Smooth Crim Law (and the rest)
This post by Prof. Kerr regarding law school prep courses (and my comment contained therein) reminded me just what a waste those things are. I never took one, I survived. I knew what consideration meant at the end of contracts. So if you're coming in, DON'T TAKE ANY OF THOSE CLASSES. As I've said before, I recommend Law School Confidential by Miller. But I also want to use this blog to give you guys a preview of what awaits.
I'm short on time so I can't go course by course to summarize what is covered, and frankly since the classes are very specific to the professor, I cannot really summarize too much. If anyone from admin knows the 1L professors already, I'd be dying to know. But if commenters want to summarize the courses, by all means. Feel free.
As you already know, your first semester is 3 core courses plus legal research and writing, which is 2 units of credit/no credit (but no credit is not an option actually...it's more like credit/delayed credit until you earn it). Anyway, the second semester is 2 core courses, 2 electives and 1 unit of written and oral arguments. LRW is basic legal research followed by turning the research into a memo. WOA is using legal research to formulate an argument in an appellate brief. They are taught by instructors who are really good at legal writing. Take away whatever you can from the class but (1) don't sacrifice your graded courses for LRW or WOA even though it might be tempting and (2) Don't bother buying the reader. You will never open it. I'll take a straw poll on this any day.
The core classes are of course all 1Ls. Your mod (commonly called a small section in other law schools) will have all the same classes during the first semester. One class will be JUST your mod (about 30 students), the others will be your mod plus 2 other mods. Traditionaly mods 1, 2, and 3; 4, 5, and 6; and 7, 8, and 9 have had classes together. Law professors don't use the Socratic method. This is the biggest bull shit myth ever spread about law schools. At best it's modified Socratic method (you don't arrive at an answer through Q & A...the answer is right there. The questions just aim to get more B.S. out of you).
Here's what happens. For some classes you might have an assignment even before classes begin. So from the first day on, you will have reading for each day. Typically it will be one or two cases plus notes (notes are the authors' thoughts, comments, and questions regarding the reading material...they are also the only part of a legal textbook that is not in the public domain). So you'll read the assignment and go to class. And depending on the professor he/she will either summarize the case and then launch into questions, or he/she will pick on someone (or two) to do all the hard work for the day. [I'm glossing over the on-call process and will return to that later]. This Q & A is mostly a chance for the professor to lead you down some traps, challenge your opinions, and try to solve the puzzle of WHY the court did something or didn't do something. I won't say it's useless, but come exam time, very little of it will be used. If there are any varying hypos that the professor gives, then those are useful. Exams are nothing more than a collection of tricky hypos. The more exposure you get to hypos, the better you'll be. Love the hypo. Try to think of hypos yourself.
Anyway, pay attention, but you won't miss much if you surf the web and only take down something whenever you hear the professor say, "THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT..." Learn what black letter law means. This is basically the RULES. Statutes are black letter law. Restatements of the Law (these are summaries of the law for different subjects, like contracts) are black letter law. Modern court holdings are black letter (for example, it might help to know classical theory of contracts to analyze a problem, but your answer will not be based on that...unless the professor specifically asks). Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Model Penal Code, and the Uniform Commercial Code are likewise black letter (the UCC is the law in most states so it comes under statute). Pay attention in class then for the black letter, as well as how the black letter changes if you manipulate the facts. That's the skill set that you are learning.
On Call
This is one of the most stressful parts of law school...getting called on. There are some variations: (a) cold-calling (b) cold-calling but based on some non-random order like last name or seating (c) pre-sign ups (d) open discussion.
The first one is the worst because you have to be ready every day. You don't know when it will be you. The second one is a bit better but not by much. It sucks for someone like me whose last name is right up front...but then it is a blessing in classes like income tax that get progressively harder through the semester. Sign ups are great...just don't be like me where you forget that you're on call on a particular day and end up looking like an ass in front of the professor and the whole class. The last one is also bad. Anyone with a random thought in their head feels the need to opine. Ugh.
