-country skiing, Austin's probably not for you.

[The Valkyrie]

I mostly like to play magic the gathering and D&D.

[UT1502]

What percentage of the first year class make law review ? Grade on ? Or writing competition for all ? Thanks !

50 people make Law Review (out of a class of about 400). There's a write on; actually, there's one write on competition that serves as the application for every journal (you select which ones to send it to, etc.). The 10 best essays automatically make it on LR, then for everyone else, it's an index of your first-year GPA and your score on the essay. I couldn't really say what the weight of each is, but I have a suspicion that grades are worth more than the essay. In practice, it comes to the same thing; the best essays are going to mostly be written by the best students, probably. Or I should say, everyone I know that made it onto LR had a pretty stout GPA. I should also say that, at least up until now, we don't know what our scores on the essays were, so this is mainly conjecture.

[UT1502]

I mostly like to play magic the gathering and D&D.

Regrettably, I know a bunch of people in law school who do both, a lot.

[UT1502]

I mostly like to play magic the gathering and D&D.

Also, it's rare that I get to use this:

--ImageRemoved--

[brose]

I know a non-URM 1L who got a big law SA.

[UT1502]

I know a non-URM 1L who got a big law SA.

I don't believe you.



Okay, fine, I believe you.

[Transferthrowaway]

Is it true what they say about everything being bigger in Texas?

[Corwin]

Is Austin pretty left politically? What are the job prospects like for those who want to go outside of TX?

[UT1502]

Is it true what they say about everything being bigger in Texas?

No, you spelled it wrong. It's Texas. See, it's bigger. Texas.

Also yes.

[UT1502]

Is Austin pretty left politically? What are the job prospects like for those who want to go outside of TX?

Austin? Left? My god. Yes. I think Austin and Portland go to political conventions together. Actually, UT is one of the few universities in the country that are MORE conservative than their city, because the city is so liberal, and the University brings in kids from the (more conservative) rest of the state. The law school student body is of course about 50/50, like most law schools.

Job prospects are undoubtedly better in TX than in other places, but I don't think remarkably so. The LR sent out a list of 3L members and where they worked this summer, and probably 40% were outside of TX. I assume a fair number of those that did work in Texas did so by choice, not necessity. Of course, I haven't gone through OCI, so I might change my tune in a month.

To be fair, that's people on the Law Review. I don't know about the rest of the class; most of course end up in TX, but again, that might be by choice. The school does put on several job fairs in out of state markets just for UT students, in NYC, DC, Boston, and maybe some others. I'm heading out to the DC one this week. I'm looking pretty much exclusively out of Texas.

[ronfinswanson]

About to start the year as a 1L at UT. Any favorite profs to report? Any ones to regret getting when I find out my section?

[UT1502]

About to start the year as a 1L at UT. Any favorite profs to report? Any ones to regret getting when I find out my section?

Alan Rau for Contracts is sort of a...I don't want to say "good" experience, but it has become something of a bonding experience in Texas. I interviewed with several people that had Rau, and we commiserated a bit. Anyway, he's "fun". He has a penchant for putting actual recent TX opinions on his final and just telling you to explain why the judge fucked it up. Pop quiz, hotshot!

William Forbath for Con Law is great. I've heard George Dix for Crim is hilarious. I've heard Kadens for Contracts is every bit as fun as Rau. Honestly, though, the classes with the least personable professors are really the ones I learned the most in, because they don't beat around the bush when you're wrong. Which you are. Every time.

[mfeller2]

What was OCI like? Do people mostly try for NYC and Texas firms or have people been able to get into other markets like Chicago, California?
Edit: Nevermind, you kind of already answered this.
Any advice for someone new to the area?

[UT1502]

What was OCI like? Do people mostly try for NYC and Texas firms or have people been able to get into other markets like Chicago, California, D.C.?

We find out on Wednesday where all we got interviews, so I can only partly answer your question. Most people I talked to applied mainly out of state, but I hang out with a lot of out of state kids. I can say this: there are probably 30 big firms from DC and CA coming to OCI. God knows if they'll hire anyone, of course, but I bid almost exclusively on those. I can only recall seeing 3 or 4 Chicago firms.

[Richie Tenenbaum]

how are job prospects at UT right now? were most of your friends able to get summer work that they wanted?

As for 1Ls, nobody except URMs got biglaw 1L SA positions, but nobody did anywhere, really.

Another rising 2L at UT here. This wasn't true based on results in my small section and large section. I know of around 10 people who got 1L biglaw SA positions (non-diversity ones). It seemed like the firms in Texas were actually hiring a lot more 1L's than other parts of the country. But maybe I'm basing this around a skewed sample size, since I really don't know how other people have been doing in other large sections as much as I do about my own.

