Testing the Waters: the first week of classes.
Posted by Aaron on Mar 21, 2007
Summer came and went, and so, too, did orientation week. What
followed was the weekend before classes, which was a nice relaxing and
work-free prelude to the first week of classes. Well, not exactly.
The first week of classes really begins the weekend before
classes even start. Unlike undergrad, where the most that is asked you before
class is to purchase the proper books and show up on the first day, law school
requires slightly more preparation before the first-day introductions. A few days
before classes begin, the registrar posts the first assignments for each class.
First assignments consist of, well, your first assignments. Professors post
them, you do them, and on the first day of classes you talk about them.
That weekend before my first week of law school was pretty
work intensive. It took me the majority of the weekend to do the assignments
for just a few class periods. I remember thinking, my god, will it always take
this long to do the work for one day. Looking back, it wasn’t so much that the
amount of work assigned was heavy, but, rather, that I had no idea what I was
doing. Reading a paragraph seemed to take forever. The words on the page would
hit my eyes but get lost on a detour without ever reaching my brain, and I
consulted a dictionary more times that weekend than in the last four years.
Preparing for class usually involves briefing or summarizing a case for your
own use during class. These case briefs have different sections for the facts
of the case (who did what to whom), the issue (what is the problem), a holding
(what the answer is), and rationale (why this is the answer). At this point in
my legal education, I had a rudimentary understanding of what made a good case
brief. I found myself trying to fit a square peg, which was my understanding of
a case, into a round hole, which was my understanding of what each section of a
case brief should be. In theory, the sections of a case brief are easy to
understand, but for a new law student, the extraction of the necessary information
from cases can take a while. It does, however, get easier with time.
After spending most of that weekend preparing for class, it
was now time to put that preparation into action. The first-day of class was a
concoction of excitement, nervousness, and fear. I mean, all of the material I
had been exposed to, whether it was books or people or bathroom stalls at truck
stops, spoke of law school as a crucible that tests the mind and breaks the
spirit. I won’t speak, just yet, to the truth of those sources, but I will talk
about the first day of classes.
Classes that first week weren’t that bad. My professors started us out on training
wheels. I assume they recognized that they should probably teach us how to ride
a little before they pushed us down a hill. The first of each of my classes began
with a “this class is important because” monologue and then a little Socratic
method for flavor. Professors would ask us simple questions and we’d sit there
with wide-open eyes as the headlights (and bumper and two tons of steel) of law
school crashed into us. We were clueless. I remember one professor asked why a
plaintiff in a case was suing a company rather than the employee. We all
scrambled through our notes and briefs in search of the answer. The answer was
found in the common sense knowledge that if a plaintiff actually wants
compensation for damages, they had better get a defendant with money. I don’t
know how common sense that answer is, but it was a signal to us to broaden our
view of what was really going on in these cases. That first week, I found
myself looking at things far too narrowly. I was looking at law in vacuum as if it were
completely isolated from outside experiences and common sense. I was surprised
at how many common sense kind of things are involved in the law. I don’t know
why it surprised me, but it did. I suppose I saw the law as being on a pedestal
which always kept it just beyond the reach of understanding. In actuality, most
of the law applies common sense in a very practical way, but that has nothing
to do with my first week.
In a nutshell, the first week of class is like the rough draft
for the rest of the semester. You find out what works and what doesn’t, and
make changes accordingly. I feel that my professors, acknowledging our bewilderedness,
gave us a kind of free pass that first week. It’s the second week and beyond
that is for keeps. Looking back, I needed not be afraid of that first week, it
was the other sixteen weeks were more deserving of my apprehension. (note: read
this last sentence while listening to dramatic theme music)
Feel free to ask questions by emailing aaronsblog@mail.widener.edu or clicking the discuss link.
Which Way is North? – A review of orientation week.
Posted by Aaron on Mar 14, 2007
As is customary with all things that bring me joy, summer
came to an end. This time, however, I was pretty excited. I mean, who wouldn’t
be excited about the knowledge binge that is the first semester of law school. But
before they let you guzzle the law school kool-aid, you spend a week learning
how to sip it. It is Orientation Week, and it was my first experience as a
law student.
Looking back, it seems like a little memory made fuzzy by
the crap storm that is the first semester. Luckily for me, I am assisted by the
orientation schedule that I saved. Take that, critics of my pack rat tendencies.
So, with my schedule in hand, let’s talk about orientation week.
