Hey there, everyone! I know a lot of you have probably been wondering where I've gone, since my last post was during Thanksgiving break. Well, the answer is... FINALS. So first, I want to thank you for your patience during the last month of me falling of the face of planet. Secondly, let's get to it! Here is what my first law school finals were like!

At my law school, we had exactly one day of classes after Thanksgiving break - we had to go on Monday since we missed a Monday back in September for labor day. For my research class, we had a make-up class before break so we didn't have to go back after Thanksgiving. In my civil procedure class, we had a review for finals so we didn't have to do a real class. So all that left after Thanksgiving was one, two-hour torts lecture. This meant that I was essentially in finals mode as soon as break was over. Following Monday classes, the school had two "study days" which meant no classes or finals, and then our finals period started on December 1st. Yep - you heard that right - we had finals right away in December. If you thought finals week in college was bad, just wait until finals last 2 1/2 weeks in law school.

I was lucky and didn't have my first final until December 5th, which was my criminal law test. Personally, I was happy to have my criminal law final first, as it was the test I was the most worried about it. Although criminal law had the least amount of material, we had to memorize case names, which is a lot harder than one might think. The format of this final was two essay questions. The first essay question was supposed to take two hours - where we had to answer a series of questions about a hypothetical situation. The questions were generally what charges could be brought, what defenses the people might use, and who in the situation could be charged. The second essay question was much shorter, and specifically asked what defenses a hypothetical client could bring. Overall, I feel like I did an okay job with this test and was able to work in a lot of the class material. I finished around 20 minutes early, so I was able to work in some extra stuff. And, at that point, I was just glad to have one of my finals out of the way.

The next test I had was four days later, and was over Civil Procedure. This was the class I felt the most confident about. This test was a mixture of 10 multiple choice questions, which were supposed to take around an hour to complete. Then, there was a series of essay questions that were supposed to take two hours. The essay had a hypothetical situation which was two pages long. It took probably a solid 15 minutes to read and digest everything. Luckily, I still finished everything in time, and felt pretty confident in my answer. Like I said, I was confident in this class, which helped me understand the material and be able to show that on the test. Of course, I don't know how well I did until grades come out, but I feel like I did well.

Lastly, I had my torts final. This final was a beast, because of the amount of material we covered in that class. Essentially, this test was a two-page hypothetical situation and ended with a "who can sue who" type of essay prompt. Essentially, this meant that I spent an entire three hours typing out as much as I could. We also had some "bar exam" questions on this test. For those of you who are unfamiliar with bar exam questions, these are questions about the concepts where you don't just pick an answer that is right - you have to pick the answer that is the most right. So as you might imagine, those were incredibly difficult. This final I finished just in time - literally in the last minute. At the end, I felt as though I did well again, but that might just be the kick of endorphins from being done with my first set of finals!

So overall, I made it through my first set of law school finals and lived to tell the tale! I am planning on writing a few more posts about finals - studying, exam tips, etc. Let me know what you guys would like to hear about! I look forward to writing more to you soon, and I am glad to be back on my blog!

Hey there, everyone, and happy Thanksgiving! Boy oh boy, I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Not only do I have amazing friends and family, but this year I can add a college degree, a new place to live, a new school, and plenty of law school friends to add to the list of things I am thankful for. I am sure many of you feel the same.

Unfortunately, I go to school about 1,000 miles away from my hometown, and going home for the holiday just wasn't an option; plane tickets were too expensive, driving would take too long. So here I am in this college town, left to celebrate Thanksgiving away from home. Luckily for me, Thanksgiving is a holiday I am rather indifferent to - sure, I am very thankful for what I have, but I've never felt all that attached to the holiday. Black Friday doesn't appeal to me anymore either, after 3 years of working in retail. So, I'm not all that bummed about not going home. In fact, I'm pretty excited about my first law school Thanksgiving break!

Classes for us law students lasted until Tuesday. The undergrads here were done last Friday, so it was pretty quiet over the weekend and the beginning of the week. This was great because our memo was due, and everyone is trying to get a bunch of stuff finished up before the end of the semester. Because the weekend was so productive, I decided to take Wednesday, the first day of break, off from doing anything school related. I laid at home, watched TV, baked a pumpkin pie, and was lazy as can be. This was a much needed treat.

Thursday was turkey day. Although I didn't get to have a big Thanksgiving meal with my family, one of my friends from school who also stayed here over break cooked us an entire Thanksgiving feast with two other friends. Let me tell you, the day your friend cooks an entire turkey dinner is the day they earn your respect for life. I'm pretty sure that's what it takes to become a real adult. It was so nice to relax with friends, complain about law school, and stuff our faces with something other than take-out or macaroni and cheese.

