Time has slipped away from me–and I never did take a moment to say “Woo hoo! I’m no longer a 1L!” Now I’ve done it. Moving on.

As we were all focused on studying for finals and seeing our first year of law school draw to a close, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with some future 1Ls and answer their questions about Cal Western’s Summer Enrichment Program and about the first year of law school. I thought the answers to their questions might be of interest to other prospective and incoming students, so here they are.

Do you feel you were more prepared for your first year because of the Summer Enrichment program, and if so, how?

There are two main ways that I feel I was more prepared for my first year as a result of summer enrichment.
First, summer enrichment gave me the unique opportunity to learn how to be a law student before diving in to my first semester. The class is a mixture of what you’ll find in a normal law school class and lessons to help you master certain skills that you’ll use in law school and that outside of summer enrichment, nobody will really teach you.
Some of those skills are:

How to read cases and think about them the way a law student needs to think. The cases in summer enrichment are actually harder to read than most cases you’ll encounter during your first year, so when you’re done with summer enrichment, you can be confident that you are ready for your first year classes.

How to participate in classroom discussion in law school. Every class you take will be a little bit different in this regard–some professors will call on people randomly, some will take volunteers, and some will let you know ahead of time when you are going to be responsible for talking about a case. But all of your classes will demand a higher level of preparation and a different kind of thinking than in undergrad, and it’s a good time to get over being nervous about speaking in front of a large group of your peers.

How to brief a case. I think we all started Summer Enrichment wanting to know the “secret” formula for a “perfect” brief. There isn’t one, of course, but we learned how to approach briefing cases. The honors instructor even read one set of the briefs and gave us feedback on them.

How to take a law school exam. Law school exams really are different from most undergrad exams, and they’re more important because in most first year classes, your whole grade rides on one exam. In summer enrichment, you’ll have a chance to take a midterm for practice, which won’t hurt your final grade if you do better on the final, so you have a chance to practice and make mistakes without a lot of pressure. Also, the class doesn’t count toward your GPA, so again, there’s less pressure. I think it’s a huge advantage to take two real law school exams under real conditions but with less pressure before you have to face four very important exams at the end of your first semester. And it seems like a little thing, but I’m glad I had already taken an exam using the school’s exam software–a lot of people had trouble with it during our first final first semester, and already being familiar with it meant I had one less thing to worry about.

Second, aside from being prepared in terms of specific skills, I think I was more mentally and emotionally prepared to start my first year just because I felt like I knew what to expect, felt reassured that law school really isn’t THAT scary, and felt somewhat familiar with the school and with San Diego.

Why would you recommend this program?

I would recommend the program for all of the reasons discussed above, and because it’s a great chance to get to know some people before the school year starts. Your section first year will probably be about 90 people, and you will definitely get to know them well over the course of the year, but summer enrichment is nice because it’s a smaller group of people–there may be 60 or 70 people in the whole program, but for a lot of the class sessions you’ll be broken down into two classes–so it’s a good chance to get to know some people who will be in your section and in other sections. Seeing a few familiar faces during the first crazy days of the school year is really nice.

What were some of the pros and cons of the program?

I think for a lot of people, the biggest con, which can also be viewed as a pro, is having to make the decision to commit to either moving to San Diego earlier than they otherwise would have, or for people already living in San Diego, rearranging their lives to make time for Summer Enrichment.

I had a job lined up for the summer in my hometown before I decided to take Summer Enrichment. It was not an easy decision for me to back out of it, partly because I could have used the money, partly because I really hate to back out once I’ve committed to something, and partly because I wasn’t sure it was worth disrupting my life a whole summer before I had to just for one class. In the end, though, I was definitely glad that Summer Enrichment forced me to move to San Diego early. I was glad I had the extra time to find an apartment and get completely unpacked, find my way around town, and just generally get settled in before first semester started.

I know that some people who were already living in San Diego who took Summer Enrichment kept their jobs and continued to work full time. The class meets in the evening, so that’s technically doable, but I personally was glad that I made Summer Enrichment my full time job for the summer. It won’t take up all of your time the way your first semester classes will, but I think I got a lot more out of it by devoting plenty of time to it. What I heard people saying was that they had enough time with work and Summer Enrichment, but it was really mentally exhausting to try to study after a full day at work. Law school is a big adjustment for your brain, and being able to devote the best of your time and energy to Summer Enrichment is helpful. If you do take Summer Enrichment and you won’t be working at the same time, be sure to make the most of the free time you have to enjoy life in San Diego. You won’t have that luxury, at least not to the same extent, during the school year.

