1L at a T75 regional school here. Anyway, class would go much better if people just participated without being forced to. I'm not saying people should try and jump in during other people's cold calls, but when a question is addressed to the entire class, and its been quiet for 5 seconds, raise your hand, throw something at the wall and see what sticks, as long as its in good faith, who cares! And honestly you'd be surprised at how much more you will learn when you are willing to be wrong, or only partially right about something.

The only exception is criminal law. For whatever reason at my school, that class is full of sharks waiting to snap up anyone who steps out of line against whatever their normative view of criminal law is. (only kind of joking)

I feel so silly for being so upset because it is literally ungraded. But to me I read it like there are kids in the class who are naturally just doing well already and since it is curved, how on earth could I possibly perform better than them on the real exam?

Did people significantly improve from midterm to final? And how did you will this into existence? Sometimes I highkey feel like its just a skill / IQ gap and some people are just meant to finish at the top.

And do students usually see significant improvements in the second half of the semester / right before the exam?

I dunno, I just don’t feel compelled to. I’m at a T6 and my section of ~40 people already has maybe 5-10 people who are usually very proactive about asking and answering questions in class whenever the opportunity arises. It’s not like they prevent anyone else from contributing, actually frequently their questions and contributions are genuinely helpful to my own understanding, but I just feel like I usually don’t have anything to add in the moment. Like rarely do I have something to say the second it’s brought up, it usually takes me a few minutes for things to percolate but by then we’ve moved on.

I usually try to answer the prof’s questions in my head and see if I get them right and if there’s something that’s not clicking I just write it down and email the TAs or go to office hours. I think I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve actively spoken up this semester (outside of being cold called) in all my classes combined.

I’m afraid classmates and/or teachers think im dumb though. Worse, I might actually just be dumb.

Our Civ Pro professor sent an email yesterday that said:

"Tomorrow we'll spend a little more time on personal jurisdiction before moving on."

That was the entire substantive content.

Within ten minutes our section group chat had produced approximately seven competing interpretations.

"Does this mean PJ is heavily tested?"

"Maybe people did badly on the practice question."

"Why would she say a little more time specifically?"

"She wouldn't email us unless it mattered."

Someone went back through the syllabus to calculate whether we were technically behind schedule. Someone else found something the professor said in September and tried to reconcile the two statements like they were conflicting circuit opinions.

Then one person finally wrote, "Guys maybe she just wants to spend a little more time on personal jurisdiction."

Silence.

Obviously absurd. Far too textualist.

I've noticed we do this with everything now. Professor moves an assignment by one day? Exam implications. TA says "focus on the big picture"? Cryptic warning. Career services sends "friendly reminder"? Three people immediately wonder whether they individually screwed something up.

A professor cancelled class because he was sick earlier this semester and someone genuinely asked whether we should still know the cancelled material for the final.

I came to law school expecting to learn how to find hidden meaning in complicated language. I did not expect the collateral damage to be losing the ability to accept the sentence "I am sick, class is cancelled" at face value.

At this point if a professor emailed "Have a nice weekend" I'm fairly certain somebody would ask whether weekends are on the exam.

3L applying for public interest jobs that open applications early. I sent my application through email as this particular organization says to do. I’m used to getting back a “we received your application” email. It’s been a couple of weeks. Is it appropriate to send something? If so, what should I say?

Hi all. Question to those of you who have done the legal secretary course with the Law society. How practical is it? Do law firm look for that course in job applications? I have done general legal studies and now a bit hesitant about the legal secretary course. Would apreciate any info.

When I first started school, I was so excited to read the cases! They were so compelling and interesting! Now, I can hardly stay focused on the text! It is sooooo painstaking to get through these reading assignments.

Hi everyone! Hoping you all have some advice.

I’m a 1L, and I’m really struggling to make friends. I’m friendly and I talk to a lot of people, but I merely feel like an acquaintance. There’s an established friend group that I get along really with, but I can’t help but feel like I’m kind of on the outs and “intruding” on them.

It’s like I’m not left out but I’m not that included, if that makes sense. Everyone is always nice to me and we joke around and stuff but they’re not texting me outside of school or inviting me to bar review when they all show up together etc etc, so that’s just the frustrating part. I know it isn’t being done maliciously and instead is more subconsciously. I struggled my last 2 years of undergrad with the same thing, so I think that’s why it’s hitting me so hard right now.