This post is long enough, so I will leave note-taking, study groups, commercial outlines, and outlining to comments.
UPDATE: I want to append these 20 Tips to Avoid Being a Douchebag in Law School. (Hat tip: SS).
I'm short on time so I can't go course by course to summarize what is covered, and frankly since the classes are very specific to the professor, I cannot really summarize too much. If anyone from admin knows the 1L professors already, I'd be dying to know. But if commenters want to summarize the courses, by all means. Feel free.
As you already know, your first semester is 3 core courses plus legal research and writing, which is 2 units of credit/no credit (but no credit is not an option actually...it's more like credit/delayed credit until you earn it). Anyway, the second semester is 2 core courses, 2 electives and 1 unit of written and oral arguments. LRW is basic legal research followed by turning the research into a memo. WOA is using legal research to formulate an argument in an appellate brief. They are taught by instructors who are really good at legal writing. Take away whatever you can from the class but (1) don't sacrifice your graded courses for LRW or WOA even though it might be tempting and (2) Don't bother buying the reader. You will never open it. I'll take a straw poll on this any day.
The core classes are of course all 1Ls. Your mod (commonly called a small section in other law schools) will have all the same classes during the first semester. One class will be JUST your mod (about 30 students), the others will be your mod plus 2 other mods. Traditionaly mods 1, 2, and 3; 4, 5, and 6; and 7, 8, and 9 have had classes together. Law professors don't use the Socratic method. This is the biggest bull shit myth ever spread about law schools. At best it's modified Socratic method (you don't arrive at an answer through Q & A...the answer is right there. The questions just aim to get more B.S. out of you).
Here's what happens. For some classes you might have an assignment even before classes begin. So from the first day on, you will have reading for each day. Typically it will be one or two cases plus notes (notes are the authors' thoughts, comments, and questions regarding the reading material...they are also the only part of a legal textbook that is not in the public domain). So you'll read the assignment and go to class. And depending on the professor he/she will either summarize the case and then launch into questions, or he/she will pick on someone (or two) to do all the hard work for the day. [I'm glossing over the on-call process and will return to that later]. This Q & A is mostly a chance for the professor to lead you down some traps, challenge your opinions, and try to solve the puzzle of WHY the court did something or didn't do something. I won't say it's useless, but come exam time, very little of it will be used. If there are any varying hypos that the professor gives, then those are useful. Exams are nothing more than a collection of tricky hypos. The more exposure you get to hypos, the better you'll be. Love the hypo. Try to think of hypos yourself.
Anyway, pay attention, but you won't miss much if you surf the web and only take down something whenever you hear the professor say, "THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT..." Learn what black letter law means. This is basically the RULES. Statutes are black letter law. Restatements of the Law (these are summaries of the law for different subjects, like contracts) are black letter law. Modern court holdings are black letter (for example, it might help to know classical theory of contracts to analyze a problem, but your answer will not be based on that...unless the professor specifically asks). Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Model Penal Code, and the Uniform Commercial Code are likewise black letter (the UCC is the law in most states so it comes under statute). Pay attention in class then for the black letter, as well as how the black letter changes if you manipulate the facts. That's the skill set that you are learning.
On Call
This is one of the most stressful parts of law school...getting called on. There are some variations: (a) cold-calling (b) cold-calling but based on some non-random order like last name or seating (c) pre-sign ups (d) open discussion.
The first one is the worst because you have to be ready every day. You don't know when it will be you. The second one is a bit better but not by much. It sucks for someone like me whose last name is right up front...but then it is a blessing in classes like income tax that get progressively harder through the semester. Sign ups are great...just don't be like me where you forget that you're on call on a particular day and end up looking like an ass in front of the professor and the whole class. The last one is also bad. Anyone with a random thought in their head feels the need to opine. Ugh.
This post is long enough, so I will leave note-taking, study groups, commercial outlines, and outlining to comments.
