The Summer for Undergraduates Program maintains a full schedule for the sixty students participating here. Thursday night, we all went to Crenshaw Lanes, the campus bowling alley. I enjoyed a couple of games of black light bowling with the students, and then afterwards went over to Landis Hall to help a group with their project/presentation on criminal law.
In very short order, it was morning again and we were all back at the law school. It amused me to see that a number of students had trouble holding their eyes open during the various presentations of the day. I was a little tired myself, and stood up at the back of the room during one session in order to stay awake.
Saturday morning I slept in, and it felt really terrific. This is a good tired. It is a good tired because there is really no stress involved. I enjoy working with the students, playing games with the students, and listening to very accomplished people come and speak to us about what it takes to be successful in the practice of law.
The fatigue I feel here is dimensions away from the type of fatigue I felt when I worked as a mail carrier in Washington, DC.
The fatigue I feel working with this program is something I would be happy to deal with for the rest of my life. I could do this job indefinitely.
Though the students are tired halfway through this program, I think they are happy to be here, too. Yesterday, we went to the Florida Supreme Court again. Only this time, the students themselves got to play the justices and the lawyers arguing before the court. Many took pictures of themselves in the chief justice's chair or at the podium. It should be an experience they will remember for a long time.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Two Fighters for the Underdogs
This week, two attorneys spoke to the Summer for Undergraduates Program about the practice of law: Tommy Warren and Benjamin Crump. Both have been extremely successful, and they have achieved that success by representing common people, people who can not afford to hire attorneys.
Both of their biographies are written in detail on the Internet, but it was nice to hear in their own words how they got into the practice of law and what inspires them today. Many of the students came up to me afterwards and talked about how Mr. Crump and Mr. Warren have persuaded them to look into public interest law, or at least a type of law that, in the words of Mr. Crump, does not help Goliath to defeat David.
Mr. Crump employed me at his firm last summer, and it was good to see him again. After another year of law school, I am strongly leaning toward working as a plaintiff's personal injury attorney upon graduation. It is the type of law that I understand best at this point, and it also seems to be one of the more rewarding fields, not just financially but emotionally as well. It is more gratifying to win a victory for the human being who, through no fault of her own, now faces serious challenges in just surviving from day to day- as opposed to billing the massive corporation or insurance company in an effort to defeat this person.
Of course, there are arguments to be made that a positive career exists on both sides of this battle. But for Mr. Crump, Mr. Warren, and myself, I think most of the time we want to see the face of the person we represent, to know their story, to know their problems, and to win a personal victory for them.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
Both of their biographies are written in detail on the Internet, but it was nice to hear in their own words how they got into the practice of law and what inspires them today. Many of the students came up to me afterwards and talked about how Mr. Crump and Mr. Warren have persuaded them to look into public interest law, or at least a type of law that, in the words of Mr. Crump, does not help Goliath to defeat David.
Mr. Crump employed me at his firm last summer, and it was good to see him again. After another year of law school, I am strongly leaning toward working as a plaintiff's personal injury attorney upon graduation. It is the type of law that I understand best at this point, and it also seems to be one of the more rewarding fields, not just financially but emotionally as well. It is more gratifying to win a victory for the human being who, through no fault of her own, now faces serious challenges in just surviving from day to day- as opposed to billing the massive corporation or insurance company in an effort to defeat this person.
Of course, there are arguments to be made that a positive career exists on both sides of this battle. But for Mr. Crump, Mr. Warren, and myself, I think most of the time we want to see the face of the person we represent, to know their story, to know their problems, and to win a personal victory for them.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
Sunday, May 23, 2010
A Day at the Rez
Yesterday in the Summer for Undergraduates Program, we all took a charter bus out to the Reservation or "The Rez" for a day of fun and games.
http://fsu.campusrec.com/reservation/
Famous Dave's provided a terrific lunch. The temperature was a scorching 93 degrees, but I loved being outside in it. This kind of weather is my favorite time of the year. I played volleyball, tossed frisbees and a football while others took canoes out on Lake Bradford or climbed a rock wall.
