RSS FeedDon’t Freak Out, It’s Only Law School.
It’s exam time again. The pressure is on – yet again.
Don’t freak out, it’s only law school.
Hahahahaha or should I say Muwhahahahaha
I know what you are thinking: ‘he is either a masochist or former law student” – some would say they are the one and the same. Only a lover of pain would not only sign up for law school, endure it and then engage in a career as a lawyer.
“Smile!!”
Well, am I?
“Smile!!”
I did sign up for law school, I did endure it and I am attempting to engage in a career as a lawyer – ‘so you are a masochist.’
“Smile, chuckle, maybe even laugh.”
Masochist. I would not put it that way, well sometimes I did, I guess sometimes I still do. And I am sure that this time of the year many of you are doing the same. Why else would you sign up to endure such stress only to later endure some more.
Why, indeed?
This question as simple as it is, is fundamental to why you are doing what you are doing right now – law school and law school exams.
I don’t have a specific answer for you. Sorry. The answer to this question is as individual as each of you reading this post – and for many will change over time, for some from moment to moment, situation to situation.
The key however is that you have an answer – what is it?
Go ahead, ask yourself.
“Smile!!”
You don’t have to explain your answer to me or anyone else – with the exception of yourself. But the key is that you have an answer, well at least I hope you have an answer and for the vast majority of you I think you would.
For those of you that don’t have an answer or least think you don’t have an answer I encourage you to take a moment and just think about it – it is very important.
Ask yourself: why do I want to be a lawyer?
Go ahead, ask.
Just note that there is no model answer, and for many there is more than one.
Your answer does not have to be as high minded as: ‘I want to change the world’ – to borrow a phase from the hit sitcom Seinfeld: “not that there’s anything wrong with that.” Or has self-interested as: “I want money, power and respect” – not that there’s anything wrong with that either.
Your answer doesn’t even have to be as specific as: “as a child and now as an adult, I always disliked the felling of aimlessness and helplessness and becoming a lawyer would give me a sense of purpose and self-empowerment – there is definitely nothing wrong with that.
Or it may indeed turn out to be true that you are a masochist and your answer is: “I enjoy pain” – I express no opinion either way; c’est la vie.
The key, as I keep saying is that you have an answer.
So go ahead ask yourself; why do I want to be a lawyer?
“Smile!!”
Now, if you still don’t have an answer, I am worried, very worried and more importantly you should be worried too. And here’s why? You have set yourself up for potential failure. Without having and knowing a reason to endure it will be all too easy to give up or if you do some how manage to muddle through it will be easy to settle for mediocrity.
Please, Please, go find your reason. End of semester exams will soon become the least of your worries. Finding articling, Bar exams, actually doing articling, and retention based evaluations will be upon you all too soon.
For those who already have a reason and for those don’t but want to have a reason, it is the key as I keep saying. But the key to what?
It is the key to your success. It is your bedrock, your fortress, your sanctuary. It is that place in the mind where you retreat, re-group and re-energize yourself, be it for end of semester exams or the soon to come Bar Ads or an associate retention evaluation.
Yes it is exam time again. Yes the pressure is on – yet again.
Don’t freak out, you have reason to endure law school and more.
GOOD LUCK ON YOUR EXAMS.
Note: Law is Cool will be slowing down during exam times. This means we will be posting less frequently, and it might take a longer time for your comments to be approved. Thank you for your patience.
Social Media and Blogs Banned for Lawyers?
Apparently these fears have arisen in the U.S. in the past. A new case in Louisiana objects to advertising rules that would take effect in November 2009.
The Wolfe Law Group, L.L.C., who appear to be four attorneys focusing on construction law, explain on their new site,
Wolfe Law Group argues that the new rules effectively prevent a lawyer from advertising its services through online mediums, such as Google’s Adwords, as the rules also restrict an attorney’s ability to engage in discourse with colleagues, clients and the public through online bulletin boards, blogs, twitter, and other online communities and forums.
Lawyers cannot afford to be left out of the loop. Attorneys who successfully leverage social media tools to communicate, collaborate and network have a distinct advantage over those who don’t.
It is not necessary for each and every lawyer in a firm to learn the ins and outs of social media. But at least one person, or group of persons, depending on the size the firm, should be familiar with emerging Web 2.0 technologies and the ways in which those technologies can help and harm their bottom line. Other lawyers in the firm likewise should be receptive and listen to their recommendations regarding social media.
