JD2B

Internship Update

2011-05-19T12:20:00.000-04:00

Wow, is my summer internship awesome this summer.

First of all, let me start by saying that last summer's internship was awesome as well, but mostly because the judge I was interning with went out of his way to make sure it was.

This summer, however, is off to a great start.

First of all, I am real intern this summer. I have a cubicle, a desk, a computer, a phone. No longer I am sitting on a couch taking notes and generally just paying attention, I now come in and get to my own work assignments. It is very cool.

What is also cool is how well everyone in the office treats me. First of all, every attorney, office assistant, paralegal, and legal assistant has already come up and introduced themselves and offered support. They all seem to appreciate that I am helping out. Also, they are fairly laid back in office protocols. Although I am usually the type to show up early, it seems as though I could work 10-6 if I preferred. Either way, no one seems to be hovering over me and constantly checking up, which is how I often felt at my previous (non-legal) job.

As for the work, so far it has been interesting. I won't go into details, but so far I have researched the history of a sentencing statute, done research on a particularly narrow Supreme Court exhaustion ruling, and assisted in preparing a file for a re-sentencing hearing. All of which has tested my legal and professional skills, and which has kept me very busy.

So far, so good with the internship. I honestly can't wait until next week for more. I hope at the end of the summer I am still enjoying it this much.

Post 2L Year Retrospective

2011-05-14T20:28:00.000-04:00

As we all know, law school is a three year ~~journey~~ harrowing experience. Having just completed my second year, I thought I would take a little bit of a retrospective introspective on my experience so far.

As a 1L, I was on the one hand eager and excited, but on the other, in way over my head. Most of the first year is spent hanging on by the skin of your teeth as ever mounting demands of reading pile up. On top of that, the ever present fear of the cold call, and eventually the dreaded writing assignments, make the 1L year stressful. Looking back, however, I realize that the 1L year was all about the class experience. I spent most of my time reading casebooks, taking diligent notes, and preparing for my next class. In between classes, most of the kibitzing among students revolved around class as well.

As a 2L, again I found myself pressed for time, honestly even more pressed than as a 1L. The odd difference, however, is that it was rarely with classwork. As a 2L, I found the demands to be job applications, internships, Moot Court, Journal, volunteer experiences, shadow days, informational interviews, and other activities related to law school, but primarily outside the classroom. Although I almost always stayed on top of my reading, I wasn't able to do the deep preparation of 1L year.

A good example is in the notes taken from casebook reading. I took much less 2L year, but was generally always able to fully participate in class discussions. I suppose this is a great sign, after a year of classes you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from any given professor. Also, you get much better at reasoning out cases and principles, especially on your feet, and can participate in class without memorizing every case in the casebook.

This definitely leaves way for pursuing the extra activities, such as Moot Court, which more resemble what a lawyer actually does. By having time for Moot Court, I was able to practice my research and writing while seeing an appellate case through from start to finish, valuable skills for actual legal practice.

Another fun diversion from 1L year to 2L is the courses you take. 1L, the courses are all pre-picked, which means plenty that are outside your personal intellectual curiosity. However, since the curriculum is the same nationwide, these 1L courses all have plenty of prep books and study aids available. This year I took mostly bar tested courses, but also was able to take Copyright and IP, both classes I wanted to know more about.

Now to see what 2L summer brings my way...

Don't Call It a Comeback

2011-04-18T10:37:00.001-04:00

For anyone who watches, or even merely stumbles across, this blog, I noted several months ago that I was taking a brief hiatus from posting. At this time, I think I will begin with some light posting of law school related articles.

If you have been patiently waiting, thanks for sticking around.

Taking a Break

2010-12-02T15:01:00.000-05:00

Hello, readers.

You might have noticed that this blog has been less and less active over the past few months. This is not because I no longer enjoy blogging, or because something terrible has happened in my life (thankfully).

Instead, it has been a combination of factors. One of them is simply that I have been very, very busy. Finals, Moot Court, and a research project are all hitting at the same time, leaving me with a full schedule. While I do still have the time to write, I am finding that after a 10+ hour day of hard work, I am less inclined to sit and brainstorm, draft, lightly edit, and post entries.

Secondly, I am not really sure what I want to do with this blog. I sort of enjoy detailing my law school life, but I am always so hesitant to blog about things that are interesting due to privacy concerns. I had a great time at my summer internship, but most of it went unpublished. Same thing with a lot of my school life. Sure, if you have nothing to hide, why worry? Well, it isn't always that simple. First of all, while between my Professional Responsibility class and my previous career in a medical field I have a very good understanding of confidentiality rules, I also always want to err on the side of caution. Secondly, I would never want this blog to hurt someone else. Maybe a professor says something interesting in class, such as "Personal service by publication strikes me as wrong." Then, 10 years later, when he or she runs for some office, a news pundit does a Google search, pulls that quote, and now someone who I looked up to is trying to explain why he or she "Teaches against service of process." Finally, there is simply some stuff, that while entertaining, I prefer to enjoy only with a specific circle.

So, for the time being, I am taking a formal break from posting. I wanted to let anyone who checks here know that I am still alive, and this blog isn't "dead" or "abandoned." If you DO happen to read this, feel free to leave a comment with any questions, or perhaps let me know what you might like to see in the future.

See you soon!

Federal Circuit

2010-11-10T21:19:00.000-05:00

Recently I had the chance to go to Washington D.C. to watch oral arguments on a few ongoing patents cases. This was an awesome experience. First of all, it is always fun to get to take a little trip. D.C. proper is a 40 minute train ride, followed by a few quick metro stops, for a total travel cost of about $10. Therefore, it isn't really that big of a deal to get down there from time to time, but of course it just usually seems to get preempted by something easier and cheaper in Baltimore.

Either way, it was really great to get a chance to see an oral argument in person. Sure, it is possible to watch quite a few oral arguments on the internet, but something can be said for being there in person. It is much easier to get swept up in the excitement, and in a very good way. And of course something can be said for the "atmosphere."

What wasn't so nice was dealing with some of my fellow spectators. The security was very pleasant, sending us through without much hassle. Once inside, however, I could not believe how rude some people were. The "no phones" rule has been bent slightly, and phones are now allowed inside, but must be turned off while court is in session. Amazingly, several other spectators simply refused to do this. I have no idea what was so important that they could not miss the call, but could watch an argument. It seems to me like if something else that important is going on, you can just attend to that and read the transcript later.

Otherwise, watching top notch lawyers go back and forth with sharp judges is a thing of beauty. It is sort of a cross between chess and a boxing match. On one hand you want to go in strong, but you also have to always be dodging and looking for counters. Also, my background knowledge of patents is surely much stronger than the average law students, having taking a patents class and my work with Moot Court, but still a lot of it went straight over my head.

All in all, it was a really good time. Also, for any fellow law students, or any American who wants to watch our country in action, I would highly recommend going. Look up the number for the clerk of the court, give them a call, and find out when the next round of arguments are going to be. Public transit makes most courts easily accessible on a budget. Just remember to wear professional dress.

Moot Court

2010-11-07T11:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of recent updates. I have been very, very busy and to top it all off my computer is currently in the shop. This means that not only do I have less time, but when I do have free time it doesn't involve internet access.

The biggest news to report, however, is the start of Moot Court proper. The problem was released two weeks ago. The fact pattern is utterly absurd, which is a good thing. If I am going to have to live and breathe this thing for the next three months it might as well be interesting.

You know, as much as everyone says it, it is true. You can never be truly ready for something like this. Despite my best efforts to stay on top of my work and keep everything under control, the first week was utter madness.

First of all, one of the two issues in the problem is one that we have not gotten close to covering in class. Therefore, neither myself nor Moot Court Teammate (MCT) had any idea of how to approach it. The first week, very minimal work got done.

Then we met with our coach. He asked us what we thought of the problem, and we did the best we could to say somewhat intelligent things. He nodded polietly, then pointed out problems with each of our approaches. Law students are generally the people who always have an answer ready, and it is very tough to sit in an office and not have ANY of the answers ready. On the flip side, learning from a master is an unforgettable experience. Without even trying, he seems to know pretty much everything there is to know about appeallate practice, patents, and legal writing.

Anyways, after that browbeating, it was back to work. Since then, MCT and I have begun to read up on the problem and the current case law. It seems to be moving along, but it also continues to seem like there is more than we could ever handle in front of us. And the due date continues to approach.

So, as always, it is both exciting and terrifying at the same time.

Mid-Semester Doldrums

2010-10-20T09:29:00.000-04:00

Law School is a marathon, not a sprint. I can't even begin to fathom how many times I have said this to fellow students, parents, incoming 1Ls... Everyone comes out the door super intense, briefing every case assigned, looking up extra cases, reading up on procedural issues that aren't relevant to the course.

Then, at the beginning of October, we tend to see midterms. Everyone pulls it together to learn enough material to do well on their exams. Socializing gets put on hold for a little longer in order to save your grades.

But what about now? In my experience, this is the time when people start to drift off. Midterms are done. Finals are still far enough in the distance not to worry. That magic "Thanksgiving Break" deadline for outlining hasn't hit yet.

On top of that, football is heating up, baseball playoffs are going on, and hockey season begins. College teams are in full swing. People take advantage of the last of the warm weather. The social distractions begin to mount.

And even inside the law school, now tends to be when internships get busy to make up for lost time during midterms, and the next round of applications goes out for jobs and internships next semester. It is time to pick classes for next semester. Moot court tryouts are starting soon.

With all these non-academic distractions, what is a student to do? I guess get up early, go to the library, and keep your nose to the grindstone. I feel like these times are the ones that separate the good students from the great. It is easy to sit and study all day when everyone else at school is too. But perhaps what is more important is how you are able to manage your time when everyone around you is goofing off. Something can be said, in my opinion, for the steady success as opposed to the flashes of brilliance.

Here's to another few months of cases, highlighters, and coffee, my fellow stalwarts!

Law Zombies?

2010-10-10T15:03:00.000-04:00

The ABA sends me regular emails with headlines (plus I follow them on Twitter) and while a lot of the articles are doom and gloom about the job markets, every now and then something catches my eye.

This one, about Yale Law's admissions process, gives a few interesting tips for law applicants. While I have some critical thoughts about both Yale's undergraduate and law admissions process, I think it is good to know that they are looking for more than just a simple resume with all the right key-words.

My favorite two are the second two, the trivial obstacles and the childhood arguer. The "trivial hardships essay" is also well covered in Ann Levine's Law School Admissions Game book (find my review here). Both make the point that bemoaning an obstacle that either is common or less serious makes you seem like either you are lazy or a whiner. However, the definitions vary. In high school, I was told that writing about the death of a loved one probably wasn't a good idea, since a lot of people lose important friends and family members growing up. Interestingly, this Yale Law admissions dean lists "divorce" as a significant obstacle. I find this an odd choice, but perhaps I am being insensitive. It just strikes me as one of those setbacks, such as moving, that is heartbreaking and incredibly difficult to manage, but also one that isn't unique for growing Americans.

I also loved the "I love to argue" one. I can't tell you how many times people I meet in law school say, "Ever since I was young people told me I should be a lawyer because I love to argue!" To be fair, my best friend told me I should be a lawyer in 5th grade. But I don't think the fact that I felt like staging a protest in my English class about discriminatory Polish jokes makes me fit to be a lawyer OR for law school. What makes me fit for law school is hard work, prior academic success, drive, and a wide variety of balanced interests. In my opinion, the people who simply "love to argue" don't do well in law school. You need to be able to listen to others, think about their position, learn the ins and outs of their position, and then construct a valid counter-argument. Simply going back and forth does nothing. Also, you need to be able to work well with others. We have small group discussions at least once a week in class, and often with people you don't know. I think a lot of law school involves actually being completely silent and listening. You very rarely open your mouth.

My biggest complaints with Yale Undergrad and Yale Law's application process is that so much of it is either secret or simply different from the rest of the country, seemingly just because "We are Yale, and we can make you do it, because you need us, and we don't need you." Having said that, I think it is awesome that Yale looks deep into applications, and doesn't (at least seemingly) reduce people to LSAT scores and undergrad GPAs. This is a cool article for applicants.

10 Things I Have Learned About Legal Interviews

2010-10-07T20:01:00.000-04:00

Having now been on a few legal interviews, I think I am completely qualified to give a full amount of feedback and tips.

Here are 10 things you should know about legal interviews:

1) They aren't all that different from regular job interviews.

I actually had to do MORE for two job interviews prior to attending law school. The biggest difference is that those involved tests and practical demonstrations, while legal interviews are conversations. Also, those involved multiple interviewers, and so far my legal interviews have all been one on one.

2) A legal interviewer knows A LOT about you before you walk into the room.

Legal interviewers already have a resume and a transcript, and they probably have a writing sample and cover letter as well. This means they have up to 4 pieces of paper before they meet you. In addition, law school transcripts say a lot more than an undergrad one, since the course and curricula are pretty similar across schools. There are only two law schools in Maryland as it is, so chances are your interviewer took the same course from the same professor. And in the writing sample the interviewer has an example of work product, not just grades.

3) A legal interview can easily be over before you open your mouth.

Piggy-backing on the last one, while your paperwork might get you in the door, that might be all it gets you. The legal community is huge on etiquette. Showing up late means you probably aren't getting the job. Dressing inappropriately also means you probably aren't getting the position. I've heard anecdotes about women getting points against them for expensive designer purses, and guys losing out for missing a spot while shaving that morning. The optimist says this all goes to attention to detail, the pessimist says the market is bad enough to support sometimes arbitrary distinctions.

4) The legal interviewer may know NOTHING about you.

I know, number 2 says the opposite! Some legal interviewers are too busy to read your resume. They may have not read your writing sample. They may have not read your transcript. You need to be prepared to work this into the interview. If you have a great internship listed, but the interviewer doesn't ask you about it or read your resume, you need to let them know.

5) You aren't going to be asked about grades.

I haven't had any "Big Law" interviews yet, but I haven't been asked about grades at any of my interviews. I haven't been asked about the good ones, the bad ones, or the average ones. I would assume that if you are interviewing at a Big Law type firm that only takes top 10%, your grades are already qualified enough anyways.

6) Be prepared to talk.

I've found legal interviewers to have far less questions than traditional job interviews. They tend to ask very broad, open ended questions. You need to be able to not only keep up your end of the conversation, but keep it moving forward. I have been asked simply, "Tell me about yourself" and felt totally lost.

7) Be prepared to shut your mouth.

Legal interviewers are lawyers. They already did law school. They now have jobs, and are successful. You are a student who NEEDS their acceptance. If you are in the middle of your awesome story about the time you saved the day for your last boss, and the interviewer makes a sound, you need to shut your mouth. This sounds obvious, but sometimes you get so caught up in trying to share everything about yourself, it can be hard to stop.

8) Have copies of all your paperwork, AND A BUSINESS CARD.

The first thing they ask for is your card. Its a terrible way to start off an interview. Print one on your computer if you have to. Also, some of them may not have copies of your resume or transcript available, so have at least two clean copies of each. Its great to be able to hand them one if they need one, and its good to have your own copy to reference, just in case.

9) You need to do research.

At a bare minimum, you had better at least google the firm you are interviewing for. I would suggest, at a minimum, reading up on the type of work they do, any major cases or victories, and schools they attended (if the firm is small enough). First of all, its great to let them know you are interested, and not just looking for ANY job. Second, its great to have talking points or common ground to discuss. And finally, everyone likes their ego stroked at least a little, and knowing about someone's work is a great start.

10) Have a question for the interviewer.

I was told to do this for work interviews after graduating from my undergrad university. And none of those interviewers seemed to really care. However, all of my legal interviewers have asked if I had any questions, and taken the time to answer. I got the idea that they really wanted me to ask something, and weren't just asking as a formality.

Well there you have it. If anyone has any good sites with more info, or wants to share their own stories, feel free to leave a comment.

Moot Court Update

2010-09-30T20:54:00.000-04:00

I feel like all I ever write about anymore is Moot Court...

My coach/advisor/master of all things legal and written hailed the team to his office for a review of the practice brief. It started off well enough, with the comment "I was surprised, I didn't think you guys would be able to write at all."

Moving on from that, he explained that this is because you don't get very many opportunities to practice and perfect good legal writing in law school. And this is entirely true. As Coach pointed out, even when you do have writing assignments, they are always framed in the panic that is exams, classes, internships, and life. Therefore, you often don't get a chance to do that really deep, high level, word by word editing that you would with a work assignment. Also, the first few assignments are overwhelmed by learning a new system for citations, analysis, style, even pagination, that make it difficult to really refine your skills.

