JD Law Students Blog

Wow.  This is it.  The end of the first semester. 

 Every time I think about it I get this horrible knot in my stomach.  I’m so excited to go home and see everyone; it’s less than four weeks away.  But whenever I get excited about going home so soon, I also get really freaked out about what’s supposed to happen between now and then.

 My performance on my midterms was less than what I hoped.  I’m very confident about Torts and Contracts because I completely understand those classes.  However, ConLaw and CivPro are very frightening.  I have just come to terms with the fact that I’m probably not going to be in the top 10% of the class, and that’s what it is.

 On top of all the ado about finals, I’m supposed to be thinking what I want to do this summer.  And what I do this summer depends completely on what I want to do for the next 3 or 4 years.  I’m considering the Yale forestry program, since I’ve had a fairly strong math and science background and part of me would still like to pursue that.  Also, very few people in Montana have ever heard of Vermont Law School, despite its ranking, but everyone has heard of Yale.  However, I applied to this school on the sole basis of its ranking among environmental law schools.  I guess it will come down to the money.

So much to do.  I have been having problems sleeping at night.  An anxiety attack is imminnet.  Crazy!  Jobs!  Finals!  Home!  Christmas shopping!  Friends!  Golly gee it’s gonna be a rough month…..

So at home in Alaska, we had two seasons - Winter and Construction.

 In Vermont, its not as bad.  Today is rainy.  Scratch that… its dried up… but my road is muddy.  The snow in my driveway has melted, and turned, in some places, to ice patches. 

 I live at the top of a hill - what Vermonters might call a mountain… time has worn these mountains into hills from my perspective.  In any case, I need snow tires for my car.  It also needs some other front end work.  But the tires are important.  I ran a guy off the road while driving my dirt road up my “mountain.”  It was his fault.  He pulled out into the one lane road while I was trying my best to make it up the slushy/muddy/icy mess that I call my road.  I pulled as far as I could to the right… he went as far as he could to the left and slipped right into the ditch.  My momentum devastated, I was unable to go any farther up the hill.  Not only that, the FedEx man was trying the same trick the guy in the ditch had just tried. 

Not wanting both of them in the ditch, I backed down the road.  I apologized as I backed past him, even though I knew he brought it on himself.  He walked down the hill to call a tow truck (no cell service on my mountain until you get to the top).  I backed down to get another running shot at the hill.  I didn’t make it.  I parked close to the bottom, walked home and grabbed my jeep.  I put the tire chains on, we hooked up the tow strap and my wife pulled the car up the hill (its stick and she can’t drive stick) with the jeep.  Actually, the first time she tried, she slowed, then sped up and snapped the tow strap.  I repaired it, clarified the towing rules, and we made it.  We discovered that slow and go sound disturbingly similar when you’re shouting them out your window.  I was mildly scared.

Exams are in a couple of weeks.  I’m scared of those also.  But I’ll make it. 

I’m also discovering how much I truly HATE instructor review sheets.  I fill them out with one-word answers still.  Unless there’s really a reason, I don’t understand why people take the time to whine on them.  There’s almost never a real reason.  As in any profession, its all about listening skills and dedicated hard work.  I’m still working on the hard work part.

Thanksgiving has passed and, if my hometown in Pennsylvania has anything to say about it, Christmas has been moved to the day directly following. Judging by what the radio was pumping out on the return trip to VLS, I’d say that most of the Northeast has caught on and is getting merry in late November. For those of us getting into the home stretch before first-semester finals, we’re all anticipating the winter break and looking forward to ringing in the New Year without having to worry about statutes and case law. As much as I love the arguments for process federalism, I would have to admit that I love family and the holiday festivities just a bit more.

If today’s post-Thanksgiving classes are any indication, students will return from the break in January and promptly hit the ground running. We’re long past the orientation period and the realization that law school involves substantial student input, and so classes picked up today right where they left off on Wednesday. Whatever our individual beliefs and traditions, we can rest assured that law school will be waiting for us when we’re done with our merrymaking. Here’s to the season — Cheers!

Thanksgiving is a trap.

