November 10, 2009
Going Places: University Musical Society
I think it still qualifies as early November, so it must be time for another entry! Last time I talked about books and history; this time I'd like to talk about music. One of the student perks that they didn't tell me about before I came to Michigan is the annual half price student ticket sale for the University Musical Society. Actually, they didn't tell me much about UMS at all. I had passed by Hill Auditorium, which I'd heard was acoustically perfect, but didn't know a lot about what happened inside it.
I have since been pleasantly surprised by a consistently outstanding range of performers. So far this year I've seen Itzhak Perlman, the Globe Theatre, and Stile Antico. Later this year I can go see Patti LuPone, Wynton Marsalis, or the San Francisco Symphony. In previous years I've seen the New York Philharmonic, the Tallis Scholars, Julia Fischer, Yo Yo Ma, and many others. I have never been disappointed in a performance that I've attended. Obviously, my choices are influenced by my own musical tastes, so my list is hardly exhaustive and not a good example of the variety available!
To get a better sense of what UMS has to offer, I'd encourage anyone who's going to be in Ann Arbor or thinking about going to Ann Arbor to check out the UMS website. Go see something! Even if you don't, if you get a chance to look inside Hill Auditorium, the physical space alone is worth checking out. It's a beautiful performance space.
Of course, this entry again begs the question why a law student should know about these things, or why a student should pursue them. I think my answer is the same as my last entry. A little inspiration here and there makes life (and law school) more fun! An evening every so often to step away from the beauty of logic and reasoning in favor of the beauty of a symphony or a song doesn't hurt anything, and it might even help.
That said, it's time for this writer to get back to business. I'll post another entry in another month or so, with another scintillating discussion of something interesting to do around the University and Ann Arbor. Be sure to tune in again, and thank you for reading!
October 14, 2009
Going Places: The Clements Library
In my last entry, I said I would do some entries on various places and things to do around Ann Arbor. It took me a while, but here is such an account of the Clements Library.
The Clements Library is one of many buildings on campus that I've walked past hundreds of times but never entered. It's very close to the law quad, just east in fact. There was a sign out front (though to be precise, it turns out that the side facing the road is actually the back) advertising an exhibit on the Seven Years' War a while ago, so I thought I would investigate.
It turns out that this back area is somewhere between a library and a museum, and is a very pleasant place to spend an afternoon. I looked at the exhibit, and was treated to a wonderful explanation of what the library had to offer. There were texts dating back over five hundred years, arranged in chronological order, and covering a great variety of subjects. A quick glance gleaned laws of various states before they were states, a copy of Seneca's tragedies, and a couple different encyclopedias. I've never wished so hard to have a research project. I had no idea what it would be, but anything involving those books would have to be interesting.
The reason for the fascination is that these aren't just books. These are things. If you go to the library's website, for example, you can see spy letters from the American Revolution. There are maps, treaties, books that haven't been published in decades, diaries, newspapers. Things that give you a little glimpse into somebody else's world and life. Fascinating things.
Why would a law student care? I suppose because we don't go to law school because we hate learning. I feel comfortable venturing a guess that, when we decided to come here, most of us in fact loved learning. We've spent our lives doing it, and we're looking to spend our careers doing it. The difficulty is that once reading and absorbing information is your job, it can eventually lose some of the thrill that it used to have. A place like the Clements Library offers a reminder that learning is a worthwhile pursuit and a pleasure in its own right. I think law students need that sometimes-- I know I did.
Thanks for reading. I believe that another entry will be posted sometime in early November, and I'm sure I will come up with something scintillating to write about. Tune in next time for more adventures beyond the law quad!
September 11, 2009
150 Years.
This weekend the law school is celebrating its 150th birthday. The enormous tent is set up in the middle of the Quad, alumni with name badges are taking lots of pictures, and a lot of folks are giving speeches. I had class this morning, but I was at least able to go to the afternoon ground breaking ceremony for the new building. It was a nice event. I learned some school history I didn't know, and think I may have gotten the third or fourth sunburn of my life. More importantly, I got to hear the Chief Justice of the United States talk about the school, its history, and its role in the legal community. Time well spent!
This weekend I'm also getting settled into my last year here, with most of that initial rush of back-to-school tasks behind me. I'm taking some interesting classes and a clinic, I passed the MPRE and so am on my way to getting licensed to practice (scary thought, isn't it?), and in less than a year I'll have started work. Right now, when it's hot and lazy outside, the time drags; but I know that in May I'll be asking how the year flew by so quickly again.
With that in mind, I turn to this blog. What am I going to do with it? I thought this fall, I might do a little series on Interesting Places To See in Ann Arbor (within easy walking distance from the Quad). I've mentioned some things in the past, but since I've written about very nearly every law school topic of which I can think, maybe this is a good time to expand my horizons. To keep things realistic, I'll probably update every three or four weeks.