Today is Friday, which meant my break had to be over and I needed to get back to work and study a little bit. However, there was one important life event that I had to do first. Gilmore Girls, my favorite show since the 5th grade, premiered four specials on Netflix. So I woke up at 3:00 a.m. ET to watch all 6 hours before I was off to school to study. Let me tell you, if I didn't get the opportunity to actually go home for break, this show is the closest thing to home there is for me.

When I got to school, I was devastated to find out that my ID card was not working to swipe into the law building. In fact, nobody's card was working. Myself, along with two other students and a professor, were trapped outside of the building. Professor to the rescue, though. He called the university police for us and we were let in to get our books and study away. That's where I spent most of my day. However, I did take a break in the afternoon to watch some football.

Tomorrow and Sunday will be similar. I need to study and work on school most of the day. I still have two research projects, my CORE grammar post-test, and studying for finals in the remaining seventeen days of the semester. It feels like there is a lot to do, but I am motivated and I know that I can do it.

Sometime in the rest of the weekend, I am going to clean my entire apartment, go grocery shopping to get necessary sustenance for finals, and try to find a little more time to relax. I hope all of you law students are able to do the same.

Oh yeah - and last, but not least - I want to say I am so thankful for each and every one of you that reads my blog. I have already gotten more readers than I ever thought I would, and the number grows every day. Thank you for being a part of my law school adventure!

Hey, everyone - my only class scheduled for today was cancelled, and now I am officially on Thanksgiving break. After break, I only have one day of classes left and then it is finals time! This entire semester has flown by so fast, and I am so nervous for finals, but excited to go back home and see all my friends and family for the holidays. For those of you in school right now as well - congratulations on wrapping up a semester! It's always a tough challenge, but a huge victory once you hit that home stretch.

Today, I'm going to discuss one of the not-so-fun topics about law school. The unfortunate reality of being a law student is that there are going to be a lot of hard days. Sometimes, it feels like there are going to be more hard days than good days. In reality, I know it's not that bad. But, it can be hard to see how great life is when you are drowning in memos to write, career services meetings, endless readings, and of course, going to class. There are definitely some weeks that are harder than others, and it can be difficult to know how to handle it. This last week has definitely been a hard week for me. Not only are finals approaching, but last week the workload seemed incredibly heavy, and my final writing assignment for the semester was due. To add to the school stress, my law school class was unfortunately faced with the tragic death of one of our classmates. Throughout the school, you could feel the stress, anxiety, grief, and sadness throughout the air.

So, you might be wondering, how do you get through weeks like this? To be honest, I am no expert. In fact, sometimes I think I don't handle things like this well at all. But, I will try to give you my best advice for how to survive during the hard weeks in law school

First things first - take care of yourself.
Seriously, you know what to do. Drink your water. Get enough sleep. Eat something. Take a shower. It's surprising how hard the most basic things can be when you are struggling, but these things are all essential to make you feel like a human being. So make sure you take care of yourself.

Take care of others
If you are struggling, so are you friends. Make sure that they're being kind to themselves. Offer yourself as someone to talk to. It's easier to draw strength when someone else needs you, and helping a friend may be the morale boost you need.

Talk to someone - anyone
Call your mom. Text your best friend. Meet with a professor in office hours. This week, all of the law school staff and faculty has made it so clear that they are here to support us. I have had so many professors reach out to lend an ear, offer advice, and take care of my classmates and myself as we deal with the loss of one of our law school brothers. I am so convinced now, if I wasn't before, that all of my professors and law school staff are here to help me succeed, and I am willing to bet most people would find the same at their school.

Give yourself some time away from law school
For the last fifteen days, I have not had a single day where I have not been inside the law building. I have had to spend so much time in the library studying, going to classes, and attending meetings that I can barely remember the last day I wasn't inside my school. It's important to take a break every now and then to get out. My friends and I like to do this by taking trips to get ice cream. Do something fun and mindless that doesn't involve school.

Remember your goals
When law school gets hard, it's easy to make half-serious jokes about giving up and dropping out. I know that I have made plenty. But remember your goals and why you attended law school in the first place. Use that as a motivation to do your best and get through the week.

I know that sometimes, law school feels like you're drowning, and no matter how hard you try, you can't keep your head above water. But keep kicking, keep fighting, get your head above water, and slowly - but surely - you will learn to swim.

I have a hard time too. I'm not the best at this whole "law school" thing yet. But I know that I can get through it all, and I know you can too.

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Life isn't a popularity contest"? I'm sure you have - it's something that adults tend to tell kids and teenagers to encourage them when faced with adversity from their peers. Well, I have a newsflash for you - in the legal world, life is a popularity contest. The job you'll get will likely be based on whether or not people like you. Yes, your grades and school performance matter. But the opinions of future employers, as well as your references matter. Some of your most important references in law school are going to be your professors. This is one of the many reasons why it is important to connect with your professors. One of the best ways to connect is by meeting with them during office hours.