So, low expectations, well exceeded. Not so much an insult as a statement of fact.

However, he then proceeded to utterly destroy our beautiful little brief. In some major, major ways. Things like point headings, completely missing the standard of review, and a failing to apply the legal test we painstakingly described.

Two major points in our defense: First of all, this was a closed universe problem, and we simply didn't have access to cases that supported certain legal elements that were lacking in the brief. You can't discuss legal presumptions if none of the cases you have to cite to do either. Secondly, our coach is an awesome writer. Although his resume includes time at nationally prestigious firms and work on Supreme Court cases, I really had no idea just how good he was at appellate writing. I was blown away as he slowly and calmly pointed out the narrowest distinctions in the technical aspects while weaving in subtle but beautiful style points.

I am really nerding out right now, but it is somewhat inspirational to get to sit and learn from a master. I have been carrying around a brief he wrote while in practice, treating it like an idol. Seriously, I checked my bag every five minutes to make sure it was ok, but ended up leaving my jacket on the train.

Be Gone, You!

2010-09-27T19:24:00.000-04:00

Well, the practice brief is finally done. It was a ton of work, I haven't even thought about totaling up the hours invested in it. We sent it off a few hours before the final deadline, and so far all the interested parties seem to have received it, and are more or less satisfied.

Actually, we will be scheduling an appointment with the team coach shortly. He will be sure to let us know how well we did (or didn't) do.

Speaking of writing, I have an interview for an unpaid internship coming up shortly. It is a research assistant type position. I am pretty excited about the possibility of the topic, it is really an area that I think I could see myself doing some serious work in the future. The real point of this story, though, is that it required my creating a writing sample.

Writing samples are just what they sound like, a sample of your writing! The idea is that, as has been discussed here ad inifitum, legal writing is a different beast from other types. Therefore, prospective employers like to get an idea that you know how to do it before they hire you. This is especially true for a lot of internships, where you will primarily be tasked with looking up an obscure legal topic, and then trying to convey the whole law in a few pages to a busy partner who doesn't have the time to really learn it themselves.

My first year of law school, I did five writing assignments. The first was a closed memo for my first year writing course. This, unfortunately, would never work. While my legal analysis was actually pretty decent, the paper itself was a bit of a mess. Half of this is my fault for really doing awful, but a lot of it was simply because 1Ls don't know any better.

The second was an open memo for the same class. This one has potential as a writing sample, except I never got a graded copy back from my professor, since we handed it in at the end of the semester.

The other major paper was a lengthy appellate brief I did for the second half of my first year writing course. This one was out because of the same half and half rule from earlier. On the one hand, I could have done a bit better of a job with the second element. On the other hand, I don't think even the professor fully understood the second element or how we were supposed to approach it in light of the assignment.

So that leaves two other possibilities, my Moot Court brief and my law review write-on. Well, the law review one, while not bad, was never scored. So basically, that left Moot Court brief. This was from the competition to get on a time during the winter last year. The good part about this is 1) it was some pretty tight legal writing, 2) it was the ideal 6 pages and 3) it was already pretty heavily edited by yours truly. So I decided to put it in blue book format (yeah, we used a modified style guide for the competition) and send it off.

No lie, I spent a solid 8 hours cleaning up the six pages. It wasn't all bad, I have just really grown as a writer from last year. I found so many improvements to make, and I am proud of the final output. But when potential jobs are on the line, wow, do you look at everything a little more closely. I suppose this is good, it means that whenever I am actually in practice, I have a very deep place I can go to get the best product out there. But when it is a Friday and you really just want to have some fun, it is not fun at all.

Moot Court - Practice Brief Continued

2010-09-22T18:25:00.000-04:00

Whoa... this thing is killer. The good news? Almost done. Hours and hours of work, but nonetheless, its almost complete!

It is, of course, one of those things that feels awesome when it comes together!

In other news, I blogged a little while ago about being on a focus group for the new UB website. Well, today the school sent around this, if anyone is interested.

Finally, I have applied for a research position which I am pretty excited about, but apparently there was enough interest to warrant an interview... So wish me luck!

Moot Court - Practice Brief

2010-09-19T01:06:00.000-04:00

Why the lack of updates, you ask? It's the Moot Court practice brief. My life has been utterly and completely consumed by this.

Those of you who have followed this blog may have heard me rant and rave about legal writing, and how it is a completely different beast. Those of you who are either in law school, or have previously attended, know exactly what I am talking about. Those of you who are in neither category, let me just sum it up by saying legal writing is the slowest, most deliberate, and careful writing you will ever do. I know, I know, everyone always says what they are doing is the worst. This is not the case. I will concede practical tests to nursing programs, I will concede exams to medical school, but legal writing is tough.

That doesn't mean it can't be completely exhilarating when you put something together. When the arguments start coming together in your head, when you begin to see a brief or memo take form, it is awesome.

Writing a memo with someone else is whole 'nother story. First of all, everyone has a "writing process." Mine involves procrastinating, so having a partner actually helps. I absolutely cannot be unprepared when someone is counting on me. So that is good. Plus, the research is easier, as you both read the cases, and even if I miss something, chances are MCP (that's Moot Court Teammate) will catch it. And when you sit down and start looking at the problem, you get to bounce ideas off each other.

For example, ours is a 4th Amendment issue, that is, search and seizure. We both read the cases, and the problem. I thought we should take the approach of arguing how the suspect's actions justified a more thorough search. She thought we should take the approach of arguing the government's strong interest. It turns out, we need to do both.

So that is all great, but writing with someone else? That is difficult. We came up with a decent outline, then sat next to each other, and said "Ok, what should the next sentence be?" We each dictated one, then worked out which was best. "Ok, next sentence." We each dictated one, then combined them. Needless to say, we worked for about 7 hours, and wrote 4 pages. And I thought it was pretty productive.

Now tomorrow, we have to write the last 4. Then we get to edit.

Side note: With Moot Court this week, for the first time in my life do I understand what other people mean when they say loved ones complain about them never having time. So far in my life I have always been able to balance the two, but Moot has recently made this near impossible. So to my loved ones, all I can say is sorry, and thank you for your patience. I'll be back soon.

Moot Court - Practice Problem

2010-09-13T16:43:00.000-04:00

Today is an exciting day, the day the Practice Problem for Moot Court was released. Our school requires students to complete a practice brief prior to the actual competition.

While at first this sounds like one of the worst ideas since fanny packs, it actually has some practicals implications. Sure, myself and my partner will be responsible for two 30- page briefs, plus a full oral argument, so why would we want to take on ANOTHER extra assignment that offers no additional credit?

Well, first of all, the practice brief is a closed problem, meaning no research outside of the cited cases. This, right away, makes the entire process easier and smoother. No need to spend the first month looking up and reading cases, the first week of which are completely useless. Nope, all the cases are presented, just read and digest. This also means that there is no worrying about making sure all the authority is good. So right there, major help.

The second is the page limit. The practice brief is a paltry 8 pages. Including a statement of facts. And only one position must be presented.

Overall, I don't think the practice brief is really designed to have us improve our legal writing skills, instead the focus seems to be on developing a system for working together as a team. Which is a much more manageable task indeed.

And with that, Moot Court has officially begun! Keep reading for more

First Week of Classes Review

2010-09-13T16:35:00.000-04:00

Constitutional Law II - Oh Con Law, how you continue to excite me with your insane decisions and twisted logic. Actually, this class is so far a lot better than Con Law I. I think Con Law II is strictly First Ammendment, or at least most of the semester is. This class is interestingly enough taught by the Dean, who taught this course for years before becoming a Dean. He takes an awesomely practical approach. Also, this class is two credits, and therefore meets twice a week for 50 minutes each time, so that makes it much easier.

Sales and Leases - This class is bar tested, so I thought it would be a good idea to take it. It is basically the Maryland Commercial Code. The reading is only one or two pages per night, but we also do one or two problems, which can take 45 minutes each during class. It is a step-by-step analysis. Very exhausting, but so far I feel like I am learning a ton in this class.

Civil Procedure II - Civ Pro II is actually Civ Pro I everywhere else in the country, but for some reason UB does them backwards. I wasn't entirely smitten with my Civ Pro I professor's teaching style, but at the same time I found her exam entirely fair and reasonable, so I took her again. She is somehow more enthusiastic about Civ Pro II, so that is good.

Professional Responsibility - Required of all law students... I signed up for it this semester because the professor is awesome. This class actually has some surprisingly practical implications.

Patents, Trademarks, and Technology - Required for my participation in IP Moot Court. We have actually covered surprsingly little material so far, but I am really excited to be finally taking courses that I selected purely from an intellectual cuiriousity standpoint.

All in all, not a bad looking semester!

UB Newsy Stuff

2010-09-08T12:26:00.000-04:00

The new school year has of course brought the University of Baltimore back into my life in a big way. Of course, it always is there, but during the summer I find myself going to campus only occassionally, and therefore, falling out of the gossip, if you will.

Before classes even started, I stopped by the new bookstore, and checked it out. I mentioned it briefly during this post, and for the most part, the analysis still stands. It is new and clean, but also increasingly less student friendly.

Then I assisted during new student orientation, which was really fun and rewarding.

Within the first week of classes, our school celebrated the groundbreaking of the new law school building. Of course, yours truly, while paying for its construction, will never see the inside of it unless I decide to take a tour after graduation. Nonetheless, the event was attended by the local Baltimore and Maryland dignitiaries. It has created a bit of a buzz around campus. The current buidling, as I have written before, is practical, but a bit dingy and dour. It has a very old, institutional feel. Faculty offices are spread around 4 floors, the classrooms are all completely indistinguishable, the library is seriously outdated.

And to top it all off, the building is kind of hidden amongst other UB buildings. Even people who have lived and worked in the Baltimore area have no idea where the law school is located. A new building will hopefully give UB a little more status around the city, especially since we quietly are a major force in the area.

A second really cool UB news item was my chance to participate in a focus group session for the new website! Our current website is functional, but the new design looks much better. I had some detailed feedback to offer, and it will be interesting to see if any of my ideas get implemented.

I have never been in a focus group before, although I had some idea of what they entailed. While generally given a negative public review (this movie seems like it was focus tested down to blandness, those new ads seem overly focus tested) for anything that is generic, being on the other side was new. They showed us some proposed designs, and compared them to the current version. We filled out a survey, which I am sure was decent, but then there was simply a roundtable discussion of the versions.

While school and life in general prepares us so much for getting critiqued, doing it is a completely different experience. It can be hard to simply say, "This new design is useless to me," more so when you know the designer is sitting in the room with you. At the same time, it was kind of cool to feel like I was seeing something that the rest of the UB community won't see for weeks!

As UB's blogging hasn't gotten up and running yet, continue to look here for weekly posts.

Moot Court

2010-09-05T21:19:00.000-04:00

2L also means participation in Moot Court for myself. As a member of the IP team, I am both excited and nervous about this opportunity.

The excitement comes from the chance to get my name out there in an inter-school competition, in front of current practitioners, and be able to show my skills. As someone who was highly involved with competitive sports growing up, I sometimes miss the adrenaline rush of really getting in there and destroying your opponent. Oral arguments do a great job, however, of providing that kind of outlet. There is something amazing about the feeling you get when you hear a question coming, and you not only know how to answer it, but to bring it back to your argument and your theme, and man, does it just feel great.

Otherwise, I am also excited that I will get to really do some in-depth work in a narrow area of the law, and to top it all off, one that I am very, very, interested in. If nothing else, I will be able to learn it inside and out. And I will get to practice my brief writing skills in a big way, since we are required to write two briefs of 30 pages each, and we are a two person team.

And yet I am very nervous. It is going to be a lot of work. During orientation/training, they provided a suggested schedule. It involved 8 hours per day, everyday, for over a month. I have no idea how I can possibly fit that into my schedule. I don't know if I have 8 hours per day that aren't already scheduled for class...

And I am a little nervous about pulling my weight. I never want to be the weak link of a team, but when the team is only two, and your teammate is on law review, scored higher in the try out competition, gets better grades than you, and has landed better internships than you, it gets tough.

Luckily, its still early. We haven't even done the practice brief at this point. Yeah, the required practice brief, in case the regular one isn't enough work already. Either way, I am pretty excited, so look for more coverage of this in the coming months.

Review of Law School Expert Podcast

2010-08-28T16:27:00.001-04:00

The Law School Expert Podcast by Ann Levine

Ann Levine has appeared on this blog before when I reviewed her absolutely phenomenal guidebook "The Law School Admissions Game." I found it to be almost without fault, and far and away the single most helpful resource for getting into law school that I have ever encountered.

That glowing praise aside, I have also mentioned Ms. Levine and LawSchoolExpert.com at other times. The site is basically a portal for her services as an admissions consultant for law school applicants, but it does contain a highly useful blog and links to her podcast.

The blog is a good resource, but not the type of thing I would write a full review for. The podcast, on the other hand, deserves some consideration.

Podcasts that aim to provide a service can be wonderful, but they tend to suffer from a common problem: They are either put out by one person, and suffer from narrow minded, one size fits all opinions, or they cull information from a variety of resources, but are unable to help the listener sort the good from the bad.

The LawSchoolExpert podcast deftly avoids this by combining the expertise of host Ann Levine with the real-world stories of 3-4 guests on each show. Ms. Levine's expertise is well documented on her website, but additionally has been noted in her excellent book as providing an insider guide to the law school admission process. The guests, on the other hand, complement this nicely with anecdotal stories of their own experiences, including what worked and what didn't. The listener gets the best of both worlds!

Part of the reason it works so well is the way Levine handles the podcast. I have no idea how she selects her guests, but they usually represent a nice cross section of the audience the topic is aimed at. For example, in her podcast on applications for "non-traditional" students (i.e. those with significant prior careers) she managed to find some who had been in completely different fields, some with strong credentials, some with weaker credentials, and even a variety of different ages and genders. The rest comes from her expert wrangling of these personalities during the podcast, as Levine makes sure to ask each questions to bring out the most useful information. Finally, she caps it off with a strong editorial of expert opinion, making sure to point out anytime a guests experience is a rare exception, so listeners can use the information correctly.

The podcast covers a variety of topics, again, generally focused on law school admissions, current or former students will find little useful information. The podcast publishes very irregularly, but that is part of the beauty. Rather than forcing out a show every week, episodes are published in half hour blocks about important topics, and it is easy to locate past shows that relate directly to your own query. I would recommend listening to all of them, but searching by title and topic is an option as well. They can be located in iTunes, or directly from her site here. They are hosted by BlogTalkRadio, which apparently allows listeners to call in live, however I have never known this to happen.

Orientation Is Much More Fun When You Are A 2L

2010-08-24T11:14:00.000-04:00

Last week I had the opportunity to assist with the 1L orientation at school. It was a really nice experience for me, and additionally I would like to think that I helped some 1Ls feel more comfortable with the experience.

We started giving a nice campus tour, which I really enjoyed. (I was an professional tour guide in undergrad, and it remains one of my favorite job experiences). I also tried to make it a point to show them not just buildings, but the places they would need to know. Where offices were, good places to study, places to print, etc.

Then we got to herd them all across busy Maryland Avenue into the library, the only room big enough to fit all the new students. That intersection is particulary tough for pedestrians, but by the middle of the first month of school, you just dive across uncaringly. It is funny to watch the 1Ls wait for the walk signal and then fearfully dart across.

Here is where orientation as a 2L is much better. While they all sat and listened to the Dean (actually, a pretty engaging presentation, and he updated it from last year!), and then got a solid hour of "Honor Code Hypos," I got to relax and catch up with my fellow volunteers about their summers. It is amazing how nice it is to NOT be stuck sitting in a crowded auditorium for hours on end. I did make it a point to listen to the Chief Justice's speech before he administered the honor code oath.

Really, the best part of the day was lunch, where I sat with a group of students and gave them as much info as I could about law school. I tried to answer as many questions as possible, but they didn't really have many, so I just talked about mistakes I made my first year. "Get to class at least 15 minutes early the first week so you can sit in a chair." That kind of stuff. Study guides actually do help, but are really expensive. These kids seemed to have it pretty well together, they seemed most nervous about actually attending class. "Can you skip?" No. "Do the Professors skip?" No. "What do you call the professors? Dr?" No, Professor Last Name is a good, safe, pattern.

