Mackenzie's Weblog

Law School Advice Part IV: Read and Write

Part I, Part II, and Part III.

Here's a little non-secret: lawyers are professional writers.  No other skill is as important.  After three years, just about anyone can figure out the law on nearly any subject (though it may take a while), but none of that does any good if you can't effectively communicate that information to anyone.   Without writing skills, your mind will be like a steel trap, but in a bad way: nothing can get out.

Unfortunately, legal writing programs are largely inadequate.  I don't mean that they are poor, they just aren't enough.  They have a lot to overcome when students first come to law school, and chances are the first-year courses will be all that is required in any school.  I can virtually guarantee you that if you do just the minimum required, you will not have enough training.

So you must take the initiative if you want to be successful.  The first step is to seek opportunities in school to write.  This could mean trying to write for law review (in my school, anyone could write on, but that's not true everywhere).  You also could try to take classes with written components.  This is especially helpful if the professor gives productive feedback, not just on the substance of your work, but on the writing.  Ask other students.  Also, feel free to ask for more detailed feedback from the professor.

(As an aside, all this requires putting your ego away and seeking out ways you screwed up.  This isn't always easy to do, especially for a bunch of people who have constantly been identified as good at what they do--see Part I.  Still, it's necessary to get that feedback as often as possible to improve.  Judges don't give feedback on briefs submitted to a court, so now is your chance.)

There are also informal opportunities to write.  These don't have the benefits of constant review or of strict standards, but the sheer frequency means there's still a benefit.  This—or any—blog is a good example.  I really think that writing on a regular basis, though not as often as I'd like, has had a significant impact on my writing.  Plus it's an easy archive.  I can look back on my past entries, particularly in my first year, and wince.  Aside from substantive problems, my writing just wasn't as sharp as it is now—and I still have a lot of improving to do.

Aside from writing, it is important to read, too.  I don't mean that you have to dissect the Great Gatsby to learn all the techniques, but by reading a lot of different pieces of writing, you can get more exposure to how people put sentences together, shape a narrative, and a lot more.  Gradually, through exposure (though you can dissect the Great Gatsby if you want, but who has time?), you'll learn what the authors do that you like.

Finally, you should educate yourself.  This means knowing the rules of construction, and that requires books about writing.  The old standby is Strunk and White's venerable The Elements of Style.  It is short, but fairly comprehensive, and addresses just about everything needed to become a decent writer.  I do, though, find that for legal writing it can be a bit underpowered.  In that case, you could go for one of Bryan Garner's excellent books, The Elements of Legal Style, or The Redbook: A Manual of Legal Style.  You may also have a required style guide for your workplace (like the GPO, for example, which publishes its own style manual).

I also recommend a couple dictionaries.  Aside from the general all-purpose ones, everyone should have a usage dictionary or two.  They cover not just what words mean, but their proper use, and often construction.  Once you've had one a while, you'll wonder how you managed without it.  For example, you can be one of the few people who use the word "comprise" correctly.  The classic is Fowler's A Dictionary of Modern English Usage.  I've seen some criticism of the latest edition, though I don't know enough to know whether they are really credible.  I'm partial to Garner's Modern American Usage.  The entries are well-written and useful.  I also have Garner's A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage.  It's particularly useful for lawyers.

Of course, there are many other books about writing, and everyone has their favorites.  Feel free to ask around and borrow those that others recommend.  If you like them and think they are useful, you can get your own copy (but I would suggest at least taking a look if you can—writing books are very personal).  I have various books on brief writing, writing for legal academia, and general legal writing, for example, and I'd like to get more.

Have fun sharpening your legal writing skill—I promise it will be time well spent, even if it is a never-ending, lifelong task.

Law School Advice Part III: Take a Break

Part I and Part II.

This title may be a bit surprising considering my previous admonishments to work hard.  But this may be the most important tip I have—not just for succeeding in law school, but enjoying it and staying nominally well adjusted.

What I mean is that you need to take time out to do things other than study and do your reading.  What you do, precisely, depends on you, but you absolutely must take a break from the law.

A few examples.  In my case, one thing that has been and remains sacred is my knitting group.  Every week for a few hours, I went to socialize and do an activity that had little to do with law school.  That's because most people in the group weren't law students.  I was at the group unless I had a specific conflict (competitions, for example) and I scheduled many obligations around it.  I was even knitting through finals.

The group also illustrates an important point about spending time with people who are not law students.  Don't get me wrong, I love my law school friends.  I'll keep them forever, I hope, and they play a very big part of my life.  But there's a bigger world out there, and it's important to keep grounded in what's important to everyone else in that world.

