9 straight hours of law school

[Bob]

that kinda sucked tbqh

what's worse is they gave us like 200 pages of reading to have done for today, too, so guaranteed everyone stayed up way too late to try to finish it (i didn't manage to but i wasn't alone so nobody cared, joke's on me), meaning we all had to fight to stay conscious all day.

on the plus side it was kind of a bonding experience. saying "this sucks" alot gives you something to talk about, if nothing else.

but now i'm wiped out and i have maybe 3-4 hours to get through about 5 hours worth of reading. these orientation planners sure were on the ball today

could be worse though, it's not like i have AIDS or anything

[Planetary]

could be worse though, it's not like i have AIDS or anything

mayby that's what you need. you know to help with your work load.

[Bob]

even our lunch break was a "working lunch" which basically means class with food.

food was ok though, so i guess that was a high point

[Kid Presentable]

All this, and you might not pass.

j/k

[befsquire]

yep. law school sucks.

you're right on the bonding experience; everyone else doesn't get how much work it is that first year, so you only have those who are in it with you to bitch to.

i get it though. i'll post in all your venting threads.

[Teh]

Just wait until you have to sit in the library til closing time finishing reports and looking up cases. I have a couple of friends doing law and they're in there just as long as i am.

but seriously, when it does come to that it is great fun sitting up all night in an empty library. time flies by. the reading bit is the only drag most of the time.

[QueenAdrock]

My friend is in Brooklyn Law and he gave me the advice never to go into law school unless I was REALLY, REALLY sure that's what I wanted to do - a career in law.

He got his undergrad in philosophy, too.

[chrisd]

try 9 gay hours of law school

[DIGI]

He got his undergrad in philosophy, too.



Me three! Yeah, I bailed on the notion of law school quite early in my undergrad. Fuck all that noise.

[Rancid_Beasties]

All together for my law subjects (which is half of my subjects & 8 hours of class), I get about 100-150 A4 Pages to read per week. So 200 for 9 hours of law isnt so unreasonable.

Heres some tips for law reading:

*Get used to reading the facts of the cases, but then skim reading the rest to get the ratio and skip most of the obiter dicta/dissenting judgements (generally if there is important obiter dicta/dissents in a case the lecturers will raise it in class).

*I dont know if you guys have summary textbooks to supplement the casebooks over there, but if you do get them! Even if they aren't on the required texts list. As an example, my summary textbook "Principles of Contract Law" is 650 pages long and has explanations that mention the important bits of cases versus the casebook which is 1200 pages long and features no explanation (ie takes another half hour per case to actually figure it out for yourself).

*Always read at least the facts before class, so you at least know the legal issues. Eventually you'll be able to figure out what the judges most likely said without even reading the rest of the case, and that means that you can bluff if you are called upon in class :D (this can seriously backfire though)

[Kid Presentable]

^^
We do this basic shit called Legal Framework 100, and what you've just posted is a huge help. Thanks.(y)

[Bob]

*I dont know if you guys have summary textbooks to supplement the casebooks over there, but if you do get them! Even if they aren't on the required texts list. As an example, my summary textbook "Principles of Contract Law" is 650 pages long and has explanations that mention the important bits of cases versus the casebook which is 1200 pages long and features no explanation (ie takes another half hour per case to actually figure it out for yourself).

weird, everyone i heard from (professors, upper level law students) say to try NOT to read those, or at least not to rely on them too much. because they only give you one interpretation of the case, and by not reading the case and interpreting it yourself, you're missing out on a lot of the point of reading the case.

i'm gonna stick with the skeleton materials for now and if i think i need more, i'll check into some other stuff.

the 9 hour day was just a one time thing (i hope!), it's been orientation stuff all week, so it was just lecture after lecture after lecture of boring shit like academic integrity and university services and ethics, you know, boring things like that.

the core classes i'm taking (torts, property, and civil procedure this semester) seem pretty manageable (although it's only week 1, maybe i shouldn't open my mouth yet), but the killer is this class that's specific to northeastern university. it's called "law skills in social context" or LSSC for short. it's i think a 12 credit class (each normal class is only 3 credits, and LSSC goes on all year, so it's 2 classes in one, basically), half of it is a legal research and writing class (useful!) and the other half is teaching you about...law in social context, and then there's a huge social justice project at the end of the year where we do some thing for some client (they haven't told us much about it yet). the problem is it provides about 50% of the work i have to do and it's lame. most of the reading comes from that and there are written assignments due every week. really sucks up your time.

also it's the first time they've ever done this class, so they're not totally sure what they're doing yet. that's kinda lame too

[abcdefz]

could be worse though, it's not like i have AIDS or anything




Legal aids would be handy though, wouldn't they? :confused:

[Bob]

Legal aids would be handy though, wouldn't they? :confused:

planetary already went there and it sucked then too

sorry i'm on maybe 5 hours of sleep

[QueenAdrock]

So am I! I've been running on 4-5 hours every day this week! Let's make a club. I'll call it the No-Bob's club and let only my friend Bob Lowe in.

