Law of Law School Flashcards

Question

25. Simplify Sentences as You Read

Answer 1

a. Rephrase sentences into your own words to simplify and combat confusion b. Rewrite ideas in your own words i. Write don’t highlight ii. Most rules can be distilled into if-then-unless statements c. Point is to make it understandable to better memorize and apply rules, but legal terminology still needs to remain i. Make precise, concise, and complete definitions of rules

Answer 2

a. Do the hard work of briefing your own cases b. Briefing process deconstructs the structure of the case  decoding how the law is put together and encoding it as your own i. Breaking down facts, pulling out issue, rewriting rules, mastering holding c. Active learning d. Building muscle memory of legal reasoning which take repetition, thought, and practice

Answer 3

a. IRAC --> Issue, rule, analysis, conclusion i. Secret key to success on exams b. Task is to identify the rule, apply the facts, and come up with a conclusion c. Pattern links class work and work you do as a lawyer i. Many cases follow the pattern

Answer 4

a. Identify and mark structure of the text before reading b. Frame out before you drain out c. Steps: i. Identify the beginning and end of the factual statement ii. Identify the procedural posture iii. Identify the question for the court to decide iv. Identify the law (rule) used to decide the case v. Identify the holding

Answer 5

a. Brief is your take on a test --> use it to self-test knowledge about the issues b. Write down in your own words what the point of the rule was at the end of every brief c. Test yourself if you can see if you can operationalize why the case is important and what the takeaway should be i. See if you were correct after class

Answer 6

a. Look at the law from historical perspective b. Understand the context  year, what court, what judge/justice c. Internalize4 the law and gain perspective In understanding what the law was meant to do i. Law reflects social power/norms ii. Politics, legal philosophy, and history shape law, influences should be included in case summaries iii. Can see development of the law

Answer 7

a. Prepare to be prepared b. At a minimum prepare for questions about facts, issues, the rule, the holding, the procedural posture, and your own evaluation of the strength of the court’s argument (70% of the way prepped for class) c. Questions regarding application of the rules can be considered ahead of time d. Process of guessing the next problem, identifying the logical consequences, or seeing the traps of an argument is part of the skill set

Answer 8

a. Students forced to take handwritten notes have better recall of the material/are more engaged b. By tuning out distractions, students can focus on the questions in class c. Force yourself to stop multitasking i. Train your brain to focus

Answer 9

a. Poetry not prose --> goal is to find core rules b. Actively thinking about engaging in the ideas, not simply writing down the words or copying down the slide of your professor c. Take notes to be able to apply them in the future d. Key points about the rules, issues discussed, and any elements of those rules that can be applied in future cases >>>> transcript

Answer 10

a. Professors can see you  see everything and evaluate accordingly b. Two types of students i. Engaged  actively listening, making eye contact, writing down important points, and processing the material ii. Unengaged  half-processing, facing a computer, head down, avoiding conversation/learning process

Answer 11

a. Strength of federalism in the US --> states can create different laws than the federal gov’t (states can experiment, respond to local issues, be mini-labs for democracy) i. Same rules apply to teaching styles b. Reflect that there is no ONE way to organize gov’t  no one way to learn the law c. Same is true with judges d. Master local laws of law school

Answer 12

a. Skills from undergrad will no longer work in law school i. All-nighters, cramming, winging it b. Too much to learn at too precise a lvl. of detail c. Exceed demands of undergrad  like a full time job i. Workload, reading assignment, lvl. of precision, speed, and expectations

Answer 13

a. To balance responsibilities, each day should be planned out with small achievable accomplishments i. Every day brings a new checklist of things to do  give control ii. Revolving deadline, obligations, accumulating assignments, community service, summer job applications, two hours of self-study per class hour, etc.  have to organize

Answer 14

a. Study location must provide solitude b. Need time alone to input information (away from other students) c. Every interruption breaks focus  loose some of what you understood due to fragmentation of info d. Study groups work only after you have studied yourself e. Family, friends, etc.  lose valuable time if you try to work in a place where others can reach you (defend your isolation)

