Tax Externship - Summer 2012

If you are interested in participating in the 2012 Summer Tax Externship, contact Professor Blackburn for detailed information.

All applications must be completed by 1 April 2012.

Time is a precious commodity in law school.  Some law students look for shortcuts; however, shortcuts are not the answer.  Instead, you want to use your time more efficiently and effectively.  Here are some suggestions:

• Learn the material as you read it rather than highlight it to learn later.  Ask questions while you read.  Make margin notes as you read.  Brief the case or make additional notes to emphasize the main points and big picture of the topic after you finish reading.  If you only do cursory "survival" reading, you will have to re-read for learning later which means double work.
• Review what you have read before class.   By reviewing, you reinforce your learning.  You will be able to follow in class better.  You will recognize what is important for note taking rather than taking down everything the professor says.  You will be able to respond to questions more easily.  Your confidence level about the material will increase.
• Be more efficient and effective in taking class notes.  Listen carefully in class.  Take down the main points. Use consistent symbols and abbreviations in your notes.  Before you leave the classroom, commit to summarizing the key points and include this short summary at the end of your notes. 
• Review your class notes right after class, or at least within 24 hours.  Fill in gaps.  Organize the notes if needed.  Note any questions that you have.  If you wait to review your notes until you are outlining, you will have less recall of the material.
• Regularly review material.   We forget 80% of what we learn in 2 weeks if we do not review.  Regular review of your outlines will mean less cramming at the end of the semester.  You save time ultimately by not re-learning.   You gain deeper understanding.  You have less stress at exam time.
• Look for the big picture at the end of each sub-topic and topic.  Do not wait until pre-exam studying to pull the course together.  Synthesize the cases that you have read on a sub-topic: how are they different and similar.  Determine the main points that you need to cull from cases for the sub-topic or topic.  Analyze how the sub-topics or topics are inter-related.  If visuals help you learn, incorporate a flowchart or table or other graphic into your outline to show the steps of analysis and/or inter-relationships. 
• Ask the professors questions as soon as you can.  Do not store up questions.  The sooner you get your questions answered, the greater your comprehension of current material.  New topics often build on understanding of prior topics.  Unanswered questions merely lead to more confusion and less learning.
  

We are already 6 weeks into the spring semester!  Deadlines may be starting to pile up.  And, your beginning-of-the-semester optimism may have worn off.  Consider the following tips to obtain optimal learning:

• Keep a positive attitude to affect your learning positively.  It is hard to keep your focus and perform at your best if a cloud is hovering over your head.  Negative thoughts, grumpiness, and sniping at others all expend energy in unproductive avenues.  Not only do other people want to avoid you when you exude negativity, but you waste your own time by moaning, groaning, and whining. 
• Focus on manageable tasks to increase motivation.  It is easier to get motivated to do small tasks rather than large projects.  Decide to read one case when you do not feel like reading the entire assignment.  Decide to write two paragraphs when you do not feel like writing an entire paper draft.  Decide to outline one sub-topic when you do not want to outline an entire topic.  Decide to do 5 multiple-choice questions when you do not feel like doing practice questions at all.  After you get started and finish one small task, you are likely to be ready to do another small task.
• Focus on what you can control rather than what is controlled by others.  You do not determine whether you will be called on in class, whether you will have a mid-term exam, whether your paper will have one or six draft deadlines, or whether you will have a multiple-choice or essay final exam.  So, stop stewing about things you cannot control.  Instead, focus on what you can control and take control of those things: your time management; your stress management; your outlining schedule; your reading schedule; your schedule for practice questions; your asking the professor questions and more.
• Use the many services that are available to you to improve your situation.  Ask questions during your professors' office hours.  If you are a 1L, talk to an Academic Fellow during their office hours.  Meet with the University writing center to improve your grammar and punctuation skills.  Meet with a University counselor if you have test anxiety, personal problems, or other issues that are making it hard for you to concentrate on your studies.  Go to the doctor if you are sick rather than self-treating and not getting better.  Getting assistance keeps you from feeling so alone in your situation and begins the work of solving problems.
• Do not focus on your bad choices last semester, last week, or yesterday.  If you have procrastinated or studied inefficiently and ineffectively or fallen into any of the other common student difficulties in studying, accept responsibility for those bad choices; but then, focus on today.  You cannot change what has already happened, but you can change how you study today and tomorrow. 
• Do not blame someone else for your difficulties.  It is not the professor's fault that you cannot do the practice problems if you did not study the material thoroughly.  It is not the professor’s fault that you got a low grade when other students did better on the same exam.  It is not your study group’s fault that you do not understand the material if you have not taken the initiative to attempt learning it yourself before meeting.  It is not your spouse’s problem that you are behind in your reading if you have not set up a study schedule that allows sufficient study time as well as family time.
• Stop resisting positive change.  Ask yourself whether you are having problems because you are clinging to ineffective and inefficient ways of studying.  You need to realize that nothing will change for the better if you refuse to make changes.  Knowing that you need to change something and still not changing it will accomplish nothing positive in your life. 
• Remember that you begin to earn your reputation as an attorney while you are in law school.  Ask yourself whether how you are acting today will place you in a positive light with your classmates and professors.  If not, then reconsider the behavior BEFORE you act that way again.  Being difficult to work with on an assignment may translate into a reputation that you will be considered difficult to work with as an attorney later.  Being lazy in law school may translate into a lack of referrals as an attorney because your former classmates will not be able to trust you to do a thorough job.  Being mean-spirited or gossipy or arrogant in law school may translate into personal characteristics that mar your reputation later as a new attorney.
  

