1Ls, what's your impression thus far? Forum

[Nicholasnickynic]

The biggest issue is figuring out what you should know/be doing. I wish I had a bunch of hypos that I could do and get feedback but alas, law school is not that kind of game. The cases aren't that bad IMO, just a matter of figuring out what the prof likes to ask for on a cold call as to not embarrass yourself.

This is a long thread, so maybe someone already answered this but ah...

Ever heard of E&E?

[Fast_Fingers]

Anyone doing any extracurriculars?

About to try out IP law and T.O.R.T (MN's theater comedy group). There's supposedly a publication that's like the Onion called the Law Review Review...depends on what's asked of me first.

[FunkyJD]

Some of these posts: Forty-two minute in-class grilling?

Others: Eight hours of reading for class? If it works for you, then who am I to judge -- but damn.

All of these posts make me eager to get started next fall. I deferred my entry for a year, but I feel like I'm missing all the fun. (And by fun, I mean strangely endearing pain.) I'm truly jealous. Good luck to everyone.

[gwuorbust]

Some of these posts: Forty-two minute in-class grilling?

Others: Eight hours of reading for class? If it works for you, then who am I to judge -- but damn.

All of these posts make me eager to get started next fall. I deferred my entry for a year, but I feel like I'm missing all the fun. (And by fun, I mean strangely endearing pain.) I'm truly jealous. Good luck to everyone.

you will find that many/most ppl in LS like to exaggerate their workload and/or keep themselves busy. you can get the work done; IMO it is no worse then a 9-5 job. but I do work on weekends so I get some good time and a half in lol

[beach_terror]

Definitely feel like everything just clicked for me, and as a result my motivation/work ethic has shot up. Not that I didn't understand things before, but I feel like I've had a moment of clarity in torts and civ pro, crim will hopefully be shortly behind.

[BCLS]

Definitely feel like everything just clicked for me, and as a result my motivation/work ethic has shot up. Not that I didn't understand things before, but I feel like I've had a moment of clarity in torts and civ pro, crim will hopefully be shortly behind.

Just happened for me in K's. Woooo

[inchoate_con]

Definitely feel like everything just clicked for me, and as a result my motivation/work ethic has shot up. Not that I didn't understand things before, but I feel like I've had a moment of clarity in torts and civ pro, crim will hopefully be shortly behind.

Just happened for me in K's. Woooo

Me too... I'm really finding the CALI's for K's (Fuller & EIsenberg) helpful.

[Cupidity]

Everything is peachy, I do about 3-4 hours of work a night, mostly reading and briefing. With the exception of some restitution stuff from the 1800's in K's I have pretty much understood everything the first time around. I haven't really used any E&E's or Hornbooks because of this. I only do about 4 hours of work on the weekend. I go out with friends at least 3 or 4 times a week and I'm slightly involved with two student groups.



Should I be concerned? I seriously feel like I'm missing something.

[FunkyJD]

you will find that many/most ppl in LS like to exaggerate their workload and/or keep themselves busy. you can get the work done; IMO it is no worse then a 9-5 job. but I do work on weekends so I get some good time and a half in lol

I've heard/read this comparison before, and I think that's a great way to approach it.

[savagecheater]

Everything is peachy, I do about 3-4 hours of work a night, mostly reading and briefing. With the exception of some restitution stuff from the 1800's in K's I have pretty much understood everything the first time around. I haven't really used any E&E's or Hornbooks because of this. I only do about 4 hours of work on the weekend. I go out with friends at least 3 or 4 times a week and I'm slightly involved with two student groups.



Should I be concerned? I seriously feel like I'm missing something.

I understand the concepts presented and such, but I use the HBooks & E&E's to refine what we're learning in class.

The casebooks pose many questions and offer proportionately few answers. The E&E's provide in that area.

As to it being a 9-5 job: it matters. If you're really efficient about your reading, i.e., you buckle down and do it, it's 9-5, hell, 9-4 is you like. But that's just casebook reading. After dinner, I do HBook and E&E stuff, normaly done by 9:30 or so, then I screw around.

When I go to the library to work, I open my laptop and my books, do my business, and get out. Lot of people will socialize in the commons or facebook for 30 min or some such.

To be honest, the only class that's turning out to be a lot of work is Legal Writing.

[jdubb990]

Ughhh, I hardly have time to sit down and listen to LEEWS. And the little time I do have I'm so tired and his voice is so damn boring. Anybody else feel me?

[solotee]

How are you guys approaching the material that's being taught? Are you memorizing the rule end its elements? Should we be coming up with hypotheticals and thoroughly thinking through the rule? Or is that better served later in the semester?

With no feedback, I'm always questioning whether I'm approaching the material the right way, or if I should be doing something else.

[dakatz]

How are you guys approaching the material that's being taught? Are you memorizing the rule end its elements? Should we be coming up with hypotheticals and thoroughly thinking through the rule? Or is that better served later in the semester?

With no feedback, I'm always questioning whether I'm approaching the material the right way, or if I should be doing something else.

I think its always a good idea to apply the rules to new facts. That way you "define the line" so to speak. These rules are easy in their extreme applications, but quite difficult when you reach the hazy areas in between. Thats why I try and think out facts that fall in this middle area. When these fact patterns and hypos have very subtle differences, it forces me to consider the small differences and nuances that might weight the situation to one side vs. the other.

Also, try not to think of cases as isolated nuggets of info. Try and think of them on some type of spectrum, so you see how one relates to the next. And that applies even with cases that are presented in different "sections" of the class. A case presented to you in order to make a point about acceptance, might have some issue of consideration that simply wasn't discussed at the time you covered the case. So go back to these older cases and see how they compare on each "dimension" in comparison to your newer cases.