Answer 15

a. Law school was designed in a pre-digital age and hasn’t adapted b. These traditional, old-fashioned skills (reading books, writing legal briefs, arguing before a judge) are necessary to thrive in the pre-digital world that is the llegal profession c. Make studying and class a distraction free time

Answer 16

a. Time management may be the single biggest reason ppl underperform in law school i. Students do not leave enough time to study, outline, take practice exams, or take the actual exam b. Focus on time management from the beginning makes the difference in the end i. Create calendars and charts of your days, weeks, months, and the time spent doing tasks ii. Time yourself taking practice exams iii. Block out more time than you need to rewrite legal writing assignments iv. Block out study, reading, outlining, etc. time at the beginning of the week c. Everything will take longer than you need --> plan accordingly

Answer 17

a. Deal w/ mental impediments to success before any law school challenges i. Negative thoughts, fear, self-doubt, etc. must be handled ii. 1L => is baffling, humbling, and not easy iii. Having your mind right --> confidence

Answer 18

a. Understand personal ability to take on the law school challenge b. Adaptation to new environment depends on understanding of the self, habits, and how law school really works c. Anyone who walks through the door as a 1L is capable of graduating and passing the bar exam d. Remember: i. Best lawyers are not  the smartest but those who walk the hardest, the quickest, but those who think the deepest, the most pedigreed, but those who are the most prepared

Answer 19

a. Expect to not do everything right the first time out of the gate b. Failing until you get it right is part of the learning process c. Remember that you can master the material with enough work (even with big failures/mistakes) d. Expect mistakes and not feel like you are slow or deficient in learning the process

Answer 20

a. Law perpetuates inequality (written by white men) i. Case outcomes can be cruel, unfair, and biased ii. Can be disorienting and dispiriting for law students who see and feel this iii. Recognize that only those who can see the injustice in law will be able to change it iv. Critical for law students to question, challenge, and improve the law

Answer 21

a. Lift others up so all can succeed b. Behave in civil and professional manner, and open mind/heart to those who see things differently c. Best law school classes are like a close family i. Need to generate/care/responsibility/support for others d. Fight adversarial nature of law even though you are learning to be competitive

Answer 22

a. Outlines --> main points of a course broken down by issue/rule b. Critical to mastering a subject c. Good outline provides visual framework for how issues in class should be organized d. Large topic area  subject heading i. Relevant issues fall below ii. Rules broken down by elements for analysis e. Issue f. Rule statement & elements of rule g. Cases and facts to remember h. Exceptions i. Not a series of case briefs, repetition of class notes j. Find an example of an outline for your course and draft your own

Answer 23

a. Hardest part of outlining is starting i. Material fills in itself b. Start early even w/ limited view and outline i. Easier to keep up, to fill out gaps ii. Do a bit every day

Answer 24

a. Does not have to be solitary b. No ONE way to outline c. Sharing outlines, borrowing from 2L/3Ls, and comparing to commercial outlines is okay to do d. Not reinventing anything either, you just need to understand it and inf a way to organize it to do so

Answer 25

a. Outline should create a mind map of the subject i. See organizational structure of the subject 1. Spotting issues 2. Exam answers will flow from the mind map structure ii. Key is flow  horizontal (spread out with decision tree), Vertical/Tradition (subject listed by issue), artistic (circle diagrams, arrows, textboxes) iii. You must see the totality of a class connect different issue regardless of style

Answer 26

a. Can be long or short b. Front of every outline  1-page summary sheet (like table of contents/ outline of the outline/ guide) i. Issue spotting guide, key to seeing all the issues, triggers rules and answers

Answer 27

a. Reading is not the same as applying the law b. Test rules on new facts c. Find supplements, tests, or quizzes to apply the rule you have learned d. Reading => only basic knowledge but none of the nuance you need to master the course e. Testing and getting the answers wrong until you get them right  develop lvl of detail needed to understand i. Application = repetition 1. Application  taking practice exams, studying practice exams, and doing it again

