The First Impressions of Your One L Year

Starting law school can be daunting and is not for the faint of heart.  There are a few things to keep in mind though that will keep you grounded and make the first few months more manageable.  Here they are.

Do Not Stress About The Socratic Method Of Teaching

One of the biggest challenges of law school is getting used to the socratic method of teaching.  I know that I was terrified of the first "call on."  I remember worrying that I would look silly, unprepared and nervous.  This went on for the first few months and I often spent many a class in fear.  After time though, I realized that the call on was not a big deal.  First, neither the professor nor your classmates expect you to look like an expert.  Second, you likely look and sound much better than you think. I found I was my own worst enemy and very critical of what I said in class. Finally, fumbling or not knowing an answer is normal and expected.  You are there to learn and if you knew everything you would not need to pay $45,000 a year to go to law school.  The best advice I can give you about the socratic method is to prepare for class and to relax.  Those two things will make your first few months run smoothly.  One thing I can promise you is that by the second semester, your fear of the socratic method will drastically reduce as you will come to terms with everything I have mentioned above.  One student I met used to skip classes because she was so terrified of the call on.  Big mistake.

Go To Class

You likely have already started to see many people cutting classes.  Some say that they can just read the text and do well and others feel the professor just repeats what they already know.  Both of these types of students generally do poorly in law school.  The best way to get good grades is to go to class.  Several people who were not doing well after the first term asked me for advice on how they could improve their grades and invariably they were people who did not feel that going to class was that important.  I cannot tell you how many times I heard, “He just repeats what is in the textbook” or “I go to most classes”.  Going to half of the classes will get you half the grade and if you do not mind a B- or C, then do not bother going to class. This advice is applicable for all years in law school but especially the first year.  Even in my third year of law school, I would read and brief a case and be surprised when I would attend class and find that I missed a significant point.  In addition, often when I read cases and then subsequently went to a class, I found that I may not have paid as much attention to the part of the opinion that the professor found most interesting.  If a professor finds a particular aspect of an opinion fascinating, you can bet that this aspect is what is going to show up on the exam.

Keep Your Eye On The Prize

Your first year will be the most important year of law school and may very well determine the opportunities you will be afforded after you graduate.  You should keep in mind that on campus recruitment is conducted immediately after your first year ends so employers only have your grades and activities of the first year to go on.  As such, to the extent you can, you should put as much focus and attention on getting good grades and getting involved in activities such as Moot Court and Law Journal.  While I understand that most will put in an effort, this is the year to perhaps skip the party now and then,  cancel plans that interfere with studies and to do everything you can to get top grades by year end.  

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Everything You Want To Know About First Year - The Law School Lowdown Webcast

If you missed our Webcast that where we partnered with LexisNexis to summarize everything you wanted to know about the first year of law school you are not too late.  You can view the presentation here!

http://us.reg.meeting-stream.com/reedelsevierlexisnexis_071012/

Our Webcast Sponsored by LexisNexis on the On Campus Interview (OCI) Process

We thank all of you that attended our webcast on the OCI process.  

If you missed the webcast on preparing for on-campus interviews, you can find the recording here:

http://bit.ly/OCIprep. 

We have also included a copy of the presentation here where you will find out what to expect on OCI day, how to prepare for your interview, some things you should never do and some parting tips.  Best of luck with your interviews!  Click Here to Access the OCI Presentation.

Join Us & LexisNexis For A Webcast On OCI (On Campus Interview Process)

On August 7th, 2012 at 3PM, Ian E. Scott & Shauna C. Bryce will team up with LexisNexis to present The OCI Lowdown.  During this one hour webcast you will find out everything you need to know about the on campus interview day and process.  The topics will include:

•Overview of The Recruitment Process

•What to Expect On OCI Day

•How Is An Interview Different From A Resume?

•What Does An Interviewer Want & How To Give It To Them

•Top 3 Things You Should Never Do & What To Do Instead

•Some Parting Tips

There will also be time for questions and answers.

Register now for "Preparing for On-Campus Interviews" webinar with me, Ian E. Scott, Esq., and Shauna C. Bryce, Esq of @brycelegal Hosted by LexisNexishttp://ow.ly/cBNJN
We look forward to seeing you there!

Just Sat For The Bar Exam? Here is What You Should & Should Not Do While You Wait

With the bar exam now over many who sat for the bar are considering what to do.  We hope that you will celebrate this weekend and we wanted to provide you with some things to do and consider over the next few months.  It seems like ages ago (even though it was just two years) that I sat for the bar so I asked a more recent bar exam taker to write a guest post suggesting what you should do. He has some great ideas so take a look.  The guest post was written by Salaam Bhatti.  Salaam does in house counsel work for a rapidly growing rehabilitation and pain management practice.  You can check out his blog at: www.lawgspot.blogspot.com or follow him on Twitter @salawm.  Here is Salaam's guest post.

Welcome Back to Reality

The Bar Exam is over. What do you plan to do now?  For many, the Bar Exam was the edge of the world; after it ended, who knew what lay ahead?  After I completed the bar exam last year, my wife and I went straight to the mountains and camped for a week.  One of the bonfires was fueled by the hard copy of my bar exam notes (rest assured, the digital copy remains safe).  Fortunately, I was out of cell phone reception so I did not have to field any calls about “How do you think you did?” or “What did you answer for essay 4?” or even people saying the dreaded F word “I’m sure you did fine.”

