Vocabulary Forum

[farszandian]

Hey all! I'm a 0L. Does anyone know where I can find a good cache of must-know legal terms going into 1L? I don't want to be sitting in class and not know what "pro se", for example, means. I'd appreciate any help!

[reasonable_man]

Hi yall. I'm a third year attorney and I'd like to know about this list also, as I avoid legal-speak like the fucking black death.


Op. Please don't worry about this. You'll learn the nifty lingo in due time.

[mths]

Hey all! I'm a 0L. Does anyone know where I can find a good cache of must-know legal terms going into 1L? I don't want to be sitting in class and not know what "pro se", for example, means. I'd appreciate any help!

<--- learned what pro se was about 4 weeks ago

no.big.deal

[t3hevildonut]

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-a ... 385/pro-se

Act I is the best.

[eandy]

All you need to do is when you're reading a case and you come across a word you don't know, go look at Black's Law Dictionary and copy the definition into your notes. Keep a running vocab page if you like. A lot of times professors will look to see if people looked up words like that during class.

You don't need to learn them now.

[goodolgil]

I did not use a legal dictionary once during 1L. If I didn't know a word I either Googled it (and could usually tell what the word means a couple of seconds after Googling) or tried to figure it out myself based on context/waited for the professor to explain it.

Definitely not essential to do any prep.

[Kilpatrick]

This sounds like a sure fire way to get on the path to gunnerdom and making yourself hated by your peers. Don't be that guy that drops latin phrases into your in class answers for no reason.

[eandy]

I did not use a legal dictionary once during 1L. If I didn't know a word I either Googled it (and could usually tell what the word means a couple of seconds after Googling) or tried to figure it out myself based on context/waited for the professor to explain it.

Definitely not essential to do any prep.

Do not, do not, DO NOT, wait for the professor to explain it. Guess what his first question is going to be? Hey X, what does _____ mean? and when X doesn't know, the professor is going to get PISSED.

[Kilpatrick]

I did not use a legal dictionary once during 1L. If I didn't know a word I either Googled it (and could usually tell what the word means a couple of seconds after Googling) or tried to figure it out myself based on context/waited for the professor to explain it.

Definitely not essential to do any prep.

Do not, do not, DO NOT, wait for the professor to explain it. Guess what his first question is going to be? Hey X, what does _____ mean? and when X doesn't know, the professor is going to get PISSED.

Good thing my grade doesn't depend on what the professor thinks of my answer

[eandy]

This sounds like a sure fire way to get on the path to gunnerdom and making yourself hated by your peers. Don't be that guy that drops latin phrases into your in class answers for no reason.

If you know what the legal term actually means, it is pretty hard to drop it into your answer for no reason.

[mths]

I did not use a legal dictionary once during 1L. If I didn't know a word I either Googled it (and could usually tell what the word means a couple of seconds after Googling) or tried to figure it out myself based on context/waited for the professor to explain it.

Definitely not essential to do any prep.

Do not, do not, DO NOT, wait for the professor to explain it. Guess what his first question is going to be? Hey X, what does _____ mean? and when X doesn't know, the professor is going to get PISSED.

Good thing my grade doesn't depend on what the professor thinks of my answer

It's still uncomfortable. I did find it useful to keep a legal dictionary handy during the first couple weeks of case reading but the vocab is pretty clear from then on.

[Kilpatrick]

This sounds like a sure fire way to get on the path to gunnerdom and making yourself hated by your peers. Don't be that guy that drops latin phrases into your in class answers for no reason.

If you know what the legal term actually means, it is pretty hard to drop it into your answer for no reason.

I meant no good reason. As in, trying to impress your professor with the fact that you learned what inter alia means is not a good reason to say something like "The plaintiff was charged with, inter alia, assault and battery." People that say things like that are douches.

[goodolgil]

I didn't mean to ask him to explain it, I meant I just let the term come up in the context of class discussion, where it almost always would if it was important.

[farszandian]

All good info, guys. And I promise I won't be the douchy gunner who tries to jam latin into every sentence for its own sake; just looking for a way to get a leg up.

Thanks!

[Bronte]

I would go ahead and order a hard copy of Black's Law Dictionary. (Personally, I prefer the Deluxe Ninth Edition.) I read this cover to cover my 0L summer, highlighting the most important / interesting terms and all Latin terms. Then I went back and made flash cards of all of them. I think this really contributed to me being the biggest douche in the law school.

[random5483]

You don't need it. I learnt what Pro Se was when I did research for an interview for a Pro Se position in a federal court (ie. second semester of 1L year). You will encounter a lot of new words, but you can look them up as you learn them. You don't need to know words like pro se when starting out law school.

[Renzo]

I suggest, inter alia, Black's law dictionary.





Goddamn, that looks pretentious even when it's a joke!

[smokyroom26]

I suggest, inter alia, Black's law dictionary.





Goddamn, that looks pretentious even when it's a joke!

"Inter alia" is my favorite pretentious Latin phrase.

[random5483]

I suggest, inter alia, Black's law dictionary.





Goddamn, that looks pretentious even when it's a joke!

"Inter alia" is my favorite pretentious Latin phrase.

My personal favorite is sua sponte.