Reasonable Expectations

School Supplies Review

2008-05-29T13:29:00.000-04:00

I thought I would do a follow up on which of the school supplies I bought at the beginning of the school year were useful and which weren't.

eBags Router Wheeled Laptop Convertible: I used this bag everyday. It holds a lot: I could fit my laptop, two casebooks, assorted smaller supplements and my lunch bag in it along with all the necessary accessories. There are a lot of pockets and I used all of them. The pockets on either side of the retractable handle were good for an umbrella and my laptop power cord. The side pockets were good for water bottles or thermoses. The front pockets were good for organizing all the other miscellanea, like pens, highlighters, cellphone, etc. The bag rolls really smoothly, although towards the end of the year the wheels got a little noisier. The only problem I have with the bag is that it is pretty large and heavy. There are other bags that hold just as much that are not as big and heavy. However it has held up really well to daily use and still looks almost brand new.

Elle Essentials - Christy Lunch Bag: I used this bag pretty much everyday as well. I could fit several gladware type containers in it for my lunch and snacks throughout the day. I like the way it looks, but this ended up not being at all important because I usually stuffed it into my backpack rather than carry it separately because the straps are not quite long enough to carry it over my shoulder. The shape of the bag worked well for being stuffed into my backpack because it is not very tall and fits in my bag on top of the books.

Skullcandy Proletariat Noise Canceling Headphones: I didn't use these at all. They seemed a little too conspicuous and I usually didn't need to block out noise to study -- I can read cases with background noise. When I did need to block out some particularly loud or distracting conversations nearby I just used a pair of earbud headphones and some Brian Eno and that worked fine. I think these are probably best for listening to movies or music on an airplane.

BookBuddy - Students Choice! BookStand-Snaps in a 3-Ring-Binder: I didn't use this either. Although it might have been better for my neck if I had, I need my book lying down flat so I can highlight it.

Classic Collegiate Edition Weekly Wire Bound Planner - Aug 07 - Jul 08: This I used everyday. The weekly planner has just the right amount of space to keep track of classes and other appointments as well as to-dos. This was my main way of keeping track of reading and assignments as well as meetings and appointments. I still used my google calendar for appointments also, but having a paper planner is more useful when you are not constantly in front of a computer.

Classic Julie Morgenstern Time Map: This was also pretty useful. I used it to create my weekly reading schedule for the semester, for example I would block out time to complete each reading assignment (for example on Thursday afternoon I had blocked out time to read for Tuesday and Wednesday's property class) and then each week I would refer to that schedule to fill in all my reading assignments. Of course a few weeks into the semester I didn't really need it anymore to figure out my schedule, but it was still useful to have just for planning purposes at the beginning of the semester.

Sharpie Accent Retractable Highlighters Assorted 8 pack: These I used, but when they ran out I just bought standard yellow highlighters. I didn't need all those colors and even though they were retractable they ran out really fast. I still do occasionally use different color highlighters to highlight the case names in the notes or the name of the judge who wrote the opinion, depending on whether that's necessary for the particular class (It was mostly necessary in con law, not so much in the other classes), but for general highlighting I just use yellow.

Surfacing

2008-05-23T15:08:00.003-04:00

I am officially done with my first year of law school, so I thought I'd post an update. I have a few more posts in draft stage that I plan to post over the next couple of weeks, then I guess we'll just see what happens after that. I definitely won't be as busy over the summer, but at the same time I probably won't have as much to post about.

The rest of first semester went fine. It was busy, but I wasn't overly stressed. The study period before exams was actually less stressful than the regular semester because we had a full week between our last class and our first exam. I only studied during the day and felt like it was just the right amount of time. I mostly studied at home which probably contributed to the somewhat relaxed feeling of study period. I have heard that there is a lot of tension in the air at school during study period so I'm glad I missed out on that. My exams went fine also. I walked out of each feeling pretty good but having no real idea of how I did. It seems impossible to know how you did on a test with no right answers and where your grade depends on how everyone else did.

