Final exam wrap up- 1L Spring

I didn’t want to ruin a perfectly lovely summer by looking at my grades but curiosity was gnawing at me, and I’ll need transcripts for OCI in the fall. Here’s the breakdown with reflections I wrote right after exams.

Constitutional Law. This was a beast of a test and all over the place. I felt like I pretty much nailed the labor and discrimination questions. I definitely made up some majority and dissenting opinions (they were arguments I remembered from each class of cases, just maybe not the one my prof was asking us about!), and I had to leave half of an essay about the commerce clause unfinished so I could answer all the test questions. I would have forfeited the same amount of points either way and I had no clue how to finish the essay, so I took my chances. Expected Grade: low C  Actual Grade: low B Range: 65-99

Intro to Legal Research: This was a holdover from last semester so we had our exam back at the end of February. We had a midterm in the fall and that grade, coupled with my homework average, had me at a B. The exam was basically the same one we had last time, so I don’t think my grade moved significantly. Expected Grade: solid B Actual Grade: solid B  Range: 76-91

Civil Procedure I. I absolutely hated every day of this class and dreaded going. Doing the reading seemed futile because everything coming out of my professor’s mouth sounded like absolute gibberish to the point where I just started skimming the readings and studying outlines for the last month of class. A few things actually started to come together the week before exams and we got a copy of the necessary statutes for the test, so I felt confident going in. However…due to technical difficulties the exam started 45 minutes late so my nerves were frazzled. And while I answered every question, I found I had more to say about the short answer than the long answer. The two parts of the test weighed equally so I don’t know if the professor was trying to help us out, or if I missed something huge. Expected Grade: high C  Actual Grade: high C  Range: 72-93

Legal Ethics I. I got virtually all of the possible points allotted for attendance, projects and reading assignments. I had strong answer to all but a couple exam questions, but they were only weighted 2 points each. The entire class is in one section for this course and it’s only 30% of our final grade, so the curve will be extremely tight–we curve to an 85 and the range for this class is always within a couple of points either way. Expected Grade: solid  B  Actual Grade: Range:

Legal Writing I. Writing the memo to my professor’s specifications was a pain sometimes, but overall I liked this class. I put my 11 page memo through more edits than I’ve ever done on anything in my life, but the first one we turned in wasn’t graded so I have no idea. The exam was open book, only 30% of our final grade and the prof told us every thing we were going to be tested on. I’m going to go ahead and assume I rode the curve on this one. Expected Grade: solid B  Actual Grade: solid B Range: 70-97

Sales. I didn’t pay as much attention in class as I should have–the professor had a tendency to spend most of class rambling completely off-topic, which annoys me to the point of tuning out. However, this was basically part two of Contracts, my highest grade last semester and an open book test so I felt like I made strong arguments for each question. Expected Grade: high B Actual Grade: low B Range: 68-94

Next post: what I learned this semester.

 

Crawling to the finish line

1L. is almost. OVER. And I can’t freakin’ wait!!!!

We took 17 credit hours and had 5 finals this semester…more than I ever had in undergrad. The most I’ve ever taken is 16, but it ended up only being four classes because I had two lab classes that were 4 hrs each, plus two 3hr humanities electives. I’ve never had more than 3 finals because, as a history major, I got to write term papers. So suffice it so say I’m feeling quite drained. I’m so glad that my last final is Sales, a fairly straightforward class, and it’s open book or else I’d be toast right now. I’ve been trying to study all day but I can’t focus for more than 20 minutes at a time because my brain is so exhausted. And I don’t want to push myself too much because I’ve still got to crank out a three hour exam tomorrow. ARGH! At this time tomorrow I’ll be free and clear…they say 2L works you to death but it can’t get worse than this…

 

Final Countdown

In three weeks I will be a 2L. How did this happen? The year has literally flown by. My future is hurtling towards me at full speed.

In 6 months, I will have purchased my first car.

In one year, Tex will get his degree from one of the top engineering schools in the country.

In two years, I will be done with school forever and preparing to take the bar.

In three years, I will be getting married.

When did we start getting all grown and stuff?