A recent article in Elder Law Journal even suggests that lawyers are not going far enough to market their services,
Disappointing rates of intestacy may be as much a business problem as a legal one. In this interdisciplinary law and business article, the authors investigate whether widespread intestacy may be attributable in part to the failure of the legal industry to market wills effectively. Although attorneys can market within the boundaries of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the majority do not take full advantage of the range of permissible marketing strategies. This Article suggests that attorneys learn the basics of marketing strategy and rely on guidance from marketing experts in order to structure effective programs to educate the public on will drafting services. By integrating both law and business, estate planning lawyers can better serve current and future clients.
[emphasis added]
Stuff Lawyers Like
We’ve heard of sites like Stuff White People Like, which in turn led to a number of spin-offs like Stuff Black People Love and Stuff Educated Latinos Like.
Perhaps safer ground than engraining racial-based stereotypes is some self-deprecating humour about lawyers.
Hence, Stuff Lawyers Like.
Here’s their list to date:
- #10 – Reading e-Books
- #9 WordPerfect 5.1
- #8 Helping Others
- #7 NPR and Arguing with Kindergartners, Among Other Things
- #6 Covering Their Backsides
- #5 Federal Judges with a Sense of Humor
- #4 Wit
- #3 Big Words
- #2 Capturing and Keeping Clients
- #1 The ‘Lectric Law Library
And in case your ego needs boosting, just keep in mind that #56 on the popular site Stuff White People Like is lawyers.
A common characteristic amongst white people is the need to over analyze things, so they partake in activities such as therapy, writing a blog, or becoming an arts major. So its rather obvious why white people love lawyers so much as it is the one profession that has mastered the art of “over analyzing things”. Even though most disputes can be resolved through reason, unselfishness, and / or a google search, white people would prefer to take things to court or have something in writing. Lawyers are seen as the ultimate problem solvers and “the law” is seen as the be all, end all, of resolving all the world’s ills. In fact white people tend to have better relationships with their lawyers than with family members or friends. Please note that when around white people, that it is social suicide to admit or state that you don’t have a regular lawyer.
But perhaps the one main reason why white people love lawyers is the sense that they are giving back to the community. Most white people major in the arts, and law school is pretty much the only option for anyone with a BA that wants a decent paying job. Basically this love of the law is keeping the demand for lawyers much higher than it should be. So paying lawyer fees to settle the smallest problem, is the white person equivalent of Warrick Dunn building homes for low income families.
h/t Alli Gerkman of Denver, CO
Classes Resume at Osgoode Hall
Today York University’s Executive Committee of Senate approved the Remediation Plan put forth by Dean Monahan which will permit Osgoode Hall to resume classes on December 1 for all LL.B courses not instructed by members of CUPE 3903.
In making its decision the Executive Committee took into consideration various factors including Law Society requirements for certification and the impact of a continued strike on the ability to access the licensing process in Ontario and elsewhere.
Additionally, Osgoode Hall oversees many clinical programs which provide services to low income communities and families which would also be detrimentally impacted if classes did not resume shortly.
All students who do not wish to participate in classes during the continuation of the strike will be fully accommodated and receive the protections set out in the Senate policy.
Doing an MBA is intense; doing a law degree is far more stressful
Published in yesterday’s print version of the National Post
The difference between an MBA and a JD (I am completing a joint degree), is that an MBA is more intense; a law degree is far more stressful.
In the MBA program this summer, I probably spent three hours a day on homework. As long as I kept on top of the work I did well.
Law school is different. For the first eight weeks, students attend lectures and read — a week’s readings can usually all be done on a Saturday.
The last four weeks are a mad-dash to consolidate one’s understanding of the law.
The process ends with a “brief” summation that you can reference during the final exam. But summaries are rarely brief.
A friend at a top Toronto law firm showed me her corporate law summary –all 150 pages.
Read Dany Horovitz’s blog at financialpost.com/executive
ABA Recalls Defective Lawyers
The American Bar Association has recalled 230,000 defective lawyers who pose a danger to the general public and the judicial system.
This is the biggest recall since the 1986 outbreak of Mad Barrister Disease in the U.K.
h/t Bob Ambrogi of Rockport, Mass.
Maisonneuve Article Online
We’ve mentioned several times now the piece by Pearl Eliadis on Human Rights Commissions in the Montreal magazine Maisonneuve.
The article is now available online.
Beans, beans, the magical fruit / The more you eat, the more you go to jail.
A 12-year old boy attending Stuart’s Spectrum Jr./Sr. High School in Martin County, Florida, was arrested November 4, 2008, by a member of the county Sheriff’s Office, after a teacher said that he had “deliberately passed gas to disrupt the class” and had turned off the computers of his classmates.
He was then criminally charged with “disruption of school function.”
* * *
“The United States is the greatest law factory the world has ever known.”
- Charles Evans Hughes
“Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.”
