Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[HermioneG.]

Oops, I had a typo, sorry if I had a confusion. You can get law school credit for an undergrad class, what I meant to say was that you can't get law school credit for an undergrad class that you have previously taken a substantially similar course during undergrad.

I think that you would talk to someone in OCS, one of those academic advisers. You can make an appointment online. I'd double check anything they say in the academic handbook though.

Don't worry, I completely understood what you were getting at. I suppose I will meet with my OCS advisor and hope she knows her stuff in this area. Thanks for your help.

[ph14]

Oops, I had a typo, sorry if I had a confusion. You can get law school credit for an undergrad class, what I meant to say was that you can't get law school credit for an undergrad class that you have previously taken a substantially similar course during undergrad.

I think that you would talk to someone in OCS, one of those academic advisers. You can make an appointment online. I'd double check anything they say in the academic handbook though.

Don't worry, I completely understood what you were getting at. I suppose I will meet with my OCS advisor and hope she knows her stuff in this area. Thanks for your help.

Had caused any confusion*. Jeez, my brain is just not working today. Feel free to post back here. I know at least 3 posters ITT have cross-registered and i'm sure you can get some help here.

Check out this site: http://coursecatalog.harvard.edu/icb/ic ... roup104752

And this: --LinkRemoved--

[manillabay]

What's the love life like for Harvard Law students (anecdotes encouraged)?

[ph14]

What's the love life like for Harvard Law students (anecdotes encouraged)?

It is what you make of it.

[HermioneG.]

Oops, I had a typo, sorry if I had a confusion. You can get law school credit for an undergrad class, what I meant to say was that you can't get law school credit for an undergrad class that you have previously taken a substantially similar course during undergrad.

I think that you would talk to someone in OCS, one of those academic advisers. You can make an appointment online. I'd double check anything they say in the academic handbook though.

Don't worry, I completely understood what you were getting at. I suppose I will meet with my OCS advisor and hope she knows her stuff in this area. Thanks for your help.

Had caused any confusion*. Jeez, my brain is just not working today. Feel free to post back here. I know at least 3 posters ITT have cross-registered and i'm sure you can get some help here.

Check out this site: http://coursecatalog.harvard.edu/icb/ic ... roup104752

And this: --LinkRemoved--

Haha, my brain is always melted by Wednesday, so I don't judge. Thanks for those links - they're very helpful. I guess I will study up on those and hopefully can sort it out quickly. These registration deadlines really crept up on me.

[manillabay]

What's the love life like for Harvard Law students (anecdotes encouraged)?

It is what you make of it.

Ok let's cut to the chase then... are HLS student's ******* other HLS students randomly?

[rathgra]

What's the love life like for Harvard Law students (anecdotes encouraged)?

It is what you make of it.

Ok let's cut to the chase then... are HLS student's ******* other HLS students randomly?

I mean, it happens... just be aware that this is truly a very small school and, especially if it's inter-sectional during 1L, there's going to be gossiping.


Does anyone have recommendations for evidence professors who are more courtroom oriented? Legal philosophy really isn't my jam at all - Whiting, Murray, Feinberg, Schulman, and Rubin are teaching next semester. Thanks!

[Pneumonia]

I know multiple people who have turned down Wachtell offers. Vault rankings are the end all be all.

Guessing you meant to put a "not" in here?

[Mr. Elshal]

Has anyone on here taken Philosophical Analysis of Legal Argument, with Scott Brewer? Is so, did you like? And can you describe it?

Unorganized.
The beginning was much more rewarding, but it's gone down hill. Last four classes I sat there like "..."

I'll let you know when I get my grade.

I should also say that it was very reading intensive in the beginning, but a lot of what was read wasn't covered, so you could skim it all except for the symbolic logic. Last three classes there hasn't been a reading assignment. It's a little annoying that it's so unorganized, however, for a two hour class, with minimal reading, it's fine if you don't mind sitting in class for two hours going "..."

Thanks. In that case, I may just skip it. Good luck!