Most professors are required to have office hours once or twice a week, where they are available in their office to answer questions, help you with class, and give you school advice. This can be a great a resource if you need a little extra help in your classes. To be totally transparent, I don't always take advantage of my professors' office hours - I don't usually go in unless I have a reason. However, it's comforting to know that time is available if needed.

This week, I met with two of my professors on separate occasions. The first meeting was a writing conference with my writing professor. My school has several of these required conferences throughout the semester, as well as several optional ones. I take advantage of each and every one of these conferences. After all, how could I say no to getting personalized advice about legal writing? I've already had three or four of these conferences this semester, and the help I have gotten is invaluable. If your writing professor offers writing conferences, I highly recommend that you take advantage of the opportunity.

Another great thing that can come from these types of conferences is understanding why you get the grades you do. My conference this week was to go over my first graded writing assignment that was due a couple of weekends ago. I got a 'B' on this assignment - which is a fairly good grade for law school. Through the conference, I was able to understand why I missed the points that I did, why I earned points for things I did well, and got more tips for my next assignment. The best part of this conference was that when I was going over my paper with my professor, she commented on how her comments seemed inconsistent with the score she gave me - meaning that she's going to reevaluate and my grade might be increased. I never would've had the opportunity to earn back those points without a conference - so there's another reason to meet with your writing professor as much as possible!

I also had a conference with my Civil Procedure professor to go over my in-class, ungraded midterm that I took last month to evaluate my performance. When I got to my professor's office, we first had a personal conversation about how I feel law school is going, how I'm doing in my classes, etc. This was nice, just to know a professor cares about how I am doing overall. Then, when going over my midterm, my professor told me that if I performed similarly on the final, I would likely have one of the best grades in my class. This was amazing to hear, and gave me a boost of confidence that I am on the right track in the way I study.

After meeting with both of my professors, I ended the week feeling more confident about this whole law school thing. Finals time is approaching - it's about to be crunch time, and I'm getting nervous about taking my finals and getting my final grades. However, having two professors acknowledge the good work I'm doing makes me feel like maybe I've got this after all. I know what I'm doing well, what I need to work on, and how to approach finals coming up.

I highly recommend meeting with your professors as much as you can - you never know what will come out of a conference!

In law school, being successful in classes obviously includes more than simply showing up to classes and listening to the professors. Not only do you have to do your reading and study outside of class, but the note-taking you do inside of class matters a lot as well. Everyone takes notes differently - some people take really thorough notes outside of class and then don't take notes in class at all, some people on take scribbles of notes while they do their readings and then take extensive notes during class, some people give equal effort both in and out of class. There's no right way to do it - just do whatever is right for you. But, despite that little piece of truth, I know that me saying that is less-than-helpful. So I'll show you how I take my notes for class and then you can decide whether or not parts of my note-taking system might work for you.

First things first, I tend to take more extensive notes outside of class than I do in class. Part of the reason for this is that the majority of the reading you will do outside of classes will be reading case law, and I tend to brief every single case that I read. I won't give you any information on how to brief cases here - I've written an entire post on that already! These case briefs tend to take up most of my notes. However, I do write down any other information the book gives me, as well as a few bullet points on the footnotes or follow-up questions also included in the book. Here's an example of what a section of my reading notes look like:

In this screenshot, you can see both bullet-point notes on information, as well as a full case-brief. You might notice that I put the page numbers of the case next to the title of the case I am reading. This helps me quickly locate the full case in the book, so I can easily find it during class for reference. I highly recommend this practice.

You might be wondering, from this screenshot, what program I use to take my notes. I use Evernote for all of my typed notes in law school. To tell you more about Evernote, I'll send you my colleague Nikki's blog - she wrote an entire post about Evernote and why she uses it. Her post is what encouraged me to use Evernote, and I definitely owe Nikki for introducing me to it. Check out her post - it includes some great note-taking tips as well!

In class, I do not type my notes. I have been told by many professors, and believe from personal experience that hand-writing notes is the best way to remember information. However, my class notes are way less-detailed and way less-organized. My goal during class is to write down main points, things I need to remember, and things my professor mentions that weren't in the reading. Overall, I really take notes in class to make sure I stay focused and pay attention. Here is what an example of my notes from in class look like:
I like typing up my outlines in Microsoft Word, because I like the format. However, after I work on my outline I make sure to upload it to Google Drive or Evernote, because if my computer crashes mid-semester I definitely do not want to lose my notes and all of the progress I have made throughout the semester. I also recommend waiting until the end of a unit to outline, that way you know what is the most important for that particular part of the class. You don't want to waste more time on one part of your outline than necessary - you spend enough time working on your notes as is.

