Friday, December 26, 2008

Semester's End: Reading

[This is the 2nd in a series of "First semester 1L wrap-up" posts...]

Last year, when the idea of law school was still kind of foreign (I'd taken the LSAT in October, and I applied in early-mid November), everyone that I talked to about law school generally reacted in one of three ways: "Wow, that's great," (generally, random people who found the idea of law school to be somehow prestigious or mythical) - "Of course," (generally, people who already were in law school, or knew me through a particularly law-oriented extra-curricular activity) - or, "Good luck. I hear it's a lot of reading."

Here's the truth: law school IS a lot of reading. That is, it WOULD BE a lot of reading, if I did it all. Which I don't. Thank goodness.

I found in college (if not earlier) that one of my greatest skills is to somehow understand what a teacher's expectations are, insofar as reading or class participation or test answers go...and then, to perform at that level, or slightly above, but not to over-exert myself unnecessarily. As a doctrine I've since religiously adopted, it tends to get me what I want (a good grade, a pretty deep level of understanding) without the burden of stressing over school work all the time.

I thought maybe I'd turn over a new leaf in law school. You know - read everything. Underline. Or highlight in various colors, for different parts of case law (facts = blue, holding = pink, etc.). Take notes in the margins. [I did NONE of these things systematically in college.] This new system worked, for all of three days. Maybe. [NB: I might have had more motivation to keep it up had we actually been graded on our work this semester. But, uh...no.]

Since then, I found that by the end of the semester I was really only comprehensively reading regularly for (maybe) two classes. [It is no coincidence that those were the two classes where it was at least marginally possible that I'd get called on during any given class session.] I had, in the mean time, become well-acquainted with three of a law student's best friends: Lexis Nexis headnotes (short summaries of the major points in a given case, available online in seconds), Wikipedia (mostly for constitutional law cases - I mean, c'mon...do I *really* need to read that Scalia dissent?), and a good ole Google search. In a pinch, those tools and a few minutes before class (or, a few seconds in class) can pretty much get you what you need to know in order to survive a 2-hour class session. I'm not ashamed that a quick, strategic search plus CTRL+F saved my classmates and I from literally "seventeen minutes of silence" in small group a few weeks back.

So go ahead, call me a slacker. But selectively NOT doing my reading has made law school a ton more enjoyable. I've been able to spend a lot of time getting to know my classmates, and getting involved in extra-curricular activities that I otherwise wouldn't have, had I decided to dedicate myself completely to my studies. Sure, I've got a bit of catching up to do before exams (but I am certainly NOT the worst among my classmates, some of whom haven't been to a certain early-morning class in two months)...but (hopefully) it's nothing a few hardcore days of studying and a few outlines won't be able to solve.

Happy Holidays!

***

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Semester's End: Small Group & Social Stuff

[Note: I'm going to try to do a series of semester-end reflection posts...we'll see how that goes...]

We've come to the end of classes for the semester [like Cat, we also have exams in January, which at this point seems pretty distant - it's next YEAR], and I don't think I could be any happier. I am always really into the holidays, and although New Haven hasn't yet (but might tonight?) been blanketed in sparkly snow that sticks, there's a lot of cheer to go around.

On Monday, my small group (the 15 1Ls with whom I take all my classes, plus our two 3L TAs, and our professor) assembled at our professor's house to mark the end of the semester and our time together...after today, there likely won't be any case when all 15 of us are in the same class again. (Tear!) We had dinner & drinks and had many versions of the following conversation/question stream:

"When are you going home?"
"Where are you going for break?"
"What classes are you going to take next semester?"
"What're we gonna do the rest of the week [now that we can blow off the last few days of class]? Who's having a party?"
"What're we gonna do without each other?!?"

It's really amazing how close we've become in the past 3 1/2 months, so it was nice to see everyone in a relaxed social environment one last time before break. As our professor snapped candid photographs of everyone, a couple people surprised the rest of the group by announcing special "awards" - "Best use of Latin in class," "Best in-class 'save' when nobody knew what the professor was asking," "Best future governor," etc. There were lots of inside jokes, a couple cheap shots, and tons of laughter. We gave our TAs and our professor some "thanks for being awesome" booze, and they closed with some loving/awww-inspring warm & fuzzy thoughts.