On the one hand, it’s one of the only long weekends you get in law school, and comes after a period of intense work when you might think abandonment to the hedonistic pleasure of turkey-day are well-deserved.  Add to that the sudden realization that Christmas is breathing down your neck and everyone you know might not want coupons for ”free legal consultation redeemable in 3 years,” and you have a recipe for four law-school free days.

On the other hand, finals are a few weeks away.

Do you see the problem?

Don’t get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving.  There is nothing I enjoy more than watching football and inhaling thousands upon thousands of calories (the American Dream in action?)  However, I have the sneaking suspicion that Thanksgiving in law school represents a divide.  There are those who work through the holiday to lay the groundwork for finals, memorizing cases and creating course outlines, and there are those of us who pass out on the couch in sweatpants as the BC Eagles throttle the Miami Hurricanes (can they, one time, for me?) and then realize everything they knew about the law has been converted to fatty tissue.

Okay, maybe that’s overly dramatic.  If nothing else, I’ve been able to spend time with my family, catch up on some reading (for fun!), and eat turkey sandwiches three meals a day.

That’s something to be thankful for, at least.

So yesterday I turned in my final paper for legal writing and research.  I did it.  Its done.  I’m very excited.  Legal writing and research is by far the easiest class - I suppose because you actually get regular feedback and grades from it.  Its like a normal undergrad class.  But hey, we’ve got exactly 30 more days before the end of the semester and I KNOW I’ve passed at least one class!  Its a pass/ fail class, but I may have earned myself a check plus… we’ll see.  A check plus, while silly as a grade, can be an edge in getting that super sweet summer internship. 

 Right now I think that I want to focus on being a criminal prosecutor or defender.  I have a friend of a friend that is THE defense attorney in my home town, which is large enough to count for something, so I may look into an internship there. 

 I thought that I was interested in being a civil rights lawyer, but realized that the work wasn’t my style.  I am more of a front-lines activist, than a behind the scenes lawyer for that type of struggle.  I’m more interested in simple, basic law that varies often, but presents a clear steady picture of what to do each day. 

 Plus that other stuff seems hard to me. 

 Anyhow, one class finished!

The alumni association of my undergrad institution put me in touch with another alum who had questions about applying to law school. She emailed some specific questions to me. Here, I post my answers to the more general, widely applicable questions.

First off, take a nice deep breath and relax. Maybe, enjoy a cup of tea in the window seat. Alright, now that we’re all settled down, don’t worry about anything.

I couldn’t find a job after graduation, so I applied to law school while wrestling with unemployment and homelessness. I barely studied for the LSAT, and my essays were off the top of my head. My results were a hundred fifty-something on the LSAT. It was less than a year ago, and I already don’t remember my exact score. I was rejected from Yale, waitlisted at Northeastern, accepted to Vermont, and offered a huge scholarship at Golden Gate. So, don’t stress out too much about the application process. If I did this well with my circumstances, you will definitely get in somewhere.

I guess I have a little advice about the law school essay. Stick with Elements of Style type of writing. Also, and I’m no admissions expert, I would say pick a very narrow topic so that each paragraph is a tiny sliver of an idea. This allows overwhelming clarity in your writing. I wouldn’t go for too broad of a topic. You might convince them that you want to save the world, but you won’t have the clarity to convince them that you are an effective writer. Oh, and don’t worry about picking among five million topics. They know that there are five million topics. Just pick one, forget about the rest, and do a good job.

I imagine that you’ve already thought about criteria. You need to be clear about why you are applying to schools for two reasons. First, they will probably ask in the application, and you want to deliver a clear answer. Second, how would you go about choosing at random?

I would consider the importance of geography. I ruled out the pacific northwest because ten years of clouds was enough for me. I also considered the size of the town. Mostly, I considered the type of law that I was interested in studying. For me, I wanted a school where I could focus on environmental justice. That one criteria narrowed the list to seven schools. I applied to six of them.

Those are just some ideas. Pick your own criteria. You probably have already. Anyway, criteria will help you pick a school that is right for you. Vermont Law School is considered a Tier 3 law school - not so good, but it has the number one environmental law program in the country and one of the only environmental justice programs. It works out for me that it’s Tier 3 because that makes it less competitive.

