Midterm Explosion

justifiablyblonde.blogspot.com

I honestly don't even know where to begin. My intention was to keep up with blogging as I tackled the first semester of my 1L year but it quickly proved that I barely have time to remember if I ate breakfast or not. But I just finished midterms last week and I think there are a lot of lessons learned that should be shared and some great insights that I can give.

We are now at starting week 8 in the fall semester and so far law school has been

Different

Challenging

Rewarding

Stressful

Exciting

Frustrating 

Different in the sense that it is nothing like undergrad.... those nights of cramming all that information in your head about the material or starting your paper a day or two before it is due are longggggggg gone. Organization is key so make a schedule and stick to it. This has been one of my weaknesses and something I am trying to tackle.. the beginning of my week starts out strong but by Thursday night I am drained and my focus starts to fade. I think it is important to take a day off from all the law school madness and just do something that I enjoy doing whether it be going out with friends or staying in and binge watching netflix... me time is important. It keeps me sane and lets me refocus.

Law school is hard... its supposed to be or else everyone and their mother would join in on the law school train and pass with flying colors. But the challenge is rewarding when things start to click in place. Its week 8 and things are JUST starting to click.. some things - like contracts - are taking a bit longer than I was hoping and for me that is beyond frustrating. Im the typically one that forces myself to learn it until I know it because I cannot deal with not understanding things.. it makes me feel dumb. These first 8 weeks have really changed my view on learning in the sense that I've had to accept that its not going to click right away. Its going to take time and practice in order for that light bulb to light up and when it does, or even when it starts to flicker, its such a good feeling to be able to say "okay, I'm starting to get it" or "I KNOW THAT".

Law school is exciting yet the most frustrating thing. Time management is key and I have definitely been slacking in that area. I plan ahead and fall behind and that becomes extremely stressful. Sometimes its simply because we don't get to things in class other times its because one class is pulling for my attention more than another so things get slightly pushed to the back burner until the weekend. BUT MAKE SURE YOU CATCH UP. For example, I had a midterm this week for one of my classes but it was my strongest class. Unfortunately on top of the stress to take our first law school midterms we all still had classes to attend and readings to do.. some of my professors actually included material from this week on their exams. I focused my attention on the two classes that I have been struggling with the most, did the readings, looked over my outlines, completed hypos. Although for the class I am doing well in, the class readings for the week were not my priority unfortunately.. but this was ONLY because

A) class was canceled one day this week so that took out a good chunk of class prep work AND more importantly

B) the material from this week was NOT going to be on the exam.

The downside to me doing this was having to do the reading over the weekend on top of all my assignments for next week but that is the price I chose to pay.

MIDTERMS - one word that brings out too many emotions.

I don't think I have ever been so overwhelmed in my 19 years of schooling. In undergrad 80% of the time I had other assignments or mini quizzes that lead up to the midterm so I knew what to expect. I had absolutely no idea what I was to expect when walking into any of my midterms last week other than that

Contracts was a 3 hour exam & not graded

Torts - 1hour and 45 min. & 20% of overall grade

Civ Pro - 2 hours, 20% of overall grade

Contracts

My first midterm was for contracts. I thought to myself there is absolutely no way I will be here for that full 3 hours because thats just insane. WRONG. SOOOOOOO WRONG. The time started ticking and the next thing you know the proctor was informing us that we had 15 minutes left. Thankfully I was almost done with my last question but I couldn't believe that I had been there for the full three hours.

Torts 

If contracts had been graded that would have been the test I was concerned for the most, but because it wasn't my entire focus was on this exam.... It was an hour and 45 minute exam with two fact patterns - one was 4 pages long the other was 3 so by the time I was done reading the dang fact patterns I could barely plan out my answers. I was flustered but I got through it... hopefully I didn't miss too many points but I believe that I did hit the main ones.