Overall, that is my note-taking process. I try to be as thorough as possible when I take my notes that way I have all of the information that the professor wants me to know, whether I derived it from the book or from the lecture. I always type out my notes from the reading, and handwrite my notes in class. I do have one class that does not allow laptops, but I just print out my notes for that class. I like to type my reading notes because it saves time and it is cleaner, but if you prefer handwriting then that is equally as valid.

Again, this is only one way of taking and organizing your notes. There are many method's out there. Nikki's post is a great example of one way to take notes, mine gives you another option, and there are more options than just the two of these. Bottom line - just make sure you are taking notes. Then, a style that works for you will develop on its own.

I am one of the youngest people in my law school class. As far as I know, I am the second-youngest person in my law school class, as far as I know. Like many law students, I cam to law school directly out of undergrad - I obtained my Bachelor of Science in Political Science in May of 2016, and began law school the following August. However, I actually only attended undergrad for three years. By some luck and apparently overloading on classes, I was able to get my degree an entire year early. Not only that, but I have always been young compared to my classmates - I turned eighteen the July after graduating from high school. So, all things considered, I began law school barely a month after I turned twenty-one.

Being young in law school has definitely contributed to a unique experience among my peers. There are a handful of other twenty-one year-olds in my class as well, so I am not alone. However, the majority of my classmates are at least a year or two older than me, and some even more than that. However, being young in law school hasn't been detrimental to my law school career in any way, and if anyone else is in a similar position, I advise you not to let it deter you.

Most people associate being twenty-one with a year of partying, fun, and free-spirited shenanigans. Being in law school, this is clearly not an option. I've replaced bar crawls with bar prep, hangovers with early morning study sessions, and spontaneous roadtrips with well-planned library trips. Law school isn't necessarily boring, but it is serious. If you want to spend your time partying and having fun, I recommend you get that out of your system before taking the plunge into your 1L year.

Another way being young might impact you while attending law school is lack of life experience. Some of my classmates have used their time in undergrad to study abroad, other have years of work experience, and others just seem to be better adults. I didn't have time for any of that - I spent three straight years studying in undergrad, and then came straight to law school to study some more. Sometimes this makes me feel a little intimidated - like I am less of an adult than my classmates. But then when it comes to reality, I feel like I have a better grip on most things like paying bills, handling insurance claims, going to the DMV, etc. So it's all about how you handle things.

Overall, I wouldn't change my experience of being one of the younger ones in my class. Sure, it brings a variety of challenges. But it also brings an opportunity for me to prove myself. Unless I tell people, they usually don't realize how young I am, and I certainly don't act like a typical twenty-one year old. So don't let being young hold you back from going to law school. If you have an experience anything like mine, it won't matter a bit. I'm not ready to let go of my immaturity yet - I still have stuffed animals and toy trinkets stacked on top of my law books. But I'm ready to be a law student, and nobody but me knows the difference.

As of now, I've been a law student for a little over two months. It kind of feels like it has only been two weeks; at the same time, it feels like it's been about two years. Overall, I'm starting to figure out what this whole "law school" thing is actually about, and I'm starting to find my identity as a law student. So I wanted to write this post to summarize for both all of my readers as well as myself what my first two months of law school have been like.

Emotions

Classes

Budgeting

Overall

Last week was a hectic week for me at school, because not only did I have my first writing assignment due, but I also had my first research assignment due. The research assignment was little bit shorter and easier, and was only worth 10% of my grade. But since every person this year has told me that my grades are the most important thing, I still wanted to do really well. My law school splits our writing and research classes into two separate, 2 credit classes. This is somewhat nice, but also more tedious at times since each class comes with separate assignments and tasks. Especially since each class had an assignment due at the same time.

My first research assignment was to look at a hypothetical client problem and research the issue trying to find the answer to the client's question and then writing a short, informal memo about the issue. For this first assignment, we were specifically researching case law. Later in the semester, we will have assignments about statutory law and administrative law, as well as a wrap-up assignment that pulls everything together. Limiting the research to only one type of source makes things a little bit easier.

Most law schools provide you with a plethora of research tools. Obviously, every law school has an extensive library with volumes and volumes of legal authority looking regal on the shelves. However, in the modern day, the electronic databases that your school provides are probably what you use most. It's so much easier to type in a search query and get thousands of results than it is to browse the shelves of the American Law Reports or legal encyclopedias. My school provides LexisNexis, Westlaw, Bloomberg, HeinOnline - basically all of the sources you can think of. This is both good and bad. Having these resources is great, because it makes research a hell of a lot easier. It also can be detrimental, because not all of us will have access to these amazing tools when we actually enter practice.