A couple of other pros:
The substantive law that’s covered in Summer Enrichment is really interesting, I think.
The professors who teach Summer Enrichement are great, and they seems to really enjoy teaching.
The class has a few of Cal Western’s best professors as guest speakers over the course of the class, so it’s a great opportunity to learn a little about the areas of law you’ll be covering first year and some you’ll have the option to pursue later on. When other professors do guest lectures, it’s also a great opportunity to notice their different teaching styles–a little window into the variety of ways your classes will operate during your first year.
Overall, the class is a great opportunity to make mistakes, ask questions, and just generally get rid of some of the jitters most of us feel before starting law school.

What has your experience been like as a first year student and in terms of internship opportunities?

Wow, my experience so far as a law student…it’s definitely been a year of ups and downs, but all in all a great experience. You’ll probably find that you like some of your first year classes (and professors) a lot better than others. You won’t have any control over what or who you take first year, anyway, so you just have to go along for the ride. My absolute favorite class was Torts second semester with Professor Lynch. I also really enjoyed Property. Legal Skills was an inordinate amount of work, but worthwhile. It’s hard to sum it all up briefly, but if you have time to wade through the old entries in my blog as well as the other students’ blogs, they should give you something of a picture of the life of a 1L at Cal Western.

As for internship opportunities, the people in career services have been a HUGE help in finding the right opportunities and preparing a resume, etc. My interest is in disability advocacy, so this summer I will be working with an attorney at Legal Aid Society who does special education law, helping to ensure that youth transitioning out of high school are receiving the services they’re entitled to by law. In the fall, I’ll be working for the U.S. Attorney, Civil Division. I’m really excited about both opportunities and I’m sure I wouldn’t have gotten either job without the help of Career Services. California Western seems to have a very good reputation in the San Diego legal community, and there are many different kinds of job opportunities to choose from.

Do you have any helpful advice for an entering 1L?

You’re about to get an overwhelming amoung of advice, some from professors and administrators, some from fellow students. Some of it will be good, some of it will be not so good, and some of it will be conflicting. But here are the small bits of advice I can offer that you might not hear elsewhere, or that are important enough to be worth repeating:

If you don’t already have one, buy a suit before you start your first year. You’ll be surprised by how much use it will get during your first year.

Don’t WORRY too much. My biggest regret is that I wasted so much energy in the months before starting law school on worrying. Try to enjoy your free time while you have it, and don’t try to do anything to prepare for law school, other than getting your life organized, getting caught up with friends and family, and allowing yourself plenty of time to get settled if you’ll be moving to San Diego from outside of the area.

Don’t get too caught up in what other students are doing to study. Some people get a little crazy about comparing study strategies, so much so that they expend more energy worrying about what other people are doing than actually studying. Just use whatever strategies work for YOU. I found the tutoring sessions the school provides for each class very helpful for the most part (”tutoring” is a misnomer; they are more like review sessions, led by a 2nd or 3rd year student who did well in the class). I haven’t bought ANY hornbooks, study guides, outlines, or other secondary materials. Some people spend a fortune on them, and I doubt that it helps them much to do so. Almost all of the good ones are available at the library, so you can try them out and decide if you need them before you run to the bookstore. I haven’t joined a study group–and you will undoubtedly hear someone say that you SHOULD join a study group. It works for some people, but I’ve always been a lone studier, so it’s not for me. Even though you will work harder in law school than you have before in school, you’re still the same person and the strategies that have worked for you in the past are probably the ones that will help you the most in law school, too.

Make use of Career Services early and often. This is not like career services at most undergrad universities; they can actually help you, and you do really need them. You won’t get to meet with a career counselor until nearly the end of first semester, but there will be some “Exploring Options” panels with attorneys from a variety of specialties talking about what they do throughout first semester. I recommend attending them whether you know what you want to do or not. If you don’t know what kind of law you want to practice, you might come away with some ideas, and if you do know what you’re interested in, the panels can be a great networking opportunity. I met the woman who will be my boss this summer at one of the panels and we had a chance to talk about the work she does and my background. When it came time to interview me for the summer, she already knew something about me, which made the interview less intimidating. Once you are able to meet with a career counselor to work on your resume and cover letters, I really recommend making the time to take advantage of that. It comes at an inconvenient time when you’ll be starting to worry about finals, and a lot of people don’t feel ready to think about summer jobs at that point. Other people make the mistake of thinking that they already know what they need to know because they’ve had “real” jobs before and have a resume. It’s worth making the time to go in, and a law resume is different from a typical resume. It’s a very traditional profession, so things like typed thank you letters after an interview really matter. The people in career services are a huge help with resumes, cover letters, mock interviews (another great networking opportunity–that’s how I made my first contact with the US Attorney’s office), and ettiquette, as well as identifying the kinds of jobs that will allow you to explore your interests and will look good on your resume. So, that was a long way of saying, take advantage of career services!

