University of Texas 1L Taking Questions Forum

[romanticegotist]

Also is there any reason to actually buy the legal writing books? (Other than style guides). I.e. will they ever be referenced/needed in class, or can we just read the library copies?

Your mileage may vary. "A lawyer writes" is actually useful, and the various style guides (like the TLR one) are helpful. A lot of the other stuff is just fluff

[romanticegotist]

And the schedules are up!

Civ Pro - Silver
LRLW - Youngdale

I've already posted my others, but any comments on these two would be appreciated

Youngdale is nice but I think that, at least for a brief-writing class, she didn't do a great job of helping us understand what the ultimate objective was until it was too late for me to feel comfortable doing the work. Don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions if you don't think you understand why something is happening.

[shifty_eyed]

Also is there any reason to actually buy the legal writing books? (Other than style guides). I.e. will they ever be referenced/needed in class, or can we just read the library copies?

Your mileage may vary. "A lawyer writes" is actually useful, and the various style guides (like the TLR one) are helpful. A lot of the other stuff is just fluff

The basic legal research book was trash. I agree that ALW is pretty useful. The redbook is more useful than I thought it would be.

[McAvoy]

All right thanks, I'll get ALW. Just seemed like I might not use it much for being $60.

[romanticegotist]

All right thanks, I'll get ALW. Just seemed like I might not use it much for being $60.

Go into the first year assuming that you are going to read everything. Trying to game the system before you even start reeks of hubris. Trust me, it's worth it to at least get the materials and see what you can get out of them.

[Attax]

Yeah, that's my approach. I'd hate to have it and not need it just that one time.

[WokeUpInACar]

And the schedules are up!

Civ Pro - Silver
LRLW - Youngdale

I've already posted my others, but any comments on these two would be appreciated

Silver basically doesn't teach you civil procedure for the first 2 months of the class. He just goes over a bunch of stuff like attorney's fees and legal ethics that no other civ pro professor covers. Very little of that actually ends up on the exam, and he starts flying through the material once you get to the actual substantive stuff you need to be learning. I would definitely recommend some sort of supplemental reading before he gets to stuff like personal jurisdiction, because it's an enormous concept and he goes through it in just a couple days in October or something. He also really enjoys testing the cross-claim/counterclaim stuff that looks really complicated but actually is similar to basic LSAT LG stuff after you drill it for a while.

Also he posts his slides on Blackboard right before class, so if you can print them out before then, you will be prepared for potential coldcalls because he rarely deviates from the PPs much at all. There are also no laptops allowed.

[McAvoy]

All right thanks, I'll get ALW. Just seemed like I might not use it much for being $60.

Go into the first year assuming that you are going to read everything. Trying to game the system before you even start reeks of hubris. Trust me, it's worth it to at least get the materials and see what you can get out of them.

No I was planning on reading everything; there are copies of the non style-guide LW stuff at the library, so I was asking more if it's worth it get my own copy/if I would physically need them in class.

[Attax]

And the schedules are up!

Civ Pro - Silver
LRLW - Youngdale

I've already posted my others, but any comments on these two would be appreciated

Silver basically doesn't teach you civil procedure for the first 2 months of the class. He just goes over a bunch of stuff like attorney's fees and legal ethics that no other civ pro professor covers. Very little of that actually ends up on the exam, and he starts flying through the material once you get to the actual substantive stuff you need to be learning. I would definitely recommend some sort of supplemental reading before he gets to stuff like personal jurisdiction, because it's an enormous concept and he goes through it in just a couple days in October or something. He also really enjoys testing the cross-claim/counterclaim stuff that looks really complicated but actually is similar to basic LSAT LG stuff after you drill it for a while.

Also he posts his slides on Blackboard right before class, so if you can print them out before then, you will be prepared for potential coldcalls because he rarely deviates from the PPs much at all. There are also no laptops allowed.

Good to know. So early on it won't be a huge deal if I put more work into the other classes?

[WokeUpInACar]

And the schedules are up!

