Send Me Your Partial, Incomplete Outlines, Too!

Ms. Deola and anyone else wondering: you may forward partial outlines, incomplete outlines or notes on an issue for a class that is special to you. It does not matter to me. If you have a question about the outline or find that you have some uncertainty regarding a particular issue, please ask the question.

Clarity is always better than complexity (that is a quote from someone).

It amazes me how many people don't ask questions, then later feel ashamed because they made a mistake for failure to "raise their hand." I cannot give you what you want if you don't ask for it. I am aware that the law school/lawyer experience does not allow many mistakes, but this is the forum where you can make the mistake. Even if it is the day before an exam, or if something is going on during study week, or anything, just ask me questions on any issue, and any topic.

No question is really a question; it is a statement about something in which you require a little guidance.

One L's - A Follow Up Post For Mr. David Regarding His Negligence Outline.

Hello, Mr. David. Thank you for the negligence outline. I honestly think it is very well done and comprehensive. I am working on a few pages that I think will help you transfer information from the outline to your head and onto the exam paper, quickly.

I am changing a few things for you and can get the outline to you sometime this week. I want more structure to the outline, so I'll work on that you can tell me whether you like it or not. I will say this - some information is just that; information. It's just good to know; it is not required for an exam. However, I still would not remove it from the outline. I would just place it somewhere else for informational purposes.

We will talk soon. Thanks again for working with me to include your outline as part of our Academic Support lifeline.

Prof. Smith

3L Post - How To Prepare for the Bar Exam (Now) Without Answering A Question.

Mental Focus: You should learn to be focused now in order to be ready to focus on 17 to 30 subjects starting May 2011. How can you start that process today? As our lives become busier, we learn how to multi-task. Multi-tasking, in its basic form, is the ability to do more than one thing at a time (and somehow do those two or three things on a level that is on par with doing each one at a time). Studying for the bar examination is not really a multi-tasking event – you have a lot of things to do in a short period of time, however, the studying/testing part of preparation is not a multi-tasking event. Not at all.

You have to work on a variety of subjects, issues and sub-issues over an eight to ten to twelve week period. You cannot study torts, wills & estates and tax all at the same time. Each substantive issue requires your undivided attention. Undivided. Your time becomes even tighter, especially when you are studying for a subject in the summer that you are not familiar with because you did not enroll in that course while in law school. You are now in a position where you must concentrate on a topic with a number of substantive issues and sub-issues, and now you must get a hold on the information the very first time you read it, outline it, and use it on an exam question.

Unnecessary Anxiety: I do not want you to become nervous or display too much anxiety because you are in a new place (learning material in a very short time with no reading period). I want you to take on the challenge of being focused for short periods of time. You can begin that challenge now, while you study for the first set of your last year of exams. How, you might ask, should you approach this mental preparation?

Study One-Hour; Non-Stop. No bathroom breaks. No cell phone. No food. No water. No hello’s or good-bye’s. No wait-a-minute’s – I’ve got something to tell you. No xeroxing, no texting, no google, Facebook or Twitter. No, “I’ll be back in a minute,” situations. No, and I repeat, no internet. I’m talking about peace and quiet for one hour. Some of you are reading this thinking, “she must be crazy.” How could she think that I cannot sit down for an hour and study? Okay, big shot. Do it.

I walk through the library, classrooms and clinics all of the time and it is rare that I can find a person (student or faculty) that is not engaged in some verbal exchange with another person about something. Please remember that if you hear someone else recommend that you start your focus with a one-hour study period that you tell them that you heard about it on this blog, first. Don’t let anyone steal my thunder.

It is harder than you think being alone with a book and absolutely nothing else for one hour. You need to try it because now is the time to find out the nature of all of your “study” habits and get a hold on them, so that you may do whatever you need to in order to correct the problem. You have about six months before it is time to dig into bar study and if you just try to recognize why you do what you do before graduation, you will be just a little (a little) ahead of the game.

Go on. Read, write, outline, or think for an hour. Find a corner on a floor in a building, the law school or public library, a living room, study, or den, your bedroom, or a desk, or just a table. It does not have to be a special place, or it can be a special place. The bottom line is that I want you to experience quiet and learn how difficult or easy it is for you to learn in an undisturbed environment for 60 minutes. Also take note of how much or how little you get done in a timeframe of only 60 minutes.

Once you determine how much time 60 minutes really means (in terms of how much you can accomplish during that time), you will view the hour with a new found respect. You may also learn how precious time is to the person studying for the bar exam and examine not only your relationships with other people, but your entire relationship (as it relates to studying) with law school. Hopefully, you will begin to incorporate the one-hour study period at least once a day. Yes, seven, one-hour study periods. Again, one hour means no nothing – no communication and no movement for an hour. It doesn’t require a lot of effort, but you will recognize that time moves quickly when you have a lot to learn or a lot of practice tests to manage.

