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Messages - Kittenhawk

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Pittsburgh / Re: Where are you buying your books?
« on: August 14, 2005, 07:03:32 PM »
Some are asking if Nathenson would place questions re "A Civil Action" on the final.  I didn't have him for Legal Process (I had Infanti), but I have taken a class with Nathenson.  If part of the exam is multiple choice, it would not surprise me if he put a question on there re A Civil Action.  Most professors would not, but Nathenson might.

Nathenson and Infanti will elicit lots of mixed commentary from 2Ls and 3Ls - I really like Infanti, but he is one of the toughest graders.  Nathenson gave lots of low grades to his Sales class last year - e.g. "Cs", but he curved his Business Orgs class much more generously [he took Business Orgs over for an incapacitated prof midway through the semester].  Not sure how Nathenson will be for Legal Process.

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Pittsburgh / Re: Where are you buying your books?
« on: August 02, 2005, 09:02:05 PM »
Someone here asked me about dictionaries.  I bought Black's and a pocket-sized one (total nerd).  I used them for about 2 weeks and haven't opened them since.

I'm pretty sure one of the legal research engines (Westlaw, I think) has Black's on it, so you can just look up the occasional word you need defined online.




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Pittsburgh / Re: WiFi hotspots
« on: August 02, 2005, 08:58:53 PM »
Yes, I can confirm that the WiFi in the law school is very poor.  You can pretty much only connect in certain areas of the library.  I don't even bother with it anymore.

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Pittsburgh / Re: Where are you buying your books?
« on: July 31, 2005, 10:29:43 AM »
I'm a soon-to-be 3L on law review at Pitt.

I bought all new books my first semester, study aids, and everything - total waste of money.  I now buy off of Amazon, e-bay bidding, and half.com and spend about 1/3 that of my classmates who still go to the bookstore.

(1)  Study Aids:  If you go to campus bookstore, they will try to push these on you.  I have seen this happen for myself and have pulled 1Ls aside and told them the following:
     (a)  Hornbooks - Don't buy them.  The library has them.  The bookstore was particularly bad about pushing the Civil Procedure one on students last year.
     (b)  Outlines - 2Ls and 3Ls will happily give you their outlines or course notes.  The Pitt Law Women's Association (PLWA) stores old outlines online.  I used these quite a bit and found them helpful if I had zoned out in class for a few minutes.  As for commercial outlines, I would honestly wait.  Some people will tell you to wait until October, I would personally wait until you are close to finishing a major component of the course (which could be in September).  Some commercial products are far superior to others.  Many contain errors.  If you want them now for peace-of-mind, I recommend the following:
          (1)  Legal Process:  Glannon's Multiple Choice book and his Examples and Explanations one.  These are the ONLY ones I would recommend getting now and may actually even be required for some legal process classes.
          (2)  Criminal Law:  I didn't use a study aid.
          (3)  Contracts:  Professor Madison had recommended the Concepts and Insights series book (it has a blue cover) for my class, which puts contract principles in plain English.  I'll probably sell mine in a few days. For outlining/learning, some people (myself included) prefer Emanuel's over Examples of Explanations or Gilberts for contracts.
          (4)  Torts:  Glannon's Examples and Explanations.
          (5)  Legal Writing:  Some sections list a book by Diana Hacker.  I bought it, and I've never opened it.  I have the new bluebook, but I ordered it from Harvard's site - it came within 3-4 days.

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Pittsburgh / Re: CLASSES/PROFS
« on: July 24, 2005, 12:35:16 AM »
I'll be a 3L at Pitt this year.  [I'm busy working right now and needed a break, so I checked this board.]

I've had most of the professors listed thus far for at least one class.  None are "Professor Kingsfield" types, but they are a bit rougher on the 1Ls than on the 2Ls and 3Ls (nothing too bad though).  You'll receive mixed commentary from 2Ls and 3Ls about most of them.

Here's my commentary for a couple of the professors listed that I've had:

I would say that Burkoff is one of the most popular professors at the school.  I took his ethics class, and I didn't look up at the clock once the entire semester.  He's extremely engaging.  I have heard good things about him from friends who had him for criminal law.

I had Flannery for legal writing.  The workload is heavier (e.g. 2 open memos instead of one) and the subject matter more challenging (e.g. we wrote a memo assessing CERCLA liability while another section wrote something pertaining to dog bites) for his legal writing class than for the others, but most students who had him seemed to be thankful for it in the end.  I really liked his class, but be prepared to be busy and start working on the large assignments once you receive them.  Flannery is also extremely accessible and very helpful - particularly if you come into his office showing that you've put a lot of thought into a problem and have focused questions.
 

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Pittsburgh / Re: Married and going to Pitt?
« on: April 23, 2005, 10:59:16 PM »
I'm a married Pitt 2L.  I was a bit worried at first as to whether I'd be one of few married students at Pitt.  There is no Married Students club at Pitt, but a lot of students (in my class at least) are married.  In fact, about 1/3 of the students of the journal I'm on are married, and several have (or are expecting) children.  That said, it would have been nice to have that support network as a 1L, so I think an informal club for you guys is a great idea.

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