According to the Dean, they are the best credentialled class ever, which sounds about right. I got to say, Good Luck to you all, and I will reiterate what I said to my group at lunch, if you ever need any help, just ask.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

2010-08-23T07:53:00.002-04:00

And I am actually pretty excited! Wish me luck, and good luck to all the new 1Ls!

The End of an Era

2010-08-11T19:30:00.000-04:00

Well, it is official, my first legal experience is over! That's right, my summer judicial internship ended this week. I thought I would take some time to reflect on the experience.

First of all, it was completely amazing, and exceeded every expectation. I went into it sort of on a lark, simply not knowing what I was looking for midway through my first semester when it became time to apply. I just signed up, filled out the necessary forms, and submitted a resume.

At District Court, there are no written opinions, and most of the issues presented are more or less "he said, she said" factual debates. Two people were in a car accident, and they have differing opinions of how it happened. I would estimate upwards of 70% of cases were pro se. So unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of vigorously debated pieces of evidence, closely contested procedural issues, or lengthy, moving, closing statements.

At the same time, there was a lot of "lawyering" going on. What do you do when your star witness shows up visibly drunk for court? How about when your client's own hospital records note that he was too drunk to control his own bladder, but you need to prove that the bartender violently (and negligently) pushed him out the door? At times like these, I got to see some lawyers put on a real show. A great example comes from one case, when the plaintiff had been caught in several lies during cross. She was becoming combative with both defense counsel and the judge. Rather than attempt to address these statements on re-direct, counsel simply rested, and during closing, calmly explained how it was clearly apparent that his witness was untrained, and therefore highly credible. It was effective. And no, they don't teach you that in law school. In law school, you ask for a recess of two weeks, write a memo, and prepare a detailed brief doted with case-law and statutes.

Another great piece of lawyering often came out of bail reviews, during which the public defender had seconds to interview a client and demonstrate their community ties, lack of flight risk, and lack of threat to public safety. On the other side, the state's attorney had only a paragraph statement of probable cause written by an arresting officer to base an argument for a strong and fair bail. Watching these lawyers work is a true thing of beauty. On each side is someone who passed on the opportunity for a huge salary to work instead for the public. The state is only one who can prosecute crimes in order to keep us all safe. And for many, the public defender is the only one protecting the accused's rights. This truly is what our government and society are based on. And worse, these people do this tirelessly, day in and day out. They are never noticed either, unless they mess up and a blogger picks up on it.

So I got to watch some lawyering during my internship, but the other hugely important benefit was the amount of networking. First of all, I am so incredibly lucky to have been placed with a judge who made it a point to introduce me to every single other judge, attorney, or clerk who came through his chambers. He would look the most high powered lawyer straight in the eye, and introduce me with a fancy sounding title.

And with that networking, I think the best networking out there will come from the personal relationship I was able to develop with My Judge. We were able to speak about legal matters as well as personal ones, and he took some serious time to mentor me on both a professional and personal level. We discussed study skills one minute, then discussed facebook, then terrible dates we had been on. I am fairly confident that I will be able to call on him as both a reference and source of advice in the future.

With my internship concluded, I will now sit and update my resume, get ready for school, and spend some time relaxing. But a huge part of me will really miss getting up early a few days a week to make sure my suit was looking right and head to the courthouse.

A New Semester is Upon Us

2010-08-04T12:53:00.000-04:00

Well, it is the first week of August, and therefore the first class assignments for UB Law have come out. Last year, while I was excited to get to work on my new career, the first assignments were lost on me. I have mentioned this several times previously here, but trying to read for law school before you have attended law school is a doomed undertaking.

Although I read the cases, took notes, and even tried to come up with a "brief" format, the first few class sessions were spent mostly writing word for word what the professor said, and simply replacing my prior, useless, notes.

This year, however, I am confident I will be able to get something out of the first assignments. Of course, the irony is that I have only minimal assignments in two of my classes, and no assignments in my three other classes!

First assignments also mean textbook assignments, so I spent this morning on Amazon. So far, three classes are completely taken care of for a little over $100. This is awesome.

What is not so awesome, is that my school, like an increasing number of colleges and universities, no longer has a school bookstore. Instead, we have a Barnes and Noble on campus. They have already declared that textbooks will not be available until a few days before class starts. They also have set aside only limited time to actually stop by and purchase your text books. Also, all the prices have gone up.

As for textbooks, the price increase is sort of a part of life anymore, and honestly, I don't mind buying heavily damaged or marked books online, as long as they have all the pages, so it doesn't really effect me. What kills me is that the UB mesh basketball shorts that used to be $15 are now $25. Hoodies are $65. Plain T-Shirts, $25. Come on, really? And the other awful thing about B&N college bookstores is that they don't have any retail books or prep books. If you are a large book chain, why not have a nice selection of leisure reading at least? Nope, just 25 or so that they are pushing. Why not carry a ton of supplement and prep materials? Nope, although there was a section of SAT prep books. Why, at a law campus, would one need a college admissions prep book? How about some Examples and Explanations?

Any new UBers, or simply first year law students, I have available the following texts, which I would let go cheap, as in under anything you would find online. I have Property (Dukeminier), Criminal Law (if you have Rochvarg), Contracts (Ayers and Speidel), Torts (Farnsworth and Grady), and Con Law (Barnett). Comment here and I will get in touch with you.

Summer Reading

2010-07-20T19:18:00.000-04:00

Recently, as My Judge has decided to take weeks off for his personal vacations, I have found myself with some blessedly free time. I have used this time to catch up on life tasks (using loan money for important bills such as rent and food) and do some light, fun reading.

One thing that happens when you inform your parents and other close, adult relatives (like your girlfriend's parents) is that people start buying you books that they think are related to law school. Having already read most of John Grisham's catalog, I have been fortunately spared that road. But others come through, and being a law student, and therefore capable of reading for 8+ hours straight, I have read most of them.

First of all, I'll start with the good: A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr. This is also a movie staring John Travolta and the father from 3rd Rock from the Sun. My Civ Pro teacher showed us clips during football season when she was too lazy to prep for class. The book, however, is a decent read for someone getting ready to start their first year of law school. It is light on legal principles, but heavy on the personal destruction of a lawyer. The beginning is laboriously slow and poorly written, but after 75 pages it picks up nicely and moves well to the finish. Anyone with an interest in litigation or torts might want to peruse this. This is a true story, and a solid piece of American legal history, something I think you should be able to talk about, or at least recognize.

Next, the Just Okay: May It Please the Court, edited by Peter Irons and Stephanie Guitton. This book purports to contain 23 live recordings of the oral arguments of landmark Supreme Court cases. I was really, really excited by this book when I saw it on the used bookshelves. Instead, what you get is 5 pages of background introduction to the case, 2 pages of heavily edited transcript (with interruptions from the "Narrator" explaining what each argument means) and then a heavily edited 2 page decision. For an American, this book is invaluable, as it gives the arguments and reasoning behind cases such as Roe v. Wade, that everyone mentions but few really understand. For someone about to enter law school, this book has some value in being a primer for Con Law, and giving easy to digest opinions to practice reading. For someone with even a semester of law school behind them, this book is worthless. The arguments are edited so heavily that you don't get to see them develop, the Narrator just tells you, "Here, Justice Marshall asks about the limit of executive privilege." Then you read "Marshall: But sir, don't you think that extends the limit of executive privilege? Counsel: No, Your Honor, I would argue that it simply defines the outer limit." Well, thank goodness we got to hear it in their own words! The edited decisions are the same, they might as well just be summarized by the editors, since the chopped sentences full of ellipses don't give any flavor of the actual judicial process.

And finally, the terrible: The Tenth Justice by Brad Meltzer. Quite possibly one of the worst books I have ever read. Staring a Supreme Court Clerk, the book starts off awesomely. The opening chapters discuss the clerk's role in shaping Supreme Court decisions by drafting the opinions, and assisting in review of certiori requests. The author discusses the power held by recent law school grads in careful phrasing to influence the way law is made for the entire country. Unfortunately, this lasts for about 100 pages, then it just turns into a crazy spy thriller type, with the Supreme Court becoming only the setting. While this isn't in itself bad, most John Grisham books do the same thing and I generally enjoy them, the problem is that this book does it terribly. One minute, the main character is a nerdy law school grad, the next minute he daringly fights off a trained assassin with a fire extinguisher. The assassin is a great character too, at first he is a sort of weaselly nerd who gets winded running a few blocks, later he kidnaps three characters and a federal marshall! Also, there is some great whodunnit intrigue that I was pretty genuinely mystified by, until the end when there was a "its all just a dream!" type explanation offered. Not recommended for anyone, unless you are on one of those committees that gives awards to awful literature, in which case you might check this one out.

10 Questions for Law Students (now with answers!)

2010-07-15T10:51:00.000-04:00

Reading through my old posts, on July 11, 2009, I did a post called "10 Questions for Law Students" where I posted open questions to current law students. Although that post in particular received no comments, I was able to discover some answers on my own. Now that I have completed my first year of law school, I can answer all of those questions I had, for the benefit of you, the soon to be 1L.

Question 1: I only am scheduled for about 10-15 hours of class, as of now. I am wondering how accurate this is.
I originally guessed that it didn't matter, you spent about 40 hours per week at the school, regardless. For a 1L, this is both true and not true. Your scheduled class time is your class time. That's it. However, you will have small group TA sessions (at UB they are Law Scholar Sessions) probably once a week per class. I really recommend these when you first start out, especially since the TAs tend to share outlines, which as a 1L you don't know how to write. UB also had "orientation" every Tuesday during lunch for the entire first semester, but they always served pizza. In addition, there are some law school social or academic functions to go to, you will probably want to go to the "study tips" session, the "writing an exam" session, and pick a special interest law group to attend (you know, animal rights, international, IP, environmental).

So while on one hand, yes, what you see on your schedule is what you get, on the other hand, there are always other things coming up. But as a 1L you also will probably study at home, from the hours of 10PM - 2AM, a lot.

Question 2: Additionally, in college I was told to expect about 2 hours of work outside of class for each hour spent at class. Therefore 15 credit hours per week was assumed to have about 30 hours of work per week outside of class. Is there a commonly accepted ratio for law school?
HAHAHAHAHAHA! Two hours a week of work outside of class! As a 1L (or at least a first semester 1L) you will probably spend at least 4 hours a night reading and prepping for the next day. The big difference between undergrad and law school is that in law school, you can't slack off until the week before finals. You will quite literally spend 4 hours per day every day reading.

Question 3: And as a follow up, I found that I spent about 10 hours per week outside of class doing school work, the rest of the time I spent socializing, playing sports, Halo and Smash Bros, or doing volunteer and extra curricula. Plus I was employed all through college. How much free time can I expect?
First semester, almost none. Seriously, see family and friends now, go out and party, play videogames, because it gets really hard to balance your time once school starts. The good news is it is mostly because you haven't learned these skills yet. One thing I highly, highly recommend is finding the campus gym and going at least twice a week. I never did this first semester, and second semester, when I started going again, I felt so much better. Also, you can socialize, but no more all afternoon gaming sessions, or all night movie/pizza/beer binges, instead, you will learn to meet a few friends for dinner or lunch, because you know you have to go back and hit the books later.
Question 4: I have been told law school is uber competitive and there is no such thing as a study group since no one wants to help anyone get ahead. Is this true?
Yes and no. Yes, the law school grade curve literally puts people in rank, 1-70, in each class. Yes, there are some people who will not send you notes if you miss a class. Having said that, no one is deliberately sabotaging anyone else by sending bad notes, and I have found some really great study groups that have immensely improved my scores.

Question 5: Do professors really call on you at random all the time, or just on days when they don't have a full lecture planned?
Ok, I have written about this a few times, it isn't that bad. Also, each professor has a style. Some call on one or two people per class, and they have to know the entire case. Some professors call on 15-20 per class and just ask one or two questions. Some use shuffled cards, some use random numbers, some go alphabetical. You will get used to it, and survive it. However, expect to get called on, I have never had a professor go an entire class without calling on someone.

Question 6: My college roommate is now in medical school, and he reports that he is almost encouraged NOT to go to class but to instead download the notes and audio recording. Is this the case in law school?
No, in fact ABA rules allow only 5 absences per class. You will quickly discover, and be reminded during orientation, that there is a direct correlation between missed classes and lower grades.

Question 7: My other college roommate told me, "Law school is no different than college except you have to read every night." Fair assumption?
Sort of, except you are getting older, and therefore you have more and more "life" distractions. You can't hide away in the dorm and spend mom and dad's money. You can't plead youthful ignorance to missed deadlines. You have to start thinking about career choices, and really seriously consider this as the first step of becoming a lawyer. But you will also find that it is still "school."

Question 8: Take notes via laptop or pen and paper? (I'm leaning heavily towards pen and paper, besides, how do you not get distracted by Twitter/Facebook/Instant Messanger?)
I wrote about this for my school here, but I will just give the quick and dirty: Pen and paper for class notes, laptop for re-typed notes, outlines, and papers. Only email while in class.

Question 9: At every open house or accepted student's day I attended, or every blog I read by law students or admissions experts, incoming students always ask "What can I do to prepare?" and current students or experts always say, "Relax, enjoy life, spend time with friends and family, do fun reading, see a movie, sleep." Anyone else want to add an opinion?
Yes, do these things. Do not prepare. If anything, maybe brush up on structure of government type things. My summer 1L reading list post has some more on this, but seriously, relax.

Question 10: I am not sure what kind of law I would like to practice, or how I will ultimately use my law degree. Is this going to put me behind? Should I pick something that sounds good and go for it, or should I just wait and see if anything catches my eye? (I ask because I know that pretty much as soon as I start school I also need to be thinking about a summer job or internship, and start defining my career.)
Well, two things. On one hand, don't worry too much about this, because you don't really know what different types of legal practice really mean until you really get into school and the whole legal community. Secondly, really, especially first semester, your grades are very, very important. Focus on grades above all else, and you will be amazed how many doors will open for you. Beginning of second semester you will have time to evaluate your options, try to have as many as possible by getting good grades.

Help?

2010-07-12T20:08:00.000-04:00

To all readers who are currently in law school, as well as those who may have attended fairly recently, I am soliciting comments. I was thinking about putting together a series of posts about law school exams, including how to prepare, what to expect, and so on. Sort of a "What to Expect When You're Expecting (to Fail Your Torts Final)." I am looking for tips that are general, such as outline/ study group advice, and things that are more specific, such as "In Torts, just go ahead and throw out any possible answers that might exist, no matter how remote, but in K, you probably want to stick to the most likely UCC sections."

I'm thinking of focusing on the typical first year/bar tested type courses... K, Con Law, Civ Pro, Torts, Property. The idea is to write these now while I have some free time, and run them around exam time for all those lucky first years, and when I don't necessarily have time to sit and write original posts...

If you feel like sharing, comments, or email. I'll give credit...

Internship Update

2010-07-06T07:13:00.000-04:00

Well, as noted before I have been doing some research and planning work for my internship. This week is the deadline of the first draft, and naturally as an over-eager-over-achiever 1L I pulled an all nighter making sure this was the best collection of possibly related materials My Judge has ever seen.

Then I went to email it, and realized that the PDF file is about 25MB, and my school's email server only sends up to 20MB...

Additionally, I already know My Judge's laptop only has the memory to open 3 of his wedding pictures before requiring a restart. I also know that I need to hire his photographer when I get married (after meeting the girl of my dreams, graduating law school, and making tons of money, so, sometime around 2054).

"But Judge, I swear, it is a beautiful pdf, with bookmarks! and a table of contents! and annotations explaining what each document is so you don't have to read it yourself but can act like you have when someone on the panel talks about it!"

In other news, it is supposed to be 103 today in Baltimore. I'll let you know what that feels like in a suit.

My "F" Story: Part 2, The Effects

2010-06-21T22:03:00.001-04:00

If you haven't read Part 1, the story about how I almost received an F, please check it out now.

Now, Part 2, is the symptoms of a law student with a failing grade.

1 - It started with that awful "world is spinning, I feel faint, why can't I get enough air"feeling that is probably best categorized as shock. I think that is the best way to describe it.