The Next Three-L Post: How to prepare for the bar exam without lifting a pen. Sit Down/Stay Down.

2L Post - Increase The G.P.A. - Thoughts On Writing A Law School Paper

How To Increase the Grade Point Average – Writing The Law School Paper: Writing a paper is not as difficult as you think. You must dedicate some time to writing it (about two times a week) throughout the semester, then there is a requirement that you edit the paper over and over again. I do believe that “there is no such thing as good writing, only good editing.”

It does not matter whether the paper is meant to be informative or persuasive. If the paper is meant to inform the reader of a particular topic, you can share the many different viewpoints and solutions on an issue. If it is meant to be persuasive, you can share viewpoints, solutions, add policy, and include your own opinion(s), too.

Where do you start?

What Is The Topic? What are you are going to write about? Is it a person, a place, a thing, or a combination of the three? If the answer to this question is based, as it probably is, on some specific legal issue, then there is likely a lot of literature on it (statutes, cases, law review articles, treatises, legal journals, magazines, books, newspapers, etc.) Look for information on a topic everywhere.

Do not fall into the trap of only reading cases to learn about a topic? When a case highlights a particular issue, it is based on a set of facts for that issue, alone. There is a possibility that the opinion will provide a background on the subject area, and how that court, or courts, in general, have looked at a particular set of circumstances surrounding that issue. But I would not count on case law to provide the depth and breadth needed to understand an issue.

Who Is The Subject? Sometimes there is no who? But there is always someone that an issue affects. So the question you must answer while working on a topic is the audience. Does the topic affect women, men or children? Is there another specialized group that the topic affects? A special interest group, maybe? Is there a particular ethnic group or some other special interest group? Some of the people that make up the subject are obvious. That is the group that the professor expects you to discuss – the people who at the top of the problem. Supposed you looked at the topic just a little deeper. Why don’t you, as a matter of fact?

Instead of looking at the surface, look for non-suspect groups or pockets of people that are or could be affected by the law, the rule, the decision, the concern in the future. Go beyond the obvious. List everyone, and write (freely) about how you think that group, small or large, would be affected by certain set of circumstances.

When Did This Happen? Look at the time span in which your topic occurred (occurs), or is continuing to occur? What was the outcome and impact over the several years, decades, or centuries related to your topic? You have the opportunity here to share numbers with the audience. Prepare a table or chart or graph to help reader see the changes over time. However, it is extremely important that you explain to the reader/audience the entire graph, why you choose the dates listed, and the outcome related to the dates.

It is also just as important to make as many comparisons as possible and share with the reader/audience the various changes (eg., numbers in general, financial changes, etc.).

How Did This Occur? One of the easiest “outs” in a seminar (legal) paper is to look to blame someone for doing something to someone else. The problem came about because this group of people did X to another group of people. To be honest, sometimes, and perhaps, more often than not, some “one” group of people did do something to another group of people. You can (and, you should) include the “whodunit” people in the paper, then push them into the ground for all the bad “they” did to that group.

Once you have included that group, now force yourself, as the writer, to examine the problem from that group’s perspective. What happened to make that group, “turn” on another group? What was the social, economic, political structure at the time of the situation? Ask, and answer, as many questions as possible to help the reader get a better understanding of the opponent’s position.

If you create a position of openness in the paper (you have nothing to hide) you will appear to be less biased and more credible. When you tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, the reader is more open to listening to your opinion and your final thoughts/solution on the problem. If you don’t hide the ball, the reader tends not to think that you have a certain agenda.

Where Are You? This “where” has a different spin than what you may think, so wait a minute before you react? Where are you in this picture? Are you in a position to be in one of the several groups of people involved in the problem? In other words, how are you connected to the problem that is before the audience?

Where are you also means how did you come to choose this problem? What prompted you to question or add, or confront this issue? Why is it personal to you? What is your story? What do you get out of this paper, legally? Tell this story truthfully, and again, it helps your credibility. It also shows your dedication to the topic, as well.

Freewrite: Unfortunately, too many people think that they have to write a very structured paper in order to get a good, first draft. That is not true. One of the best ideas I know of to help the time crunched law student finish a paper is the free write. There are several reasons for the free write, but the most important, is to get you started writing. There is no reason to be afraid of a few words.

So, write, and write, and write. Write what you think about a topic, what you want to think about a topic, and what you want the outcome of a topic to be without using any law or law related information. What do you want to say? How do you want to say it? And what order do you want to provide it for the reader? Do I suggest that you free write until you have completely written the 15 or 25 pages? No, I don’t. I think you should be able to write at least 10 to 15 pages over the number of pages you are required to write.

Free means free from intervention, professor’s eyes, or from worry that you are writing about the wrong thing. Free means that you decide (freely) what you want to say each time you sit down and write and where you want the paper to go. Free means that you are able to write 2xs weekly without interference from anyone else, or even yourself – free, will help you organize your mind and allow you to really understand what you want to say in the paper.

