How are your course outlines coming along?  By now, you should have enough information in each course to begin outlining.  Then, you want to add to your outlines regularly – preferably every week or every other week.  Remember that your outlines will be your primary study aids for exams.  Once you have a good outline for a segment of the course, your class notes and case briefs will no longer be your focus for that part of the material.  If you missed the outlining workshop this week, you can review the presentation online at the Academic Success webpage http://www.law.louisville.edu/academics/academic-success.  If you have any questions, please stop by the Academic Success Office (Room 212). 

Kaplan PMBR is offering a free MPRE review course for November examinees.  The course features include:

• Online Course Flexibility – practice your questions or watch the lecture when you want, where you want.
• Full-length Practice Exam – experience the actual exam time constraints and test your knowledge.
• Two online workshops - question-by-question review of core concepts and how they are tested.
• Substantive Outline Book – contains the most recent revisions to the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct (MRPC) and Code of Judicial Conduct (CJC).
• Online MPRE Qbank (quiz bank) - create customized tests, review detailed answers and analyze your strengths and weaknesses.

If you are interested, you can register by phone (800.523.0777), or online at http://www.kaptest.com/Bar-Exam/Law-School-Success/Professional-Responsibility/MPRE-online-course.html?cid=707448. 

Are you planning to take the November 7 MPRE?  The deadline to register for the exam is September 29.  You can register online at http://www.ncbex.org/multistate-tests/mpre/guidelines/registration.  The fee for the MPRE is $60.  The registration fee is nonrefundable.

Are you graduating this December and planning to take the Kentucky Bar Exam in February 2010?  The bar application filing deadline is October 1, 2009, and several items are required at the time of filing your application.  If you need help navigating through the many requirements, please stop by the Academic Success Office in Room 212. 

Evaluate your time management and study habits for the past three weeks.  Do you need to make improvements?  Are there problems for which you have not found a solution yet?  E-mail Ms. Ballard for an individual appointment so that you can get some assistance in those areas.  kimberly.ballard@louisville.edu

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.

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. 

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.