The first week of the winter break was really busy with holiday stuff and then just after that settled down we took a trip to Mexico with my family. It wasn't exactly a relaxing vacation, in part because of the curious toddler and the non-baby-proofed hotel room and in part because we all got sick (not from the water or food or anything, just a bug we all passed around). Most of my grades came out while we were in Mexico, which I wasn't expecting (I'd been told not to expect them before February) and they were fine. Nothing stellar, but all above the curve.

Second semester started out a little rough. We got back from the trip one day before classes started, and then during the first (or was it second?) week of classes the little guy got a pretty bad stomach bug. I missed several classes to take him to the doctor and stay home with him. And, of course, I got sick too.

After we all recovered I started getting serious about my summer job search. I had sent out several applications before Christmas but hadn't heard from any body. I went to a job fair, I went on a bunch of interviews and I kept getting rejected. I had had a mock interview and the interviewer had told me I did well, so I don't think that my interviewing skills were the problem. I think I just wasn't what people were looking for. I was a 1L looking for a public interest job related to children with a background in government and information technology. I was counting on my community service experience to show my commitment to public service and interest in children's issues, but it wasn't super impressive. By March I was getting really worried that I wouldn't find anything. Luckily new jobs kept popping up on PSLawNet and so I kept sending out applications. I became expert at re-writing my cover letter as I broadened my search beyond what I though I originally wanted to do and I learned about some cool organizations. One of which I hope to work at next year. Anyway, I finally got a job in April, with three weeks of classes left, and I am really excited about it. I think that it is the perfect job for me this summer, I think I will be able to find a good note topic there, and I think it will help me get a job at the organization I want to work at next summer.

So anyway, I was distracted through much of second semester by the job search. I was less engaged in my classes second semester even though I would have thought that I would have been more interested in them than the first semester classes, just based on the subject matter. And it was not the fault of my professors. They were all really great and really engaging and entertaining. I think that I just had less energy and enthusiasm second semester. For that reason, and also because the job search and moot court stuff took up so much time, I felt that the second semester of law school was much harder than the first semester. I did get really stressed out and I think it affected me physically, because my stomach was acting weird for a couple months in March and April, I kept thinking I must be pregnant, but the pregnancy tests kept coming back negative. Anyway, that cleared up before exams. We had our full week of study period before exams again, although this time I had more to do because I hadn't really done any outlining during the semester, my notes were spotty in places, and I hadn't really briefed the cases. But I still felt that I had enough time to prepare and I think exams went fine. I haven't gotten my grades yet though, so who knows?

After exams I had a couple days off before the writing competition for law review. I got my hair cut, ran some errands and watched some TV. We had a week for the competition which was just an essay, no bluebooking. I spent about 24 hours total on it. Six hours the first day, then a one-day break with the little guy, and then four or five hours for each of the next four days. I feel pretty good about it. If I don't get on law review, I hope to get on the one specialty journal that I applied to.

And that brings us up to the present. I have a week off before I start my summer internship and will be spending it going to the park with the little guy and taking him to visit his cousin and his grandma.

Reality Calling

2007-10-28T10:07:00.001-04:00

As you have no doubt noticed I have not been posting much lately. It seems to happen to a lot of bloggers who start blogging so enthusiastically before law school -- once school starts free time disappears and when faced with a choice of sleep or blog, sleep wins. If I could think a post into existence this blog would be full of posts, but unfortunately it takes time and effort to write a post -- I am not the kind of person who can just dash a post off in five minutes. And blogging is pretty much at the bottom of my priority list right now (and for the foreseeable future). So I am taking a (possibly permanent) hiatus from blogging. I will leave the blog up for now in case I decide to restart, but for now you can consider this goodbye. I wish all the moms in or thinking about law school best of luck!