Civ Pro

Okay so I love love love civ pro and I think that is mainly because my professor is absolutely wonderful. I was the least nervous about this exam until I read over the fact pattern and saw the question. The question had us take what we had been doing and rather than arguing for the topic, we had to argue against it. I pounded out the first 4 pieces with no issue proving as to why the court couldn't show personal jurisdiction.... then it came to the last option and I got beyond flustered. In my head all I kept thinking was "BUT THIS ISSSSSSSSSSSS SPECIFIC JURISDICTION.. HOW THE HECK AM I SUPPOSED TO FLIP THE ARGUMENT?!" but the point of the question was to say how it wasn't... I walked out of the exam more flustered than ever because I would have never thought to prepare by arguing the opposite side. 

One huge piece of advice that I think is perfect to give right this second is when you walk out of an exam either tune out what every one else chose to write about or take what they did for answers with a grain of salt. The first two exams I took it with a grain of salt but after civ pro I had a total freak out after listening to one of my classmates talking about how they included something that I did not. At the end of the day, you can do anything about it at that point. People are going to have different answers and you really won't know what you did right or wrong until you get the exam back so DONT LET YOURSELF GET WORKED UP. All it will do is cause you a minor panic attack and you've got enough on your plate to worry about. 

If theres one thing to remember when it comes to midterms, if you have the, is to just give it your all. For most, they won't count as a huge piece of your grade so it is a great way to see where you are at, how you can improve, what is working for you and what it is not. Its also the only way you are going to know what your professor's exam will be like so TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. Breathe, study and put in your best effort and it will be okay.

Catching Up... Literately.

justifiablyblonde.blogspot.com

The original plan was to blog after my first day of classes and then first week... well the first day went by in the blink of an eye and before I knew it Monday of week 2 was starting so instead I'm putting it all in one simple post. Be prepared to answer the question of "so how is your first day / week going" about 100+ times. But my answer changes as much as my clothes do buttt if I were to sum up week one/two I'd say:

Contracts = the devil

Cold Calling isn't that bad

Eat. Breathe. Sleep. Law School.

Skimming the readings does cut it.

Stressed out has a whole new meaning

ORGANIZE ORGANIZE ORGANIZE

Starting week two I was frazzled, in fact I had my first of many break downs on my way home the other day. I actually called my best friend and told her that I didn't know if I was actually cut  out for all this. A lotttttt of the stress is coming from one things - Contracts. It''s completely stressing me out.. I'm not understanding the material and I feel like everyone and there mother is at least getting some of it and I'm sitting there like a deer in headlights praying the professor doesn't call on me to answer anything but the facts cause.... "What in the world am I looking at" is really all that goes through my head for the entire hour and twenty minutes of class. I think what throws me off the most is my professor goes through it so quickly.. the first five minutes of class we are reviewing allllllllll the material from last class and then he hops from one thing to the next. I barely have enough time to take notes because we can only do so through hand written notes, no laptops are allowed. This really gets me going because half the time I start writing down an important point and he is already on to the next important point before I get the first one down. So I'm stuck with a half written important point... because thats helpful. The other thing that drives me nuts is that the professor confuses himself. Last class he skipped and entire case without realizing it and then started mixing the facts from the case we were working on with the one we skipped.. writing that out is even confusing. By the end of that class I was so flustered and the thought of sitting down to read for contracts just got riled me right up. Everything else besides that has honestly been okay. Law school is do-able. Its an adjustment, and by adjustment I mean take everything you did in undergrad and flip it on its head... but its an adjustment that once it all clicks and you get into a return you will be okay. 

Read, then re-read and then re-read again.

In undergrad I could get away with reading what was required, taking some quick notes and know that I'd be okay in class because we would just talk about the readings. Reading cases one time through isn't enough... I think I've read each of the assigned cases for contracts about 3 times before I understood what was going on. Re-reading helps you understand what is going on better, it lets you catch any details you missed and prepares you for class and hypos. Here's an example of what my book looks like after I've read through it a couple of times.

justifiablyblonde.blogspot.com

Skimming won't cut it. For example, one of my peers was called on in class the other day.. they put their head down and began flipping through the book. The professor waited for a few minutes, in silence before moving onto the next person. It was obvious they hadn't done the reading.. or if they did, they didn't pay attention to it.  Save yourself the oh shit moment and stay on top of things. 