[UT1502]

Any advice for someone new to the area?

Regarding what? Housing, places to go, etc.? I am a fount of information!

[UT1502]

how are job prospects at UT right now? were most of your friends able to get summer work that they wanted?

As for 1Ls, nobody except URMs got biglaw 1L SA positions, but nobody did anywhere, really.

Another rising 2L at UT here. This wasn't true based on results in my small section and large section. I know of around 10 people who got 1L biglaw SA positions (non-diversity ones). It seemed like the firms in Texas were actually hiring a lot more 1L's than other parts of the country. But maybe I'm basing this around a skewed sample size, since I really don't know how other people have been doing in other large sections as much as I do about my own.

And to be fair, I'm working with a pretty small sample size myself; it might just be that the 25 people I know about struck out. Also, I think IP kids did pretty well with biglaw 1L gigs, but that's based on the 2 I know.

[mfeller2]

Any advice for someone new to the area?

Regarding what? Housing, places to go, etc.? I am a fount of information!

Are there quite a few bars, restaurants in the Hyde Park area that you recommend?

[philosoraptor]

About to start the year as a 1L at UT. Any favorite profs to report? Any ones to regret getting when I find out my section?

Alan Rau for Contracts is sort of a...I don't want to say "good" experience, but it has become something of a bonding experience in Texas. I interviewed with several people that had Rau, and we commiserated a bit. Anyway, he's "fun". He has a penchant for putting actual recent TX opinions on his final and just telling you to explain why the judge fucked it up. Pop quiz, hotshot!

William Forbath for Con Law is great. I've heard George Dix for Crim is hilarious. I've heard Kadens for Contracts is every bit as fun as Rau. Honestly, though, the classes with the least personable professors are really the ones I learned the most in, because they don't beat around the bush when you're wrong. Which you are. Every time.

What I know:

Civ pro - Mullenix - She'll try to scare you at first, but don't worry about it. She's actually pretty cool. Be aware that her exam is all multiple choice and will be a disaster if you prepare for a "real" civ pro exam. There's a heavy slant toward the second half of the course. When you're on call, she has a tendency to ask questions that you can't possibly get right, and expect certain things to be in your answers that are arbitrary and tough to figure out. Just take it all in stride and don't get flustered.
Supplements: Glannon is OK but probably isn't as good as you think it will be. Buy her outline and use it to prepare for being on call.

Property - Smith - Extremely straightforward. Take GOOD NOTES in class and get an old outline. I can't emphasize the take-good-notes part enough. Much of the exam came from situations he mentioned in class.
Supplements: E&E will work. If you do those flashcards, start early.

Ks - Golden - Pretty sure he's not here this year. Too bad, because I liked his class (my small section).
Supplements: Best thing I did for Ks was read Chirelstein multiple times and use the Barbri outline as an (open-book) exam checklist.

Crim - Laurin - She's quite good. Cold-calls people like crazy, so be prepared and learn what kinds of questions will be asked. Strong focus on policy and statutory construction. Good old exams are tough to find. Do any problems she suggests you do.
Supplements: Read Dressler even though she'll tell you not to, but don't necessarily take it as gospel, and read only the sections you cover in class. E&E is useless.

Con law - Graglia - Most bizarre class I've ever taken. Do lots of his old exams. Keep up with the readings as much as you can. (Not a lot, just hard to figure out what to read sometimes.) Don't expect your grade to correlate with anything.
Supplements: Chemerinsky, maybe Graglia's law review articles. Who knows.

Torts - Robertson - Also extremely straightforward. Get an old outline and do lots of old exams, and go over the exams in a study group. His textbook is really good. Go to his review sessions and pay attention. It's easy to keep up with the reading, so do it and really try to understand it. If he calls on people and they are having a little trouble, he often walks them through it, but you'll get way more out of the discussion if you already know the basics, whether you're participating or watching.
Supplements: Abramson (little blue book) is easily digestible but almost too simple for anything other than basic concepts. E&E is OK but ignore the exam tips. Robertson will tell you what he's looking for on the exam.

LRW - Einhorn - She's fine, and means well. Mostly by the book. By far the toughest class to stay awake in.
Supplements: Get the Bluebook, not ALWD. If you're bad at grammar, now's the time to brush up. Otherwise, ignore everything you think you know about writing and do what the assigned books say. Anything by Bryan Garner will be helpful.

What I've heard:

Bob Bone (civ pro) yells a lot and is obsessed with economics. Rau (Ks) is scary. So is Kadens (Ks), but she's a really good teacher; for her, keep briefing. Meyer (LRW) is terrible. Sokolow (Ks) is awesome. Sturley (property) tends to be an absentee prof.