Weekly MILS Roundup #16

2007-10-22T19:56:00.001-04:00

Time for the weekly Moms in Law School Roundup! A little late, but here are the best posts from the moms this week:

Homecoming (Lag Liv)

When the kids are away, mom will… study (Adventures of Law School Mama)

The flexible nature of time (PT-LawMom)

Going back in time (The Merits of the Case)

Wishing it would go faster (Knocked Up (and in Law School))

Counting Down (Mommy Wants to Go to Law School)

The Weekly Moms In Law School (MILS) Roundup is hosted on a rotating basis here, at PT-LawMom, and at A Little Fish in Law School and is usually posted no later than Monday morning. Next week’s MILS Roundup will be at PT-LawMom.

If you’d like to have your blog added to the MILS blogroll for weekly review or would like us to consider a specific post, drop the hostess(es) an email or leave a comment at their respective sites.

Weekly MILS Roundup #15

2007-10-13T14:51:00.001-04:00

This week's Moms in Law School Roundup is up at A Little Fish in Law School. Next week it will be back here.

Law Firm Rankings

2007-10-10T21:18:00.000-04:00

Law Students Building a Better Legal Profession (BBLP) has just released its rankings of big law firms in several markets across the country in areas like diversity, billable hours and pro bono hours. I found the documents on the "female opportunity gap" particularly interesting -- while at many law firms women make up between 35-50% of associates, they generally make up less than 20% of partners.

I don't think I will be working at a law firm after graduation, but I haven't completely ruled it out, and, regardless, I think what big law firms do is relevant to the legal profession as a whole because the big law firms are the most visible face of the legal profession. So I definitely support what BBLP are doing.

Weekly MILS Roundup #14

2007-10-07T09:23:00.000-04:00

This week's Moms in Law School Roundup is at PT-LawMom. Next week it will be at A Little Fish in Law School, and the following week it will be back here.

Weekly MILS Roundup #13

2007-09-30T12:27:00.000-04:00

Time for the weekly Moms in Law School Roundup! Here are the best posts from this week:

Classes start (Lag Liv, Frequent Citations)
Finding your own path (Peanut Butter Burrito, Knocked Up (and in Law School))
A roadblock (PT-LawMom)
Rejection (A Little Fish in Law School, Frequent Citations)
The Myth and the Reality (Adventures of Law School Mama)

First Exam and First Sleepover

2007-09-28T20:15:00.000-04:00

I had my first law school exam today. Sure it was pass/fail, but it was still a law school exam. It was a four-hour in-class limited open book (course books and personally prepared notes and outlines only) exam for Legal Methods. There was one traditional hypothetical type question and one policy question. I spent three hours on the hypo and only one hour on the policy question. I couldn't think of much to say on the policy question, although I really should have anticipated the question and prepared an answer ahead of time, but I only had one day to study, so I didn't have time to do everything that I theoretically should have done. I think I passed, so I am not worried about it. We are actually going to get comments back which hopefully will be helpful for refining my exam-taking technique for the real ones in December.

We had the day off yesterday to study. Our nanny also had yesterday and today off, so in the morning I took the little guy out to his grandmother's house yesterday to spend the night -- his first night away from me. He had fun on the train and laughed when we got to our car and he saw his carseat and some old toys of his inside. He must have recognized them even though it's been a couple months since he has seen them. Anyway, there was only about five minutes for the drop off because I had to jump on another train going back into the city. So I quickly showed grandma how to fold the stroller and got the little guy buckled into his carseat and then leapt back up the stairs to the train platform just in time to step on the train.

Back home I worked on my outlines and read and briefed a case our professor distributed to us on Wednesday that he promised would "figure significantly" in the exam. I spent about 8 or 9 hours total preparing for the exam.

I had a leisurely morning this morning, kind of enjoying having the time to myself. Before the little guy was born I used to enjoy having my personal time in the morning, because I get up significantly earlier than hubby. Since the little guy was born however I haven't had that time to myself (or anytime to myself) so it was nice. Not that I don't enjoy our morning time, but most days it is a little more hectic with trying to get everybody fed (pets included), and dressed (pets not included) and get out the door.