The assignment that I had made me use Lexis, Westlaw, and HeinOnline to find the answer's to the client's problem. The assignment was actually pretty easy - there was a number of guided questions, and as long as you followed directions, you should have got the right answer. The informal memo I had to write was a little more open-ended, as was the research log I had to make while I was doing the research. Because grading in law school is based on a curve, I knew that I had to put in more effort on these sections. I couldn't focus on just getting the right answer, I had to have the best and most thorough answer.

Luckily, my efforts paid off. After turning the assignment in and waiting about a week for grades, I earned my first A in law school. Although it's only a small portion of my grade, I was pretty proud of the score that I received. I definitely earned points for being the most thorough, so I would recommend doing the same on your assignments.

Good luck to everyone as you begin turning in your graded assignments as well!

One thing that I have had to get used to in law school is the lack of papers, tests, quizzes, and other graded assignments throughout the semester. For the most part, grades in law school are limited to the finals, and maybe participation or attendance depending on the class. The few exceptions to this are legal writing and research classes. Most law schools require first-year students to take some sort of legal writing and research classes. Mine are two separate classes, but some schools combine them. These classes tend to have a few more assignments throughout the semester than the doctrinal classes, such as torts, criminal law, civil procedure, property, contracts, etc.

Having more assignments through the semester is both a blessing and a curse. Although it creates a nice contrast to what I do in my other classes (a.k.a. reading all of the time), it adds a little bit of pressure. Your torts professor likely won't care that you have a quiz on the Bluebook the same day they assign 60 pages - so the graded assignments are just one more thing you have to balance in your academic life. However, it is nice to know that my grade in at least one class won't be entirely based on a single test.

About a week ago I had to turn in my first graded assignment for my legal writing class. The assignment was to write a formal office memo regarding a hypothetical client situation using provided legal authority that the professor gave to us. We had done a short, ungraded e-mail memo prior to this as practice, but this assignment was the real deal. Essentially, a legal memo is paper in which you analyze a client situation using legal authority such as cases and statutes to explain why you think the court will decide the outcome of a case in a certain way. Our memo was limited to 8 pages, and we were provided four cases to use as legal authority. You might think that 8 pages is long - but it was actually rather difficult for most of my classmates to not go over the page limit.

Learning how to write legal memoranda is important, because many of law students are required to write these memoranda as part of their law school internships. Along with that, the memorandum that you turn in for you legal writing classes will likely be the writing sample that you will submit to potential employers when applying for jobs. That fact, combined with the fact that the assignment is graded, means that writing my first memo came with a lot of pressure. I had two weeks to complete the assignment. However, because of one of my friend's passing away and needing to travel for a funeral, I really only worked on the assignment for a little over one week. For me, this was adequate time to feel like I did well on the assignment - but I know some of my classmates needed longer and some only took a few days to write their memos.

I am still anxiously awaiting my grade for my memo, but I feel as though I did fairly well. Pending feedback and completion of the next memo I have to write, I will eventually write a post on writing legal memos. However, until then - here are some general legal writing assignment tips:

• Consult the Bluebook - you have it for a reason. Make sure your citations are correct and that you follow Bluebook style to avoid making stupid mistakes.
• Edit, edit, edit! Edit your writing as you go, take breaks from writing to go back to edit, edit when you are finished, then wait a day and edit again. Your professor will be able to tell if your writing is polished or not.
• Read your paper out loud to yourself. It will help you catch little mistakes you might not notice if you read silently.
• Know your school's collaboration policy - my school doesn't allow us to discuss any aspects of the assignment with each other. You don't want to lose points or fail the assignment for discussing your writing with your friends.
• Take breaks from writing. You need to be able to walk away from your assignment and come back to it to create your best work. It's pretty unlikely that if you sit down and do the assignment all at once that you will create quality work.
• Remember basic grammar. Seriously, this is not the time to misplace commas or forget basic sentence structure.
• Don't overthink it. You'll do better if you just relax and have some confidence that you are producing your best work.

It's that dreaded time of year when the weather gets colder, leaves start falling, and signs for flu shot clinics appear in every pharmacy. Yes, friends - it's cold and flu season. As a student at a giant university who is consistently surrounded by twenty-somethings who aren't very good at keeping their germs to themselves, I am constantly in fear of catching a virus or whatever sickness is plaguing the college community at the time. I walk around my apartment twice a week with Lysol wipes in hand, disinfecting every surface I can think of. A bottle of hand-sanitizer is constantly clipped to my backpack, I constantly take my vitamins and stay hydrated, and I avoid hanging out with people the second I hear them cough. Despite all these precautions, somehow I have caught a bug and now I have to deal with feeling sick in law school.