Cold Calling

So far cold calling or the "socratic method" hasn't been as bad as I had anticipated. Both my Civ Pro & Torts professor let our class know when students will be "on call" (any questions are directed to you). Civ Pro actually goes by row. This week was actually my week to be on call, whats nice is that there was 6 of us. If one of us didn't know the answer, our "co-counsel" could assist. It has all made cold calling become less threatening and I actually really enjoyed it. It made the class go quicker & the material easier to understand buttttt if I was on call for contracts I would have easily been freaking out because lets be honest...all I understand in that class is the Facts of the cases. 

Law School = Life

To sum up the last couple of points I made, the thing that I have been struggling with is staying organized so I can  stay ahead of the game. When I say Eat. Breathe. Sleep Law School.. I mean exactly that. If I'm not doing something for one class, it's for another. The syllabi constantly changes for some classes and other we stick right too it, so that can be confusing at times - There was one time this week where I didn't look at my syllabi close enough for torts and missed a reading... I got to class and the professor began talking about it. I was confused.. and then terrified I would be called on.. While its important to keep up with your readings and get ahead if you can, kind in mind that getting too far ahead could bite you in the butt if your class does fall behind like my torts one has.

I have noticed though that these last couple of days I have been so tired that reading at any time past like 7 just hasn't allowed me to retain anything - night time would more or so be a good time for me to review/ prep for the following days classes or work on my outlines. So starting this week, I am going to wake up an hour earlier than I have been (I get to campus an hour early as is) so that I can really get reading done. These past two weeks has been trial and error && figuring out what works for me and what doesn't. 

I think the best thing you can do for yourself though is take time for yourself. You're probably sitting here thinking.. she just said stay organized, stay on top of readings that can take you forever, etc etc. But if you don't take time for yourself you'll burn out and you've worked far too hard to burn out. So take some time for yourself, either be by yourself like I sometimes need, have a night out with friends, family or a significant other - whatever it is that gives you that "you time" do it. you'll be blessed stressed, more focused and overall happier.

Tips for Starting Your 1L year - The 1L & 2L Perspective.

I'm really excited about this post because it has been in the making for some time now. It's the first, and definitely not the last, collaborative piece on Justifiably Blonde. It was such a pleasure to work with Nikki and together I believe we have really hit the nail on the head with some great tips for the beginning of your 1L year. So here is a little about my co-author for today's post..

This is Nikki,  the gal behind the posts on Brazen and Brunette

Find more from Nikki & other bloggers on our pinterest board!

School: Texas Tech -  2L
Undergrad: Texas Tech
Major: Spanish
Minors: Legal Studies & Poli. Sci.

As a 1L, everything is fresh! It’s a clean slate when it comes to academics but that doesn’t mean that you can just glide through 1L year. It’s actually the complete opposite. It’s time to buckle down and give it your all, all the time. One thing to keep in mind is that law school – studying, class prep, note taking, outlining, reading, briefing, etc. – is entirely subjective. You have to do what works for you & keep in mind that what may be successful for your peer – say studying with a flash cards – may not be what successful for you – you do better with outlines. In this post, the authors of Brazen and Brunette (BB) & Justifiably Blonde (JB) have teamed up to give our readers advice, from a 1L & 2L perspective, on how to prepare for the years to come.

What does a typical schedule look like?

JB: Here is my class schedule for the fall semester:

I’m someone that needs a set schedule for everything, so once my schedule was released, I started to plan out how I wanted the week to look. For example, MWF are great days for me to get all my work done since my class load is light. But one thing that really stuck with me from orientation was making sure that I take time for myself- ex: A stress reliever for me is the gym, MWF will be good days to not only get work done, but also take time to do that. Another thing that my mentor suggested was taking a day completely off from law school. I like this idea and I want to fit it into my schedule to help me wind down at the end of the week. 

Syllabi – More than just a piece of paper with the class policy. 

JB: First and foremost - PRINT THEM OUT. The first thing I did when my syllabi were released was print them out and then actually read them. It seems like a no brainer, but at first I was just skimming through my Torts syllabus but I realized my professor included useful information that I never found in my undergrad syllabi. For example, he talked about how if I am ever unprepared for class email him before hand to let him know. He won’t hold it against me and won’t call on me for the day. If I fail to let him know, and I come unprepared, that’s when it can be considered unprepared and a loss of participation points. Little things like that are extremely useful and unless you read through the syllabus you’d never know. 