So anyway, our exam was scheduled from 10-2, and I was worried about being hungry in the middle, so on the way I bought a breakfast sandwich -- two eggs and sausage on a roll. That did the trick. I wasn't hungry at all until about the last 20 minutes of the exam. But then right after the exam I had to rush downtown to catch the train back to grandma's to pick the little guy up. I ate a luna bar on the way out there and then on the way home I stopped and bought a couple of cheese tamales from a street vendor for a buck each. We got home around 5:45 -- just in time to eat dinner and put the little guy to bed. He was tired because he didn't really take a nap at grandma's, but he was in good spirits. He had fun with grandma -- she had lots of new (to him) toys for him to play with and he got to run around in the yard and go to court and go shopping for wedding dresses (not for him). Although he didn't really nap yesterday either, he apparently went right to sleep last night, which was my biggest fear about him spending the night away. And he went right to sleep tonight too. So everything went well.

Weekly MILS Roundup #12

2007-09-23T12:06:00.000-04:00

This week's Moms in Law School Roundup is up at A Little Fish in Law School. Next week it will be back here.

Quick update

2007-09-21T20:44:00.001-04:00

This week I was called on for the first time in two classes on the same day. It was Contracts and Civ Pro. I did well in Contracts, but not so well in Civ Pro. Contracts is a small class (only about 35 students) so it is definitely easier to talk in that class. Civ Pro is a large class with stadium-style seating and microphones. It is a bit more intimidating and I panicked a little bit. I had the information I needed highlighted and also written in my notes, but for some reason I kept trying to read the un-highlighted part of the text. Anyway, it wasn't too bad, just not great.

Next Friday is our legal methods exam. We get a day off from classes on Thursday so that we can study, although for some reason Prof Civ Pro has scheduled the first meetings of our TA sections on that day. They are optional and I don't know if anyone will show up. I don't plan to.

Our nanny is actually taking next Thursday and Friday off, so the little guy is going to spend the night at his grandma's house. I will be taking him there on Thursday morning and picking him up Friday afternoon after the test.

Weekly MILS Roundup #11

2007-09-16T10:20:00.000-04:00

This week's Moms in Law School Roundup is at PT-LawMom. Next week it will be at A Little Fish in Law School, and the following week it will be back here.

Little Guy News

2007-09-14T20:36:00.000-04:00

In the last week and a half or so the little guy has really started walking a lot. He can't stand up without holding on to something yet, but once he's up he can go far. I think we can officially call him a toddler!
He's also mastered buttons and switches. We can no longer watch TV with him around because he changes the channel or turns it off. He also absolutely loves light switches. We had to move his crib because he could reach the light switch from where it was and would stay up at night turning the light on and off.
He has five teeth now (they've been coming in fast in the last month or so).
We found out last week that the little guy is not allergic to eggs after all. The results from the blood test had indicated a very mild allergy, but when the allergist did a skin test, which he said is more accurate, it showed no allergy. So I've given him some egg this week and it hasn't seemed to cause any problems.

Professors and the Socratic Method

2007-09-11T19:33:00.000-04:00

I am ahead in my reading this week so I thought I would do a rare (lately anyway) midweek post on what my professors are like.

Prof Torts is really nice and funny, he is a visiting professor but has taught at our school before. So far in class he mostly takes volunteers, and when he does call on someone who hasn't volunteered it is because they volunteered before and the question he is asking is related to what they said before. He occasionally pokes fun of people's answers if they are off-base, but in a very good-natured way.

Our Contracts professor is an economist and not a lawyer, but has been teaching contracts in law school for a very long time. In class he selects one person for each case (randomly, no advance notice) and sticks with them for all questions related to that case. Only if they can't answer does he look for a volunteer. It is actually a very safe class to volunteer in because you are not likely to get a follow up question since he will always go back to the original person after he gets an acceptable answer.

Prof Civ Pro has taught at our school before as a visiting professor, but is here permanently for the first time this year. She is the scariest, not because she is mean -- she isn't -- but because it is sometimes difficult to figure out what she is asking and she seems to expect you to remember the smallest details about the cases (like things the court said in a footnote). She does cold calling as well as taking volunteers.

