Do not let this Happen to You! -- Lessons Learned from my First Year in Law School

With the beginning of my second year of law school less than a week away, I've been contemplating the highs and lows of my academic life last year. I have two nightmarish stories... learn from my mistakes and avoid these two things during your first year in law school.

ONE:

First thing to do, when you receive your Civil Procedure's final, make sure to read the instructions closely, if it says there are TWO questions on the essay exam, be sure to flip through the 100 page fact pattern and Rules of Civil Procedure supplement before you start writing the essay question so you find both questions! It is not fun to submit your essay answers electronically with the rest of the class, and then be prompted to open the supplement to complete the multiple choice questions and discover Essay Question 2-- and you have no way of going back and writing anything down to submit for your essay exam.

That pretty much sucks.

However, as I was not the only person in my study group to completely miss question 2, you have several options.

1. 
   
   You can excuse yourself from the classroom, run to the bathroom, and cry hysterically then start doing yoga breathing to calm yourself down. After five minutes, you've collected yourself, and you return to the classroom ready to complete the multiple choice section of the test with confidence.
2. 
   
   You can discover that you didn't answer the second question; stare blankly at the page for five seconds, then scribble a pathetically insipid apology for the professor that you just now discovered the essay question, and then write down in bullet points what you would have covered in the essay if you'd written it, all the while hoping that Prof. Civ Pro will give you a few pity points at least.
3. 
   
   You can freak out, begin swearing loudly as you sit at the desk, surrounded by your classmates. None of your classmates can hear you since they are all wearing earplugs, but you come to your senses when the proctor gives you the evil eye. You numbly answer all of the multiple choice questions in the packet, not confident of your answers, and hope that other classmates also skipped the question so you will at least PASS Civil Procedure and not have to take the class again. 

Those are your options. I won't tell you which of the above options I did, but I will tell you I passed Civil Procedure.

 

Barely.

TWO:
The second lesson that I learned...
Two weeks before your oral argument at the 10th Circuit Courthouse downtown, do not get into a car accident. Do not let your husband drive you to church, and do not let your neighbor back out of her driveway at 50 mph and smash into the passenger side of the car, totalling your car, and smashing your head into the window. Do not let this happen.

Ok, none of this was actually avoidable, but the car accident not only totalled my car, but it really ruined my last two weeks of law classes and finals. It's hard to be organized and immersed in studying when you're balancing doctor's appointments, insurance agents, chiropractors, well meaning lawyer friends who want to sue, while trying to get a rental car and then buy a new car because after all you live 20 miles away from campus. Trying to focus on delivering a stellar oral argument is impossible when you are still reeling from the news that when you went to get your head examined after the accident your doctor determined that you had whiplash... AND you are four weeks pregnant.

I stumbled my way through the oral argument and finals, not with grace, but with sheer determination. And I survived.


Barely.


I'm pretty confident that this year of law school has to be better than last year. While I don't want to jinx myself, I know I'll never again repeat my Civil Procedure melt down. And, unless my water breaks during my Constitutional Law final this December (which is within the realm of possibility), really nothing can be as bad as my first year.

It takes a lot to fail a class in law school. Despite my miseries of last year, that is one promise I hold on to. While I don't have a 4.0, I'm pretty happy with my grades. While I don't have the best class ranking, I'm confident in the fact that I ranked pretty high compared to my classmates who also held down full time jobs.

So I leave you with that. My two lessons learned, that I hope all future first year law students benefit from. And the reassurance that it does in fact take a whole lot to fail a class in law school. So don't worry, just do your best, and try to answer all the questions on your final, and be wary of cars backing out of their driveways.

You'll be fine.