BB: The first thing I do once I get the email saying that my professors have been uploading documents is go straight for the syllabus and then get OCD with it. I’ll pick a color for each class and try to make them match (like purple for property) and use this to color code everything. Not all professors make their syllabi the same way so I like to copy the dates over onto a plain Word document and add the color-coded class name at the top so that they all look the same. I’ll use this same color-coding for when I’m writing down my reading assignments in my planner.

You have the syllabus, now how far ahead should you plan?

BB: As a 2L I strongly suggest that you don’t plan out too much reading in advance. If a professor gets just 2-3 pages behind every day for several weeks, then your planner could be up to 20 pages off by the end of the month. I usually spend a little time every Sunday updating my planner with that week’s readings. 

JB: I’ve been planning a little differently, I write things down in two places – my desk calendar and my planner. Once I got the syllabi for each class I made sure to write down whatever important dates were available; mid-terms, assignment due dates, final exam, in both places. I haven’t really color coded my classes when it comes to my planner rather I’ve done it with other things like designating blue to torts so my notebook, folder and the tabs I use for readings are blue and so on for other classes. 

I made sure not to get too far ahead with readings because like Nikki said, not everything goes as planned. So I think I’ll be going about a week at a time with what reading is due that way I don’t get too far ahead and forget what’s going on. 

Where did you get your books and how much did they cost?

BB: I actually just recently purchased my books this past week because I somehow forgot that those were a thing with all of the excitement of transferring. One down side to transferring is that you never know how many hours of a class a school requires, and unfortunately that means I’ll be taking another LRW class and a Negotiation class to catch up. 

I’m being optimistic and assuming that these will be my lighter reading classes so I saved money and rented them used. In fact the only book that I felt like I actually had to buy was my Wills and Trusts book, since it was the only casebook required. In case you’re wondering, here’s the price breakdown of all the books I’ve had to get so far: 

Negotiations: $59 

LRW: $110 (saved $35 because I still have the Blue Book I bought last year) 

Commercial Law: $46 

Wills and Trusts: $254 

I’m just throwing this out there that if we can have a “tax free weekend” to buy school clothes and supplies, then books should count too because I paid like $50 just in tax! 

JB: So unlike Nikki, I didn’t have the chance to purchase my books beforehand. My class schedule wasn’t finalized until the first day of Orientation so I had no idea what books I needed. I opted to do the pre-pack through my school for the first semester because I was nervous that I wouldn’t have my books in time for classes on Monday. It was one less thing I had to worry about but the downside to this- it’s expensive. I made sure to get used books but I am regretting that decision for my torts book because someone went ham with a highlighter and now I’m having to go over it - It’s a bit distracting. Here's the breakdown:

Civil Procedure                       Torts                                     LCR                               Contracts

Casebook: $174.75                 Casebook: $180.00            Casebook: $230.00          4 books: $138.44

Supplemental: $49.00          Supplemental: $ 21.00       Supplemental: $47.00 

                                             Total: a whopping $840.19 – aka I’m broke.

Wait… There’s homework for the first day of class?

BB: If you think the first day will just be a professor going over the syllabus and that’s it, you’re in for a fun surprise lol. Go ahead and assume that your professors have posted reading assignments for the first week already and get started on that. If you can’t find these, it might be safer just to double check with your professor before showing up without reading. 

JB: I couldn't agree more. DO YOUR READINGS. But that alone isn't enough. You need to engage with the text - Highlight, make notes in the margins, write out briefs, take notes on what your reading, ask questions as you go. Be prepared to read things more than once, I haven’t even started classes yet and I already have noticed that I need to read things two or three times to even attempt to understand what in the world is going on in cases. 

How will you take notes?

JB: This completely subjective but keep in mind that if you take notes on laptop – like I do – not all of your professors will allow the use of laptops. MAKE SURE YOU READ THE SYLLABUS TO FIND OUT & PLAN FOR THIS. So for me, using a laptop to take notes is easier because I can type faster than I write so I find that I get more out of my class notes. The downside – your laptop can be such a distraction. But if my classes are anything like my Orange Edge class, there isn’t enough time to do internet searching while actively paying attention and taking notes.

