LAW SCHOOL 101Ā
I am basing the following off of my experience as a law student at a Florida school. Keep in mind that schools within the same state may run differently and, especially, schools throughout the country may run differently.
Firstly, law school is in a building (or a cluster of buildings) separate from the undergrad campus, so youāll have zero interaction with undergrad.
Law school is 3 years. TheĀ āfreshmenā equivalent is 1L;Ā āsophomoreā is 2L;Ā ājuniorā is 3L. The entire 1L class is split up into three sections. Your section will have every single class together (these are required courses) and by the end of the year, you will know every single person in your section. Law school is a lot like high school in this sense (we actually refer to my school as Levin High rather than Levin College of Law).
Required courses for 1L:
Civil Procedure
Basically, the rules of litigation
Torts
Honestly, itās really hard to define a tort but Googling could be helpful!
Legal Writing
Youāll learn how to write a legal brief
Legal Research (this is the only class that lasts the whole year, but it is only 7 weeks of each semester)
Youāll learn how to effectively utilize legal research websites to find cases related to your research question
Appellate Advocacy
Youāll learn how to conduct an oral argument
Property
Pretty much what it says... rules of property law
Contracts
Once again, pretty much what it says
Introduction to Lawyering
I think itās rare for a school to have this class, but we basically had an brief intro to the legal field. The only thing I took away from this course is that attorneys are #1 alcoholics. Seriously.
Criminal Law
Again, rules of criminal law
Required courses for 2L:
Professional Responsibility
Youāll learn the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, which is a large part of the Bar exam
Legal Drafting
Youāll learn how to draft a pleading, contract, and responses
Other than the above two, every other class will be electives.
3L: All electives! Students typically have secured post-grad jobs the summer before their 3L year and will therefore choose light classes to take during 3L. Students will especially choose light classes if they are on Law Review, Trial Team, or Moot Court (discussed below).
Outlines:
At the end of the semester, students outline their entire course using the book and their class notes because most exams will be open book and professors will allow you to bring in your outline. These outlines vary in page length from 15 pages to 100 depending on how detailed the student wants to be.
There are also commercial outlines you can purchase, but these are usually used as a study aid rather than in place of your own outline since theyāll never be detailed to your specific course.
Social Life:
Our school has something known as JMBA, which is basically a part organization. They plan events like Woodser (drinking in the woods, Google it), Barristerās Ball (pretty much every law school does this, Google it), Thirsty Thursdays, Halloween Party, etc.
Once again, everyone knows everyone. Itās like high school, which isnāt always a good thing. SO MANY CLIQUES! Also, depending on the school, students can be REALLY competitive. Fortunately, this was not the case at my school.
Student Orgs:
You name it, thereās a student org for it. Each organization is run by an executive board and each e-board is elected at the end of the spring semester each year.
Student orgs will also hold socials (sometimes combining with other student orgs) to help garner attention of new students.
Co-Curriculars:
Law Review
This is a big fucking deal in the legal world. Practitioners LOVE to hire students who were on Law Review.
To join Law Review, you have to participate in a competition that takes place the summer after your 1L year. This competition includes a writing portion (usually, writing a court opinion based on the facts they give you, using the case law they give you) and a portion in which you edit citations). If you make it onto Law Review, you remain on it until you graduate, so for two years (2L and 3L).
Basically, you spend an entire two years editing journal articles. Specifically, you edit the citations of an authorās article to make sure that they conform with the rules in the Bluebook (like MLA, Chicago, etc. for lawyers).
Law Review also has an e-board, as it is an entirely student run journal.
Other Journals
These function the same as Law Review, but are not as big of a fucking deal as the Law Review. Employers still like seeing these journals on resumes.
Moot Court
I was on Law Review and not Moot Court or Trial Team, so credit goes to hunterrps for the following descriptions of these co-curriculars.