2 - Unfortunately, the feeling of shock has only just hit when the second symptom sets in. Almost as soon as I saw the grade, I started thinking of ways to hide it. Maybe this is denial, but I think it has more to do with shame. I really didn't want anyone to know about it, more than I didn't want to admit it to myself. Actually, the odd thing is, I think I accepted it almost immediately.

3 - The "Happy Face" then comes into play, at least if you are in a situation like mine where you can't escape other people. And of course, Murphy's Law sets in. First of all, I am actually home with my parents. I go home once or twice a year, for one or two days at a time. What are the odds? Then, of course, my mom calls me down for dinner, and law school comes up during dinner. Then, to top it all off, my dad decides he wants to sit on the back porch and have a cigar with me after dinner (which I wasn't about to turn down) and of course the conversation turns straight to "What might you do with your career? Where do you want to go from here?"

4 - The next step, at least for me, was a feeling of extreme failure. It really stung that I might actually have failed a class, and what made it worse, was I really tried. I put in a ton of effort, took my studies seriously, and felt proud about them. I started thinking that, although it sounds coy, I was a failure.

5 - About this time I was arriving back in Baltimore, and I did get into the "I need to fight this!" kick. I counted out my papers, saw that I did well, knew there must be a mistake. I did my research, got my facts together, gathered evidence. Then I started emailing and calling people who I thought could help me. This actually was a really good step. Unfortunately it all happened Friday afternoon, and none of the people I called or emailed were in their offices.

6 - This is when it got really bad. I stopped being able to sleep, at all. When I did drift off for a few moments, I kept waking up to nightmares. I was wearing my best suit. I walk into a an office. I sit down, smile, look confident. "So, I have reviewed your resume, but I have to ask you, what about this F you received in ITA?" I try to explain... the curve... tough teacher... learned a lot... poor program... "Ok, but how is that different from any other day in court? You can do perfectly passable work, but if opposing counsel does better, and moves the curve up, you lose." Then I wake up.

7 - Along this time, another really surreal thing kept happening. I kept trying to make plans for my future. Well, I can always go back into Psych Rehab. Maybe I will just become a full time bartender. I suppose I could try and transfer, but where can I transfer too?

8 - The worst part was, I couldn't shake these feelings. When I went to my internship Monday morning, My Judge asked me a few times how my weekend was. He is an awesome guy and will actually remember things I have told him the week before, but asked a few times. I didn't want to say anything though, imagine how disappointed he would be in me.

9 - On lunch break I get the call from Academic Support, it looks like there is an error and I passed. I hang up the phone and cry.

10 - On getting back to court, My Judge wants to know where I got lunch. I tell him Burger King. He wants to know who I "was with" at lunch. I tell him no one, but I found out I didn't fail. He admonishes me for not telling him in the morning. He then proceeds to spend 45 minutes counseling me on success, hard work, and what is really important.

"If there is one thing I have learned in my professional career, it is that with hard work ultimately you can find success, even in spite of your own best efforts to the contrary."

11 - That Friday, I receive an official grade change letter from UB. The rest of my grades go up as well. On the next Monday, My Judge asks me about it, I tell him. He introduces me to the Head Administrative Judge, the Governor's wife, and an Assistant State's Attorney with 30 years experience as having "first year grades that would make us all jealous." Probably hyperbole, but they don't know that!

I don't know how this sounds to the rest of you. About right? Did I over react? Under react? Post 3 is going to be a philosophical discussion of grades and their inflated importance, but in the meantime, does anyone want to share their own stories?

My "F" Story: Part 1, The Story

2010-06-18T22:46:00.000-04:00

Be warned, this one is going to be a little wordy...

We all know law school is competitive, and grades are not just letters, but bloody student gladiatorial events. This post is about them. And what happens when they go bad.

I received my first semester grades, and they weren't good, but weren't horrific either. They did, immediately, close a ton of doors for me. In fact, they slammed shut in my face. I met with someone in career development, and she reviewed my resume, and gave me a serious talk and plan on how to improve. Two things stood out: Decide why you are here, and pick up your grades.

Second semester I worked a lot harder, and took school a lot more seriously. I really treated it like a 9-5 (or 7-3), joined study groups, and got back in the gym. This was an amazing experience, which I blogged for UB about. For finals, I studied religiously with one particular study partner, whom I call "Law School Buddy." We worked through hypos, did practice problems, and generally encouraged each other. I was feeling really really good about myself when finals actually got underway.

I took my finals, and felt confident that I did better, but of course it is law school, you never can truly feel great about a final. School ended, I started my internship, and took a brief vacation to my parents house. While there one night, on a whim I decided to check my grades. My overall semester GPA was a 1.3.

What
The
$#%^

When my heart started beating again, I wincingly opened the detailed report. I had two courses with grades, one read "F." Then my mom yelled for dinner. I closed the browser and headed downstairs, trying to put it out of my mind, since I had nothing except for a change of clothes and my computer with me.

On arriving back in Baltimore, I went through my paperwork. The class I had the F in was my Introduction to Advocacy class, where you write briefs, do research reports, and complete oral arguments. I had all my work, so I tallied up my grades, and was clearly passing. I went on Facebook, contacted Moot Court Teammate (a good friend, so I can generally trust her to be honest about things like grades).

Me: Hey
Moot Court Teammate: Hey, I saw your message, what's up?
Me: Not much, how is summer?
MCT: Good, did you survive the ITA B.S.?
Me: Uh, what do you mean?
MCT: The curve screwed a lot of people over.
Me: Like, over 20 points lower?
MCT: Yeah, pretty much.
Me: I have to go throw up.
MCT: I saw Classmate in court today.

Oh crap, I thought, this is really happening. ITA at UB is a terrible, terrible program. The idea behind it is awful, and the implementation is ever worse, but that is beside the point. I read the handbook, and of course ITA isn't listed (all the first year required courses have different penalties for failing). I email my professor, and randomly the Director of Academic Support. Email to professor is professional, email to DoAS is professional, but I also mention my shock, horror, and sense of doom.

Well, DoAS kicked major behind on this, and got back to me the next day. She informed me that I had not handed in my final paper. You know, the 30 PAGE BRIEF WORTH 40% of the final grade. This shocked me. I stood in line for (no joke) an hour and fifteen minutes to hand that sucker in, have my name checked off a list, my student ID verified, and make sure my brief was correctly packaged for anonymous grading. I told DoAS that I had it in my hand, with an official UB grade sheet. DoAS called my professor, who verified my grade.

Needless to say, my only emotion was elation. But this is just the story, the facts, the what happened. Enjoy it for what it is, because in my next post or two, I am going to try to do some hard, honest writing about grades, and how they really make you feel. I am generally a pretty unflappable guy, I famously directed traffic at an amusement park accident while the "certified nurse" had a panic attack. But let me tell you... an F in law school... man...

Politicians Behaving Awesomely

2010-06-16T16:13:00.000-04:00

I must confess, that despite my law school habits, I generally am not a huge fan of current politics. I say informed, and am able to articulate my own opinions, and vote accordingly, but I personally like to keep a low profile in this area.

Maryland politics, my adoptive home, are slowly unraveling themselves to me, which is nice, but I still don't know all the players and arenas. So at my internship this week, something really struck me. A gentleman brought suit against the State, alleging negligence on the part of the police and other administrative agencies. I am not going to go very far into detail, but it was not a police brutality case, it was more along the lines of the police lawfully taking property into custody, but then either stealing it, allowing it to be stolen, or simply losing it. At least, that is what this man's complaint alleges.

Well, the value of the property was pretty high, but still small claims court. And this man is not well versed in the law, however defense counsel for the State quite obviously is. So as his case is called, a stately dressed woman heads up to the trial table, but doesn't introduce herself as record, as per usual. My Judge goes through the opening, and it turns out that due to the vast amount of witnesses, the case needs to be specially set.

After the case, sitting in My Judge's chambers, we are discussing the case (mostly because defense counsel mentioned through proffer that she does not believe Res Ipsa Loquitur applies. My Judge asked me my opinion, and I told him I thought it was a tough argument and gave my reasons, and to which he replied "Nice work" which I am still feeling good about.

But more importantly, he explained that the woman assisting the plaintiff is a city council woman. She apparently entered herself in writing as a interested party, stating that this is one of her constituents, and since it is important to him, it is important to her. And therefore, she spent a half day in court today, and will be spending another half day when the case is reset.

That really struck me. First of all, she is a city council woman GOING UP AGAINST THE STATE, including the MAYOR'S OFFICE and THE CHIEF OF POLICE. There is no way she is making friends by doing this. Bad politics? Sure sounds like it. But at the same time, isn't that why we vote for people? To represent our rights, against others as necessary, whether or not other people like it? The point of a democratic government is to be able to have officials tied to their constituents, not their other government cronies.

And I am sure this may be a bit of a publicity stunt. I am sure this council woman will remind people of this come election season. Even with that, it was authentic. She spent from 1-5 in the courtroom today, and will spend at least that long again. And she was doing real, useful help for this man, who is going up against the powerful state.

A refreshing look at politics.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

2010-06-10T19:48:00.002-04:00

(You Can't Make This Stuff Up is a series of articles detailing the "human" side of my legal experience. These will be stories that have a strong personal element, be it funny, touching, or just plain bizarre. You can read more of them by using the label "YCMTSU")

For the law journal write on, the lead case dealt primarily with Fourth Amendment issues, including the police's ability to obtain a DNA sample from anyone taken into police custody. It was a Maryland case, and the UB write on rules state that you can cite to any case that the lead case cites.

One of the cases cited by the lead case involved the seizure of illegal drugs during an arrest. The police indicated that an informant had told them the suspect kept the drugs "between his cheeks," clearly indicating his backside. The police followed the suspect and the informant to an abandoned car wash, where an illegal transaction occurred. While effectuating the arrest, an officer seized evidence from, well, "between the suspect's cheeks." Later, the suspect argued that these were "not in plain sight" and therefore, required a warrant.

While I am not fully versed in the relative merits of this argument, the discussion never got very deep. On direct examination, the lead detective in the case testified that the baggie the drugs were contained in was visible to the naked eye due to the suspect wearing his pants very low. This alone is comedy gold, now you know why your mother always tells you to pick up your pants! Not only is it classy dressing, but it also can protect you from warrant-less search and seizure.

The key laugh out loud moment, however, came in the last paragraph of the opinion, in which the judge noted, "Perhaps if he didn't want these private areas of his body subjected to police search, he shouldn't have displayed them to the general public."

And that, my friends, is valid Maryland case law.

There is no summary judgment at district court

2010-06-10T10:47:00.000-04:00

Who knew? But, after having reviewed the Maryland Rules of Civil Procedure, yes, it is true, there is no summary judgment in district court. See all these useful things I am learning during my internship?

On a more serious note, this does directly relate to my internship. There also are no real written opinions, and very few questions of substantive law at district court. Therefore, while I get to see a lot, and I am actually learning a ton, I don't do much in the way of "work" for My Judge. So far the most important project I have completed successfully updating My Judge's trial manual with the past two years worth of supplements and changes.

Therefore, I was really, really excited when he very seriously told me he had a month long project for me to work on. And it involves LEGAL RESEARCH. So I happily ran to school the very next day, and printed out a few hundred cases, and dug into my undergrad days to find some scholarly journals of a non-legal nature, and began reading.

It is also amazing how much more excited you get about legal work when you aren't having it shoved forcibly down your throat 6 days a week. It's really refreshing.

BUY MY STUFF!!!

2010-06-08T19:01:00.000-04:00

I am selling some of my used textbooks that I no longer need. I have them listed on Half.com and Ebay, but I would also be more than willing to sell them at a deep discount to a reader of this blog (additionally we can cut out the middle man).

The ones I have are:

Criminal Law by Cook, Malone, Marcus, and Moohr. I have the Sixth Edition. This book isn't very widely used because it has typos, classes generally used the revised 7th edition. However, as my Criminal Law professor pointed out, both books have the same pagination, so they can be used interchangeably. The only real errors are things like incorrect citations and other small errors. My copy is in near perfect condition, the only marks are where I wrote my name on the inside front cover, as well as the pages of one or two reading assignments.

Studies in Contract Law by Ayers and Speidel. 7th Edition. This book is a very common first year K book, I used it both semesters for Contracts I and II. I bought my copy used, and it is in rough shape. It is heavily marked and has some coffee stains. I didn't mark it or cause the coffee stains, the previous owner did, so it goes to show that the book is entirely readable. If you are the type that doesn't mind other people's underlining, you can pick up my copy cheap.

Torts: Cases and Questions by Farnsworth and Grady. Second Edition. My copy is in near perfect condition, I bought it new, used it one semester. Only mark is my name on the inside front cover. Also, the print on the spine is rubbed off a bit.

If you think you are interested, either hit me up in the comments or check out my profile which should provide an attached email address. I can provide pictures and ISBN numbers if you want to make absolutely certain you are getting the right book. I would probably ship them media mail, but if you want I can expedite it.

As stated above, I will provide a deep discount to a reader of this blog, and please don't hesitate to forward to any of your 1L friends.

Internship Update

2010-06-05T16:42:00.000-04:00

My summer internship is in full swing. I am currently doing two days a week with a district court judge. So far, this has been an amazing experience. Although there is not very much substantive legal work, as there are no real opinions to be drafted, I am so far learning a lot. For some reason, My Judge has seemingly endless time to explain everything he does throughout the day to me, including certain facts that his decisions turn on. Also, he makes it a point to introduce me to tons of lawyers and other judges each time an opportunity presents itself.

It isn't paid, of course, so I have been spending the rest of my time looking for work... but nonetheless I seriously can't say enough about how awesome this opportunity is. And don't worry, there are plenty of great stories associated with it that I will be sharing.

Law Journal Journal: Part 2

2010-06-03T18:51:00.000-04:00

Well, part two is here super fast. I have had some time to do some writing, fortunately. If you remember from Law Journal Journal: Part 1, I spent some time goofing off after finals, started on the write on, then regretted it but discovered I was too heavily invested to quit, then pulled an all nighter to get it ready to go.

It is now about 3:00PM, the day it is due. The deadline is 6:00PM, at the law school library.

Also, please note that each competition packet consists of your casenote (20 pages), the grade release form (1 page) and the official entry form (1 page). You must have seven copies of each for each journal you are trying out for, there are 4 total. You also must do one bluebook editing exercise (4 pages) for each journal you want to try out for, additionally, all the edits must be in red ink. So as you can see, just trying out for one journal requires some 150 copies...

Ok, 3:00PM: Self-imposed deadline hits, I save, email myself a copy, put a copy on my flash drive, get dressed, and head out the door.

3:15PM: I arrive at Rite-Aid, where I purchase an energy drink and red pens. I select a "variety pack" that has one red pen, one blue pen, and one black pen. This is important later.

3:30PM: I arrive at school, having downed the energy drink, and head to the computer lab. I opt to avoid the law library lab, and head instead for the general purpose one.

3:32PM: There are four people in the lab, all working on the casenote. I nod hello, and begin working. Of course, as soon as I pull up my paper, I begin to notice errors, and start editing. Again.

4:00PM: My next self-imposed deadline passes, so I stop what I am doing and hit print. The printer is jammed...I poke around inside the door for a few minutes, but it seems hopeless. Fortunately, there is a second printer in the room, but that one is tied up running off 28 copies for one of my classmates.

4:05PM: Much to my classmates chagrin, my paper somehow squeaks out between copies of hers. I grab it and run.

4:20PM: I find parking near the UPS store.

4:21PM: I discover the UPS store closes early on Sundays.

4:22PM: I discover the MailBoxes Etc. store closes early on Sundays.

4:23PM: I discover the independent printing and shipping store closes early on Sundays.

4:35PM: I arrive, dripping sweat, at the FedEx store. They are open until 8 on Sundays. I purchase envelopes and begin making copies. While the copy machine is running, I start to fill out my bluebook exercises. I have already done 8 of the 10, so I only have to do the remaining 2, and then begin copying them.

4:36PM: I open my new red pen, and notice that it is only 1.5 inches long, and "mini" model.

4:37PM: I complete the next blue book exercise.

4:38PM: The red pen stops writing. I shake it, I hold it between my fingers, I write fast scribbles in my notebook, I suck on it, nothing. I take it apart. Nothing.

4:40PM: I am informed that FedEx only sells blue and black pens.

