Recently Graduated UT Law Student taking questions Forum

[BigZuck]

After much consideration, I've decided to join all the journals. It ain't crazy fam, so don't freak out about it.

You'll probably get free breakfast tacos Monday-Thursday at least

Hope you really like Taco Deli!

[Hikikomorist]

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[jim_green]

Would patent prosecution make finding a job in a firm in Austin/Dallas easier than in patent lit?

[candidlatke]

Hi, I was wondering if any of you know about/if there's any furnished apartments/condos available at UT.

[BVest]

Hi, I was wondering if any of you know about/if there's any furnished apartments/condos available at UT.

There are some places around. I've not looked at them in years... when I did they were pretty sad, but maybe that's changed over the last decade with all the new complexes that have come on the market, as well as the sharing economy boom.

[candidlatke]

Hi, I was wondering if any of you know about/if there's any furnished apartments/condos available at UT.

There are some places around. I've not looked at them in years... when I did they were pretty sad, but maybe that's changed over the last decade with all the new complexes that have come on the market, as well as the sharing economy boom.

Ah I see, could you tell me the names of those complexes that students use?

Or if anyone else has information, please PM me!

Thanks!!

[dizzydg]

Hi, I was wondering if any of you know about/if there's any furnished apartments/condos available at UT.

There are some places around. I've not looked at them in years... when I did they were pretty sad, but maybe that's changed over the last decade with all the new complexes that have come on the market, as well as the sharing economy boom.

Ah I see, could you tell me the names of those complexes that students use?

Or if anyone else has information, please PM me!

Thanks!!

I know a good amount of people live in the Sabina. Not sure if furnished or not. There are many apartments buildings around that area though.

[Hikikomorist]

There are some new ones up in Mueller that seem fairly popular. Pretty sure they're slightly cheaper than Sabina, but still way too expensive for my taste.

[FairchildFLT]

Constitutional Law- Prof. Sager
Contracts- Prof. Kull
Criminal Law- Prof. Strong
Legal Writing- Prof. Eskow

Any tips or tricks from my most benevolent upper classmen?

[rnoodles]

Constitutional Law- Prof. Sager
Contracts- Prof. Kull
Criminal Law- Prof. Strong
Legal Writing- Prof. Eskow

Any tips or tricks from my most benevolent upper classmen?

Strong is the man. You will come out loving crim law because of how much he loves crim law. I say do the readings, definitely do the practice tests he hands out (I think two of them?), and participate. His final was like 30 MC (31, but the last one was a joke question) and two essays. I can go into it a bit more in detail if you'd, so feel free to PM.

Eskow I had for briefing, not memo writing. As long as you take the class seriously, act professionally, and participate, you should be fine. I do think she has favorites, so try to get on her good side (she's really nice). I know the folks that did best in her class were definitely the ones that she liked the most and are now her TQs, IIRC.

[Hikikomorist]

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[mornincounselor]

Any tips and tricks for a nervous 1L?

[turetto]

ConLaw - Chesney
Torts - Wellborn
CivPro - Mullenix
Legal Writing - Blinkova

Thoughts and/or advice?

[cannibal ox]

Any tips and tricks for a nervous 1L?

Don't be afraid to ruin your life for ~6 weeks prior to fall exams.

[Khaleesi19]

Any recommendations on how to prepare for the exams of these professors?

CRIMINAL LAW I-Jinks, D
CONTRACTS-Sokolow, D
TORTS-McGarity, T
LEGAL ANALYSIS AND COMM-Schaeffer, A

[cannibal ox]

Any recommendations on how to prepare for the exams of these professors?

CRIMINAL LAW I-Jinks, D
CONTRACTS-Sokolow, D
TORTS-McGarity, T
LEGAL ANALYSIS AND COMM-Schaeffer, A

Jinks
The bad news: Start memorizing the MPC (Model Penal Code) right now. Like.. right now. Seriously though, the exam is 100% MPC and it's closed book. He'll tell you this midway into the semester, but I'm sure you can ask right away during office hours or something. He'll want you to cite to the MPC section and subsection on the exam, so make flash cards or do whatever it takes to memorize the code. He wants you to cite all the way to, e.g. MPC 2.02(a), 2.02(b), etc. when you're referencing a part of the code. And yes, he expects you to do it.

