In which we complain about HelLRW Forum

[zeth006]

Godammit. I'm doing the research portion of a memo and I swear it's more work than actually amalgamating the material and typing it up. I wish my prof hadn't restricted the scope of it so much.

[kalvano]

Damn the 3-page limit. We're going to get told we didn't do it right because the top needs 5-7 pages.

[Holly Golightly]

Fuck all of you with ungraded legal writing classes.

[kalvano]

What is this "ungraded" you speak of?

[Holly Golightly]

What is this "ungraded" you speak of?

It's pass/fail at a lot of schools.

[uwb09]

Fuck all of you with ungraded legal writing classes.

+1

[kalvano]

What is this "ungraded" you speak of?

It's pass/fail at a lot of schools.

Oh, to be so lucky.

[Helmholtz]

Fuck all of you with ungraded legal writing classes.

Although this has not stopped certain people from gunning for LRW honors that go to the top 20% of the class.

[stab master arson]

At my school, the advocacy/writing awards are a joke administered by adjuncts who practice full-time and don't give a rat's ass about teaching. During oral arguments, I went up against someone who memorized her brief and repeated it almost word-for-word. During question-and-answer, she never once said "Your Honor." She won my section's Best Oral Argument award.

[bleedcubbieblue]

My first memo is due on Friday and I'm not even close to done with a rough draft, FML!

[Kobe_Teeth]

Ok, I promised myself i wouldn't complain about legal writing because I think complaining is a great way to dwell and not work through things but........

FUCK. LEGAL. WRITING. you wretch of a time sink.

[dakatz]

Damn. Only got B+ on first memo. Sucks because I could have easily bumped it to A level if I had clarified 1 or 2 key points that are of course obvious to me in retrospect. Luckily it is worth very little. Hello mediocrity.

[evilxs]

3 memos due this semester too. Teplys and Sloans, and skills assignments with our friend Bing. Fuck Bing.

Mine are all graded

[BarbellDreams]

I literally have NO IDEA what is going on with the bluebook and I am not finding any time to do the open memo research which I know I need to do NOW as opposed to later. Panic struck.

[rdcws000]

Just got Final Memo assigned, it's due 11/15.

My strategy is to focus in on this thing and finish it within the next 3 weeks, so I can forget about this class and focus on doctrinal courses. (I'm PT, so I only have 2 other courses). 70% of my grade is final memo, 30% final exam, so the way I see it once I finish this final memo I'm done with this class.

I can't imagine studying more than one or two days for LRW multiple choice material...

[savagedm]

Just got Final Memo assigned, it's due 11/15.

My strategy is to focus in on this thing and finish it within the next 3 weeks, so I can forget about this class and focus on doctrinal courses. (I'm PT, so I only have 2 other courses). 70% of my grade is final memo, 30% final exam, so the way I see it once I finish this final memo I'm done with this class.

I can't imagine studying more than one or two days for LRW multiple choice material...

Yeah, we have something similar. The running plan for most of the class is to continue drinking heavily throughout this Fall and do it during the last week before it's due.

[kalvano]

Thankfully, our open memo is our final memo, and when it's done, we're done with LRW for the semester.

[keg411]

So I generally like LRW, mostly because I actually enjoy writing and the research isn't bad at all. However, I kind of think our TA's aren't very good and it's bothering me. Especially since I'm pretty sure they have a hand in grading our final (graded) memos.

[dailygrind]

found a prong in the open memo that would've made the entire thing so, so much easier. spent some time fleshing it out. was told in class that the prof meant to close it out and that it wasn't allowed because it would've made the memo too easy. irritated.

[SAOJD10]

we got lucky we only have two memo's this semester, but grades are curved at the end between two sections (40 plus kids). Our TA's really help us out, and we just got our grades back couple days ago. LRW is a bitch but if you understand what the professor is looking for (ours is fairly straightforward with telling us what she wants), and you can write sound legal analysis you will be alright.

[SmittenMitten]

My legal writing teacher is ridiculous. I don't want to get into it here, but there are things going on that I honestly feel may need to go to another level and it is sending me into a spiral of stress over my grade because I somehow keep getting "slighted" and then it ends up being "a mistake".

[kalvano]

Just finished my closed memo, in which courts use an analysis of 5 factors to determine employment status. Every case was about analyzing the factors to determine employment status. Then I hear that our memo isn't supposed to be a factorial analysis.

What the fuck else is it supposed to be?

--ImageRemoved--

[traehekat]

Man, the curve on memos really is pretty tight. 1 or 2 minor things can really make a difference.

[Mroberts3]

Fuck the Bluebook. Nobody will care if your period is italicized and I don't believe you can tell the difference.

Its sad that the most practical class of 1L is so absurd. The Bluebook is beyond comprehension, and a curved memo with 18 people is going to be so tight as to be worthless.



What's sad and ironic is that for some reason I actually pick up the Bluebook rules very quickly, despite how much I despise them. Oh well.

Edit: It wouldn't suck nearly as much if it weren't graded....

[dakatz]

There is no need for this class to be graded. It is expected that everyone will be inexperienced and fairly weak at legal writing at first. It shouldn't be a competition or pressure-situation to get it right quickly. We aren't lawyers yet, and we should have the time to develop this essential skill at the pace that best suits our learning/writing styles. That is why it seems so logical to do it pass/fail. The professors can still give us full feedback and tell us how we did and how we can improve without grades on LRW assignments.