UVA Class of 2013 Forum

[badwithpseudonyms]

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[gladiator]

Section E
Civil Procedure (E, L) Walker, William L. MTWR 1000-1100
Contracts (E, H) Johnston, Jason S. TRF 1410-1530
Criminal Law (E, F, L) Jeffries, John C. MTR 0900-0950
Torts (E) O'Connell, Jeffrey MTWR 1540-1630

If any 2L's or 3L's have books/hornbooks for these classes, PM me.

Johnston and Jeffries didn't teach those subjects in the last 2 years so you'll need to check what the books are. Walker taught B and I and O'Connell taught H last year if that helps you in your search for people who had them.

[vanwinkle]

Jeffries is co-author of the Bonnie, Coughlin, Jeffries & Low Crim Law textbook, so he'll probably use that one. There's a new edition coming out for this fall, so don't get a used one.

For anyone using that textbook (and many Crim Law sections at UVA will, since four UVA profs authored it) I recommend Peter Low's commercial outline. It's written largely to track the Crim Law textbook and it's incredibly useful. (It probably won't quite sync up with the new 3d edition textbook quite as well as it did the 2d, but it should still be incredibly useful overall.)

Textbook info: --LinkRemoved--

Commercial outline info: http://www.amazon.com/Black-Letter-Outl ... t_ep_dpt_3

[Doritos]

Thanks vanwinkle!

[badwithpseudonyms]

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[Lady LaLa]

If anyone would like to offer advice and/or opinions of Mitchell, Dooley, Harmon, Abraham, and/or Buck, I'd greatly appreciate it. You can PM me on this one, since you might want to keep some opinions private.

[badwithpseudonyms]

.

[D Brooks]

For those in K here is a rising 2Ls perspective

Rutherglen- don't know that much about him but I think he's probably above average
Geis- very popular but somewhat overrated from what I've heard
Bonnie- big name but teaching quality doesn't stand up to the name
Abraham- similar to Bonnie, huge B+ curve
Forde-Mazrui (Spring)- so-so at best
Mahoney (Spring)- so-so at best

Overall I think your professor group is probably better on paper than in reality but you at least escaped the worst of the worst.

[vanwinkle]

If anyone would like to offer advice and/or opinions of Mitchell, Dooley, Harmon, Abraham, and/or Buck, I'd greatly appreciate it. You can PM me on this one, since you might want to keep some opinions private.

Mitchell = win. He's the kind of prof you really want to have; highly entertaining, engaging, knows his shit, and actually tests you on what you covered in class at the end of the semester.

The others I never took, though I will say Harmon is known as one of the best Crim Law professors and was a former DOJ prosecutor, and is someone who's good to get to know if you have any interest at all in a criminal law-related career when you graduate. Also, Abraham is a Torts superstar and wrote a hornbook that many of the Torts professors recommend. I don't know how good he is teaching, but he must be better than my Torts prof was.

Overall that sounds like a pretty stellar lineup to me, you've got at least three professors I know should be great.

[bgdddymtty]

For those in K here is a rising 2Ls perspective

Rutherglen- don't know that much about him but I think he's probably above average
Geis- very popular but somewhat overrated from what I've heard
Bonnie- big name but teaching quality doesn't stand up to the name
Abraham- similar to Bonnie, huge B+ curve
Forde-Mazrui (Spring)- so-so at best
Mahoney (Spring)- so-so at best

Overall I think your professor group is probably better on paper than in reality but you at least escaped the worst of the worst.

It's disappointing to hear two disappointing reports. Good thing I'm not paying an exorbitant sum of money for this.

[vanwinkle]

For those in K here is a rising 2Ls perspective

Rutherglen- don't know that much about him but I think he's probably above average
Geis- very popular but somewhat overrated from what I've heard
Bonnie- big name but teaching quality doesn't stand up to the name
Abraham- similar to Bonnie, huge B+ curve
Forde-Mazrui (Spring)- so-so at best
Mahoney (Spring)- so-so at best

Overall I think your professor group is probably better on paper than in reality but you at least escaped the worst of the worst.

Which Mahoney is that referring to? There are two (Dean and Mrs.) teaching at UVA.

Also, I took Geis, and he didn't seem overrated at all to me. Great use of PowerPoint (only professor I've ever had who could use PowerPoint to make class more entertaining on a regular basis), provides clear and logical structure to the class, and he's also friendly and helpful outside of class. He was my favorite professor during fall semester, I loved that class, and I didn't think I'd even like Contracts going in.

Contracts was also my highest grade during 1L. I did better in classes that were more straightforward, and his was. There's no hide-the-ball, what you study in class is what you deal with on the final, and you can use his PowerPoint overview slides as a model to build a really logical outline. If I could take him again I would, even if that meant taking Corporations or other classes I wasn't all that interested in.

[frix0803]

in section A.

does anyone know how great/good/so-so/bad Choi is for contracts?

Btw, are we better off buying brand new books or used ones?

[vanwinkle]

Btw, are we better off buying brand new books or used ones?

