1L Year Review

[CipherEvice]

Someone from the UoA who just finished their 1L year at the UoA just posted this thread

And I was wondering if maybe a UoC 1L who just finished might want to do the same or note any differences? 🤔

Also, if a UoC student happens to read this, I more specifically have the question of how many classes do you take per term? It seems like there are 8 required classes for 1L, as well as a handful of required classes for 2L and one required class for 3L, but I can't quite seem to find out how much room you have for other classes. From looking at the course list I am quite interested in a lot of them and will likely need to narrow my choices a bit. Probably a bit preemptive since I'll have time in the future to plan that out but part of me needs to know these things now lol.

[oklol123]

Sorry, I don't have time to give a good write up like the post you referenced but I'll try to answer the rest.

1L Fall: For most of September you will do Foundations I. You'll learn to brief cases and how to write memos. It's split into 2 professor lead sections and ten (I think) 3L TA sections. The TA you're assigned to will grade your assignments. Foundations I, like all block courses at U of C, is P/F. 

The rest of fall you will take six courses: Legislation, Contracts, Property, Constitutional, Torts, and Criminal. Legislation is the only course that is one semester so you'll write the final in December while the rest of your exams in December will be midterms.

1L Winter: Most of January is Foundations II where you'll be split into 2 sections again and learn how to do legal research. After this you'll continue with Contracts, Property, Constitutional, Torts, and Criminal. You'll write the finals in April.

Each of the 6 graded classes in 1L are split into 2 or 3 sections (whether a class has 2 or 3 sections depends on the year).

2L: You'll be required to take: evidence, civil procedure, ethics, admin, and the 2L block course in January. 

3L: The only course you're required to take is the block course in January. 

In 2L/3L you take 5 courses in the fall and in the winter semester you have a January block course followed by 4 other classes once the block course ends.

The only other thing I'd mention is that you need fulfill a theoretical requirement, writing requirement, and an international requirement in order to graduate. These are to be done in 2L/3L. If you're super eager you can take a look at the course descriptions where it will state which courses fulfill which requirements. Some classes will allow you to meet two of the requirements (ex: Feminist Legal Theory allows you to fulfill the writing and theory requirements).

 

[elars]

I'll take a shot at this. For context, I recently graduated last month. (Also, the above response is pretty spot on. I'll try and give my perspective as well as some more detail and you can note any similarities/differences.)

 

Summer Before 1L: Just enjoy it. You can't prepare ahead of time so don't even try. Just relax and enjoy your summer. The most you should do in order to "prepare" is read posts like this on law school forums. Don't try and learn the basics of Property Law ahead of time. You don't know what you're doing yet and you don't know which cases your professors are going to teach. Just relax. The only other thing you should be doing is starting to form good life habits (exercising, eating right, etc.).

 

1L Fall Semester

September: You begin with Foundations I, which lasts 3 weeks. The course is pass/fail, and most students end up taking it more seriously than they probably should. That is likely because everyone is finally starting law school (which they have likely worked towards for years) and they want to start off strong. The class is participation/attendance, the completion of a few simple assignments (briefing a case, writing a short memo) and then making oral arguments (typically in front of a 3L who volunteered to help with the course). Everyone passes Foundations I. However, I did know a few people who failed some of the assignments but they were simply given feedback and the chance to redo them. Don't stress these assignments! Honestly, if you are going to class and putting a modest amount of effort into these assignments, you'll do fine. The classes themselves for Foundations I aren't the most interesting, but you still need to go (hello participation/attendance!). You will get lectures on the history of law going back to Europe hundreds of years ago and you don't need to take any notes on this. Just sit back and relax. The advocacy assignment seems scary before you do it, but once you are done it won't seem so bad. Come prepared and give a good effort and you'll be fine. I don't know anyone who failed the advocacy assignment. Once all this is done, you'll be finished with Foundations I and you'll finally get to start the actual classes the following week.

 

That was all about Foundations I, but the other critical parts of the first month are the networking events. You really should go to these. Worst case scenario, you meet lots of people in your cohort. Best case scenario, you meet lots of people in your cohort and also potentially establish some introductory connections at law firms. These events really have no downside other than it can feel like a chore to go to them when you have coursework to do, but they really are worth it. You'll have a chance to start making friends with your colleagues, and often some of the friendships formed at these events can last throughout all of law school and even after you graduate. It can never hurt to have lots of friends in law school as you will all be helping each other at different times over the many semesters. There are some networking events within the first couple days of class in September so they start early.