From what I saw, orientation had a few purposes. One purpose
was to introduce you to the law school and its services, and another purpose
was to teach you how to be a law student. In addition, it was when you first meet
the other students in your section. The law school section is the product of
breaking down the first-year class into chunks of 70 or 80 students. These
other students in your section will become your classmates, rivals, and your best
friends.
The introduction to the law school aspect of orientation
week took kind of a back burner in my mind. It was kind of boring and
administrative. I wanted the “good stuff,” the nougat center of law school,
what I came here to do. I wanted to start the law learnin’. So, distracted by
my eagerness for torture, I found it hard to give my full attention to the
financial aid staff, library staff, and career development office staff that
came to talk us. Was it informative? Yes. Was it a little boring? Again, yes. I
do remember the financial aid office staff giving an illustration about how
using borrowed money to buy a one dollar cup of coffee, now, would cost you
like 150 dollars, later. This information kind of put things into perspective,
but I was comforted by the fact that I don’t drink coffee.
The “how to be a law student” component of the week,
however, did capture my attention. It consisted of a kind of intro to
government, judicial process, case and statue analysis, and legal writing. The
intro to government portion felt like a high school civics lesson. We examined
the three branches of government, the constitution, and other materials I was
exposed to on a daily basis as a political science major in undergrad. I do
suppose it was helpful for non-political science majors, but I typically do not
fraternize with such types (just kidding Joel, my marketing pal).
The other intro type subjects were very helpful. These
little intro courses gave me, or at least introduced me to, the tools I would
need for the first week of classes. It is amazing how much you have to learn
before you can begin learning the law. You have to learn how to read cases
(what to look for, e.g. issues, facts, reasoning), how to apply what you’ve
learned to a set of facts, what a class was going to be like, and how to put
into writing what you want to say. Legal writing is a bear like creature that
isn’t always compatible with self-proclaimed creative types, such as myself.
But we’ll cover legal writing in an upcoming post named “Legal Writing: the
path to insanity.” Just kidding, there isn’t a post like thatÔøΩ yet. At the end
of the week, we were asked to use all of the tools you were supplied with to
write a paper applying the cases we had covered that week to a set of
hypothetical facts.
Orientation was an exciting time for me. It was the
beginning of my legal career, and the end of my innocence. Of course, I am
being dramatic, but when I look back and compare what I know now to what I knew
then, there is no comparison. I mean, of course I am still young, charming,
fit, and handsome, but there is a mental change that occurs. It is a kind of
unexplainable change in the way you view the world, and orientation week was
the beginning of that change.
Feel free to ask questions by emailing aaronsblog@mail.widener.edu or clicking the discuss link.
The Calm Before the Storm: The summer before the first semester.
Posted by Aaron on Mar 4, 2007
Summers, for me, are always islands in the middle of an
ocean of things I’d rather not be doing. This past summer was no different, but
I tried to make it one hell of an island. But, you don’t care what I did last
summer. So, I’ll just tell you about the things that have some bearing on law
school.
First, get whatever financial arrangements you have to take
care of out of the way early in the summer. The last thing you want is to have
some kind of unexpected delay to occur a few weeks before you begin your first
semester. The financial aid department sends out a book on the subject, in
which they practically spoon feed the process to you. You’d be surprised how
easy they make it to get yourself into $28k of debt. At least, I found the
process to be relatively painless, but ask me in three years, when I’m paying
it back, how painless the process is.
Second, the school sends out a suggested summer reading
list. I ended up reading two books from that list, “1L” by Scott Turow and “A
Civil Action” by Jonathan Harr. They were both good books, but I don’t know
that they helped me a whole lot in law school. So, what would I read if I got
to do it all over again? Well, I’d probably get a vocab book. One thing I’ve
learned is that judges like to use words not utilized by the average everyday
linguist. The more words in your vocabulary, the easier reading the cases will
be. Also, you’re writing will be more efficient if you can use one word in
place of three, which is super helpful when you’re 100 words over your word
limit when writing a paper. Keeping with the writing aspect, it’s probably not
a bad idea to get a grammar book. It will be helpful when reading a statute,
where a comma can mean everything, or for your own writing. I mean, unless
you’re an English major, how many of us really know when to use a semicolon? I
realize that these books aren’t any fun and I wouldn’t read them, if given to
me last summer, but in hindsight they aren’t a bad idea. Hooray, hindsight.
Third, if you have the opportunity, enjoy yourself as much
as possible. I know it sounds cliché, but the better mental state you have
coming in, the better off youÔøΩll be. Good luck.