This is especially true of partners and families.  Law school has an insidious way of making itself seem like the most important thing in the world.  It's not.  Your friends and family are, so keep your priorities straight.  I've heard from a lot of married law students that they went into law school with the express goal to "stay married."  That is a proper goal, and it shows that those people have it right.  And those that kept that in mind from day one were successful.  Others weren't.

I didn't have an abundance of romantic partners, but I did have several close friends who weren't law students.  This was my time away, and it kept me sane.  I also had a few other hobbies: I cooked a lot, watched movies, and read a large number of books.  But it was the personal connections that carried me through.

It is natural to ask about what happens during finals and competitions and other high-demand times.  Law school, though, is just one high-demand time after another.  You can't let yourself get too caught up with pushing aside your personal obligations for the law school dominatrix.  The best solution is to realistically assess your obligations and avoid overcommitting, and make sure you keep up on your obligatory work.  If you have kids or other extraordinary obligations, this strategy means you may have to turn down competitions or other opportunities.  Tough.  Wouldn't you rather see your kid's first steps?  It also means you'll have to be a better time manager than someone with fewer committments.  It takes some work, but the returns are worth it.  Often, it helps to treat law school like a job, going at a set time every morning (whether you have a morning class or not), and coming home at a set time in the evening.  Single parents must adjust accordingly.

Admittedly, I had no family to worry about in law school.  That could be considered a "luxury" for a law student.  In some ways, it probably is, but the down side is that it was harder to get out of the law school mentality.  Even though having non-law-school friends and doing other things helped a lot, I probably was not always successful.

mmm . . . smell

It smells like snow around here, and the weather service says we may get some around here.

I guess I'll have to wait until the middle of the day before I can get a reasonable run in.

Welcome to Wyoming, any newcomers out there.

Law School Advice Part II: Guard Your Reputation

Yesterday, in Part I of this series, I discussed changing expectations in law school.  Today, I present what may be the most important tip of all.  Your legal reputation begins to be formed the second you first walk through the law school doors—perhaps even sooner if there's something about your application that starts the process.

Don't underestimate the power of your reputation.  As you may know, I am in a small state with a small bar.  But even in large areas, the community of lawyers is a small one, and lawyers of whatever stripe are notorious gossips.  And people in your class will begin forming opinions about others on day one—just as you will be forming opinions about them.

Practically, what does this mean?  Well, it means that you should take every action with an eye toward how it will be percieved.  This is not to say that you should change who you are for the benefit of other people.  Instead, it means you should carefully consider your actions.  Sometimes you may want to change something about yourself, but sometimes you'll be able to say to the world, "this is me, so get used to it."

Let's look at a couple examples.  Let's say you tend toward some unpleasant habit, procrastinating and not finishing assignments, for example.  The impact on practicing law is obvious.  Other lawyers will not want to refer clients to you, judges will not be pleased to see you in their courtroom, and it may be difficult to get covetet positions or assignments.  This may be a personal trait that you may want to evaluate and possibly correct.

Other theoretically-negative traits aren't really harmful, or shouldn't be the basis of changing who you are.  Political views are a good example.  It's a given that political views will probably influence some aspect of a lawyer's career, whether it's that first job, or possibly eventually landing a spot on the bench.  But even given that fact, nobody should feel pressured to change what they think about issues.  After all, doing so hasn't worked well for national political candidates.  Of course, considered and principled changing of views is a different matter—I'm just suggesting that changes should not be based on how it will affect one's reputation.  But the decision to air views on a matter—and how to do so—are strong considerations.

In my case, aside from the usual in-school reputation, I've chosen to run this blog, and to do it in a non-anonymous way.  I chose to keep doing it.  I no longer agree with some of the things I've written, and I look back on some of the writing and cringe, but I leave it up for various reasons.  Jill of Feministe has said it very well:

When it comes to internet-land, we all make choices. I’ve made a choice similar to Anthony[ Ciolli]’s — to co-run a website, and to do so under my full, real name. I’ve done that knowing that there will most certainly be consequences to that decision. There already have been. There have also been wonderful benefits, and so I’ve made the conscious choice to keep doing what I’m doing.

Read the whole post—it also shows the culmination of what can happen when someone cultivates an unnecessarily unappealing reputation.

So try to keep your reputation in mind when you're making decisions.  Even though it can be repaired over time, sometimes, fixing it is not as easily as breaking it.