Tune in next time, then, for a thrilling account of something as yet to be determined!
May 10, 2009
Over the Halfway Mark.
Most of my entries have been explaining parts of law school that I didn't understand when I arrived. This entry isn't nearly so practical, but I think it's a very important subject.
I’ve come to the conclusion that every semester of law school is hard, just for different reasons. It’s very easy to feel overwhelmed. This spring, as I did a year ago, I got to the point where I couldn’t remember what I used to do for fun. I knew I had done enjoyable things at one point, but had no idea what they were. I had to consciously try to remember.
I bring this up so that I can point out some remedies for this unfortunate situation. My realization prompted me to take some time off from studying. Some things I did, found gratifying, and would recommend:
-Clean. Take out the recycling, do the laundry, put stuff away, whatever. You don’t realize how much the piles are bugging you until they’re gone.
-If you need to take care of reservations or travel stuff, get it done. That’s one less thing to think about later.
-Call someone just to chat. Remember that you probably know people who aren’t in law school, who will talk to you about something other than promissory estoppel (or whatever the subject of the day is).
-If it’s decent outside, take a walk and notice things. Did you know that there are flowers in May in Ann Arbor? There are. They’re lovely. I didn’t notice them last year at all. (For December, observe that the holidays are still happening!)
-Go out somewhere for a meal, or make yourself something particularly tasty. Eat dessert. Desserts is stressed spelled backwards, and therefore dessert is a necessity right now. I highly recommend the Cupcake Station, Schakolad, or the Chocolate House.
-That thing you used to do for fun that you realize you've really missed doing? Do it for a little while at least.
-Go to bed early. No one gets enough sleep toward the end of the year, so give yourself a chance to catch up a little.
None of that took all that much time (I used a Saturday afternoon and evening), and I felt much better the next day. Now, obviously other people would have different ideas that would work better for them. The point is, take a few hours and do things you haven’t had a chance to do for a while. It won’t hurt anything, and odds are you’ll feel better for it.
Fortunately, as I write this, finals are over. We survived, and we have most of our sanity back (if we ever had it to begin with). We’re looking forward to summer. For my part, I hope everyone has a good few months. I’ll try to remember to post more often next year!
April 17, 2009
Scribble-scrabble.
Ah, spring, when a student's thoughts turn to Frisbee, free ice cream, and finals. And, if you're a first year law student, journal applications. Blogging about the fun parts of spring seems unnecessary when it's 70 degrees and sunny out, and no one wants to hear about finals, so I turn to journals as the subject of a late-posted entry.
I didn’t know what journals were when I came to Michigan. So if you aren’t in law school yet but are thinking about it, and don’t have the faintest idea what journals are, don't panic! You’re no less informed than I was, and now I’m on a journal.
Journals are vehicles for publishing articles, written by non-students and by students. Michigan has a number of journals, including law review, law reform, gender, race, technology, and international law (forgive the short shrift on the names). Besides subject matter differences, journals vary in how they’re organized, personalities and all of that. Unfortunately, I’m not very qualified to discuss those differences, since I only know how my own journal works. What I’ll say instead is that a first year law student interested in journals should take advantage of the myriad open houses, lunches, and presentations designed to help people get to know a journal. It's useful, plus there's usually food!
If you decide that you're interested in a journal, you get to go through the application process. Law Review requires a specific piece of writing as part of its application; you pick up a packet of materials on the last day of exams, and you have ten days to write a paper based on those materials. Other journals, as far as I know, will let you use either that piece of writing or your final project from your first year Legal Practice class. The rest of the application varies, but usually includes a statement of interest, a brief summary of your proposed Note topic (more on that later), maybe some citation exercises, etc. Again, all this happens in May right after exams.
Over the summer, you find out whether you’ve been accepted. If you have, and accept your acceptance, you become an Associate Editor. It’s not the most glamorous thing to be, but that’s all right. What "AEs" do varies by journal (noticing a theme here?). On my journal, AEs do three things: sourcegathering, citechecking, and writing a Note.
Sourcegathering is just that-- going and finding and bringing back copies of the sources article authors used. Citechecking comes after that, where you go to the individual citations that an author put in, make sure they’re in the correct format, and go back to the source to make sure that the citation supports whatever the author says it does. This is nothing to panic about! Your journal will cover how to do all that at orientation, and there are people around to help. I admit that this part can be boring, and sometimes frustrating, but it is a useful skill to develop.
The other part of being on a journal is writing a Note. A Note is just a student-written paper (as distinguished from a non-student-written paper, which gets to be called an Article). On my journal, we had to produce short pieces of a Note, spread out over the first semester, but didn't have to complete a whole Note. How much you’ll have to write varies by journal, and though it’s strongly encouraged, no one is required to publish. Again, there are third year students to assist you with the process. My one piece of advice for anyone planning to write a Note is to pick a topic that you really like, because you're going to spend a lot of time working on it!