Feel free to ask questions by emailing aaronsblog@mail.widener.edu or clicking the discuss link.
Single-White Male, 22, Seeking Law School: The Admissions Process
Posted by Aaron on Mar 4, 2007
The funny thing about law school
is that they don’t just let you show up on the first day. Apparently, as I
learned, you have to apply and get accepted before you show up– shocker.
The admissions process isn’t an
overnight affair. In my case, I think the process started the moment I decided
to pursue law school. This was pretty
early in my undergraduate career, after freshmen year, so I had a lot of time
to weigh my options. The first thing I did was to look at law schools online.
The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) has an excellent website for the
prospective law student. The LSAC puts out their Official Guide to ABA-Approved
Law Schools, which is completely accessible from their website. I used the LSAC
website a lot when I was looking at law schools because they give you so much
information about each school and a link to the schoolÔøΩs website. I would
casually look at schools and try to figure out what exactly I was looking for.
Using the LSAC, I knew the kind
of GPA and LSAT scores that I needed to be competitive, and where I currently stood
in comparison. Knowing these things early allowed me to alter my undergraduate
performance accordingly. Conversely, someone who decides much later might not
have a chance to do things that would help their admissions stock. To use an
analogy, each law school has a mold of what they look for in a student, and we
are like clay. Initially, the clay is soft and malleable, but, as time passes,
it becomes hard as it dries. If you know what shape the mold is early on, you
can manipulate the clay to fit it, but, if you don’t know what shape the mold
is until much later, you may be stuck with whatever shape your clay happens to
be at that time. At least, this is how I see it. I told you I love analogies.
Fast-forward to the fall of my
senior year. At this point, I had a pretty good idea what my graduating GPA was
going to look like, and I still had my bag of law schools that I was looking
at. There was, however, one little thing called the LSAT that I had to get
through. I’ll tell you right now, I hated the LSAT experience. It’s like this
heavy boulder that you carry with you until you take it. At which point, you
toss the boulder into the air, and scramble around hoping it won’t land on you.
I signed up for the October LSAT,
in August. I had bought a few sample test books from LSAC, and set up a plan to
study for the LSAT. This plan, shortly thereafter, fell completely apart. I
found it nearly impossible to have the energy or will power to study for it
when I had five other classes to worry about. So, by the time October rolled
around, I found myself scrambling to become prepared. Taking the LSAT in
October didn’t work out. I woke up the morning of the test feeling incredibly
nervous, and I ended up changing the test date to December; the LSAC makes it
way too easy to change your test date. This delay was a cheap move to comfort
my nerves. It was a cop out. So, hooray, I had two more months to study for the
LSAT. This time, I was going implement my plan and be super prepared for
December.
The plan was not implemented. I
was not super prepared. That’s not saying that I wasn’t prepared, but just not
as prepared as I would have liked to have been. Classes, friends, mid-terms,
and upcoming finals were more of a challenge than my pathetic plan could bear,
and it shattered into little broken plan pieces. December rolled around and it
was test time. I didn’t wuss out this time; I took the LSAT.
The actual test wasn’t too bad.
Four, or so, hours of filling in bubbles and solving logic problems on a
Saturday, what’s not to love? When it
was over, I stood up and walked out of the room and into a month of blissful
ignorance. No amount of preparation or worrying would change what was already
done, and for the next month I would be unaware of the consequences of past
preparation and worrying, or lack thereof.
Judgment day, however, would
come. Consequences would become
apparent. The boulder, which I had thrown into the air after the LSAT, would
fall back to earth. I made out alright. Would I have liked to have done better,
of course, but anyone without a perfect score would probably say the same. I got what I got, and moved forward from
there.
With LSAT scores in hand, I had
some real tools to start making this law school thing happen. The filling out and
submitting of applications were yet another fun turn in the amusement park ride
that is the admissions process. Name, address, telephone, education history,
references, personal statement, and transcripts, they want it all. If you apply
to more than one school, they want it all, too.
The LSDAS helps streamline some of this but, in spite of this, there is
still a lot of hoofing around that is required to get each school what they
need. Oh, and they’re going to want some money, too. But some schools,
including Widener, waive the fee if you apply online. Hooray, fee waiver.
Using a contracts scenario, I
submitted my application to law schools in exchange for a promise that they
would review it and inform me, via letter, of my acceptance or, conversely, lack
of acceptance. Well, in varying lengths of time, every law school kept their
end of the bargain; I got letters. I
then knew that they chose me, but would I choose them?