Anyway, this is the last week of classes before finals. I’m finishing up a memo for legal writing that I’m absolutely SICK of looking at, attending review sessions, doing paperwork to set up my internship, etc. You would think that I don’t have time to work out, much less start a new exercise plan, but that’s exactly what I’m doing. No time like the present, huh? All of Jess J’s positivity has rubbed off on me and I’m ready to get serious about taking better care of myself. I’ve never been one for diets because I can’t focus when I feel hungry all the time–deprivation isn’t sustainable anyway. I’ve exercised more regularly in the past 7 months than I have since freshman year, but even with that I’m only maintaining my weight since I don’t have to do so much walking around just to get to class. Therefore, if I’m going to see results I have to push myself. I’ve decided to try the TurboFire plan because I liked the cardio kickboxing classes I took last semester, and I need structure. Even if I fall short of the plan and only get in 4 of the 6 weekly workouts, that will still be double what I’m doing now and I can continue to build on that.

It will definitely be a challenge to keep going during the summer heat, but that just means I’ll have to do it early in the morning or later in the evening when it’s cooler (my new apartment has lots of windows so it heats up during the day). But if I can make time for Twitter and television I can certainly make time to ensure that my life is long and dynamic. Now that I have my own space and my own schedule, there’s no excuse for me not to make it happen.

 

Curveballs.

“I got a backup plan to my backup plan, to backup my backup plan”- Big Boi

So, that really great internship I landed back in February? At the City Attorney’s Office? Yeahhh, that fell through. The current CA is retiring and they haven’t yet found a replacement; I was told that it will probably be a few months before they find one. Such is small town bureaucracy. Of course, I have to submit the details on my internship to the financial aid office pretty soon in order to get my stipend so that I can actually eat this summer. I’m taking an evening class but Orange Law is so small that we only offer four courses in the summer, at only two different times. Thus, you can’t take more than 6 hours. Plus we have a short summer session, so the allotted living stipend is about $2000. Given that I’m trying to buy a car and my expenses will be going up, that’s no bueno.

Luckily, I made some contacts with a couple of local non-profits through the Legal Aid Volunteer Association here at school, back in September. I have kept in touch and luckily, managed to land a position at one of them! Thanks to networking and foresight, the day is saved. I will be the legal intern for an advocacy organization that supports victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. I’ll be doing a lot of research and clerical work, but I will probably get to file some court orders and maybe even get to attend a hearing or two so I’m excited about that. All this talk of service of process and proper venue and I’ll finally get to see some of it in action! Given my career goals, this will be great experience and I’ll get the chance to stretch outside of my comfort zone a bit.

 

Pondering.

There are 3.5 more weeks until finals and I’m feeling less than enthusiastic. I’m not quivering in my boots like I was last semester, but I’m not all easy breezy either. I’m just ready to put some of my newfound legal knowledge to work in the real world and get a break from the tedium of classes day in and day out. Speaking of which, Orange Law just made some major changes to the curriculum Contracts and Sales are being combined into a yearlong contracts course; Con Law is getting pushed back to 2L fall; Civil Lawsuits is being moved back from 2L fall to 1L fall; and Legal Analysis (basically Intro to Legal Writing Lite) is being eliminated. There are some other changes being made but those are the biggies and I’m really annoyed with the re-scheduling of Civil Lawsuits. CivPro would make SO much more sense right now if I had any idea how to bring a suit to court to begin with! Argh.

Early fall registration is coming up soon too, and I’m excited about picking elective classes. I’m actually looking into getting a business management certificate with my law degree. The career paths I’m looking at are consulting, mediation, non-profit management, and working for the government/government agency. Traditional law practice doesn’t appeal to me because I like being able to work on my own time. Business hours are 8-6, but I am most productive during the windows of 10-3 and 6-10. I get my best ideas at night and every afternoon from 3-6 my brain just kind of goes on vacation…late afternoon classes are always the hardest for me to pay attention in. I wouldn’t completely rule out firm work because I’m sure there are some boutique firms that I could be happy at. However, I want to have a family so I know that there will be a period of time when work won’t be my top priority. I don’t want to spend 5 years at a  traditional firm, get pregnant, and be “mommy-tracked” out of the race to partner, rendering the past 5 years meaningless. To have a career that doesn’t (excessively) detract from my family, I need to be taking conscious steps right out of law school to set myself up to have flexibility and control over my work life.

That’s what this degree is all about, for me. I don’t have a personal stake in the prestige it grants me. But  my JD, coupled with my drive and the connections from having done undergrad at a top ten public university, will enable me to do virtually anything. And that’s what I want from my legal education–freedom to shape a path that is materially and spiritually fulfilling.