UPDATE: I want to append these 20 Tips to Avoid Being a Douchebag in Law School. (Hat tip: SS).
Labels: 0L/1L Advice, Grades And Other Neurotic Bullshit, Law School
posted by Armen Adzhemyan at 10:38 PM
55 Comments:
Which mention of class participation is the most prevelant at Boalt?
Is straigth cold-calling going the way of the do-do?
Whoops. I meant which method.
My 1L profs were about 50/50 with cold calling (some did, some didn't). But those who cold call do so with kid gloves.
Hopefully you'll get to experience Contract prof. Talley's random picture generator (he's set up a program that randomly selects a person from the class and projects their photograph on the screen).
All of my first semester classes were cold call, but 'passing' was just peachy in one of them. Needless to say, that was the best class.
I didnt take one of those prep classes, but i'm assuming they are not worth it. Each prof is definitely different. For contracts, for example, we used a supplement almost as much as the casebook, and the supplement was mostly contract theory - so we'd spend 5 minutes on the mailbox rule, then 2 hours on posner's economic rationale for that rule. point being, you dont know what your prof will focus on, so just wait and hone in on what your prof feels is important once you're actually in the class, and avoid the externalities. ha-ha.
Only one of my first semester classes was cold call. One prof did not call on anyone and in the other, it was volunteer, though if you never volunteered, you got cold called at the end of the semester. I liked cold-call most because it forced me to prepare. Free form discussion is super annoying because there is always at least one douchebag in class, and likely up to three, who feel the need to dazzle the professor and his classmates with his supreme intelligence.
This has been said before, but I'll say it again...just keep doing whatever it is that you did in undergrad to get that 3.9+ GPA. If you never highlighted your texts before, no reason to start doing it now.
i got your unsolicited advice right here! (straight from an email i sent to rising 1Ls a year ago)...
First off, classes are different from undergrad. Yeah, people get called on, which makes for a
couple of pretty tense minutes while the prof is looking over the seating chart. And if you get
called on, well, make sure you took notes on the reading or make sure that you are friends with
your neighbors and they took notes. But remember, there are so many kids that you are going to
get called at the most twice during the whole semester. During all the other times, while the
other person is talking, you're free to play solitaire, aim, or look up stuff on the internet (if
there is wireless). Also, you may even listen to what's being discussed; I felt the quantity and
quality of classroom discussion was the biggest difference/improvement from
undergrad. Your peers
are bright and they'll have insightful things to say on genuinely interesting (at
least some of the time) topics. This is all assuming that you will even go to class; I know kids
that don't show up at all. Though, I don't recommend this if you are worried about your grades.
Secondly, homework. If my memory is correct, you were an English major, so I assume you are used
to going home and reading for 3 hours or so every night. I was a history major, so this was not
too difficult of a change for me. What might be different is that you were reading stuff that was
supposed to be enjoyed. Law school reading is often Goddamn dull and dry. That's the way it is.
However, the best piece of advice anyone can give you is Buy Commercial Outlines.
These are boiled-down, easy-to-read summaries of the legal concepts written by law professors
who, if you are lucky, may have written your textbook, and/or, if you are really lucky, might be
teaching your class (I wouldn't count on it though). Commercial outlines are amazing. After you
do your casebook reading, you whip out your commercial outline (Gilbert's is my fav) and you
read the section covering the material you just read (Gilbert's does, and all others should,
key its summaries to correspond to pages in the leading casebooks). This is a great way to get the
concepts down. You'll go to class and you'll see people answering, w/o breaking a sweat, what
seems like to you to be impossible questions and you'll be like "wtf?" Possibly these people are super geniuses, but most likely, they read a commercial outline along with the
assigned casebook reading (and briefing the case, which you'll learn how to do).