[despina]

Does anyone have recommendations for evidence professors who are more courtroom oriented? Legal philosophy really isn't my jam at all - Whiting, Murray, Feinberg, Schulman, and Rubin are teaching next semester. Thanks!

I'm not sure I would call Feinberg "courtroom oriented" (he's the guy who's runs the 9/11 victims comp and BP oil spill funds, etc). But he does focus on practical problems, will amusingly yell "DISBAHHED" at you if you make a big mistake, and lightly teases that anything vaguely philosophical is "political science stuff."

Fair warning: he gives a multiple choice exam where he insists that there is exactly one right answer per question, but as far as I (and many of my classmates) could tell, a lot of the questions were strangely vague or needed additional information not provided in the prompt to determine which answer was correct. He also didn't cover the confrontation clause at all, which I hear is supposed to be important...

[ph14]

I know multiple people who have turned down Wachtell offers. Vault rankings are the end all be all.

Guessing you meant to put a "not" in here?

Yes, definitely. As previously stated, my brain is not working today for whatever reason.

[MyNameIsFlynn!]

It just dawned on me that I now have to actually choose classes since they're not handed to me and I have no idea what I'm doing. A couple basic questions: First, how many classes do people usually take 2/3L years? Do people usually do clinics 2L, 3L, or both? How common is it to do multiple clinics? Thanks guys.

[patogordo]

average like 12 credits a semester, so like 3-5 classes depending on what you take. i'm in my third clinic atm, but some people don't do any. just depends on what you're interested in. i tried to take a mix of clinics and seminars with a couple bll classes sprinkled in.

[Doorkeeper]

It just dawned on me that I now have to actually choose classes since they're not handed to me and I have no idea what I'm doing. A couple basic questions: First, how many classes do people usually take 2/3L years? Do people usually do clinics 2L, 3L, or both? How common is it to do multiple clinics? Thanks guys.

I think most people take Con Law: 14th, Con Law: 1st, Corporations, Evidence, and Admin during 2L or 3L and at least 1 clinic, but you can do whatever you want. I would try to strike a balance between clinic, seminars, and black-letter classes.

[tomwatts]

will amusingly yell "DISBAHHED" at you if you make a big mistake

That's kind of terrible and kind of awesome.

It just dawned on me that I now have to actually choose classes since they're not handed to me and I have no idea what I'm doing. A couple basic questions: First, how many classes do people usually take 2/3L years? Do people usually do clinics 2L, 3L, or both? How common is it to do multiple clinics? Thanks guys.

Because you need 52 upper-level credits, a standard way to do it is 12-2-12 for credits in fall-winter-spring, respectively, each year. But you can do anywhere from 10 to 16. Check this page (LinkRemoved) for the gory details.

Most people take at least a few multisection courses in their 2L and 3L years. Most of these are core blackletter classes (Con Law, Tax, Corporations, Evidence, Admin) or fundamental skills classes (Negotiation, Trial Advocacy). You probably also want to take at least some other basic blackletter classes in different subject areas (e.g. in crim, Criminal Adjudication and Criminal Investigations are two core blackletter classes).

It's a good idea to take at least one clinic at one point — and these are really time-consuming, so I'd err on the side of a lighter semester during that semester — and you can take two or three (or even four — max is one per semester) if you want. I recommend taking at least one seminar in something that sounds interesting with a cool prof. I also recommend cross-registering (or taking a cross-listed class hosted at another school) at least once.

For all law classes (and probably all university classes), the prof matters far, far more than the subject matter. Admin can be great or awful. Con Law can be great or awful. All classes can be great or awful. It depends on the professor, and to some extent on your preferences. Look at the Course Evaluations Guide, but it's not as helpful as you might like. Talk to 2Ls and 3Ls that you know, too.

Preferencing is a little crazy. Wildly popular large classes (Klarman for 14th Amendment, Feldman for either Con Law, Warren for Tax, etc.) have giant waitlists, but they move dramatically, especially multisection classes for the spring semester (because you preference them now but the waitlists move in the fall as people take classes earlier or decide not to take classes, move again in J-Term as people again shift things around, and then move again at the beginning of spring). You can be 300th on a waitlist and get into a class (this happened to me).

