UVA Law Students Taking Questions Forum

[Cavalier]

I think we're just arguing semantics. I agree that the way UVA conducts their OCI is better than the way a school like Michigan conducts it.

How is Michigan's OCI different? Just a lottery?

I could be mistaken, but I all think all other T14s use exclusively a lottery. UVA has traditionally been a mix of preselects and lottery. Lower ranked schools use exclusively preselects

[albanach]

Finding people that follow soccer or rugby would be nice actually.

Even Rangers fans? Should be interesting...

[WVUCelticFan]

Finding people that follow soccer or rugby would be nice actually.

Even Rangers fans? Should be interesting...

Eh, they'll be bankrupt in another year or two, so I shouldn't have to worry about it much.

[Doritos]

LRW oral argument. Tips & Tricks?

[Kohinoor]

LRW oral argument. Tips & Tricks?

Tip: It's not graded
Trick: Don't try

[dailygrind]

LRW oral argument. Tips & Tricks?

Tip: It's not graded
Trick: Don't try

wise words. what do you think the minimum preparation time is that i can put in and safely pass? i'm kind of thinking my prep will consist of work done the morning of. might be convinced to do a little work the night before, too, though.

[vamedic03]

LRW oral argument. Tips & Tricks?

Tip: It's not graded
Trick: Don't try

wise words. what do you think the minimum preparation time is that i can put in and safely pass? i'm kind of thinking my prep will consist of work done the morning of. might be convinced to do a little work the night before, too, though.

Kohinoor is spot on. Morning of will probably be ok. As long as you make a reasonable effort, you'll pass. Though, I would personally recommend that you at least over your brief so that you're comfortable/aware of the: (a) facts and (b) cases.

[Cavalier]

wise words. what do you think the minimum preparation time is that i can put in and safely pass? i'm kind of thinking my prep will consist of work done the morning of. might be convinced to do a little work the night before, too, though.

My sole preparation was two hours the morning of, and I did fine. A couple people I know did only about thirty minutes of preparation the morning of and were criticized by the judges but still passed without any problems. I've never heard of anyone failing. So I'd recommend an hour or two the morning of, and that's it. Basically I divided my topic into three issues, then wrote out an introduction of a couple sentences for each issue (plus a couple sentences to begin my argument), and then I made a list of bullet points for each issue to cover in succession. It was more than enough.

[Doritos]

Great, I appreciate the input.

[dailygrind]

awesome, thanks.

[vamedic03]

wise words. what do you think the minimum preparation time is that i can put in and safely pass? i'm kind of thinking my prep will consist of work done the morning of. might be convinced to do a little work the night before, too, though.

My sole preparation was two hours the morning of, and I did fine. A couple people I know did only about thirty minutes of preparation the morning of and were criticized by the judges but still passed without any problems. I've never heard of anyone failing. So I'd recommend an hour or two the morning of, and that's it. Basically I divided my topic into three issues, then wrote out an introduction of a couple sentences for each issue (plus a couple sentences to begin my argument), and then I made a list of bullet points for each issue to cover in succession. It was more than enough.

^LRW gunner

[omg]

^LRW gunner

You are probably not a very nice person in real life.

[paulinaporizkova]

^LRW gunner

You are probably not a very nice person in real life.

totes making fun of me.


i like it

[omg]

Haha, thanks.


(S/he is a nice person IRL, which is of course why it's funny.)

[paulinaporizkova]

i know that's why i said it! i can totally tell

[RVP11]

I didn't prepare.

I didn't know some key facts.

I never read through the record.

I felt dumb for 15 minutes.

I passed.

[omg]

Just to play devil's advocate... If you think you have a decent shot at winning the oral argument award for your section, it's worth preparing for at least a few hours. Those awards aren't that big of a deal, but it's a nice thing to have on your resume during OCI since there aren't that many ways to distinguish yourself as a 1L academically outside of grades. But besides that, yea, minimal preparation is almost always going to be fine for these arguments.