After being an Associate Editor, you can apply to be on your journal’s editorial board. The board generally includes the students who have been helping the AE's all year with citechecking and Note writing, people who choose what the journal will publish, and people who run around behind the scenes making sure everything's working. You can also stay on as a Contributing Editor, and help with projects as needed, like evaluating AE applications. After your second year, you're done and the journal goes on without you!
Whew. That’s pretty much all I can think of to say about journals. They can keep you busy, but I thought it was worth it. You can also find information on the journal websites, which are located elsewhere on the Michigan Law website.
I am going to write at least one more entry before I flee Ann Arbor for the summer. I haven't decided on the topic yet, but it will probably be something silly. You'll have to come back and see!
March 19, 2009
I'm still here!
It's already been much longer than it was supposed to be since I wrote in here. I don't know how it could possibly be March, but it is. Prospective students are on campus, observing law students in their natural habitat, and trying to decide whether or not to come to Michigan for three years. I wish all of them the best of luck!
It occurred to me while I was chatting with a couple prospective students at the SFF auction this evening, though, just how useless I have become for explaining why I chose this law school and why I'm glad to have stayed. I had logical, bullet-point reasons when I accepted two years ago. I've more or less forgotten all of them. Now I have friends here, I'm taking classes I enjoy, and I can't really imagine how law school would have been elsewhere.
Someone mentioned that a repeated slogan has been that "students are happy at Michigan." My thought, which I think is pretty fair, was that there is really no way to make law school a pleasant experience as such; it's a lot of work and a lot of stress no matter how you package it. What I like about Michigan is that my surroundings make things better, not worse. People are kind and respectful to each other here. I am periodically reminded that even though I'm sometimes exhausted, stressed out, and reaching the fraying edges of my mental capacity, lots of other people are in this boat with me, and one way or another we'll keep afloat. If I fall overboard, someone will notice, throw me a line and pull me back. It's a good attitude to have around. Plus the ride's not all bad, sometimes I have a minute to remember that I'm learning some interesting stuff!
Slight cheesiness of metaphor aside, "feel" is as good a reason to choose a law school as any, especially if the choices are otherwise the same. I know that I mentioned at this blog's outset that picking a law school is about picking a community to live in for three years, not just a place to take classes. So again, prospective law students, do what you can to get yourselves good information; but after that, trust your instincts and try not to worry too much. You really can't go terribly wrong. That's why you do things like go to admitted students' weekends, right? That and the free food...
Well, that was my shot of nostalgia for the week-- soon, though, there will be an entry with useful content. I will be back in the very near future with an entry about law school journals! Cheers until then, and hope everyone's enjoying the sunshine (I hear Dean Zearfoss ordered it specially).
January 28, 2009
I am a bad blog writer.
I wrote an entry for this blog sometime back in October. I never posted it. Apparently going back and clicking on the necessary buttons was way too much for me to remember. Perhaps that's an indicator as to how this year has gone. They say that the first year of law school scares you to death, the second year works you to death, and the third year bores you to death. I don't know whether that's necessarily true, but I would agree that the second year has been very, very busy.
Despite how busy it has been, I will now summarize the year thus far in one paragraph. First, I started on a journal. Then I did the job search thing. After that, I caught up on classes and took exams. Then I went home for break. Now I'm into the summer housing hunt, still working away on the journal, and doing classes. Also, there's a pretty respectable amount of snow on the ground, so you know that some time has passed since August!
I also want to mention some things that have been happening this year that I think are notable or mildly interesting, in no particular order. Professor Simpson taught his last class here. It's the law school's 150th birthday (which was kicked off with a truly excellent free breakfast, so I'm a fan of this event). The reading room restoration project is finished, and it looks beautiful. I recently discovered a room in Hutchins Hall that I didn't know existed. We've even had sunshine on a semi-regular basis this winter!
So, that's the state of things in my part of the universe-- really pretty good. As for this blog, my plan is to try to write at least occasionally this semester, maybe every three weeks or so. I'll elaborate on some things here and there, and in general try to amuse the world with my sparkling wit. My next entry, I think, will probably talk about the journal experience. Take care until then!
May 21, 2008
Ta ta for now...
I’m sorry that I neglected to post at the beginning of this month, dear readers. Most of my classmates and I have now fled Ann Arbor for pursuing many interesting jobs and the like. Also, for catching up slightly on sleep after final exams and the journal application process.
That is not why I am belatedly posting, however. I promised a brief entry on why I’m returning to Michigan in the fall for round two of law school. Here is my brief entry:
I liked it there! So I’m going back.
