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Post- Semester Blues: How to Bounce Back from a Bad Semester

January 21, 2020 by Leave a Comment

Post- Semester Blues: How to Bounce Back from a Bad SemesterThis week we welcome guest writer Stephanie Nweke to talk about how to recover if first semester didn’t go well.

It’s a new year, and a new decade. Congrats on making it through another semester, or if you’re a 1L, your first semester of law school.

Things happen unexpectedly during the semester, and it’s unfair that your class grade is usually the sum total of your performance on one exam. That’s why law school grades aren’t always indicative of how great of an attorney you will be.

Regardless of your satisfaction with your grades from last semester, you should always take time to reflect and prepare for the upcoming semester.

So, from my personal experiences, I want to share some of the things that have helped me bounce back!

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Preparing for a Fresh Start Second Semester

January 7, 2020 by Leave a Comment

Preparing for a Fresh Start Second SemesterThis week we welcome back guest writer Briana Borgolini to talk about starting things off on the right foot in the new semester.

Whether you feel satisfied with your performance first semester, or you think you could improve a bit, preparing for a fresh start second semester is something all law students can benefit from. The first semester is often stressful and difficult to manage for many students, which makes starting second semester with a good frame of mind crucial. Regardless of first semester’s outcome, it is important to remember that you can’t change it now. However, you can use it to reflect, and to set yourself up for a fresh start second semester. [Read more…]

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How to Stay Resilient When a Professor Criticizes Your Efforts

December 24, 2019 by Leave a Comment

How to Stay Resilient When a Professor Criticizes Your EffortsThis week we welcome guest writer Alexandra Muskat to talk about handling criticism from a professor and bouncing back.

Early in my law school career, namely first year, first semester, about halfway through, we had a civil procedure midterm. Up until this point, I hated law school. I felt like everyday my schedule would shift, or swell. I felt overwhelmed by everything; I hated taking the train in and out of Boston, and my weekends were filled with a noxious amount of anxiety.

Then this midterm approached. I can still remember staring at the essay question and my blank page on Examsoft and thinking, “What the heck am I doing with my life?” [Read more…]

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Cultivate Relationships with Faculty After Graduation

October 29, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Cultivate Relationships with Faculty After GraduationThis week we welcome back guest writer Mark Livingston to all about maintaining relationships with your professors and other faculty after school.

Law school is all about connections. Connections with your classmates, faculty, and supervisors and colleagues at internships, externships, and clerkships throughout law school. The people you interact with in law school represent the foundation of your legal community. If given the right amount of care and attention, you can cultivate these relationships and feast on the fruits of your labors for years to come. [Read more…]

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Three Reasons Reading Fiction In Law School Is Important

October 8, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Three Reasons Reading Fiction In Law School Is ImportantThis week we welcome back guest writer Hillary Vaillancourt to talk about why adding some fiction reading into your law school routine might be a good idea.

Open any law school online forum and you will likely find numerous instances of prospective law students asking questions like, “I’m thinking of going to law school, but I also like to read for fun. Can I do both?” or “How do you find time to read for fun in law school?” Oftentimes you will find responses such as, “Read for fun in law school? I couldn’t even find time to read my horoscope.”

The real answer to whether or not you can go to law school and also read for fun is yes, yes you can. But, more importantly, here’s why you should read for fun in law school.

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Take Two: Learning From Our Mistakes and Regrouping For Another Round

October 1, 2019 by 2 Comments

Take Two: Learning From Our Mistakes and Regroup For Another RoundThis week we welcome back guest writer and recent law school grad Mark Livingston to discuss how to learn from your mistakes and move forward.

Fortunately, law school is only three years long. Unfortunately, law school is a long three years. Although you only have a finite amount of time to get things right while earning your JD, there is room during those three, long years to make mistakes; learn from those mistakes, regroup for the next exam, paper, or semester; and grow as a law student. When I began my law school journey as a non-traditional student, I was certain I knew how to study, what my learning style was, and that all of the things I learned from my previous career had provided me with all I needed to reign supreme in class. I was in for a painful surprise. My initial feedback was less than I had expected, but exactly what I deserved. I needed to regroup and adjust if I had any hope of avoiding failure. Here are a few tips that apply as well to life as they do to law school. [Read more…]

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Combatting the “Out-of-Water” Feeling of 1L

September 24, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Combatting the “Out-of-Water” Feeling of 1LThis week we welcome back guest writer Alexandra Muskat to talk about dealing with the adjustment to law school as a 1L.

The first few weeks of law school are over for many of you, and I’m sure that the “out-of-water” feeling is starting to set in. When I first started school, I was totally overwhelmed by the feeling that something was wrong. I had a tremendous amount of anxiety and couldn’t comprehend why I had decided to put myself through this experience. I also had an incredible bout of imposter syndrome – I constantly felt like someone was going to pull off the shroud around me and decree to my classmates that I was a fraud. [Read more…]

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Gender Bias in Law Schools (And What You Might Be Able To Do About It)

September 3, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Gender Bias in Law Schools (And What You Might Be Able To Do About It)The week we welcome back guest writer Kathryn Blair to talk about gender bias in law school, and some ideas for combatting it.

Statistics released by the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Women in the Profession show women have been inching closer and closer to receiving half of J.D.s awarded in the United States, finally appearing to have achieved that parity in 2018. Contributing to that, 2016 marked the first year that women made up more than half of the student body at law schools in the United States. [Read more…]

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Why Learning to Be Positive is the Best Thing You Can Do for Your Law School Career

July 16, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Why Learning to Be Positive is the Best Thing You Can do for Your Law School CareerWe welcome back guest writer Alexandra Muskat, to talk about positivity in law school and why it can help you in your law school career.

Even before law school starts, you will have been inundated with messages from people in your life telling you how hard law school is – how hard the curve can smack you down, how scary cold calling is, how grades can make or break your career, and how ridiculous the bar exam feels. Then you start school, and it’s just as hard as these people made it out to be. [Read more…]

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Three Things I Would Do Differently In Law School

July 9, 2019 by 2 Comments

Three Things I Would Do Differently In Law SchoolThis week we welcome guest writer Hillary Vaillancourt to discuss some changes she would make if she were going through law school again.

I still remember feeling like I was on the brink of something great the day I walked into my law school for my first day of classes. My whole career was ahead of me. The possibilities were endless.

I went to law school wanting to be Atticus Finch or Erin Brockovich. I was going to work for a nonprofit or move to Washington, DC and lobby on Capitol Hill for animal rights or children’s rights or the environment. Who needed to know estate planning or business law? Estate planners and business attorneys, not a future philanthropic advocate like me.

Turns out I was wrong about a few things. Here’s what I would do differently if I could go to law school all over again.

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