 

October: You actually take the core courses beginning in the final week of September, but I'll just leave it here since I already wrote a lot for September. You take 6 courses in your first semester: Crime, Torts, Contracts, Constitutional Law, Property, and Legislation. All of these are year-long courses except for Legislation (this is important to note, and I'll come back to this point in December).

 

You will likely feel overwhelmed at first. Your emotions will be a mix of "omg there is so much to read!", "omg everyone else seems so smart and I'm stupid!", "everyone else seems so confident, so why am I feeling so much self-doubt?", etc. This is totally normal. Relax. Take a deep breath. Seriously, take a deep breath. You'll be fine. Law school tends to attract people who have egos, are competitive (some more than others, most people are nice though), or are just unique characters in their own right. 1L's tend to project a lot of confidence which can feel very intimidating to some. In reality, 99% of 1L's really don't know what they're doing. Just know that you got accepted for a reason. The people at the University who comb through all the applications know what they're doing. If you got accepted, you belong here.

 

As far as classes go, yes, there are lots of readings. If you asked "How much of the readings did you do in 1L?" to a bunch of 2L's, a bunch of 3L's, a bunch of articling students, and a bunch of working lawyers, you would get a WIDE VARIETY of answers. Some do no readings, some do only a little, some do about half, some do most, and some do all. Of these different approaches, people have done very well and very poorly with every approach. Only you can know what works for you by trial and error (I know that sucks as an answer, but it's true). HOWEVER, generally speaking if you want to get A's, you need to do readings. The reason some people can get away with not doing readings is they use CAN's (condensed annotated notes) from upper year students for each course which already summarize the readings/cases for them. You will get a link to a Google Drive that has CAN's for every first year course and most upper year courses in September/October. My advice to you would be to do as much of the readings as you can to start, and only ramp it down once/if you start to feel more comfortable. I'll be honest and say that I didn't do many readings and I relied a lot on the CAN's, but I still did fine and got B's. However, you shouldn't do that (at least, not at the beginning/for the first semester).

 

Classes begin and you may be surprised. Some of the classes you may have been really excited for could turn out to bore you (contracts for me), and some of the classes you may have been dreading might turn out to be pretty interesting (constitutional law for me). These surprising changes of opinion on different classes will continue for all of law school. Many lawyers will say the same thing. The classic "I came into law school wanting to do X, but ended up doing Y as a career!".

 

Go to every class, be as prepared as you can by having done the readings, take good notes, ask questions if you need to (but don't be one of those people who ask 5+ questions every single class, that can be annoying for everyone else). I sat in the front during 1L for most classes and it helped to keep me focused. It also has the added benefit of sometimes chatting with the professor at the start of class, which can help to build rapport.

 

There is no "graded" work for your classes except for the final exams, so no one is going to be watching to make sure you are keeping up with the material during September/October/November/December. Because of this, you really need to be on top of things and have great time-management skills. The only exception is there is one graded assignment for Legislation (the "drafting assignment", which I'll touch on below).

 

November: Basically the same as October, but you have the fall break and the drafting assignment (usually due on the first day back from fall break). I'm just going to say this bluntly: the drafting assignment is annoying. You have to prepare a draft of a statute after being given a bunch of information/facts. This is pretty much the one and only time you will ever do this not just in law school, but also in your future careers. It really helps you to become much more comfortable reading and interpreting legislation moving forward, so it is important, but it really has no correlation to how well you will do on your final exams (because your final exams are issue-spotting and nothing like this assignment). Most people get B's (since the school grades to a B median), some will do better or worse. Try not to get too caught up in how you do on this assignment. A bad grade doesn't mean you are stupid and will do poorly on your finals, and a good great doesn't mean you're a genius who will ace your finals. You typically get your grade back in December.

 

December: About a week or so more of classes and it's time for your first every law school exams. Study hard. The best way to prepare is to make a great framework for each class and do some of the practice exams/questions posted by your professor. The most difficult part of law school exams are the fact that you are given very little time. In practice at an actual law firm, you would never be given a massive problem and asked to analyze it completely within 90 - 180 minutes. As a result, law school exams are similar to the LSAT with regards to not having a lot of time. Go see the professor ahead of time, show them your framework and talk about anything you're not sure about.

 

I'd like to make a special note about Legislation. You only take this course in the fall semester, so this exam is worth much more than the others. I think it's usually with somewhere around 70% of your grade, so I would recommend spending extra time on this course. All of the other courses have exams that are technically "midterms", with the finals taking place in April. As a result, they are usually worth anywhere from 10%-35% of your final grade (the rest of your grade will be from the April exams for these courses). However, you still need to take these exams seriously because even though they might seem like they aren't worth a lot, you will use your midterm grades during 1L recruit in January/February. You still need study hard! It can be tempting to think "Oh, this is only worth 10% so I won't try that hard", but you'll use that 10% grade to apply for jobs so you should think of them as being worth 100%.