Answer 28

a. Hypotheticals  force you to apply knowledge, applying rules to new facts b. Do not have to wait until class to start using them; create your own i. Imagine how a rule might apply to a slightly different situation c. Exam is just another hypothetical d. Be prepared for clients and their stories  need the skill of issue spotting to handle irl cases i. Looking at facts, spotting how the law interacts w. those facts, and thinking about the consequences of that legal analysis = lawyering

Answer 29

a. Retain information from seeing info again and again b. Find the patterns c. Law school  iterative learning process where you build up knowledge bit by bit, relearning and repeating what you know by putting it in context d. Daily tasks, (note-taking, outlining, briefing) designed to mirror repetitive, iterative process e. Review to remind yourself of where you started --> see the patterns, connections link together, intersection w/ other classes

Answer 30

a. 1L classes = learning the same thing through different means i. Basic skill set transferrable to any other class b. Connecting thread through all the differences (method, style, subjects) i. All asking you to do the same thing  spotting the issues, identifying the rules, analyzing the law, and giving you legal opinion ii. You will always have to apply the law (in school, as a lawyer, etc.) 1. When you are asked to use lawyering skills, it is what you learned in 1L 2. Not learning a subject but a way of thinking/problem-solving

Answer 31

a. Application is how lawyers show their value --> value as 1L is applying legal rules to the next problem b. Law is gray --> at least two sides and more than two possible outcomes c. Lawyers take from what is fixed/settled in the law and apply the principles to question/facts at hand d. Lawyers creatively shape the law through argument i. Law is a living organism, created and re-created by lawyers applying the law

Answer 32

a. Legal research skill  ability to find applicable law, properly state it, and cite to it b. Client will approach with legal question that you do not know the answer to  have to be able to find, digest, distill, and apply that law on behalf of the client c. Resist the urge to diminish the importance of legal research class (foundational skill)

Answer 33

a. Legal writing is different b. Learn and accept that difference and internalize constructive criticism and hard truth professors share c. You will see to structure, form, language, and conventions that distinguish legal work i. Distinguish legal writing as advocacy and as advice ii. Style of judicial opinions vs. legal scholarship

Answer 34

a. 1L is time to develop proofreading skills i. Read writing aloud, final papers should go through multiple drafts, read it backwards to break up the flow, read for structure and transitions, spell-check b. Do not send anything (not even email/informal note) to anyone without proofreading for precision and perfection c. Typographical areas are a source of shame d. You will be judged, dismissed, and not take seriously if any errors make it into the final product

Answer 35

a. Learning how to cite and figuring out its importance can be helpful i. Know what the conventions are ii. Learn it early b. Citations create shared language to understand the basis of arguments i. Reader can see what sources of information support the legal claim and where to find them through citations c. Can be in footnotes, endnotes, or in text d. Most legal citations follow BlueBook format  one possible way to cite i. Others: Maroon Book (Uni of Chicago Law Review) and ALWD Guide t Legal Citation (Assoc. of Legal Writing Directors)

Answer 36

a. Law librarians know more than you do but also how to find more information i. Tend to hold law degrees and master’s degrees in information science ii. Know where all the info about a particular subject is kept iii. Take advantage of the librarian’s ability and pick up on some lesson of research yourself

Answer 37

a. Take advantage of professors knowledge (career advice) and opportunities they offer (letter of recommendation, door opened) b. They are teachers first and will warm up to your questions, insights, and concerns if you put in the interest (make appt, show up and meet in person) c. Professors want to meet w/ you, learn from you, and help you understand the material d. This is an opportunity for them to know you as a fully formed person e. They can help you find perspective during the crush of exams, provide substantive answers to confusing questions of law, and even occasionally find you a job

