Saturday, May 28, 2011

Bar Prep Begins

My first efforts at studying for the bar exam have been demoralizing. This week I took practice exams in the areas of constitutional law and contracts. I scored 73% and 59%, respectively, and that was after several hours of review. I obviously need to improve my study methods if I want to get up to speed in two months.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Graduation

Speeches were spoken, hands were shaken, and I collected a handsome diploma cover (sans diploma--that will have to wait until the last round of exams are graded). For the graduates, I think the best part about graduation may have been the opportunity to scope out one another's regalia. Students rarely talk about their GPAs, so most of us were finding out for the first time who would or wouldn't graduate with honors.

After the ceremony, someone asked me if I felt any different. I said, "ask me again after the bar exam." By itself, a juris doctorate doesn't amount to much. As one wag at the ceremony observed, as if it isn't bad enough that we can't practice law, we can't even make people call us "doctor."

Monday, May 16, 2011

Tax Policy Exam

My last (ever) exam was a barn burner. The Tax Policy professor asked some devilishly specific questions about readings that were assigned weeks ago. I reckon I handled it okay. Even if I didn't, this late in the game anything but an F qualifies as a success.

And that's that. The only thing standing between me and a juris doctorate is the formality of picking up my diploma.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Secured Transactions Exam

It was impossible to fully prepare for the Secured Transactions exam. We covered an absurd amount of material in the last fifteen weeks (UALR Law Student summed up the prevailing sentiment pithily at his blog). Add my complete lack of motivation to study here at the end of my 3L year, and I was expecting the worst.

It wasn't too bad. The essay portion of the test was exactly what the professor had told us to expect, so I think my answer was competent, if a little rushed. About an hour after the exam I remembered a statute that made part of my response dead wrong, but that shouldn't be enough to sink the whole essay.

The multiple choice questions worry me. They add an element of chance to an exam that I'm never comfortable with. Your typical law-school multiple choice question is about half a page long, and you only have to misread one word to botch the answer. Since half the points on the test came from the multiple choice questions, anything could happen.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Open Book

I have two exams this semester, and both are at least partly open book. Since I'm about to graduate and have a pretty casual attitude toward my grades, this open book business is a nuisance to me. For a closed-book exam, I would probably just read through my notes a few times and take my chances. With an open-book exam, expectations will be higher; now I feel like I have to spend time organizing my notes, writing cheat-sheets, putting tabs on things, and what-have-you. After the thousands of hours I've sunk into my legal education, these last few dozen feel like too much to ask.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Regalia


My graduation regalia has arrived. I'm renting, so I only get to keep the cap. You can tell a juris doctorate is a prestigious degree because the regalia is very, very silly.

I tried on a sample before I placed my order, but somehow I got a cap that is much too small. I hope my sewing skills are such that I can fix it, because I don't want to deal with ordering a replacement.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Health Services

Three years as a UALR student, and I never had occasion to use the student clinic until this week. I had heard bad things about the health services department, but my experience was perfect. I was just there for a tetanus booster (dog bite, kind of a long story), and they took care of me in under ten minutes. Best of all, it was free (well, free in the sense that I prepaid for it with my student activity fees). Incidentally, if you are a UALR student and plan to step on a rusty nail in the next few years, now is the time to get that tetanus shot. Starting in fall 2011, they're going to cost $25.

Because the law school is across town from UALR's main campus, I think some students don't realize that their student ID gets them all the same perks the undergraduates enjoy. My favorite is the free admission to school sporting events. I'm going to miss that next year.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The First of Many Lasts

Yesterday I attended my last law school class. Ever. The professor knew he had a room full of graduating 3Ls, so he gave us a lovely pep talk about passing the bar and being a force for good in society.
I like school a lot, and I'm a little sorry I won't be back in the fall. Hopefully I'll be doing something else at least as interesting.