I admit that this time I’m going to take large quantities of antihistamines with me. And one of those water pitchers with a filter. Still haven't gotten over being allergic to Michigan, or the way the water tastes. That's all right, it's worth it.
The End! Happy summer, everyone.
April 07, 2008
Get to Work!
I can’t believe that the year is almost over. Classes are wrapping up, that delightful end-of-term panic is starting to set in, the snow has melted, the second preview weekend is over. It must be past time for me to write about summer jobs.
As a brief note, this entry is written with a view to passing useful information along to those who will be in law school next year (or, I suppose, some year after that). If that doesn’t apply to you, you will likely find this boring and may wish to skip it altogether!
For those still reading, I would like to begin by admitting that I knew nothing about how summer jobs work when I came here; so, if you have no idea what you’re supposed to do, don’t worry. The good news is that there’s a lot of help available to get you through the process of finding a job, and that you will in the end find law-related employment. The bad news is, well, the process can involve a fair amount of effort, stress, disappointment, etc. It’s a little like applying to law school, only on a different scale (smaller applications, but usually lots more of them).
The timeline is surprisingly early, or at least it was to me. Career Services can talk to you starting on November 1 of your first year at law school (and seriously, don't even start thinking about the summer until then-- you're busy!). If you’re applying to law firms, most of them will begin accepting applications on December 1. Not everyone does applications that early, of course; many prefer to do them over the winter break, after final exams are over. As with everything else in law school, try not to be a lemming. Do what you know is going to be best for you.
More importantly, there’s the matter of what kind of work you’re going to do. The options most students try for are law firm jobs (summer associate), judicial internships (like a mini-clerkship), or an internship with some public interest or other organization. There are also positions as research assistants for professors, clerkships for law school clinics, or work in the law library, or miscellaneous work that I can’t even think of at the moment.
Here’s the trick: any job is a good job. The point of the summer after the first year of law school is to get experience that you can use. Since most of us start with none, anything will be beneficial from an experience standpoint!
As for how to actually get a job, there isn’t a whole lot that I can say because everyone’s process is different. I would highlight a few things that Michigan’s Career Services office does that I found helpful. Probably the best resource to consult is the list of jobs that Michigan students held last year, including the e-mail addresses of the students who volunteered themselves for the list. There’s also a mock interview program, which is helpful whether you’ve done interviews before or not. Career Services can also review résumés, and there are a number of panels or information sessions about different job options, particularly relating to judicial internships or public interest positions. In fact, there’s a whole office dedicated to Public Service, which is a great resource as well.
As a general rule, then, take advantage of every opportunity to get information and advice. It really cannot hurt, and your job searches while in law school are wonderfully unique because so much assistance is readily available. Live it up while you can! Someday, they tell me, we all get tossed into the mythical “real world.� I presume this means unspeakable doom, and possibly spontaneous combustion, but we’ll see in another two years whether that’s the case.
Seeing as I can’t top random bursting into flames, I think this is a good moment to stop. But fear not! There will be one more entry by May 2, when finals will be over and I will be fleeing Ann Arbor with all deliberate speed. Tune in one last time to hear me ramble on about one last fascinating topic:
One Year Down, Two to Go: Why I’m coming back in August...
March 19, 2008
Just for Fun.
My last entry promised that this one would be about some things at Michigan that are a little different and fun, and that I didn’t know about when I first arrived here. I’m sure people have differences of opinion, but I think they’re good things.
First, milk and cookies on Sunday nights. It’s a great excuse to get out of wherever you habitually study and take a break, munch a little, etc. I’m not much of a milk drinker, myself, but I very rarely turn down cookies when I’m around to eat them!
Second, Mr. Wolverine. This one is really a matter of principle for me. I like people who don’t take themselves too seriously, and institutions that can handle being silly now and then. I think that a male law student beauty pageant has both. The sheer quantity of silliness is truly outstanding, on everyone’s part. I also understand from personal experience how challenging it can be to sing, dance, and generally be ridiculous in front of a lot of people and make them laugh (it’s a better story when explained in person). I think the contestants, emcees, and audience all do a fantastic job of making this event a fun evening for everyone.
Third, SFF. I could, and maybe should, dedicate a whole entry to explaining what this is; but I will be brief, and interested parties can probably find more information about it elsewhere. Student-Funded Fellowships allow the student body to raise money for grants, which are provided to students who take summer jobs in public interest. One event in particular, the SFF Auction, involves all sorts of people (students, professors, businesses, law firms) donating items to be sold, proceeds going to the grants. I like that so many people here work together to support projects like this, and have for thirty years now. It seems like a good thing to put effort toward.
There are other things too, some of which are Ann Arbor and university benefits. I’m fond of the University Musical Society half-price ticket sale and free use of the city buses. There’s also paczki day, Zingerman’s baked goods, free lunch at some presentation or talk nearly every day, singing valentines, the tamest squirrels I have ever encountered, and people who bring their dogs to run around the quad and let you pet them. All right, maybe that last one is just me, but I have five dogs in my life at home and I’m in post-spring break withdrawal.