Thirdly, Finals. If you do most of the reading (and/or all of the commercial outlines), go to a
majority of class (and/or get notes for any class you miss), and brief the big cases, you'll be
prepared for the final. You might not feel that way, in fact I felt that I didn't learn shit, but
once you start boiling down your notes into a manageable outline (a process I highly recommend as
studying tool in itself), it'll click and you'll see the big picture. The final itself itself is not that bad, for a 3+ hour God awful final. In most of the classes, it'll be open note, so you won't have worry about memorizing everything perfectly. The most common final is an
"issue spotter," where the prof give you a scenario and you have to list the possible legal
actions/theories each party can pursue. As far as finals go, its *not that bad.* I'm not gonna
say it's fun, but it is challenging and allows for much creativity. The worst part
for me is getting my grades back; let me remind you that at this level, you are going to school with collectively The brightest people you've ever been with in your life. That's probably for me the worst part of law school, getting lower than expected grades. But, I'm over my past
grades, and for my future grades, "hope springs eternal." You'll also come across some egos the likes of which you've never seen, but that doesn't bother me that much and anyways, you'd
better get used to it if you want to be a lawyer.
Finally, preparation. I honestly can't think of anything that is a worthwhile preparation
experience. That's not to say that law school is so totally different from anything
you've done before in your life. It's not. It's still school; you go to class, take notes, do
homework, and take tests, except, now everyone is super bright. Don't let that intimidate you,
you're just as if not more bright than them (remember, you went Straight to law school, while
others had to build their resume with jobs and/or other degrees to get to the same place you are (this
isn't a totally accurate rationalizing device, but if you ever get blue, just think of it thisway)). Also, law
schools are so user-friendly nowadays, that the profs, staff, and 2/3Ls will be very
helpful in your transition. Basically, all the preparation you need will be administered in
school. The only prep I can imagine is to read the commercial outlines ahead of time, but
without a prof's syllabus to guide you, or a classroom discussion for context, this would be boring
if not meaningless. These law school prep classes you are looking into are a shameless
tool to capitalize off of your pre-first year jitters. They are not necessary. If you do take
one, don't tell any of your law school classmates that you did. The only thing Ican tell you to
be prepared for is to meet lots of new people. Not only are these classmates of yours bright and
interesting, they'll be the next generation ballers (peep the "alumni update" section of the
handout they gave you). Remember, "it's not what you know, but who you know."
Best advice I received when I started - treat this like a job. If you're disciplined and do all your assigned reading in between classes, you should be able to make this a 9-5 gig with weekends off (except for the run-up to finals), and still get good grades.
Anyone heard when class rank comes out? Or do we have to wait another two months?
i emailed dean o. she said something to the effect of, "we'll tell you when we know." not super helpful.
And when do AmJurs go on Bearfacts (and our transcripts)?
i don't think amjurs appear on bearfacts ever. they do appear on official transcripts, tho, when all data inputting is complete.
They appear on bearfacts. You will know about them plenty in advance of OCIP. Can we please not hijack threads now?
No, that's incorrect. Awards do not regularly appear on BearFacts. If you call the registrar's office, they will readily admit that they don't/can't update BearFacts with awards anymore. Perhaps they used to, but not on any regular basis any more. They manually update the awards on Boalt computers, not central computers. So they appear on your transcript, but not BearFacts.
This is silly. If you AmJur or Prosser, after a good amount of time has passed (I seem to recall more than a month), a nice letter is sent to your home. If the professor is nice, he or she might send you a personal note or e-mail to tell you of the honor before you get the official notice. You would find out that way long before it would show up on BearFacts. And it will be on your transcript, to show to employers or whomever you think is interested.
I'm with Armen. Stop hijacking threads. There's a discussion section on the blog for questions like this one.
This is a great blog, and people only hijack the threads because it's such a great way to communicate w/ other boalties. I agree it sucks that the grade/rank discussion keeps recurring, but this wouldn't happen if this stuff didn't come out so late. I understand the anxiety of people applying for clerkships, too.
the discussion section on this blog has been hijacked by spammers. It's totally useless.
