Graduating Law Students:  February 2 is the last day to apply for a MAY 2012 degree. All May 2012 graduates must complete the application for degree, regardless of whether you intend to participate in commencement.  In addition to applying for a degree, be sure to check your unofficial transcript on ULink and complete a degree check form at http://www.law.louisville.edu/academics/registration-forms. 

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.
  

Brandeis Academic Fellows will begin to hold their office hours this week.  The schedule for office hours is attached, and is also posted on the Academic Success Bulletin Board and outside Room 102. 

Time is a commodity that most law students lament during law school; however, balance can be achieved in law school.  A 15- or 16-credit law class load can be easily balanced using a one-third, one-third, one-third formula.  The 168 hours of the week can be divided neatly into sleep, law, and the rest of life. How does that work?  Do the math:

• 56 hours of sleep (8 hours each night for 7 nights)
• 56 hours of law (15 in class, nearly 3 times that [41 hours] outside of class)
• 56 hours of the rest of life (eating, socializing, exercising, shopping, and attending to the score of weekly chores we all have to take care of)

If you need more than 41 hours outside of class, borrow a few of the “rest of life” hours. The real question then becomes one of scheduling, and of efficient use of each of the 56 hours of law. Lawyers work on rigid schedules, imposed by client appointments, court hearings, trials, filing deadlines, and other necessities over which they seldom have control.  In law school, except for about 15 hours of your 168 hours per week, you have nearly total control over your time, and thus there are no excuses for not having enough time to thoroughly prepare for class, review notes after class, meet with professors, outline, etc.  If you find yourself making excuses, you need to take control of your time and your life by creating a weekly study schedule. 

When creating a schedule, keep the following tips in mind:

• Most students find that they get more out of their reading if they read for a class two days ahead.  For example, read on Saturday for all Monday classes; on Sunday for Tuesday; on Monday for Wednesday; etc.  This schedule allows you to read more carefully and to reflect on the material while reading; allows you time to review before class; and allows you to have Thursdays and Fridays for outlining, practice questions, time for papers or projects, review of your outlines, etc.
• Put your commitments in first:  class attendance; work hours; study group times; sleep; meals; exercise; student organization meetings; non-law reward time, etc.  Then, fill in your reading/briefing, review before class, review of class notes within 24 hours, outlining, practice questions, project time, review time.  If you overdid it on reward time, you will have to designate additional study time. 
• For most law students, 40-45 hours per week outside of class throughout the entire semester will mean reviewing near exam time instead of learning it for the first time. 
• It will take 2-3 weeks to get a weekly schedule that feels comfortable and works consistently.  As you evaluate what worked and did not work each week, alter the schedule to make better use of your “alert” time and your ability to concentrate in blocks.  Include short breaks within longer blocks of studying so that you are able to focus and concentrate.
• The rewards for good time management are that your stress goes down, you are better prepared for studying for the bar, and you are better equipped as a new lawyer to manage a client load and work tasks.
  

Professor Jones recently published the memoir “A Hidden Madness.” It tells the story of a successful academic who has long struggled, mostly in silence due to fear of stigma, with severe mental illness. He has spoken more than 50 times about “Severe Mental Illness, Stigma, and the Value of Treatment” to groups including university nursing, law, medical and social work students, and won an award for his mental health advocacy efforts.

Here are some things to consider at the start of this new semester.  I am happy to help you with any of the areas for which you want to make an appointment.

• Remember that a grade measured your knowledge and application on one set of questions at one point in time on one day.  If you did well, congratulations.  But do not slack off because you think you will do that well again without working hard.  If you did not do as well as you wanted, realize that changes in study habits can make a world of difference.  Some people catch on to law school faster than others.
• Study smarter not harder.  There are many strategies and techniques that can make you more efficient and effective.  Law school success is not only about knowing the law and applying it.  Law school success is also about knowing how to study the law.  Even 2L and 3L students can benefit from new study habits. 
• Ask for assistance if you are not happy with your grades.  Make an appointment with Dean Ballard to strategize regarding your study routine.  Ask questions regularly of your professors.  Find a good study partner or study group.  If you are a 1L, participate in the Structured Study Group program. 
• Use study aids wisely.  Study aids are supplements to your own work and processing of the material.  Study aids are not shortcuts to avoid your own work.  You must do the struggling with the material to understand it deeply and be able to apply it.  Use study aids to assist in your understanding.
• Remember that memorization of the law takes time.  You must know your “black letter” law as a foundation.  You must know the main rules, the exceptions to the rules, the variations on the rules, and the exact elements/factors of the rules.  Drill.  Drill.  Drill.
• Outline every week for every course.  By staying on top of your outlining, you give yourself a master document from which to study for exams.  You need to understand the overview, the relationship among concepts, the methodologies (steps of analysis and tests), and enough detail to flesh all of it out.  By condensing material each week, you begin to master these four levels of knowledge.
• Review regularly throughout the semester.  Study for exams all semester long.  If you distribute your learning, you will have deeper understanding of the law, retain information better, recall information better, recognize issues more easily, and be able to answer questions more effectively.  You forget 80% of what you learn within two weeks without regular review.  If you wait until the last six weeks to study for exams, you will be re-learning nine weeks of material while you are learning six weeks of material for the first time. 
• Practice applying the law.  It is essential to know the law, but you MUST be able to apply the law to new fact scenarios.  The more practice questions you do, the better you will be at spotting issues, understanding nuances in the law, and using proper test-taking techniques.
• Use time management techniques to your advantage.  You can get all of your tasks done every week and still have time to enjoy life!  If you work with Dean Ballard on how to structure your time, you can read/brief, review before and after class, outline, write papers, and complete practice questions each week with time left over.
  

Tuesday, January 10 is the last day to add a class or change to an audit.

Jump start your studying this semester.  Study aids are available for the following subjects:  Conflict of Laws; Criminal Procedure; Trial Practice; Constitutional Law; Business Organizations; Evidence; Domestic Relations; Secured Transactions; Tax; Decedents Estates; Negotiation; Administrative Law; Bankruptcy Law (supplements); Envrionmental Law; Intellectual Property, and all first-year classes including Criminal Law.  Stop by Dean Ballard's office to peruse the selection.

The regular filing deadline to sit for the July 2012 KY Bar Exam is February 1.  Before you mail your application, be sure to attend the KY Bar Exam program on Thursday, January 12, at 12:15 p.m. 

Guest speakers, Eric Ison, Chair of the Kentucky Board of Bar Examiners, and Bonnie Kittinger, Director and General Counsel of the Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions, will discuss the following important information:

• Most common mistakes students make on their bar applications;
• Most common student questions the Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions receives
• Statistics for bar passage;
• How to prepare for the essay component of the Kentucky Bar Exam – what subjects are covered; how questions are drafted; how the bar examiners grade answers; and
• The Do's and Don'ts when answering essay questions on the Kentucky Bar Exam.

Both speakers will also be available to answer specific questions you may have about the application or the exam.  The program will begin at 12:15, in Room 275.  Lunch will be provided.