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  One-L Help picture of law student under stressUpdated August 21, 2008

Law school is challenging, stimulating, frustrating, and stressful. Sometimes you can use a little advice and
guidance from someone who's been there . . .

bulletAdjusting to law school life
bulletBlawgs
bulletCourses in the first year
bulletExams  
bulletHelp for foreign students
bulletJob-hunting and resume writing
bulletStress relief
bulletStudying & note-taking
bulletTime, news, and weather
bulletThe UALR law library
bulletUsing computers, e-mail, and word processing

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Adjusting to law-school life

bullet A Beginner's Guide to Legal Education, by West Virginia law prof James Elkins, a wonderful site full of
sensible advice, thoughtful inspiration, and practical guidelines
bullet Incoming One-L FAQ is full of questions (and answers) that every One-L (first-year student) needs to know.
bullet"Socratic Method"? What's that? Here's a fair description of one of law school's most widespread teaching
methods (from American University's Washington College of Law).

Blawgs

"Blawgs" are blogs devoted to law and legal topics, and they are proliferating faster than bunnies. Here are links to
some of my bookmarked sites (and they'll all have links to others):

bullet Legal Writing Prof Blog (my personal favorite, but I am biased)
bullet The (new) legal writer (written by appellate attorney Ray Ward)
bullet The California Blog of Appeal (for some reason, appellate lawyers care a lot about writing)
bullet Above the Law (irreverent, gossipy, fascinating)
bullet Prawfs Blawg (the secret inner musings of law professors?)
bullet SCOTUSblog (some people keep an eye on everything happening at the Supreme Court)
bulletThe Volokh Conspiracy (law prof's musing on all things First Amendment and otherwise constitutional (or not))
bullet Adams Drafting (all those ticky and technical things about drafting contracts)
bulletMootness: The Moot Court Blog (central clearinghouse for all things moot)
bullet Public Defender Dude (I picture this blogger with cape and superpowers)
bullet JD2B (requires registration for full access; aimed at law students)

 

Courses in the first year  

bulletFor RWA, you'll surely find The Law Student's Guide to Good Writing a big help.
bulletVexed by venue? Jinxed over jurisdiction? Irked about intervention? Perplexed about pleading?
Delirious over diversity? You must be taking a course in Civ Pro. Cornell University provides good
generalized and specific-topic overviews of civil procedure.
bulletOffer and acceptance, promissory estoppel, restitution, damages—we're talking about contracts.
Another good overview from Cornell.
bulletLearning the law of (the) land? Here's an overview of real property law from Cornell University.
bulletWhat's a tort? It's not a cake unless it hits you in the face. Visit Cornell University's Tort Law: An Overview.
bulletNor did Cornell forget about criminal law, a course you'll take in the spring semester.

 

Exam preparation  

bullet Outlining, from Suffolk University School of Law
bulletTips for exam preparation and old exams on-line, from JURIST
bullet Taking Multiple Choice Exams, from Suffolk--probably more useful after the first year
bulletCheck the exam preparation resources available in the UALR Law Library
bulletLinks to old law school exams from a lot of other schools

Help for foreign students

Law school is hard, but even harder if English is not your first language. Here are some links that give special help
to those for who are learning American English and U.S. culture at the same time they are learning American law.

bullet Writing resources for law students using English as a Second Language (ESL).
bulletOverview of the American legal system (this is actually a good review for everybody)
bulletA collection of links to help international students, from the Internet TESL Journal
bulletEduPass, a web site devoted to providing information for students from other countries who are considering attending college
or graduate school in the U.S., including things such as —

            • American social customs and cultural differences
            • Living in the USA   

Job-hunting and resume writing

bulletFind law firms in the Martindale-Hubbell Directory.
bulletTake a practice interview online at Monster.com.
bulletAn online network for summer jobs -- Summerclerk.com
bulletEverything about federal law clerk jobs, all in one place
bulletGood tips on legal resume writing, from the North Dakota School of Law
bulletAnd more good tips for resumes from Stetson University School of Law
bulletAdvice for creating a writing sample from Suffolk University School of Law
 

Stress relief

bulletTips for law school stress relief, from Thomson Peterson's legal publishing company.
bulletIn February 2005, the American Bar Association polled law students about their typical ways to handle stress.
bulletThe title is a bit weird, but "Roasting the Seeds of Law School Stress" contains great advice from stress expert & law prof Larry Krieger.

 

Studying & note-taking

Develop good law study skills now, and your chances of passing the bar exam on the first try will increase significantly.

bulletTaking notes with your laptop, or just pretending you're attending court reporter school (i.e., transcribing everything)?
Here are some good tips for taking better notes in class—whether on paper or electronically.
bulletDon't you just love those Dummies Guides to everything? Now they have advice for note-taking on computers--for the rest of us.
bulletFrom St. Louis University School of Law, some valuable study tips
bullet Ten tips for success from the Res Ipsa blog

Time, news, and weather 

bulletWhat day is it or will it be? A very cool online calendar —hit the arrow button to go to next month.
bulletSince you are too busy preparing for class to watch TV for the headlines or the forecast (you are, aren't you?),
here's the local news and weather online.

The UALR law library

bulletDoes the library have what you're looking for? Go to THEMIS, the online catalog.
bulletWhat else can you find online from the library? Explore from the home page.

Using computers, e-mail, and word processing

bulletClick here for access to UALR's web-based e-mail.
bulletLearning to use Microsoft Word — a free online tutorial.
bulletYou could ask your kids—but if you don't have any handy, here's a tutorial for finding information on the Internet
(from University of California at Berkeley).

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