Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions Forum

[Warhawk]

Hey, did anyone here was choosing between Illinois and Minnesota. Any insight on a good comparison. I'm not sure where I would like to practice, but DEF not Minnesota, more like Chicago, NYC or North Cal.

Also, im getting more money at Minnesota, but that aside, let me know what you think.

Last year I was offered more money to go to Minnesota, and I ended up at Illinois.

No complaints on my part.

[Speedzie]

Hey, did anyone here was choosing between Illinois and Minnesota. Any insight on a good comparison. I'm not sure where I would like to practice, but DEF not Minnesota, more like Chicago, NYC or North Cal.

Also, im getting more money at Minnesota, but that aside, let me know what you think.

Last year I was offered more money to go to Minnesota, and I ended up at Illinois.

No complaints on my part.

I also turned down MN for Illinois. To answer cr's quesiton, Go Where You Want To Practice!!! I really can't stress that enough. If you don't want to practice in MN, then don't go to law school there.

[Speedzie]

Just to revive this book discussion idea. I'm deciding on my final loan amounts and am debating whether or not I will be using all of the allotted $1800 for my books. Do people actually spend that much or is it a liberal estimation? FWIW, I plan on buying my books on Amazon whenever possible. (Side question: is it possible to get the book list by mid-July so I can order them in time? Or is that unlikely?)

A lot of 1Ls spend extra cash stocking up on supplements (E&Es http://www.amazon.com/Law-Torts-Example ... 735588740/, Siegel's http://www.amazon.com/Siegels-Criminal- ... 0735556881, Law in a Flash http://www.amazon.com/Contracts-Law-Fla ... 735551731/, etc), just figuring out which books are good for what purpose. I'm not advising that you purchase these, but lots of OCD 1Ls freak out and get them. You can find most of them used from 2Ls and 3Ls.

Edit: You won't find out the assigned reading until a few days before class. Profs are slackers just like the rest of us.

[Warhawk]

Just to revive this book discussion idea. I'm deciding on my final loan amounts and am debating whether or not I will be using all of the allotted $1800 for my books. Do people actually spend that much or is it a liberal estimation? FWIW, I plan on buying my books on Amazon whenever possible. (Side question: is it possible to get the book list by mid-July so I can order them in time? Or is that unlikely?)

A lot of 1Ls spend extra cash stocking up on supplements (E&Es http://www.amazon.com/Law-Torts-Example ... 735588740/, Siegel's http://www.amazon.com/Siegels-Criminal- ... 0735556881, Law in a Flash http://www.amazon.com/Contracts-Law-Fla ... 735551731/, etc), just figuring out which books are good for what purpose. I'm not advising that you purchase these, but lots of OCD 1Ls freak out and get them. You can find most of them used from 2Ls and 3Ls.

I didn't myself, but they can be useful.

As a rule, though, it's best to wait until you've talked to some of the 2Ls or 3Ls before buying any, or buy them right from the 2Ls or 3Ls. And a lot of the professors will either recommend one or two... or perhaps more likely, tell you which ones are crap.

[LoveJones]

Is the journal process at UIUC write-on or grade-on or a hybrid? Also, do you know of anyone doing a research assistant position? Are they common?

Law Review is hybrid - for the rising 2L's it will be the top four in each section and the rest are write-on. The bylaws are here: --LinkRemoved--. This past year I think there were around 35 people who graded/wrote on, the # of people is determined by the amount of work that needs to be done so it can vary. The writing competition is for all three journals though, not just Law Review.

Yup, I know of several people who have worked as RA's - don't really know personally about the process of getting one though. From what I've seen sometimes emails go out asking if there is interest, sometimes it's an announcement in class, and sometimes it's just someone who has gotten to know the prof and/or done well in their class.

When you say 35 people graded or wrote on, is this for the main law review? or does it include all of the law reviews at UIUC? For the namesake 35 seems pretty large. I think there are 3 or 4 journals, right? Do you know if the competitions for the law journals have closed?
Thanks in advance

[Warhawk]

Is the journal process at UIUC write-on or grade-on or a hybrid? Also, do you know of anyone doing a research assistant position? Are they common?

