Checking In...

Now that I've had a chance to read 75 more essays, one thought springs to mind. Have you been to LEEWS yet? If yes, share your experience. If no, why not? Are there any successful baby bar takers with advice for the "new kids?"

I know its a lot of work, to meet all of your responsibilities and to be a successful law student. But if you don't fully invest yourself now, you risk losing the effort you've invested. I hope you are writing practice exams.

"The legal profession renders its practitioners acute, inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defense, full of resources. No other profession is more closely connected with actual life than the law. It concerns the highest of all temporal interests of man - property, reputation, the peace of all families, the arbitrations and peace of nations, liberty, life even, and the very foundations of society."

Political Philosopher Edmund Burke

For Those About to TEST We Salute You!

Tomorrow is an important day for many Cal Southern students, including my summer agency group. Want to remind you that the Baby Bar provides a unique opportunity to test your mettle, a bit of a practice run. Think of it as a pre-view that not every law student is lucky enough to get.

You’re going to find that as a Cal Southern student, you are given the opportunity to be better prepared and therefore successful. I am wishing you all the best tomorrow and I can’t wait to hear how you KICKED BABY BAR BUTT.

~ Ms. Main

Do You Have "IT"?

I am moving this post up to the top of the blog... Why? Because perhaps you are returning here, after ignoring this advice when it was first offered, to clink this link. If you found yourself disappointed by your recent grades, perhaps now is a good time to re-think this suggestion.

You'll likely hear, if you haven't heard already, that some law students simply have "IT." That special something, an inherent ability to understand the law and understand the study of law...

These special students seem to "GET IT" in class, to grasp the concepts, understand the rules, to navigate the cases and respond to the professor's queries with confidence and reasonably cogent answers - even if not always the correct answers, at least these special students do not stammer and swoon.

Now, some of you may have been born with "IT." I do not doubt it. After all, I, MYSELF, POSSESS "IT"...1

ahem.

However, for those of you who would simply like a little clarity in the murky world of law study, please click the link and learn the secret to looking like you were born with it, even if you weren't.

LEEWS


1. I am just one of those magic few that figured out I did not know what the heck I was doing in law school. I did not figure it out until I was half way through my first exam, but better late than never, I always say.

Responding to the Comment from Anyone

Hello all and Anyone,

I think the question posed by Anyone's comment (see below) is: What should we study for your exam, Ms. Main? And the answer will be less than satisfying for some of you. The answer is everything you should have learned in my class. This is not the answer because I am a sadist. It is the answer because I have a very fond hope that all of you will be successful law students, and eventually successful bar candidates. Therefore, you must know "everything," whether you are tested on it or not.

I have already told you two things which are relevant: First, do not buy into predictions or someone's suggestion of what will be on a test. This goes for bar "review" professors and former students alike. Second, don't beleive your instructors if they tell you not to study something. (I related to the class last week that in Civ. Pro I got a good grade because I studied appeals even though the instructor said it would not be on the test. It showed up on question 3 and I could hear the other students moaning as they read it).

Even if I am dead bang right about what will be on MY test, I cannot tell you what will be on the bar.

So, it is best to study (and KNOW) everything. You are getting up to speed as law students but fall is very near and it only gets harder. Good habits now = good habits later = higher liklihood of ultimate success.

And that is what were shooting for, SUCCESS.

Spring has almost Sprung...

January 19, 2010, marks the first night of law school for incoming spring beginning students. I hope that the spirit of helpfulness and comradery leads the survivors from Agency Classes Past to offer assistence and/or encouragement to the "new kids." In any event, I hope to get an update from returning students, along with meeting new incoming students. Stop by and let me know how it's going!

And don't forget to keep making those flash cards... See you all soon.