 

Once exams are done you should just relax and enjoy your Christmas break. Update your resume during the break if you can, this will save time in January!

 

1L Winter Semester

January: Foundations II begins and it is also pass/fail (fun fact, I'm pretty sure I was the last year where this was a graded course so you should rejoice that it is pass/fail). This is a course on the basics of legal research and writing,  and it also has another oral advocacy component. This is an important class since you learn the basics of searching legal databases and how to write more effectively, but it is typically not appreciated until 2L and 3L since you won't do any legal research in your core courses of 1L.

 

Show up to class, put forth a decent effort, and you'll do fine. I don't know anyone that failed this course. The oral advocacy part can be a total wildcard though. Unless they've changed it over the last couple years, you are put in teams of two and you make arguments in front of either a professor or a working lawyer from the community who came in and volunteered their time to help (most groups get working lawyers since they outnumber the professors). One team makes arguments for the respondent and another team makes arguments for the appellant. You then get feedback from the lawyer/professor on your arguments/speaking. What makes this a wildcard is not the grade in the end (remember, everyone passes), but that the different lawyers/professors have vastly different styles. Some have the attitude of "These 1L's are doing this for the first time, so I won't be that hard on them", while others have the attitude of "I am going to treat this as serious as if someone at my firm was preparing for a trial, so I'm going to really press these students on their arguments". I had the former, so my "Judge/Justice" was quite chill and only interjected a couple times (they are told to interject as you are speaking and ask questions, just as a Judge/Justice would). However, I heard stories of some students getting grilled and really getting pushed. I guess experiences may vary. At the end of the day, remember that everyone passes and if you put forth a decent effort and prepare, you'll do fine.

 

You'll get your 1L fall semester grades sometime in the middle of January via email.

 

You'll then begin to apply for jobs in the 1L recruit (if you decide to do so, not every student does). This is why it can be beneficial to have an updated resume by the time January starts. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU DO 1L RECRUIT! In my opinion, there is no reason not to. Best case scenario, you're only 5-6 months into law school and you get a job and now you don't have to worry about finding one during 2L and 3L. Worst case scenario, you get invaluable experience preparing cover letters and interviewing at law firms (which you very likely haven't done before). Do not think to yourself "Only students who get A's get 1L jobs so I'm not even going to try". This is flat out wrong. It is true that the better grades you have, the better your chances, but this isn't everything. I've always held the belief that getting your first job in law is 1/3 how good your grades are, 1/3 how well you interview and how well you prepared, and 1/3 luck (a lot of luck comes into it). I was someone who got pretty much all B's in the 1L fall semester, thought he didn't have a shot, applied anyways hoping for the best but prepared for the worst, and I was still hired at a big firm and my #1 choice. Never count yourself out! Every person I know who didn't participate in the 1L recruit regretted it. It can never hurt to try!

 

There are LOTS of resources provided by the University's career office and you should definitely take advantage of them. First off, they will give you access to something called "Sharepoint" that has lots of resources in it. In particular, they have a massive document that has pretty much everything you need to know about applying to and interviewing at law firms. This has everything multiple examples on how to structure your resume and cover letters, tips for interviewing, tips for negotiation, the list goes on and on. I can't do it justice here, so take the time to go through it (you may get access to it in the summer before 1L, but as long as you go through it before 1L recruit starts then you'll be fine). The University's career office also does resume and cover letter reviews with you where you can literally send them your stuff ahead of time, they make notes on it, then you two meet to discuss their advice (don't expect them to write your resume or cover letter for you, as you need to come to them with documents that are about 90% done). One other thing they do is mock interviews. From mine (and my friends) experiences, this is a hit or miss for how useful it is. Some people found that it wasn't very helpful, others found it very useful. I think there's no downside so you should do it. After all, you pay for all this with your tuition so you might as well take advantage of it!

 

You don't actually interview with firms yet, that happens during the reading week of February. But you do apply to jobs in January, so be prepared to do this alongside Foundations II. Also (and this should be fairly obvious), you should make unique cover letters to each firm you're applying to.

 

The core 1L courses (except for Legislation) begin again during the last week of January.

 

February: Pretty much the same as October and November as far as course work goes. Lots of material in all your classes and you may begin to feel mentally exhausted. However, try and stay strong as you need to be on top of your game come reading week for interviewing at firms. You'll typically get calls from firms to set up an interview sometime at the end of January/beginning of February. Every firm is different. One small tip I suggest would be to have a very professional voicemail message recorded in case they call and you miss it.