To summarize and conclude (and stop!), there’s a lot to like here that a prospective student might not put on the bullet-point list to justify his or her choice of law school. I doubt that delicious powdered sugar covered, jelly filled donuts on Fat Tuesday will be the thing that tips the scales on anyone’s decision. It is important, though, to remember that you aren’t just attending classes; you’re part of a community with its own personality. It’s worth asking what about that personality appeals to you. I think I've said that before, but it's worth repeating, especially during Preview season.
The end! Well, until I come back in another two weeks. This time I think I will talk about something I literally had no clue about a year ago, which is maybe not fascinating but might be useful...
The 1L Job Search: I have to think about the summer already?!
March 04, 2008
Technology in the Classroom
I've noticed on tours of the law school that a fair number of people wonder about the use of technology in the classroom. So, a brief entry on that very subject-- specifically, on laptop use.
My apologies, by the way, for the major delay of this entry; there are lots of good reasons why it is so late, but I will not bore you with them. Suffice it to say that life does not stop happening when one enrolls in law school (and, as a related note, professors really are understanding human beings). That said, on we go!
First, contrary to popular belief, not everyone uses laptops all the time. It is at least in theory entirely possible to get through law school without one. Laptops have two practical academic uses for law students: to take notes in class, and to take exams. Both can be done by handwriting. As far as I know, nearly everyone uses a laptop to take exams. Whether to use one in class or not is a bigger question, and there are plenty of people on all sides of the answer.
Some students prefer to have a laptop in class, for various reasons-- avoidance of having to decipher one's penmanship, speed of writing, ease of making corrections, ability to multitask with checking e-mail or playing Spider Solitaire. Other students prefer not to use a laptop, also for various reasons-- less temptation to just write everything down, greater likelihood of remembering what's been written, less feeling of being walled off from the rest of the class, ability to multitask with doodling or making to-do lists. Everyone is different, and people tend to settle into doing what works best for them.
Something else comes up in the technology discussion that's a bit of a bigger issue than personal preference, though-- that is, laptops' effect on the overall classroom atmosphere. An argument exists that participation quality drops when people are using laptops. It may well do so, it's not the kind of thing I'd look for statistics on, but vague impressions I've gotten can be interpreted that way. In any case, professors can choose to not allow laptops in the classroom, and concern about participation seems like one reason why they might do so. It doesn't happen often, but it seems worth talking about briefly.
Naturally, there are differing opinions on the merits of banning laptops. A primary concern is fairness-- does the policy apply to everyone, is it set out at the beginning of the semester, etc. As a matter of principle, one could say that it's paternalistic to ban laptops, even in an effort to improve class participation. On the other hand, in law school a major portion of your education comes from your classmates (see previous discussion of the Socratic method). So, whether they're paying attention and contributing effectively will impact you; maybe that does justify some intervention on the professor's part. Or not, depending on whom you ask.
As for me, I don't typically use a laptop in class, but not for reasons that would make me for or against their use by other people. I don't use one partly because I remember things better when I've written them out, partly because I can't hear as well when I'm typing, partly because I just prefer to read things on paper, and partly because I wear bifocals (yes, really, I got them my senior year of high school).
Therefore, I must end this entry with no answers, and leave it as a little note of some interesting tidbits. I'm sure things will change in the next five years, or perhaps they won't-- hopefully I will have graduated by then, so I will not be personally involved in the matter!
I promise I will be back again in two weeks or less, with a new topic that will be even more fascinating than this one was, which I will pull out of a hat and call:
"Uniquely Michigan": You don't find this at most law schools!
January 30, 2008
In the Classroom: Thank you, Socrates...
I promised that this would be an entry on what I suppose you could call “classroom dynamics,� or better, “what actually happens when you show up every day at law school.� So, it is an entry on that very topic!
The short and long answer to what classes are like is that it depends on the professor. But the basic process that seems most common goes something like this:
1. Reading gets assigned.
2. You do the reading.
3. You (might) take notes on the reading.
4. You show up at class.
5. The professor talks.
6. The professor makes you and your classmates talk.
7. The professor tells you to go home.
Repeat until the end of the semester; then see entry on exams.
For this entry, I'm going to talk about step number six. This is the part that scares us and produces movies like The Paper Chase. I mentioned it briefly in a previous entry as the dreaded Socratic Method. The premise is that professors ask questions, ranging from what the factual situation of a case was to whether we agree with the reasoning behind a court’s decision.
This process is frightening for many students, because we’re used to being a volunteer grill-ee; in college, we only had to talk if we raised our hands. At law school, you typically get "cold called" more often than you volunteer to speak-- meaning the professor picks you and starts asking questions that you have to try to answer. You’re on the hook until your professor lets you off (how long that will be varies widely between different professors). It’s intimidating, especially when you’re new at it.