Is there anything else you think is important?

BB: Budget - With every new semester I like to create a new budget. I look at what I stayed on budget last and what I went over most often, and use that to create a new budget and spending goals. Last Fall I somehow forgot that I would need to make my 9-month school budget stretch a full year through the summer. This meant that during Spring I had to cut spending a lot to cover those costs, so just keep that in mind this semester. The very last thing you want is to have to take out another loan midway through a semester because you blew through all your money too fast.

Update Resume - Law school doesn’t kid around, and pretty soon you’re going to be preparing to apply for summer internships. While you’re too young to participate in the fall on campus interviews (2Ls and 3Ls only), you still need to be getting your résumé updated. If you had a job over this summer you can add that, and if not you can at least add that you’ve graduated and are now going to law school. The American Bar Association actually doesn’t let full time 1L’s work their first semester, but if you’re feeling confident next spring you might could look around for an easy part-time job on campus so you might as well do that now while you’re getting everything together.

The Orientation Break Down

So first and foremost, I apologize for being completely MIA for what seems like the last couple of weeks. A ton has been going on from completely Orange Edge to diving right on into Orientation. I know some bloggers like to break up Orientation and do a post for each day but when I started doing that it turned out to be a waste of a post because a lot of what occurred during orientation was informational and could be laid out in one post. So here it is:

Day One: Convocation Ceremony

Many want to know what you wear to Orientation - thankfully there was a dress code for the week which helped plan what I was wearing so that I wasn't underdressed. On Monday it was Business Professional so this is what I decided to wear, mind you I added a blazer and I'm glad that I did. It really brought it all together - apologies for the classic mirror selfie.

justifiablyblonde.blogspot.com

Welcome Class of 2019 to SU College of Law. This day was really just a welcome to the college of law kind of thing. When we got there at 11:30 we had the chance to get professional portraits taken... and of course, I don't like mine. I feel like I look like a deer in headlights. 

justifiablyblonde.blogspot.com

This whole process took forever though so a lot of the morning was spent hanging out with peers. Thankfully I got my photo taken right away so I wasn't sweating like a mad woman and then having to take yet another photo looking like a ran a marathon. Later on in the afternoon we had a convocation ceremony with an alum guest speaker which was basically a mini version of what graduation will be like. We have about 220 students in the class of 2019 which is one of the larger classes to attend SU in the last couple of years.

justifiablyblonde.blogspot.com

Alumni Network - Day Two:

The second day was all about interacting with the Alumni Network that we as SU students have available to us. The dress code was business casual so I wore a skirt and a tank with a jacket. I may have been a little over dressed but I would rather be overdressed than under.  I really enjoyed this because we got to talk with a local attorney who is part of one of the larger firms in our area. He gave great advice not only for law school but for life after law school. I really encourage taking advantage of the alumni networks at any school, they're great resources! 

Faculty Mentors & Campus Policies - Day Three:

So for the third day the dress code was lax. I decided on a pair of jeans and a t shirt since we were going to be spending most of our day in a the ceremonial court room.  As a 1L, you get assigned both a student mentor and a faculty mentor along with tutors. On the third day we met our Faculty Mentors, had brunch and went over some basic information and common questions for the 1L year. 

From there we went in and sat for a couple hours and discussed the academic handbook, school policies, drugs and alcohol within the legal profession, sexual harassment and abuse. It was a long afternoon of seminar after seminar of dense topics and information so by the end of the day I was ready to go. But we did have a cookout afterwards which was nice and refreshing while we got to walk through the student organization fair. As a 1L student org's aren't really a main focus, the focus should be on school. But I did sign up to get more info on a few of them for future reference. If anything the only one I would like to get involved with this year is the Sports & Entertainment Law Society so we will see where that goes.

Pro Bono - Day Four:

The final day of orientation was centered around giving back to the community. The morning was spent talking about pro bono within the legal professions and the opportunities to do so locally. After we boarded buses and went to a local farm to pick vegetables that went to local food banks and families in need. This was a great way for our class to do a community service project and get to know one another beyond the walls of the law school. 