Civ Pro - Silver
LRLW - Youngdale

I've already posted my others, but any comments on these two would be appreciated

Silver basically doesn't teach you civil procedure for the first 2 months of the class. He just goes over a bunch of stuff like attorney's fees and legal ethics that no other civ pro professor covers. Very little of that actually ends up on the exam, and he starts flying through the material once you get to the actual substantive stuff you need to be learning. I would definitely recommend some sort of supplemental reading before he gets to stuff like personal jurisdiction, because it's an enormous concept and he goes through it in just a couple days in October or something. He also really enjoys testing the cross-claim/counterclaim stuff that looks really complicated but actually is similar to basic LSAT LG stuff after you drill it for a while.

Also he posts his slides on Blackboard right before class, so if you can print them out before then, you will be prepared for potential coldcalls because he rarely deviates from the PPs much at all. There are also no laptops allowed.

Good to know. So early on it won't be a huge deal if I put more work into the other classes?

Yup. I'd definitely suggest that.

[ScottRiqui]

And the schedules are up!

Civ Pro - Silver
LRLW - Youngdale

I've already posted my others, but any comments on these two would be appreciated

Silver basically doesn't teach you civil procedure for the first 2 months of the class. He just goes over a bunch of stuff like attorney's fees and legal ethics that no other civ pro professor covers. Very little of that actually ends up on the exam, and he starts flying through the material once you get to the actual substantive stuff you need to be learning. I would definitely recommend some sort of supplemental reading before he gets to stuff like personal jurisdiction, because it's an enormous concept and he goes through it in just a couple days in October or something. He also really enjoys testing the cross-claim/counterclaim stuff that looks really complicated but actually is similar to basic LSAT LG stuff after you drill it for a while.

Also he posts his slides on Blackboard right before class, so if you can print them out before then, you will be prepared for potential coldcalls because he rarely deviates from the PPs much at all. There are also no laptops allowed.

Good to know. So early on it won't be a huge deal if I put more work into the other classes?

Yup. I'd definitely suggest that.

So is Silver's exam really a take-home? That's what it says online, but I didn't know if that was current/correct.

[Kool-Aid]

LRLW-Einhorn
Con Law-Forbath

Anything on these two?

[WokeUpInACar]

So is Silver's exam really a take-home? That's what it says online, but I didn't know if that was current/correct.

Our exam last year was not take-home, but it was open-note and open-book, and I know of some civ pro classes where the exam was take-home, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

[BigZuck]

LRLW-Einhorn
Con Law-Forbath

Anything on these two?

I think Einhorn is good, at least as far as LRW goes. So much of LRW is just writing stuff and hoping it doesn't suck but not really knowing what you're doing. That seems to be the nature of the beast across the board. I think that the exercises she gives you are decently helpful, and personally she seems nice/cool. She's a good person to talk to outside of class because she's pretty well connected in the TX legal world and can give good advice on stuff like legal internships. She also keeps it pretty real and knows at what point in the semester people haven't done the reading or whatever and doesn't give you a hard time about it.

Speaking of reading for LRW: for the most part, I think it can be helpful. Most people won't really do it (guilty as charged) and you can do well without it but actually reading and applying what you read will probably give you a leg up on most of your classmates. But YMMV I guess.

[WokeUpInACar]

LRLW-Einhorn
Con Law-Forbath

Anything on these two?

I think Einhorn is good, at least as far as LRW goes. So much of LRW is just writing stuff and hoping it doesn't suck but not really knowing what you're doing. That seems to be the nature of the beast across the board. I think that the exercises she gives you are decently helpful, and personally she seems nice/cool. She's a good person to talk to outside of class because she's pretty well connected in the TX legal world and can give good advice on stuff like legal internships. She also keeps it pretty real and knows at what point in the semester people haven't done the reading or whatever and doesn't give you a hard time about it.

Speaking of reading for LRW: for the most part, I think it can be helpful. Most people won't really do it (guilty as charged) and you can do well without it but actually reading and applying what you read will probably give you a leg up on most of your classmates. But YMMV I guess.

I found going through the reading while actually attempting the assignments worked best for me. That shit all seemed so abstract before class and I didn't get anything out of the reading before I started working on the assignments.

[BigZuck]

LRLW-Einhorn
Con Law-Forbath

Anything on these two?