The good news: He will give you the exam 1-2 weeks early, so there will be no surprises. He'll give you a large bank of questions (short answer and long essay) but for the exam he'll only pick 7-10 short answer and 2 essay. I would recommend writing the answers to every question in the question bank, and doing it over and over and over. Start off with your notes and book, then work towards doing it completely closed book. When you take the exam you want to be robotic and just regurgitate the work that you have done already. It'll take time and effort but it'll pay off with a good grade.

General advice: Take. Good. Notes. Jinks will essentially answer every single question from the exam bank in class. You just need to pay attention and take good notes. Seriously if you recorded every class, you could go back and listen to him answer the exact questions he asks on the exam. It's up to you to be diligent every day and pay attention so that when you get the question bank you can reference your notes and get full credit for the answer.

Jinks is an extremely smart professor and a very very nice guy. Go to his office hours if you have any questions. Don't be intimidated because he speaks like a casebook, you'll get used to that in a few weeks.

There is no cold calling (ever).

Get the Understanding Crim by Dressler supplement.

Sokolow
Two words: practice exams. Take as many practice exams as you can stomach. That doesn't mean doing 2 in the days before the exam, that means doing 10 or more starting at Thanksgiving (even though you won't have the material/info to answer all the questions). Sokolow lays everything out very slowly and carefully, so there's no excuse not to do well in this class. It's a racehorse exam. 2 issue spotters. The same issues appear in every exam he's ever given, and there are a ton online. If you don't do practice exams you're doing yourself a disservice and your grade WILL suffer for it. This is a very learnable class if you're willing to put in the effort.

Also, he cold calls an Aggie on the first day every year, so if you went to A&M then read carefully for day 1. Everyone else will be on call for 1 day (or 1 case, which may be less or more than 1 day but is usually just a single day).

Sokolow is the quintessential law school professor. Enjoy it.

[A@M_or_bust]

2L here.

Does anyone have these textbooks and willing to sell?

Environmental Policy Law, Author: Doremus, 6th Edition (2012)
Evidence, Author: Park, 12th Edition (2013)

Thanks.

[Khaleesi19]

Any recommendations on how to prepare for the exams of these professors?

CRIMINAL LAW I-Jinks, D
CONTRACTS-Sokolow, D
TORTS-McGarity, T
LEGAL ANALYSIS AND COMM-Schaeffer, A

Jinks
The bad news: Start memorizing the MPC (Model Penal Code) right now. Like.. right now. Seriously though, the exam is 100% MPC and it's closed book. He'll tell you this midway into the semester, but I'm sure you can ask right away during office hours or something. He'll want you to cite to the MPC section and subsection on the exam, so make flash cards or do whatever it takes to memorize the code. He wants you to cite all the way to, e.g. MPC 2.02(a), 2.02(b), etc. when you're referencing a part of the code. And yes, he expects you to do it.

The good news: He will give you the exam 1-2 weeks early, so there will be no surprises. He'll give you a large bank of questions (short answer and long essay) but for the exam he'll only pick 7-10 short answer and 2 essay. I would recommend writing the answers to every question in the question bank, and doing it over and over and over. Start off with your notes and book, then work towards doing it completely closed book. When you take the exam you want to be robotic and just regurgitate the work that you have done already. It'll take time and effort but it'll pay off with a good grade.

General advice: Take. Good. Notes. Jinks will essentially answer every single question from the exam bank in class. You just need to pay attention and take good notes. Seriously if you recorded every class, you could go back and listen to him answer the exact questions he asks on the exam. It's up to you to be diligent every day and pay attention so that when you get the question bank you can reference your notes and get full credit for the answer.

