Spring Courses 2010
A commentator in the thread below correctly noted that it is high time for a spring courses thread. Feel free to ask your questions or share your thoughts about the upcoming semester here. My offhand observation is that current 1L's should consider Con Law with the legendary Professor C. It will be a once in a lifetime experience if you can get into the class.
Labels: Classes/Professors
posted by Patrick Bageant at 5:24 PM
37 Comments:
It would be nice if they offered business law courses that weren't only 2 credits. I think the course selection in the spring is pretty horrible.
Just counted them up. There are 359 spots available in the Con Law courses for 1L's, and let's see . . . 67 available for all of the 2L's and 3L's, including a whopping 17 spots in G**dwin L!u's class. Anyone else peeved by this?
Heck yes, 7:47. I'm hoping the old "I can't graduate without this class" argument will carry some weight, but it is definitely irritating.
...since when did we have 359 1Ls?
I would add that in past years, GL's class has been harder to get into than JC's class, and IMO, GL' class is better.
I think it's insane that 1Ls are getting priority in these conlaw classes. Especially since the current 2Ls didn't have a chance to take L*u last year either.
Damn straight.
i took prof. c's con law because of similar advice, and it is a distinct regret. some disagreed, of course, but my opinion is that his class was a disappointment.
2Ls, I wouldn't worry too much about getting into Con Law. Only one of the 1L supermods can take L's class, due to scheduling conflicts with the required classes. One of the supermods can only take the visiting professor's class.
I really hope the visiting professor remark is not a reference to JC.
Thoughts about M*ssey? I know he taught Con Law last year . . .
Also, the descriptions of the three Con Law courses are very different. Does each course cover different subject matter?
1Ls getting priority for the ConLaw spots is a complete farce. It sends this message to the 2Ls: "Not only did we sell you short by not ensuring this course we now consider critical was a viable scheduling option (whoever the professor) during your 1L spring, but we will now compound that error by doing the same thing to you as a 2L."
10:27, the three Con Law classes, which are all 220.6 (Boalt's Basic Issues class) look substantially the same. The other "big" Con Law class is Structural Issues, but it doesn't appear to be offered this spring.
Professor CM, who explained why it is not only literally but also figuratively impossible to "f--- the draft," is has a huge thumbs up from me. I loved his class.
Does anyone know when the first day of telebears begins? Just wanted to figure out where my times lie relative to everyone else.
I was curious about this, too, not least because it looks like some spots in a few classes are already spoken for -- especially in con law. Is that just noise, or are some people enrolling already?
Anybody taken Alternative Dispute Resolution? Looking for a fairly easy 3 credit course to add to my schedule next semester.
I know someone who already had telebears earlier this week. My slot (2L) isn't until something like the 28th or 29th.
To those of you complaining about 1L priority on Con Law...it is basically the only class I can take in my supermod.
A little help with the ethics classes please? They're all taught by adjuncts and they all look the same.
Registration strategy question: Skalansky's Crim Pro class currently has one out of 144 seats filled. Am I going to miss out if I wait until Phase II to try to get one?
Anyone take Modern Financial Products? The course sounds very technical. Is it heavily numbers based?
Anyone have thoughts of Skl*nsky vs. Sw*ft for Evidence? I've heard they're both exceptional, but would be interested to hear any critiques.
I think Skl*nsky teaches both state and federal rules of evidence in the same class. Which sounds way harder to me.
I think Swift teaches CA Evid in her class too. Regardless, you will be really really REALLY grateful for that if you are taking the CA Bar.
I found Skl**sky's multiple choice final to be a bummer. I'm sure it's more efficient to grade, but it is next to impossible to write those questions without leaving all kinds of open gaps. Some said that it helps get you ready for the bar, but I didn't find the bar's questions to be as loosely-written as his.
He told us before that the mean number of correct answers is like 50%. If so many students were getting half of my test questions wrong, I'd reflect on whether I've written a fair assessment. Anyway, those that felt prepared complained that it didn't fairly test their evidence knowledge. Those that felt less prepared blamed themselves and just said it was the hardest test they'd ever taken.