You've probably heard a lot of the same statistics I have about the average adult getting about 4 colds a year. Despite the commonality, I still feel shocked every single time I come down with the slightest illness. I'm sure many of you feel the same, but I advise you to embrace the inevitability and prepare for how you will handle yourself when you do eventually get sick. As I am trying to stay on top of things and be the kickass law student I know I can be, while battling the plague of the common cold, here is my advice on how to handle sick days in law school:

Know Your Class Attendance Policies

Don't Let Yourself Fall Behind In School

Hydrate, Hydrate. Hydrate!

Get Enough Sleep

Stay Away From Booze, Drugs, Etc.

Take A Deep Breath and Chill

Hey, everyone. So you may have noticed that I have not posted in a few weeks. I am sure most of you have probably attributed this to me being extremely busy with law school - and you are not entirely wrong. This week my first two graded assignments are due which is taking up most of my time. I'm either working on them, or stressing about how I should be working on them. But due to some circumstances in my personal life, I haven't really felt like posting a lot or writing happy posts. So I apologize for being away, and I will try to get back to a normal amount of posting here soon.

Unfortunately, a little over week and a half ago, I found out that an old coworker and friend of mine had passed away. His tragic and untimely death definitely had an impact on my emotional stability these last few weeks. Grieving is hard in general, and it is even more difficult when I am 1,000 miles away from my friends and family and have to continue to stay on top of my law school assignments like nothing is wrong. I was able to travel back home to attend the funeral, which was sad, yet emotionally healing as well. One good thing that came from this was that many of the friends that I have made at law school reached out to me to just give me hugs, offer to bring me cups of coffee or lend me their notes, or just hang out with me when I need a distraction. People need other people. I need other people. And grieving has made me realize that more than anything else.

If you are away from home at law school, college, or anywhere in your future - you will likely have some similar experience where you may have to grieve from a distance.  Everyone has their own grieving style - you may need to cry for days, you may want to distract yourself, or you may want to do nothing at all. Whatever you need to do, just do it. There is no wrong way to grieve. Let your professors know, let your friends know, let your coworkers know. Do whatever you need to do in order to feel okay again. It will be hard, but you can get through it. And if you ever need to reach out to anyone, you can always reach me by email or in the comments on here.

So, now that I have addressed this, I will try to get back to normal posts about law school. Any questions you guys have? Anything you would like to know? Leave them in the comments and I will write a post!!

I will talk to you guys soon.

- Bailey



If you ever feel alone, are having problems with addiction, or need any other help - check out these resources below. Your life is precious. People need you and want you here. Love yourself and help yourself, because you are worth it.

For help finding mental health or substance abuse treatment centers: 1-800-622-HELP

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK

So, if you're anything like me or the majority of law students, you probably think that the most terrifying thing about law school is the fact that the professors use the Socratic method to teach. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the Socratic method, it basically means that the professors will call on you at random at their own whim in classroom discussions. Basically, this means that you show up to class, the professor picks a student and asks them a bunch of questions to stimulate critical thinking. This is a little bit different than in undergrad, where classroom participation was a voluntary thing.

I won't lie to you, professors cold-calling you is always going to be terrifying. I was called on to present a case in torts today that I was more than adequately prepared for, and my heart still raced as I was going through the case facts. I assume that it will only get easier with time, but I am seven weeks into law school and it's still scary, so don't expect to get used to it.

Different professors choose how to call on students in different ways. My torts professors lets people volunteer, and cold-calls when there are no volunteers - pretty much everyone has to talk at some point during each class. My civil procedure professor randomizes the order of all of our names and calls on us in order of his randomized list. My criminal law professor calls on people completely at random, however she chooses. I've heard of some professors that put students' names on note cards and draws them at random. Some assign certain people to be "on call" each day. I've heard of others assigning cases to people throughout the semester. The moral of this is that each professor has their own method. But at some point in each class you will get called on without volunteering.

So you might be wondering, how do I survive this brutal attack of professors' wrath? I'll be honest, I haven't figured out a foolproof way, but there are some ways to make it easier:

Prepare for Class

Participate Outside of Being Cold Called

Pause and Think Before You Speak

If You Don't Know the Answer - Admit It!

Realize Nobody Will Remember This

This week marks week seven out of eighteen for this semester. The semester isn't new anymore. Finals aren't imminent quite yet. Thus, we have hit the middle of the semester and everyone is definitely hitting a mid-semester slump. It's the point in the semester where I have started to notice more empty seats in classes, notes are looking a little less thorough, and people spend less time in the library studying. Thus, we have all settled into the semester.

