Back into the Game...

Hi All-

Sorry for the long delay in posting- I am trying to get my self in the game... and then trying to run away at the same time.

Last week was my 23rd birthday.  My friends (including- yes- the illusive law students) took me out to dinner to a hibachi grill. Soo yummy and tasty.  I also loved how they made a volcanic onion. 

Afterwards, we went back to my friend Megan's place, where we ordered insomnia cookies for dessert. An insomnia cookie is a freshly baked cookie that comes to your door by delivery with a serving of milk. Very yummy.  My friends decorated the place with party hats and favors.  I felt good to be here :-)

On my actual birthday I went to class all day and drove home. Mom made homemade manicotti and I got to hang out with my lovable family (My nepolti are STILL the cutest in the world) and play some Wii with Gina.  

Next morning I drove up to RI to see my birthday buddy and relax.  I made him funfetti cupcakes with fresca- yes fresca- instead of eggs and oil. His guy roommates could tell the difference.  Booyah for good diet recipes!!!

Now, I am back at PSU trying to figure out how to save the world- one law case at a time.  I am feeling much better with all the work, and am REALLY excited to right my closed brief for legal writing.  Our fact pattern includes a Title IX issue, sex discrimination, in a university.  More real life an issue instead of another weird fact patter based on Ferris Bueller's day off.

But all in all, things are good here.  I don't regret letting my grades slip to one of my friends (what the last post was about- oddly enough, I saw Fight Club for the first time after that post).  But, I am working on just staying in the present and not get to overwhelmed.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Fight Club

The first rule in fight club-

not to talk about fight club...

That is the rule right?

Same goes with Law School Grades.

And I just failed.

Sighs.

Much harder when someone takes credit for your hard work.

Grumble Grumble.

I will only focus on this semester.. I will only focus on this semester....

Good Night!

Getting back into a routine.

Hello All-

With my Ricardo back in RI, I find myself having to face the facts and start an actual routine with the amount of school work I have.  My class schedule is not as nicely designed for working at school and I have added a 5th class to my schedule.

This would not be too much an obstacle, except I am unable to study after dinner time.  My brain likes to shut off an I am pretty much useless.  

I do my best job with my home work and am best to participate in class when I read all my assignments twice.  The first time around I try to get the general gist of what is going on, and the second time I highlight relevant/interesting things that will be brought up in class.  The last week or so I have been only reading once, and I can tell by my class time that continuing the 1 time method will cause me to fall behind.  So I sat down today after class and made a schedule.

Hopefully I will be able to follow it! 

A little bit about what wonders of scholarly knowledge I am up to this semester.  That way when I complain in future posts, you will have an idea of what I am saying.  I am taking five classes this semester: Property, Criminal Procedure, Constitutional Law, Legal Writing 2, and Contracts.

Property aka "Huh" Class- This is the class that I have no clue what the general picture is.... courts can't seem to discuss property law in a simple way.  I saw my professor in the hallway and asked him about what was going on. He told me don't worry- it is too early to have a clue.  Some what comforting

Criminal Procedure aka "Argument" Class- This is the class that the professor said we could learn the substantive law by buying a sparksnote sheet, so instead we were going to focus on how to form arguments by looking at the issues by how the court writes about them.  Logic has lots of fun in Law School, so I thank Bob Blackburn for his wisdom while in this class.  Also, we use fancy technology to discuss issues- for example, being filmed as a class without any knowledge of such taping, and then having our professor show it to us and ask what arguments could we make about the right to privacy. 

Constitutional Law aka "My Professor is really really into this"- This class we spend our time talking about our founding document, the Constitution, and learn the structure for our government.  My professor is in love with this topic, and brings lots of outside scholarly research to our class period.  I enjoy his passion for his work and get caught up in his rapid fire approach. I just have to keep on biting my lip and not talk about Rome and the Republic.  

Legal Writing 2 aka "The class everyone dislikes- except me"- This class is a sore subject to law students.  Most of the time, I can hear people talking about how pointless writing is and how we aren't learning anything.  I enjoy writing so I can't complain- especially since writing is an essential part of a lawyer's career.  Oh well- can't please everyone.

