Law School Discussion

Tulane is awesome in that you can study the civil code which is used in Europe and the Middle East moreso than common law. That said, I will take contracts I...but what's important about Contracts II (because I would prefer to take Obligations I (civil course)).

Also, common law property versus civil law property. I hear property sucks most of all 1L courses so of the two, which is easier/more interesting/more fun?

J Wilder...Georgetown for sure. You want to be in DC....especially if you plan to get involved in government.

I'm going to tulane Fall 2013. Looking for roommates!

I'm currently an officer recruiter for the navy, so take heed to what I say:

There are two ways to become a JAG (actually 3):
Direct Accession (i.e. you have your J.D. and valuable experience)
JAG Student (you're a law student in good standing, great grades, good LSAT score, great letters of recommendation, and a plump resume)

The other is for active duty officers. It is a funded law program for officers not past their 6th anniversary as an officer. The army and the navy have one. I do not know if the AF offers a funded program for its officers.

With current active duty service, you do not qualify for the LEP (navy) FLEP (army) programs.

Applying for JAG student comes with no commitment...and no money...you are simply chosen early on as a great officer candidate. When you graduate, complete medical/security qualification, you go to OCS in Newport, RI for 13 weeks (officer version of boot camp which is only 8 weeks) then to the Navy Justice School in Newport, RI. I don't know how long that is.

You graduate OCS as a LTJG and promote within 6 months to LT

I'm a big advocate of having a good outline of a course before you start. Having all of the BASIC legal rules mapped out gives you the ability to read the cases more for nuance than to glean a rule. This allows you to focus on the contours of the rules, which are most likely to be tested on exams, during your basic reading and class prep.

I would not recommend reading cases or treatises prior to law school, though. Get a good commercial outline like Emmanuels or a the Examples & Explanations. Even the Glannon Guide is great. You basically want a broad overview of a subject with some hypos to show you how the material is applied. Make a basic course outline of major themes or rules from this material. This way, you can modify the outline on a weekly basis to incorporate what you actually study in class. The prime advantage of this is that by exam week, you will have memorized your outline from periodic review and the intense review during dead week. I think that is your best prep strategy. By November of your first semester, you want to be working mostly on practice exams. Dead week should be spent almost exclusively on practice exams. If you can do ten practice exams per final, you'll probably get an A or very close. It's just a matter of seeing all the different ways a particular question can be tested and getting practice at analyzing those fact patterns.

Law school exams are alot like fighting: you can know everything there is to know about boxing, but if you don't actually get into the ring and spar, you'll never be a good fighter. Think of class prep as speed bag, heavy bag, or road work. Those things don't make a fighter, but you can't be a fighter without them. They give you the skills necessary to succeed at sparring. Sparring is where you learn to fight. Class prep helps you get the tools to do well on an exam, but class prep alone won't help you on an exam. You'll need to get lots of practice exams in. So, you're prep before a semester should be geared to allowing you to get the most amount of time during the semester to work on practice exams. Having a good outline beforehand will help. Memorizing that outline as you go will help. If you can spend the majority of time in November, outside of what is absolutely necessary for class prep and/or legal writing assignments, on practice exams, you'll be in the best position to succeed on a final exam.

If I have the Law in a flash cards (also Emmanual products) do I need to get the Outline book as well. I feel like the material will be the same.