I did something that many students do after taking a bar exam: go away. In times past when the economy was booming and lots of students had jobs in the bag before the bar exam, one could hear about students trekking across Europe for a few weeks. Times are economically tough for many, and the bar exam has not eased in any way, shape, or form.  So the vacation is still necessary.  If you are hanging around home (which probably has some evil bar study memories associated with it), then take a few days off to just go somewhere.  Go alone, go with a friend, go with a significant other.  Learn to fish, find a lovely sunrise, drive for six hours in one direction and see what you find, do something that has nothing to do with the law.  Just be mindful of not breaking the law.

 

Here are some things not to do:

1. Do not think about whether you passed or failed. I know, everybody is telling you that.  Let me tell you why: For the most part, everybody thinks they failed. I thought I failed.  A lot of people also felt they performed strongly in certain parts of the bar exam.  And why not? You studied for about two months, of course you know certain things that are on the exam.
2. Do not talk about the exam.  It is the same thing as crying over spilled milk.  Do you cry over spilled milk? No, right? Then stop talking about your answers.  This also means to stop looking at your bar study notes to see if you had all the elements in there for the property essay.
3. Do not sit on your bum all day.  Go exercise. Exercising will help you build a strong, positive attitude, which will show itself at interviews and networking functions.  You don’t have to join a gym.  You can run in your neighborhood or do calisthenics, yoga, aerobics, etc in your own home.  Besides, you probably have some bar study food to burn off. 
4. Do not talk about the exam on your social networks anymore.
5. Stay away from websites that have depressing news. 

Here are some things to do:

1. Go watch the new Batman film.  It’s an epic journey of a man who has to go from the bottom to the top.  And yes, it is perfectly okay to liken yourself to Bruce Wayne and call Bane the “Bar Exam”.
2. Look for jobs.  Network.  All that good stuff.  Go easy on the Craigslist search. Those jobs are hard to come by because everybody is applying for them.  When people say “Go ask everybody you know about a job.” They mean that literally. Go to career services first.  Become a familiar, friendly face and they will want to help you out.
3. Not finding a job? Then create a job.  Incorporate your own small business.  This will help you make a little bit of money as well as draft legal documents, which will help your brain from going into atrophy.  Create a business to help people learn how to use social media, start a bakery, develop a personal website, etc.
4. Go to a temp agency.  There is no shame in this.  SallieMae is probably chasing you, you need to pay rent, you have bills.  If you jump into temp work, you will find yourself in an entirely different network.  Take this opportunity to spread your name.  You never know when you just might start moving up the ranks at the temp job and have something great come from it.
5. If the market is tight in your area, then move.  A very rich doctor told me that wealth is for those who are not rooted.  The doctor immigrated here with only two suitcases, worked hard, and moved from place to place.  Now he has a massive house, great job, and a wonderful family.  In the words of Ms. Frizzle, “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy.”
6. Read some non-legal books.  Find joy in pleasure reading once again.  I have read many books since my bar exam and am absolutely taken by Sherlock Holmes. 
7. Conserve your most valued resources: time and money.  Stay away from Amazon Prime, Netflix, unnecessary subscriptions. Redbox is a great and cheap movie rental substitute.  Do you need a pricey cell phone plan? Do you require impulse buys from deal-of-the-day websites? You’re nearly a lawyer, analyze things in a beneficial way.
8. Be as productive as possible.  If, in a few months, you find you failed the bar exam, then you will have created enough distance from it so that the shock does not hurt too much.  Who knows, maybe you will have found a new niche where bar admission simply doesn’t matter.  But if you want to tackle the exam again or even want to do another one elsewhere, buckle down and get to it. Whatever the case, keep moving ahead.  And if you keep these items in mind, ahead is where you will end up. 

You can find out more about Salaam by checking out his blog at: lawgspot.blogsopt.com or you can follow him on Twitter @salawm

lawgspot.blogspot.com lawgspot.blogspot.comlawgspot.blogspot.com

The Law School Lowdown - Join LexisNexis and Law School Success Tips For A Free Webcast on What To Expect In Law School

Are you starting law school in the fall or have you thought about going to law school? Please join us on Tuesday July 10^th at 7PM EST for a Webcast on what you can expect when you go to law school.  We have partnered with LexisNexis and you can register for the FREE Webcast if you click here.  As a teaser, here are 6 of the greatest law school myths.  We will add 6 more during the Webcast as well as go over first year courses, the Socratic method of teaching, how you will be graded and how to do well in law school.  You will also have an opportunity to ask questions.  Here are the top 6 law school myths exposed and the reasons they are myths. 

#	Law School Myth	Why Is It A Myth
1	Your first year of law school is similar to your first year of college	The two are like day and night and for many law school is considerably more work.  Two key differences are the amount you must prepare for each and every law school class and the Socratic method (described below) of teaching.  Also, be prepared for one exam to determine your entire grade in law school.
2	You will not find a job after law school	Most people do find jobs in law related fields but at times it takes longer than you may think.
3	A law degree is as good as a money printing press	Not!  Some lawyers make lots of money and some do not.  If you are going into this profession for the money you should rethink why you are becoming a lawyer.
4	You will fail out of law school	Law schools grade on a curve relative to other students and typically the lowest mark that a student who does the work will receive is a C. There are of course exceptions and some schools apply grading systems similar to college.
5	You have to be an excellent public speaker to do well in law school and become a lawyer	This is absolutely not the case.  In order to be an effective lawyer and law student, you must write well but public speaking is not a requirement.  I have found that most people that get the highest grade in law school classes are the people you do not hear a word from all semester.  Also, contrary to what many think, most lawyers never see the inside of a courtroom.
6	You can make up for bad grades in your first year in your second and third year.	Although this is number 6 on the list it is the Number 1 myth of law school.  Your future as a lawyer is often based almost exclusively on your grades in first year. Make the first year count.

  

 To sign up for the free Webcast click here.