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My alarm buzzed quietly at 6:30 this morning, but I was already wide awake. My mind had been racing since I got into my bed just seven hours before. This could have been because last night’s Game of Thrones episode absolutely murdered my mind, but mostly it was because I was nervous. All night, I tossed and turned, experiencing a nightmarish adult version of the anticipation that a child feels on Christmas Eve. Instead of waiting for a fat guy to slide down my chimney and shower me in gifts, I was waiting for my very first law school Contracts class at 8 a.m.
Last night, as I sat in the extra bedroom of my house that my roommate and I have attempted to designate as an “office,” I completed my first reading assignment. It took me an hour and a half to painstakingly read through 26 pages of my casebook. This was one of the wordiest, most pretentious pieces of literature I have ever read. The last thing I want to do is get my ass kicked in by my new professor on the first day of class, so I took some notes, highlighted things I thought might be important, etc. The only thing is: I’ve never really read legal cases before, so I actually don’t even know what I’m supposed to be looking for.
As excited as I was to start law school today, I also felt an unnerving sense of being thrown into deep water with concrete shoes on. I don’t even know how to read legal casebooks, let alone take useful notes on them. At this point in time, I’m just kind of bullshitting until I get a better idea about what is supposed to be going down. This is exactly what I was afraid of.
I’m going into grad school with a completely different mindset as compared to when I started undergrad. Now, I feel a greater sense of not only motivation, but responsibility. This is less like school, and more like starting my professional career. I can’t exactly skip class every Friday or hide from my professors in the back row on days when I’m hungover. This is a whole new ball game, and one I’m not familiar with.
I threw on a J. Crew tee, olive green jeans, and my trusty New Balance tennis shoes that I’ve been rocking since my frat rat years in true millennial fashion. I put on my glasses and grabbed a cup of coffee. I packed my backpack up last night, 15-pound casebook and all. School is literally 2.2 miles from my house, and I left for school 17 minutes before class started.
Turns out, traffic in this college town is a little worse than expected at 8:00 in the morning, and at 7:55, I was peeling into the parking lot. At 7:57, I speed-walked through the building and yanked the door to my classroom open. Fifty pairs of eyes met mine, and I swear to God, there were 3 open seats left. My professor, a 60-something-year-old bald man with a white beard, made a comment about people showing up three minutes before class. I’m pretty sure I started to sweat profusely at this point. I practically ran up to the top row and sat next to some dude I met last week at orientation. In my panic, I had failed to notice that my chair was arranged right next to a giant column right smack dab in the middle of the classroom. Guaranteed this seat was only open because nobody else wanted to sit there. It was arranged in such a way that if the professor walked too far to the left of the room, he completely disappeared behind this behemoth of a column, and I was stuck listening to his voice, waiting for him to come back into my view. Fantastic.
So I sit down, and immediately pull my book out. My law school was charitable enough to give all 1L students brand new iPads, so I pulled mine out to turn it on, just in case I had gotten any emails. Within 30 seconds, my professor makes this comment: “I see you guys must have read the syllabus, ‘cause I see a few computers. We’ll get to that in a minute.” Immediately, I think to myself, “…I didn’t really read this dude’s syllabus. I’m guessing we can’t use computers? Fuck.” I looked around and realized that I’m pretty much the only person with a computer out. I very quietly tried to stifle my impending panic attack, and slid my iPad very slowly back into my backpack.
So let’s assess my current situation: I’ve been here for maybe 3 minutes, am seated next to a giant column that impedes my vision, and so far, my professor has not only made a comment about my punctuality, but he also knows I didn’t read his syllabus in its entirety. My God. I am a failure. Call my parents, alert the press — I have made a huge mistake.
But, luckily for me, about five more people show up after I do, and by this time, they’re actually late. The only open seats left in the room include two broken desks, and a few free-standing chairs at the front of the room that aren’t even part of the seating chart. At least I wasn’t one of those chumps.
Shortly after humiliating the students who were late, my professor launches into his introduction. Turns out, computers are a big no-no in his class, something I had failed to read in his syllabus since I had just skimmed the entire thing looking for first-day assignments instead of reading classroom policies. I am now deathly afraid that this man will forever remember me as the dumbass who tried to get a computer out on the first day of class. I digress.