Hey, everyone! I thought I would share something new with all of you about myself - I don't drink alcohol. I've tried a few drinks here and there, and I used to work at a restaurant that was tied to a brewery. so I know my beers, But for the most part I refrain from the well-rehearsed college ritual of drinking. I might have one drink every few months, but other than that I am basically sober. For those of you who are in law school, you know this is extremely uncommon among law students. Because of my unique experience, I thought I would share what it has been like for me thus far.

My reason for not drinking is pretty simple - I just plain do not want to or feel the need to. Some people choose not to drink for religious reasons or for their health, others might be recovering alcoholics or alcoholism may run in their family, but whatever the reason someone may choose not to drink, they will usually be in the minority. However, being someone who doesn't drink often puts you in the position of having to explain yourself which can get rather awkward - especially in a place where drinking is fairly common, such as a college campus.

I am going to law school at one of the nation's biggest universities, which of course makes it a place where there is an ample amount of parties and opportunities for drunkenness everywhere. And, in law school, everyone is over 21 so drinking is completely and totally legal. Therefore, many of the law school social events involve drinking. There are many happy hours, tailgates, and a weekly event that is humorously named "Bar Review" that is basically a law school bar crawl. I think I have only been invited to or attended a handful of events that didn't involve alcohol since starting law school. With all of these opportunities for drinking and partying, it can get exhausting having to explain over and over again why you do not drink.

While this may sound overwhelming if you are someone who plans on or tries to refrain from alcohol, don't get worried. It is not impossible, and it's not really that difficult. You just have to be strong-minded and okay with a little bit of adversity. But, as a law student, you are probably already to prepared to argue your point so I think that is a manageable task. Here are some things to remember if you plan on staying away from alcohol during law school, and tips to help you manage it:

• Be prepared to explain why you don't drink a lot. I have basically had to perfect my 10-second speech on why I don't drink so I can deliver it without any questions. Mine is pretty simple - "It's just something that I have never been into and don't feel the need to do. I don't have any problem with drinking or people that do drink though. Plus, with me around there's always a designated driver!" That is usually enough for people.
• Go to events even if people will be drinking - I still go to happy hours and tailgates, I just leave after an hour or two, which is usually when people start actually getting drunk. 
• Find a sober buddy. There is strength in numbers, so find someone else who doesn't drink as well. This way, you have someone to make sober plans with or just back you up in awkward conversations.
• Do not start drinking just because others are pressuring you. Peer pressure is real - but if you decide you don't want to drink, go ahead and stick to that. You'll feel better for upholding your values in the end.

If you're a law student or thinking about going into law school, chances are you know a little bit about the work load and studying. One part of studying and class preparation you may have heard of is "briefing" cases. As a law student, briefing cases is something that you will grow to be very familiar with and most likely do every day.

So what is briefing cases? Essentially, briefing cases is organizing the information of a case into notes in order to assist you with classes, writing assignments, or general understanding. Some students only do briefs for important cases, for certain classes, or only when required. Others, like me, do them for every single case. You might think that sounds like it takes a lot of time - and truthfully, it does.

So why should I brief cases? Well, the first reason I can give you is that it will ensure you have read and understood a case, or at least made an attempt. Secondly, it is *so* helpful when a professor cold calls you and asks for the facts of the case, and you can just look down to you brief and have a perfect little notes section already written up for you.

How do I brief cases? Well, there are several different ways to brief cases. One of the ways to brief a case is through the IRAC method (I have never personally done this, but check out Nikki's blog for a good explanation), similar to that is CREAC, which is essentially the same way as IRAC with different organization. However, I simply state the facts, procedure, issue, holding, rationale, dissent/concurrence, and rule. Below is a detailed explanation with examples:

