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Five Ideas To Celebrate Your Law School Achievements

June 7, 2022 by Leave a Comment

Five Ideas To Celebrate Your Law School AchievementsThis week we welcome back guest writer Tiffany Lo to discuss some ways to celebrate all you have done in law school!

My law school classmates have done amazing things: publish a student note, achieve a victory for their client in a clinic, argue in front of a court, finish an extensive research paper, present at a conference, organize guest speaker events, advocate with the school administration or local governments, put together student mixers, compete in moot court, ace a job interview, incorporate feedback and so much more. Whether you are about to (finally!) obtain your J.D. or simply want to reflect on your work in law school so far, it’s always a good time to celebrate your achievements. During the inevitable moments of stress and self-doubt, it helps to remind ourselves that we are on the right track.

Here are some ideas that you can use to celebrate all the cool things you’ve done in law school: [Read more…]

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What Ted Lasso Teaches Me About Succeeding In The Law

December 7, 2021 by Leave a Comment

What Ted Lasso Teaches Me About Succeeding In The LawThis week we welcome back Tiffany Lo to talk about what the show Ted Lasso has taught her becoming a success in the legal world.

Who doesn’t love Ted Lasso? I am not ashamed to admit that I anxiously await every Friday for the new episode to drop.

The show constantly surprises me with new layers to its characters. They are complex human beings, all with admirable qualities that I hope to emulate. I think that law students can learn something from each and every character and apply these lessons to thrive in law school and in their careers.

Below are my thoughts on some of my favorite characters. Warning: spoilers ahead! [Read more…]

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How To Navigate Law And Politics During The Holidays

December 15, 2020 by Leave a Comment

How To Navigate Law And Politics During The HolidaysThis week we welcome back guest writer Hillary Vaillancourt to talk about managing some difficult topics at the holidays – including politics!

Several months ago I applied to work as a contract attorney for a bankruptcy firm. I needed to be admitted to a federal bankruptcy court, however, and another attorney in the firm offered to sponsor me for admission to the federal bankruptcy court. For over an hour, I chatted with this attorney, and we had a lovely conversation. He sponsored me for the court, and we said goodbye.

A few weeks after I was admitted to the bar, I had a legal question in this attorney’s jurisdiction. I called him, he took the time to talk with me and answer my question, and then out of the blue, he asked, “What’s your opinion on wearing masks?” [Read more…]

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3 Lessons From Quarantine I’m Taking to Law School

August 18, 2020 by Leave a Comment

3 Lessons From Quarantine I’m Taking to Law SchoolThis week we hear from guest writer Cathlyn Melvin to discuss what she’s learned from her time so far in quarantine and what she will be taking the law school as a lesson from that time.

We’re more than halfway through 2020, and I think we can all agree on at least one thing: this has been a year of creative solutions, building new systems, and forming new habits.

After a couple of weeks quarantined alone during Second Winter (Chicago’s third of 11 seasons, which comes just before “Spring of Deception”), I knew I’d need to make some major adjustments to my initial quarantine schedule. (For clarification, my initial quarantine schedule included a lot of snacks. And not much else.)

With a few weeks of experimentation, I finally found a groove that allowed me to tackle tasks and complete projects that had been languishing earlier. Now I’m preparing to start my first year of law school, and there are a few lessons I’ve learned in quarantine that I’ll be taking along with me when I move across the country this fall. [Read more…]

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Supporting Your Friends of Color in Law School

September 10, 2019 by 1 Comment

Supporting Your Friends of Color in Law SchoolThis week we welcome guest writer and 2L Stephanie Nweke, to talk about some of the best ideas for supporting your friends of color as a law student.

Discussions on race, diversity, and inclusion can make people feel really uncomfortable. As a female, first-generation, and African American law student, I’ve had experiences with people who have negative stereotypes and unconscious biases towards me.

The best way to respond accordingly to discrimination and prejudice is to address it upfront. The legal profession has generally been slow to change, especially regarding matters of diversity and inclusion. A misconception is that the responsibility to provide more diverse and inclusive spaces is only for law firms and companies. Law schools are part of the problem by not being intentional about cultivating these environments for students of color to feel secure and excel. Law schools must also prioritize recruiting a diverse pool of talent, so that the ultimate goal of delivering quality legal services is fulfilled.

[Read more…]

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Dealing with Imposter Syndrome

May 28, 2019 by 2 Comments

Dealing with Imposter SyndromeThis week we welcome back guest writer Kathryn Blair to discuss what Imposter Syndrome is and how you can deal with it if it’s something you’re facing.