He only touched on our assigned reading for around 30 minutes and spent the rest of the time hashing on how difficult our 1L year is going to be. By the time he was done discussing how we should have known how to write briefs on the cases we read last night before we showed up to class today, I was having a quarter-life crisis right there in Classroom 6. As I looked around, I saw the same fear in everyone else’s eyes, the same sweating brows, and shaking hands. I have no idea what this dude is even talking about, and half of these words I need to look up in the law dictionary. Does anyone know what procedural posture is? I sure as hell don’t, but apparently I need to know by tomorrow.
My professor wrapped up class with a smile, and told us he is looking forward to seeing us in the morning. I have three more years of this. Three more years in which I will potentially make an ass of myself in class and/or silently sob into my Patagonia pullover in the bathroom stall. I’m so excited. Law school is going to be so much fun.
See you guys at happy hour. .
[Image via YouTube]
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@taylordoestweet
@itsthestovallshow
sexychocolate
I’ll be a 3L next year. Still don’t know what I’m doing. You’ll be fine.
This is the best type of comment to read. And damn true in many facets of life
I’m studying for the bar right now. Listening to my Barbri lecture as I type this. Trust me, having any clue what you’re doing is a rarity.
I’m also studying for the bar. And I’m not, but should be, listening to some sort of lecture right now. #PGP
Barbri won’t help you have a clue about things either. (See Rule Against Perpetuities)
“No computer” policies are archaic, most people type faster than they can write now.
We got them taken away in our first year crim law class because WE HAVE A FUCKING SNITCH. I hate her so much and I am definitely not alone.
Snitches get stitches.
Just graduated law school, few things;
1. Weird as it may sound, you’ll probably learn more without a computer. Don’t sweat it, it’s just one class.
2. Give it a semester. Maybe a year. As a 2/3L, everyone on all sides give much fewer shits, and the pressure is much more manageable. (Unless you go to Baylor. Don’t go to Baylor).
3. Find a study group. And by study group, I mean people you can get shitfaced with after a long week. Spoiler: there are a lot of long weeks. You thought you drank a lot as an undergrad. Lol.
It’s a hell of a ride. Kill it
I graduated law school in May of 2014 and this comment could not be more on point…
Purely out of curiosity, what’s the difference at Baylor Law? Also, I’ve heard they scare you to death in 1L, work you to death in 2L and bore you to death in 3L.
Baylor is consistently rated the most “competitive” law school in the country, which is a nice way of saying they promote a cutthroat environment for students. Stolen pages out of books, lack of collaboration and general animosity between students, and a year round school schedule.
And that’s not even counting all the legal work the football team is creating…good job Baylor.
I’ll help you with your procedural posture
Just found last weekend’s weed in my Civ Pro book in the law library. PGP.
PGPM
You’ll be fine as long as you give a solid effort. Professor is just being a hardass to you first-years to weed out people that won’t end up putting in the hours and waste everybody else’s time.
I’ll be sure to tell Mr. Johnson you had a good day.
Invest in a Qumibee subscription. By the end of the semester you won’t have the time (or motivation) to carefully read each and every case and Quimbee will save your ass a time or two.
Also it’s been said before but no one knows what they’re doing in law school. Everyone will get embarrassed by a professor and everyone will feel like quitting at some point. You’re going to be fine. Those professors that seem terrifying are the ones you’ll be asking for letters of recommendation for your first internship. Good luck!
– A Rising 2L
QUIMBEE. Can’t recommend it highly enough. I read the cases once through, asked myself what I thought was the deal, and then went to quimbee to figure it the rest of the way out.
Reading the syllabus is incredibly vital- our property professor threw a few tidbits on there and had a quiz day one- talk about anxiety.
Figure out which professors want what. Our Contracts professor only cared about the facts, our torts professor was only interested in the holdings, etc.
Read as much as you can, but don’t drive yourself batshit insane.
Good luck, it gets better, you’ll be fine. Keep an eye out for and make friends with some of the “normal” people, you’ll see what I mean in a few weeks. After you get your first year in, the second and third aren’t terrible because you know what you’re doing. Once you hit 3L you’re bored out of your mind. I’m studying for the Bar now, and I feel like I’m doing more work than I ever did during school… You’ll do great!
First couple months of grad school is basically one gigantic outer body educational experience. Just finished up mine and I promise it will be the best fucking day of your life graduating. Good luck, step up, and get after it. have fun at happy hour, you’ll need them