There are good reasons for law school to do this to us, though. As a practical matter, it helps make sure that everyone talks at some point; most professors combine cold calling and some volunteer input to achieve that end. It jades you a bit to terror and panic, which always come when you hear your name called (your notes are a security blanket to help you get through the deer-in-headlights moment). Most importantly, it gets you used to getting past that reaction, formulating your thoughts quickly, and talking about them in a more or less sensical fashion.
The bothersome part is that as you’re answering, there will be holes in your reasoning. There are holes in courts’ reasoning, too, so just agreeing with them won't save you (otherwise all those Supreme Court cases would be unanimous votes, and no one would ever dissent). Often you will be asked to identify those holes and make an opposing argument, or listen to another student or your professor make said opposing argument. That usually makes you feel like your original position must have been wrong.
Tip for future law students: That's not always the case. Yes, sometimes you completely missed something, that happens to all of us. But sometimes you're not "wrong," there's just an argument on the other side. Don't let this make you panic.
There's a reason for that, too. We don’t do the easy cases with a right answer. We do the hard ones. We learn what the courts eventually decide as the rule that’s going to apply; but a big chunk of law school involves time to say, “Do we like this? Is this the right outcome? What are the alternatives? What is the law really trying to do here?�
That way, they tell us, we’ll have some ground to stand on when we get that odd borderline case where it really could go either way.
Either that or they just like trying to make our heads explode...
Well, folks, that's it for today. I hope you had as much fun as I did! Come back for our next next issue, in two-ish weeks, on another thrilling subject of some practical importance:
Inside the Classroom: Laptops, no laptops, and does it matter?
January 14, 2008
Going Home.
After you survive your first semester of law school, it is required (at least if you live in student housing here) that you leave law school for a couple of weeks before returning to face your second semester. It seems fitting, seeing as I don’t have much else to write about yet, to take an entry to discuss the option that many students take for their break: going home.
Going home is always a bit of a culture shock for students. Law students, however, face a particular challenge that never came up in my undergraduate experience. It’s The Question (capitalized to indicate the level of seriousness and doom involved). I feel it my duty to pass along some hard-learned lessons about The Question to future law students.
Everyone asks it if they know where you’ve been for the semester. Your friends mean well, you know they do, but by the third or fourth time you’re ready to run away screaming. To them, it's just small talk, but you know it really isn't. The Question is:
“So, how’s law school going?�
The best answer, which I thought of much too late, is:
“Ask me in a month or two; I just finished finals.�
Give a wry, pitiable smile. Then change the subject immediately. It doesn’t matter what the new subject is. Pick your favorite, or better yet, the other person’s favorite. Just don’t talk about law school.
Why? It isn’t so much that obsessing about the finished semester is bad (although everyone will tell you not to for the sake of your sanity, and they’re right). It isn’t that people don’t care about how your studies are going, at least to the level of making small talk. It isn't that law school is unimportant and not worth talking about.
The real reason is that no one actually wants to know the answer. Any story about law school is 5 pages of plot with 30 pages of back-story. Those who haven’t been through it don’t want to know the back-story. Your gory experiences with being cold-called will leave your audience staring at you like you’ve grown a spare nose. Puns involving anything ever mentioned in your textbooks will have the same effect. If you try to explain these things, the looks will go up to the level of your having grown three more heads and another set of arms. You will be happier if you avoid this altogether. Trust me.
Now, it sounds easy, but it’s hard to avoid talking about school. By the time finals are over, your mind will have been totally consumed by the law for many, many days straight. I found that I had difficulty even remembering what I did during the semester other than study (and I was shocked to discover that there was Christmas; who knew that was still happening?). It seems to me that if I had this problem, I’m probably not alone.
Therefore, future law students going home on winter break, I would suggest using your plane or car trip to try to recall those other activities and refocus your mind on the balance of life that exists outside of law school. Everyone you know will be grateful for it. So, um, how about that new coach that someone told me we’re getting...
That’s all I’ve got for today; tune in two weeks (ish) from now for another installment of this blog, with another marvelous topic:
Inside the Classroom: But, but, what’s the answer?
December 14, 2007
Law School Exams
This entry is dedicated to that most unique of law school experiences, the subject of an unbelievable number of how-to videos, books, outlines, et cetera: taking a law school exam.
