The 1L Chronicles: May Edition

By Dan D. Hallberg

Managing Editor

I remember when I was in high school thinking as I entered my sophomore year, “Wow, there is no better feeling then not being a freshman anymore.” Well I was wrong, because I am quite sure that there is no better feeling in the world then not being a 1L anymore.

If I remember correctly from orientation, there were a lot of copies of The Forum lying around and to kill the time many of us read through them several times. Well, I hope some of you incoming 1Ls are reading this column now because this column is for you. In fact this column could even be yours next year. I mean, I can’t write it, so someone has to. So here you go, a little advice for you just cutting your teeth in the law school world from someone who just finished the year.

Words of Wisdom for the Valpo Law School Class of 2013

1.  Don’t hoard books.

This won’t make any sense to you right now, but in a week or so you’ll have your first legal research assignment. First off, I’m sorry. Second off, if you need a book, don’t take it to your desk; just write down the answer or the info you need in a notebook or something in the stacks where you found it. If you don’t, everyone will hate you.

2. Make outlines, don’t collect them.

The whole reason you do outlines is so that you review the material as you write them. There’s nothing wrong with having a few others to compare with, or even well organized one from someone else for use on open book exams. However, you don’t need to start up a collection of them, there is such a thing as too much information.

3. Don’t be late to Civ Pro.

If you have Prof Lind she will kick you out. No joke. Other than that, she is a delightful person.

4. Don’t worry about grade normalization.

I know a lot of you have been getting A’s for the better part of your scholastic career. What you’re going to find out is that that’s not going to be the case here. We have a thing called grade normalization going on here and it kind of works like a bell curve. Other law schools will have a curve or something like that, but a grade system like this is not that uncommon. You won’t ever understand it, it won’t affect your grade too much, and you have have absolutely no control over it, so don’t worry about it.

5. Everyone’s first writing grade sucks, just take a deep breath and deal with it.

You’ll be getting your first writing assignment soon, and you’re going to work very hard on it. You’ll put in tons of effort and try to work in things you learned from writing in undergrad and think that you did a good job adjusting to the new writing system that we use in law school. Then, about a month later when your prof finally grades it, you’ll see that your paper is hemorrhaging pen ink. Don’t be discouraged, it happened to all of us, and we’re still here. Also, don’t forget the honor code, that’s 10 points right there.

So that’s it guys, for those of you leaving good luck getting jobs, and for those of you coming in, heed my words. Trust me, they’ll do you a lot of good.

Dan is a 1L and can be reached at forum@valpo.edu.