The mentors working with me did a great job of planning games for both indoor and outdoor competition. My team of students, "The Ragin' Nathans," did well in all of the activities. We'll see who got the overall top spot on Monday.
The trip out to the Rez provided a great break from being in a classroom or behind a desk all day. Enjoying the weather, being outside, moving and playing athletic games has become increasingly important to my own personal happiness. I am more active now than when I was a teenager, and I was a little surprised when I woke up this morning to find no soreness in my muscles at all.
Everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves, too, though the heat and the sun had sapped a lot of energy by the time 3pm hit.
Playing outside with the students has been the most fun out of all the interesting activities we have done so far. It is more enjoyable for me than the guest speakers, the law firm visits, and the informational sessions. . . Though honestly, I hope the same is not true for the students themselves.
Perhaps I can get in on some other games on Landis Green with the SUG students before the next three weeks are over.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
http://fsu.campusrec.com/reservation/
Famous Dave's provided a terrific lunch. The temperature was a scorching 93 degrees, but I loved being outside in it. This kind of weather is my favorite time of the year. I played volleyball, tossed frisbees and a football while others took canoes out on Lake Bradford or climbed a rock wall.
The mentors working with me did a great job of planning games for both indoor and outdoor competition. My team of students, "The Ragin' Nathans," did well in all of the activities. We'll see who got the overall top spot on Monday.
The trip out to the Rez provided a great break from being in a classroom or behind a desk all day. Enjoying the weather, being outside, moving and playing athletic games has become increasingly important to my own personal happiness. I am more active now than when I was a teenager, and I was a little surprised when I woke up this morning to find no soreness in my muscles at all.
Everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves, too, though the heat and the sun had sapped a lot of energy by the time 3pm hit.
Playing outside with the students has been the most fun out of all the interesting activities we have done so far. It is more enjoyable for me than the guest speakers, the law firm visits, and the informational sessions. . . Though honestly, I hope the same is not true for the students themselves.
Perhaps I can get in on some other games on Landis Green with the SUG students before the next three weeks are over.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
Friday, May 21, 2010
The Suwannee Room Staff
Some of the nicest people working at Florida State University are the staff of the Suwannee Room. The Suwannee Room is the largest dining hall on campus, and during the Summer for Undergraduates program it is often open just for us. The food is great, but the people are better.
Yesterday at lunch, one of the managers there overheard the students talking about going out for a birthday party (One of the SUG students turned 21 today). So last night, he had a pink and white birthday cake prepared when the student came in for dinner. We all yelled, "Surprise!" when she came in, and then sang "Happy Birthday" to her.
The students got the staff of the Suwannee Room to pose with them for pictures, and the staff let us hang around and talk with each other after the food lines had closed down and they began cleaning.
I eat almost all of my meals at the Suwannee Room during the school year. The staff is very hard working, yet they also remain friendly despite the huge throngs of students who flow in demanding food.
Today, they are staying open for lunch later than normal to accommodate our students who will be coming out of a practice Law School Admission Test (LSAT). For me, dining at the Suwannee Room has been one of the nicer experiences as a law school student at Florida State.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
Yesterday at lunch, one of the managers there overheard the students talking about going out for a birthday party (One of the SUG students turned 21 today). So last night, he had a pink and white birthday cake prepared when the student came in for dinner. We all yelled, "Surprise!" when she came in, and then sang "Happy Birthday" to her.
The students got the staff of the Suwannee Room to pose with them for pictures, and the staff let us hang around and talk with each other after the food lines had closed down and they began cleaning.
I eat almost all of my meals at the Suwannee Room during the school year. The staff is very hard working, yet they also remain friendly despite the huge throngs of students who flow in demanding food.