I think TeleBears began on Friday for the 3Ls. The order of preference for registration is:
* Student Athletes
* Disabled Students
* 3Ls
* 2Ls
* 1Ls
This may explain why some courses already have locked out enrollment (like GL's 2L/3L ConLaw allocation).
I took Sw*ft's evidence and highly recommended. It's very rule-oriented and dead useful for the bar. I've heard that Skl*nsky's evidence focuses more on cases. I also took his Crim Pro class and found it very well taught.
I didn't like Sw*ft's class until halfway through the following summer when I was at a firm and I realized I knew evidence law inside and out. Her class can be dry, and her lectures make no sense if you fail to come to class prepared, but she will bore a hole in your head and fill it with evidence law.
She's also a great professor to get to know. She's definitely one of the five profs at Boalt you should take before you graduate.
Any thoughts on Inf&lise for Remedies?
I'm in Ethics for the Trial Lawyer now and I really like the class. I think all ethics classes are probably something that you really have to just sit through, but this class has two student presentations or skits a class. Also, Infel*se is am amazing prof. I haven't had his remedies class, but he's a great practitioner in the bay area and just a nice guy.
If you're concerned about Con Law, here is some recommended reading.
Us 2L's have been screwed on Con Law, Civ Pro, the economy, and construction.
Every year the school tries to get 100% of the graduating class to contribute to the school. It's not much money, but it is symbolic.
Unless the administration takes our concerns seriously, I for one am not going to contribute. I will also make sure to tell others not to contribute.
While really insignificant, this is really the only leverage I have.
As a 1L, I'm incredibly frustrated with the lack of communication between the administration and our class. We were urged to take Con Law, certainly, but it was NOT sufficiently communicated to us that we were REQUIRED to take two electives if we didn't.
A large number of my classmates registered on the assumption that one 3-credit elective was sufficient, as long as we had 12-16 hours of credit (like it says on the registrar website). Now, after registration is over, the information has trickled out, and we're stuck. Blocked out of Con Law, blocked out of other electives. We received no e-mail, no information on the registration homepage, nada. E-mail inquiries were not answered.
This is totally maddening, especially since Boalt uses "we let 1L's take electives" as a bragging point-- for those of us who came here for that reason, this is a big let down.
Query what would happen if you stuck to your schedule now?
Answer: nothing except perhaps a nastygram from the Dean of Students. They're not going to expel you over this, though you will have to make the credits up later. Do what you think is best.
@2:05 PM
Did you not listen at the additional orientation? We had an entire 4 hour meeting that we all had to attend at which they explained that Con Law was 4 credits, and as an incentive if you took Con Law you would have enough credits. Otherwise you needed 5 credits of electives. What exactly would be a more surefire way to transmit this data than telling the ENTIRE 1L CLASS AT THE SAME TIME IN A ROOM TOGETHER?
Furthermore, if the reason you chose Boalt was being able to take electives, why in God's name would you only register for one? It seems rather silly to complain that you registered for fewer electives than you could and then say Berkeley is not supporting electives. They offered more. You didn't register for them, because you didn't listen at orientation.
What is the story with the absolute garbage course selections? We had to petition in order to avoid conflicts between almost every ethics course and conlaw. Bankruptcy will never be taught again in the history of the school. Courses overlapping by 1.7 minutes with registrar AH exercising her twisted discretion to deny enrollment? If you would like to see a school with a respectable course schedule, check out Georgetown. Shmohawks!!!
The time conflicts and not so good information policy is something that's freaking us LL.M.s out, as well. A lot of us came here with specific presumptions and wishlists of courses, which seemed reasonable at the time we applied for Boalt and accepted our offers, only to find out that the truth is somewhat different...
I dunno, we 2Ls had a laundry list of similar complaints last year. It seems like it happens every spring, and then eventually you get used to not being able to take everything you want.
Anon at 6:22: Ins. Law and Coverage Litigation. 3 units. Great prep for practice.
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