Answer 38

a. Engagement --> makes a stand-out student b. Best students are those that are not just prepared but engaged i. Excited by the law, curious about its intricacies, and inspired by the process of learning c. Asking questions  shows engagement i. Think hard about implication of legal rules, question the doctrine, read outside the textbook d. Professors dedicate their life’s work the area of study, show equal interest and engagement  will be well received and regarded

Answer 39

a. Teaching is just one part of what the professor does i. Most write scholarly articles to keep their jobs (involves research, writing, editing and thought) ii. Many write books, conduct empirical studies, or help clients iii. Most are experts in some field and are called to help others w/ that knowledge iv. Travel to trainings, conferences, trials, to speak to journalists & gov’t agencies, to improve their articles ideas (debate and discuss) 1. These are scholarship requirements of the job v. Run the school through committees on curricular dev., faculty appts, admissions, academic support, and gen. administration, evaluating fellow professors, advising student groups, and supervising independent studies 1. These are service requirements b. Evaluated on both

Answer 40

a. Understand the professor’s interests for competitive advantage in the class b. Understand their approach to the law by understanding their scholarship and advocacy c. Understand how they think, work, and view the law i. Read their articles  get insights into their ideas and views ii. Just as you might research the judge hearing you case or opponent in litigation to gain competitive advantage

Answer 41

a. Representation matters b. Primary people who have been teaching about law over the past century have been white men (gender and racial gap still remains even with improvements) i. Creates representation problem c. But they do not represent the law d. Your interpretations of the law and critiques are as valid will improve the law e. When you graduate you views will hold equal weight in court, practice, articles, or anywhere else f. As a member of the law school community, it is your responsibility to remind people representation matters i. Students pick their leaders, speakers, professors of the year, and organize panels

Answer 42

a. Use your idealism to motivate you  reason you are learning these skills is to help others b. Use it to fuel the fire of long nights, hard work, and to do more reading c. Will matter to clients how much effort you put in  law is written for the powerful, few resources, legal practice is tough i. People depend on you and how you approach law school

Answer 43

a. Working directly with lawyers or with the law/jobs related to law (clerkships, professional assoc., nonlegal community orgs that need legal help)  puts what you are learning in perspective b. Provides double education  observe how practicing lawyers problem-solve, negotiate, investigate, and litigate (watch them do the job you’re training to do) c. See how cases you read about come alive in court, human dimension of lawyering, and provide value for your service and time

Answer 44

a. Plan out realistic time commitments ahead and make sure you can handle them b. Extracurricular and volunteering commitments/responsibilities will not always line up with the definite law school timeline i. Demands of real-world client/employer can clash w/ school ii. Timelines can collide and prioritizing one over the other will have consequences  hurt reputation or hurt GPA

Answer 45

a. See law school as a rich and rewarding educational opportunity outside of class  will deepen class work you do b. Participate when you can, or just show up (can open doors) c. Take advantage of opportunities happening right inside the law school i. Panels, speakers, symposia, and professional dev. sessions ii. Recipe for intellectual excitement found in every law school calendar: 1. One group of super-smart students 2. A dozen student-led groups 3. A sprinkle of engaged law professors 4. A space for intellectual discussion and debate

Answer 46

a. Focus on being a student, at least as a 1L, first b. There will be distractions in the form of extracurricular activities and activism opportunities, and you should engage/participate, but understand they come with a cost c. To develop the skills, you need to change the world you need to study i. Skills are your tools

Answer 47

a. Being a lawyer = maintaining and promoting a reputation for being a professional who is a problem-solver i. This starts from the moment you sit down in your first law school class ii. Think about the image you want to project as a lawyer b. Value of reputation >>> winning any single argument c. Disagree w/o being disagreeable and understand there is room for arguments different that your own d. Be civil, fair, kind, and empathetic  cannot do undo a negative impression once you have done something inappropriate

Answer 48

a. Establish internal standards of excellence and work to achieve them b. Building a brand as a lawyer  starts in law school c. You can change your own expectations and raise them high enough to excel d. You have one chance to learn the law  do not undermine expectations of excellence for yourself and future clients by skipping class, case, or do less than the best