 

I won't do a write up on interviewing at law firms for this post. I've already written enough and probably bored you all to death. I can make another post on that if you'd like, so just let me know. That's a large topic that deserves its own post. All I'll say for this at the moment is that the interviews take place over reading week and can comprise any of the following: one-on-one interviews over coffee, phone interviews, sit down interviews in their law firm, group interviews at their firm, group interviews at some other venue, or group interviews at nice restaurants around town. It won't be all of those. Typically, it's two interviews for 1L's (one just you, and one in a group at a restaurant/venue), but every firm is different and has their own style.

 

When I say everything takes place over reading week, I mean it. By the Friday of reading week, they start putting out calls at the end of the day, so it won't be a drawn out process. In fact, given how some companies in other industries can drag out the hiring process, law firms for this 1L recruit are very efficient. They interview as many 1L's as they can during that week and make a decision on the students they want within 5 days. It's a long and stressful week, whether you have one interview or six, but it'll all be over soon. Like I said, best case scenario you have a job, worst case you have invaluable experience you can use in the 2L recruit.

 

March: Just more coursework. Not much to say here other than the fact that you should be preparing for exams as soon as possible after the 1L recruit ends. Start making your CAN's and frameworks early as this will save you lots of time.

 

April: You have about one more week of class and then it's exam time. Same drill as before. Issue-spotting exams with not much time. Prepare hard, learn from your mistakes in the December exams, go see the professor if you have questions (don't wait till the night before the exam), and then have at it.

 

Congratulations, you're done 1L!!!

 

Summer after 1L

May: If you landed a job in the 1L recruit, you'll start sometime in May and work at the firm for the summer. 99% of students are offered an articling position for when they graduate so don't stress yourself out too much. I'll leave tips on working as a summer student for another post if people are interested. If you didn't get a job, I would suggest working some kind of non-law job for the summer to save money, and/or taking a summer class to reduce your workload in 2L. The faculty will announce the summer classes that are offered in May. The last couple years, they have offered anywhere from 2-3 different classes in the summer so if you feel up for it, take one. I did in my 2L summer (not 1L summer since I got a job in recruit), and it was a really good decision. However, I don't know if summer courses are offered every year, or if it's something they only dud because of the pandemic, so don't quote me on this.

 

June: You pick your courses for 2L. Unlike 1L, you actually get to pick the courses and time slots you want. About half of your 2L courses are required, half are electives. If you want advice on choosing upper year courses, let me know and I'll make another post on that. The required 2L courses (as of 2022) are Evidence, Ethics, Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, and Negotiation.

 

July: Nothing really to say other than if you are taking a summer course, you'll be doing it for all of July and part of August (and maybe the last week of June).

 

August: Get offered an articling position at your firm if you got a job in recruit. Finish your summer course and write the final if you're doing one.

 

2L Fall Semester

September: No block course, you dive straight into courses. However, 2L recruit begins.

2L recruit is weird. Some firms want you to apply early in September, some want October, and some want November/December. Every firm is different and they seem to all interview at slightly different periods. I never did 2L recruit so I can't really comment on it, other than seeing my friends being stressed as they juggled 2L coursework and 2L recruit. I would get someone else's opinion on 2L recruit as they would know a lot better than me.

 

October: Continue with coursework, and continue with 2L recruit if you are participating.

 

November: Same as above.

 

December: You'll be more experienced with law school exams now, so study hard and rock these exams! Then relax and enjoy your Christmas break.

 

2L Winter Semester

January: You do the Negotiation block course for the first three weeks. This is also pass/fail. Relax, everyone passes (just like the other block courses). This course can be a bit annoying as some students take unreasonable/unrealistic negotiation positions as all the negotiations you do are fictional. Most students are reasonable, but there are a few bad apples in your cohort who may want to show off or turn the exercises into something they're not. Try not to let this course stress you out. You'll pass. Put forth a good effort and you'll actually be surprised at how much you learn about negotiation for lawyers. This is a very important skill so although you will just be learning some basics, this course will be beneficial for you in the long run! The assignments in this course are attendance/participation, two mock negotiations with lawyers from the community volunteering their time to listen in and give you feedback, followed by a write-up of one of the negotiations. Classes then begin in the final week of January.

 

February: Continue with coursework.

 

March: Continue with coursework.

 

April: Another set of law school exams. You're basically a pro at them by now, right? 😉

 

Kidding. They get slightly easier each year as you get more experience, but they're always a lot of work. Study hard!

 

Congratulations, you're done 2L!!!