That’s about it for my advice–like I said, there’s plenty more to come from other sources.

Good luck to everyone who is getting ready to start law school, whether you end up at California Western or elsewhere. Anyone who has questions is welcome to send me an email and I’ll do my best to provide a satisfactory answer. I’m off to enjoy my final days of complete freedom before it’s time to head back to San Diego and start my summer job!

In a way it’s hard to believe that I’m DONE with my first year classes and, in 12 days, will be done with finals…and in another way, it feels WAY past time for this year to end. I will miss Torts and Property–hopefully I’ll get a chance to take more classes from Professor Lynch in the future. Unfortunately Professor Finkmoore doesn’t teach any other classes that I’m likely to take, so I’ll just have to stop by his office if I find that I really, really miss hearing about present possessory estates or the guy who says “hiya” when his neighbor walks across his property.

I’m trying really hard to focus on studying instead of daydreaming about the 5-week break that awaits me. I feel like I’m not doing a very good job of deciding how to allocate my time among the four classes I need to study for–in a way it’s easier once exams actually start and I just focus on the very next one. I was just thinking a couple of days ago how fortunate it is that I haven’t really gotten sick at all this year and how it would be bad timing if I were to get sick right before finals…and sure enough, I finally seem to have caught something. I think it’s actually helped my studying, though–if I’m going to be miserable anyway, might as well be learning about the UCC. I’m just trying to stay away from everybody else so I’m not responsible for anyone being sick during finals.

Studying for finals has a decidedly different feel to it this semester. Almost everyone I’ve talked to is having a harder time staying focused. We were all pretty worried about finals first semester, and this time around we really do need to work just about as hard, but we don’t have the same dose of fear to drive us, and I’m guessing most of us are pretty tired and ready for the year to be over. To add insult to injury, the weather is absolutely BEAUTIFUL right now–from where I’m sitting in the library, a view of blue sky, blue water, and palm trees swaying in the warm breeze is mocking me. There are a lot more work-avoiding shenanigans going on in the library, like…throwing stuff at each other. OK, that’s mostly just me throwing things at Lisa…SORRY, LISA! Good thing I have terrible aim.

Pretty soon I need to start thinking about the fall–what classes I’m going to take, whether I will have time to work, etc. I have a lot of good opportunities available to me, and I don’t want to pass on any of them out of irrational fear, but I also don’t want to take on so much that I’ll be constantly overwhelmed. A lot of second and third year students seem to spread themselves pretty thin, and I’ve never functioned very well with too much on my plate. I will have to use my time efficiently to make the most of the next two years.

This week was the first time I got an email with some questions from a student who is considering Cal Western. It’s kind of exciting to know that someone other than my mother reads this. If anyone else has questions, I’d be happy to try to answer them–it’s not a bad idea to ask all 4 bloggers the same questions to get different perspectives. We’re all in the same section so we’ve all sat through the same classes with the same professors, but we’re also very different people, and the first year experience has probably impacted us each differently.

Today I was reminded of my New Year’s resolution. Maybe putting it in writing was not such a good idea. I have to admit I have not even come close to keeping it. I was talking to someone else today about how we’ve been working hard all semester and yet have somehow failed to find time to work on outlines and get ahead on studying for finals—I think we’ve been busier than last semester just trying to keep up with the reading and stuff for Legal Skills. It’s exciting but kind of scary to look at the syllabi in our classes and see how little reading there is left for the semester. It’s nice to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but scary to be reminded of how close finals are.

The last two nights all of the 1Ls have been doing oral arguments for Legal Skills. I have to admit I’ve had a bad attitude about it—I was definitely not looking forward to it. But it went OK and I’m really relieved to be done with it—one more thing checked off of the to do list. I actually got honorable mention, which made me laugh because I really didn’t feel like I did all that well. I guess it’s hard to have any sense of perspective about your own performance when all of your energy is focused on getting through the 7 minutes without saying anything stupid or completely blanking out when the judges ask a question.

Congratulations and good luck to everyone who made it to the finals, including my fellow blogger Jen! The finals are tonight and I’m sure a lot scarier than the first round since they’ll have a much bigger audience—for the first round, the only people in the room were our “opponent” and two judges. I have a lot of respect for the people who volunteered to practice their oral arguments in front of the whole class before the “real thing”—I think a room full of your peers is scarier than the judges. I was really impressed with what a good job they all did.