After the community service project was done we had a couple of hours of down time and then later on that night we had the chance to go to a local baseball game which was another great opportunity to get to know people within our class.

The Orientation experience was a whole lot of info packed in just a few days, but it was a good experience and really made me more excited about this semester and the years to come! Fall semester, I'm ready for ya!

Orange Edge - Worth it or not?

When I finially made the decision to go to Syracuse University for law school I had a freak out moment:

How was I going to get back into the swing of school when I've been working for the majority of the year I have had off? Am I going to take notes properly? Read actively? How in the world am I going to do with cold cut calling?

I was used to my 8-4, Monday thru Friday schedule with no homework, no projects, no tests to prepare for, no class participation, sleeping in on weekends, basically doing as I pleased and when ( although the LSAT, applications and entering checklist did take of a lot of my time this past year once the major things where done I fell into a more lax routine)

I mean yes I could read the suggested readings on the reading list, and I managed to knock out a few, but what I was looking for was something where I could get the opportunity to get back into the school mind set without being graded. 

Luckily enough my school offers this amazing program called Orange Edge. It gives participants an introduction to the first year of law school through learning how to brief cases, effectively take notes, improve study and writing skills, begin networking with peers, professors and university staff, and becoming familiar with the socratic method. In addition to all this, I got to take an exam and complete a legal writing memo. 

So I registered, paid the fee, and waited anxiously until last Monday when the 1- week course started. The first day I was excited but equally nervous. I really had no idea what to expect and I was seriously hoping that I would really gain something from this. 

First "mistake" I made was dressing casual, unlike my orientation which has a dress code for each day, there was nothing stated about what to wear for this program. I decided jeans and a t-shirt was simply enough but I immediately felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb when 95% of the class was in business casual outfits. Way to go Heather. Thankfully someone asked if there was a dress code for the week and the answer was no. The remainder of the week people were dressed casually which made me feel better.

So the Edge program was a week long program that followed this schedule:

9-11 Legal Writing - went over hierarchy of authority, took a quiz on it, worked on legal memo.

11-12:30 Law & the Legal System - learned to read / briefed cases, figure out the rules, then worked on hypos (examples), all which led us to the "final exam" it wasn't graded, just for experience. 

lunch til 1:30

1:30 - 2:30 Group Sessions - met with our fellows (2L's that were basically mentors) and discussed note taking, test taking, oral arguments, briefing, basically anything and everything law related. We got to brief a case together, work on a hypo and conduct oral arguments as a team.

2:3-3:30 members of different offices within the law school met with us; career services, student life, etc. etc. and presented on all the resources and opportunities that are available to us at the school.

Overall I found this opportunity to be completely worth my time and money. I had zero expectations walking in because I had no idea what to expect. Before the course, I was overwhelmed by how stressed out I was to start the school year. This course definitely calmed some of those nerves but while I am still nervous, the course helped show me that I can do this. Its going to be an adjustment  , from undergrad and how I approached school, and its going to take a while for everything to "click" but once it clicks I know I'm going to be okay. 

If the school you are going to offers a course like this I highly recommend it. Not only is it helpful in an academic and personal sense because it prepares you for what lies ahead, but you get to meet some of your peers & professors in a relaxed setting. I absolutely loved our instructors. They treated the courses as they would in an actual class. For the record, Cold Cut Calling is not my friend. The first time it happened I heard the question asked, answered it in my head and then I was called on. My mind went BLANK - go figure- && I tried to explain what was going on up in there but it came out like gibberish and I ended up saying"I don't know" - you're truly a winner H. The instructor then said "think about it and try again" which calmed my nerves because rather than just moving on to the next person, it forced me to think about it, and then give an  answer. After that the random-being-called-on-nerves calmed, a little. Our group was around 25 people and we all meshed really well with one another. I slightly expected the environment to be "competitive" and similar to legally blonde where Elle tries to join a study group and is immediately denied. I was pleasantly surprised that everyone, including myself, was really positive, willing to help one another and worked well together.

So, long story short, if the opportunity presents it self for you to participate in a program like the one I did, I highly recommend it. You'll meet so many great people and get a feel for what to expect from your first year at law school. With that, I am looking forward to my Orientation which starts on Monday, I seriously cannot believe its already here.