So starting out, Moot Court can be a whole lot of fun, but they are also a ton of work. First year students are not allowed to be part of the Moot Court teams usually due to time restraints and general allocation of time and energy needed. There are tons of different subjects for Moot Courts so you can have some fun with that. The ones I have seen deal with animal law, LGBT law, civil rights, and environmental law, but there are many more out there. Problems are distributed based on that particular Moot Courtās time so teams could be working on their brief during the school year, during the summer break, or even during winter break. You will also receive a team number as everything is supposed to be anonymous regarding where each brief is from and what school the team members are from. The important thing to remember about Moot Court is that it is appellate style arguing. What that means is that it is not the kind of trial where you call up witnesses or submit evidence to the court. Moot Court will receive a problem at the designated time and then they are expected to write a brief as if they were writing it to the Supreme Court of the United States. This brief is due on a certain day where it will be tagged with your team number and then after that itās all about practicing for oral arguments. When you get to the oral arguments section, thatās where things can get really fun. Most Moot Courts will let you argue off-brief meaning that you do not have to stick to every argument that you put in your brief. This allows you to read other teamās submissions (anonymously, of course) and evolve your legal argument as you see fit to win the case. Most Moot Courts operate in two rounds, one on-brief argument and one off-brief argument, so your team will have to have practiced arguing both sides of the case. Usually, off-brief is the hardest just because it is the side that is newest for the team to argue. While giving your oral argument, the judges will stop you and ask questions usually to elaborate the argument or provide challenges for your argument. Each team member receives fifteen minutes to argue and Petitioners are allowed to reserve usually up to three minutes from either teammateās time for rebuttal.
Trial Team
Trial Team is run similarly to Moot Court as far as tryouts go and the whole team preparation, but this is where it is an actual trial rather than appellate level. The type of case often rotates between criminal and civil each year. During the Trial Team competition, students will be given the fact scenario and spend a lot of time working through how they will question witnesses, present evidence, and prepare to object to anything the opposition tries to bring in that is inappropriate. Trial Team is a great way to really put the rules of evidence to work and see a practical use for them. Witnesses and jury members are usually provided at the school that is hosting the competition which is why it is important for each team member to know how to direct their questioning and be prepared for everything. Students will also be expected to perform a voir dire on the prospective jury members as well as before the trial begins. A voir dire is when attorneys ask questions to the jury to figure out if that particular jury member will be favorable or unfavorable to the client in an attempt to construct either a balanced or slightly beneficial jury for their side. From there, it goes on as a regular trial with members calling up their witnesses and paying close attention to each question asked or piece of evidence introduced.
Note: you shouldnāt try to join more than one co-curricular unless you have a death wish because they are very time consuming.
Clinics:
There are different types of clinics you can apply to join. Some examples of clinics we have at my school include the Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic, the Criminal Defense Clinic, the Juvenile Clinic, and the Family Advocacy Clinic. Basically, if you're accepted to join a clinic, it acts as a class for one semester and it's worth up to six hours. You have office hours during which you meet with clients and you will also be going to court to represent this clients under the supervision of whichever professor heads your specific clinic. In order to join a clinic, you first need to apply for CLI Clearance from the Bar, which means that you are cleared for the Character & Fitness portion of the Bar (which helps you out later on when you're applying to take the Bar).
Jobs:
The most stressful part of law school, no doubt.
During your second year, you will be interviewing non-stop for a summer job. Summer jobs are the key to success, whether itās with a non-profit, the State Attorneyās office, Public Defender, a firm, or as a clerk for a judge.Ā
Most of these interviews with take place on campus in a process known as OCI (on campus interviews). Basically, employers post on a school-affiliated website that theyāre interested in hiring from your school, you go on andĀ ābidā on the employer by submitting whatever they ask of you (usually, a resume, cover letter, writing sample, sometimes references), and the employer decides whether or not they want to accept your bid and interview you.
An interview does not equal a job. I repeat, an interview does not equal a job.Ā During my 2L year, I had probably 27 interviews, got 2 callbacks (the firm wants you to come to them and meet the rest of the office to see if youād make a good fit), and wound up with 1 offer (the firm Iāll be working for after graduation, which is why a summer job is so important!).
There is so much competition and not enough jobs in the legal field, so your character should not automatically get a job unless they have some really good connections in the legal field.
Usually, if you impress your summer employer, theyāll give you an offer to work there postgrad and you can spend your 3L year knowing that grades no longer matter! Otherwise, itās back to the drawing board and OCI, plus websites like Monster.com, will be your new best friend.
The Bar:
The Bar exam is administered in July and February, though most graduates will take it in July.
You do not need to stress out about the Bar until May, usually after you graduate, at which point you should be treating studying for the Bar like a full time job. Bar prep courses are highly recommended.
The Bar exam is two days, with one day dedicated to the multi-state laws (federal) and the second day dedicated to your specific state.
This is really all that I can think of at the moment, but if you have any specific comments/questions, if youāre interested in hearing about my experience at law school, or if youāre actually interested in attending law school and want an unbiased, honest opinion on what itās like, feel free to message me!