 

I got work to do.

I spent several hours today making flash cards of all the cases we have covered thus far in constitutional law. Yes, it’s spring break. Yes, I’m doing work. Why? Because so far this semester I’ve been a terrible student (by law school standards, at least) and it’s now or never if I’m going to make a decent showing on exams.

Okay, well the situation is not quite that dire. Sales is an open book exam and basically a continuation of contracts so I know I’ll pass for sure. Legal Writing is based on my memos and the final covers ALWD citation format–cool. Legal Ethics is just common sense, the same three ABA model rules we’ve been parroting all semester and remembering the stories we’ve read. I can cram for that the night before and be good. So, Civ Pro and Con Law are my bogeymen at this point. I’ve been doing all the reading for Civ Pro but it’s just not coming together, so I will be stalking my professor from the time we get back in school all the way up to finals if need be. I’m not totally lost in Con Law, but it’s my only 4 credit course and I need to have the cases memorized. Nothing but sheer force of will is going to get me through that pain. Hence, the flash cards.

They seem to be helping already. My notes from the first week of class are completely useful but the cases that so mystified me back then are making a lot more sense. It’s interesting to see how the law evolved over time, and it proves that anyone who believes that Supreme Court Justices are completely unbiased is a fool. I don’t understand why there was such a kerfluffle over judicial activism when Sotomayor and Kagan were being approved for the bench. Every justice engages in judicial activism to some degree (I’m looking at YOU, Scalia and Thomas!) .  Political beliefs are so ingrained in one’s psyche that it’s impossible to ignore them completely and evaluate cases in some kind of vacuum devoid of personal experiences and values. Hell, they call Supreme Court decisions “opinions” for crying out loud! If that doesn’t tell you that SCOTUS is just a group of very smart lawyers entrusted with our nation’s judicial future, and not Madame Justice come to earth in human form, I don’t know what will.

In other news…I am so ready for 1L to be over. 6 more weeks to freedom! I can’t wait to start my internship and get a chance to put all this theory into practice.

 

Work hard, play hard

Last week was horrendously long. I have a memo due tomorrow that we’ve been working on for a month and the professor just told us on Thursday that we needed to add a question presented, brief answer, fact statement and conclusion–all this time we had been operating under the assumption that it was an informal memo with the discussion section only. BOOOO! HISSSS! Anyway, I just couldn’t deal. Since I’ve made a resolution to try and connect with more of my peers,  Thursday night I hit up the local Mexican restaurant with my section mates to celebrate a buddy’s birthday. Friday night I hung out with my BLSA friends, got tipsy, and played video games (The Michael Jackson Experience for Wii and Rap Star for PlayStation are instant party makers, FYI). Saturday night was law school prom–think high school prom, if alcohol was freely available and you can imagine some of what went down. I stuck to shaking my groove thing but I still woke up bleary eyed. I won’t incriminate my classmates by divulging the foolishness that went on this weekend,, but suffice it to say that it was crazy fun. I won’t be doing that again for a while though!

I managed to drag myself to the library in the afternoon and spent 3.5 hours finishing my memo and doing homework for Monday. I was struggling not to nap the whole time. Even though I woke up at 11,  my sleep schedule’s all off because I went to bed at like 3am Friday & Saturday and I have a (probably boring) ethics lecture at 8:30am sharp tomorrow. I will be in bed promptly at 10pm like a little old lady. Only one more week until spring break…and then the pre-exam, end of semester madness starts. I can’t believe that the end of 1L is only 2 months away! Just gotta make it…

 

Competition

The competitive aspect of law school is finally revealing itself to me. Why people feel the need to be so aggressive, I will never understand. I’ve never been a competitive person–I compete against myself and as long as I do my best, I don’t get mad at other people for doing better than me. Sure, I struggle sometimes with feelings of envy but what can I do? I’ll be me at the end of the day whether or not I decide to be happy about it.

What’s weird to me is everyone’s outright refusal to say what their grades were. Aside from things like, “my grades ranged 8 points” or “I’m in the middle” or “in Contracts I did a little above average” everyone is being maddeningly vague. I say “maddeningly” because a discussion about grades is meaningless without hard numbers! And what’s the worst that could happen anyway? I’ve never stalked the smartest person in the class (although I did avoid partnering for group projects with the dumbest). Is there really psychological warfare being waged on or amongst the top 10% of the class? It’s serious, but it’s not that serious. Also, my undergrad is known for being super hard and since everyone did miserably in at least one class (we’re talking about curves where a 65 is an A and a 40 will get you a solid C. No lie), we all commiserated about our seemingly imminent failure. I really don’t get why everybody is so cagey, who knew law students were so paranoid?

