UVA Law Students Taking Questions Forum

[dailygrind]

I heard the test was just a straight issue spotter/typing race for Morley. Just a read and react scenario, no tricks, no word limits.

shit, i got a refurbished hp for like 300 bucks and i'm perfectly happy with it (most of the family buys refurbished since none of us have a need for real computing power - none of our computers suffer from a reliability problem). if all you do is surf the net, type, and watch tv, you don't need anything fancy at all. just make sure you like the keyboard and back your files up on dropbox. also, i highly recommend buying a monitor so you can dual screen at home. it's pretttty awesome.

Yeah not every HP is garbage, I'm just saying on the whole it's not a brand I would trust. Dropbox is awesome though, as is the dual monitor.

i occasionally consider upgrading to a triple monitor. it's just so awesome.

[bgdddymtty]

Here's something interesting about grades that I got from a conversation with a professor yesterday: S/he said that, in addition to being like every other person on the planet and pacing work based on the deadline ("Move the deadline up, and I'd get grades done faster"), s/he holds back on grading, particularly when teaching 1L's, because s/he doesn't want to be their first grade and have to field a bunch of distraught correspondence from overreacting students. I had never thought about that before. I wonder how much strategery various professors put into their timing of grades.

[5ky]

Another handful of evals went up. One section of Evidence, I think. Still no conlaw.

[plum]

Here's something interesting about grades that I got from a conversation with a professor yesterday: S/he said that, in addition to being like every other person on the planet and pacing work based on the deadline ("Move the deadline up, and I'd get grades done faster"), s/he holds back on grading, particularly when teaching 1L's, because s/he doesn't want to be their first grade and have to field a bunch of distraught correspondence from overreacting students. I had never thought about that before. I wonder how much strategery various professors put into their timing of grades.

how long does it take them to grade the exams?

[crossingforHYS]

how do we get our university ID?

[YCrevolution]

..

[thesealocust]

Here's something interesting about grades that I got from a conversation with a professor yesterday: S/he said that, in addition to being like every other person on the planet and pacing work based on the deadline ("Move the deadline up, and I'd get grades done faster"), s/he holds back on grading, particularly when teaching 1L's, because s/he doesn't want to be their first grade and have to field a bunch of distraught correspondence from overreacting students. I had never thought about that before. I wonder how much strategery various professors put into their timing of grades.

By far the best explanation came from a colorful 1L professor who once defended his or her procrastination by saying: "The world could end at any moment, and I'd hate for grading exams to have been the last thing I did on earth."

[paulinaporizkova]

Here's something interesting about grades that I got from a conversation with a professor yesterday: S/he said that, in addition to being like every other person on the planet and pacing work based on the deadline ("Move the deadline up, and I'd get grades done faster"), s/he holds back on grading, particularly when teaching 1L's, because s/he doesn't want to be their first grade and have to field a bunch of distraught correspondence from overreacting students. I had never thought about that before. I wonder how much strategery various professors put into their timing of grades.

By far the best explanation came from a colorful 1L professor who once defended his or her procrastination by saying: "The world could end at any moment, and I'd hate for grading exams to have been the last thing I did on earth."

[bgdddymtty]

Here's something interesting about grades that I got from a conversation with a professor yesterday: S/he said that, in addition to being like every other person on the planet and pacing work based on the deadline ("Move the deadline up, and I'd get grades done faster"), s/he holds back on grading, particularly when teaching 1L's, because s/he doesn't want to be their first grade and have to field a bunch of distraught correspondence from overreacting students. I had never thought about that before. I wonder how much strategery various professors put into their timing of grades.

how long does it take them to grade the exams?

Just before the conversation mentioned above, I was speaking with Professor Morley (no need to anonymize here, I suppose) and he said that it takes him about 50 hours total, but that he only does about 3 hours per day because that's the point at which his eyes start to glaze over. That seems about right.

[omg]

Any new grades yet today? I hate how the grades are keeping out before the evals now (at least for the 2 grades I have already). The other way around, you at least know at some point whether or not you are getting a grade that day.

[Cavalier]

sorry, no fed courts

[omg]

sorry, no fed courts

Haha, thanks. Though obviously that's one that I would actually know if it were up.

[alirod12]

Don't buy their laptops; I got one for half as much that can run games!

I suspect my future gpa would prefer I had a laptop that cannot run games.

Since law school began, I have (a) beat all but four songs on expert on Guitar Hero III, (b) beat GTA IV, (c) beat Starcraft II on brutal, (d) leveled to 87 in Diablo II, (e) beat Oblivion, (f) beat Call of Duty: Black Ops, and (g) leveled to 85 in World of Warcraft. And my GPA hasn't suffered.

So what you're saying is you didn't get laid once since law school began?

Big smiley face.