Jinks is an extremely smart professor and a very very nice guy. Go to his office hours if you have any questions. Don't be intimidated because he speaks like a casebook, you'll get used to that in a few weeks.

There is no cold calling (ever).

Get the Understanding Crim by Dressler supplement.

Sokolow
Two words: practice exams. Take as many practice exams as you can stomach. That doesn't mean doing 2 in the days before the exam, that means doing 10 or more starting at Thanksgiving (even though you won't have the material/info to answer all the questions). Sokolow lays everything out very slowly and carefully, so there's no excuse not to do well in this class. It's a racehorse exam. 2 issue spotters. The same issues appear in every exam he's ever given, and there are a ton online. If you don't do practice exams you're doing yourself a disservice and your grade WILL suffer for it. This is a very learnable class if you're willing to put in the effort.

Also, he cold calls an Aggie on the first day every year, so if you went to A&M then read carefully for day 1. Everyone else will be on call for 1 day (or 1 case, which may be less or more than 1 day but is usually just a single day).

Sokolow is the quintessential law school professor. Enjoy it.

Thank you so much! Very helpful.

[ellewoods817]

Constitutional Law- Prof. Sager
Contracts- Prof. Kull
Criminal Law- Prof. Strong
Legal Writing- Prof. Eskow

Any tips or tricks from my most benevolent upper classmen?

That's a fantastic group of professors, so congrats. Kull is amazing and has a really fun final, but it can be tough to remember to take it as seriously as the others. Also probably difficult to get an extremely high grade in that class. Disagree with noodles about Eskow having favorites that translate into good grades, but I had her for the memo and also think she's maybe the most impressive professor I have had in law school.

Andrew Kull is a gift from the gods. But really, his final is short answer and he's an amazing professor! He usually cold calls based on geography (how close your hometown is to the assigned case) and goes down the row from there. He expects you to know the material, but won't make you feel like crap for not having all the answers. Sign up for a Friday office hours and see how many pitchers you can drink in two hours, he never lets your glass get empty!

I didn't have Sager, Strong, or Eskow. I know all of the people who had Strong for their crim as a small section and I think that about half of them signed up for a 9am on Fridays this semester just to take him again. Most 2 and 3Ls don't have class on Fridays, let alone on Friday mornings, so this is a big compliment. The crim class is tough, he cold calls and expects you to really know the material before you come to class, but you learn a ton!

[BasilHallward]

2L here:

FIT-Peroni
BA-Hu


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[BigZuck]

2L here:

FIT-Peroni
BA-Hu


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Peroni is solid. No cold calling. Don't really need to do the reading IIRC, just pay attention. Only tax class I took but seems pretty straightforward. I found him entertaining/likable but he does tend to go off on tangents and stuff so maybe YMMV. Cop the E&E and cram a few days before the exam and enjoy your B+ (or better if you're one of those tax kids, which is something you probably can't predict until you get your final grade).

Never taken Hu, some people love him supposedly but based on what I've heard I'd personally run (not walk!) to Sokolow's class. I took Sokolow and he's #theman

[BVest]

2L here:

FIT-Peroni
BA-Hu


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Peroni is solid. No cold calling. Don't really need to do the reading IIRC, just pay attention. Only tax class I took butseems pretty straightforward. I found him entertaining/likable but he does tend to go off on tangents and stuff so maybe YMMV. Cop the E&E and cram a few days before the exam and enjoy your B+ (or better if you're one of those tax kids, which is something you probably can't predict until you get your final grade).

This. Also go to his review session where he goes through old questions (he also records and posts it, but just go.)

It seemed like about 1/3 of the questions on the exam touched on recourse vs non-recourse debt distinctions in some way. Exam was something like 80% MC + an essay that was more like a series of short answers (i.e. one fact pattern with a number of short-answer questions).

[cannibal ox]

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[rnoodles]

What's the word on BA with Dammann or Estate/Gift Tax/Planning with Ascher (never took Wills and Estates, which is listed as a prereq on the syllabus and not on the add/drop registration page, but my registration wasn't restricted)?

[Hikikomorist]

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