[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!
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Showing posts with label professors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label professors. Show all posts
Friday, December 26, 2008
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!
**
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!
**
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Too Hot for Cold Calls
One of the things that most, if not all, incoming law students are afraid of at the beginning of first semester is being “cold called” in class. Some people saw the movie “The Paper Chase” or read “1L” [personally, I refused to do either] and determined that professors want students to look stupid or screw up in front of the entire class. Luckily, at my school, that is most certainly not the case – although each professor has a different way of cold calling (or not), they’re generally a good-natured bunch, and the modified Socratic method actually does force you to learn quite a bit (which is good, in a semester where we’re graded pass/fail - or, as the Dean says, "pass/pass").
Each of my four professors has a different method for the use of cold calling. My torts professor, Guido (who S.G. wrote about here), likes to assign a section of the class to be “on call” for each section of cases. Supposedly, people sitting in that section are supposed to be extra-vigilant in their reading so that they’re ready to answer questions…but usually, so many people volunteer that everyone forgets who’s on call in the first place.
My procedure professor expects everyone to be prepared to talk about the reading, but he usually hints as to whom he’s planning to call on during the next class so that those people can be ready. In procedure, we’re often asked to take on the persona of a Supreme Court justice and give our opinion about how we’d have ruled on a particular case – to be put on the spot like that is sometimes scary, but it helps you really understand the underlying legal principles (and it can be fun to pretend to be Scalia or O’Connor...especially when it results in the professor doing impressions of the esteemed justices).
My small group class (with only 15 1L students) is constitutional law. For each day of class, only one person is on call. I’m on call tomorrow: I’m supposed to be the expert on the various affirmative action decisions of the Court. I’m a little worried I’ll get some of the dissenting opinions mixed up, but our professor isn't too aggressive, and the seminar style of the class means that everyone pitches in to help you out if you’re not sure of an answer – small group love.
In contracts, my professor calls on just one or two people a day, out of the blue – no warning. Today I ended up being on call for AN HOUR AND A HALF, and it went just fine since I’d done the reading. Talking with the professor about the arguments in the case definitely made me focus on the most important points, even if it meant that I was too busy participating in class that I didn’t get to take notes. [And, a friend of mine, who heard that I'd been put on call, decided it'd be funny to frantically gchat me for the entire time...hilarious.] Luckily, my small group members (with whom I have all my classes) sent me notes before I even left class...as the work piles on, we're realizing that it's a good idea to stick together to get stuff done. Speaking of work...back to my brief (due Monday! eek!)...
Each of my four professors has a different method for the use of cold calling. My torts professor, Guido (who S.G. wrote about here), likes to assign a section of the class to be “on call” for each section of cases. Supposedly, people sitting in that section are supposed to be extra-vigilant in their reading so that they’re ready to answer questions…but usually, so many people volunteer that everyone forgets who’s on call in the first place.
My procedure professor expects everyone to be prepared to talk about the reading, but he usually hints as to whom he’s planning to call on during the next class so that those people can be ready. In procedure, we’re often asked to take on the persona of a Supreme Court justice and give our opinion about how we’d have ruled on a particular case – to be put on the spot like that is sometimes scary, but it helps you really understand the underlying legal principles (and it can be fun to pretend to be Scalia or O’Connor...especially when it results in the professor doing impressions of the esteemed justices).
My small group class (with only 15 1L students) is constitutional law. For each day of class, only one person is on call. I’m on call tomorrow: I’m supposed to be the expert on the various affirmative action decisions of the Court. I’m a little worried I’ll get some of the dissenting opinions mixed up, but our professor isn't too aggressive, and the seminar style of the class means that everyone pitches in to help you out if you’re not sure of an answer – small group love.
In contracts, my professor calls on just one or two people a day, out of the blue – no warning. Today I ended up being on call for AN HOUR AND A HALF, and it went just fine since I’d done the reading. Talking with the professor about the arguments in the case definitely made me focus on the most important points, even if it meant that I was too busy participating in class that I didn’t get to take notes. [And, a friend of mine, who heard that I'd been put on call, decided it'd be funny to frantically gchat me for the entire time...hilarious.] Luckily, my small group members (with whom I have all my classes) sent me notes before I even left class...as the work piles on, we're realizing that it's a good idea to stick together to get stuff done. Speaking of work...back to my brief (due Monday! eek!)...
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Can Men Be a Part of Law Women?
Over the past week or so, we've been bombarded with invitations to participate in various activities: secondary journals, pro-bono legal assistance projects, volunteer projects, mentorship programs, ethnic/religious affiliation groups, music & drama clubs...the list goes on and on, and at a big university, there are also myriad things to get involved with in the other graduate & professional schools. Next Saturday, I'm participating in a Day of Service event, where I'll be helping with a community art project at the city's public library. Helping people = good. Getting up at 8am on a Saturday to do it = hardest part of the day, I predict.