Okay, so what are you waiting for? It's not too late. Yes, you've been a little slow on the draw lately, but a holiday is coming up, and there is nothing like a few cold leftovers, a computer, and some snowman movie to get you through a paper before returning to school.

Write your paper and write me with your questions,

Prof. Smith

A Call For Outlines: Constitutional Law I, Civil Procedure, Contracts, Criminal Law, Civil Procedure, Torts, Property.

I would like five (5) first-year students to send me a current outline for each of the subjects listed. I want a total of five (5) outlines. I do not want five (5) people to send me five (5) outlines, each. One person equals one outline. I would like to include a portion of each outline in its current form on the blog, then incorporate some changes in the outline to help make it more understandable for the reader. Please send the outline to TheBarExamCoach@aol.com. I will take the first five (5) outlines I receive, and I will inform everyone on the blog when I have received the first five. I will start with the Constitutional Law outline and work my through various parts of different outlines, ending with Property.

Some pointers on outlines.

1. Organizational Tool: an outline is an organizational tool, written in a particularly, structured format that best helps the author understand a number of issues related to one area of substantive law.

2. The Author’s Creation: It is important that the author create her own outline. We tend to understand, remember and comprehend our own written work. However, the author should not shy away from guidance from other outlines (student assisted, or commercial) to provide her with direction or confirmation. This is your first year of law school, and there are areas of the law that you may not be completely certain of, yet. You are not alone. Verification with the help of other authorities is not a bad thing.

3. Includes Progression of the Law or Just Today’s Law? The outline should contain information of what the law used to be (in 1877), and the law, as it stands today (2010). It is important to understand how the law has developed over a 113 year period. Why?

Two Reasons
a. Policy - if your professor teaches policy with substance, then you can track the progression of the law and how the law has followed policy, or whether the policy behind the law has changed over a particular time period (eg., 113 year period).

b. Future - the ability to track the law’s progression (eg., over a 113 year period) will help you project how the law will develop in the future. Some professors will include a question on an exam that has never been asked or answered because the issue has never come before a court. It is important - then - that you are able to articulate the past and current history of the law and make some showing to the professor why you think the law will move in the direction that you provided as your answer. You cannot provide an answer where you think the law will be in 10 or 20 years, if you do not know the current roadmap of the law, today.

4. Repetition: an outline is supposed to be an add-on document, not constant repetition of the same idea over and over again. The outline should reflect the course. The professor begins with one concept at the start of the year and ends with another on the last day of the class.

5. Tested Material: An outline ideally should include an overview of the course; this "overview" includes the material that you believe will most likely be covered on the exam. It blows my mind that a person will spend a page defining intent," (for example, in intentional torts), but will not spend nearly half that much on time on a complete definition of false imprisonment, especially the "enclosed" portion of the definition. You have to understand what really matters on exams. You also have to force yourself to move on when you are writing the outline, instead of fiddling around with areas and concepts that you are 99% certain won't be on the exam.

5. Adding On: I want to add to this list, and actually include a few pages of an outline on the blog. So, send me your outlines, first-year class.

Thank you,,

Prof. Smith

The Things I Do - - - I Do Them For You!

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to a new week of law school and blogging. Lately, I have learned that I have been the topic of discussion at different places in the United States. It is nice to be talked about, however, that discussion, is focused on some of the writing I have done for students and applicants for the bar exam. Let me just say that readership is "way up" in some places. I know increased readership is a sign that someone is watching you. But, one is never quite certain whether the eye whose attention you've caught is a good, bad or indifferent glance.

Some feel forced to change their style in order to fit in with others. I don't want to be like that and I am not going to change my style of writing and thinking. This is your forum, and I write for a particular group of people. Namely you. I do what I need to do in order to get where I have to go. It is never easy. Ever. It just has to be done.

So, with that said, let me tell you about our three posts this week. For the One-L, we will discuss outlining. I received two comments from a current first-year student and another who will begin law school in January. This is on the minds of some of my students at Howard Law School, too. So, in honor of the several of you that asked this question, I will help you prepare an outline. Then you will season it to your own, individualized taste.

The Two-L discussion - we will talk about how to get that paper in shape on or before Thanksgiving, and if not then, definitely the first day you return to school. I know you have already prepared outlines for your future Pulitzer Prize winning product, however, just in case you have not, I will talk about it a little. Then we will move to substance and preparing to free-write.

The Three-L talk will focus on our one of two priorities, the bar examination. The other priority is a job. However, I do have one or two things that I want to share with the third and fourth year student about grades, in general.

So, I expect to write every night this week, and I hope you will be around to listen (yes, I said listen; I meant listen).