Contracts aka "I never want to go into business"- This is the class that is the opposite of property- there are lots of rules to outline and everything fits together. My professor makes jokes to keep the material, well, less boring, but I can't help and wish that I never find myself involved in this kind of work everyday.

That is the run down of what is going on here.  

Stay tuned for more good times from a law student!

Fun Legal Fact: The "hanging chad" decision which stopped the Florida recount in 2000 in Bush v. Gore might not have had the proper standing (ability to be heard) to be held by the Supreme Court.

Law School: The Epitome of Capitalism.

Ok- last post was not fun, but I wanted to write down my advice so I can reread at the end of the semester when I want to pull out my hair and release what I have to do in order to get good grades.

Ricard0 (my fiance) has been chilling down in State College area for the last couple of weeks while I started back in class mode. It has been nice to have him around- he has even done some of my grocery shopping and cooked me yummy food! Also, the company is nice too.

My law school opened a new building this semester, so I actually feel like I am in law school. Check out photo's at dsl.psu.edu. We have a court room, class rooms, clinics, snack bar, and a very swanky library. Although, I do think the outside does look like an airport.

I took Ricky around to show the place off and had him explain some of the green technologies used (special flooring, green roofs, and glass enclosures to name a few).  He made a very nice analogy while he walked around the building, since he saw more law students at work and have had time to listen to us talk to each other.

In Law School, like a capitalistic market, everyone is competing for the top.  Friendly associations are made, but willing sacrificed in order to get to the top. But like a corrupt capitalistic nation (one that doesn't follow the idea fully), Law School students seem to be willing not to compete with the best in order to better themselves, but instead to knock people down, so their work seems better in compromise.

All I have to say- I wish law students were slightly more friendly to work with! I watched legally blonde this weekend and realize, even though Elle Woods might be an exaggeration of a high maintenance woman- the cranky mean law students were not so much.

Oh well! I will keep being peachy in order to give law students a better name.

Ciao

Jena

Writing a Good Law School Exam...

Hello Folks-

I know: Long time no update.  I entered the law school exam process and then hid from the law for the full 3 week break.  I needed to recharge my batteries. Fortunately for those reading, I can now say with certainly that I can tell you how to write a decent exam, since I have received my grades from last semester and I recieved very good marks.

Tip number one: Listen to your professor.

I found in all three of my classes that had an exam, my professors repeated mentioned how they would like their exams written. My Torts professor was emphatic about mentioning policy while my Criminal Law professor told us to leave the policy arguments to the policy question.  Those professors are the ones reading your exam- why not give them what they want??

Make sure to attend those review sessions they give at the end of the exam: Professors give clues of what area of law might not be as necessary to study in depth.  After all, the WROTE the exam, so they have the best idea of how to prepare for it.

Tip number two: Read Read Read...

I don't just mean case books.  Read study aids, read newspaper articles, read cases on west law- heck read anything involving your course.  It helped me to apply facts if I got out of the cases and tried to apply principles. For example, I read a gay marriage article in Newsweek and found some Erie Doctrine issues in regards to Civil Procedure. 

Law School exams are not based on just memorizing law and spewing it back out (as was the case for some undergraduate classes). You need to take fact patterns and apply the law to it.

Tip number three: Organize your exam.

Most people at my school opted to type their exams.  Although it is nice that professors can read what you are writing  on the test with perfect clarity, that also means that the professors can read what you are writing with perfect clarity.  Harder to hid the B.S. in 12 point font.

My advice- before you write out your exam, group your thoughts in sub headings and outline your answer on scrap paper. Then, type out your headings on your exam: for example who can sue who for what. That way, when you are panicked, you already know what areas you can fill in fast even if not the the detail. 

For more advice, check out the book,  Law School Confidential.

Tip number four: Portion out the time alloted for the test.