When created correctly, an outline will become your primary, and possibly only, study aid for exams.  While law students create outlines to have an aid from which to study, it is through the process of creating an outline that you actually learn the law.  Because outlining is a process that continues throughout the semester, you need to begin at some point during the first month of classes.  Why?  If you wait to work on your outlines until the end of the semester, it is unlikely that you will have enough time to complete them prior to exams. Listen to your professors and to your colleagues that performed well last semester - start your outlines now!  Here are some tips to keep in mind as you work on your outlines for each course.

• View your outline as your master document for studying.  Your notes and briefs go “on the shelf” once you have outlined a section.  Your casebook is no longer your focus for completed sections.
• Make sure your outline takes a “top down” approach.  The outline should encompass the overview of the course rather than “everything said or read” during the semester.  Main essentials include:  rules, definitions of elements, hypos of when the rule/element is met and not met, policy arguments that can be used, and/or reasoning that courts use. 
• Cases are usually mere vehicles for information unless they are “big” cases.  Cases generally convey the main essentials that you need for your outline and are not the focus. 
• Condense before you outline.  If you include “everything said or read” in your outline, you will need to condense in stages to get to the main essentials that you actually need for the exam.  If you condense before you outline a section, you will save time later.
• Use visuals when appropriate.  If you learn visually, then avoid a thousand words by using a diagram, table, flowchart, or other visual presentation for the same information. 
• Review your outline regularly.  You want to be learning your outline as well as writing it.  The world’s best outline will not help you if you do not have time to learn it before the exam.
• Condense your outline to one piece of paper as a checklist.  A checklist includes only the topics and sub-topics.  Use acronyms tied to funny stories to help you remember the checklist.  Write the checklist on scrap paper once the exam begins.  For an open-book exam, the checklist should start your outline.
• If you read and prepare for your classes one or two days in advance, your Thursdays and Fridays should be open to work on your outlines – no excuses!
  

Being organized is essential to being a good attorney.  Law school is a great place to learn better organizational skills.  Here are some tips that can improve your organization:

• Keep all of your law school study materials in one place in your home rather than scattered in many areas.  When you have finished with study materials, return them immediately to that designated place.
• Before you go to bed at night, sort out the materials you need to take to school the next day and put them together.
• Keep student organization materials in folders or notebooks separate from your course materials.
• Keep materials for your part-time work in folders or notebooks separate from your course materials.
• Keep the syllabus, case briefs, class notes, and handouts for a course together in a 3-ring binder.  Designate a separate 3-ring binder for each of your classes.
• If color helps you organize, use different colored folders or binders for school courses, work, student organizations, etc.
• Read your syllabus carefully; highlight due dates and transfer them immediately to your calendar.
• Always date your class notes.
• Have as many consistent abbreviations as possible to use in your notes and outlines for all classes.  For each new subject, decide on special abbreviations for that class to use in your notes and outlines and stay consistent.
• If bold, italics, underlining, all capitals and/or font changes help you learn, use them consistently in your outlines.
• Have a consistent system to indicate material that your professor emphasized in class.  For example:  insert a star, underline the material, highlight the material in a different color, etc.
• Have a consistent system to indicate material that you have questions about.  For example:  “Q”, “?”, red asterisk, red ink, etc.
• If flow charts help you, use a large dry erase board for formulating a flow chart before you finalize it on paper or on your computer.
• Regularly back-up your computer files on a thumb drive or CD.