The next thing on the agenda is to finish the appellate brief we’ve been working on most of the semester. I feel like mine is finally coming together, but I need to spend some quality time with my Bluebook to make sure my citations are perfect before I turn it in. That, and it’s definitely time to make some progress on my outlines—better late than never on that New Year’s resolution.

I had this weird dream today that I was taking a class through Cal Western that was sort of a hybrid law-arts and crafts class. I had to make some sort of craft then write about the legal issues pertinent to the craft. Or something like that. I was working on sewing a purse (this is very bad news–I couldn’t sew to save my life). And the class met in a craft store near where I lived in San Jose that recently went out of business. Several other Cal Western students stopped by to check out the class, but they weren’t sure if they wanted to take it because it meets 5 days a week and the professor is a tough grader. I don’t blame them.

That’s the first weird law school dream I’ve had in a while. At least now I’m dreaming up potentially useful additions to the curriculum. Maybe my dreams will gradually transform Cal Western into a combination community center and law school. Yoga and the Law, Cake Decorating and the Law, Mommy and Me Gymnastics and the Law, Beginners’ Ping Pong and the Law, Introduction to Candle Making and the Law, Senior Water Aerobics and the Law…the possibilities are endless. The sad thing is, I can actually think of the legal issues that could be discussed along with every one of those classes–even without venturing outside of what I’ve learned in Torts so far. I wonder if it’s possible to think like a normal person after going to law school.

I admit it, I’m writing this to avoid the work I actually should be doing for a few more minutes. But I’ve put this off too long, too, so at least I’m checking something off my list. I’m an incurable procrastinator. I hate that about myself. In fact, wallowing in self-loathing is just another one of the activities I engage in while delaying actual productivity. Last night I took the TV out of my apartment and put it in the trunk of my car so I wouldn’t be tempted to watch TV instead of studying. I think it might need to stay there till after finals.

I seem to have hit a wall, about 5 weeks too early. I have a LOT of studying to do between now and finals, and tons of work to get done for Legal Skills, and all I want to do is sleep and go shopping and go to the beach. I’m not actually doing any of those things, but I’m wasting a lot of time day dreaming about them. My first year of law school has been a good experience so far, but it’s taken a lot out of me and I’m losing momentum. I’m really, really ready for a break. I miss my family, my friends, and my freedom.

The other reason my mind is wandering to summer vacation is that I finally have my summer job lined up. I’m going to be working with Children and Youth Advocacy Project, which is part of Legal Aid here in San Diego. The woman who runs the project is really fantastic, and I know I’m going to learn a lot from her. She works with transition age youth (16-22 year olds) who receive special education services. I’m really excited about doing something that uses my passion for serving people with disabilities and that will also cultivate my legal skills. I met the woman who runs the project in the fall at one of the Exploring Options panels career services provides, and I was inspired and encouraged by what she had to say and by her enthusiasm for what she does. I think this job will be just what I need after this semester.

It’s a relief to be done interviewing. I do think all of the interviews were good practice, though. And they gave me the opportunity to become familiar with a number of great opportunities. It was hard to pick just one internship for the summer–I would love to have the opportunity to work with every one of the organizations I interviewed with. Hopefully I’ll get that opportunity before my law school career is over.

For now, back to Legal Skills.

It has been a really, really busy few weeks. A part of me hoped that this semester would be a little less demanding than last semester, but that has not turned out to be the case. It’s less scary, certainly, but I feel like I am busier earlier in the semester.

President’s Day weekend was what passes for spring break around here. One of my best friends from college and her husband were in town last Saturday, so I got a chance to do touristy things with them for the morning, which was fun. We had breakfast at Hob Nob Hill (which I highly recommend if you’ve ever lived in the Midwest and miss having waitresses call you “honey”) and went to the Maritime Museum, which is made up of several historic boats, including one that was hosting a pirate-themed birthday party for a bunch of little boys, complete with costumes and swords and a very piratey tour guide. We were all slightly jealous that we never got to have a birthday party on a pirate ship. We also went for a little boat ride on the San Diego Bay. I’ve spent a lot of time gazing longingly at the bay from the 4th floor of the library, but I’d never been out on the water, so it was nice to have a reason to finally go. I’ve done that kind of thing on San Francisco Bay many times, where it’s always miserably cold and windy, even on a nice day, so it was a little weird to be out on a boat ride and be warm at the same time. Weird, but very nice.