“Imposter Syndrome” is a term that many of us have heard in recent years. And many of us that have heard of it, regardless of age, race, gender, or educational accomplishments, have had an instant “Aha!” moment. It is especially common among women and minorities, and it is prevalent in high-stress, high-achievement environments like law and academia. [Read more…]

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How to Balance Screen Time as a Law Student

May 14, 2019 by Leave a Comment

How to Balance Screen Time as a Law StudentThis week we welcome back guest writer Christen Morgan to talk about how to make sure you’re not overdoing it on screen time as a law student.

Immersed in an era of recurrent tech developments, it’s no secret that we’ve transitioned from a point where screen time was optional to a point where it’s a mandatory portion of any school curriculum and workplace agenda. I recall my time in college where my laptop spent most of its time in my dorm room mainly to be used for additional research or the final draft of a class project. I rarely saw a need to bring it to class because all of my notes were handwritten, and as much as I enjoyed the independence it gave me from being tied to the library desktop computer, its clunky and slow pace was oftentimes more of a nuisance than anything. Needless to say, too much screen time wasn’t much of an issue. Fast forward just a year later to law school, with a new laptop and smartphone in hand, I arguably spent more time on my screen than interacting with actual people. Complex course lectures pushed me into typing my class notes and my case briefing, memo writing and brief writing assignments resulted in my spending endless hours on Lexis Nexis and Westlaw. My increase in screen time had not just become more of a reality, it was now a requirement bordering on the wall of obsession. [Read more…]

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Does your Law School Supplement Spark Joy?

April 30, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Does your Law School Supplement Spark Joy?

This week we welcome back guest writer Alexandra Muskat to discuss how the KonMari Method of tidying can be applied to law students.

If you’re a Netflix addict like myself, you’ve likely heard of the popular new series, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.” The hit series based on an international best-selling book, brings the decluttering Japanese technique, KonMari, into American homes. Throughout the series, Kondo enters the home of several families, gets to the root of core issues that influence the mess in their home, then walks them through the five KonMari steps aimed to declutter their surroundings and give them peace of mind. The series most definitely triggers emotion, as we witness firsthand how this method benefits a family whose hectic schedule, complete with caring for two toddlers, causes a rift in their marriage. We see how this method helps a grieving widow who finds it difficult to say goodbye to the items of her loved one who has passed on.

However, the episode that I connected with most deeply was episode five. This episode titled, “From Students to Improvements,” surveys the mess of two recent graduates, now turned writers whose personal libraries have become overwhelming. As a recent graduate myself, I’ve admittedly held on to books and papers trailing all the way back to my junior year of college. Therefore, I personally felt the frustration of this couple as they struggled to discard books or papers. However, I was amazed at how freeing the KonMari method was in improving their home and benefitting their lifestyle. So this got me thinking. More specifically, it got me thinking that if this method can be effective for former students, how much more so could this method benefit current law students? Well, let’s find out.

[Read more…]

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Highlighting: A Feel-Good Waste of Time

March 26, 2019 by 2 Comments

Highlighting: A Feel-Good Waste of TimeThis week we welcome back guest writer Christen Morgan to talk about why highlighting might not be the best strategy when trying to memorize in law school.

What’s your favorite study strategy? Do you delve deep into using flashcards or do you plaster note tabs and sticky notes by each important point to create a roadmap for your brain? Do you outline diligently throughout the semester or entirely procrastinate then cram it all at the last minute and pray that through some magnetic force the information will ultimately stick? Regardless of your study style, I’m sure that you may have relied on highlighting at some point or another as a way to quickly remember the most important points in your dense case law reading. However, if highlighting is your chosen study technique, I have some bad news for you, “highlighting doesn’t actually help you remember anything.” In fact, research shows that highlighting is simply a waste of time because it fails to embed knowledge into your brain. [Read more…]

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Dealing with Negative People in Law School

March 12, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Dealing with Negative People in Law SchoolWe welcome back guest writer Alexandra Muskat to talk about some strategies for dealing with negativity in your life as a law student.

When you first start law school, you get instant friends. Generally, everyone is just as nervous as you are and somehow this fear bands us together. Before law school, I had worked for four years as a nanny and my friends were mostly under the age of five. The one thing I was really looking forward to when I started school was meeting people my own age. And that happened. I had the largest friend group I’d ever had, was included in countless group chats, inside jokes, and hour-long sessions of complaining about school.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Surviving Law School Tagged With: , ,
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