- Jonathan Swift, A Critical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind, 1707
“I hereby sentence you to crappy music.”
You don’t have to be a law student to appreciate the rare tendency among judges to employ novelty in their analyses or judgments. Many of us have heard what we first consider to be urban legends: Stories of judges delivering their judgments in prose or song, or ordering bizarre specific performance that one would expect to see in a cheesy TV drama.
After hearing enough of these stories, we’re inclined to investigate and are usually surprised to find that they aren’t legends at all. Perhaps the decades spent studying, practicing and ruling on countless different disputes go hand-in-hand with the emergence of judicial eccentricity.
Or maybe they just get bored.
I heard one such story this morning on my way into school and had to confirm its truth. Municipal Judge 
Paul Sacco of Fort Lupton, Colorado punishes noise ordinance violators with “bad” music.
People charged under the ordinance are apparently forced to listen to annoying music of Sacco’s choosing. What’s the most popular punishment? That should be obvious: Barry Manilow.
I’m assuming the violators of the small Colorado town are much like the noise violators of my large Ontario one. The music they blare that gets them into trouble is likely pop, rap or rock. This raises the question: What would a Barry Manilow fan be punished with?
Law Blogs, Aggregated (Courtesy of Garry Wise)
Everything I know about social media I learned from PR professionals in my brief career in that field prior to law.
Neville Hobson (a social media guru in the U.K. who hosts one of my first podcast subscriptions, For Immediate Release) launched an RSS feed yesterday that combined over 60 of the best PR blogs around the world.
He based the selection on a PR Network previously created by David Jones, a local PR guru based in Toronto (he also hosts one of my other first podcasts, InsidePR).
I thought it was a great idea, so I decided to do the same for law blogs. I started by cloning his RSS from Yahoo Pipes, and it seemed simple enough. I wasn’t presumptuous enough to decide for myself who the best blogs were, so I began adding from Steve Matthew’s Canadian Law Blog Awards (CLawBies).
I didn’t get very far though.
I made it to Garry Wise’s blog and noticed a recent entry, Launching Wise Law Reader. Yes, Garry beat me to it.
The Wise Law Reader doesn’t use Pipes, but seems to accomplish the same goal. I can’t seem to find an RSS feed there yet, but I suspect it’s only a matter of time before he gets that up.
The best part about the Wise Law Reader is the top profile video prominently featured on it’s launch date, starring one really familiar law student.
Cross-posted from Slaw.ca
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Can Speed Reading Get You Through Law School?
As every law student knows (except maybe Dany), there’s a lot of reading in law school.
wikiHow has an entry on speed reading that might be useful. They start off with these tips:
- Have your eyes checked.
- Time your current reading speed.
- Get rid of distractions.
- Adjust reading speed depending on the material.
- Train yourself not to reread.
- Stop reading to yourself.
- Read with your hand.
- Practice reading blocks of words.
- Practice and push yourself.
- Time yourself regularly.
There are a number of other resources on the site, including this video:
More Life 101 videos at 5min.com
Then there are self-help strategies for anxiety relief.
All the tips there are highly relevant for over-stressed law students, especially soon after OCIs.
There’s even a nifty chart on Cognitive Distortions that Lead to Anxiety and Worry:
| All-or-nothing thinking | Looking at things in black-or-white categories, with no middle ground (“If I fall short of perfection, I’m a total failure.”) |
| Overgeneralization | Generalizing from a single negative experience, expecting it to hold true forever (“I didn’t get hired for the job. I’ll never get any job.”) |
| The mental filter | Focusing on the negatives while filtering out all the positives. Noticing the one thing that went wrong, rather than all the things that went right. |
| Diminishing the positive | Coming up with reasons why positive events don’t count (“I did well on the presentation, but that was just dumb luck.”) |
| Jumping to conclusions | Making negative interpretations without actual evidence. You act like a mind reader (“I can tell she secretly hates me.”) or a fortune teller (“I just know something terrible is going to happen.”) |
| Catastrophizing | Expecting the worst-case scenario to happen (“The pilot said we’re in for some turbulence. The plane’s going to crash!”) |
| Emotional reasoning | Believing that the way you feel reflects reality (“I feel frightened right now. That must mean I’m in real physical danger.”) |
| ‘Shoulds’ and ‘should-nots’ | Holding yourself to a strict list of what you should and shouldn’t do–and beating yourself up if you break any of the rules |
| Labeling | Labeling yourself based on mistakes and perceived shortcomings (“I’m a failure; an idiot; a loser.”) |
| Personalization | Assuming responsibility for things that are outside your control (“It’s my fault my son got in an accident. I should have |
h/t Rick Telfer of the Canadian Federation of Students.
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