• CASE NAME AND CITATION: This is self explanatory. If the case is from a textbook, I also put the page number so I can easily reference the case later. Example:
• John v. Jim, 123 Fake Ct. 456, pp. 789
• FACTS: So this is what actually happened in the case. For example, in this section I would write something along the lines of :
• John was riding in the passenger seat of Jim's car. While they were driving down a highway going 65 miles per hour, Jim had a seizure which caused him to lose control of the wheel and crash into a barrier on the side of the road. Jim was an epileptic and knew he could have seizures at any time.
• PROCEDURE: This is where you write facts related to the procedure of the case, and how it moved through the court system. This could be fairly simple, or more complicated, especially if it is an appellate or Supreme Court decision. Say in our example, we have a state court appellate decision:
• John brought a civil suit against Jim for negligence. The trial court found a verdict in favor of John, the plaintiff, awarding him monetary damages. Jim appealed on the basis that the statute regarding negligence in motor vehicle accidents was interpreted incorrectly, because the statute prevents passengers in motor vehicles from bringing civil action unless the driver was grossly negligent. The appellate court affirmed the decision of the lower court.
• ISSUE: This is where you state the actual issue that the court is deciding. Better phrased, this is where you state the question the court is asking. This is usually something that is very specific, and can be answered with a yes or a no. In our example:
• Is a driver grossly negligent if they operate a motor vehicle with knowledge of epilepsy?
• HOLDING: In this section, you will state the court's answer to the question they asked in the issue section. You don't need to explain why, that will be in the next section. So our example would be:
• Yes, a driver would be considered grossly negligent in operating a motor vehicle with knowledge that he has epilepsy.
• RATIONALE: The rationale section of your case brief will likely be the longest, other than maybe the facts section. This is where you explain the courts reasoning and why they made the decision that they did. Our example could be something like this:
• According to the statute in this jurisdiction, a passenger cannot sue following a motor vehicle accident unless a driver is grossly negligent. Plaintiff in this case claims that Defendant was grossly negligent by operating a motor vehicle while he knew he had epilepsy. In order to satisfy the element of negligence, one must prove that a reasonable, prudent person would not have done the act. The court reasonably believes that a reasonable person would know the danger and thus would not have driven. Because a reasonable person would not have driven, Defendant is determined to be grossly negligent.
• CONCURRENCE/DISSENT: In some cases, other Justices/professionals will have opinions that are different than the opinion of the majority. Here, you would write a sentence or two about why they agreed or disagreed.
• RULE: This is arguably the most important section of your case brief. In this section, you will explain the rule you learned from the case. You could get several rules out of one case, but often you will only have one that is relevant to what you are supposed to be learning in class. Say in this class, you are learning about negligence and the basic requirements. So for the rule you would write:
• In order for someone to be acting negligently, they would need to be acting in a way that a reasonable, prudent person would not have acted.

The first Friday of the school year around 2:30 p.m., I was sitting in the law school library at a study carrel, trying to get my reading done for torts, when suddenly I couldn't focus anymore. Instead of reading an briefing cases, I was actively fighting back tears and trying not to break down in the middle of law building. After about fifteen minutes of struggling to focus, I gave up, grabbed my stuff, and ran out to my car. I hard barely closed the door when I started sobbing uncontrollably. Phone in hand, I dialed my mom and when she answered I let all of my emotions out.

Law school is hard and time-consuming. I'm sure that's something you have heard before. I know it's something I have said in many blog posts before. However, although you might spend 40 hours per week with your head buried in your books, it is important that you also have the ability to do something other than school for awhile and have some free time as well. In order to keep yourself mentally stable during law school, most people suggest scheduling time to forget about school. You must be able to separate your school life and your home life in order to be successful.

Study Schedule

Focus

Restrict Your Computer

Make Plans Outside of School

If you're a first year law student like I am, chances are that all of your friends and family asks you the same question over and over and over again:
          "So, what is law school actually like?"
Considering I spend at least six hours per weekday buried in case briefs and coffee cups, you would think I would have a solid answer worked out. But truthfully, describing what law school is like is much harder than one would imagine. It is kind of one of those things where you cannot really know what it is like until you do it yourself. So, over the last three weeks of law school I have crafted an answer to this question.

You see, I had been answering the question with a myriad of answers. I would say, "Oh, it is just a lot of reading and a lot of tears" or "Basically like college on steroids." Both of those answers are true, but they really do not capture the essence of law school. If you want a quick and easy answer, those two options will suffice. But, as future lawyers, the aim is always accuracy and clarity.

I had a revelation when I was texting my best friend about the homework load I had for the night. She asked me how much work I had to do, and I told her that overall I had to read about sixty pages for the next day. This seems to be an average amount for daily readings, in case any of you are curious. However, the moment of clarity was when I explained, "I only have eighteen pages left, though, so I should be done in about an hour and a half." She was extremely confused and asked why it would take so long to read only eighteen pages. As most law students, I have been reading at a very high level and quick speed for a long time now, so simply reading eighteen pages should take no longer than fifteen minutes.

That is where law school is different. The amount of time it takes to read, absorb, and learn all of the information required takes five times as long as normal, because it is harder, denser, and way more important. There is not simply "more reading" or "harder material," but it is a combination of both and the dedication it requires to learn the material. So far, it seems that for every hour you will spend in class, you will spend two to three hours outside of class to read, learn, and understand the material.

Law school is a full time job. Law school is hard. But it is also really rewarding to put in this amount of dedication to something that you love and will serve you for the rest of your life.

- Bailey

Being a law student is a full-time job. I heard people say that long before I ever started law school, but until I actually was a law student, I didn't fully understand what that meant. For every hour you spend in class, it seems that you spend at least two hours outside of class reading and studying. So, lets do the math:

The Average College Student

Study Chunks

9-to-5, School is Your Job