Law School Advice Part I: Change Your Standards

Now that I've finished my three years of law school (which feels a bit odd to think about), I thought I'd share a few thoughts.  This post is the first in the series—I hope to do one a day until I run out of tips.  I'll dispense with all the talk about figuring out if law school is right for you.  If you're interested in what I have to say here, you've already made that choice (but it's worth checking to make sure it's the right one).

First, it is probably useful to mention a few things about me and my goals in law school.  Any advice I give should be read with that in mind.  For one thing, the culture at my school was very different than a lot of other schools—it was more laid back.  That said, I was successful in achieving my goals: I wanted to do well academically, but I also wanted to participate in as many things at the law school as I possibly could and—most important of all—enjoy my three years.

So, on to my first tip: Change your standards.

Most people who go to law school are used to being the best at what they do.  Often, we've managed to succeed with little or no effort.  I graduated college with a firm 'B' average, but I rarely did anything for classes other than the absolute bare minimum.  Most of the time, I just read the book, went to class, and took the test.  That was enough to get reasonably good grades, even though I could have done much better if I actually put in some real work.

Don't expect this to be the case in law school.  There's far less grade inflation (I'd be plainly lying if I said there were no grade inflation at all).  This means that for a lot of professors, a 'C' means a lot more than we've been led to expect throughout undergrad: average and acceptable.  A 'B' is awarded for good work, and an 'A' is reserved for exceptional, nearly-perfect work.  And "nearly perfect" is an extremely difficult standard to meet, so don't expect to meet it often—few people do.

On top of that, many professors still curve their grades.  I had a professor who would give perhaps one or two 'A' grades (perhaps none, if the work wasn't up to par), a few 'A-' grades, etc.  I actually think it lowers incentives for students to work hard when the chances of getting that 'A' grade are that slim.  It's more rational for a student to study less and get a lower grade while using that time for other work.  But regardless of the merits of the system, a lot of professors still use it.  You can't expect to be getting the same grades as before, particularly from the minimal work many law students are used to.

This goes double for writing.  Legal writing is hard, and very few people write as well as they believe they do.  Often, too, a person may be a very good writer in a different context, but struggles to adapt that skill to the legal writing context.  This new type of writing has special demands, so don't expect to simply be able to do it successfully out of the gate—it takes practice and work.

So, how did this translate for me, and how does someone use this information?  In my case I had read a lot of books about what law school was like (something else I highly recommend) before starting.  I also had read law student blogs and various other sources.  So I had an idea of what I've just described' and as a result, I got rid of grade expectations.  I decided to pretty much expect to be in the middle of the class.

To be clear, this doesn't mean I worked any less hard.  I worked harder than I ever have in my life.  But my expectations about what would come out of it were different.  It effectively shifted my focus from the grades (the end result) to the work I had to put in (lots of studying).  This focus shift really helped reduce stress and anxiety about grades and helped me focus on the process rather than the (rather arbitrary) result.

The benefits are especially apparent when I think about my second semester.  In that semester, I was burned out (I didn't pace myself properly) and just didn't work as hard.  Coincidentally, it was my lowest semester, grade-wise.  But when I look back on it, I regret primarily that I didn't get as much out of it as the rest of law school.  My change in standards allowed me to look back on it and identify my own shortcomings so I could correct them in the future.  Taking an objective look at myself would have been harder if I had been too tied up in my grades.

It can be difficult.  As often as we hear the phrase, "90% of law students are not in the top 10%" and give it lip service, most of us harbour a secret belief that it doesn't apply to us.  The biggest benefit of successfully changing your standards, then, is avoiding being shattered if grades are lower than before—which will be the case for the overwhelming majority of law students.  If you expect to do average and you do average, that's fine.  If you do better than that, perhaps earning a bunch of 'A' grades, then you can be pleasantly surprised.

Just remember to put in the work and do as well as you possibly can.

Disturbing

One of my cats (Sebastian, for the cognoscenti) has developed an odd habit: He appears to be fascinated with the toilet, and tries to investigate it whenever I involve it in any reindeer games.  Maybe he's thinking about getting into the act?  Except I always keep the lid down when not in use.

This trend is disturbing.

Stock Stories

I've been making chicken stock for a while now, but I never was really satisfied.  The stuff I ended up with tasted pleasant enough, but it unfortunately didn't seem to really be stock.  Classic stock (though there is some debate about definitions) should "gel" at room temperature.  The slow simmer draws out all the connective tissue and makes the final product sort of like a meat jell-o.  It doesn't sound appetizing, but it's actually quite desirable.