Undoubtedly, landing a summer internship has made me feel better about my own grades. Although I wasn’t depressed about them (like one girl I heard about who damn near had a nervous breakdown), I definitely think that they could use some improvement. In an effort to make myself stand out, I entered the 1L/2L closing argument competition. The preliminary rounds were yesterday and I got mostly positive feedback. I felt like I was in over my head after getting the packet so I’m glad I made a good showing–but I hate competitions so I’m lowkey hoping I didn’t advance to the next round. Of course, I signed up for it to challenge myself thinking I would do horribly and get cut first thing, but we’ll see.

 

Playing the game

Well, neither of the OCIs I signed up for panned out. My first semester grades were decidedly average so I’m not hurt…mostly because I got a summer job!

Yes, it’s unpaid. That doesn’t really matter though because my scholarship provides a stipend for public interest work Moreover, the office is a 10 minute walk from my apartment; I get flexible hours (which means I can probably squeeze in a summer class or two to boost my GPA); and I’ll be doing substantive legal research. I emailed the local city attorney my resume, stating my interest in the public sector. It took him over a week to reply but he asked me to interview the next day and said the job was mine if I wanted it. I was sooooo geeked! Turns out they haven’t been able to pay interns the last couple years because of budget cuts but they’re always glad to have the help. He was very impressed with my undergraduate institution and record, and his wife used to work at one the organizations I interned for in college. SCORE! The city attorney advises the mayor & city council, handles lawsuits brought to and by the city, drafts resolutions & ordinances, etc. Currently they’re researching a constitutional issue–whether it’s okay to prohibit city employees from running for mayor. It’s something different every day and I can’t wait until summer to start working!

I totally lucked out. But it gives me hope for the other average law students out there. The moral of the story– take some initiative and be willing to work for free. The experience is what counts. An ’09 law school graduate came and spoke to BLSA (the Black Law Students Association) and told us that she temped and did legal aid volunteering on the weekends for EIGHT MONTHS before  she landed her current gig. She made a lot of connections with practicing attorneys that eventually led to the interview she needed. The market is tough. But if you can swallow your pride & get a part time job at Starbucks or Target to make ends meet while you work for free, it will help. I’m hoping to actually work in the same office next summer if it turns out as well as I hope it will.

This is a huge blessing and such a relief. If all else failed I was just going to do a full load of summer classes, but this is so much better. This is the kind of work that will lead to my dream job of being a Legislative Director or Senior Policy Analyst one day…

 

Things are getting better

It’s spring semester and the apathy has set in. Well, not so much apathy as a realization that obsessively reading every word of every case isn’t necessarily the most helpful thing when it comes to examines. I’m not as concerned about case briefs (although I do skim through the reading so I won’t embarrass myself if called on) as the actual law. For instance, in Civ Pro my notes are mostly about the key factors that go into determining subject matter jurisdiction. The outcome in Hertz v. Friend? Not so much. I do have a very detailed case brief on Mas v. Perry because the prof has brought it up in every class for the past two weeks.

Legal Writing is coming along at a nice clip. We are working on a draft of our first memo and were given a CREAC outline for the overall structure. That helped A LOT. We glossed over IRAC and CREAC in my first semester Legal Analysis course, but it didn’t really make sense and I know my exams didn’t conform to that format. I’ve got a long way to go with my memo, but already it’s much crisper and focused than anything I wrote last semester. I think that alone will get me a few extra points come finals time.

Anyways, I’m still feeling optimistic. I have my first OCI in two weeks, and sometime this month I should start hearing back about interviews for the summer positions I’ve applied for. I entered an oral argument competition too- there’s a cash prize, and it’s good practice for public speaking. I’m also reviving my social life and trying to connect with my classmates outside of school. They’ll be my colleagues one day after all. But more important than that, the last of my college friends are graduating and moving on so I can’t depend on them to form the bulk of my social life for too much longer. I spend most of my time down here anyway and I don’t want to end up the sad hermit 3L with no friends because I spent all my time in the books or out of town.