4:41PM: I arrive at the CVS. The door is locked. The sign says open until 5. An elderly woman with a walker comes up behind me. She begins hitting the door. Apparently she has prescriptions to pick up. The CVS employee comes to the door and gestures that it is closed. I point to the sticker on the window that says open until 5. He runs his finger under his neck in a gesture that many use to mean "You are dead." I wonder if maybe he is talking about the woman yelling about her "blood medications." I attempt to simply force the door open. The police officer tells me to stop.

4:50PM: I stop off at my car. Inside, I frantically look for a red pen (I usually tons of pens in my car) but for some reason my car is really clean on the inside. I remind myself to later see if it was maybe broken into recently.

4:53PM: In pure desperation, as only a law student knows how to, I take the pen apart, and bite the ink cartridge. Sticky, sweet, ink runs all over my mouth. I frantically try to dip the tip of other pens in the ink and write with it, quill style. It doesn't work. I try dragging the broken ink cartridge across the paper. It works, but is mostly messy.

4:55PM: I run back to FedEx, asking everyone along the way if they have a red pen. For some reason, people won't even talk to me.

5:01PM: Back at FedEx, I ask everyone in the store if they have a red pen. The cashier, who I asked for one from before, tells me to leave the other customers alone.

5:02PM: I complete the last editing exercise in black ink.

5:15PM: I make all my copies, and begin stuffing envelopes.

5:16PM: I discover FedEx has the most amazing stapler ever. Seriously, this thing drives right through hundreds of pages with no effort.

5:35PM: I approach the register, and send my packets in, certified mail. I ask the clerk about 15 times if he can make sure it gets postmarked BEFORE 6. He assures me it will.

5:43PM: I hand over $60...

5:44PM: Everything is postmarked, sealed, and will be on its way. I am done.

5:52PM: Sitting in my car, I adjust the rearview mirror that was knocked about during my frantic search for a pen. I discover that I have red ink literally running down my chin, and it is caked into my teeth.

6:13PM: After chewing two entire packs of gum, I call law school buddy. Neither of us form coherent sentences, but the general consensus is "never again."

6:14PM: I drive home, go through two toothbrushes and the last half of my giant bottle of listerene, and still tasting ink, collapse into bed.

Law Journal Journal: Part 1

2010-06-02T11:15:00.000-04:00

Ho! And what a witty title indeed! After reading I Don't Wear Skinny Jeans' Diary of a Writing Competition, I thought it might be a good way to share my own experience with the write on competition to the law reviews at UB. I had been planning on writing this one for a while now, but never really had the motivation. Please note that all credit for this style really does go to IDWSJ. Additionally, the writing there is 1) much more regular than here and 2) much more funny than here.

Sometime in the first week of May: I finish my last exam, and begin binge drinking.

A few days later: I wake up, sit at my computer, and do nothing for two days. I move from my chair once or twice per day to open the door for the Chinese delivery.

Monday, May 10: I begin my internship. It is awesome, to say the least. More on that later though.

Tuesday, May 11: The internship continues. I tell My Judge that my weekend plans involve working on the compeition packet for the write on.

Wednesday, May 12-Sunday, May 16: The competition packet is released, but somehow my college buddy convinces me this would be the best time for him to visit. I agree. Drinking, eating, and Wii ensue.

Monday, May 17: My Judge asks me how the write on is going. I mumble something about reading the topic case when I get home that evening. Instead, when I get home I play Portal for three hours.

Tuesday, May 18: I spend my lunch break walking to the Barnes and Noble in an attempt to purchase a bluebook. They are sold out. So is the law school bookstore, and the University of Maryland bookstore.

Wednesday, May 19: I read the topic case and order all the cited cases printed at the library. I check FAQs for Portal, but they make no reference to Fourth Amendment rights or DNA search and seizure. Oh well, it was worth checking.

Thursday, May 20: I go to school and pick up the cited cases, check all the Baltimore area bookstores, still cannot find a bluebook.

Friday, May 21: I spend 9 hours in the library struggling through the case note. After I get home, I call one of my buddies. His intentions had always been skip moot court, but get onto law review. He explains that he worked on it the past two weeks, but has "been drinking for a couple days" and thinks he isn't going to finish it.

Saturday, May 22: I go back to the library for a solid 7 hour session. I also discover one copy of the bluebook, marked up 10% from the normal price. I buy it anyways. On the way home, same law school buddy calls. We both discuss saying "F%*^ It!" to this whole thing and resuming drinking. Somewhere during the commiseration, I recount how many hours I have already invested into this whole thing. He reports similar numbers. We both agree that after all this time, the only logical step is to finish.

Saturday, May 22, 11:00PM: I count my endnotes: Needed: About 50. Current: 45. Number Bluebooked: 0

Sunday, May 23, 12:01AM: I have a solid 10 pages written, and begin seriously working on endnotes. Brew pot of coffee. Law School Buddy calls, absolutely jubiliant. He has just changed his font to "Courier New" as per guidelines, and discovered that what he thought was only 6 pages is actually 12.

Sunday, May 23, 12:02AM: I decide to take a nap while the coffee finishes.

Sunday, May 23, 2:14AM: I wake up, curse myself for sleeping too long, and begin drinking cold coffee.

Sunday, May 23, 6:00AM: My endnotes are formatted mostly correctly, so I decide it is time for another nap.

Sunday, May 23, 7:30AM: Alarm clock goes off. Snooze.

Sunday, May 23, 8:10AM: I decide it is now or never, do or die. I begin fixing my endotes.

Sunday, May 23, 3:00PM: The packets are due at 6:00PM. Knowing this, I save my final work, and head out for printing. What happens next could not be imagined. Seriously, my little printing excursion makes "The Office" seem like a reasonable place of buisness. I also discover where the maxim, "If you want it done right, do it yourself" comes from. I also discover just how little effort minimum wage gets you. But this post is already too long. Check back next time for the stunning conclusion.

1L Summer Reading List

2010-05-31T14:36:00.000-04:00

Take a look at this 1L reading list I found through Ann Levine of Lawschoolexpert.com. Let me start off by saying that I am a strong supporter of the "don't study for law school the summer before" club. First of all, you have no idea what you are even reading. Sure, you can pick up a casebook and try to brief cases, but you honestly have no idea what you are looking for, and even if you do, the particular professor you get next fall may want something completely different. Second of all, you are going to overwhelm yourself. 1L year is full of panic and rumors, don't get yourself worked up before it starts. Third, you need a break. You are going to be busy, and neglecting friends, family, and your down time. This is probably the last summer you have for a while to relax, take advantage of it. And finally, the law of diminishing returns applies, the amount of time you spend reading tough material will provide miniscule benefits once the year actually starts.

But since you are going to law school, in all likelihood you will have to read. From Michelle Fabio's About.com list, here are my thoughts.

First of all, fiction is a great way to keep your mind working and practicing reading without much effort. Bleak House is an amazing book, and one of my all time favorites. It also offers some highly relevant commentary on the legal profession. Billy Budd is a cool story, but I don't know if the legal connection is worthwhile. I have no idea how one could come up through the American school system WITHOUT reading To Kill a Mockingbird, but if you haven't you can probably get through it in a day. It is fairly inspirational. As for John Grisham, Lisa Scottoline, and Scott Turow, John Grisham is my recommendation of the group. His books are smart, easy to read, and each takes a different approach to the legal field. The legal principles discussed won't get you any points on an exam, but they do give a better idea of possible fields to go into. There is a the public defender fighting for the poor defendant, the corporate, in house lawyer dealing with business politics, the mob lawyer dealing with ethical questions, even the solo practitioner taking regular divorce cases. I haven't read Lisa Scottoline yet, and Scott Turow hasn't left an indelible mark on me, but I imagine they are similar to Grisham.

As for the non-fiction of the list, A Civil Action is the only one I have personal experience with. It was fun, but a bit wordy. Check out the movie version with John Travolta if you like a laugh or two. I actually think the movie does a great job of capturing those little "lawyer jokes" that might not be very funny to you right now, but you will find hilarious once you start school.

One L by Scott Turow seems to be the single most widely read law school book, I cannot escape it. I suppose I am going to finally have to sit down and read it, since everyone talks about it, all the time. I have flipped through it while browsing the shelves for other books, but I think I will withhold judgment until I get to really deal with it.

Check back here for my recommendations of summer before 1L prep, because I did read some particular books, and some were helpful, some were less so. I will share other things I did that did not involve reading, and how each helped. But most importantly, relax, you will have plenty to worry about once school starts.

What Is Coming

2010-05-30T11:42:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned a week or so ago, this is being revived, especially in light of the end of my University of Baltimore blogging duties. I have been interning two days a week with a judge, and have some awesome experiences to share from that. In addition, I took part in the law review write on competition, so I thought I would share some of my thoughts about that as well. Unfortunately I have been pretty busy and haven't been able to sit down and write recently, but keep checking back, it is coming soon.

Student Update

2010-05-19T17:21:00.002-04:00

Well, I told you I was planning on reviving this, so here goes.

Currently, I am working on my internship Monday and Tuesday. I have been taking some notes on the daily proceedings in order to begin sharing fun stories, legal insights, and more about the law school process.

Additionally, I am currently working on the write-on for the 4 legal journals at UB. Right now I am actually taking a break from beginning to write my case note, or at least the rough outline. It appears that the Casenote is a great example of how most legal writing is: slow and laborious. But you know how they say, practice makes perfect...

Revival

2010-05-13T19:39:00.002-04:00

I am making it my intention to revive this blog, especially during the interim from my University of Baltimore blogging duties. I have some exciting stuff going on, including an excellent internship. Continue watching this space.

Updates

2009-11-06T00:50:00.002-05:00

Just an FYI, I continue posting every Wednesday at 8 am at the University of Baltimore Blog.

http://ubaltblog.blogspot.com/

Recent Posts:

Halloween, November 4, 2009

Bar Bowl, October 28, 2009

Ongoing Orientation, October 22, 2009

Continue checking that space for now. Like I said, every Weds.

MidTerms

2009-09-30T22:01:00.003-04:00

Well, midterms week continues. So don't expect much, but I did make it a point to wake up early after going to bed late this morning and do my post for UB.

Check it out by clicking here.

Check it out!

2009-09-23T07:06:00.001-04:00

I put up my first post at the University of Baltimore Blog. (here)

Blogging: Is it worth it?

2009-09-18T16:20:00.002-04:00

This is a topic I have very briefly discussed previously. Why bother with the blogging? Sometimes I don't know why I bother, especially when I feel like I have nothing to write, or worse, I already feel like I have written and read too much for anyone to survive.

Nonetheless, there have been some benefits, and overall this continues to be a positive activity for me.

One positive is that it does keep me thinking and writing. It is way to easy, after sitting through class all day, then going home and reading thousands of cases, to just sort of devolve into a lower life form. I think it is good for me to have to sit down once a week and put some thoughts together, with correct grammar and spelling.

Having said that, writing at a blog level is NOTHING compared to writing at a legal level. After spending hours writing, re-writing, then re-writing some more, it is relaxing to be able to just sit down and write.

The networking has already opened up some interesting contacts, including being able to connect with law school consultants across the nation. Also, I have been able to connect, on some level at least, with some fellow law students. In case you haven't noticed, I Don't Wear Skinny Jeans has been added to the reading list. Check out that one. Very entertaining. Also a bit of a contrast to my law school experience.

I am going to continue to work on the how I study post, but in the meantime, some news.

I have been selected to blog for the University of Baltimore this semester, on the school's blog. My posts will be going up every Wednesday, so be sure to check that out, by clicking here. It is another Blogger blog, so if you are reading this you can read that one. I don't know much about the nature of that blog just yet, but I think I will be focused more on my experience as a student, and less on the legal world or links from YouTube as this blog. I am going to sit right now and read all the other posts that people have left to get a better idea of the style and content.

Cheers all.

Awesome Professors

2009-09-16T22:53:00.002-04:00

Today my contracts teacher was discussing a scenario where a man walked through Brooklyn with today's equivalent of $250,000 cash in his hand.

Next thing I know, he is waving a wad of dollars around, and he has this ridiculous baseball cap that says "BROOKLYN" on the front, and he is standing outside the classroom, knocking on the door, asking to be let in.

And now I know all about revocation timing.

I swear, I was only there because it was closer!

2009-09-13T23:29:00.002-04:00

Wow, it has been forever since I posted! The work load has been getting steadily heavier though.

Also, I am planning a tutorial on how I am taking notes so far, but it is going to take me some time to put it together.

In the meantime, I studied in another library today. Since the University of Maryland is about two blocks from my apartment, I walked over there instead of taking mass transit over to UBalt.

What is very cool is that the schools have a system where you can get into either library with just your student ID, no need to sign any forms.

U Maryland's library is a lot newer than ours, but I guess in three years when the new building is done for UB (and I am off practicing law somewhere) ours will be the newest in town. So U Maryland did have some nice furniture! But at the same time, I guess I just feel at home at UB, even after a few weeks. Still, it was quiet, air conditioned, and had that "I am in the library I guess I have to do work" atmosphere.

But I still felt a little bit like I was cheating on MY library...

I am now officially a law student

2009-09-02T19:57:00.003-04:00

I got cold called for the first time today!

You know what, cold calling has some benefits, I have decided:

I actually have incentive to try. Nothing is better than really prepping for a class, getting cold called, and being able to match every question your professor throws at you.

It also keeps a few kids from dominating the discussion. It gives everyone an equal chance to talk (at least with my professors using the deck of cards method) and I think the class benefits from hearing everyone talk.

It keeps me engaged. I think the nerves and anxiety are kind of fun. If you never have a chance to develop and practice that killer instinct, where will you be when you are out in the real world. Better to get called on and fall on your face in class, you have next class to try again. This might not be true in a professional setting.

It levels the playing field. It always drove me nuts in undergrad when some students would raise their hands to restate the professors words as their own. Professor: "Therefore, X equals Y." Student: "So then you could also say that Y equals X." Wow, genius. Thanks for that. But they always got great class participation marks. Additionally, students are no longer able to hide in the back, and then go to the professor for office hours to get participation points. Now, everyone has to earn them equally.

Man, and I love the challenge of it. You get your reading, and you can do it, or not. And then you sit in class, and you could go check your email, or not. And it all depends on how bad you want it. If you want it bad enough, you will put in the time reading the extra hypotheticals in the casebook, or you will keep all your notes open on your computer, plus your casebook on your lap, and your rule book next to you computer.

And the best professors are just like my high school soccer coach. A man of few words, but with a legendary resume. He never yelled at you to do anything, he just told you what he wanted. You did it or didn't. He never yelled if you didn't, he just moved onto someone who wanted it more than you. Anyone could be successful, if they worked at it. My professors are the same way.

I also think as students, from my peers, older students, and reading other blogs, make way to much out of it. Yeah, it is nerve racking, but I bet trying to argue to a judge is much worse. And yes, sometimes professors ask bizarre questions that you couldn't possibly understand, but if you really listen and think about it, you can probably learn more from getting one of those then being asked "What court was this in?"

I don't know why, but for some reason today's experience has me pumped up for school. I think getting called on was probably the biggest adrenaline rush I have had in a long time.

The Dark Side of Law School

2009-08-27T15:24:00.003-04:00

Although so far law school has been awesome, I wanted to do a fun post about the types of people you meet in law school. I have mentioned that my fellow students are generally helpful and willing to engage in productive discussion, share notes, or just kick back and relax, but there is also a decent sized group that are none of these. They include:

1) The Law and Order Lawyer
This is the guy (at least in my experience) who watched Law and Order, maybe read some John Grisham, seen Philadelphia. While the professor presents the basis of tort law with a short example, he raises the point that, "Can't under the fair rights rule of Jamaica, a pleading for non sequitur relief be a mitigating factor in the pertinent sections?" No, just because you saw it on television once, does not a) mean its real or b) mean that you have even the most basic understanding of the concept. Please stop making the professor spend class time explaining minor details of law that most of us will never run into. If you want to play the hypothetical games, the professor has office hours. You are just confusing us.

2) Ms. High School Valedictorian
This is the young lady (again, in my experience) who just... can;t... stop... trying... so... hard. You know she was high school valedictorian, honor council, college student body rep, and in her majors honor society, well of course, thats a given, oh, and she also did an internship at "Big Important Firm," oh, you never heard of it, its in DC, they do, like, property things. She is the one who is in the library before class, then in the front row of class, then back in the library. You can't sit near her, else you go into epileptic seizures when she opens her casebook, fully highlighted in more florescent and scented colors than God and Crayola, in all their mightiness, were able to create. That's right, she has created her own highlighting colors.

