University of Kentucky 1L taking questions. Forum

[ukerock2005]

Got my class schedule today. I have Frost for Contracts, Price for Torts, Harding for Criminal Law, and Bauries for Civ Pro. Can anyone tell me anything about these profs?

I am a little confused with the schedule, as I don't see a time for Legal Research or Legal Writing on there, even though they are on the book list.

Just a few more weeks. I am super-pumped!

I only had Bauries from your list. He is a great prof. I will warn you that his finals are really difficult. But, you will learn a lot in his class. He is also really open to meeting with students outside of class. If you have a question about anything he is a great resource. He will go out of his way to help his students. They will tell you about your writing and research time later on I believe. They can be at really random times. I had research at 8 a.m. on tuesday and writing at 6:30 pm on Mondays. I will go ahead and warn everyone that research really sucks. They change it every year, so maybe they improved it some for your class. I don't remember how much they explain research and writing, so if you have any questions about either feel free to ask. I had Bauries, Gaetke, Healy, Aussness, Salmanaca, and Dennis if anyone has any questions about them.

[Pretzel_Logic]

appaws, looks like we may have a couple profs in common. I haven't gotten my official packet to know for sure yet though.

[appaws]

I don't remember how much they explain research and writing, so if you have any questions about either feel free to ask.

What are the research and writing classes made up of....what sort of assignments? How are they graded? Do the grades "count?"

Thanks ukerock, for being such a valuable resource in this thread. I owe you a beer or a makers mark when we meet in person!

[Pretzel_Logic]

I don't remember how much they explain research and writing, so if you have any questions about either feel free to ask.

What are the research and writing classes made up of....what sort of assignments? How are they graded? Do the grades "count?"

Thanks ukerock, for being such a valuable resource in this thread. I owe you a beer or a makers mark when we meet in person!

ditto everything in this post. haha.

[ukerock2005]

What are the research and writing classes made up of....what sort of assignments? How are they graded? Do the grades "count?"

Thanks ukerock, for being such a valuable resource in this thread. I owe you a beer or a makers mark when we meet in person!

Research
I will repeat that this class sucks. You meet once a week for 50 minutes and go over the different types of resources available for legal research. You have reading assignments, but no one seems to read them. My teacher did not use Socratic Method, he just lectured. So, they really never know if you read or pay attention. To be honest after the first few classes I stopped reading or paying attention. Your assignments are basically wild goose chases in the library. Every week they give you a worksheet which has about 5 problems on it. Each problem involves using the provided information to find a source. Basically you run around the library for a few hours each week trying to find the correct book and then the correct phrase in that book. It is very frustrating and can be time consuming.
The librarians take turns making up the assignments and grading them. Thus, if your teacher did not create that weeks assignment they also did not grade it. This means if your teacher did not create that weeks assignment then they cannot explain the grading. The research class does not last the entire semester and when it ends you will have a final. At this point everyone freaks out because no one has been reading or paying attention. The final does suck, but the good news is that the course is graded on a very relaxed curve. Normal classes are curved to a 3.0. Most people receive a B+ overall in research. The highest grade was A- and there were not many of those given out. There are some B’s given out and not many grades below that. I do believe there were a few C- though. So basically just about everyone does fine. Your research class is only 1 credit hour, which they combine with your writing class which is 2 hours. So you only get one overall grade for both classes. This is why research is important because if you do bad then you will have to do really well in writing to overcome the bad grade.
Now for all of these assignments you are not allowed to use online research. Basically your legal research course does not talk about online research at all. This really sucks because online research is much quicker than using the books. Thus, to do research for your writing course you will have to teach yourself how use Lexis and Westlaw.

Writing
This course is actually very useful. There are three assignments in this course. Two of the assignments are in your first semester. The first is a five page memo where they provide you with your sources. So all you have to do is analyze the cases they give you and apply them to your case. Your second assignment is a longer memo that you have to find your own sources for. These assignments are important because you will be doing this exact same thing over the summer if you get a legal job. Your final assignment is an appellate brief which is around 15 pages. Everyone in the law school will have the same topic for this third assignment.
After you turn in the brief you will have an oral argument against one of your fellow law students. Some people do this at the law school and others go down to the court house. You will perform your argument before your writing professor and 4 members of the moot court. So while you are arguing your case the 5 judges will be interrupting you with questions. Each writing class will then pick the best student for each side of the case. These students will then compete against students from other writing courses. Until finally there will be 2 students left. These two will argue before an actual judge. You will receive a grade on your oral argument. Your writing grade is made up of your 3 writing assignments and your oral argument. I have no clue if there is a curve on this grade. Your writing grades are not posted.


I never turn down a free beer. Just hope I have been helpful.

[appaws]

Grabbed my books today at Kennedy's. 875 bucks!! But, I bought them all new because I cannot trust anybody else and their highlighting. There were used available for most of them. My dad gave me the book money, but hey I also bought him a $17 Cats T-shirt with some of the extra. That will make him popular, he lives in South Carolina.

1. I noticed that their is no casebook for Criminal Law. My section had a recommended book, and the other had none at all. What's up with that?

2. A guy I was talking to at the store said that two of the classes were a year long, so I would not need books for them in the second semester.... Does that mean that this semester there are only 2 finals?

3. What is a "canned brief?"

Thanks in advance, UKE and anyone else who answers!

[ukerock2005]

1. I noticed that their is no casebook for Criminal Law. My section had a recommended book, and the other had none at all. What's up with that?

2. A guy I was talking to at the store said that two of the classes were a year long, so I would not need books for them in the second semester.... Does that mean that this semester there are only 2 finals?