We left our professor's house and went to one of our small group member's apartment for the after-party. There was lots of good wine, free-flowing conversation, and (as the wine began to flow freely) some bad jokes. We were also lucky enough to have our friend break out his guitar and serenade us for a while, after which it became a sing-along. All-in-all, a totally awesome night with some of my favorite people at YLS.

Last night, after most everyone was done with classes, there was a big joint birthday party for three of our classmates at the VIP room inside Toad's (generally, Toad's is kind of townie/sketchy, but the VIP room - Lilly's Pad - was surprisingly nice). [Earlier in the night, I'd gone to a smaller dinner party hosted in one of the birthday girls' honor...the food was fantastic, and the company was even better.] At the big party, people had baked cakes/cupcakes, and someone else played iPod DJ. While the atmosphere was really different than my small group's party on Monday, it was totally awesome - it was great to see a bunch of people before they left town, and people were generally in a fairly nostalgic "I love law school! I love you!" mood. We'll see if that holds up once exams roll around....

***

Monday, December 15, 2008

Examing

So, classes are done and the real work now begins - studying for exams. Unlike SB, our first semester isn't pass/pass. We have actual gradations (although far fewer of them than 1L's here last year.) I'm trying to make a plan. I'm trying to stay out of vacation mode, in which I watch 7 hours of Law and Order a day. I'm trying to keep my apartment clean, myself in reasonably good health and shape, and my family happy. I know, I know....grossly unrealistic.

No one will tell us what the grading curve will be, which I think is actually decreasing anxiety. One of our professors has said that between 40-10% of us will get honors, and another has said that only 3/80 will. Of course, that same professor mentioned that if he announced he was only giving out one "H", that would be enough for your average HLS student to fight for it. I'm not 100% sure that he's wrong. Overall, my classmates seem remarkably calm about the prospect of exams. Of course, that may well change once we get closer to the actual exam date.

On a non-school note, the holidays are here! I'm (unsuccessfully) trying to figure out how to buy Christmas presents for all my three zillion relatives with a law-student income. I tried hard to figure out a place to put a very very tiny Christmas tree in my very very very tiny apartment, but no luck. I think I may go with the "Christmas bush" option instead. Or maybe just a wreath. Hmm...these decisions suddenly seem so much more important than exams....

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Not-so-Secretly Scavenging

What recession? The much-discussed economic downturn has resulted in some uncertainty about summer jobs...those who want to work in the private sector are being encouraged to spread their net as widely as possible, pulling some geographic strings if possible; those who were thinking public sector/government/non-profit work are suddenly faced with more competition for their spots as previously firm-oriented people look elsewhere for employment. We're blessed to be a bit more isolated than perhaps students at some other schools, and certainly nobody is reaching panic mode yet, but it's still a little disconcerting to find what might be the perfect opportunity, only to be told "Sorry, we can't hire 1Ls this year." Bah humbug! So the search continues...

One thing that's not lacking - even as endowments spiral south - is free food. I have to admit to being a bit spoiled in that regard. In my pre-law school life, I never cooked all that much (because I didn't have to in college, and because I went out to eat a lot in "the real world"), so I came in anticipating the need to sharpen my culinary skills (to save money, etc.). I was sad to be moving somewhere far away from my beloved Whole Foods, but I figured Trader Joe's was a fair substitute. I was pumped to make use of my pots and pans.

I'd heard, of course, that law school was basically a non-cook's dream - free food at lectures and lunch presentations and dinner meetings and weekend conferences. But I was planning to reserve judgment: I'd also heard that an awful lot of these free food opportunities featured pizza. New Haven pizza. Let's be clear - New Haven pizza & I have a complicated relationship. And by that, I mean that the last three times I ate pizza here before starting school, I threw up. So lots of pizza would be like lots of brussel sprouts: the equivalent of no edible food. And a renewed requirement that I procure my own sustenance.

Truth: there IS a lot of pizza. But people have gotten smart: students get tired of pizza. You have to offer something else if you really want people to show up to a non-obligatory event. In New Haven, that means food from any number of Thai, Indian, Mediterranean, Chinese, or Italian places. Every day, there are numerous lunch events that offer free food, usually to accompany a visiting speaker or a career panel. At dinner time, it's inevitable that two or three school-wide emails go out alerting people to the presence of leftovers from club events - you don't even have to go to the event to get food! A few entrepreneurial 3Ls bring tupperware and stock up for later. Smarties.