You’ve probably used your astute
powers of deduction and figured out where I chose to attend law school. It
wasn’t an easy decision. I wondered well into my first semester if I had made the
right choice and, unless you’re pretty settled on which school you want to go
to, I feel like it’s probably a common experience. The choice ultimately comes
down to personal priorities, which will vary from person to person. I wanted to
be near to my friends and family, in an area that I was familiar with, and, being
that I am from Delaware,
I am naturally afraid of other states. Obviously, I wanted a school that would
prepare me for legal practice. I also wanted a school that started with “W.”
Widener fulfilled all of those criteria for me, as well as others. I can say,
now, halfway through my second semester, that I don’t regret that decision. I
am challenged everyday, whether I like it or not, and am very content.
So, now, you have a picture,
albeit fuzzy, of my journey through the law school admissions process. But,
this is the part where I tell you all the things I would do differently if I
had a time machine, or tips that I think might be handy. First, I would’ve taken
the LSAT the summer before my senior year, when I didn’t have five classes to
worry about. Second, start getting all of the references, personal statements,
transcripts, etc., done early, because it’s going to take forever to get it all
together. Third, if I had the money, I would’ve taken an LSAT course. I figure
that the least it would have done is make me study on a weekly basis and
supply some feedback. On the other hand, you can’t beat $40 bucks worth of LSAT
books and personal motivation to push you along. Fourth, and final tip, do what
works best for yourself. You know yourself better than anyone else. So, do what
you gotta do, and good luck.
Feel free to ask questions by emailing aaronsblog@mail.widener.edu or clicking the discuss link.
Introductions, please!
Posted by Aaron on Mar 4, 2007
Before I get to all the hoopla
and hullabaloo of introductions, I want to thank the Admissions Office for
giving me the opportunity to share my experiences while in law school. I can’t
help but think that this is a very foolish move on their part, but I am
grateful. Anyhow, letÔøΩs continue.
My name is Aaron Baker. I was born
late on the night of March 20th, in the year 1984. The weather that night was
unseasonably cold and my mother;ok, maybe I should start with a more
contemporary set of events.
I am in the second semester of my
first year at Widener University School of Law, in Wilmington, Delaware,
and have been asked to write a blog about my experiences. Prior to law school,
I attended the University of Delaware for four years, and received a B.A.
in Political Science as part of the class of 2006.
I can’t say that I’ve always
wanted to be a lawyer. Law school was always an option but, then again, so was
being a dentist. I can’t even tell you the exact moment that I decided law
school was going to be a serious option, but I think it was sometime during my
freshman year of undergrad. I started undergrad without declaring a major, and I
spent my first semester in limbo between engineering and political science.
Well, the “truth” about chemistry and calculus made the decision quite simple;
I became a political science major. So, after studying government, political
philosophy, and public policy, I started to think law school was the way to go.
The thing, though, that really sealed the deal for me was a fortune cookie that
put into print what my mother had been telling me for years, “[y]ou’d make a
good lawyer.” If there is one thing I learned early in my life, it is that you
don’t argue with fortune cookies; therefore, I’m in law school.
This blog will cover my
experiences from law school application up until the University shuts me down
(at which point, I will go underground using bootleg electronics and a van like
those guys that helped Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Running Man). I’ll try to tell you what I did and then what I
would do differently. Initially, we will be traveling at a light speed pace to
cover the last year of my life, and, luckily for you, I will have the gift of
hindsight to filter out most of the unnecessary freak out moments. Don’t worry
though, I was born with weak foresight; once I catch up to the present, youÔøΩll
get to see how much I freak out and then later realize it was all for naught.
I plan on being painfully honest
about the last year and the events I experience in the future. However, one
needs to keep in mind that law school is a labyrinthine affair, and no two
students experience it the same way. I hope that my experiences will be a help
to you, even if Widener isn’t where you choose to begin your legal career.
Before I go, I want to just throw
out a few things about myself, as a writer. I like to use puns. I like quotes. I
like to use analogies. I have a dry sense of humor that is, even in person,
sometimes excruciatingly “Dad-ish,” and is even worse when I try to pull it off
in writing. I have opinions, but I usually try to back them up with facts or,
at least, coherent arguments for them. I will also try to do my best to provide
alternative courses of action, but if you feel that I’ve left something out, I
hope that you’ll tell me about it. I like puns.
Godspeed.
Feel free to ask questions by emailing aaronsblog@mail.widener.edu or clicking the discuss link.