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Hello wise 3Ls,

I searched the forum but could not find the answer to these questions. It is probably somewhere on this site, so I appologize in advance if this is a double post.

I have heard that every 2L, regardless of desired practice area, should take Evidence and Corporations. I have heard that all wannabe-litigators should take Appellate Advocacy. Is this advice accurate?

What classes should every 2L take?

In general?

For X practice area?

0L here but I think everyone should take the basic federal income tax course.

It's hard to say what someone "should" take. if your bar exam tests tax or business associations, it would be a good idea to take the class, but not essential (youre going to study that stuff a lot for the bar anyway).

I think that if you want to have a well-rounded legal education, you should take conlaw, evidence, criminal procedure, and tax. these are the areas that people will uncouthly ask you about at cocktail parties as soon as they hear that you're a lawyer. that might not be a great reason to take a class, but these courses go over a lot of important concepts that span many areas of law. and really, you need to know evidence if there's even a chance that you'll ever step foot in a courtroom.

People who don't have Evidence are painful to watch and dangerous to those around them.

Also take something involving debtor/creditor law or secured transactions. Ever single business transaction involves this stuff.

SeymourShowz wrote:0L here but I think everyone should take the basic federal income tax course.

I'm a law student, but I think that every veterinarian student should take the dog class.

Definitely take evidence. Not only is it an incredibly useful course, but EVERY bar tests on it (the MBE).

Constitutional dimensions of criminal procedure is also tested on the MBE (about 1/12 of the test).

Check out your state's bar and maybe take one or two of those. Secured transactions and commercial paper are good candidates; also business associations / corporations.

Also, uncurved courses if you have a shot at a clerkship.

Debtor-creditor (bankruptcy) if you will apply for bankruptcy clerkships.

Appellate courses will vary from school to school moreso than the other ones, I think. Some will be focussed more on appellate advocacy (brief writing, moot court) while others will focus more on nuts and bolts. Some will do both.

SeymourShowz wrote:0L here but I think everyone should take the basic federal income tax course.

I'm not passing judgment on the quality of your advice, but we all read Law School Confidential before 1L.

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dood wrote:--ImageRemoved--

this is my prelim schedule. fed courts is in red cause im not sure if i wanna go through gunner central my last semester, even though i really wanna clerk. pay no attention to the green.

the only "highly recommended" classes im taking are: evidence, corp, con law II, and admin.

Suddenly considering making an excel spreadsheet of my schedule.....

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dood wrote:yeah slightly NERD of me. but it actually saved my ass alot of pain cause in planning this out i realized the pre-req for entertainment law is copyright which is only offered in fall, and entertainment is only offered in the fall - which means i need copyright next fall.

Yeah I think I'm going to do this.

dood wrote:this is my prelim schedule. fed courts is in red cause im not sure if i wanna go through gunner central my last semester, even though i really wanna clerk. pay no attention to the green.

the only "highly recommended" classes im taking are: evidence, corp, con law II, and admin.

dood, if you want to clerk right after school, take fed courts when it will actually be on your transcript during the clerkship hiring season (unless you register for Spring 3L in August, then forget my comment).

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prezidentv8 wrote:

dood wrote:--ImageRemoved--

this is my prelim schedule. fed courts is in red cause im not sure if i wanna go through gunner central my last semester, even though i really wanna clerk. pay no attention to the green.

the only "highly recommended" classes im taking are: evidence, corp, con law II, and admin.

Suddenly considering making an excel spreadsheet of my schedule.....

How can you plan 2 years of classes? Do they release the time periods for classes that far ahead for you? I found myself having to scratch classes I would have wanted to take simply because they conflicted with something else I wanted to take.

Corsair wrote:

ggocat wrote:

dood wrote:this is my prelim schedule. fed courts is in red cause im not sure if i wanna go through gunner central my last semester, even though i really wanna clerk. pay no attention to the green.

the only "highly recommended" classes im taking are: evidence, corp, con law II, and admin.

dood, if you want to clerk right after school, take fed courts when it will actually be on your transcript during the clerkship hiring season (unless you register for Spring 3L in August, then forget my comment).

As long as you don't bomb it.

<-- bombed Civ Pro 2, convinced that significantly harmed his clerkship chances, compared to bombing, say, Copyright.

I guess it's best for schools to offer those courses in the fall so you can register for them and have them on the transcript before applying but not have the grade risk.

Evidence and Corporations are both very useful, no matter what kind of law you're going to practice.

I am not a great proponent of picking courses that are on the bar -- I am studying for the bar now and it really doesn't make that much of a difference, in my opinion, whether I've taken a subject in law school or not -- but both Evidence and Corporations just give you a good general foundation. It is good to know what a Board of Directors does, and how the hearsay rules work, even if it is just to read the newspaper.

I suppose the same could be said of Admin law (although I really hated my Admin class) and Federal Courts.

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