Law-Student-Blog.com

We start August the 25th.  I’m actually a little excited to get back to the studies full time.  I know when I get back I’ll be dropping Con Crim Pro for Insurance Law.  I really should have initially signed up for Insurance Law because my favorite professor teaches it.  It’s no coincidence that the professor I like most is also the class I got a B in both semesters.  Contracts is such an interesting and practical subject but the teacher has such a good personality I can’t help but like him.

If you aren’t comfortable with a class when you get back, don’t hesitate to drop it.  Now there’s a difference between avoiding work and getting out of a bad class and that’s something you’ll have to figure out for yourself, but I say if you don’t like how it’s starting, you probably won’t like how it ends so you might as well get out now.  You need to make a fast decision though.  You don’t want to drag your feet because you’ll miss time on the next class you take.

If I hear one of those professors say, now I’m very hard and I don’t give out good grades, that’s when I know my time with that class is over.  Yes, of course I want to learn, but I’m not going to absorb a C just because I have some antiquated professor who likes to give bad grades just because.  You’ll hear that GPA counts and you’ll hear it doesn’t count.  From my impression, if you want to make serious money out of law school - and this will be more than likely by joining a law firm - GPA does count.  Now, after you have some experience, I’d probably agree it applies less, but still why wing it?  Why not just get a good GPA?  So, I’m trying to score high.  I don’t need a law professor out to make me work harder than I need to for less of a grade.

The BD&J Personal Injury Lawyer Los Angeles website has information on a team of experienced lawyers. This law firm specializes in personal injury, brain/head injuries, motorcycle accidents and much more.  This site is packed with useful information to help people who are in need of legal representation. In addition, this team of law professionals has experience in dealing with insurance companies. The law office is located in Beverly Hills. Each attorney on the team offers the best possible legal representation in every case that is handled. They serve the greater Los Angeles county and surrounding areas.  For answers to commonly asked questions check out the FAQ page. There is also a convenient online contact form for users to fill out or you can call the 800 number in order to receive a free consultation. No matter the cause of the accident or injury, this firm will be happy to consult with you about any personal injury.

You need to remember that your time is precious and your money is premium. Don’t join a bunch of student organizations because you think it will look good on your resume. Just join a few that you have a legitimate interest in. Be leary of the organizations such as Phi Alpha Delta that have exorbitant fees and don’t offer much in the way of getting value for your dollar. Law Student organizations should be inexpensive and provide you with an investment in someway to your legal career. If you’re adding them for a bullet point, forget it. Remember, you should only join a few. 2-3 will suffice.  A couple of organizations that you provided substantive participation is better than 10 where you only wrote a check.

I highly recommend you acquire the Microsoft Office 2007 Suite for your note taking in law school. One Note gives you the ability to outline as you take notes which could literally save you hours reoutlining later. Sure, you’ll have to make some revisions but with one note everything is in your notebook and automatically saved every time you write so there is no whoops I accidentally pressed a button moment. The feel of OneNote also gives a nice soft atmosphere and its functions and usability are silky smooth. When you’re taking feverish law student notes in torts, you’ll be glad you have this package. As a student, you can probably find it for $130.

Your first year legal research paper usually arrives before the middle of your second semester and can be quite taxing amidst all your other work.  Here is some advice for completing and scoring well on your paper.  First, do not delay starting your paper.  Start it immediately.  Second, ask questions until you have everything you need.  Make your legal research teacher earn their money -  this includes visits out of class.  Also, for additional sources, check your cases provided.  Those will lead to a bevy of other related cases to your issue.

One thing you can not afford to do in law school is become unorganized.  You will find the more you write down and keep under tabs, the easier life will be.  Write all of your reading assignments and things to do in one place.  Also, keep all your materials together at home.  If you start tossing around books, notecards, sticky notes, highlighters, papers, etc. things will get lost in the shuffle.  If you stay on top of everything, you will find you save yourself time and peace of mind.

You want to be active when in law school because that certainly counts for jobs later on down the line, but you don’t want to be too active, nor do I recommend you become too focused on one single group.  I’m not advocating a passionless sign up for the groups your in, but I’m telling you that you want to have diverse legal interests rather than having tunnel vision on one group.  Law school is completely different than the outside legal world in the sense that you are getting no practical interest.  If you dedicate yourself to one thing, you may find out later that really isn’t what you want to be about.  I recommend being a member of the basics at your school and then joining and participating in 2-4 organizations you think your interested in.

The next question posed in this law student blog is what is the test as to whether this speech can be regulated.

There are 2 basic ways:

Apply a specific rule - the 1 we talked about test : brandenburg test (incitement test) if there’s speech and the concern is that the speech is to incite third party - incite imminent lawless action; 2 was his speech likely to produce it

The other way we have dealt with questions: deals with 2 sided category approach of determing whether the regulation is content based regulation (worried message will do harm to the audience or the audience will do harm) or content nuetral

If the gov is regulating communication that is not expressive; the question is whether that regulation is simply a regulation of content nuetral regulation

Can the city say you can’t walk down middle of the street; is this a content nuetral regulation; it doesn’t have anything to do with message; it’s a concern about traffic, the alternative as a time, place, manner thing doesn’t prevent the message

Freedom of speech by Law Student Blog.  Incitement of lawless action

(see: Brandenburg case) Notes:

Constitutional right founded in the first amendment

14th amendment due process clause Law Student Blog

All gov officials are limited by freedom of speech

The problem with freedom of speech, it si the most varied of constitutional topics

What we find is that in these situations; in following the coruts reasoning in these cases; we have to start by recognizing generally that the freedom of speech as a con protection covers all kinds of human communications; offers potential protection from state regualtion

As we start asking ourselves about this particular protection;

1 of the questions is what kind of communicative activities will be covered by free speech (obrien, texas v. johnson) symbolic conduct

Under those circumstnaces, when is non-verbal going to be considered speech

2 prong test

Speaker has to intend to convey an understandable comprhensive message - when a burn a flag people may not understand as if I wrote an article but they know that I know I don’t like the country, oppose selective service

Is it protected: yes except if it falls under 3 categories (obsencity, fighting words, child…) obsencity def.

When we started talking about vulgar words (pacifica, jacket) those indecent speech is not obsene because obscenity is certain hard core material; therefore dirty words do not fit within this category

Law Student Blog 

My first year in law school was a great experience.  I contributed to many non-profit organizations as well as the surrounding community and made contacts via networking opportunities throughout the school.  I also acquired invaluable study habits throughout the first year.  The second semester was tougher than the first semester because of the legal research memo.  Between studying for exams as well as keeping up with the memo, I didn’t have very much in between time left for everything else.  Another valuable piece of information was determining what teaching styles suited me best and scouting which teachers I absorbed information from well.  If you find a great legal mind, definitely stick with them if you are interested in the course material.