Of course, she might be a good person to talk to, except you have never seen her emerge from behind the pile of supplemental and extra materials surrounding her.

3) The Internet Addict
Laptops in class are wonderful. I also enjoy the soft sounds of rain that occurs as 100+ people begin typing at once every time the professor recites a statute. The internet is also wonderful. My daily mood is directly proportional to the amount of time I am able to spend online.

Having said that, there are people who come to class to sign the attendance sheet and use the internet. Ladies are generally shopping, while the guys are usually abusing Gmail chat.

I am sure professors hate it, but if nothing else, so do your fellow classmates. Its distracting enough, we are already struggling to resist the temptation ourselves. Also, stop wasting our time by asking "Can you repeat that?" when you decide you want the notes after your Nordstrom purchase confirms.

4) The Panic Inducers
These are the harried students that just can't get a handle on their own lives/studies, but instead of buckling down in the library or seeking counseling, they attempt to infect as many of their fellow students as possible. I will illustrate this with two case studies:

Case One: This student is probably doing well enough, judging by the amount of notes he has in class. He also feels comfortable speaking in class, sometimes being right on point, sometimes being completely off base. Still, he tells you in a hushed voice that he is going to the post orientation orientation (Oh, forgot to mention that, law school orientation at UB lasts all through your first year) on study skills. "But you sat next to me at yesterday's session, and they are giving the same presentation, plus there is no free pizza this time," you point out. "Well, I am still a little worried about my case briefing format. In my criminal law class I sometimes only write the first citation down, and in Torts I made a mistake in subject-verb agreement." What does this have to do with law school? Nothing. Will you fix this by going to a time management class? No. Has a single professor OR TA OR Law Scholar asked me for A SINGLE brief? No. But still, this kid is panicking about his briefing format, and abusing the continual orientations. But he tells everyone this, and they all then panic, "Wait, I haven't done a brief, did I miss an assignment? Are they being collected? Subject - Verb agreement isn't in the casebook? Is it in the Law Dictionary? On West Law?"

Case Two: This student can't go a single TA or Law Scholar Session without asking about final exams and outlines. Even though each time she is told "You have only had two classes, don't worry about it yet," she can't stop biting her nails. Therefore, the TA spends YOUR ENTIRE HOUR AND A HALF LUNCH answering questions about exams, and all the other students are trying to understand the lecture. Also, for some reason, this girl seems to know every other law student in the country. "Well, at UVA they fail if you are unable to answer when cold called. My friend at Yale has already done two outlines for all his classes. I hear at Maryland they read six casebooks per day." Great. You go to those schools and do that, I am going to finish my UB syllabus in the meantime.

Why are these two so rough? Well, for one, they tend to spread the panic needlessly. They also tend to waste time with personal questions during class when the rest of the student body is trying to learn. Hey, all the professors have office hours, most the law scholars gave out their cell phone numbers and all gave their email addresses. Use them, and let's learn during class. Also, its annoying.

5) The guy who always asks a question but is really trying to make a point.
Oh wait, that's me, but I am sure my peers see right through it.

Ok, so this post got really long really fast. And please, try to see the humor in it. Any other law students you just know will be in class, as much as you wish they weren't?

Week One Wrap-Up

2009-08-24T12:44:00.002-04:00

My first week of law school successfully completed, and so far I find that it has been a rewarding experience. I am not yet overwhelmed with work, which is nice, and I am still finding the cases interesting and engaging. I am getting to know my classmates, and finding that many of the law school myths are just that, myths. So far, I have enjoyed a collaborative learning experience, and while everyone may have their own best way of studying, no one has attempted to sabotage mine or a peers efforts in order to get ahead themselves.

Some highlights of the awesomeness that is law school:

My criminal law professor was defense counsel during the Watergate trial. He also has some pretty intense opinions about the cases we read in the casebook, and he is not afraid to share them.

My contracts professor tells non stop sex jokes during class, occasionally bordering on criminally inappropriate. He is also the super intelligent type who just doesn't have time for the things he considers unimportant. He also cancelled class for this week while he goes to Turkey on a trip he describes as "business-pleasure."

The dean is active in intramural sports, and plays on the top ranked softball team at UB.

My first two topics in criminal are sodomy and prostitution. You would be surprised how many people have detailed questions about the technicalities of sodomy laws. And thanks to my class, I am fairly knowledgeable in that area.

EVERYONE asks me legal question they have ever had. I try to tell them, that after one week, no, I can't really answer very many questions (not related to sodomy or, as it turns out, farm animals). My civil procedure professor recommends telling people that I charge $100 for fifteen minutes of their time if they really want an answer.

Yeah, the other topic that you always get in your cases: Farm animals. It seems like all the trespassing in American legal history happens in Kansas on farms. Also, judges in American legal history seem to know much about "the nature of dogs" that makes them non liable for trespass if chasing sheep.

The "Law Scholars" (the name that UB gives the TAs) are awesome. I was spoiled during undergrad and had 1 TA in my whole undergrad career. He never even lectured anyways, he simply graded papers and helped with research projects. So I was really nervous when I saw that there are a lot of TAs in law school. So far, it hasn't mattered. They have all been very helpful, and each has made time for us. None of them schedule meetings when they are really running off to their next activity. They are extremely knowledgeable, and great at providing communication between the students and the professors. So far, so good.

Got some great thoughts to write about in the future, if I can find that time that is!

And it begins...

2009-08-20T12:53:00.002-04:00

Well, I am sitting in the library and finished up all my reading for Criminal with a few minutes to spare, so I thought I would get down some impressions of law school thus far.

First of all, once you get to law school, LSAT, UGPA, and that awesome internship you did with your Father's Sister's Boyfriend's Cousin at that great awesome firm don't matter. At all.

What I mean is, at this point, when someone asks you for this information, you can stop worrying about being judged on how good your grades were in undergrad, how well you scored on the LSAT, and what your did or did not do for your resume. As our dean said during his presentation, "When someone says what did you get on your LSAT, tell them you got into law school."

Also, so far amongst the entering students this kind of one-up-manship has ended as well. Everyone sort of takes everyone else at face value as a 1L. I have yet to hear anyone bragging about other schools they got into, or their LSAT scores, or any of that. It is refreshing, really. During orientation there was a bit of name dropping about what firm you interned for, but once classes started that pretty much has stopped as well.

Second of all, you know how everyone is always so concerned about what to do to prepare for law school? Having gone through it, I would say it is true that there is not much to do, other than relax. In fact, I would say relaxing is actually a necessary step. You do hit the ground running in law school, there are no fifteen minute long first classes where the syllabus gets handed out then everyone leaves. You are doing substantial work from the first minute. Therefore, I hold that taking time off prior to law school is a great idea, as you want to be ready to work hard from day one.

Otherwise, I think I would have liked to review some basics prior to starting. Mostly, I am concerned with those little things that you sort of know, like you can recognize them in a sentence, but can't exactly define. Things like the difference between Circuit Court and District Court, or how Legislature really works, or the Constitution. In law school, you are expected to not just know, but understand these and any other term you run across. I think if I had spent some time doing some light reading (or even watching the History channel or PBS) would have gone a long way to lower the amount of time I spend with my dictionary, legal dictionary, and the appendices of my casebooks.

Oh, one last thing: Get a big backpack.

Where have I been?

2009-08-19T12:21:00.003-04:00

Hello,

School started this week, and it has been awesome but a little crazy. I hope to start putting some more stuff up soon!

Cheers,

-Spencer

Sticker Shock

2009-08-06T19:10:00.002-04:00

Wow...

Today I decided to price my textbooks for the upcoming semester. The University of Baltimore has this really cool feature for the bookstore that allows you to enter your courses and it will automatically generate the reading list, and has of course an option to "Buy All."

I was a Psychology major with a minor in History in undergrad, but Loyola has a large "core" of courses that all must take, meaning you take almost two full years of classes outside of your major. So I took the hard sciences, the soft sciences, the classics, humanities, writing, computer classes, some art, all of it. Additionally, Loyola is a famously expensive school. And yet I never remember spending more than $300 per semester on books.

$928.44.

Yes.

That is my total for this semester, even after checking the "Used if available" boxes.

I have no idea what I am going to do about this. I guess I will be getting a job a lot sooner, and for a lot more hours, than I had originally planned.

On a funny/horrific note, the bookstore does, ever so sneakily, add in Sparkcharts for all your courses automatically. Sparkcharts? Like those laminated Sparknotes pages? From high school? Seriously? Perhaps they can also recommend some good SAT prep books while they are at it.

Also, this price caused me to spend about 6 hours scouring the internet for used books. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and even Ebay had only two, and for only a few dollars cheaper than the bookstore. Although Barnes and Noble can be explained, as my school bookstore is actually administered by Barnes and Noble, so there might be a conflict of interest there. I even tried Craigslist...

Wow, so I guess for my closing question, does anyone want to donate some money to this poor soul? Or, more seriously, is this common for law school, or just 1L, or just first semester?

Preparing for Law School

2009-08-01T22:49:00.004-04:00

Friday I cleared another milestone, completing my last day of employment with my last job. It was truly a bittersweet moment.

Now I have a week of free time prior to orientation. In attempting to think of something useful to write about, I was thinking of some common questions. The one I came up with is "What is there to do to prepare for law school once you have been accepted?" This question has been asked over and over, either by myself or by others. Although at this time I cannot answer it, I want to set in the record answers I have heard.

From current law students:
"Read Twilight."
"Spend time with family and friends, you might not see them once school starts."
"Sleep, you won't be able to do that anymore."
"It doesn't matter, nothing will help."
"Law school is unlike anything you have done before, you cannot really know what it is like without just doing it."

From admissions professionals or law professors:

"Relax, you have already done enough."
"Don't be scammed out of money for prep courses."
"Practice your reading and writing."

My school, for its part, sent a few suggestions:

Read Law School Exams: Preparing and Writing to Win
Refresh knowledge of US Government
They also left a list of reading/movies, including To Kill a Mockingbird, Twleve Angry Men, Legally Blonde and The Verdict.
This list was prefaced with, "Relax. Really."

For my part, in preparation I have done the following:

Begun following law - related people on Twitter (see here), started this blog, and picked up a copy of Law School Exams. I haven't finished it yet, and I obviously haven't started school yet, but when I do I will come back to this and let you know what worked for me.

Also, if any of you out there want to share either advice from experience or, if you are an entering 1L like me, what you have done so far, leave a comment.

The Law School Admissions Game: Play Like an Expert

2009-07-27T21:46:00.005-04:00

Getting into law school is in many ways more complicated than law school itself. By the time you reach law school, you have been in school for at least 16 years, probably more. The application process, however, is a once in a lifetime experience, and different even from the college process. In school, professors are giving you assignments and deadlines, administrators are always giving you direction on what form to complete next and how to fill it out correctly, and if nothing else, your fellow students are there to push you in the right direction. When applying, however, you are on your own. Furthermore, the information available is usually 1) flat out wrong 2) really just there to sell you another product (LSAT prep sites) or 3) well meaning but derived from secondhand experience.

None of that matters anymore, as with her brand new book, The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert, Ann Levine has created the single most useful resource for law school applicants on the market today. In 160 pages, she is able to provide a roadmap to the application process, insider information on how your application is evaluated, and a dose of reality to keep you grounded but moving forward.

Why is this book so helpful? It begins at the 'twinkle in your eye' stage with important questions to consider regarding law school and the application process. It is here that this book separates itself from the the rest of the admissions support already available by accepting that people apply to law school for a variety of reasons, from a desire to serve others all the way to a desire to be in a respected field. An early chapter also takes time to give consideration to how different majors look on an application. I thought this was highly insightful, as most other resources assume you were a Pre-Law or History major, but Ms. Levine shows how to make your Art History (or in my case, Psychology) major work for you. There is also information for applicants with career experience between college and law school.

The Law School Admission Game then moves onto LSAT and GPA information, as well as a thoughtful explanation of the rolling admissions process. It should be noted that this book is not LSAT prep in any way, but there is full, detailed information on how LSAT scores reflect on your application. Also, this book is able to offer advice on retaking the LSAT and score cancellation. Although I only took the LSAT once, this is the most comprehensive source for information on LSAT cancellations and retakes. There are a number of scenarios provided as examples, covering almost any situation.

From there, you move into the meat of the application. The Letters of Recommendation (LORs), the Personal Statement, and optional essays. Ms. Levine takes the guesswork out of the LORs. The LSAC does a terrible job explaining how they work, but this book is able to clarify everything in a few pages. Also, there is finally sound advice on how to choose recommenders. Other sources simply say focus on professors, and while Ms. Levine agrees, other options are explored as well. For the personal statement, there are no useless sample essays, but instead start to finish advice on picking a topic that suits you, and that will make an impression on admissions staff. How do you know it will make an impression? The author relates several personal experiences as an admissions director reviewing actual personal statements.

From there, you are provided with information on what to do after you have mailed in your application, including some advice on how to professionally communicate with admissions offices. I can pretty much sum it up in three words: Use Professional Communication.

Finally, The Law School Admission Game addresses other concerns, such as transfers and scholarships. These sections are less detailed, as frequently Ms. Levine points out that it varies too much from year to year and school to school for broad statements. That said, the section on deciding which school to attend is an honest, thoughtful look at the options of different law schools.

The discussion of deciding where to attend is one of the reasons I found this book so groundbreaking. Ms. Levine is able to encompass such a large and unwiedly topic and compress it down to easy to understand terms, without sacrificing fidelity. The benefits of applying to a top 30 law school are discussed, and this book definitely will help you apply to the best law schools in the country. And yet, regional (Tier 4) law schools are also given equal weight, as their value is discussed in the local job network, or those with career or family obligations. Never have I read advice from someone so able to understand the value in both, as well as everything in between.

Ms. Levine also has an uncanny ability to use language in a way that is more in line with high school teacher than lawyer. Clear, direct, and concise, the book is eminently readable. Additionally, the language is modern and, dare I say, hip. I have blogged previously (here) about Ms. Levine's ability to communicate with law school applicants in a supportive and personal way. Amazingly, it shows through in this book as well. She is frank, including advice to 'stop bitching;' and admonishing that you are not the exception for trite essay topics, despite what you may think. This book reads easily, and moves quickly, while providing plenty of information.

As I mentioned before, The Law School Admission Game is full of firsthand experience Ms. Levine gained working as a director of admissions. She is able to give real insight into how personal statements, low LSAT scores, bad resumes, or LORs are actually used by admissions offices. This is phenomenal information, and comes with full credibility. Also, Ms. Levine is current in this admission market, acting as a private admissions consultant. Having said that, she never once uses this book to sell her services with a cheap, "for the rest of the information pay for my services" hook that is so common in media today.

If I had to pick out any shortcomings, it would be that a few sections are only discussed from one side. For example, the virtues of applying early in the rolling admissions timeline are discussed, but there is little advice on how to approach applying later in the cycle. I think the biggest reason I noticed this is because the rest of the book is so balanced and comprehensive.

All in all, if you are in the process of applying to law school, getting ready to apply soon, or even just thinking about applying, this book is a great read that will answer nearly all of your questions. i cannot recommend it highly enough. As a regular reader might know, I am a do it yourself kind of guy. The Law School Admission Game gives you the information to make informed decisions and work the admission process to get into your ideal law school.

Buy this resource on Amazon here
or
Barnes and Noble here

Ten Questions for Law Students

2009-07-11T18:07:00.002-04:00

I finally got my schedule for the upcoming semester! Even though we have been warned repeatedly that 'nothing is final until August 7' (a few days before classes start), I can't help but look ahead to the coming semester.

I do have a few questions for those of you who have already experienced your first year of law school, and therefore created the easiest test you will ever take relating to law school:

Question 1: I only am scheduled for about 10-15 hours of class, as of now. I am wondering how accurate this is. I have heard that I can expect additional time spent in mandatory small group discussions and TA reviews. About how much of your time is scheduled by your school throughout the week? (My guess is that it doesn't matter, you are at the school about 40 hours per week regardless.)

Question 2: Additionally, in college I was told to expect about 2 hours of work outside of class for each hour spent at class. Therefore 15 credit hours per week was assumed to have about 30 hours of work per week outside of class. Is there a commonly accepted ratio for law school? (I am thinking it has got to be worse than undergrad.)