In any case, quick update: WE FINALLY HAVE INTERNET SERVICE. After a bazillion hours on the phone with a very nice woman named Denise, we finally have uninterrupted, legally-gotten DSL in our apartment. Thank goodness. We were about to go crazy. We quite seriously contemplated telecommunication terrorism in the form of pulling all the other apartments' cable/Internet wires from the central hook-up, just to incentivize their servicemen to actually come to our building to set up our service. Luckily, before that happened, the red light magically turned green - and here we are, 100% more connected to the world, 85% less productive than before, at least as far as law school reading goes.
In the process of getting situated and choosing from among the various groups open to us, I've found myself in a very troubling place. Suddenly, the academic workload, at least as far as time out of class goes (for reading or whatever) is head and shoulders above what I've ever experienced before, at least if I want to actually understand anything that's being written. Why can't law scholars write like scientists?!?!? I never thought I'd actively miss reading science journals, but here. I. am.
The problem arises then: What to sign up for? What to commit to? What to pass on this time [unfortunately, in the midst of the Internet debacle, I wasn't able to apply in time for one thing I had kind of wanted to do...maybe it was just a sign that I'd be over-extending myself??]?
If there's one thing we've learned so far, it's this general rule: Don't rule out anything that offers free food. Luckily, almost every single symposium, lecture, and student group meeting offers lunch or dinner - if you're lucky, it's of the non-pizza variety. I've made or bought food maybe once during the past academic week, and I probably won't need to for the rest of this week or next, based on my current plan. Best of all, at this point, since most of the student group meetings are just informational, there's no commitment, and still - lots of free food.
One group for which there was literally no commitment: Law Women's annual welcome dinner. All you had to do was be a woman. That was easy! We all got on buses and drove to a professor's house out in the suburbs...there was great food, good drinks, and fabulous dessert - just for having been born into (or, you know, currently claiming membership in) the near-half of the population that is female.
Great quote from the dinner:
"When you're sitting in class, not saying anything out loud, and some *guy* raises his hand and says something stupid, you're probably thinking, 'That's wrong!' Well, let me tell you, we professors are thinking he's saying something idiotic, too! We just can't say it. So, please, raise your hand and point out his stupidity!" - Host Professor
*
In any case, quick update: WE FINALLY HAVE INTERNET SERVICE. After a bazillion hours on the phone with a very nice woman named Denise, we finally have uninterrupted, legally-gotten DSL in our apartment. Thank goodness. We were about to go crazy. We quite seriously contemplated telecommunication terrorism in the form of pulling all the other apartments' cable/Internet wires from the central hook-up, just to incentivize their servicemen to actually come to our building to set up our service. Luckily, before that happened, the red light magically turned green - and here we are, 100% more connected to the world, 85% less productive than before, at least as far as law school reading goes.
In the process of getting situated and choosing from among the various groups open to us, I've found myself in a very troubling place. Suddenly, the academic workload, at least as far as time out of class goes (for reading or whatever) is head and shoulders above what I've ever experienced before, at least if I want to actually understand anything that's being written. Why can't law scholars write like scientists?!?!? I never thought I'd actively miss reading science journals, but here. I. am.
The problem arises then: What to sign up for? What to commit to? What to pass on this time [unfortunately, in the midst of the Internet debacle, I wasn't able to apply in time for one thing I had kind of wanted to do...maybe it was just a sign that I'd be over-extending myself??]?
If there's one thing we've learned so far, it's this general rule: Don't rule out anything that offers free food. Luckily, almost every single symposium, lecture, and student group meeting offers lunch or dinner - if you're lucky, it's of the non-pizza variety. I've made or bought food maybe once during the past academic week, and I probably won't need to for the rest of this week or next, based on my current plan. Best of all, at this point, since most of the student group meetings are just informational, there's no commitment, and still - lots of free food.
One group for which there was literally no commitment: Law Women's annual welcome dinner. All you had to do was be a woman. That was easy! We all got on buses and drove to a professor's house out in the suburbs...there was great food, good drinks, and fabulous dessert - just for having been born into (or, you know, currently claiming membership in) the near-half of the population that is female.
Great quote from the dinner:
"When you're sitting in class, not saying anything out loud, and some *guy* raises his hand and says something stupid, you're probably thinking, 'That's wrong!' Well, let me tell you, we professors are thinking he's saying something idiotic, too! We just can't say it. So, please, raise your hand and point out his stupidity!" - Host Professor
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