I absolutely love law school. I find studying law very interesting and engaging. Vermont Law School is quite nice even if it is in the middle of nowhere. It is a very supportive environment. The staff are all very professional in the best sense of the word. The students are competitive in the strict sense that we have grades and class rankings, but we are not competitive in the nightmarish sense of trying to sabotage each other. In fact, the students are very friendly and supportive. No note stealing or anything. Heck, I saw somebody space out and leave their laptop in a hallway for three days and nobody took it.

Research class ended a couple weeks ago. I just turned in my final paper for the writing class. So, now it’s just torts, constitutional law, contracts, and civil procedure. Oh gee, is that all? Yeah right. That’s approximately a metric ton. Anyway, I was stressed out last week. I had a paper due on Monday and the writing paper due on Friday. At night when I was too tired to work, I went to bed, and…couldn’t sleep. The alarm clock went off at the same time anyway, so I was slipping behind on sleep everyday. I actually drank coffee this week. Ouch. Anyway, I’m trying to remember to be on vacation this weekend. I’m on top of things enough that I can afford to slack off for a couple days. Today, I took my kids to a movie. Imagine that, me sitting around watching a movie. I remember when I used to do that - before law school. And next weekend we’re going to visit some family in NY. Wow, is that really allowed? Anyway, a couple weekends of relaxing will recharge my batteries enough for the push to finals. Oh yeah, and the job applications. Does applying for jobs count as taking a break? Technically, it’s not studying. Okay, I’m going to have to work on my take a break skills.

There’s really only one plus of being sick, as I am, during law school.  Since I barely have a voice, I am almost immune to being called on.  It means that even if I’m too drained to read my cases, I don’t have to worry terribly much about class because I get a pass.

The minuses are greater though.  Too tired to do much of anything, papers are due next monday, not following what is going on in class, a ton of problems… oh yea, and I have a second (makeup) class of Contracts today right about when I should be picking up my daughter from daycare.  poo.

 I’m both excited and dreading finals.  Here we are in the middle of NOVEMBER already, and I have to admit that as others have said, I have a class that I don’t get along with.  Constitutional Law is mind-numbing for me AND I really have a difficult time following everything.  As for class notes,… hahahaha.  For some classes, law school is about the desparate attempts to learn what you are supposed to learn.  When I figure out how to learn the things I’m supposed to learn… nevermind.  Con Law, thy name is enigma. 

As we’re all spending time going over concurring opinions in the casebooks, it’s only natural that we would write our own on this blog — I think Brian is entirely correct in discussing the importance of setting reasonable expectations for oneself and not getting carried away in the throngs of “competition.”  Although law school is competitive in the strict sense, it is not really an adversarial form of competition; you don’t get any points for knocking your classmates down or relentlessly proving your own superiority.  To the contrary, I have found that the vast majority of students here are willing to help others and offer their thoughts for the benefit of the class.

There is also an element of  reasonableness in setting goals, and I don’t think it’s particularly useful to believe that everything you attempt in law school will work out perfectly.  The truth is that people come to law school with an extremely variant range of skills — possibly the broadest in any graduate program — and naturally find that they take easily to a certain course while having to focus more deeply on another.  By having open class discussions and maintaining a cooperative atmosphere, however, I think it’s possible to achieve a good result across the first-year courses.

As Eric pointed out , if you are some one who coasted through undergrad, or someone who worked hard in Undergrad and is used to being rewarded with high grades, steel yourself for lower grades in law school.  Everyone here is highly motivated and willing to put the effort into getting good grades.  At Undergrad, you may have been rewarded simply for caring.  Here, everyone cares.  Everyone wants to do well.  Everyone is willing to put long hours into their work.  At least, that how it seems to me right now.  I put more work into my Torts papers than I ever put into a paper in undergrad, and was rewarded with a decidedly average grade.  That’s not to say it’s impossible to get A’s.  Some people get them.  I mean, they must, right?  Anybody?  Beuller?

The point is, everyone wants to be a law school superstar.  But, obviously, everyone can’t.  At least at Vermont Law School other students aren’t actively sabotaging my efforts.  Not that I know of, anyway.  I still feel like I can work with my fellow students, discuss our shared concerns, and try to improve.  Yes, I’m competing with these other students.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t work together.

This feel good message was brought to you by the letter L.