Wow!  You have already completed three weeks in the fall semester.  What should you be focusing on right now?  Here are some suggestions:

• Now is a good time to make a list of questions to ask your professors.  Plan when you will go to see your professors this week to get their assistance.  It is easier for a professor to get you on the right path if you ask questions early and often.
• This weekend is the perfect time to get caught up on your outlines if they are still non-existent or barely begun.  You have enough material in most courses to be able to determine both the “big picture” of the sub-topics or topics and how the parts fit into that whole.
• Now is a good time to use a monthly calendar to write down all deadlines for papers, projects, mid-terms, or assignments.  Plan over the next month when you will work on specific tasks for those longer-range deadlines.

Extegrity, publisher of Exam4, has posted the following on its Web site about Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and Microsoft Windows 7:

(Posted 26 Aug 09) Microsoft Windows 7 will not be supported for exams in 2009, nor for February 2010 bar exams. The consumer versions of Windows 7 incorporate modified and new functions. Extegrity's highest priority is to assure the stable and secure operation of Exam4. Updates regarding Windows 7 will be posted here, with the goal of supporting it for Spring 2010 midterm exams. If you are planning to purchase a laptop in the near future, we recommend buying one with Windows Vista now and upgrading to Windows 7 later, or if the desired laptop only comes with Windows 7, keep your previous laptop.

(Posted 26 Aug 09) Macintosh OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, scheduled for release on 28 Aug 2009, is currently under review. We expect, but cannot yet commit, to support Snow Leopard for Fall 2009 midterms. If you are planning to purchase a laptop in the near future, we recommend buying one with Macintosh OS X 10.5 Leopard now and upgrading to Snow Leopard later, or if the desired laptop only comes with Snow Leopard, keep your previous laptop until our announcement of support for Snow Leopard.

Note Taking (a reminder):  Law students have widely varying styles of note taking.  Some write furiously, recording every word the professor and fellow classmates utter; others take a few cryptic notes and call it a day.  The problem with both extremes is that they fail to encourage you to take an active role in learning.  If you record every word, you are not identifying or concentrating on what is important.  To take the best notes, you should take an active role in sorting through and summarizing what is said in class. 

Tickets for Lawlapalooza 2009, the Louisville legal community's annual Battle of the Bands, are on sale now in the Law Resource Center, room 272.  Student tickets are $5 each, and general admission tickets are $20, both in advance and day of show.

Lawlapalooza benefits the Judge Ellen B. Ewing Fund, which provides summer fellowships for Brandeis School of Law students to work in the areas of family law, domestic violence and spouse abuse, and HIV/AIDS.

This year's event will be held Thursday, October 1, at the Phoenix Hill Tavern, 644 Baxter Avenue.  Doors open at 6:00 PM, and the first band takes the stage at 6:30 PM.  The bands competing this year include:

• Living Proof
• The Velvetkings
• The Golden Rockets
• HeadTap
• Keltricity
• Assault With a Deadly Weapon
• 100% Legal
• The Ben Fultz Five

The International Ombudsman Association has announced that it is sponsoring an annual writing contest for students in law school or graduate programs in dispute resolution. In the inaugural IOA Student Writing Competition, law students are invited to submit articles arguing for a statutory privilege for organizational ombudsmen. The author of the winning article will receive a cash prize of $2,500 and an invitation to the IOA Annual Conference in April 2010 in New Orleans to receive the award. IOA will provide registration, airfare and lodging for the conference. The winning article may also be published in the Journal of IOA.

Submissions are due November 15, 2009.

• Take time to be informed. Information on both the seasonal flu and 2009 H1N1 virus is dynamic and evolving. We will send out information periodically; it takes only a few minutes to read an email or a news item on our website. It is especially important for students to routinely check their UofL (Groupwise) email.
• Do your part to control the spread of viruses. Practice frequent hand washing, cough into your sleeve, keep your work area clean, and practice self-isolation if you become ill.
• Students living in campus housing with flu symptoms who are within reasonable driving distance should return to their homes or stay with a nearby relative or friend to recuperate. It is recommended that students returning to their homes have someone drive them.

Using a Long Weekend to Your Advantage:  Tackle your most onerous study task as early as possible this weekend.  That way, it won't hang over you during the long weekend and add to your stress.  Also consider tackling your hardest study tasks when you are most alert.  Your brain will absorb material more easily for greater understanding and retention.  Consequently, you will feel better about your study session and lower your stress.

Monday, September 14 - deadline to apply for a December 2009 degree.

ULink  -  Student Services  -  Degree Application

In response to the student survey recently conducted by the library, subscriptions have been entered for the following popular magazines:  The Nation, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Vogue, Real Simple, Louisville Magazine, People, Consumer Reports, Mac World, Entertainment Weekly, and Popular Science.  Current issues will be available in the library's Reading Room.  Thanks to all students who participated in the survey.

Using a Long Weekend to Your Advantage:  Create a structured study schedule and stick to it!   If you have been “flying by the seat of your pants” on your time management, now is the time to create a schedule and stick to it for the remainder of the semester.  If you follow a study schedule, you will be able to complete your reading and briefing one or two days before class (without rushing through the material), rather than the day of class.   You will also ensure that you are devoting enough time to other study tasks, including reviewing your class notes, outlining, meeting with your study group, working on papers and projects, and completing practice questions.  Perhaps the best part about following a study schedule is that you can have guilt-free time off because you have finished all of your study tasks for the week.  And, your family members, significant others, and friends will know when you will be free.  To create your own study schedule, use the blank time management schedule posted on the Academic Success webpage at http://www.law.louisville.edu/academics/academic-success.  If you need any assistance in completing your schedule, stop by the Academic Success Office (Room 212).

Founded in 1993, the Louisville AIDS Walk is Kentucky's largest fundraiser for HIV/AIDS. Funds raised at this event ensure that those in need continue to receive the food, medical assistance, housing, counseling, legal assistance, and other support services provided by a diverse group of local non-profit organizations. Sunday, September 13, 1-5 pm is the 17th Annual Louisville AIDS Walk.  Join other students and professors in supporting this great community event. To register, please visit http://louisvilleaidswalk.kintera.org and join the Louisville Law team. For more information, please contact Sandra Moon.

Using a Long Weekend to Your Advantage:  Congratulations!  You are beginning your third week of classes.  For those of you who are new to law school, things should be getting into a routine now.  For those of you who are returning to law school, you probably feel like you never left because it is all so familiar.

You now have a long weekend that you can look forward to.  Use this time to improve your future workload as a law student.  Three days can be a blessing for law students who have gotten behind in their reading or who are feeling sleep-deprived.  This week's tips will provide suggestions for getting the most out of this weekend.  Tip 1:  If you are still getting settled in to your apartment, try to finish all of those tasks by the end of the weekend.  Finish unpacking boxes.  Finish organizing your study area.  Finish the final decorating touches.  Starting Tuesday morning you want to make law school your priority.

Should I rely on an upper-division student's outline or a commercial outline to prepare for exams?  NO.  Remember that you are not creating an outline to turn in as an assignment or to win any awards.  The outline is another tool from which you can study the law.  The process of you outlining a course dramatically increases your ability to retain the information and to develop a sense of what information you will need to apply to a set of facts on an exam.  In addition, commercial outlines are not always in tune with the material as presented by your professor.  Canned outlines may be helpful to fill in any gaps after you have done the work, but they SHOULD NOT take the place of your own outlines.