[abcdefz]

planetary already went there and it sucked then too

sorry i'm on maybe 5 hours of sleep



I have to read -- not just skim?

Fuck that. (n)

[Bob]

I have to read -- not just skim?

Fuck that. (n)

Mr. A-Z, I advise you not to come to the thread so unprepared in the future.

Look at the post above you! Now look at the one below. One of the posters you just looked at will not be attending graduation!

[abcdefz]

...I see a Squid and the Whale poster....

It won't be graduating?

[Nuzzolese]

Are there any cute girls in your classes?

[Bob]

yes actually, loads

i came this close to a conversation with one of them once

[Tompz]

Law school's no good. Don't spend 4,5 years on it. Take my word for it.

[QueenAdrock]

yes actually, loads

i came this close to a conversation with one of them once


Did she like, drop a pencil and you locked eyes and as you were bending down a huge bulky jock wrestled his way in between your eye contact and picked it up for her?

If so, I bet they've been dating and laughing at you behind your back.

[The Notorious LOL]

drop out and become a plumber and laugh heartily at people who spend tens of thousands of dollars on education.

[HEIRESS]

tradesmen are dope

I dont need a husband that can just read, I do that just fine and dandy

I want someone who can put in an extra plug in my living room and retile my bathroom

[Nuzzolese]

And they make so much money!

[Bob]

Did she like, drop a pencil and you locked eyes and as you were bending down a huge bulky jock wrestled his way in between your eye contact and picked it up for her?

If so, I bet they've been dating and laughing at you behind your back.

yes :(

and then he kicked over my sand castle :(

i don't know why there was so much sand in the lecture hall, but damnit it was nice

[jabumbo]

being an engineering student, i don't get much reading assigned to me


but this semester i have one history class that has lots of reading. so i have to read some 200 page book by wednesdays class....


yeah, like that will happen

[Lipper]

i totally feel you on the "law school sucks" rant. Im a 3L and cant wait till this shit is over.

One word of advice: Use all those commercial outlines, primers, etc. later in the semester only to supplement what you have already taken from a given case, theory, etc. Lots of times, how you interpret something, what you get from class, and how its stated in the commercial supplement will be different. Its nice to know all the differing viewpoints.

Alright, its friday and the books are away; its time for happy hour.

[Gareth]

i finished law school last year
good luck bob

[Documad]

I never used or even saw a commercial outline or other study aide during my law school career. I only saw the commercial products after graduationi when I took the bar review course.

I wrote my own outlines. I've always been the kind of person who has to understand the nuts and bolts well enough to organize it myself. It's pointless for me to just try and memorize it. You also actually need to remember things long term and that works better for me if I really understood it rather than memorized it for a test. The people in my class who bought the commercial stuff tended to be mediocre students. I'm convinced that the outlines help to keep you from failing but prevent you from being great. But others probably have different experiences.

[Bob]

i should say that i'm pretty happy with northeastern's professors so far. they're not these scary ghoulish paper chase-esque (which i've never seen, but i've seen enough parodies and references to it that i get the idea) caricatures that try to break your soul or anything. the ones i have so far are actually pretty friendly. one of them does do the socratic method thing where he'll call on you from out of nowhere and god help you if you haven't done/don't understand the reading (he'll make you discuss the whole case, too), but he's not a prick about it or anything. i get the feeling that as long as you show that you've at least made an effort to grasp the material, he'll be pretty reasonable with you. the rest actually seem geuninely pleasant. so far. apparently there are a few more crotchety professors out there, but from what i hear (in LSSC we have a 2L that sort of leads the social context part of the class, and he's pretty cool and straightforward with us) most of them are pretty progressive.

northeastern's pretty progressive too. there are no grades and no law reviews, which is kind of a blessing and a curse. on the one hand, you don't have to worry about getting into the top 10 perecent of your class (because there isn't one) and you don't have to worry about getting into a law review, but on the other hand, you CAN'T do any of those things, which i would think might make you less appealing to prospective employers (if they're comparing your application to a more traditional student). but apparently northeastern's co-op employers and boston employers in general are pretty familiar with our unique policies, so they take it into account. and i imagine that the experience you get from your co-op jobs would at least in part make up for the lack of opportunity to work your way up the hierarchy that a lack of grades and law reviews might burden you with.

but, we'll see.

[befsquire]

bob, i have a study method that will put you over the top. worked wonders from semester 1 to the rest where i used it. graduated with honors because of it.

you can call me #32 (out of 166).

edit: would have been higher if i knew of it in the first semester