Law Review is hybrid - for the rising 2L's it will be the top four in each section and the rest are write-on. The bylaws are here: --LinkRemoved--. This past year I think there were around 35 people who graded/wrote on, the # of people is determined by the amount of work that needs to be done so it can vary. The writing competition is for all three journals though, not just Law Review.

Yup, I know of several people who have worked as RA's - don't really know personally about the process of getting one though. From what I've seen sometimes emails go out asking if there is interest, sometimes it's an announcement in class, and sometimes it's just someone who has gotten to know the prof and/or done well in their class.

When you say 35 people graded or wrote on, is this for the main law review? or does it include all of the law reviews at UIUC? For the namesake 35 seems pretty large. I think there are 3 or 4 journals, right? Do you know if the competitions for the law journals have closed?
Thanks in advance

That's just for the main Law Review, though I thought it was more like 30 for some reason. (Edit: looking at the handouts now, 30 is a minimum, so it can be higher.).

There's one competition for all 3, the other two are the Elder Law Journal and the Journal of Law, Technology, and Policy. You just rank them and, if more than one wants you, you get an offer from the one you ranked higher.

The other two have 20-ish spots I believe? But that's not hybrid, it's straight-up write-on. So you're probably looking at about 55-60 write-on spots between the 3, not counting the 16 who grade-on (they still need to put in a respectable effort in the writing competition, though, top 75%)

[blurbz]

No beer at peers pub? How can we get this changed?

[Warhawk]

There used to be, or so I'm told. Apparently the university administration is just on a paranoia trip and has a tendency to forget that we're, y'know, old and stuff.

[blurbz]

What supplements did people find most helpful? I'm not planning on reading them over the summer--but I'd like to know what to keep an eye out for on Ebay and etc...


Thanks!

[DomerDan]

What supplements did people find most helpful? I'm not planning on reading them over the summer--but I'd like to know what to keep an eye out for on Ebay and etc...


Thanks!

I'm also a rising 2L. That kid with a sharks avatar can't hold his liquor just an fyi. When you get here just look for a kid with dark hair loudly talking about the SJ Sharks. There's only one.

To be honest with you, I think your best bet is to wait until you get here. After the first couple weeks, you should try to find a group of kids, and at least one of them will be a gunner who bought every book you could buy, or a kid who inherited his siblings' law stuff. They also have also have all the supplements for free in teh library so you can test drive them before you buy them, see what works for you.

I say this because time is not really a huge factor. You won't have an advantage because you got your supp. 2 weeks before the kid next to you in contracts. You probably won't have the understanding required for a supplement to be useful to you until after the first month of school. Sometime around there.

They also sell almost all the supplements downstairs, heavily discounted, by the SBA. There's a forum for previous students to sell to 1L's. Just a lot of options available.

[blurbz]

Perfect, thank you!

...and I'll be sure to out drink him when I get the chance!

[Eruannon]

How are the PI opportunities at Illinois? Do groups like the ACLU do OCI during 2L? How hard is it to get involved with an on-campus clinic during 1L?

[sixburgher]

How hard is it to get an externship or clinic opportunity? Roughly how many people out of a class participate in these programs?

[DomerDan]

@sixburgher: Not very hard to get an externship, even as a rising 2L. You mean over the summer right? You apply early and to enough places, and tell them they don't have to pay you, and someone will hire you. I'd say more than half of the rising 2L's have externships/unpaid work of some kind.

Clinic work I have no experience with as you need to take evidence and get certified before you can help out-so we're talking 2nd semester of 2L year at the earliest for most people.

@Eruannon: I'm going to say there are plenty of PI opportunities, I'd say 10-20% of the class are involved/interested in PI work. I don't know much about whether the ACLU recruits on campus in the fall specifically as I am one of the other 80% that would like to make money after I graduate. Just kidding, just kidding.

I will say that while most of the resources from Career Services are devoted to people getting more traditional jobs in Chicago, I'm assuming because that's of the most interest to the students and because biglaw salaries make our rankings go up, I have noticed the Career Service emails including lots of government/PI oppurtunites. But those are usually do-it-yourself applications rather than notices of agencies coming on campus.

Sorry if that sounds like rambling. I got about 3 hours of sleep from these God-blessed summer crickets. High notes: there are PI opportunities, I've noticed them personally, but I don't know much about them because I don't want to do PI work.