I think that to the rest of the world, the amount of pressure these exams create must seem really ridiculous. We’ve all had finals before. So what’s the big deal? There are a few reasons why the law school population goes collectively crazy in December:
1. In most classes, it’s our only grade.
2. The grade you get can make acquiring a job a lot easier.
3. The grade you get is not completely under your control (grades are bell-curved).
4. You can always study more and never feel like you've studied enough.
5. It is incredibly difficult not to agonize over it after the fact.
To my mind those are good reasons to be nervous. At the same time, though, there are other things to think about that help slightly. Some advice that I've been handed repeatedly, that I think is useful:
1. It is the only grade we have, but as a general rule professors write fair exams-- they aren’t going to cover things you’ve never talked about, for example. Also, exams are blind-graded, so the playing field is as level as it’s going to get.
2. The grade is important, but it isn't going to prevent you from getting a job. Honest. I think the best comment I’ve heard on this topic was that your grades might get you an interview; your grades might even contribute to getting you a job; but being a good lawyer will let you keep that job. Don't consider any grade to be the absolute end of your career prospects.
3. The curve is as kind as a curve is going to get (it is not going to make anyone fail).
4. How you study is just as important as how much; this isn't just a "who can stay in the library the longest" contest. Many professors have old exams available, so you can often get a good idea of the format and the kinds of things you’ll be asked about. Sometimes they even have sample or model answers. Prepare for the exam that you’re going to take (closed book, open book? issue-spotting in fact patterns or multiple-choice?). Practice! Otherwise, as usual, prepare in a way that works for you. See last entry on that subject.
5. Even if you do study perfectly, you will make mistakes. You will miss things. So will everyone else. I don’t think anyone left my exam yesterday feeling like it had gone perfectly (though we were elated that we'd lived through it). We’ll find out how it really went in February. The most important thing should be to feel like you prepared well and gave it your best shot. If it still turns out badly, find out why and fix that for your next round of exams. It's a hard prospect to think that your best effort didn't bring the results you wanted, but it's better than the alternative.
That’s about all I can relate on the subject of exams for now, I think. One down, two more to go! Due to impending winter break, this blog will be on hiatus until mid-January. Tune in then for a thrilling monologue on:
Going Home: When no one laughs at your Restatement jokes...
November 27, 2007
Surviving Law School Academics
If you want, you can take the answer to the question "am I going to survive this?" as yes, and skip the rest of this entry. Otherwise, this is just my take on law school academics generally.
I think it’s easy to panic at law school. Stress is contagious, and rumors spread fast about what "everyone else" is doing to study. A feeling of impending and unavoidable doom is easy to acquire sooner than you would expect. Still, the consistent advice I hear from 2Ls can be summarized as "don’t panic; don’t be a lemming; you will survive this, and everything will be fine." Good advice, but it’s easier said than done.
That isn’t because we’re dumb. The brochures are not lying. People here really are smart. I think that everyone in my class has habitually gotten good grades, test scores, etc. A good chunk of the class has an advanced degree in something other than law, or has done something similarly impressive (I feel very boring sometimes). I am continually impressed by the responses I hear in class.
Going by most of the discussion on the subject that I’ve heard, though, it seems like the majority of us are convinced that everyone else is smarter than we are, and we’re going to wind up with lousy grades. Why on earth is this so?
Simple question, simple answer: law school is just plain difficult. The reason why it matters comparatively little what you did before law school is that no college major or job will perfectly prepare you for the material. What we learn and the way we learn it is going to be different. You’ve heard of the Socratic method. They use it here. You realize that most of "the law" is not in fact a neat set of rules but a massive, messy tangle of judicial opinions and the occasional statute. We slog our way through that. It’s a lot of hard work. It can be maddeningly frustrating. I have a few friends from home whose official job lately has been to listen to me whine when necessary. I like challenge, and love that I’m learning so much, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t painful now and then.
If it’s that bad, though, why don’t we just quit? Are we all that desperate to get our degrees and do… whatever it is that one does with a JD? Maybe. I think we all believe that what we want to end up doing, whatever that is, will be worth the effort. Remembering that is helpful for self-encouragement.
I think another important thing to remember is that if we couldn’t do it, we wouldn’t be here. You can say to yourself that Dean Zearfoss made a huge mistake admitting you, but you probably won’t be right. You’ve gotten yourself into a challenging situation, but you can meet it. How? Do the reading. Show up for class. Spend time with the material. Use the study methods that got you here. Talk to your classmates and arrange study groups, or get a tutor. The work is difficult, but not impossible.
Moreover, there are good moments. Really! It’s incredible to learn so much-- there aren’t words for it. Also, I think I mentioned, at some point, how excellent the people quality is around here. We poke, prod, nudge, and occasionally drag each other along. Our professors do a good job of steering us in something approximating the direction in which we're supposed to be stumbling. We get through it. We really will be fine.
At least, we hope so. Which brings me to my next topic, on which I plan to write two weeks from now, when I've survived one (knock on wood):
Law School Exams: What do you mean, we only get one grade?
November 05, 2007
The First Year, In Brief (Almost).