The only time I'd buy new textbooks is when the class is using a new edition and there are no used copies available. That's going to happen for a lot of Crim Law sections since the text many sections will use has a 3d edition coming out this fall.

[D Brooks]

For those in K here is a rising 2Ls perspective

Rutherglen- don't know that much about him but I think he's probably above average
Geis- very popular but somewhat overrated from what I've heard
Bonnie- big name but teaching quality doesn't stand up to the name
Abraham- similar to Bonnie, huge B+ curve
Forde-Mazrui (Spring)- so-so at best
Mahoney (Spring)- so-so at best

Overall I think your professor group is probably better on paper than in reality but you at least escaped the worst of the worst.

Which Mahoney is that referring to? There are two (Dean and Mrs.) teaching at UVA.

Also, I took Geis, and he didn't seem overrated at all to me. Great use of PowerPoint (only professor I've ever had who could use PowerPoint to make class more entertaining on a regular basis), provides clear and logical structure to the class, and he's also friendly and helpful outside of class. He was my favorite professor during fall semester, I loved that class, and I didn't think I'd even like Contracts going in.

Contracts was also my highest grade during 1L. I did better in classes that were more straightforward, and his was. There's no hide-the-ball, what you study in class is what you deal with on the final, and you can use his PowerPoint overview slides as a model to build a really logical outline. If I could take him again I would, even if that meant taking Corporations or other classes I wasn't all that interested in.

Cool.

On another note, I can't seem to find the classroom where my LRW is meeting. It's not posted on the course page. Anyone else have the same problem?

[D Brooks]

Also, only Bonnie (Crim) for section K prohibits laptops so we can use them for the other four class.

[frix0803]

On another note, I can't seem to find the classroom where my LRW is meeting. It's not posted on the course page. Anyone else have the same problem?[/quote]

Me 2. If someone knows, let me know (in section A with Prof. Sarah Stewart).

[badwithpseudonyms]

Anyone remember what page the laptop discussion was on?

[D Brooks]

Anyone remember what page the laptop discussion was on?

Dunno but if they are prohibited it'd say so on the course page. That's how I found out at least.

[badwithpseudonyms]

Anyone remember what page the laptop discussion was on?

Dunno but if they are prohibited it'd say so on the course page. That's how I found out at least.

Good call. Thanks.

[Philo38]

Anyone remember what page the laptop discussion was on?

Dunno but if they are prohibited it'd say so on the course page. That's how I found out at least.

Good call. Thanks.

I'm sorry, where did you find this?

EDIT: Never mind, found it.

[dgouzoul]

so how is Garrett for civpro...should I defer?

[badwithpseudonyms]

Figured this might be pertinent and somewhat easier. Note that the underlined sections are the ones which prohibit laptops.

so a lot of these classes seem to have a no-laptop rule. do professors generally let you record the lectures or is that against the rules?

Doesn't seem too bad, unless you happen to get placed in section C. Those folks are gonna need to buy some extra notebooks.

Classes That Prohibit Laptops
Civil Procedure -- A B C D E F G H I J K L
Contracts -------- A B C D E F G H I J K L
Criminal Law ----- A B C D E F G H I J K L
Torts ------------- A B C D E F G H I J K L
Research --------- NO LAPTOPS!!!!
& Legal Writing

[gladiator]

in section A.

does anyone know how great/good/so-so/bad Choi is for contracts?

Btw, are we better off buying brand new books or used ones?

Choi is a new professor I believe.

[billyez]

Figured this might be pertinent and somewhat easier. Note that the underlined sections are the ones which prohibit laptops.

so a lot of these classes seem to have a no-laptop rule. do professors generally let you record the lectures or is that against the rules?

Doesn't seem too bad, unless you happen to get placed in section C. Those folks are gonna need to buy some extra notebooks.

Classes That Prohibit Laptops
Civil Procedure -- A B C D E F G H I J K L
Contracts -------- A B C D E F G H I J K L
Criminal Law ----- A B C D E F G H I J K L
Torts ------------- A B C D E F G H I J K L
Research --------- A B C D E F G H I J K L
& Legal Writing

Thanks a bunch for reposting this. Glad I don't have to worry about carrying too many notebooks around.


Finally found the Virginia NPR station while I was picking up my books. Yep, it's a little bit more like home now.

[itsirtou]

Figured this might be pertinent and somewhat easier. Note that the underlined sections are the ones which prohibit laptops.

so a lot of these classes seem to have a no-laptop rule. do professors generally let you record the lectures or is that against the rules?

Doesn't seem too bad, unless you happen to get placed in section C. Those folks are gonna need to buy some extra notebooks.

Classes That Prohibit Laptops
Civil Procedure -- A B C D E F G H I J K L
Contracts -------- A B C D E F G H I J K L
Criminal Law ----- A B C D E F G H I J K L
Torts ------------- A B C D E F G H I J K L
Research --------- A B C D E F G H I J K L
& Legal Writing

Somehow I managed to end up with no classes prohibiting laptops...nice! (except for Research and legal writing -- I heard laptops aren't allowed in there ever?)