You have between 3 and 4 hours to complete a law school exam. Use every minute wisely. If you spend 2 hours on the first question which is only weighted 20% of you grade, it will be difficult to finish the exam.  The hypotheticals on the exam will be filled with many different causes of actions- don't get caught in all of them.  

At the beginning of your exam, look to see how much each question is worth, and then pull out your 5th grade math and figure out how much time you can spend on each question.  I know- if we wanted to do math problems we would have taken the GRE's.  Nonetheless, it is crucial to follow these time constraints.  

In one of my exams, I had to leave a section without finishing it, but I was able to finish the rest of the exam and then go back to that section.  When your in the exam- it is hard to move on, but necessary!

Tip number five: Prepare the night before

By NOT studying. Watch a movie. Go to sleep early.  Wake up- have a good breakfast (but don't try anything new) and make sure you have your exam bag packed. For me, it helped to run on the treadmill for 30 minutes to clear my head.  Then go to the exam and ignore everyone around you by listening into your IPOD or mp3 player of choice.  Panic is contagious. Avoid at all cost. Make sure to bring a snack: For me, I brought peanut M&M's- protein and caffeine, that I could eat over a long time and did not make any noise- and Gloriously Yummy!

Tip number six: After the exam,  RUN.

Avoid those who want to talk about the exam. It will not make you fell any better. Some one else can see different things from you and all you will do is make yourself think you fail.

If you do feel the need to talk about the test- do it with someone else who wants to and not in front of others who are pretending the exam never happened.

Then enjoy your winter break. Eat some cookies.

I hope that helps!

Don't forget the clap!

There are many books on how to succeed in law school.  I have read a few of them, like Law School Confidential by Robert H. Miller.  These books tell you how to brief cases, succeed with outlines, and take exams.

None of them warned to clap on the last day of class.

Boy- Don't forget to applaud a law professor.

My crim class did- and she let us know how she did not apperciate it.  We all were flabbergasted at how upset she got (even told her 3L class about our faux-pas).  She was equally mad at the whole class, so technically it should not effect how she graded our exams on a curve- but we are law students. We are prepared.

We gathered together and bought her a thank you gift.  

She responded back by e-mail and told us how thoughtful we were and how she loved having us.

Sigh of relief.

I wished someone told us about that rule. oops!!

On a happier note, I took my first final today.

I finished and did not panic. Enjoyed some peanut M&M's too.

Back to Tort... I plan on writing a Law School success exam check list next time!

Stay cool and in school (forever!)

To type or not to type....

That is my question.

Hello from the zone of danger-

My first exam is next Wednesday.  So this weekend is chalk full of studying and trying to remain sane. (I have so far avoided the plague- I have to keep swallowing it down when I start to talk to other law school students about law school.... It is hard to remain polite to people when all I am thinking is I really don't want to talk about this!)  So far, I have been pretty chill.

In order to prepare for exams, not only do I have to study, but also I need to decide if I want to type or hand write my exam.  

Majority of law students type their notes on their laptops in class.  I am in the select minority that still uses a pen and paper to take notes. The benifit to writing out notes for me is that I  retain more information.   Typing always makes me feel like I am on auto pilot. Also, my computer give me the internet which gives me access to Facebook- if you all know me well, I have extreme focusing issue: if I stop paying attention to the professor, I might never start again. So far, my writing had helped me retain my information, but should I write out my exam and be uber- old school.  

I downloaded the exam software they require us to use if we are typing.  It is nice that has stopwatch to let you know how much time is in the exam as well as gives you alerts for the last hour, 15 minutes, and 5 minutes.  They apparently have safety features in the program if your computer crashes too so that you don't have to worry about your test going Buh-Bye. Also I can write faster if I type.  I won't have to worry about the internet or Facebook since it locks us out from every other application on your computer so that students can't look at their outlines in the middle of the exam or IM for answers.  Also, I will only need to focus on my computer since I do not need to pay attention to a lecture.  

I think I am going to join the digital age and type my exams.  Seems logical.

Please send my laptop happy vibes :-)