I feel like I’m always the first one to reach out to people, but I never get invited to plans anywhere and there’s been multiple occasions where people have made plans right in front of my face. I didn’t know anyone going into this semester, and I’m feeling pretty dejected and hopeless that I won’t be able to find friends. I’m really struggling and feeling like I don’t belong here.

He is tenured, writes a truly insufferable [blog](https://substack.com/@ecantu), and then lectures his class about free speech when people complained.

Just venting. Sorry if this isn't the appropriate place, I just hate being even tangentially associated with this person.

Will I be shooting myself in the foot if I do Evidence, Admin Law, Antitrust, and Non Profit Orgs next semester? Worried I'm adding too much to my plate if I take it all at once.

1L at a regional school :

I am wondering what the timeline is for grades to get back for midterms at your schools? We took ours a month ago, our last week of substantive classes is the week of thanksgiving. We still do not have our Contracts or Civ Pro grades back, Torts is partially graded.

Is this normal? I am assuming yes, so far the stress has not gotten to me but it gets worse each day closer we get to finals.

Haven’t even gotten the memo grade back.

Thanks for any input

I need some words to prevent me from spiraling & crying uncontrollably after being incredibly humbled by my first legal memo. I scored below the median & while I’m not sure whether I had the lowest grade in the class, I’m struggling to see whether it’ll get better from here. Our final memo is the biggest chunk of our grade (worth substantially more than this first one) and I don’t know if it’s even possible to make a comeback. Am I really that cooked?

Hi all:

Doing a little AMA for anyone interested in criminal law or prosecution. I am also on the hiring committee and am involved in training new prosecutors, so if you have questions about that feel free to ask!

Is anyone else just over this? i'm a 2L and 1L was ok, I moved to a new city, made some friends, and got through it. I guess I just hoped 2L might shake things up with classes/people and be better, but i still just feel isolated and lonely. I'm in a ton of credits and am busy/doing fine academically but I just feel bored and at this point want to skip to the end of the school year. idk i don't want to just wish these years away but im missing my old life of just being with good friends and being fun. if anyone's got any advice id appreciate it

Hello, I am a 1L. I have had a rough go so far. I was off to a bad start to begin with - I found out I was pregnant the first week of school and decided to end the pregnancy and have not recovered emotionally. Now, my brothers addiction and mental health is getting worse. It is impacting my work because my home is violent and I have to live here because I can’t afford to live anywhere else. I managed to scrape by and make it though midterms, but I have a legal writing assignment due thurs that was already extended by the prof by two days. I am trying to right but all I hear is my brother wailing and making noises in the background, and fist fighting and screaming between him my mom and my dad. I go to the library but I don’t like to stay too late because I am a woman and my campus isn’t in the safest are. I also can’t sleep sometimes because of the noise. I live in fear of him dying every day. On top of that I am grieving. Is it ok to ask for an extension?

I’m a recent law school graduate currently clerking in New Jersey state court. I was wondering whether it’s possible to transition to New York City after my clerkship and, if so, how would I do that?

so Im in first year and i don't feel like i belong in this college. The people here are very shitty and toxic, i was feeling down coz of it and now my cia marks are available n i did terrible. So i need serious help in how to navigate law school.

if you're in law school please please dm me i need it very bad

I picked a good time early enough to do my research, and now it's down. I guess I'll have to wait until the night before.

hey all, im a law student from India. i am currently in my third year and i haven’t really achieved much as of now. My grades may be above average but are not exceptional. I haven’t interned at big firms or with big-shot advocates yet. I haven’t even had my first moot court competition yet. I feel like I’m really lagging behind. My friends are out here interning at top firms and participating in international moot court competitions while maintaining an excellent cgpa and then there’s me—I haven’t achieved anything in comparison to that. If you were in my place what would you do? I wish to know how to proceed from here on for a better skill set and CV, please feel free to advise me!

So please be nice if I’m wrong but I was under the assumption that the only ones to get a job between 1L and 2L were the top of the top of the class. My school is having a career fair and I was confused as to why so many of my 1L classmates were so insistent on going. Am I missing something by not thinking I needed to attend this or am I right in assuming it’s kind of futile to try to build these connections when we don’t even have grades to report. Just looking for some clarification so I don’t fall behind