Answer 49

a. Civic health of the law school depends on you as a student b. The measure of a healthy institution  your attitude, respect of others, and gratitude c. You can create informal support networks through study groups/sessions and providing support across classes  culture of mutual success i. Systems of law require institutions to support them (same idea) d. Strong law school community with civic values is built on mutuality, reciprocity, respect, engagement, and uplift e. Extends to law school administration staff and everyone who works in the school

Answer 50

a. Try to maintain some connection to the community that supports the law school b. Make two commitments to the community i. Attend at least one law-related community-based event a year ii. Join one even that brings people from the community into the law school c. Find ways through community service/volunteer opportunities or just human conversation to engage those who live right outside of the law school d. Enriches legal education and provides a bit of perspective (expand vision of how law impacts those in the community

Answer 51

a. People expect a lvl. Of professionalism from you --> how you present/conduct yourself reflects your law school and the profession (more than a student, you represent the institution) b. If you go to court, meet a lawyer, participate in moot court/other competitions, interview for job, and meet a client  see yourself as representative of the school

Answer 52

a. Take care of business, family, and other drama before you start 1L b. Law school is different than just ‘school’ (scale, scope, time, and pressure) and you must explain that difference to family and friends c. Two goals  be happy and study & work to the best of your capabilities d. Avoid distractions brought on by this drama (family vacations in the middle of the semester, family reunions, etc.)

Answer 53

a. Take a step back and get perspective: i. You are in law school  its own accomplishment ii. You will have a long legal career  awkward answer in a class/ bad grade in 1L is not the end all be all of your legal career iii. Work is manageable  it is a lot, demands do not let up, and it takes effort, but thousands do it every year iv. Traditional success metrics (grades, law review membership, awards) do not define/mean that much over your career (like decorations on a birthday cake)

Answer 54

a. Maintain a balance between law school and personal/non-law related life b. Find a moment of balance everyday  once a day do something for yourself that has nothing to do with law school (exercise, meditate, watch TV, talk to a friend, etc.) c. Prioritize these moments every day d. Make effort to keep bonds with people you care about strong and be intentional about it --> 1L will take over otherwise

Answer 55

a. Substance abuse high amongst lawyers (more than most professions)  starts but doesn’t end in law school b. Self-care = seeing the temptation and justifying to yourself why they aren’t in your interest c. How you learn to cope in school will follow you into the profession  find constructive ways to cope (set foundation for the future) d. Intensity of 1L will fade but other pressures will come up so establish ability to succeed w/o temptations

Answer 56

a. Mental health crises happen --> external crises (financial, criminal allegation, personal tragedies, health problems) and anxiety, panic attacks, and depression exacerbated by law school pressure b. Contact dean of students or appropriate health profession  job is to help you c. Do not have to struggle alone/are not alone  law school counselors can help manage

Answer 57

a. Matter as an assessment of how you are doing in the class  mid-point check to see if you are grasping the substance of a subject b. Think of midterms as a self-check to see if you really understand what you think you do and treat studying for them as a self-check on study habits c. Think of it as a practice run for how to take the final --> provide practice for how to take an exam before the final

Answer 58

a. Midterms happen in the middle of the class schedule  comparatively little time to study than the final + readings/assignments for other classes continue i. Finals --> reading period to study b. Find time to study  take practice tests (shift your mind to applying the law) i. See how exams are designed through practice c. Find past exams of your professors (most law schools make them available), find other exams of the same subject, and study sample answers and structure

Answer 59

a. Find shortcuts to be able to easily categorize and organize massive amounts of info b. Use the RULE method (remember, understand, law, easily) --> create acronyms and mnemonics for each legal rule (they create checklist so you can remember each component) c. Associate factor w/ a letter d. More outlandish --> better for triggering memory of the rule (applicable to all legal concepts) e. Create flashcards to test yourself on elements --> good for memorizing f. Go to bed w/ the subject (study subject/memorize a rule or definition right before you go to sleep) --> retain it the next day + g. Find tricks to get the material in your head so you can recall it