[beach_terror]

Also, try not to think of cases as isolated nuggets of info. Try and think of them on some type of spectrum, so you see how one relates to the next. And that applies even with cases that are presented in different "sections" of the class. A case presented to you in order to make a point about acceptance, might have some issue of consideration that simply wasn't discussed at the time you covered the case. So go back to these older cases and see how they compare on each "dimension" in comparison to your newer cases.

+1. For my torts class for example, after looking at the BLL I think of the cases as fringe elements on the BLL that either 1) don't come intuitively or 2) resolve ambiguities in the semantics of the BLL. I look at it kind of like a scale (conservative interpretations)|------BLL------|(broad interpretations).

[uwb09]

I'm officially done briefing cases.

I still read the cases, multiple times, and make minor notes in the margins (mostly just to remind myself to put a certain rule in my outline or something, or if I feel like I haven't talked in class in a couple days i'll make little phrase recaps so i can gun that day and get some bonus points)

but in my class notes/case brief word document, I haven't typed up a brief, even a short one, in over a week. Really don't see the point anymore. The main things I want to take from a case i'll mark in the margin and add to my outline.

I'll pull up the brief on lawnix or lexis (gotta get my points) in case I get cold called, but that's about it. Done sinking time into trying to re-wording cases.

Plus it leaves me more time to watch football

[Helmholtz]

1Ls, what's your impression thus far?

Why am I doing this to myself.

[beach_terror]

Anyone have a handful of kids in their section that they, plainly, just don't like?

I'm harnessing my resentment of certain individuals as motivation to work harder (if any of these kids beat me in the class rank, I might as well just /wrists). It's working out pretty well for me so far. Anyone employing similar tactics?

[sconnielaw13]

1Ls, what's your impression thus far?

Why am I doing this to myself.

I find myself asking that as well. It has been difficult these first few weeks because I have been having 20 hours of class per week to make up for anticipated canceled classes later on. With this being said I have had all i can do to stay up on the readings let alone starting to outline.

Also one minute I feel that I am understand everything then the next minute I feel like I am lost... it is really frustrating. Similarly one minute I love a class and the next minute I hate it...

[Holly Golightly]

Anyone have a handful of kids in their section that they, plainly, just don't like?

I'm harnessing my resentment of certain individuals as motivation to work harder (if any of these kids beat me in the class rank, I might as well just /wrists). It's working out pretty well for me so far. Anyone employing similar tactics?

Already told DF that if he finishes higher than me after 1L, I'm going to /self. But we're bros, I only say that because of his study habits.

[Doritos]

If you subtract the harsh curve and job anxiety law school is easy peasy

[Melkaba]

Doing okay, so far. The reading is not too bad (I treat it as a 9-4/5 affair, with probably four hours of additional studying at home) and I'm understanding the black letter law and how to apply it to the facts for the most part.

Cold calling is another matter. I did alright when called on in my Contracts and Property classes, but got totally demolished by my Torts professor recently (not trying to vindicate myself here, but the professor always hits the pretty deeply nuanced questions right off the bat, essentially interrogates with two/three students at a time for the entire class period (even if they don't know the answer), and typically everyone struggles in answering the questions). It was actually a pretty demoralizing experience for me since even a close reading/brief couldn't prepare me for some of these questions (whether that be to me not reading closely enough or me just not being good enough for LS; oh man, I'm getting to the self-pitying phase: do you see what this experience has done to me?!)

A part of me wants to go all out to prepare for cold calling to make sure this doesn't happen again, but reading a lot of the 1L guides lead me to believe that doing that is the one thing you don't want to do.

[jkay]

Cold called today in CivPro...we call it TrivPro because all the cold calling seems more like trivia than anything that involves actual thought.

I slayed it, "Great answer to an unfair question!" I think the prof said.

Other than the slight fear going into TrivPro everyday, I love this shit. It sure as hell beats working.

[Amy wineBerry]

I'm taking:

Criminal Law
Contracts
Civil Procedure
Torts
LRW

I've paid dues for three organizations (so maybe this makes me fairly active)

According to the numbers, I'm at a T1, but with all ties, the numbers are a little skewed.

My hardest class is Torts, however, I'm blaming this on the professor. I read the cases, look at the supplements, take notes, and go into class fully prepared. Then he throws out some hypo from which I can draw no comparisons to anything I had done the night before. I thought maybe this was a slight against my intelligence; fortunately, I'm not the only one who leaves class confused. My easiest class is Civil Procedure, which I find is probably the most objective course. However, I'm disturbed when other 1Ls express how difficult CivPro is for them. Criminal law and contracts fall nicely in the middle. I think I understand these classes for the most part.

I feel as if law school is way easier than people have made it out to be. However, I also feel as if it's all a guise. Since we only have one grade in a class and my school uses a B-curve, it may be safe to say the worst I can do is all Bs. Although, the B-curve helps more than it hurts, for those who are hoping to be top 1%, 5%, or 10%, such as myself, it's a major disadvantage.

I've been lax in my studying, haven't started any outlining, and my notes are all over the place. (Ahhh the study habits of ug.) As of yesterday, I've taken to getting everything organized. At this point, I still have no idea what to expect from anything. Well, I do know that law school is very social, and there is always alcohol. If only I could find someway to incorporate those facts into my exams...

[Tangerine Gleam]

I really like law school; approx. 7 weeks in at this point. I feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop...I guess that's what exams are for. Though I am positive I would have hated it 4 or 5 years ago (right after college). Very glad I waited.

CivPro and Torts are my favorites...Property is getting me a bit confused. The work is time-consuming, but thank Lucifer it's mostly interesting.

[bleedcubbieblue]

I'm officially done briefing cases.

People still brief cases?