Law School Exam Format: How to Use Old Tests to Your Advantage
Before you rush into making a super outline, anticipate the exam format.
- A closed-book exam requires a simple, blackletter law outline that you can readily memorize in your head.
- An open-book exam might require an more extensive outline with case holding keyed to a particular issue, and cross-referenced with a Table of Content organized by legal issues.
Look at the practice questions or old exam questions. Are the exams issue-spotters, short answers, or lengthy multiple-issue fact pattern requiring extensive case planning and legal analysis?
- Issue spotters: meticulously index your Table of Contents by issue and spend time anticipating what type of legal issues are likely to come up on the exam. Group the issues that are likely to appear together, and list the black letter laws or case holdings as well as exceptions/limitations, if applicable.
- Short answers: memorize the key fact patterns and practice writing black letter laws that get straight to the point. Work on writing short paragraphs explaining how the facts apply to the case at hand and the likely outcome of the case (or strength of the client’s case).
- Lengthy, multi-issue fact pattern: this requires a lot of imagination and creativity. Cluster similar cases and/or rules and see if you can create a story that began with one legal issue followed by subsequent legal questions. Try to solve this story and come up with legal arguments to support your argument and counter legal arguments. Poke holes at your own theory.
Studying by first year subjects:
- Civil Procedure – Learn how to apply the FRCP rules in different stages of litigation.
- Criminal Law – Learn to apply the theories and memorize the criteria (mens rea, actus rea) for various types of crimes such as homicide, larceny, battery, assault, and any applicable excuse or justification (e.g., test for insanity, self defense, emotional distress, defense of others, etc.)
- Property – Learn the black letter rules of present, future, concurrent estates, landlord/tenant, covenants, equitable servitude, easements, and adverse possession.
- Constitutional Law – Learn to apply different Constitutional analysis (e.g., Equal Protection, Due Process), tests and standards (e.g., strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, reasonable standard), separation of powers (enumerated powers and limitations of each branch), and federalism.
- Contracts – Learn to spot the issues in various stages such as formation of contract, party’s rights and responsibilities, mistake, excuse, impossibility, and breach. Remember the rules governing the parties (minors, incapacitated, deceased, merchants-UCC, consumers), types of contracts (personal service, goods, bilateral, unilateral), special obligations (loyalty, secrets of the trade), and conflicts of law (which state rule governs). Pay attention to remedies and whether the contract is flawed or unenforceable due to ambiguous language or mistake.
- Torts – Learn about the black letter laws for intentional torts and negligence.
[thanks to shelley's case via cc]
Career Services Office: Truth About How Big Law Firms Hire
During the first few weeks and months of law school, 1Ls are blissfully unaware of the realities of the legal world. All that matters at that point is getting to class and being prepared. There are no worries about improving grades or maintaining grades, because there are no grades to improve upon or maintain. The ugliness that some students can exhibit hasn’t shown itself fully. Jobs are not a concern, because many law schools prohibit full time students from working, and legal employers are not allowed to talk to 1Ls until November of their first year. Except for a select few who have seen through the looking glass, many believe that whatever job they want will be theirs for the taking, and that employers will fight over who gets to hand them $2000 per week in the coming summer.
In light of this naivety, it is no surprise that when the Career Services office hauled my class into school on a Saturday in early November of our first year, attendance was robust. Sure, we were giving up half of a Saturday, but this was the vaunted Career Services office. They were all knowing, all powerful. With just a simple phone call, they could have potential employers in a bidding war over your services. Or so the story went. By sitting through this meeting, we would know just how much we could expect to be earning come May, and just how easy it would be to get those jobs.
Naturally, when so little is known about an entity, stories about it are invented to make up for the lack of real information. How were we supposed to know that Career Services is typically worthless? That we could get better advice from the homeless guy who hangs out around campus? That the only people it can actually help find a job are those people who don’t need help finding jobs in the first place? That spending your Saturday morning counting the number of tiles in your kitchen would be infinitely more productive?