See you shortly,

Prof. Smith

The 3L: Prepare For The Bar Exam - Begin Now Without A Pen, or Sheet of Paper (Without Writing An Essay Answer).

THANK EVERYONE.
If you worked for someone over the summer (eg., corporation, law school, law firm, court, individual), then you should send a thank you note to the person who provided you with lunch or dinner, or money, or something in the form of compensation. Even information. It is important to remember who buttered your bread this summer, especially if you are in some situation this time next year, where you might need a little financial help. Financial help as an attorney, as an intern, as a law clerk, as office help. Who knows what kind of work you may need? You may not need any help, but don't take the chance on that. It is just common courtesy; a thank you. That is not too difficult.

It is extremely important to respect the person who signed your paycheck or the person that made certain that you received one. That should go without a statement from me - I should not have to say a word. Yet, I am amazed at the number of people that do not thank others for their assistance for summer work. People (employers) make mental notes regarding your gratitude factor. I cannot speak for anyone else, but I seem to store the non-gratitude factor in the "don't hire again, file."

This is related to the bar because you may need a job when you least expect it.

SAVE YOUR MONEY.
The time to stop spending money is now. Today. Call it quits. I once read that the easiest way to earn 100% investment on your money is to fold it in half and put it in your pocketbook. Here is to 100% investment. You are going to need a lot of money over the next 10 months, and you don't have the time to spend it on others. Yes, Thanksgiving is coming up, and no you do not have enough money to buy the turkey. Yes, I remember someone from my family asked me while I was in law school, if I would buy the turkey. I honestly thought they had lost their minds. Where did they think I was going to get money for a turkey? Don't spend it on all of the law school fund-raising adventures (sorry, law school). Think twice - maybe three times, before you decide to spend the cash in your pocket.

LOOK FOR EXTRA WORK.
This is your last really free holiday coming up. You can spend it working or wafting. It is your choice. I'm not suggesting one way or the other that you do either, or both. I just want you to be aware of the time and what you could do with it if necessary. Yes, UPS hires for the holiday season. Yes, Federal Express hires for the holiday season. So does the U.S. Post Office, and Borders Books and Toys R Us, etc. No, no, no, no, no. I am not saying that you have to work, but you need to compare your spending allowance to the amount of money coming in. I have some plans myself that I must stick to and I am, over the next 55 days or so, looking forward to practicing what I preach. I'm paying "it" off, no matter what I do. I refused to go into the new year, with an old year. I'm not doing it. Think about a little extra work. Don't worry about the work; think about what the pay can do for you.

FIND MONEY IN ANY SOURCE AVAILABLE.
If someone owes you money, try to get it back and then immediately apply that cash to someone you owe (otherwise, you'll spend the $35, or $50 bucks). As a matter of fact, ask for the owed money in the form of a money order. That will keep it in your purse or pants pocket and not in the food store. Anything anyone owes you, attempt to pursue. If there are people who are willing to give you money (for no particular reason) then you take it. This is not the time for pride; it is the time for accretion. We are not turning down anything from anyone from any (legal) source available to us.

GRADUATION IS THE TIME TO ASK FOR GIFTS YOU WILL USE WHILE STUDYING FOR THE BAR.
Gift cards - gas cards, food cards, cards to the drug store, book store, coffee store, fast food store, metro/subway/buss cards. Any store anywhere in your city, etc., for any amount. Do not turn down any gift cards. They will come in handy. Your family wants to help you at graduation. Everyone wants to give you a briefcase. You won't need a briefcase. Your desk will be your briefcase. You won't have time to pack something up and take it home. So, no briefcase is necessary. What is necessary? Items that you need for the bar exam.

YOU WILL NEED SOMEONE TO:
1. help you pay for the hotel cost for two days when you take the bar;
2. split the bar review course with you (two, three or four ways, etc.);
3. give you a cooler for the trunk of the car - great while studying for the exam.
4. purchase an extra cell phone cord (just in case).
5. purchase a new computer if your machine looks like it can go at anytime.
6. give you pens, pencils, folders, notebooks, fix a backback or buy a new one.

WHO CAN YOU TALK TO HONESTLY ABOUT YOUR DESIRES WITHOUT HURTING FEELINGS?
Some of us are very close to our families and we can talk these things out. Some of us are not. Well, now maybe the time to start broaching these subjects. You want to look into the face of the future months ahead of time. Do not let the day pounce on you during graduation. It is not too late, even then, for a plan. But you don't have to wait until then. You know right now. Start to devise a plan. Keep in mind the number of relatives who are behind (or, in front of) you. You don't have to bleed anyone dry, but take whatever is offered and pool your money ($25 bucks per person). You will need approximately three months of savings because we don't intend to work during the bar exam study period. That is our time to fully concentrate on the law.

Okay, 3Ls.

You know a lot, but still if you have any questions, just let me know.

Prof. Smith