[kelc213]

Just to play devil's advocate... If you think you have a decent shot at winning the oral argument award for your section, it's worth preparing for at least a few hours. Those awards aren't that big of a deal, but it's a nice thing to have on your resume during OCI since there aren't that many ways to distinguish yourself as a 1L academically outside of grades. But besides that, yea, minimal preparation is almost always going to be fine for these arguments.

Do you think most people coming in as 1Ls have had some moot court/mock trial/oral argument/standing-in-front-of-a-crowd-and-trying-not-to-look-like-an-idiot experience?

[vamedic03]

Just to play devil's advocate... If you think you have a decent shot at winning the oral argument award for your section, it's worth preparing for at least a few hours. Those awards aren't that big of a deal, but it's a nice thing to have on your resume during OCI since there aren't that many ways to distinguish yourself as a 1L academically outside of grades. But besides that, yea, minimal preparation is almost always going to be fine for these arguments.

Do you think most people coming in as 1Ls have had some moot court/mock trial/oral argument/standing-in-front-of-a-crowd-and-trying-not-to-look-like-an-idiot experience?

Most likely no.

[dailygrind]

Just to play devil's advocate... If you think you have a decent shot at winning the oral argument award for your section, it's worth preparing for at least a few hours. Those awards aren't that big of a deal, but it's a nice thing to have on your resume during OCI since there aren't that many ways to distinguish yourself as a 1L academically outside of grades. But besides that, yea, minimal preparation is almost always going to be fine for these arguments.

Do you think most people coming in as 1Ls have had some moot court/mock trial/oral argument/standing-in-front-of-a-crowd-and-trying-not-to-look-like-an-idiot experience?

no, but the odds are good that there are a handful in each section that are not worth competing with if you're not naturally gifted.

ETA: by not worth competing with, i refer solely to LRW where there's no prize but first place, and you're unlikely to get punishment for shirking.

[BruceWayne]

Just to play devil's advocate... If you think you have a decent shot at winning the oral argument award for your section, it's worth preparing for at least a few hours. Those awards aren't that big of a deal, but it's a nice thing to have on your resume during OCI since there aren't that many ways to distinguish yourself as a 1L academically outside of grades. But besides that, yea, minimal preparation is almost always going to be fine for these arguments.

Do you think most people coming in as 1Ls have had some moot court/mock trial/oral argument/standing-in-front-of-a-crowd-and-trying-not-to-look-like-an-idiot experience?

There are plenty of people who have done mock trial or debate team as an undergrad. I know at least 5 off of the top of my head in my section alone. It's a pretty common undergrad EC activity for obvious reasons.

[LSN2014]

Is it possible to receive merit aid from UVA if you're taken off the waitlist?

[joeshmo39]

Is it possible to receive merit aid from UVA if you're taken off the waitlist?

It's unlikely because a lot of it is distributed by now. Also, if your numbers put you on the waitlist then they may not be competitive for merit aid.

[omg]

Just to play devil's advocate... If you think you have a decent shot at winning the oral argument award for your section, it's worth preparing for at least a few hours. Those awards aren't that big of a deal, but it's a nice thing to have on your resume during OCI since there aren't that many ways to distinguish yourself as a 1L academically outside of grades. But besides that, yea, minimal preparation is almost always going to be fine for these arguments.

Do you think most people coming in as 1Ls have had some moot court/mock trial/oral argument/standing-in-front-of-a-crowd-and-trying-not-to-look-like-an-idiot experience?

There are plenty of people who have done mock trial or debate team as an undergrad. I know at least 5 off of the top of my head in my section alone. It's a pretty common undergrad EC activity for obvious reasons.

There are definitely a handful in each section, but I definitely wouldn't say most people. Some of them had a leg up on public speaking compared to the rest of us, but some didn't. If you're nervous about public speaking, getting cold called will probably help some, and for me, having to do the LRW oral argument helped a lot, as did the first few OCI interviews down the road.

[badwithpseudonyms]

So glad to never have to do LRW again. I can't imagine having to do that for a grade. That would be awful.