 

Summer after 2L

May: Same as the previous year. Get your grades back, hear about any summer courses offered by the school, and work at a law firm win you have a summer job (or, if you have no job, working some other job just to save up some money).

 

June: Enroll in 3L courses. Almost every single one of your 3L courses will be electives, so enjoy the freedom! The only required course is the Advocacy block course.

 

July: Continue with summer summer course or law firm job.

 

August: Same as previous August.

 

3L Fall Semester

September: You know the drill. No block course here, you dive straight into your courses. I should note that there is no formal articling recruit. If you didn't get a job at a firm in the 1L or 2L recruits, then at some point between January of 2L and the end of law school (end of 3L), there will be postings on the jobs site about articling positions at various firms. There will be more small and mid-size firms here, as the 1L and 2L recruits are almost entirely comprised of jobs at large firms. I'm not a great resource for information about the timelines of finding an articling position after the recruits are finished since I never did it.

 

October: Continue with coursework.

 

November: Continue with coursework.

 

December: Write some more exams and then enjoy your Christmas break!

 

3L Winter Semester

January: You do your final pass/fail block course (Advocacy). Just like all the other block courses, everyone passes so relax. This course can be a bit of a pain in the ass but you still learn a lot. Basically, you learn all about questioning witnesses, introducing evidence, and making introductory and closing arguments. You are graded on participation/attendance, a write up of your final mock trial, and your performance at your final mock trial, which is in front of either a real judge/justice at the courthouse, or a lawyer from the community volunteering their time to hear you and give feedback (basically, they will pretend to be a judge/justice for the purposes of the exercise). Classes then begin in the final week of January.

 

February: Continue with coursework.

 

March: Continue with coursework.

 

April: Your final set of law school exams. And then... YOU ARE DONE LAW SCHOOL! Go out and celebrate!

 

Final Thoughts

Hopefully this write-up was useful. It's late at night and I basically wrote a giant word-salad for you to read. My intention was to paint a somewhat clear picture of what law school is like, what the timelines are like, and share whatever advice I can pass on that will hopefully be useful to you. If you have any other questions, I am happy to answer them! Just let me know and I can make another post, or you can message my privately. I can answer questions on tips for law school exams, tips for law firm interviews, tips for choosing upper-year courses, tips on working as a summer student, opinions on extracurriculars, etc. If you want advice on 2L recruit or the timelines for finding a direct to articling job if you strike out in the 1L or 2L recruits, I won't be a very good resource since I never had to go down those roads.

 

One last thing I should add is manage your expectations. Law students were pretty much all in the top 10% of their undergrad. However, only 10% of these students can now be in the top 10% of law school and get A's. From a simple numbers approach, you probably won't be in this top 10%. That's okay! Most students get B's, B+'s, and B-'s, with few getting above and below that range. What happens to the A law students? They become lawyers. What happens to the B law students? They become lawyers. What happens to the C law students? They become lawyers. You should see the pattern here. Some get jobs earlier than others, but 99% of the time, if you want an articling position when you graduate, you'll get one eventually. I was lucky and got one super early, but some get them much later. It's just how the game goes. Try to not let this all stress you out too much. This experience is new to all of you and you'll all be adapting as you go along.

 

Law school was a great experience for me, and I hope it will be for you too. Work hard, make friends, and enjoy the experience as you will only do this once!

 

Lastly, please don't judge my horrible spelling/grammar. I wrote this late at night and didn't proofread it!

Edited May 18, 2022 by elars

[elars]

Also, I forgot to answer your other question on the number of courses per term. Below is that info:

 

1L Fall: Foundations I (for three weeks), then: Crime, Torts, Contracts, Constitutional Law, Property, and Legislation.

• So, one block course then six courses.

1L Winter: Foundations II (for three weeks), then: Crime, Torts, Contracts, Constitutional Law, and Property.

• So, one block course then five courses.

2L Fall: Three electives, and two of: Evidence, Ethics, Administrative Law, and Civil Procedure.

• So, five courses.

2L Winter: Negotiation (for three weeks), then two electives, and the other two you didn't take of Evidence, Ethics, Administrative Law, and Civil Procedure.

• So, one block course, then four courses.

3L Fall: Five electives.

• So, five courses.

3L Winter: Advocacy (for three weeks), then four electives.

• So, one block course, then four courses.

 

You will also need one theory requirement, one international course, and one major paper course. You will meet these three requirements with your electives. Sometimes you can hit two birds with one stone and do a course that is both a theory course and a paper course, or a course that is both an international course and paper course, etc. Or you can keep these all separate. It's up to you and the specific courses you want to take.