Law School Discussion

I love this type of encouragement



Cuz im scared to death

If you're scared now, wait till the professor unleashes his evil-death zombies to eat your brains. 

Oh wait, that never happens.  Enjoy the other stuff and don't worry. It's tough, but so is everything in life worth it's weight in kibbel.

Anyone (not 1L's) have their first assignments posted yet? I don't have mine and I'm getting antsy.

You need to know how to take a step back, take a deep breath, and dive back in to the pile of *&^% to fish out the nugget of truth.   

Quote from: dandlewood on August 06, 2007, 11:26:17 AM

That's good, Brain.  Whatever keeps you sane is the best solution  .  To be helpful, and since classes start in a week or two, here's some additional advice:

You should know what your classes are by now. If you're someone who learns through structure, I recommend doing an online search for outlines for those classes.  These should have nothing to do with your own outlines, but if you read through them a couple time you will be familiar with key terms and ideas as they pop up in your class.   Don't treat it like a sutra and don't go nuts.  Just get familiar with ideas and terminology.

Good call--unfortunately, we don't find out our section assignments until the 17th. I wonder if they do that to make sure that eager students scoop up all the used books before others have a chance to get them. I've been thinking about skimming the E&Es, though. Too much detail in those, or is that what you had in mind?

I'd say way too much.  I made the mistakes of reading through a contracts E & E the summer before 1L.  I had to relearn what I read in the context of how my prof wanted me to learn the information.  Reading a generic outline will acclimate you to important information without imposing a sense of "this is the right way".  That way if your prof gives you different information or a slightly different take on it, it's easier to sculpt that general definition that you learned earlier into what you need it to be for your exam.   

The best outlines to look at keep things relatively simple.  Also, unless you have conlaw 1st semester, don't look at a con law outline until you have at least 1/2 semester of 1L under your belt.

I would start with a torts outline.  Torts is a relatively simple class to grasp since it's easy to outline.  I.E. Torts broken down into intentional/negligence. Intentional torts are: Battery, Assault, Trespass, etc. Elements of Battery are, Intentional, touch, etc.

When you take an exam, the professor is not only looking for you to spot which legal issue is at issue, but also the elements of each issue.  I.E.


"Paul walked down the street and when no one was looking, entered Marks Home. Unlike usual weekdays, Mark was home instead of work because he wasn't feeling well.  Seeing a stranger enter his home, and being afraid, Mark yelled for Paul to leave and when he didn't, started to head towards his living room to get his gun.  Paul, fearing Mark was going to call the police, struck Mark on the head and knocked him out."

Ok, so you would have to identify the torts:
Trespass
Battery

Then you would break down the elements of each tort, I.E. Why it was a trespass.  I think in most situations, the teacher would also like to know why it isn't an assault (the answer is because Mark didn't see it coming, but you would have to phrase it more like, "This isn't an assault.  An assault is an intentional act which gives rise to fear of an imminent battery. Because Mark did not know Paul was going to batter him, it is not an assault." 

Hope this was helpful.

If you're preparing for 1L, the best thing you can do is relax. You'll have enough reading once class starts and it's actually pretty simple as far as what you have to do. Listen, respond, retain. Then, for the final, reproduce what you've learned in a meaningful way.  Stress is the #1 enemy. The only class I've done bad in was my 1L civ pro class and it was because I was panicking about taking my 1st law school exam.  If you feel it absolutely necessary to read, read either 1L or getting to maybe. They're pretty light reading. And take 1L with a grain of salt as the legal education landscape has changed significantly since it was written.