I don't think spammers is the correct term since you are referring to your classmate's attempt to discuss bona fide Boalt related issues. You just personally don't care about their discussion because you probably already have that post-graduate job locked down. Not everyone can be so lucky. Thus, some people must still care greatly about grades and rank if we want to have the kind of start to our career that many of us are looking for.
5:19am - I'm not sure what else you'd call someone who posts dozens of advertisements for "www.foreways.net for sell lg 8120i lcd." Unless there's a new class in computer sales law, the posts on the discussion board don't really seem like "bona fide" Boalt related discussions.
http://boaltbored.proboards53.com/index.cgi?board=social
5:19 here,
Sorry, I thought that you were talking about the grade discussion which keeps creeping back into other blog threads. I had forgotten all about the actual message board. You are of course right about that board.
as for the original topic of this post: i've only ever used commercial outlines in classes where the professors were awful (it's happened about 3 times so far). and i've done fine. i tend to do the reading, listen in class, write my outlines, and study them. i find reading cases to be much more interesting than reading outlines.
good advice, thanks! keep it up please, Armen.
the link you posted said NOT to get a rolling bag. i get that - they are super dorky. in general, though - would you say you leave your books on campus (in your fab-o locker) and do most of your studying in the library? is it just a personal preference thing?
thanks as always,
anon OL
Definitely a personal preference. As I said in the post below re Wash U...I would stay away from a law school library even if it looked like theirs. People are hypercranky, generally smell funny, and have a heart attack at the sound of a chuckle. Not my cup of tea. Incidentally, I tend to grab a cup of tea and crash at one of the 5 million coffee shops in Berkeley. Mark my words, your classmates will clue you in as to which one has the best non-fat vanilla bean soy earthworm crack-cocaine latte.
As for books, I tend to take them home and bring them with me to class. You won't have more than 3 classes a day. Once I get to school, I do sometimes dump the books for the later classes in the locker and get them during breaks. But yeah, no go on the roller thing. Also females...pink book bags are way too legally blonde.
Oh and I didn't call up the registrar to check the accuracy of this comment, so take it with a grain of salt.
The absolute best thing you can do for yourself is to not fall behind. That's the kiss of death. Just do the reading each day, even if its only skimming, even if you don't highlight, even if you don't brief the cases -- just do the reading. You'll be in a far better position than most of your classmates, and finals will be manageable.
As for WHERE to do the reading...wherever you can concentrate. I won't go near the library. The freaks and all that Armen mentioned. However, close to finals time, I usually like to stop by once or twice to see all the people with no hygeine flipping out, getting neurotic, falling asleep in their granola, pissing their pants, etc. I'm usually much more calm, so that sight brings a smile to my face. But I'm an asshole like that.
Ditto on the library: if I'm stuck at school during a long day I will study there, though I prefer Zeb if I can get near an outlet. But I won't go near the library during finals - too much nervous energy. Plus it is a total pain in the ass to worry about your stuff getting stolen if you have to go to the bathroom or get a snack. I study at my kitchen table before/during finals.
the other thing that sucks about the library is no food or drink. i need coffee to stay awake when i study.
All quiet on the virtual front regarding class ranks? Surprising!
Hey, fellow transfers, are we placing in the top-10 students of the class (as we do in disproportionate numbers every year)? I obviously do NOT want names. I just want confirmation that it's still happening so I can take vicarious pride in their accomplishments.
What about my rank, you say? I'm just happy to be at Boalt!
The library is a great place to study, simply because it is far quieter than almost anywhere else (except maybe your kitchen table). You are also less likely to be interrupted because no one wants to tell you about their weekend and get the evil eye from 30 people. In that sense its anti-social and "lame," but I say work hard, play hard.
Also, to allay any fears of the incoming 1Ls, you can drink coffee in the library, just not in disposable cups (which you shouldn't be using anyway, resource-hoggers).
