Law skewl

[livius drusus]

That curriculum sounds pretty awful, I'll be honest. Still, if the likes of Scarlatti and Maturin can crank through it, so can you.

[ChuckF]

Originally Posted by D. Scarlatti

And will get worse still, once you're writing like a lawyer.

Originally Posted by livius drusus

That curriculum sounds pretty awful, I'll be honest.

Still, if the likes of Scarlatti and Maturin can crank through it, so can you.

Yah. I have a law-school-drop-out contingency plan if it proves too awful.

[D. Scarlatti]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

Property, Civil Procedure, Torts, and the legal research class.

Second Semester:

Constitutional Law*
Criminal Law
Contracts
Writing & Research II

All good stuff, not awful whatsoever.

* My class was about one-third Marbury v. Madison.

(seriously, though, god help you.)

[wildernesse]

It has been long enough for me to think that maybe having a baby in law school wouldn't have been so bad, after all! haha.

Congrats! It will be over before you know it.

[ChuckF]

Is it silly that I am most looking forward to torts just because I like to say "torts?" And also because when I was in France I learned about the recently-defunct feudalism on the Isle of Sark and liked the legal invocation "Haro! À mon aide mon Prince, on me fait tort," and thought that was neat.

I'm guessing the actual class may break me of that.

[maddog]

Our first year was:
Torts
Property
Crim
Contracts
Civil Pro
Research & Writing

I'd never had so many classes with such closely allied subjects before. All the big lecture halls looked the same. I could not remember what class I was in.

#2245

[D. Scarlatti]

Actually, torts started with some ancient cases from France (we used the classic Prosser casebook).*

* Oh, by the way, the books are fucking expensive. But you get free Lexis and Westlaw with your tuition.

[ChuckF]

Yah that's the one I just now ordered. My books weren't too bad; I looked around online and beat the bookstore used prices by ~40%. But it was still a pretty amazing amount for me, since in grad school I got used to relatively cheap scholarly histories, monographs and essay collections. Also I'm not sure I've ever had a 1300 page textbook before.

[D. Scarlatti]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

a 1300 page textbook.

In Con Law, the actual Constitution takes up about 20 pages of that.

You don't want used casebooks; they're all marked up, and maybe the wrong shit is highlighted.

[ChuckF]

Yeah I only ordered ones without highlighting, just because I find that annoying anyway. I once ordered a used history textbook, and at least 80% of it was highlighted. What is the point of that.

[maddog]

Originally Posted by D. Scarlatti

In Con Law, the actual Constitution takes up about 20 pages of that.

You don't want used casebooks; they're all marked up, and maybe the wrong shit is highlighted.

Meh, that doesn't matter. You're going to want to make your own outline anyway.

#2246

[ChuckF]

A friend gave me her old Gilbert's Law Summaries. Useful or no?

I haven't bought my Blue Book yet, but I flipped through one in the bookstore today. What the fuck is the deal with that thing? It looks impossible.

[D. Scarlatti]

Please don't be one of those assholes with a laptop.

You need a Blue Book and a Black's Law Dictionary.

I had a few Emanuel outlines. They were pretty good, and cheap.

[ChuckF]

Originally Posted by D. Scarlatti

Please don't be one of those assholes with a laptop.

[livius drusus]

Okay then. At least don't be one of those assholes with the Thinkpad. I saw Legally Blonde. Those guys are all dicks. Stick with the orange Macbook.

[maddog]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

A friend gave me her old Gilbert's Law Summaries. Useful or no?

I haven't bought my Blue Book yet, but I flipped through one in the bookstore today. What the fuck is the deal with that thing? It looks impossible.

Gilbert's outlines can be useful.
You DO need a Blue Book.
You DO NOT (imo) need a Black's; you can look up anything you want online.

Case books are torture. They present one case in semi-detail and you brief it: facts, holding, etc. Then they have the "note cases" on the following pages, which have EXACTLY the SAME facts, but the opposite result. They ask: Can you reconcile these cases? Learn from my mistakes. Just say "NO!" and turn the page. Do NOT spend hours trying to reconcile the irreconcilable. :p

So yeah, use your Gilbert's to get an overview outline of the subject and its sub-topics. Fit your cases in your outline, not the other way around. (ymmv)

#2248

[vremya]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

This thing starts in about two weeks. Got my class schedule today. 1L's don't get any input into choosing. Property, Civil Procedure, Torts, and the legal research class.

That looks about right - I had Contracts, Torts, Civ Pro and Legal research/writing. I went part time, so Property had to wait until 2nd year.

I loved torts - the cases sell themselves! Civ Pro was kind of dull, but it's super important. I didn't figure that out till I started working for a lawyer. Property was just plain hard.

All your profs are going to tell you not to use the commercial outlines like Emmanuel and Gilberts - that's total reverse psychology. Go ahead and use them.

I fucking hate the Socratic method, mainly because I can't figure out how many times I took copious notes on something some guy was saying in class, only to find out he was dead wrong. (That's where the commercial outlines really come in handy)

[wildernesse]

Our first year was the same as maddog's. I never used commercial summaries or outlines, because it was hard enough for me to read and digest the cases. And almost everyone had a laptop, so you probably won't stand out. I used a laptop most of the time, but one semester I didn't and that was fine, too.

I won a Black's dictionary in some drawing, but I never used the full size one of my own. However, I did have a pocket-sized one that was easy to carry around and that was pretty handy. The Bluebook is fantastically awesome, especially now that your edition probably has decent internet citation rules.

It's important to make time for yourself. You can always study more, but make sure you have a designated time that is FREE!! It doesn't matter if you just use it to sleep, mark it out. For me, it was Friday afternoon and night--after class, I went home and did whatever I wanted, and I did not come back to the library. Until Saturday morning.

[Demimonde]

But think of the payout, you'll be Dr Chuck! You should make mick address you as such.

Seriously though, Congrats and good luck! Don't fret about it, education is like a bicylce, you never forget how to ride, and when you fall off you can get right back on again.

Yep, a speeding bicylce careening down a steep hill.

[SharonDee]

Originally Posted by Demimonde

But think of the payout, you'll be Dr Chuck!

My son, the doctor!

I'm so proud.

[ChuckF]

Originally Posted by SharonDee

My son, the doctor!

I'm so proud.

[Kael]

Is this the right room for tasteless lawyer jokes?

...

...

[Dingfod]

Originally Posted by Kael

Is this the right room for tasteless lawyer jokes?

...

...

It's as good as any.

[Stephen Maturin]

Black's Law Dictionary will look good on the bookshelf in your office in a number of years. You can buy it now or later, but what's really useful for present purposes is smaller, more portable and much cheaper law dictionary like Barron's that you can schlep around and actually use without causing permanent soft tissue damage.

maddog is correct, as always: you'll need to do your own outline for each class ('ceptin' research and writing). I hand-wrote all of mine because putting actual pen to actual paper makes me learn morer betterer. Then again, I'm really goddamn old.

Oh yeah, and the class in which you find yourself saying "I'd rather buff my own testicles with lye and a cheese grater than do this fucking horseshit for a living" the most? That's what you'll end up doing for a living.

[rigorist]

The rules for passing law school.

1. Never skip class.
2. Keep up with the reading.