People apparently keep asking my wife if I am enjoying law school. (I haven't spent much time on the phone myself.) She doesn't know how to answer, and perhaps I don't either yet, because what I've mainly been saying is that I am surprised at just how time-consuming it is thus far. I haven't yet found the work to be difficult conceptually or intellectually brain-bending in some way that makes your head hurt, but I have found there to be A LOT of work. I wonder when it is a 1L is intended to sleep? Perhaps the enjoyment will come once a couple things fall into place: 1) I get a better idea of how much preparation of the material is necessary to constitute an adequate understanding (and maybe even mastery!) of it for class discussions and the exams. 2) My classmates and I get to know each other better and develop firmer friendships. I think if either of these things occur, it will turn into downright enjoyment. Right now survival seems more pressing... [Note: a previous entry about how screwed up patent laws are seems to have been lost. When I get over the frustration of lost labor, perhaps I'll post it again.]
Posted by Brian at August 25, 2003 05:13 PM | TrackBackBoalt supposedly has the least competitive environment of the top law schools. What's your take on that so far?
Just Curious
Posted by: curious at September 3, 2003 08:51 PMAfter 2 1/2 weeks, which may not make for a full impression, and with no other law school experience to compare it with, I would have to say Boalt most definetly does not have a competitive atmosphere.
A couple points in support: First, you are placed in a module of about 30 students. (There are 9 such modules in the entering class.) You take all your classes with these same 30 people. Two of the classes are small, with just your module there, and two classes are bigger, combining three modules. So, you get to know these 30 people REALLY well. I think we sort of feel like we've all been tied together and thrown overboard into the sea of the first year as a group and as a consequence we're clinging to one another for dear life rather than trying to drown the person next to us.
Second, the grading system sort of makes it pointless to compete. The top 10% will get High Honors (HH), the next 30% get Honors (H) and then everyone else who doesn't totally screw up gets Pass (P). Also, they do not do class ranking. You cannot find out your class rank. (Apparently they will calculate it when required to do so for judicial clerkship applications, but even then I'm not sure you get to learn it, and if you do, I'm sure you are not allowed to disclose it for any other purpose.) So, faced with such a system, you just do your best and hope for Honors, and if you're extremely lucky, maybe you'll get an HH. At least that's my impression.
Boalt.org hosts outlines of classes done by past students. So if you read that famous book One L you'll recall the big deal they made of letting people in on their outline, etc. Well, we've got bunches of outlines that have been donated to the world through the gracious kindness of past students and if I work with any group to create such outlines I fully intend to share it with the world in a similar fashion. This is more evidence of the generally collaborative and friendly atmosphere I've seen thus far.
Even though you didn't ask, I'd add two things I didn't fully appreciate about Boalt until now.
1) Even if you read the list of student organizations you won't fully realize how many cool groups there are to get involved with. I want there to be 48 hours in a day so that I can do 15 of them.
2) As a consequence of #1, a person can get a free lunch and often a free dinner almost every day of the week! Wow! I've heard some other 1Ls joke that if Boalt had just advertised this fact more, then that alone would have sold them and Boalt could have held off on all the other info!
Feel free to pose more questions if you've got them.
Posted by: Brian at September 3, 2003 09:18 PM