First Week of Law School Forum

[jarofsoup]

It seems like they are easing us into it. Granted I am reading over 5 hours a day and atleast 4-5 hours a day on the weekend it is not as bad as I thought.

Any 1L's feeling the same? It is making me nervous. I am like a reading assignment ahead in some of classes.

For those 2L's out there when does it start to get hellish? Or do a lot people just not used to working hard and that's why the bitch about it.

[kahechsof]

In my experience, it was not bad as long as you were willing to work hard. I did about 55 hours a week in 1L.
That said, around the middle of the first semester when there were midterms and LRW coming due, I was skipping readings some days and it was getting crazy.

[NeighborGuy]

Some of my classes are rather tame so far. Lots of philosophy and formal logic emphasis. "Where does law come from" and all that.

There are a couple that are jumping right into it though. I already have a memo due on Monday for LRW. Ungraded, but still.

[kapital98]

The work load is pretty light. My professors are making sure we all know how to analyze a case, giving course overviews, and teaching basic fundamental concepts. The cases are relatively easy to understand.

I expect the workload to increase over time. Most of my courses have midterms or their equivalent. My professors expect us not to wait until October or November to start learning the material.

Labor Day helps too

[JusticeHarlan]

For those 2L's out there when does it start to get hellish? Or do a lot people just not used to working hard and that's why the bitch about it.

If you have graded LRW, when those assignments are due is probably when it gets bad (though I wouldn't go so far as to call it hellish). Giving those memos the time they need, without falling behind on your other reading, is where the rubber meets the road, imo. Before that, just doing the reading, even briefing everything, isn't too bad.

I do agree overall that the 1L workload gets a bit more hype than it deserves.

[jarofsoup]

I have a graded LRW class. But right now we are only doing some introductory assignments. I am taking this time to get a little ahead on reading, so I can review the reading during the week and chat to the prof. during office hour...which I have found to be incredibly helpful.

[DCDuck]

Biggest problem arises if you fall behind. Catching up can be a nightmare. Stay caught up with your readings and notes and you should be fine. Biggest crunches will obviously come before/during finals and whenever you have a big LRW assignment due.

[thecilent]

Haven't started yet. But from looking at syllabuses and talking to 2Ls, if you're studying over 40hrs a week, you are def doing something wrong.

[Heartford]

There were posts like this last year- it sounds like you psyched yourself up and convinced yourself it was going to be a nightmare, only to find that it's actually manageable.

And it is manageable. But check back in once:

1) the novelty of being in law school wears off
2) your legal writing assignments are due
3) you get your grades back this winter

[target]

It seems like they are easing us into it. Granted I am reading over 5 hours a day and atleast 4-5 hours a day on the weekend it is not as bad as I thought.

Any 1L's feeling the same? It is making me nervous. I am like a reading assignment ahead in some of classes.

For those 2L's out there when does it start to get hellish? Or do a lot people just not used to working hard and that's why the bitch about it.

my reading assignments are not light, but the professor goes over cases so slowly, prob. to ease us in like you said. So, the whole class ends up being well ahead of what is currently discussed.

[D'Angelo]

is ungraded legal writing and reading a good thing then? or will we have the same types of intimidating assignments?

[Grizz]

And it is manageable. But check back in once:

1) the novelty of being in law school wears off
2) your legal writing assignments are due
3) you get your grades back this winter

This.

[td6624]

For those 2L's out there when does it start to get hellish? Or do a lot people just not used to working hard and that's why the bitch about it.

Three weeks before finals. Trying to buckle down for those while still keeping up with reading can get difficult. And the few days before LRW stuff is due, but in my experience, people take waaaaayyyyyyyy too much time on LRW assignments. If you listen to what your prof tells you to do and write coherent sentences, it should not take that much time. But you'll need to set aside some amount of time for it.

I liked to do all my reading during the weeks and reserved weekends for LRW stuff when it was necessary.

Full disclosure, I was about top third first semester and then dropped out of that second semester. So I could be doing it wrong.

But as other people said, just keep up with the readings. It won't ever get unmanageable unless you go into it with the idea that it's going to be unmanageable. People thrust themselves into downward spirals of stress way more often than they need to. ....but then again I think I'm doing it wrong so maybe don't listen to me.

[Heartford]

is ungraded legal writing and reading a good thing then? or will we have the same types of intimidating assignments?

Um, if you don't get a grade, how could it be intimidating? If I had ungraded LRW I'd just hand in papers that looked like this:


Memo.
The end.

[Naked Dude]

Damn some of you guys are making me feel guilty for taking saturday off...still don't regret it though...

Also, mega envious of those who have ungraded LRW

[td6624]

Damn some of you guys are making me feel guilty for taking saturday off...still don't regret it though...

Two things:

Saying things like this will annoy other people eventually.

But, people saying the things that cause you to say this will also annoy people.

basically everyone should just do their work in whatever way they think is best, enjoy the leisure time they carve out for themselves, and not feel the need to report back to anyone else what their schedule is like or compare their schedules to any other person's schedule.

except maybe on here because i guess that's what it's for.

