The End Draws Nigh

The first week is over.  The end of sanity draws nigh!

Today the 1Ls took two final exams for the Intro to Legal Skills course.  The exams were not that difficult.  Of course, I might have been over prepared.  Over prepared is better than under prepared!  The legal analysis exam was one hour; unfortunately, we were not allowed to use a computer to type the answer.  I hate hand writing exams!

I broke my right thumb in 1994.  Writing for long periods of time - anything over ten minutes - really cramps my thumb.  My handwriting suffers also.  My writing will look decent and then quickly turn to muck.  As I progressed through today's exam, the number of errors exponentially rose for each subsequent page.  The first two pages had zero errors.  The last page had, at minimum, nine errors.  I hope to never write another essay exam by hand, ever!

The material presented during the Intro class was not a total rehash of skills learned during the Summer Enrichment Program.  There were new skills, modified skills, and some same skills.  For example, during Summer Enrichment, we learned how to brief a case.  The method taught during the Intro course is called "logging."  Some elements are the same between briefs and logs; other elements are totally different.  I prefer briefs, but, I will add some elements of logging to my briefs. 

I am glad I attended the Summer Enrichment Course.  I do believe that if I had not attended, the Intro to Legal Skills would've helped me but not as much as Enrichment.  Did I mention I am glad I attended Enrichment?

One goal I had set for me during this week was to establish a good routine for law school.  Every day I arrived one hour prior to class start time.  This gave me an opportunity to review the material from the day before and to review the material for the current day.  I additionally would begin to work on the reading assignment for the next day. 

The Intro schedule allows a two hour lunch.  I took one hour every day.  I ate lunch followed by a short walk.  I then returned to the school and worked ahead on the assignments.  At the end of the day, I stayed in the library from one and half to two hours before leaving for dinner.  After dinner, I worked until bedtime. 

Like I said earlier, I over-studied.  But it was for a purpose.  I needed to establish a good routine for law school.  Some of my classmates were not as diligent with work as me.  Every day I saw classmates working on the assignment due for the very next class.  I am not going to chide them because maybe that's the best way for them.  I just know I needed to do what I did.  Establishing a good routine for law school is a must for everyone.  Not everyone's routine will be the same.  All that matters is the routine works so each of us 1Ls are successful.

Well, the weekend beckons.  My first class is Monday at 9:25.  This weekend I will do the assignment for that class.  A second class is at 12:15 but the Professor hasn't posted the assignment yet.  I hope this doesn't mean we'll get the assignment on Monday! 

The end of freedom as I know it draws nigh.  The last weekend before the real law school begins....