My First Semester of Law School

My first semester has finally come to a close! These past few weeks have been a whirlwind with the holidays and having my wisdom teeth removed, so I apologize for being absent. But on the positive side, it is officially 2018, and I have some very exciting things planned for my blog this year!

So I've finally made it through my first semester, and that itself is a huge feat. I don't have my grades back and won't have them for a few weeks. Overall the semester was extremely tough but very rewarding. I've learned more in the past four months of law school than I did in the past three years of undergrad combined. And this would make sense, because my first semester was full of studying and reading. I had a ton of people say to me, "You're going to law school, huh? Well, I hope you like reading." Man, they were right. There was a lot of reading and a lot of hours put in every week. However, every second was worth it. I have been dreaming about law school for almost ten years, so even though it felt like a chore at times, I still enjoyed the reading. Plus, many cases in casebooks are somewhat interesting, which also helped. The fear of getting cold called and not knowing anything about the case also made reading a little more tolerable.

This semester, I joined a couple of organizations: Business and Law Society, Women's Law Caucus, Protective Order Project, and Admissions Ambassadors. Business and Law Society and Women's Law Caucus are your typical student organizations with meetings, panels, and guest speakers. As an Admissions Ambassador, I take prospective students on a tour of the law school and answer questions they may have about law school. In the Protective Order Project, I help local residents get (pro bono) legal assistance to get a court-ordered protective order (the civil equivalent of a restraining order). This is my favorite organization that I have joined, as I get to actually help people by finding them representation, and I get hands-on experience with talking with clients and writing memos.

I was also able to have more of a social life than I thought I would. In the first half of the semester, I went to bar review pretty frequently. My law school students' association also hosted some events, like a Halloween party. I was also able to go back to my alma mater for Homecoming and see a lot of my friends back there.

Finals were a lot more difficult than I expected. At my school, finals lasted about three weeks. I was not mentally prepared for three weeks of finals. We had between 3 and 5 days between each final, which gave me time to recover and begin studying for the next exam. However, this coming semester finals period is only about two weeks so I am looking forward to that.

This coming semester I will be in Legal Research and Writing 2, Property Law, Constitutional Law, and Legal Professions (an ethics class). I am looking forward to having one less class (3 less credit hours!!). I also know how to handle law school, so I won't have the learning curve that I needed this past semester.

Overall, the first semester was a ton of work, but it was also a lot of fun. I've made some good friends and have done some great things with them. The work is a lot, but worth it. I'm looking forward to the next two and half years of law school!

Comments

  1. Certainly, after a great effort, the relieve it's such a good feeling. Also it's great to read your optimism about the law school: in particular, it helps me to reinforce my decision about being a lawyer. The last weeks I had to choose what I wanted to be, and maybe you are proving me that my chose was correct. Thank you.

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    1. Hi! I'm glad I could help reinforce your decision! If you have any questions about law school and application, please feel free to reach out. I wish you the best of luck in your career choice!

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  2. Congratulations on finishing your first semester and loving it! And on being so involved, AND having a social life. Plus... SO COOL about the Protective Order organization!! Such good work. Love, Kristen

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    1. Thank you!! I hope you are doing well too! Sending my love

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  3. I recently found your blog and have already been reading along. I believed I could leave my first comment. I don't understand what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I could keep visiting this blog very often. injury attorney office

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    1. Thanks for leaving a comment!! I'm glad that you enjoy reading my blog :)

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