[Naked Dude]

Damn some of you guys are making me feel guilty for taking saturday off...still don't regret it though...

Two things:

Saying things like this will annoy other people eventually.

But, people saying the things that cause you to say this will also annoy people.

basically everyone should just do their work in whatever way they think is best, enjoy the leisure time they carve out for themselves, and not feel the need to report back to anyone else what their schedule is like or compare their schedules to any other person's schedule.

except maybe on here because i guess that's what it's for.

It is very, very difficult to ignore what other people are doing. I've gotten quite good at it, but it's taken a lot of effort.

[Naked Dude]

The work load is pretty light. My professors are making sure we all know how to analyze a case, giving course overviews, and teaching basic fundamental concepts. The cases are relatively easy to understand.

I expect the workload to increase over time. Most of my courses have midterms or their equivalent. My professors expect us not to wait until October or November to start learning the material.

Labor Day helps too

Dude idk how you can focus on law school when you're in san francisco. granted, if i were there i'd just be crying about how expensive the city is.

[Naked Dude]

For those 2L's out there when does it start to get hellish? Or do a lot people just not used to working hard and that's why the bitch about it.

If you have graded LRW, when those assignments are due is probably when it gets bad (though I wouldn't go so far as to call it hellish). Giving those memos the time they need, without falling behind on your other reading, is where the rubber meets the road, imo. Before that, just doing the reading, even briefing everything, isn't too bad.

I do agree overall that the 1L workload gets a bit more hype than it deserves.

How bad are memos? From what I've gathered it seems like memo writing is closer to technical writing than the kinds of research papers written in undergrad.

[td6624]

It is very, very difficult to ignore what other people are doing. I've gotten quite good at it, but it's taken a lot of effort.

in the beginning, yeah. but if you try to ignore it you'll get good at it. and contribute to making this easier by not sharing what you do. i don't mean to imply that you should be weird and secretive and all "I'M NOT TELLING YOU WHAT I DID LAST NIGHT!!" if people ask. but you know. don't start out conversations with "OH MAN MY READING TOOK ME FOREVER LAST NIGHT" or "THIS CASE SEEMED REALLY SIMPLE! I WAS ABLE TO GO OUT AND GET HAMMERED LAST NIGHT BECAUSE IT WAS SO EASY!"

things like that. i don't understand why people do that. i mean i'm exaggerating but i imagine most of you have an idea of what i'm talking about.

[Grizz]

It is very, very difficult to ignore what other people are doing. I've gotten quite good at it, but it's taken a lot of effort.

in the beginning, yeah. but if you try to ignore it you'll get good at it. and contribute to making this easier by not sharing what you do. i don't mean to imply that you should be weird and secretive and all "I'M NOT TELLING YOU WHAT I DID LAST NIGHT!!" if people ask. but you know. don't start out conversations with "OH MAN MY READING TOOK ME FOREVER LAST NIGHT" or "THIS CASE SEEMED REALLY SIMPLE! I WAS ABLE TO GO OUT AND GET HAMMERED LAST NIGHT BECAUSE IT WAS SO EASY!"

things like that. i don't understand why people do that. i mean i'm exaggerating but i imagine most of you have an idea of what i'm talking about.

This is why I chilled hard with people from the other section 1L yr

[Naked Dude]

It is very, very difficult to ignore what other people are doing. I've gotten quite good at it, but it's taken a lot of effort.

in the beginning, yeah. but if you try to ignore it you'll get good at it. and contribute to making this easier by not sharing what you do. i don't mean to imply that you should be weird and secretive and all "I'M NOT TELLING YOU WHAT I DID LAST NIGHT!!" if people ask. but you know. don't start out conversations with "OH MAN MY READING TOOK ME FOREVER LAST NIGHT" or "THIS CASE SEEMED REALLY SIMPLE! I WAS ABLE TO GO OUT AND GET HAMMERED LAST NIGHT BECAUSE IT WAS SO EASY!"

things like that. i don't understand why people do that. i mean i'm exaggerating but i imagine most of you have an idea of what i'm talking about.

I heard a productivity blogger refer to that sort of stuff as "misery poker." Some people really get off on it.

[ilovesf]

Damn some of you guys are making me feel guilty for taking saturday off...still don't regret it though...

Also, mega envious of those who have ungraded LRW

I also took yesterday off, don't regret it one bit.. went to a football game and out at night. You need days like that to keep you motivated.

[AVBucks4239]

I went to the SBA reception Friday night and the overall tone was "It's not that bad, stay on top of your reading and keep at it." It was pretty reassuring but I know I have a lot of work ahead of me. I have one real midterm, two practice ones, and I know those will probably come around the time that Legal Writing/Research starts taking up much more time. It's definitely going to be a grind and will be very difficult.

[Naked Dude]

So whose writing do you like the best (in terms of Supreme Court justices, currently sitting or retired, etc)? Scalia is no doubt one hell of a writer, but in terms of clarity I'm going to have to go with Breyer.