After listening to the Dean of the school and the Dean of Career Services each deliver the exact same fifteen minute long speech, our guest speakers arrived. They included someone from the Prosecutor’s office, a couple of attorneys from small and mid-sized firms around town, and the hiring partner from a large and prestigious firm in a nearby city. The big firm hiring partner stuck out. He wore a $2000 suit, $500 shoes, a $200 tie, and a $100 haircut, while the other collectively looked like the bargain rack at Sears. As the other people took turns speaking, he looked bored, aggravated, annoyed, and eventually, homicidal. I could tell he didn’t belong, and my mind raced as to why he was there. Finally, it was his turn to speak. Most of the students in the room perked up. After all, the big firms, that’s where the money is. This guy is sure to give some insights, right?
I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it was brief, harsh, and completely deflated the hopes and dreams of many in that room. His message boiled down to this: “We don’t hire 1Ls, and even if we did, we wouldn’t hire any of you.”
Many people were shocked and appalled by his candor, while I was refreshed. For the first time, I could see law school for what it was. Of all people, a big firm hiring partner gave me a better perspective on life.
[thanks to poeloq and barely legal via cc]
The Law School Difference Between Memos, Briefings, & Briefs
First, a quick disclaimer: This is a suggested guide for a law school memo. In practice, legal memo format vary from firm to firm.
Before drafting a memo, do a quick outline denoting key issue(s) and relevant cases (with cites) that support or weakens the case. Keep in mind that a memo is supposed to take on a neutral tone (as opposed to the advocacy tone attached to a legal brief).
Once you identify the relevant cases, group them together into following:
- Group A: Cases supporting plaintiff’s assertion #1
- Group B: Cases opposing plaintiff’s assertion #1 (and in effect supporting defendant’s contention)
- Group C: Cases supporting plaintiff’s assertion #2 (the “Even if contention #1 fails” argument)
- Group D: Cases opposing plaintiff’s assertion #2 (and in effect supporting defendant’s contention)
Once the cases are grouped, make a decision as to who the Court is likely to favor and explain why. Match the key facts to the prevailing rules of law.
Briefing v. Brief: What’s the Difference?
Do not confuse briefing with a brief. The former is a study method used in law school and the latter is a legal document presented to a court of law.
First year law students are encouraged to “brief” a case, that is, to identify the relevant facts, the legal issue, the rule of law (the holding), the analysis (how the court came to that particular conclusion) and conclusion (is the court siding with the lower court’s decision, reversing the lower court’s decision, or reversing in part and remanding/sending back the case to the lower court?)
The name “briefing” is a misnomer. Often, a professor will spend 15-45 minutes on a case and calling various students to share his/her case briefing with the rest of the class. Briefing is a skill you attain by reading many cases and learning to spot the legal issues and rules. This is particularly challenging because the ease of spotting a rule in a case (a holding) is closely associated with how well the judge writes. Some judges write in a straight-forward manner and organize the opinion in a logical format. Other judges like to meander a bit and inject the opinion with his/her opinion about the policy behind the law.
It may be easier to separate the brief into two aspects: procedural (which court is issuing the opinion, what the lower courts held, and what will happen to the case after the decision made by the issuing court) and the substantive aspect (is the court issuing the opinion changing/making law, upholding precedent, or distinguishing current case from precedent?)
As a first year law student, your goal is to try to figure out the general pattern of an opinion and zero in key words associated with the holding/rules of law. As to whether or not to highlight the brief in different colors, it depends on whether you are a visual learner or not. If coloring does nothing to help you differentiate the sections, then the act of slathering highlighters over printed words merely distract you from focusing on the meaning of the words. From my own experience, I find it easier to simply use a color-coded bracket (or straight line) drawn on the side of the paragraph (to denote which section is the issue, relevant facts, key rules from precedent cases, the holding of the court issuing the opinion, and the procedural posture as well as the final decision. I would circle key words for emphasis when necessary.