I think Einhorn is good, at least as far as LRW goes. So much of LRW is just writing stuff and hoping it doesn't suck but not really knowing what you're doing. That seems to be the nature of the beast across the board. I think that the exercises she gives you are decently helpful, and personally she seems nice/cool. She's a good person to talk to outside of class because she's pretty well connected in the TX legal world and can give good advice on stuff like legal internships. She also keeps it pretty real and knows at what point in the semester people haven't done the reading or whatever and doesn't give you a hard time about it.

Speaking of reading for LRW: for the most part, I think it can be helpful. Most people won't really do it (guilty as charged) and you can do well without it but actually reading and applying what you read will probably give you a leg up on most of your classmates. But YMMV I guess.

I found going through the reading while actually attempting the assignments worked best for me. That shit all seemed so abstract before class and I didn't get anything out of the reading before I started working on the assignments.

Good point, this is probably the best way to do it. Sometimes I would "read" LRW before class but really my eyes were just scanning across the page and I was thinking to myself "None of this matters right now, I really should be focusing on those 50 pages for con law." When I went back over everything while actually writing the brief it was a lot more useful.

I should say that I was more dilligent/found the readings more useful for the second semester of LRW but my grade was the exact same both semesters cuz LOLLAWSKOOL

[cannibal ox]

CONTRACTS Sokolow
PROPERTY Blais
CRIMINAL LAW
LRLW

Anyone have any thoughts or tips or red flags?

[romanticegotist]

CONTRACTS Sokolow
PROPERTY Blais
CRIMINAL LAW Jinks
LRLW Bridges

Anyone have any thoughts or tips or red flags?

Jinks is cool. Go to office hours early and often and really focus on how he wants questions answered. Pretty theoretical stuff. The keyword is "culpability"

[romanticegotist]

LRLW-Einhorn
Con Law-Forbath

Anything on these two?

I think Einhorn is good, at least as far as LRW goes. So much of LRW is just writing stuff and hoping it doesn't suck but not really knowing what you're doing. That seems to be the nature of the beast across the board. I think that the exercises she gives you are decently helpful, and personally she seems nice/cool. She's a good person to talk to outside of class because she's pretty well connected in the TX legal world and can give good advice on stuff like legal internships. She also keeps it pretty real and knows at what point in the semester people haven't done the reading or whatever and doesn't give you a hard time about it.

Speaking of reading for LRW: for the most part, I think it can be helpful. Most people won't really do it (guilty as charged) and you can do well without it but actually reading and applying what you read will probably give you a leg up on most of your classmates. But YMMV I guess.

Also all of this is correct

[timmyd]

I actually took Sokolow for contracts and BA. Best prof I've ever had, but also the hardest exams I have ever taken. You will come out of that exam feeling sick but it'll be ok, and you learn a tremendous amount. I recommend the farnsworth hornbook for that class.

[BVest]

I actually took Sokolow for contracts and BA. Best prof I've ever had, but also the hardest exams I have ever taken. You will come out of that exam feeling sick but it'll be ok, and you learn a tremendous amount. I recommend the farnsworth hornbook for that class.

On this front (file this away for future self), Sokolow is the person to take for BA. Not others. Even if the others fit your schedule better.

Edit: I haven't heard anything bad about Dammann.

[shifty_eyed]

I actually took Sokolow for contracts and BA. Best prof I've ever had, but also the hardest exams I have ever taken. You will come out of that exam feeling sick but it'll be ok, and you learn a tremendous amount. I recommend the farnsworth hornbook for that class.

On this front (file this away for future self), Sokolow is the person to take for BA. Not others. Even if the others fit your schedule better.

What about Ganor?

[Mojosodope]

Anyone know anything about Dickerson or Scheiss?

[StylinNProfilin]

I actually took Sokolow for contracts and BA. Best prof I've ever had, but also the hardest exams I have ever taken. You will come out of that exam feeling sick but it'll be ok, and you learn a tremendous amount. I recommend the farnsworth hornbook for that class.

+1 Definitely the toughest exam I had 1L but amazing professor.

[cannibal ox]

Difficult in what way? If you don't mind me asking. (Sokolow)