Exam4 for mid-term exams in Professor Hasselbacher's Introduction to Health Law and Professor Roberts' Basic Income Tax is now available.  Students in those classes should check their e-mail for more detailed information from each professor.

Beginning February 28, the American Bar Association (ABA) will send a site team to our law school to evaluate our faculty, staff, and students.  The purpose of the evaluation is to make sure that we are complying with the ABA's rules and regulations.  On Monday, February 28 at 5 p.m. and Tuesday, March 1 at 12 p.m. in room 275 the ABA site team will have meetings with our students.  You are encouraged to come to both meetings and discuss any issues that you feel are relevant to your enrollment as a student at the Brandeis School of Law.  Ask questions and feel free to make comments.  Pizza and soft drinks will be provided at both meetings.

The American Bar Association is sending a site visit team to the Law School February 27-March 2 as part of the periodic accreditation review that every law school undergoes.  Please see the attached memo from Deans Arnold and Bean about why, what to expect, and what role you can play.  Thanks!

Time is a precious commodity in law school.  Law students are always looking for shortcuts, but 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 rather than frantically writing or typing verbatim notes.  Use consistent symbols and abbreviations in your notes.  
• Review your class notes 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.
  

After being informed that the Awards Ceremony is scheduled to take place on April 1, the SBA has decided to change the date of the Barristers' Ball to April 8.  Please mark this change in your calendar and stay tuned for more details.

Congrats to the Saul Lefkowitz Trademark Team who competed this weekend! 

Chris Arnold and Richard Williams had two very strong oral arguments and were complemented on their command of the case law and effective use of analogy. 

Marilyn Osborn and Whitney True received the award for "Best Brief," and were awarded the "Best Overall" team score.  Marilyn and Whitney will be moving on to the national rounds at the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on March 26th.  They were coached by Mr. Jack Wheat of Stites and Harbison. 

Congrats to Sarah Potter and Brittany McKenna for making it to the
semi-final round  by placing 2nd out of twelve teams in the morning round of the Client Counseling Competition this past weekend in Vermillion, South Dakota!  Thank you both for your hard work and effort in representing the University of Louisville, Brandeis School of Law.

The LBA is recruiting players for the Attorneys Summer Softball League. Both male and female players are sought for all positions. Softball or baseball experience is preferable.

There are only a limited number of spots available on the team roster. The team will play in the weekly Attorneys League at Turners located on River Road Monday evenings. Game times vary from 6:30pm to 9:30pm depending on the number of teams registered. The league will begin play a week or two after Derby week.
 
Contact Steven Valdez at the Louisville Bar Association at 502.569.1357.

Student registration for the Loyola University Chicago School of Law Patent Law Interview Program begins today, February 14th and runs through March 7th.  Rising 2L and 3L students are eligible to participate.  The Patent Law Interview Program will be held on July 28th and 29th in Chicago.  If you are interested in finding out more about the program or registering, go to:  http://www.luc.edu/law/career/patent_students.html

(A letter with instructions for interested students is attached.) 

Captain Michael Masters will be presenting an Information Session at 11:30 a.m. in the Brandeis Room (112).  All interested students for summer intern and active duty positions are welcome to attend.

If you would like to learn more about opportunities with the U.S. Marines, go to:  http://officer.marines.com/marine/winning_battles/leadership_positions/law/judge_advocate

NOTICE REGARDING MILITARY RECRUITMENT 

In order to conduct job interviews in the law school or to obtain assistance from the Career Services Office, prospective employers must sign a statement of nondiscrimination based on race, color, religion, nationality, gender, disability or sexual orientation.  Federal laws relating to military service preclude representatives of the Armed Forces from signing the nondiscrimination statement in its entirety.  Congress also has enacted a statute, known as the Solomon Amendment, requiring that federal funding -- including several categories of student loans -- be terminated at any educational institution that refuses access to military recruiters.  Therefore, the law school grants access to military recruiters who sign the nondiscrimination statement to the extent consistent with federal law.