Question 3: And as a follow up, I found that I spent about 10 hours per week outside of class doing school work, the rest of the time I spent socializing, playing sports, Halo and Smash Bros, or doing volunteer and extra curricula. Plus I was employed all through college. How much free time can I expect? (My guess: Sports? Socializing? Halo? Ha! Try reading, writing, and studying.)

Question 4: I have been told law school is uber competitive and there is no such thing as a study group since no one wants to help anyone get ahead. Is this true?

Question 5: Do professors really call on you at random all the time, or just on days when they don't have a full lecture planned?

Question 6: My college roommate is now in medical school, and he reports that he is almost encouraged NOT to go to class but to instead download the notes and audio recording. Is this the case in law school?

Question 7: My other college roommate told me, "Law school is no different than college except you have to read every night." Fair assumption?

Question 8: Take notes via laptop or pen and paper? (I'm leaning heavily towards pen and paper, besides, how do you not get distracted by Twitter/Facebook/Instant Messanger?)

Question 9: At every open house or accepted student's day I attended, or every blog I read by law students or admissions experts, incoming students always ask "What can I do to prepare?" and current students or experts always say, "Relax, enjoy life, spend time with friends and family, do fun reading, see a movie, sleep." Anyone else want to add an opinion? (This is going to be the topic of my next post as well, I'll include your answers.)

Question 10: I am not sure what kind of law I would like to practice, or how I will ultimately use my law degree. Is this going to put me behind? Should I pick something that sounds good and go for it, or should I just wait and see if anything catches my eye? (I ask because I know that pretty much as soon as I start school I also need to be thinking about a summer job or internship, and start defining my career.)

BONUS QUESTION: What is the one thing you wish you knew before you started your first year? (WRITE ANYTHING AND I WILL GIVE YOU CREDIT. Except for 'Wear Sunscreen', that is overused and unoriginal, without being a classic.

Leave me answers in the comments and I will share them later!

Comment Response

2009-06-26T21:25:00.002-04:00

I am going to try to periodically respond to comments left on this blog. I have not done so yet because I do not receive them very frequently, but I want to continue to do this monthly or bimonthly.

Comment 1:
Bella Vita said...
"Congratulations Bro, that's got to be an incredible feeling!" in response to my post Greatest Feeling in the World.

Thanks man, it is! Keep me posted on your achievements too.

Comment 2:
Aaron said...
"Hey Spencer - thanks for following. I recommend @accesstojustice and @kbladow as well. Very frequent updates and great info. Are you @jd2b?" in response to my post Who I Follow on Twitter.

Thanks for the recommendations, I have followed both and I am encouraging all my readers to do the same.

I am NOT @jd2b! I have also discovered that there is a JD2B website, which I am also not a part of!

My Twitter is @Spencerm1. I will offer that I am not a Pro User of Twitter! I update about once a day, sometimes less. It is primarily a personal account as well. I do post about fun things I have recently done, my job, the last song I beat on Guitar Hero (so in August none of these will happen anymore). I also write about the books I have been reading and share good internet links.

Well, there you have it, my first two comments, responded to. Cheers guys!

Auto-Tune the News

2009-06-24T15:00:00.002-04:00

Breaking news. The fifth Auto-Tune the News is up.

The Choice - Part 3 "Why UB?"

2009-06-23T21:00:00.004-04:00

(The Choice is an ongoing section where I will be examining my decision to attend the University of Baltimore.)

I have meandered around slightly on this topic, and I feel it is time for me to actually talk about what drew me to the University of Baltimore.

I initially applied due to the location. I have lived in Baltimore for the past 6 years, and absolutely adore the city. I am well established here, and besides, the only two law schools in Maryland are within a mile of each other right in Baltimore City.

Secondly, I had heard great things about the school. Everyone I talked to about it knew someone who was either in the program or had completed the program, and all they could say is "He/She loved it!"

Additionally, according to my LSAT/UGPA numbers, it was a school that I was highly likely to be accepted to.

Once my acceptances came around, I had a few options. The University of Baltimore was, by far, the most affordable. Public school tuition at in-state rates, combined with the highly affordable housing options made Baltimore the financial no-brainer. My Twitter contacts (click here) agree.

I also attended the accepted students day, and when Dean Closius spoke, I was further encouraged. He addressed head on the school's short comings and took any question from students or parents attending.

Still, I think the final decision came down to two things: The Location and The Price. I really liked the University of Miami, but the housing discussed by current students and the school ran at least double the price of my current apartment. I also considered Hofstra, but even with a large scholarship the tuition was rather high. Drexel appealed to me, but I was a bit put off by the accreditation situation, and again, even with a large scholarship it was more expensive. Finally, Baltimore is home to my current social network, my past professional network (including mental health, social work, restaurant and security fields) and my small but hopefully burgeoning legal network.

Now, having made my choice, I am highly satisfied and cannot wait for school to start!

For all you current (or former) students, how did you decide which school to attend?

Auto-Tune the News

2009-06-17T21:48:00.004-04:00

Hello all.

This post will be almost strictly fun.

Since there is such a strong connection between law and politics, I thought that this would be a relevant topic.

These videos are posted on a YouTube account belonging to Michael Gregory. Michael Gregory is a pretty interesting person, one of those people who is not only amazingly musically talented, but also has the humor and presence of mind to use it in new and interesting ways. Search YouTube and you will find him performing Acapella raps at open mic night, auditioning for American Idol, and using his Auto-Tuner on the news.

These videos are many things. First of all, they are hilarious. Secondly, they are pure genius. The writing combines random humor with a nice caricature of mainstream hip hop, some biting news commentary, and the occasional highly subtle, but deftly crafted, satire. The production values are extremely high, which makes the fuzzy green screen cutouts a sort of self-aware joke. I could go on and on, but that is not the focus of this blog. Instead, enjoy a nice study break, on me.

For more, I recommend checking out Michael Gregory's YouTube account here, as well as each of the individual video pages. The descriptions contain the lyrics, information about the cast of characters, and other tidbits. Click here for a playlist of all in order.

Law School Social

2009-06-13T23:52:00.002-04:00

One of my first official law school experiences was a baseball game and happy hour this weekend. Our law school was able to secure two free tickets for every incoming student at the Orioles game against the Braves. Awesome, right? Also, prior to the game there was a happy hour at a nearby bar for some drinks and food.

I was a little nervous about attending this event, knowing no one, but luckily all first year students also received those awesome Baltimore Law shirts, so I was hoping we would all be wearing one.

I got held up at work, but did get to some of the happy hour. I was clearly in the minority of those who decided to actually wear their shirts, but it was a great event to meet some of my soon to be classmates.

One thing I did discover is that everyone has a different expectation of their first year. Some are already in a panic about the amount of work. Some are already working on "Before You Start Law School" textbooks and courses. Some are concerned about how often they will be able to go out during the week.

I was also surprised by the varying age range and experience levels of those attending. Many were right out of college, quite a few had some full time work experience, and there were a few older students. I think I am in the minority of students who did not work at a law firm prior to enrollment. I am hopeful that this will not be a setback. Personally, I think my work experience has actually prepared me more for law school than anything else I have done up to this point.

Although the game did not go well (O's lost, pretty badly), a free ticket is something I will never turn down. I also enjoyed the chance to meet some of my future classmates. Finally, if nothing else, I am now really excited to start school soon.

Lawyer Stigma?

2009-06-05T21:34:00.003-04:00

Let's start with a joke:

You are in a room with (some serial terrorist) bin Laden, Milosevic, and a lawyer. You have a gun with two bullets. Who do you shoot?

The Lawyer twice, just to be sure.

There is a fairly strong stigma in popular culture against lawyers and the legal profession. Even Law and Order tends to portray the lawyers in a poor light, with the defendants always "Lawyering Up" to avoid talking to the detectives.

Congress and healthcare officials blast the legal field for rising healthcare costs due to malpractice insurance. I once read (on a blog, so veracity is not guaranteed) that there are only two full-time midwives in all of Texas, since that state has a generous statute of limitations for malpractice suits of birthing errors.

Even in the movie "Four Christmases," Vince Vaughn's character is a lawyer living in the city, who visits his father and two brothers who live with their wives and kids in one small house in a very rural area. At one point, the father makes a comment about "Mr. Big Lawyer with his Fancy Cars and Toys" not being in touch with his family.

Let's be logical for a minute. On Law and Order, why is a defendant hiring a lawyer seen as an obstacle? It is because the lawyer is there to protect the defendant's rights to be free from questioning they may not understand. No one ever criticizes the detective for threatening a defendant, yelling in their face, or bending the truth to elicit a confession.

People criticize lawyers for healthcare costs, but then become enraged when a doctor cannot take the time to correctly write in a chart and a patient dies. If you get on a roller coaster and something tragic happens, no one has a problem with a lawsuit. Then again, most of the time it isn't the amusement parks fault. Why not place a cap on medical malpractice suits? Simple, who can look someone in the eye and say, "I know you spent over $100,000 on your education, and I know you have worked hard for several years, but even though someone else was careless and you can never work again, you can only have this much money. Oh, but the guy or gal who was careless and caused this, yeah they can go on making money."

I think I am wondering, because I know who I am myself. I wasn't raised with a silver spoon in my mouth, my parents lived in a town with a good public school system, and co-signed $160,000 worth of student loans, but trust me, I worked pretty hard to get where I am. I don't think I am a greedy person, in fact my fancy, expensive degree earns me less than $30,000 a year. And I generally work 50-60 hours a week, taking care of acutely ill adults. I have to put miles on my car, take verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, assist in toileting and other hygiene tasks. And now I am staring at three years of hard work, three more years living in a blue light neighborhood, three more years of debts. When I get out, will I automatically become hated by most of the world?

Any lawyers or law students out there, have you run into this?

LSAT Prep - Reading

2009-06-01T22:07:00.005-04:00

I have already covered alternative approaches to traditional studying for the logic games, and I thought I would add something for the reading comprehension section.

In discussions with my peers, I have noticed a strikingly large group that does very poorly on reading comprehension. To compound this, experts tend to agree that reading comprehension is the hardest part to study for, in that your score the first time is going to be pretty close to your score the final time. You are either good at reading for information, or you are not. Perhaps more accurately, you are good at it, or you do not have the time required to improve significantly.

So, you want to improve, what to do? I suggest reading. Lots. This is how I got good at it, simply reading all the time. Sometimes cheap and easy stuff, sometimes difficult novels or texts. I always have at least two or three books I am reading at all times. One is usually an easy Stephen King or John Grisham bestseller type, very easy and relaxing. One is a piece of difficult fiction, a world classic or good piece of history. This is something to struggle a bit with, but still it is a story. Then, occasionally I pick up a technical manual or textbook of some sort. This I think is good for the highly technical writing on the LSAT. A lot of times I go for things that are relevant to my background (like the latest manual on new Psych drugs!). One final thing I do: Always keep one book on hand. That way, if I am waiting for an appointment, I can whip it out and read two pages.

More important, however, I would like to share a resource with you. Give Me Something To Read has links for good articles from around the internet. They are frequently high level (such as the Economist, the New Yorker) which most LSAT books tell you are the same level as the LSAT. They articles range from one page to several, so most are about the length of an LSAT reading sample. They are also interesting and range in topics, although I will admit the editor likes articles about newspapers and journalism.

If you want to get some practice reading in, try these for a bit. If you want to share some other resources or tips, leave a comment!

The Choice - Part 2 "The Numbers"

2009-05-27T21:02:00.004-04:00

(The Choice is an ongoing section where I will be examining my decision to attend the University of Baltimore.)

Well, here goes. I am going to throw it out there. My "stats":

Undergraduate GPA: 3.3 *Note 1

Major: Psychology

Minor: History

LSAT Score: 159

Schools Applied to: *Note 2

University of Baltimore: Accepted

University of Maryland: Denied

University of Miami: Accepted

Drexel University: Accepted

Hofstra: Accepted

Total cost of applications: about $400 *Note 3

I will be referencing this in future posts!

*Note 1: I attended a strong private liberal arts college. My curriculum included an 18 class 'core' of out of major courses. I spent one year (2 semesters) abroad, which counted towards my GPA. My GPA was very low (2.0) my freshman year, and rose steadily. I think I had three semesters on Dean's List.

* Note 2: I applied to a few others, however they came later in the process and I did not follow up. For example, Nova Southeastern (a school that on paper I should have been a lock for) never made a decision after confirming receipt of my application. By that time, however, I had been accepted to enough other schools to not need to consider Nova. CUNY Law was missing a part of my application, I withdrew it because I had already received comparable or better acceptances.

*Note 3: This is a rough estimate. Most schools were about $60-70 for an application fee. The LSAC charges you $12 per application. To anyone who works at an admissions board for a law school, yes, I did apply to more schools if they waived the application fee! Registering for the LSAC is also a one time fee, about $50 if I recall correctly. Additionally, you could count LSAT fees as well. A HUGE Thank You to my mother and father for footing the bill on most of the applications, and for always supporting my dreams.

Who I follow on Twitter

2009-05-19T22:04:00.002-04:00

I admit to being a huge fan of Twitter. I love finding interesting people (everyone should follow Shaq and the Natural History Whale) as well as a thriving, varied, professional network. Twitter is, however, a new and expanding resource, and the use varies widely. This is my list of people I follow on Twitter, as they relate to Law School and the legal field.

(Sorted by my personal relative enjoyment)

@ABAJournal - This is basically the ABA Journal's news feed. Headlines delivered straight to your Twitter, with links to the full article. Articles are short and generally news-worthy. I find this a great way to get involved in the legal community and keep an eye on issues that will soon be increasingly important to me. Also, a lot of the news is really interesting. The only downside is that at times 10-15 new articles go up simultaneously, drowning out your other Tweets.

@annlevine - Ann K. Levine is a law school admissions consultant. She is pretty awesome, with interesting Tweets about the LSAT and other admissions related issues. She updates pretty regularly, although be warned about 2/3 of her Tweets are personal use. She is kind of like a Twitter Mom to hopeful law students, posting reminders about LSAT dates! I was very impressed when she took the time to respond to my Tweets about school acceptances, and even answered a few questions I had about law school admissions.

@ronfox - Ron Fox is a lawyer career coach. He places a heavy emphasis on assisting lawyers find happiness and satisfaction from their careers. He also hates Big Law. His updates generally link to in depth feature articles, which are fascinating reads. You can also always count on him to look past the stereotype of what a Lawyer is to most laypeople, and show you the real, human side of Law. Inspiring in that regard. Be warned though, he is VERY effective at discouraging you from pursuing a legal career if you haven't already begun it.

Those are my top three. Others include:

@samglover - A consumer rights lawyer, he maintains several legal blogs. He is very technologically savy, and writes a lot about how he uses technology to enhance his career and practice.

@aaron_at_EJW - This is Aaron at Equal Justice Works. Interesting legal perspective, updates occasionally. If you are into public interest law, he might be a good follow. He does write about student debt frequently, and generally from a helpful and hopeful perspective.

There is my current Legal Follows. Who do you recommend on Twitter? Put them in comments and I will share them in a later post.

LSAT Prep - Logic Games

2009-05-17T12:34:00.005-04:00

Hello!

Today I thought I would relax with a short post on fun ways to prepare for the LSAT. Logical Reasoning typically gives people headaches because it is an entirely new type of question. A good way to get into the right mindset and familiarize yourself with these types of questions are logic games.

You may remember these games from elementary school, they, much like on the LSAT, involve basic rules (one person per day, one color per house, one person per house) and then provide several statements, the information from which you are to use to complete the table.

A good site to find these and more like them is here, at Puzzle Paradise. They are free, and vary in difficulty. This site has a good interface for solving online, and the option to print puzzles to take with you, or if you feel it would be better practice to use pencil and paper, as on the LSAT.

How are these useful? They give good practice for reading the conditions and drawing conclusions. For example, if the statement is that "Jack gave his presentation before Julie, but after the presentation on frogs," you can conclude that Jack was NOT in the first or last time slot, but also that Julie was NOT first or second, since she was after Jack, and that the presentation on Frogs was NOT last or second to last. Also, you can conclude that neither Jack nor Julie presented on Frogs. This kind of insight requires practice, and these fun games can help you learn it without doing repetitive bookwork.

Also, these games can help with diagraming and charting. This site provide some diagrams, but others (such as time based ones) are equally helpful.