Answer 60

a. Different from other types of exams you might have had in college b. Involve a hypothetical fact patter where expectation is to find the legal issues and analyze the applicable law c. Goal is to spot the legal issue, demonstrate you know the legal rule that governs the issue, analyze the rule on the basis of the facts given, and conclude with an answer (IRAC method) i. I: every fact pattern will have a legal issue ii. R: Every legal has a rule and it can be broken into elements iii. A: Every element needs an argument from the facts iv. C: Argument needs conclusion

Answer 61

a. Key to doing well on the final --> reviewing the midterm (regardless of how you did) b. Reread --> the problem, question, answers, and any sample answer prepared i. Understanding your mistakes, assumptions, conclusions, and errors is the best way to improve on the final c. Midterm is just a shorter version of the final i. Problems you had on the midterm will be the same ones you’ll have on the final (time, analysis, etc. – they are similar exams) d. Seek guidance regardless of how you did --> speak to professor (also academic success professionals) i. Confusion can be fixed, and you will not be judged

Answer 62

a. Studying should be forward looking  can’t reread everything so focus studying on targeting the info that will show up on the exam b. Exam will be based on past knowledge and review but the focus should be on application c. Figuring out how to attack the exam is key

Answer 63

a. Best practice for an exam is to take one i. Turn BG knowledge into exam answers ii. Leave time to take, study, deconstruct and review as many practice exams as you can 1. Study how the exams themselves are constructed, how answers are organized, and have gone through the humbling failure of answering an exam question 2. It is a game you can master  studying old exams and seeing how the subject flows, where the issues lie, and how to apply the law you know to the facts you just read

Answer 64

a. Reading period = focus on the way issues fit together b. Begin organizing your thinking so you can strategize through problems i. Won’t know exam questions but will be able to know the formula for attacking the questions c. Each course  flow chart of issues i. Issues do not change so you can fit the questions into the flow (issues will fit question is just how)

Answer 65

a. Final exam represents opportunity to see if you learned the material taught in class for the professor b. Finite amount of information to test on the exam  issues limited to those you studied, and rules limited to those you covered c. Make a list of possible issues before the exam (checklist to make sure you do not miss any)  scan the exam for possible issues i. Issues have sub-issues and may give rise to defenses but study the exam looking for places to put the issues you know ii. Make mental checklist of issues as you read through the fact patter and check them off during the exam to make sure you don’t miss any

Answer 66

a. Get ahead of the game on exams by pre-writing answers --> cover two of the three steps to the exam (issue and rule) and so the leftover is just the analysis, defenses, the ability to use relevant facts, and counterarguments portion for the exam b. Certain issues will almost have to appear, and their respective rules will too i. Filling in the rule and applying the facts is what you can prewrite (if you see the issue you will write down the following rule)

Answer 67

a. Exams = stress and it is unavoidable because you are being asked to synthesize too much info about too many subjects in too little time b. But you can plan for it, put it in context, and not let it take over c. Taking care of yourself as you approach exams is critical i. Planning ahead allows you to take care of yourself (destressing  exercise, sleep, eating)

Answer 68

a. Read the questions before you read the facts  when you first read the exam, skip to the actual questions at the end i. See how many questions there are, how much time per questions (time suggestions to indicate what type of answer prof expects), read the call of the question carefully b. Strategize your answers c. Words matter  think about why words were used (professor drafted it that way for a reason)

Answer 69

a. Factual scenarios in exams are just a setup to demonstrate your knowledge of the law b. Look for where in the facts the rules taught to you by the professor appear c. Go through the facts and circle all the issues  all the places you can put your knowledge of the rules to work d. Don’t worry about solving the legal  goal is to understand the legal issues around the subject

Answer 70

a. For exams RULES matter b. Invert the focus of your reading to pull out the rules that you will apply when you see the issue in the facts (rule is buried inside the cases you read) c. Cases can be cited to show you understand where a rule came from, but it is the rules that are important d. After the rule  analyze the facts (only get credit for the right answer if your analysis shows how you got that answer)