[ChattelCat]

How hard is it to get an externship or clinic opportunity? Roughly how many people out of a class participate in these programs?

like DomerDan said, externships are not that hard to get (I mean, you are offering to work for free after all) and people do them during the year for credit as well. There is a federal and a state courthouse in Urbana so a lot of people work for judges there.

There are a few clinics that 2L's can participate in (Human Rights Clinic definitely and I knew of one 2L in the Mediation Clinic). Otherwise you have to have completed 60 credits to get your 7/11 license so that limits you doing clinics that involve actual representation of clients your 3L year (as far as I know evidence is not a requirement, though if you're doing a clinic you'll have to take it concurrently your first semester of 3L at the latest - I could be completely wrong though. haven't applied for a 7/11 license myself)

[ChattelCat]

How are the PI opportunities at Illinois? Do groups like the ACLU do OCI during 2L? How hard is it to get involved with an on-campus clinic during 1L?

can't speak from personal experience but there is a public interest job listserv that I hear very good things about - just contact career services to be added to it.

As far as I know 1L's can't get involved in clinics (they are all for credit and your schedule is already full) but there are lots of ways to get involved through law school organizations your 1L year - PILF (public interest law foundation) is pretty active (although I did hear a nasty rumor that there will be no more PILF bake sales next year which makes me sad) and the Prisoners Rights Research Project.

[climber]

35 out of 232 is about 15% of the class. That's hardly impossible. Why, I thought everyone on TLS was going to be in the top 5% of their classes.

It's not quite 15% of the class, as the write-ons will include 3Ls. In my class they took about 5 write-ons that were 3Ls for the main journal.

[webbylu87]

I think this may have been addressed before but can anyone recommend a good bank in the CU area? Has anyone had good experiences with local credit unions?

[ChattelCat]

I think this may have been addressed before but can anyone recommend a good bank in the CU area? Has anyone had good experiences with local credit unions?

Busey is a good local bank - they have branches everywhere.

[sixburgher]

Rising 2L's: What's the OCI outlook for this Fall? How does the number of firms compare with past years?

[DomerDan]

Rising 2L's: What's the OCI outlook for this Fall? How does the number of firms compare with past years?

I think about the same as last year, which is significantly fewer than in years previously. The 2L rat race is still tight but perhaps not as tight as it was in 2009. I don't think there are any firms coming this year that weren’t coming last year, but I think the firms that are coming will be looking to hire more people.

I don’t know, I get the feeling you are kind of out of luck this fall if you are not well connected or in at least the top third. We’re talking about well-paying jobs here, I’m sure there will be other good opportunities for the less fortunate.

This is all very worrying for people in my class as U of I has substantial increased the size of the class, hoping to create a more national pull, and so far I haven't seen much in the way of results. We may have a situation where 50 more people are competing for the same number of jobs, which at a small law school like U of I would be, how to put this, not good.

[sixburgher]

Thanks DD. I caught this thread on Notre Dame's OCI for this year, http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=123174.

Looks like they have around 40 employers coming to campus, and this made me curious as to how U of I is faring (for obvious reasons, I'm starting there this Fall). Someone later in the thread says that WUSTL has something like 60 unique employers coming to OCI.

By necessity, are most current students working on their own networking? I'd be interested to hear what plans people have and what opportunities they're pursuing (or are planning to pursue).

[blurbz]

Thanks DD. I caught this thread on Notre Dame's OCI for this year, http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=123174.

Looks like they have around 40 employers coming to campus, and this made me curious as to how U of I is faring (for obvious reasons, I'm starting there this Fall). Someone later in the thread says that WUSTL has something like 60 unique employers coming to OCI.

By necessity, are most current students working on their own networking? I'd be interested to hear what plans people have and what opportunities they're pursuing (or are planning to pursue).

This is why I came to this thread. Does anyone have any specific information about Illinois for the upcoming year?

[LSHPFL10]

Sorry to change the topic, or if this has already been asked, but does anyone have any good bank recommendations?

[ChattelCat]

Sorry to change the topic, or if this has already been asked, but does anyone have any good bank recommendations?

look six posts up.


As for the OCI inquiries - it does look like all of the big Chicago firms that didn't come last year will be on campus this year.