I went home to San Jose for the rest of the long weekend. My sister and her husband were visiting from Alaska, and we had bunches and bunches of family friends over to see them while they were in town since they don’t get to visit very often. It wasn’t exactly the relaxing weekend I probably needed, but it was nice to see everyone.

Anyway, now it’s back to work. We have a midterm in torts this week. We didn’t have any midterms first semester, and we only have one this semester. It’s kind of nice that it breaks up the material a little and gives us a chance to take a Lynch exam before the final. I’m really enjoying torts. It’s definitely one of the more interesting classes I’ve had so far. The cases are pretty colorful, too—only in a torts case do you find a line like “Shut up, you monkey faced tart” or “The moral of this case is never to put somebody else’s nuts in your pocket.” Professor Lynch is the only one of our professors who makes us stand up when he calls on us, which is a little scary, but I got called on a couple of weeks ago and I’m still alive, so I guess it’s not so bad.

On-campus interviews for summer internships will be happening over the next couple of weeks. My second interview (my first was while I was home last weekend) is tomorrow. I’m ready to have this process over with and have a job lined up for the summer so I can focus on studying.

I feel like taking advantage of career services is my new full time job. Their office is starting to feel like my second home. Well, third, after the library.

Yesterday was Public Interest Career Day at UCLA. Cal Western provides a charter bus, which is nice–I avoid driving in LA whenever possible. We did get stuck behind an overturned Coca Cola truck on 5, so it took us much longer to get there than it should have, but I would have been just as stuck in my own car, and paying for the gas myself instead of taking a nap on the bus. Once we got there, it was great to talk to people from a variety of public interest firms. I could see myself working for a number of them, and even the ones that aren’t directly related to my area of interest were great to talk to. I never would have guessed that there was such a variety of specialized legal non-profits in southern California. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Some of the people who went from Cal Western had interviews, but I didn’t have any scheduled, so I was able to just relax and talk with people more informally.

I had a mock interview last week through career services, which was really helpful. The person I “interviewed” with was really encouraging and gave me some great advice.

I’ve also gone to a variety of other workshops that career services offers, and Courtney has spent many hours helping me with my resume and cover letters and talking about options for the summer. It’s been great to have so much help, and it’s kept me moving–without any outside prompting, I probably wouldn’t have done anything yet. It would be easy to get caught up in all of the work for classes and fail to think ahead. I would have loved to have so much help from career services in college when I was wondering what a person is supposed to do with an English degree other than teach high school or…well…go to law school.

Well, the long-anticipated moment has finally come. We have our grades. I’m relieved and pretty happy with mine. There’s one class I would like to do better in this semester, but all things considered, I’m satisfied. I’m eager to look over my exams and see where I can improve for next time. First, though, I feel like I should do something celebratory. There’s a grades party at The Local, but not really my kind of thing, so I think I’m going to have to settle for celebrating with my “roommate” (see picture) and maybe something yummy for dessert…and a carrot for the roommate. After that, it’s back to work. We have lots of stuff due next week, plus mock interviews. The fun never ends!

My new favorite thing to do when I’m not studying is exploring my neighborhood a little more than I did last semester. I don’t have a lot of money to spend on entertainment, but hey, going for walks is free. Banker’s Hill is not the flashiest neighborhood in San Diego—since it’s in the landing path for the airport, it’s one of the few downtown areas that hasn’t been redeveloped and doesn’t have any impressive new high-rise apartment buildings—but there are a lot of beautiful old houses, some lovingly restored and some run down but charming in their own way. There are also some great old bridges across the canyons—the Spruce Street suspension bridge is especially fun.

www. hillquest.com/history/timeline_bridges.html

On a different note, grades come out tomorrow afternoon. I haven’t spent much time thinking about grades, but it will be good to know. There’s been more and more anxiety in the air as the week has progressed. The professors may have to sing and dance to keep everyone’s attention tomorrow. What do you think, professor Finkmoore? Can the landlord’s duty to mitigate damages be set to music?

I’m not usually a maker of New Year’s resolutions, but this year I think at least one new trimester resolution is in order. So here it is: I’m going to update all of my outlines EVERY WEEK and make sure I really understand each concept from that week’s classes rather than put things off to figure out later. I’m hoping I’ll feel less guilty throughout the trimester and more prepared and confident by finals time. There are a number of other things I’d like to do differently related to school and life outside of school, but one official resolution is plenty for me.

Christmas break was WONDERFUL, and being back is taking some getting used to. But it is nice to be back to 70 degree weather–I’m so spoiled now that even San Jose was way too cold for me.