[plum]

Here's something interesting about grades that I got from a conversation with a professor yesterday: S/he said that, in addition to being like every other person on the planet and pacing work based on the deadline ("Move the deadline up, and I'd get grades done faster"), s/he holds back on grading, particularly when teaching 1L's, because s/he doesn't want to be their first grade and have to field a bunch of distraught correspondence from overreacting students. I had never thought about that before. I wonder how much strategery various professors put into their timing of grades.

how long does it take them to grade the exams?

Just before the conversation mentioned above, I was speaking with Professor Morley (no need to anonymize here, I suppose) and he said that it takes him about 50 hours total, but that he only does about 3 hours per day because that's the point at which his eyes start to glaze over. That seems about right.

wow that's amazing. i wonder if it's because he's new and hasn't figured out the 10 second grading method (aka the stairs). but good for him, seems like a swell dood.

[Cavalier]

...

[jawsthegreat]

How important are ties for NYC?

[thesealocust]

How important are ties for NYC?

Ties really aren't nearly as important in New York as they are elsewhere. New Yorkers seem to think everyone should want to live and work in their city. It's so large compared to other legals markets (seriously like an order of magnitude more summer associates in NYC than Chicago for example) that there's not the same supply/demand dynamic going on elsewhere.

I'd been to NYC literally twice in my life for a grand total of 3 days, and nobody really pushed back when I gave random answers about why NYC that didn't involve a single personal tie. The most effective was talking about an interest in corporate practice, because NYC is pretty unquestionably the alpha through the omega of corporate law. Pretty sure you could have say you hear they have good pizza and have it fly though.

Compare and contrast with the one firm I accidentally interviewed with in Houston. They saw through me pretty quickly

[Morgan12Oak]

Is it crazy to maybe guess that people will wise up this year and bid NYC much harder compared to DC than in the past? Or is the DC heavy bidding going to occur regardless?

I wonder if there becomes a point where the economy improves enough to pass a threshold where it no longer makes sense to bid conservatively (thinking NYC vs. DC) given the increased competition in NYC and maybe larger summer classes b/c of the economy.

[barry]

edit

[thesealocust]

Is it crazy to maybe guess that people will wise up this year and bid NYC much harder compared to DC than in the past? Or is the DC heavy bidding going to occur regardless?

I wonder if there becomes a point where the economy improves enough to pass a threshold where it no longer makes sense to bid conservatively (thinking NYC vs. DC) given the increased competition in NYC and maybe larger summer classes b/c of the economy.

This is impossible. The difference in selectivity between NYC and DC is not a result of NYC being unpopular. Quite the opposite - more people are probably interested in pursuing work in NYC than in DC across top law schools. The difference is that NYC has (1) substantially more law firms, (2) each of which hire substantially more summer associates.

I can actually list off the top of my head every DC firm that will hire a summer class of dozens. Covington usually hires something like 60-80, then WilmerHale, Hogan, and Arnold & Porter are likely to hire somewhere from 30-50. Every single other law firm in DC is likely hiring 20 or fewer, and usually the latter.

In NYC, I don't think I could successfully count all of the firms who hire 70-80+ summer associates every summer. You've got a dozen or so NYC based firms that routinely hire 80++ summer associates, then dozens of firms which are either slightly smaller or slightly smaller offices of firms with HQs in other locations that are still hiring 20++ summers.

Anyway, the reason it's easier to get hired at a firm in NYC than DC, all else being equal, is structural and mathematical in a way that UVA student bidding choices could never meaningfully impact. washington dc law firms face enormous demand compared to the constrained supply of summer positions they have to offer, while NYC law firms face enormous demand for a comparatively huge supply of summer positions. Obviously you still have to be doing pretty well at a great law school to get a big firm job in NYC, but as long as the big firm dynamic across the country is so biased towards NYC, those jobs will be more bountiful and thus easier to secure.

[swinger]

How important are ties for NYC?

Pretty sure you need to have a wife there, so if you know any women in NYC you should probably propose to them. It's in the best interest of your future legal career.

[socraticmethodman]

Does anyone know where I can find the number of UVA students that received SA positions with Boies Schiller & Flexner?

[crossingforHYS]

Does anyone know where I can find the number of UVA students that received SA positions with Boies Schiller & Flexner?

I would also like to know this and for gibson if anyone has that info.

[desertlaw]

I think this is something that OSC is working on and will send out soon. Might be best to keep within DM's and e-mails instead of on TLS threads. It seems like there is talking on other threads about firms/schools getting upset if certain firm/SA/grades info gets out publicly.

[gladiator]

How important are ties for NYC?

Pretty sure you need to have a wife there, so if you know any women in NYC you should probably propose to them. It's in the best interest of your future legal career.

If your wife already works at that NY firm, your GPA goes up 3 tenths.