Today I had TWO scrumptious free Indian meals: lunch at Thali Too and dinner from Sitar. Lunch was courtesy of the Dean of Student Affairs, who took a small group of us 1Ls out to lunch to see how the semester was going. The food was so good, I didn't really want to go back to school for con law (it became pretty obvious that none of us really wanted to be there/we'd all been out late together last night when halfway through class people stopped talking...but I guess such is the case the day after oral arguments?). For dinner, I had the pleasure of hosting a small group dinner with a handful of fellow YLS women and one of my favorite new-to-YLS professors; he came over to my apartment and talked to us about his experience when he was in school here and what it's like being a professor. He asked us all what we want to do with our lives, and kept us entertained all night with jokes and stories. Best part about hosting the dinner: I got to keep the tasty leftovers. Yum!

**

Monday, December 8, 2008

Closing Out the Semester

At long last: five days until the end of classes this semester! It's a little surreal to think that only a few months ago we were brand new 1L's, and now we're about to finish up classes for this half of the year. Some of my section-mates and I were amazed the other day at the amount of stuff they've managed to cram into our heads over the course of the fall. I don't know that we've learned to think like lawyers yet, but we've certainly learned to think like law students (i.e. study...alcohol...sleep...coffee...repeat).* Just this morning I was reading this article in the NYT, and I thought "I DO know what declaring force majeure means when you want to break a contract!"

Of course, the semester is not quite over. We still have 22 days until exams. People have been complaining about this like mad. I can understand why no one wants to study over their holiday break, but I definitely prefer not to have to take my exams right now. I need a VERY lengthy session with my Property book, and I can't imagine hammering that session into the crazitude that's been the last month.

*Although in the interests of full disclosure, I rarely drink more than a glass of wine in one sitting anymore, and I usually go to bed by 10pm. Yes, I am a little old lady, but learning the law makes me really tired!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Procrastination Playlist

My revised "final" brief is due in 16 hours, 'flexibly.' [One weird thing about YLS is that deadlines/rules seem not to exist. Students freely hand in papers hours, days, weeks, semesters, even years late (I know one 3L who has a paper outstanding from two years ago, and he's in no rush to finish it)...and professors don't bat an eye. Deadlines, in other words, seem pretty false. Especially this semester (pass/fail grading in all classes): if we hand in a brief "late," what are they going to do - fail us??] Let's just say that I'm far from finished with my revisions. I may have just spent a few hours shopping online/cleaning my room/hanging out pre-Bar Review with some fellow 1Ls. And I took a gloriously long nap this afternoon. As I mentioned to someone at dinner earlier tonight, basically any incentive structure I may have had coming into this semester is kaput.

After ushering my friends out the door under the guise of "briefing," I sat down to do some edits. And failed. In the interest of further procrastination, I thought: "Well, I guess I could write a blog post..." but I had really no idea what to write about. So I present to you the playlist that's been on loop for me the past few days. A great sorta-hipster friend of mine sent me (via snail mail! it still exists!) a mix CD of some of her newest favorites...and I, trusting her hipster taste, have been bopping along ever since [NB: I'm not a huge fan of ALL of the songs below, but making a playlist is an art, I'm told, so I'm presenting it here in full...].

1. My Dick - Mickey Avalon
2. Way Too Much - Chromeo
3. Many Moons - Janelle Monae
4. Something/Blue Jay Way - The Beatles
5. Fake Palindromes - Andrew Bird
6. If You Fall - Azure Ray
7. If She Wants Me - Belle & Sebastian
8. It's Not You It's Me - Coconut Records
9. The Wildfire - Mando Diao
10. Before I Fall to Pieces - Razorlight
11. Tired of Being Sorry - Ringside
12. You Were Always the One - The Cribs
13. Dropkick Queen of the Weekend - The Dudes
14. Skull and Bones - The Ordinary Boys
15. Old Enough - The Raconteurs
16. Either Way - Wilco
17. A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
18. Ayo Technology - Milew
19. Tenderoni - Chromeo
20. Forever Lost - The Magic Numbers
21. All 'Cause of You - The 88

And now, back to "edits"...

**