Be warned though, that this should not be taken as a substitute for actual LSAT logic game practice. LSAT games tend to have you "backing up." They will give you five statements, then each question will have a sixth condition that is hypothetical. You may need to remove information to complete the next problem. Also, the LSAT gives lots of choices such as "If Frogs were presented by a Male student, what can you say about Tuesday's presentation?" These oddball ones may have more than one correct answer, such as "Tuesday was either Julie or Tammy presenting either Shrimp or Snakes." Practice for these types does not come from logic games with one correct answer.

Have you used alternative prep for the LSAT? Any experts out there want to weigh in on the use of games as practice?

The Choice - Part 1

2009-05-16T17:04:00.005-04:00

(The Choice is an ongoing section where I will be examining my decision to attend the University of Baltimore.)

For this edition of "The Choice" I would like to start with a discussion of how I choose the schools I was applying to.

First of all, I am going to have to start with personal details. I was, at the time, in a very committed relationship. She was applying to graduate programs herself (though not for Law) and her schools all had much earlier application deadlines. We reasoned that we had been together long enough, and were committed enough, to include each other in our professional choices. Our way to solve the dilemma was to each identify a few schools or cities where we would like to pursue our educations. We then would each apply to two or three schools in each area, and then when he had all the acceptances, we could make informed decisions together.

She picked Miami, where we both found University of Miami and Nova Southeastern. I jumped on Philadelphia as a place I would like to reside, but found only Drexel with a suitable law program. She picked Long Island, noting several top schools in her field. I did apply to Hofstra. I reasoned New York City might not be a bad idea, and applied to St John's and CUNY. We both stated Baltimore as an obvious choice, as we had been residing in the city for the past two years, attended four years of undergraduate school there as well, and her family was about 20 minutes outside the city. Plus, I had all of Maryland's law school, University of Baltimore and University of Maryland, right within walking distance.

Ultimately, I think this was a good strategy. Although I am almost never one to make a "life" decision based on someone I am dating, at the time we were seriously looking ahead to engagement and beyond. Still, she is equally as pragmatic (pessimistic, maybe?) and always said that we should choose something that would satisfy us without the relationship if it ever came to that.

As for locating schools by area, I think that it is a good measure to start your search. I was able to get a handle on all the information out there. Another good way to start is to rank the schools by relative strength, and see what is at the top. Although I ended up at a "4th tier" school, I was accepted by "#42."

Speaking of strength, I always think it is a good idea to make sure you have some guaranteed acceptances as well as to get rejected by some schools. Once you take your LSAT, if you choose to have your information reported (highly recommended), schools will get your UGPA and LSAT score. Florida Coastal emailed me with acceptance and scholarship offers if I completed a one page application with no fee. It was great to know, well, at least I can get a JD somewhere! The University of Maryland (usually top 30) rejected me. So I felt I knew about where I stood. It would be a shame to only apply to top 10 schools and get no degree, but I think it is equally wasteful to not shoot high. That way you will always know it wasn't meant to be, and you never know, something on your application may strike someone in admissions and you may have a great chance.

This has been a very brief introduction. How did you decide where you were going to apply to school?

Greatest Feeling in the World

2009-05-09T20:24:00.003-04:00

Is when you finally make it, through all the effort and hard work and anticipation and long nights and anxiety and fear and self-doubt, and then one day you can start telling people that yes, you are, in law school. At times, it never seems real, just a far off dream. Then, one day, it hits you, and let me tell you, it is awesome.

LSAT Prep Schedule

2009-05-08T22:09:00.002-04:00

My calendar for LSAT preparation:

1 Year Prior to test Date: Create an outline or schedule for prep. Pick a test date.

1 Year to 6 Months prior: Gather information about the LSAT itself.

6-4 months prior: Begin earnest preparation. I recommend completing a diagnostic test, but only for the practice. I personally have heard only that the diagnostic scores are poor predictors of actual test performance. Take note of the type of questions, and I think it is always good to indicate when you are guessing on an answer, so later you can go back and study that one as well.

4 - 2 months prior: Begin diligent preparation. I found it easiest to spend 2-3 weeks on each question type individually. Read about them, complete practice problems, work slowly through the very hardest ones.

2 months prior: Spend a little extra time with question types that are still giving you trouble. At this point, I would recommend learning strategies for managing your time while completing the test.

4 weeks prior: Schedule some time aside to take a full length practice exam under conditions as close to real as possible. Make sure you have all your registration materials available for the test date.

3 weeks prior: Review your practice exam results. Try to target areas that you scored poorly on. This is also a great time to practice on the hardest questions you can find.

2 weeks prior: Now is when I would work on my test taking strategies. Get your timing down, learn to look for obvious right or wrong answers, those kinds of things.

1 week prior: If you gave your email address to the LSAC search service, you can expect to begin receiving emails wishing you luck from various law schools. I also started carrying my prep materials everywhere with me, and spent my free time looking over them. Do not cram, but do try to immerse yourself in LSAT goodness.

3 days prior: Make sure everything is in order for your test date (ID, pencils, snack, bottle of water in clear plastic bag, proper admission ticket printed). Also, I would highly, highly, highly recommend driving to the test site and locating parking. The tests are generally early in the morning, and looking for parking or getting lost should not be a reason you are late or miss your test.

2 days prior: Cram a bit. Try not to panic. Say a prayer. I slept with my book under my pillow. Try to relax.

1 day prior: Seriously, relax. Don't even open your books. Eat a nice dinner, do a quick workout, and go to bed at a reasonable time. Aim for a solid 8 hours of sleep. Relax. At this point, you have done all you can, and you did good. Now just let it happen.

Day of: Be calm and confident, get a good score, move on with your career!

LSAT 180 from Kaplan Review

2009-05-06T17:54:00.004-04:00

In the previous two posts I have reviewed my thoughts on LSAT prep, and thoroughly reviewed the first book I used to prepare. In this post, I will discuss the second book I studied from.

LSAT 180, by Eric Goodman of Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, promises "Advanced Prep for Advanced Students" and "Intensive Practice for the Toughest Questions." Right from the title, it sets a lofty goal of a perfect 180 LSAT score. It is available from Amazon or Barnes and Noble for $20.00.

The book starts off with a philosophical discussion of perfection, including why you, the reader, might aspire to this. I would like to think that I was not the perfectionist described in the opening, but rather a student looking to increase his overall score.

This book assumes you know the basics, and should not be your first prep material. I highly recommend starting with a general book, such as the one I describe here. This book goes straight to the toughest questions, and does not spend much time on types of questions, the predicted percentages, or generally test taking skills.

LSAT 180 dives right into the logic games, regarded by most test takers as the hardest section, but also by most experts as responding best to preparation. The problems in this one are mind boggling hard. They go through the first problem is a reasoned, well thought out, no nonsense manner. After about fifteen minutes of study, the first problem is manageable. They give about 5-10 problems of each type (examples are problems of order, problems with time, etc), then move onto the next. In all, there are about 100 pages devoted to logic games. The last and hardest ones, I struggled to understand even with the explanations.

The next section, Logical Reasoning, is also highly useful. The book is good about helping you learn to keep the focus on what is written, and exclude outside knowledge, extraneous information, or personal opinions. There is a very basic refresher on what formal logic is, and then the different question types are each described and you get several examples with full, detailed explanations. All in all, you get about 120 or so pages of logical reasoning.

The text then moves onto the Reading Comprehension, which I have stated before is my strongest area. The approach is solid, as they give you examples of why each passage is tough. For example, there is a section titled "Blinded by Science" where the authors teach you how to cut through the difficult technical terms to get at the important information and arguments. Likewise, the section on philosophy based passages is helpful. Still, I find that this is a section where you either get it, or you don't. All in all, there are about 90 pages of Reading Comprehension.

This book completely skips the writing sample, as it is not a part of the 180 perfect score.

This book is also well supported by Kaplan's website, with links to additional information on the test itself that is updated regularly. My only gripe is that Kaplan is always trying to sell you something, especially on their site.

I used this book in a few ways. With logic games, I was able to see how the questions were designed, which was helpful. Also, for 2008-2009, it was reasoned that you could spend eight minutes per logic game. I took these super hard questions, and gave myself nine minutes. In this way, I got used to the time constraint, which helped immensely on the test itself.

The logical reasoning section is very helpful in learning the ins and outs of formal logic, but unfortunately lacks in helping you learn to process the questions quickly, as required by the test itself. It does give you a great idea of how questions are actually written, however, which is helpful in spotting traps and tricks on the actual test.

Reading comprehension can also be used to get your timing down, as well as a large, choking slice of humble pie. I was extra confident about this area, and quickly was shown I had a lot to work on.

Overall, I spent between 20 and 30 hours with this book. It was useful as a final measure of improving my chances. It is a great resource, but keep in mind that it should not be your only study aid.

Barron's LSAT 2008 Review

2009-05-05T04:59:00.009-04:00

So, for my LSAT prep, I decided primarily on self-study. Let me tell you about some of the materials I used.

I primarily used two books. The first, Barron's LSAT 2008, 12th Edition, by Jerry Bobrow, was my primary tool. This text is available at Amazon.com (here) or Barnes and Noble.com (here) for under $20. The highlights of this text are 5 full length LSAT tests, two of which are actual past tests. All sample tests have explanations for the answers.

The book starts off with a brief introduction, with such gems as "Beware of Distractor Answers!" and "Mark Your Test Booklet!" which should be fairly common knowledge to most at this point in the game. It then jumps straight into a diagnostic exam. The diagnostic is sort of useful, as it approximates your score, but it does not give you much help with determining your strengths and weaknesses on individual question types within each section. Questions on the diagnostic are also not rated as easy or hard, so you only get a fairly broad range. I generally scored slightly higher on this text's diagnostic than I did on the actual test, so be wary!

The book then gets into the best part, the detailed explanation of the types of questions in each section. The book in turn goes through each section and gives detailed information about the types of questions, why they are asked, how they are worded, and PLENTY of hints for solving them. I found this to be the most useful section of the book. It also approximates how many of each type appear on the actual test, so you can make some judgements about which to practice the most on. This was also most useful in assessing my strengths and weaknesses, since question types are narrowly divided, allowing me to see exactly which types were difficult. At the end of each section practice problems are given, and the book talks you through each slowly and carefully, and gives key hints.

The treatment of logical reasoning is decent. The book spells out various terms to describe logical reasoning and various fallacies (think of Philosophy 101, arguement ad hominem, etc.). This is actually much more useful than you might think, and a great refresher if you haven't had a similar course in ages.

The book's strongest section is analytical reasoning. The book goes through a variety of question types, and each is clearly explained. Also, several diagraming strategies are described, and in the example questions, the diagrams are fully drawn out for each question. When I sat for the test, I found myself spotting various types of questions and knowing exactly which diagram to draw for each.

The reading comprehension I found less useful, but this is also my strongest area, so I mostly glanced over it. There is some pretty good discussion on question types. The writing sample (generally regarded as the least important section) is also covered, but the advice on outlining is so elementary as to be nearly useless. The various sample prompts are highly effective in getting you prepared for what is on the test, however, and should not be discounted.

The book then finishes with four model tests, which I mostly used for additional question practice. I would recommend timing yourself on at least one for pacing practice, which I over looked and paid for on the test date. The answer explanations for these questions are somewhat brief. Generally, this is fine, because you mostly know the strategies and reasons, you just need to see if you are right. When you get one wrong, however, the limited explanations are frustratingly unhelpful.

The book concludes with a chart of ABA approved law schools, however the internet has much more useful data that is much easier to access, and much more accurate.

Overall, I found this resource to be highly useful and would recommend it to anyone. I can confidently say that it helped me immensely with my test prep, and was my primary tool. I approximate that I spent upwards of 70 hours with this book in preparation for my test.

Friend Bar Added

2009-05-04T19:23:00.009-04:00

Although I am going to try to stay away from two posts per day, I did want to add this in as soon as possible.

I have added a "Friends" module in the sidebar where I am going to link to some of my personal friends professional projects. You can find it on the side of this page, below the profile section with my picture in it.

Screenshot

If you are still lost, check out this detail photo.

Screenshot

The first one I have added belongs to someone I grew up paying Little League with as well as attending his mother's CCD classes for some time. Currently, he is residing in Boston, writing about food, spirits, and life. Worth checking out, he updates frequently, and writes well. Also, his blog was somewhat inspirational for this.

My Personal LSAT Prep

2009-05-04T18:34:00.008-04:00

The LSAT is a huge part of any prospective law student's consciousness. Most law schools provide a fairly narrow range of LSAT scores accepted into their program each year, and the test is quite daunting. Furthermore, the test has a reputation for chewing up and spitting back out some of the best undergraduate students, which only heightens the sense of anxiety felt when approaching your own test date.

Due to this, many programs exist designed to assist students in preparing for, and hopefully increasing, their score on the LSAT. With so many opinions floating out there, I thought I would add my two cents as someone who has completed the process.

As I began to approach the LSAT, I knew I would need to do some prep work, knowing little of the test prior to deciding I would pursue law school. I quickly discerned four approaches to preparing.

The first was to simply not prepare. Many diagnostic or measurement tests are designed to simply quantify the subjects inherent skills. For example, IQ tests are designed to provide a measure of the taker's intelligence level. Ideally, an IQ test is not something you can study for to increase your score, as many times as you take it you should score the same (the holy grail of test designers, but deeper discussion is outside the range of this post). The SAT was presented in much the same light to me, a measure of your aptitude for college level work. Perhaps, I thought, the LSAT was similar in this regard, it does share three of the same letters with the SAT, doesn't it?

Before you scoff and dismiss this notion as foolishness, I will be very honest and give some background: I am an excellent test taker. I never once prepped for the SAT, and in two sittings scored 1360. I also took the PRAXIS in preparation for a teaching career and scored either perfect or 95th percentile in all sections. Standardized tests are fortunately easy for me.

After quick review of various internet marterials and the LSAC site, I threw this idea out.

The second option was to take an LSAT prep class, such as the one offered by Kaplan or other companies. These promised huge score jumps, money back guarantees, and plenty of practice tests.

I reviewed some classes in my area, but unfortunately they were seeking upwards of $1,200.00 for the class, plus materials. While not completely outside my budget, it would have been a major stretch. Additionally, the hours generally didn't fit well with my 9-5 work schedule. They seemed to be set up with current college students in mind, oddly enough. Although they are probably a great way to boost your score, prep classes did not work for me.

The third option was to hire a private tutor, I had seen advertisements on bulletin boards as an undergrad, and Craigslist had plenty of them as well. This seemed a little risky, as there was no way to verify credentials, but then again, one on one teaching is the best you can get. Additionally, they could get expensive, and probably best fit someone with very specific needs, such as high test anxiety or low diagnostic test scores.

Finally, the fourth option was to LSAT prep books and practice tests. This option seemed highly flexible. It would give me a chance to study when I had time and at my own pace. I could also pick the areas I needed the most work in and focus on those. Online searches revealed the average price to be in the $25.00 to $35.00 range, highly affordable. After a quick trip to the local bookstore, I found that most books contained at least one full length prep test, some had upwards of five!

I will detail more of my strategy in upcoming posts. Please offer feedback on this one so far!

First Post

2009-05-03T23:17:00.001-04:00

Hello!

Welcome to my 'pre' professional blog.

I am an aspiring law student, about to begin attending full time in the Fall. I have been slowly working my way into the Legal world and am finding it full of exciting and helpful people.

Frequently, myself and other prospective students ask "What is the best way to prepare for law school?" The answers I have heard vary only in the smallest degree, but all basically point to simply relaxing and waiting for it to begin.

There are two exceptions, however, that I have heard. The first is to begin immersing yourself in the legal world, which I have done by following various legal blogs and twitter users. The second was to begin a personal blog. I heard this suggested from a few people, and for a few reasons. One was to have a place to vent about law school, including difficulties faced. A second was to have a place to participate in class discussions, even if you did not get a chance to speak in a large lecture. A third was to practice writing by writing more frequently. I have taken this advice, and hope to practice all three here.

I already have a personal (and very private blog) floating out there on the internet, but I hope that this can be a sort of 'professional' place for me to write, and most of my posts will hopefully be helpful or interesting to others. My other blog is mostly random detritus of lolcats and youtube videos, with the occasional web poll or video game rant thrown in. If others do not find it interesting or helpful, that is fine as well, I still hope to practice my writing.

Also, I am going to publicly set a goal for myself right here and now, and that is to update this blog at least once a week with meaningful content!

Without further ado, hello and welcome!