Before I begin, take a moment and be grateful that I didn’t follow my natural urge to write this in "brief format" (a note-taking format that some people use), just for the sake of a bad joke. It was tempting. I resisted, however, and instead have decided to answer some general questions that I thought people who are considering attending Michigan might have about the first year of law school.
Why do people make such a big deal out of the first year?
From what I can tell, it’s something of a law school hazing process. Everyone goes through it. The first year introduces you to a few broad areas of law and teaches you how to do legal research and writing. It’s also your first real exposure to how the law school classroom works and what studying law is like. As a student, you want those experiences to be good and helpful, as opposed to a form of torture or something that you just have to get past.
Why would I bother asking a lowly first year law student anything?
Call this my moment of self-justification. It struck me at some point when I was visiting law schools that people always wanted to talk to 2L's and 3L's. They have exciting things to talk about, like clinics, summer jobs and post-graduation plans. Still, try to get a good mix-- don't ignore the recent arrivals when you're talking to current students. Law school’s oddities are new enough to us that we still notice them, and whatever we were doing before we came here is recent enough that we still remember it. We are constantly picking up information about this place. We also remember the reasons why we decided to come here. Plus we're just lovely people to chat with, but I might be biased there.
What’s not good about the first year at Michigan?
I have three major complaints. One, I think that the water out of the library water fountains tastes bad, though at least it’s cold. Two, I am allergic to Ann Arbor, or maybe all of Michigan, I am not sure. Three, I think that “1L� is a strange term, especially since I don’t know what the L stands for. Level, maybe? Whatever it means, I'm not sure how I feel about being identified by a letter and number. On the other hand, I am weird, and this probably does not bug anyone else.
What’s good about the first year at Michigan?
There are many directions to pursue with this question, most of which I really want to talk about in detail later. So, I guess this is where brevity is going to have to be a result of necessity rather than wit, because I’m going to get things thrown at me if thing gets longer than a sane human being’s blog-reading attention span. Thus, the best bits as they occur to me presently:
1. The sheer amount of knowledge they’re cramming into our heads. I’m told that at least some of it will be useful, probably.
2. The skill with which our professors tend to manage said cramming. They all do that differently, but effectively in their own ways.
3. The fact that I do not dislike anyone here. This continues to keep me happy both in and out of the classroom.
4. The effort that’s made to get us involved in organizations and in the law school community. There really are amazing opportunities here.
5. The incredible quantity of worthwhile stuff to do in Ann Arbor, even outside the University. It’s a good place to be a student.
Are you done now?
Yes! But don't cheer too loudly, since I'll be back soon! Tune in next time for another thrilling topic of one-way discussion:
Law School Academics: Am I Going to Survive This?
October 22, 2007
The First Entry.
Greetings, and welcome to the corner of the Michigan Law blogging space that has, for some strange reason, been assigned to me. In the interest of making what I scribble here less nonsensical, it seems polite to explain myself a bit.
I grew up in Des Moines, IA (approximately, a couple of suburbs really). From there, I moved 226 miles north to St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN). I did not freeze to death, even during that one week in January when it didn't get above zero degrees Farenheit, and in fact I had a lovely four years there as a Classics major. If you’re wondering, Latin and Greek are much more fun and useful than many people seem to think. Trust me!
At some point in the spring of my third year at St. Olaf, I decided to apply to law school. Some months later, I was accepted at Michigan. Some months after that, I decided to come here. Finally, some months still later, I moved to Ann Arbor and started showing up at classes. Now I am still showing up at classes, living in Ann Arbor, mildly active in a few fun hobbies, and babbling about it here.
Of course, this brings up the question of who’s reading my babble. I imagine that many of those people will be somewhere in the process of deciding whether or where to apply to law school. Others might be busily filling out applications. Still others are probably deciding which school they should attend. A few people might just be curious about what’s going on at the law school. Those are all good reasons to be poking around the website and reading student blogs.
Today, though, I want to address those who have applied and are figuring out which school they should choose. That was the hardest part for me. Unfortunately, I don’t think that I can offer advice on making that choice, except for the following two points:
1. Trust your guts.
2. Be mindful of your past experiences.
That’s what anything else I could write would end up meaning. Your instincts, tutored by experience, will tell you more about where you belong for three years than anything else. That said, give yourself good information to work with. Visit the places to which you’re applying, meet people, do your best to get a feel for each school. Think about where you want to be for three years. Choose accordingly. It’s that simple, and that complicated. I sincerely wish you the best of luck with your choice, even if I can’t tell you more to help you through the process of making it.
What I can do, though, is try to provide a little color commentary on what it’s like to be a first year law student at the University of Michigan. It might be useful information, and it might even be of interest to all those other people potentially reading this blog. I think it’s worth a try, anyway! So, check back sometime in the near future for:
General Observations on the First Year of Law School, in Brief (Almost).