Before I forget (as I do tend to have a short memory), I wanted to finish my series on law school and what it is really like. First up? First year of law school.
First comes orientation. At that point, you don’t know anyone. At my school, we were forced to sit and listen to three days of information on topics such as the bar exam, how to succeed in law school, and financial aid. Meanwhile, as you start to talk to random classmates, you are hearing about all of their successes previous to law school (examples: doing the Peace Corps, running their own business, being a doctor). This, coupled with people bragging about their LSAT scores, is really annoying. I mean, we all got into the same school. Who cares what your LSAT score is now? I think that it was a way of people making themselves feel better in an new and scary situation.
After orientation, we had a weekend before classes actually started. Did I mention that you have advanced assignments? Yes, before you even step foot inside a classroom your professors will give you a bunch of cases to read and brief. Oh yeah, and every professor wants you to brief cases a different way. These assignments will take you HOURS so start early.
The first day of class? Completely terrifying. My first class of law school was with the most demanding professor I had in my three years. The professors usually start off with a few words about law school, making sure you do assignments, their technique for calling on students*, etc. As soon as the professor of my first class was done with the overview, she went straight into calling on people randomly. THANK GOD IT WAS NOT ME. Seriously. I have no idea how the kid that did get called on did it. My stomach was in knots the entire class. Also, I found out that I briefed the cases completely wrong so that didn’t help.
My entire first week I was filled with stress and self-doubt. My parents are lawyers so uhh no pressure! Everyone else is also freaking out at the same time so you are in good company. At my school, we were divided into three equal sections. Every section is then broken down into smaller sections for certain classes. This is helpful as you spent a lot of time with the people in your section. However, this also leads to law school being strikingly similar to high school. Everyone knows each other’s business, rumors fly around the section, etc.
Law school tends to attract some interesting people. I went to a fairly liberal law school which means some extreme wackos. For instance, there was one woman that was very worried about unionizing Starbucks. I wanted to tell her that instead of unionizing employees of a company that is usually ranked as one of the best places to work, why not try to unionize a place like Walmart, which is cutting employees’ hours so that they fall just under 40 hours a week, therefore cutting off health benefits? This is the same woman that told me about a program that she wanted to do in New York City. Basically, you paid a monk a couple thousand dollars to be homeless for two weeks. I bit my tongue, but I wanted to tell her that she could do that for free if she really wanted. *Sigh* Yes, there are some odd ducks.
After a few weeks you are still very stressed, but learn how to take a little less time briefing the cases and what exactly each professor is looking for. Now student groups start to call on the first year students to man tables in the hallway, for bake sales, etc. I waited to really involve myself in student groups until second semester. However, I did start up a weekly Thursday night happy hour. I included people from all three sections as we would eventually have classes together the following year. It was a good way to get people away from school and let off a little steam.
Finals your first semester are the scariest thing ever. For the most part, your ENTIRE GRADE is dependent on the exam (some professors have 5% based on your participation in class- i.e. whether you gave thoughtful answers when they called on you). Some professors give a review towards the end of the semester, others show you past exams, etc. Either way, you are in the library from sun up to sun down studying for these exams. For most people, that means making outlines of the class. These outlines tend to be 40+ pages when all is said and done. I couldn’t wrap my head around outlines my first year, so I made notecards of every test, definition, etc. from the semester. I also spent a large chunk of time with fellow section members in study groups. I found out later that this was not the best use of time for me, as I was a better learner by myself than in a group.
Most finals were closed book for 3-4 hours. I would quickly outline the question and the topics that I wanted to talk about and then literally type for the rest of the time, furiously pounding on my laptop before time was called, trying to get all of the definitions, tests, analyses, and conclusions in as possible. After the exam, you are completely drained. But, you have to do it all over again in a completely different topic either the next day or soon after so there is really no time to go home and sleep. Nope, it is back to the library to study!
Christmas break is a much-needed rest between semesters. You will literally go home and sleep for days as you are so tired and your brain physically HURTS. You will then wait for up to a month to get your grades. Grades are very important if you are gunning for a big law firm position.
Second semester starts with people asking about grades and possibly not seeing a few people as they have dropped out. I had some of the same classes as first semester so it was good to see familiar professors and know what they want in advance. A lot of people study abroad the summer after your first year because it is difficult to get a paying law job and you might as well get some credit for going somewhere fun! I went down to South America and had a fantastic time (especially because after a month and a half of not seeing each other, CP was able to come down for 10 days after the end of my program).
Second semester finals are similar to first semester finals so you know what you are getting into, but they still kick your butt.
Misc. things about first year:
-You also learn to hate your law school administration. I don’t think it matters what law school you go to, this is bound to happen.
-The “gunners” (people that raise their hand to try to answer every question and/or just like to hear themselves talk) annoy the crap out of you. Some professors even make jokes about them….don’t become one!
-The first semester of law school your significant others will be very annoyed when you constantly talk about school. You will relate everything you learned in Contracts class, Torts class, etc. to things in every day life. This happens again when you are studying for the bar. I think that this is also because you are still getting to know your law school friends and school is an easy thing to talk about. It also helps with trying to memorize concepts.
*Most law school professors use the Socratic method. That means randomly calling on students for answers. Some professors will call on one or two students for the entire class period, some jump around after a few questions, etc. It is scary. This is why you MUST make sure to read for class every day!
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