I haven't been able to achieve that so far, not until this latest batch.  I tried a couple different things, either might have done it.  First, I included three chicken carcasses rather than my usual two.  The theory there was that it would allow more of the good stuff to get leeched out.  Second, I included the drippings from the original roasting.  These drippings, I think, included a lot of the gelatin that comes off in the initial cooking.  That probably helped, too.

The end result is a fine, flavorful stock that I can use for all kinds of things.  I've got a bunch of "stock cubes" in the freezer right now, from putting the stock in ice trays.  I'll throw it in a lot of things I make to give it an extra kick.  On top of that, I often just boil a few cups of stock, throw in some vegetables and a bit of leftover chicken meat for an excellent, nutritious, and relatively low-fat chicken soup.  (The fat gets skimmed off the top of the stock during the cooking process.)

Next up, I'm going to experiment a bit with some of the added ingredients.  For example, some people think the classic celery gives the stock a too-bitter flavor, as traditional as it is.  (But then, traditionalists would probably cringe at the fact that I put hot peppers in my stock).  I also want to put in some vinegar to help extract more of the calcium and other minerals from the bones, making the stock that much more nutritious.

I'll probably make some beef stock soon, too.  My local butcher doesn't carry any poultry (!), but I shouldn't have any trouble getting beef bones.

Tears

This is the type of thing that literally brings tears to my eyes.  Fires are scary enough for people who have some idea of what's going on.  I can only imagine what it must be like for pets.

Onward

Hum.  Graduated yesterday.  But I think it really won't really hit me until I start my jobs.  Or maybe when law student blogs start up with all the school talk in the fall.  Or maybe when I get sworn in (with luck, October or so).

It was a pretty good day.  After graduation, they had a little luncheon, which was pleasant.  After that, we went to Fort Collins and as part of my graduation gift, we picked up a fair number of suits.  Decent suits.  Suits that actually must be tailored (they'll be ready in a couple weeks).  It will be very nice to actually have some nice things.

After that, we went to a party of one of my classmates.  He's from New Orleans, and every year he ships in live crawfish and hosts a boil.  This was a big one, given graduation.  He had tons of family there, and everyone was really friendly.  It was a truly great party, with amazing food.  The last pot of crawfish was really spicy--which is the best way to go.

I was truly wiped at the end of the day.  It was a lot of driving, and a lot of activity.

I suppose now it's time to find a place to live.

Friday Catblogging!

Graduation Edition!

That's right, this is the last catblogging post from me as a law student.  I've finished all work I need to do, I just have to turn it in, which will happen in a couple hours.

Tomorrow is the big day, so for this post I bring you a very special cat:

Have a great weekend--I know I will!

Drug Runners: Think Ahead!

Lately I've been reviewing an awful lot of search and seizure cases for my clinic work.  It's getting to be a struggle--I like criminal work, but this is sort of a mechanical task that I have to finish about 30 hours of (thankfully, almost done).

I will say this, though, I'm getting all sorts of interesting information on what stupid things people do.  Here's just a tip: when you have 30 pounds of marijuana stashed in your vehicle, you definitely should not do any of these things:

1. Drive 91 mph in a 75 mph zone;
2. drive with expired registration;
3. drive with a revoked license;
4. leap at the chance to have a drug dog sniff around the inside of your car; or
5. all of the above at the same time.

One would think that it would be wise to obey all rules of the road, if nothing else.  That seems to be the unconventional wisdom.  I can only imagine how much drugs do get through because people are being somewhat careful.

You Know it's Spring When . . .

Ah, springtime.  Even more than that, today is graduation for everyone else on the University of Wyoming campus (the law school is a week later).

Of course, we all know what that means:

Yes, that's my car taken about 10 minutes ago.  It's still coming down, and it doesn't appear to be ready to let up soon.  Granted, it's not sticking on the roads yet, but it might.  And driving tonight is likely to be treacherous, especially with all the graduation parties going on tonight.

If you must leave your house tonight, be safe.

Friday Catblogging!

Today, it's the cellphone camera edition.  Because my actual camera was at the office.  It's also the extreme close-up edition (because my cell phone camera isn't so good in low light).

I still have two take-home finals and a ton of clinic hours to finish up, so I'll really be buckling down for a while.

Have a great weekend!

Surprise for Later?

I hate those days where overnight I had vaguely thought I heard a cat vomiting, then can't find anything in the morning.  You know, like today.  Was I just dreaming?  Will I find a little surprise later?  Both?

Meh.

In other news, I'll take my last sit-down final of law school in a few hours.