Seminar and clinic waitlists move a lot less, at least for popular ones. So choose those carefully; you may not get a second chance after preferencing to add what you want.

[justinp]

Re: evidence-- Schulman and Whiting are the gold standards for courtroom-oriented/practical rules type classes. Feinberg is similar (he basically teaches to the bar exam) but only 2 credits with a weird schedule and a weird test.

[DoubleChecks]

No one here pushing the practical uses of Nesson's evidence course?

[kcam1991]

When does HLAB start giving out interviews?

[sjgonzalez3]

Questions about housing: (Please direct me to a more appropriate topic, if necessary. I tried search function, but couldn't find anything great.)

1.) How do you recommend searching for an off-campus apartment? Craigslist, or other website?

a.) I live on the west coast where it seems rental management companies personally list their properties; whereas it seems primarily rental agents act as 3rd parties in Cambridge (from preliminary internet searches). Do you find that it is necessary to use an agent? I hear the fee is exorbitant, what are the best ways to avoid using one, if possible?

b.) Given that I will only be able to physically be present in Cambridge during ASW in a few weeks, prior to moving in sometime in August, do you think it is feasible to find an sign a lease to a place as early as April for an August lease?

[despina]

Re: evidence-- Schulman and Whiting are the gold standards for courtroom-oriented/practical rules type classes. Feinberg is similar (he basically teaches to the bar exam) but only 2 credits with a weird schedule and a weird test.

Feinberg's is 4 credits -- I believe it's Murray whose class is usually 2 credits.

[Mr. Elshal]

Questions about housing: (Please direct me to a more appropriate topic, if necessary. I tried search function, but couldn't find anything great.)

1.) How do you recommend searching for an off-campus apartment? Craigslist, or other website?

a.) I live on the west coast where it seems rental management companies personally list their properties; whereas it seems primarily rental agents act as 3rd parties in Cambridge (from preliminary internet searches). Do you find that it is necessary to use an agent? I hear the fee is exorbitant, what are the best ways to avoid using one, if possible?

b.) Given that I will only be able to physically be present in Cambridge during ASW in a few weeks, prior to moving in sometime in August, do you think it is feasible to find an sign a lease to a place as early as April for an August lease?

I found my place through an agent, which was very good for finding a place but not very good when I had to pay thousands of dollars for her basically showing me an apartment and lending me a pen to sign the lease. Many buildings have their own website that you could use and get the apartment directly through them. You just need to know what to search for. If you want to be super close to the law school, look for addresses between 1560 and 1622, on the even side. Google them and use the management companies to get the lease.

It might be tough to find a place and sign a lease that quickly if you go with a managed building. They occasionally will have an application process (absurd, I know) and will want to run a credit check on every tenant and their parents, regardless of whether you have all the cash up front and perfect credit. You may be able to find places that don't put you through that whole process, though. If you do, you might be able to sign fairly quickly.

Finally, an agent is useless and can run thousands of dollars for an apartment you could have found on Google. Don't waste your money with them.

[patogordo]

it can be pretty hard to find no-fee apartments in cambridge, though not impossible.

[BlakcMajikc]

Does anyone have recommendations for evidence professors who are more courtroom oriented? Legal philosophy really isn't my jam at all - Whiting, Murray, Feinberg, Schulman, and Rubin are teaching next semester. Thanks!

Schulman. Her style is 100% practical/application.

And there is no need to do a clinic. I think the workload to credit ratio is pretty awful and would much rather TA & RA (aka get paid to do stuff that looks good on my resume and I enjoy). mix in a little journal, class time, and fun/service extracurriculars = full schedule. Do a clinic because you want to do a clinic, not because thats what "everyone else is doing."

[wert3813]

Has anyone had Jesse Fried for corporations? I await with baited breath.

[MyNameIsFlynn!]

Has anyone had Jesse Fried for corporations? I await with baited breath.

Not sure what it means to wait with "baited" breath, but I too am interested in thoughts on any of the Corps profs (Ramseyer, Coates, Kraakman, Fried, Clark, Skeel).