3. What is a "canned brief?"

1. My only guess would be that the profs have not turned in their casebook requests to the book store. Was the recommended book a supplement?

2. No, you will still have 4 finals each semester. Contracts and Civil Procedure are split into two classes, both of which have a final at the end of the semester. This is actually nice if you like the profs for those two courses. This makes the start of second semester smoother because you already know what to expect from the class on the first day.

3. Canned briefs are a book of case briefs already done for you. The idea is that you may not have to read the case as closely ( or at all ) if someone has already briefed it for you. Also they write the facts and civil procedure of the case out for you, which is handy to have when you get called on. I have never used them so I can’t really give too much of an opinion on them.

[ukerock2005]

Everyone excited for orientation this weekend?

[johnnyutah]

Do you ever get sad about the fact that you live in Lexington and not Louisville?

[ukerock2005]

Not really. I personally prefer Lexington. Plus too many UofL fans in Louisville.

[johnnyutah]

Not really. I personally prefer Lexington. Plus too many UofL fans in Louisville.

Hahah, fair enough



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[ukerock2005]

Well played. Actually two of my close friends are huge UofL fans. Louisville does have a better bar scene, but I have been in Lex long enough that I have found a few bars I like. So I am very content. Of course Lex has the better college sports so that balances out the amount of bars.

[ukerock2005]

Little advice about OCIs for everyone. In case someone does not know OCI stands for On Campus Interview. Make sure you research the firm and take down notes before your interview. This may seem like an obvious piece of advice or for some a big waste of time for others. The reason it is important is the firm may ask you why you are interested in working there. Today I interviewed with a West Virginia firm and the firm's partner looked at me and said "from the things you submitted I know all about you, so now I want you to tell me why you want to work for us." Out of the 20 minutes I would say the first 10 were me discussing what specifically had attracted me to his firm. Which if I hadn't looked into their practice areas I would have been screwed. Just make sure you visit each firm's website before the interview. The last 10 minutes were me asking him questions about the job. This is why it is important to have about 5 or so questions planned out. If can be really awkward if you don't have any questions for them. Thankfully 1L OCI is not until second semester so you do not have to worry about them anytime soon.

[Amir N]

Thanks for all the information in this thread-it has been extremely helpful. One more question: would you guys say that UK has better placement in Kentucky than other higher ranked schools like UIUC, Indiana-Bloomington, or WUSTL?

Thanks again!

[bizjunkie4]

What do you make of UK's pass rate for the July bar exam? I am told it was around 84 percent for first time takers, which seems low historically. Louisville, by way of comparison, posted a 92 percent pass rate. Full disclosure: I am a 2L at Louisville. No disrespect meant, just curious.

Regards,

Little Brother

[ukerock2005]

Thanks for all the information in this thread-it has been extremely helpful. One more question: would you guys say that UK has better placement in Kentucky than other higher ranked schools like UIUC, Indiana-Bloomington, or WUSTL?

Thanks again!

I really can't answer your question. Do I think UK places better in kentucky than the schools you mentioned? Yes. Do I have any facts to back that up? No.

[ukerock2005]

What do you make of UK's pass rate for the July bar exam? I am told it was around 84 percent for first time takers, which seems low historically. Louisville, by way of comparison, posted a 92 percent pass rate. Full disclosure: I am a 2L at Louisville. No disrespect meant, just curious.

Regards,

Little Brother

I haven't seen the numbers so I have no clue if those figures are accurate. We had a rough year last year too. I'm not part of that class so I have no explanation honestly. Am I concerned about my classes ability to pass the bar? No. My class is very strong and I will be very suprised if we do not exceed the 90% pass. Of course I am a 2L so we will see how this years 3L class performs. I still believe that out of the schools I was accepted to UK, UofL, NKU, and Dayton that UK was the best option for me.

Regards,

Big Brother

[bizjunkie4]

What do you make of UK's pass rate for the July bar exam? I am told it was around 84 percent for first time takers, which seems low historically. Louisville, by way of comparison, posted a 92 percent pass rate. Full disclosure: I am a 2L at Louisville. No disrespect meant, just curious.

Regards,

Little Brother

I haven't seen the numbers so I have no clue if those figures are accurate. We had a rough year last year too. I'm not part of that class so I have no explanation honestly. Am I concerned about my classes ability to pass the bar? No. My class is very strong and I will be very suprised if we do not exceed the 90% pass. Of course I am a 2L so we will see how this years 3L class performs. I still believe that out of the schools I was accepted to UK, UofL, NKU, and Dayton that UK was the best option for me.

Regards,

Big Brother

I am sure the numbers fluctuate quite a bit from year to year, and there are a lot of factors that are thrown into the mix. Good luck with the rest of your time at UK. We are both now more than 40 percent finished. Not sure if that is depressing or exciting. Perhaps both.

[ukerock2005]

With the current job market I may have to choose depressing.

[Pretzel_Logic]

haha truth, and I'm only a 1L...

[appaws]

Hey Ukerock and Pretzel...

You guys should pm me your real names and we should meet up for a couple of beers or something...

[Pretzel_Logic]

AP, given your class schedule I have a couple guesses as to who you are . . . still haven't a clue about Uke, though. haha.

As a hint I'm the one who laughs all through Harding's crim law class. Still can't believe she hasn't called me out.

[ukerock2005]

Bump this up and see if anyone is considering UK for next year.

[Amir N]

Bump this up and see if anyone is considering UK for next year.

Definitely considering it after my recent acceptance. Any students there who can enlighten us about employment prospects?

[jwaters]

Uk is in my top few that I'm considering, but it would take a pretty good scholarship to get me to go and according to LSN they don't give out much.