Answer 71

a. Timing matters  time yourself on practice exams, stick to a firm time allotment in the exam  don’t get a good grade if you don’t answer all the questions i. Timing is also a skill to learn ii. Avoid mistake of spending too much time on the first few questions and failing to leave time for the last questions b. Must complete the exam (no points for blank pages) c. Being slow can be a competitive disadvantage Second Semester and Beyond

Answer 72

a. Reflect on the past 1L year and see how you can do better i. Did your outlines work for you ii. Did you save enough time taking practice exams iii. Did you lose time on something not productive iv. Did you manage stress b. Take an hour of winter break and reflect, talk to others and see what worked for them, make another Day One plan for the next semester  avoid the same mistakes

Answer 73

a. Spend time and think ahead career wise i. Think about whether you would want a clerkship working w/ a judge upon graduation ii. Find out about fellowships, job placement options, and paths in law by spending time in the career services office iii. Figure out how to prioritize opportunities available to you at the law school (many opportunities start earlier than you think) b. Learning the law of law school also includes learning about the hidden markers of prestige and access in the legal profession i. Develop mentors from the faculty/administrators in the larger legal community can explain and identify these markers for you 1. You will need these ppl in the future  open doors for you, flag your accomplishments, get you off the pile of applications for the next step of your career

Answer 74

a. Start asking questions and consider memberships in clinical programs (allow students to work w/ real clients on real cases; allow supervised lawyering) and law review/journal memberships (student-run journals that publish scholarly articles that students edit; seen as marker of success) b. Look at what leadership positions exist that can help you stand out from the rest of the student body c. Ask why your fellow students have chosen a path and what you can do to follow it d. Know of any deadlines in the spring to be able to meet them e. Only start asking questions at this point but be ready to meet certain deadlines

Answer 75

a. You will survive spring semester and so on  you survived Fall b. Take a moment to congratulate yourself

Answer 76

- Book is starting point  framing rules for law school success - Some parts are meant to read literally and others offer principles for interpretation (like Constitution) - Interpreters of your own experience and create your own common law understanding - No code just accumulated wisdom of many shared experiences by students

Answer 77

- Book is starting point  framing rules for law school success - Some parts are meant to read literally and others offer principles for interpretation (like Constitution) - Interpreters of your own experience and create your own common law understanding - No code just accumulated wisdom of many shared experiences by students

Answer 78

- Jonathan Yusef Newton o Law school and law are an insider’s game o What you don’t know causes you to lose big o Teaching of law school was obscure and different; questions in class were answered w/ more questions o Questioned the entire process of law school  when taught to question everything (what we were really being taught, the benefit of this method, what to do as a student to make this more effective and impactful)

Answer 79

- In-between law: common law o Process of judge made decisions and traditions developed over history - Law school has its own common law - To succeed in 1L, you have to immerse yourself in the experience

Answer 80

- Law school is set up to also teach a skill set  set of competencies that will allow you to do the work of lawyering - Not going to be given the law to memorize but be given the skills to interpret that law into an argument (find law, apply the law, make a strong argument, and then identify the weaknesses of said argument) o Answer the question that is not yet asked and maybe not yet imagined - Four main challenges o Challenge of joining the conversation where you’re not being talked to  Questions professors ask ARE the answers o Law has its own language  Professionals protect professionalism by exclusionary mechanisms so that others need to hire them o White male with significant socioeconomic status – challenge will be feeling othered for not being one when looking at the world discussed in cases o Learning the legal profession  Learning about a culture and profession w/ its own norms, traditions, and expectation - Good part of success in law school turns on expectations and planning - Understanding scope and scale of expectations = plan accordingly - Holistic professional experience where academic learning is just one part - Main takeaway from law school = issue spotting o Foresee risk, posit general rules/ legal rules, and explain reasoning/ offer advice about those risks or issues