Weekly MILS Roundup #10

2007-09-09T20:13:00.000-04:00

Time for the weekly Moms in Law School Roundup! Here are the best posts from this week:

Clash of worlds (Adventures of Law School Mama)

Watching the clock (A little fish in law school)

Getting it (Mommy on the Floor)

Finding a job you like (Diary of a Law School Mom and Lag Liv)

Getting to know each other (2Lwannabe)

Showing (Peanut Butter Burrito)

Going bare (The Merits of the Case)

Looking for answers (PTLawmom)

Trying to make sense of it all (Knocked up and in Law School)

Family Time

2007-09-08T18:24:00.001-04:00

The first week of "real" classes went well. The reading load has been a lot lighter so far than in legal methods, giving me time to contemplate whether I want to get involved in any extra-curricular type activities. There is a pro-bono activity I am interested in but it requires a 4 hour/week commitment for the whole year and I just don't think I can make that commitment four weeks into law school. The other thing I have been seriously considering is running for the board of my law school's women's association.

One thing I am concerned about in general is that a lot of activities and events at the law school start around 5 or 6, which is prime family time for me. 5 is dinner time and at 6 we start the little guy's bath and bedtime routine. Although it wouldn't be a huge deal to miss a night here and there I wouldn't want to make it a regular thing because that is the main part of the time I get to spend with the little guy. I want to be involved in things that aren't strictly academic while I am in law school, but if I am not going to be at the school between 4pm and 7pm is it even possible to be involved in anything on more than a casual level? I hope so.

Weekly MILS Roundup #9

2007-09-02T08:30:00.001-04:00

This week's Moms in Law School Roundup is up at A Little Fish in Law School. Next week it will be back here.

Week Wrap-Up

2007-09-01T19:33:00.000-04:00

This week was the last week of Legal Methods. We finished our 837 page casebook in 13 days of class (averaging over 60 pages/day). We didn't finish with quite as much enthusiasm as we started, which had something to do with the reading load and something to do with the fact that we all seemed to be coughing or sniffling through most of the week. It was nice to have this introduction -- it served as a relatively low-stress breaking-in to law school classes -- but I think we are all ready to move on to the real classes now. So, on Tuesday it starts for real! (Not that this wasn't real, but it is pass/fail so it wasn't too real).

Oh and hubby and my parental accomplishment of the week was to teach the little guy how to pant like a dog. Yay us!

Weekly MILS Roundup #8

2007-08-26T11:15:00.001-04:00

This week's Moms in Law School Roundup is at PT-LawMom. Next week it will be at A Little Fish in Law School, and the following week it will be back here.

Answering Questions

2007-08-25T20:48:00.000-04:00

So this week I spoke in class a few times. The first time I volunteered. I had an answer to the professor's question that I thought was a good one. The person sitting next to me thought so too. The next day I got called on. I knew the answer that the person at the end of my row was struggling with, so I thought I did well. Then the professor asked a follow up and I completely flubbed it. I said "I don't think so" when a better answer would have been "Yes." The professor moved on quickly because someone else volunteered with the right answer (I know there are often no right answers in law school, but in this case there was). Anyway, then I felt kind of stupid and when the professor kept going back to the other people that he had asked questions of on that case and didn't come back to me I felt like I needed to prove that I did know what was going on and did have intelligent things to say, so I volunteered and spoke a couple more times that day.

I've noticed that Prof Legal methods seems to have a few favorites in class -- people that he can always count on to have an opinion -- and he calls on them frequently, even when they don't volunteer. But he also is trying to call on everyone in class twice. He finished up the last few people in the first iteration on Friday, so I guess Monday we will all be up for grabs again. He doesn't seem to have a discernible system -- I think it is just random. Anyway, I don't mind it. Even though I froze up that one time, I generally feel like I could give an intelligent answer to most of the questions he asks.