One strategy to avoid taking any of my books home is to finish your reading during the day, and just not go home until its done (or at least, getting down to only one book to lug home). If you are going to be biking to school, I strongly recommend getting a bike rack and panniers, its much safer, and easier to carry 2 or 3 textbooks if you need to.
re: class rank. Is top 10% the smallest percentile rank anyone has gotten? I'm just curious whether if I heard that it definitely means I'm not in the top 5%, or just that they aren't breaking it down that much. Sorry if this sounds really stuck-up or obsessive, I'm just curious.
if you're in the top 10 students (not percent) you will actually be given what number you are.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
There is a top 5% too. See http://www.law.berkeley.edu/students/registrar/academicrules/, rule 3.06A.
sorry to hijack the thread again, but have CLR acceptees been notified? if not, when will they be, anyone know?
TF: I think you should have left your drunken post up. It was cute.
TF cute?? the only thing "cute" about tf is the way he wiggles when you rub his tummy.
Dear anonymice,
Yes, I believe it was very cute. That's why it had to go. And I have no idea where you're getting this tummy story. Nothing cute to see here, move along, move along.
to the transfer student above: you might think to check the academic rules before you start asserting your supremacy over non-transfer boalt students in a public forum. lots of folks would have better grades if they too got their first year grades excluded from the calculation of their class rank like transfer students get. given that boalt has a much stricter first year curve than for subsequent years, transfer student GPAs, and correlatively, class ranks, reflect easier grading standards than those of us who were here all three years. I graduated in 2005 and would have been in the top 10 in my class had my first year grades been excluded-- they were very good but not nearly exclusively HH, a grade much easier to get when 15% of the upper division classes receive them. really, please get over yourself. your transfer status makes that class rank a whole lot easier to achieve.
So is there any indication, then, that this year, there are a bunch of transfer students in the top-10 of the class?
Dear Non-Transfer Student Jackass,
1) Unlike virtually every other school on the planet, all of Boalt's courses are curved, including seminars. While the curve may be relaxed slightly in later years, unless you were top 12% in all your 1L classes instead of top 10%, it probably would not have made any difference.
2) If it is really that easy to get all HHs in your 2L and 3L years, then you should have done so. If you had, you would have been among the top 10 graduates, because your final GPA would be around 4.66 and 3.9 is top 5%. I am assuming you had all Hs as a 1L, otherwise your curve comment is idiotic.
3) You sound like you didn't do as well as you would have liked as a 1L. The transfers did. They are usually ranked in the top 5, as in people, in their classes after their first year. If you think that is because they are surrounded by idiots (A) you are placing too much faith in the LSAT as an intelligence test and (B) you should note that the 25% LSAT averages at some of the schools recent transfers came from, such as UCLA, Georgetown, and Cornell, were higher than Boalt's during your year (i.e., if you believe in the LSAT, the competition at the top was greater and they still did better than you). It actually made it much more difficult for the transfers to place well in the final rankings at Boalt precisely because, unlike you, their first year grades were not considered.
To the transfer student above, have some class - don't talk about grades and don't exasperate the unfortunate divisions between transfers and non-transfers. If you really need to ask that question, e-mail the transfer listserv.
3:23:
This is a quibble, but there are some seminars here without curves. It's up to the prof to lobby the powers that be to make it so, but I'm pretty sure I've had one class like that.
Aside from that, and as a general inquiry, who are you guys that have every mathematical angle figured out? Aren't there better things to do in the summer than go back and analyze some stranger's comments and deduce what grades he/she got three years ago?
Then again, I guess I'm the one reading this blog on a Wednesday afternoon.
