Thursday, October 13, 2011

Waiting for your iPhone 4S? Once you get it download these apps:



We all love our smart phones, but did you know that your smart phone can help you succeed in law school?! Many traditional law school resources are now available for your phone or tablet in app form. Using apps to aid in law school study is a great way for law students to get use to the mobile efficiency they will experience as practicing attorneys. In the practice of law, lawyers are using apps for everything from tracking their MCLE credits and tracking billable hours to tracking their court dates.
Business Insider complied the must have i-phone apps for law students, below are some highlights:
1)     Black’s Law Dictionary - $54.99: Saves you from lugging around a 6 pound book! Also includes audio pronunciations of more than 7,000 terms and hyperlinks to Westlaw.
2)     Constitution – some free most .99: should be a staple in any 2L’s phone.
3)     iStudiez Pro - $2.99: Organization is key to doing well in law school and this app lets you organize your study schedule, assignments, study group dates and more.
4)     Lexis Nexis Get Cases & Shepardize – FREE: although it doesn’t have all the functions of the online version, the app version allows you to search cases, get summaries and shepardize all for free.
5)     Law in a Flash Apps: varies in price around $39.99 a subject: available for almost every subject each subject set includes over 300 flash cards and the app allows you to bookmark cards, add notes and shuffle the deck.
6)     Law Stack – FREE: includes all the Federal Rules and the Constitution in one app.
7)     BARBRI – FREE: whether you are studying for your 1L finals or the bar exam, BARBRI’s outlines, lectures and practice questions can be right at your finger tips
Other suggestions
1)     ABA Journal App – FREE: brings you breaking legal news of the day as well as their in depth magazine articles.
2)     Lawyer QuickQuotes - .99₵: allows you to search over 690 quotes by topic from famous lawyers or shake you phone to get a random quote.

::ASP is in no way endorsing the iPhone or any Apple products::

Monday, October 10, 2011

Quick Tips!

Ala yelp, I thought it'd be good to give quick tips regarding exam writing:



DO...

  • Do pay attention to the call of the question
  • Do pre-write outline your answer using about 15% of the time provided. 
  • Do use your  pre-write outline to identify "hot issues" in the facts
  • Do focus on the analysis of issues. 
  • Do mention every issue or element of an issue even if you conclude it's not likely to be met--just explain WHY it's not.
  • Do use every key fact in your analysis.
  • Do explain why the key facts matter or apply to the buzz words of the rule.
  • Do leave your biases at home sometimes you will be forced to side for the "bad guy"
  • Do issue spot and jot down the rule for every issue you spot on the exam if you run out of time to write-out the last few issues

DON'T...

  • Don't restate the facts of the problem.
  • Don't answer questions the professor doesn't ask about.
  • Don't waste time on your outline making it look pretty. You don't get credit for an outline.
  • Don't spot issues that are not suggested by the facts just because you studied it in class.
  • Don't analyze elements already established in the facts--ex: if the facts state the contract was valid, don't analyze whether the contract was valid.

Midterms

So it's finally the time you've (probably) been dreading: midterms.  This is probably the most anxious you have felt since law school started and for good reason--midterms are your first opportunity to prove you know what you're doing.  Most One-Ls walk around with a big question mark hovering over their heads for the first six weeks of school because nothing is clear.  The first six weeks are full of questions. Questions like:
  • "Am I getting this, or do I just think I get it?"
  • "How do I even go about studying?"
  • "Am I following what's happening in class?"
  • "You mean my professor expects me to memorize ALL of these rules?" and
  • "How do I even go about applying these rules?"
 These are all questions that students anxiously dwell on.  However, midterms are a good way to gauge how well you actually DO understand the material.  Midterms provide answers to all of the questions above and more.  Midterms force you to study, to outline, to go over your class notes, and hopefully take some practice tests.  By the time your midterm comes you should know, or at least have a good idea, about how much of each subject you "get" and what you need to work on.

By now, you should have an outline ready (or almost) to start taking practice exams.  The ASP office has practice exams (with answers!) on file for you.  All you have to do is email or come in to office hours and ask for them.  Also, the ASP office is more than willing to look over your outlines, practice exam answers, or just field any question you may have about midterms.

You can email any of us to ask for practice exams and our office hours are as follows:



Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Prof. Homer

12:00pm-2:30pm
 4:00pm-5:00pm
9:00am-12:00pm
9:00am-12:00pm
Prof. Dombrow

9:00am-12:00pm
2:00pm-4:30pm
9:00am-12:00pm
2:00pm-4:30pm
9:00am-12:00pm in library
Prof. Gutterud

12:00pm-2:30pm in library 4:00pm-7:`00pm in library
8:00am-12:00pm
1:00pm-2:00pm
9:00am-12:00pm


GOOD LUCK!