Anyway, I also wanted to answer PT-LawMom's question about the age breakdown of my class. I don't know exactly what the breakdown is for my class but I got the statistics for last year's class off of the admission's website. In that class 78% were 24 or younger, 18% were 25-28 and 4% were 29 or older. This seems to be about what my class is. Well over half are within a year or two of college. There seems to be a significant minority of people around 5 years out of college. Then a few older. I know at least two other people who graduated from undergrad the same year as me who are in my legal methods section. I have also met two other mothers in my class. One has a toddler who is unfortunately living with his grandmother far away for now because she couldn't find daycare, and the other has two kids in college.

Notes from the First Week of Law School

2007-08-21T19:09:00.000-04:00

I have now completed five days of law school classes. So far I am really enjoying it. Last week was hard because we didn't get our assignment for the first day until two days before classes started and it was a long assignment so I didn't complete it until the night before and then each night I was reading for the next day's class which made me feel like I was kind of behind because I wasn't ahead. But over the weekend I was able to get ahead a little bit and now I am reading two days ahead, which makes me feel more relaxed. It is amazing but we are actually going to get through an 800+ page textbook in less than three weeks.

Oh, and my professor is super-nice. He actually said that if anybody feels that the prospect of being called in causes them such anxiety that they feel it actually interferes with their ability to learn he will take them out of the rotation. He calls on a lot of people each class and people also volunteer. I haven't been called on yet, but the prospect doesn't really scare me, I have felt prepared enough to answer the questions he has been asking so far.

My routine is working out pretty well. I usually have two or three hours to study during the day and then do another two or three hours at home after the little guy goes to bed. Hubby watched the little guy on one weekend day so I could go to the library and study and the other weekend day was my day off from law school.

I have been spending three or four hours a day with the little guy, which seems like still a good amount of time, but I noticed when I spent that day with him on the weekend that he looked different to me, like he had grown over the week, and because I was spending less time with him I now had the perspective to see the changes.

I also changed over the week... I lost two pounds. I guess the mile walk to and from law school each day is doing me good. I also checked out the University's gym this week and plan on going there twice a week starting tomorrow. I am also thinking of signing up for a yoga class in the fall.

Weekly MILS Roundup #7

2007-08-19T19:45:00.000-04:00

Time for the weekly Moms in Law School Roundup! Here are the best posts from this week:

Spending time with mom (Peanut Butter Burrito and Lag Liv)

Not spending time with mom (Diary of a Law School Mom)

Adding it up (A little fish in law school)

Getting out (Frequent Citations)

Greeting New Faces (Knocked Up (and in Law School))

Taking a Break (PT-LawMom)

Supply and Demand (Magic Cookie)

Practice makes perfect (2Lwannabe )

I'm Oriented

2007-08-14T21:23:00.000-04:00

Orientation is over and class starts tomorrow morning. I've read over 100 pages in preparation for this first class and I'm pretty tired, but I got it all done so I feel good about that. I didn't sleep that well the last couple nights and stayed up late (for me) last night reading, so I need to go to bed now so I will be coherent for class tomorrow.

Found Wisdom: Essential Law School Skills

2007-08-14T06:54:00.000-04:00

So a long time ago I started a series of posts that I called Found Wisdom in which I shared useful articles, blog posts, etc, about law school that I had found and saved. So far there has only been one post in this series, but with classes about to start I thought it was a good time to have another installment. In this post I will share links to articles that discuss the essential law school skills of briefing cases and outlining.

Briefing

The Power of the Brief: Why to brief

How to Brief a Case: Intro to Briefing

Ten Instructions for Briefing Cases: Detailed article on how to brief and how to use your briefs to help you do better in class

Outlining

The Villanova Academic Success Program's article on outlining: A good, fairly detailed primer on outlining.

Outlining Tips from CALI's Pre-Law Blog

Tips for Outliners from Texas Tech

Weekly MILS Roundup #6

2007-08-13T07:06:00.000-04:00

This week's Moms in Law School Roundup is up at A Little Fish in Law School. Next week it will be back here.