"Dear Non-Transfer Student Jackass"
Uhh, yeah, way to ameliorate the "unfortunate divisions between transfers and non-transfers."
a quick defense of the non-transfer student jackass-- the academic rules (Article 5, Grading rule and policies, 1.(D)), state that profs can give 15% HH in a large section, 2/3L class. that increases the number of HH grades available for second and third years by fully 50%. i think that's a big difference. i'm not saying transfers are dumb, but my 2 and 3L grades have a lot more HHs than my 1/2 HH and 1/2 H grades from first year. mathematically speaking, if you wanna do math, this is a big difference. and the next page of the rules explains how many extra HHs a prof can give in a seminar.
oh, and the word you want is "exacerbate" not "exasperate."
ex·as·per·ate - To increase the gravity or intensity of.
www.dictionary.com
You might also want to look up Skitt's law and generally refrain from attacking the spelling or grammar mistakes, if any, in informal blog comments.
Where do all of these grade-grubbing douchebags hide at Boalt?! I'm glad these guys have good grades because they're going to need them to overcome their f-ed up personalities! And I'm very happy that I have somehow avoided running into these people so far in my time at Boalt.
Standing ovation to 8:31.
8:31,
You are the douche-dag sir, that is if you don't realize that you probably know and like many of the so called grade grubbers. They just have the integrity to only discuss grades in an anonymous fashion.
By the way, does anybody else ever wonder what the umbrella stealing dirty old man is doing over the summer? I mean there must not be any umbrellas around? Maybe has has taken to collecting sunglasses, or bar-bri litter.
Any thoughts?
5:15 AM,
No, you're a douchebag. And what's up with this "sir" business? And who the heck posts on a blog at 5:15 am?!
Hey Transfers,
One additional factor--A few students (like me) do extremely well 1L year and then don't care about grades and stop going to class. When a bunch of us are opting out after 1L year, it makes it that much easier for you to do well.
Wow, I love how 5:15am is still upset about his umbrella. It's been what, 3 months since that happened? Get over it.
Also, why is there integrity in talking about grades annonymously? So that no one knows what a gunner you really are?
3:23, the transfer student:
If it was so easy to get into Boalt compared with the schools you named (Gtown, Cornell, UCLA, etc.), then what happened to you the first time around?
Who said it was easy to get into Boalt? I didn't read that anywhere.
And people transfer for all sorts of reasons, just ask Justice Ginsburg.
(I also don't think the people that transferred from those schools were necessarily ranked that high, or at least they needn't have been to be accepted as transfers. And I agree that a lot of people check out and it is slightly easier to get better grades 2nd-3rd year, but anyone that does well enough to be in the top 5-10% by graduation deserves some credit, transfer or not.)
"anyone that does well enough to be in the top 5-10% by graduation deserves some credit, transfer or not"
--yeah, they deserve some credit for being a sucker for having given up their life during law school for no good reason. I hope they enjoy working at Cravath where they will continue to have no life or Gibson Dunn where all the attorneys must have a framed transcript on the wall in their office.
I have a framed lithograph of the Simpsons signed by all the main cast members. So far no one's noticed the missing transcript on the wall.
On that note, I am now going to delete any future comments on grades, ranks, transfers, and graduation awards. That is all.
Just when it was getting fun...
What happened to the first "Rule of Engagement"?
Hey, kids, want to have some fun? Want to talk some place where you can say whatever you want and no one will threaten to delete your posts? Where we can talk openly and candidly about Boalt without fear of reprisal? Where no one will ever question your anonymity? Come to a place that respects your freedom of speech even if it can't be enforced because it's not run by a state actor, the First Amendment!
http://boalttalk.blogspot.com/
Armen, you're forgetting about 1A. You don't want to suppress speech, even the lily livered anonymous kind.
No this is out of hand. The level of civility is getting close to Georgetown level. I'm certainly not going to tolerate and neither should any of my classmates reading it. You can thank 1:22 for pushing me over the edge. You can further thank the handful of people (and it's clear that it's probably about 5 people who are pushing those said discussions) for not heeding my warnings.
I'll write a later post to further explain this but I've flirted with the idea of creating permanent threads linked on the sidebar about topics that come up frequently. It might be time to do that.
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