Today, they are staying open for lunch later than normal to accommodate our students who will be coming out of a practice Law School Admission Test (LSAT). For me, dining at the Suwannee Room has been one of the nicer experiences as a law school student at Florida State.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
The Motion in Limine and the Life of a Lawyer
The Summer for Undergraduates Program 2010 is in high gear. Students who are fortunate enough to participate in this program get a head start on what it takes to be admitted to law school. They also get insight on the lifestyles of lawyers- insight that many students already in law school do not yet have.
A couple of SUG participants have commented that the vocabulary of the legal profession is completely new to them. They asked me how to pronounce a motion in "limine."
It is pronounced "lemon-EE." They asked me this question on day two of the program. However, I did not encounter the term, "motion in limine," until my second semester of law school when I tried out for the Mock Trial team. I did not have a good understanding of what it meant until my second year of law school when I enrolled in Trial Practice class and Evidence.
The SUG students are also receiving knowledge from speakers such as Dean Weidner, the dean of our law school. Dean Weidner cleverly illustrated that the profession of law is a literary profession, but that legal writing is different from other forms of writing. Often scientists or mathematicians can adjust more easily to legal writing than creative writers (or writers of a blog). Legal writing, he said, is an exercise in logic. It is about "making inescapable that which you would want to be inescapable, making illusive that which you want to be illusive." Perhaps the SUG students do not fully grasp that concept, yet, but as a rising 3rd year student, I understand what he means- mostly.
The SUG students are also visiting local law firms. The attorneys are very generous with their time and address the questions of the students in a frank and friendly manner. I myself am again learning things during these law firm visits that I did not know before, such as the various duties of partners in a firm, the methods of the "billable hour," and certain niches of practice of which I had never before heard.
One thing about these blog entries for the SUG Program- I have to write them quickly, in order to get on with my other duties as a mentor. Please excuse any grammatical errors or inarticulate phrases. I will try to clean them up as time permits.
But now, it is time to get ready for the 20 students whom we will be taking to four different law firms today.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
A couple of SUG participants have commented that the vocabulary of the legal profession is completely new to them. They asked me how to pronounce a motion in "limine."
It is pronounced "lemon-EE." They asked me this question on day two of the program. However, I did not encounter the term, "motion in limine," until my second semester of law school when I tried out for the Mock Trial team. I did not have a good understanding of what it meant until my second year of law school when I enrolled in Trial Practice class and Evidence.
The SUG students are also receiving knowledge from speakers such as Dean Weidner, the dean of our law school. Dean Weidner cleverly illustrated that the profession of law is a literary profession, but that legal writing is different from other forms of writing. Often scientists or mathematicians can adjust more easily to legal writing than creative writers (or writers of a blog). Legal writing, he said, is an exercise in logic. It is about "making inescapable that which you would want to be inescapable, making illusive that which you want to be illusive." Perhaps the SUG students do not fully grasp that concept, yet, but as a rising 3rd year student, I understand what he means- mostly.
The SUG students are also visiting local law firms. The attorneys are very generous with their time and address the questions of the students in a frank and friendly manner. I myself am again learning things during these law firm visits that I did not know before, such as the various duties of partners in a firm, the methods of the "billable hour," and certain niches of practice of which I had never before heard.
One thing about these blog entries for the SUG Program- I have to write them quickly, in order to get on with my other duties as a mentor. Please excuse any grammatical errors or inarticulate phrases. I will try to clean them up as time permits.
But now, it is time to get ready for the 20 students whom we will be taking to four different law firms today.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The Summer for Undergraduates Program Begins!
Sunday will see the arrival at Florida State of 60 bright and eager young students interested in law school. The next four weeks will be a tremendous experience for them, as they will get to see what law school and the practice of law is all about.
Over the next month, the students will meet prominent attorneys and judges in Florida, visit the Florida Supreme Court, the Florida Senate and the House. They will also perform an oral argument in front of a panel of judges just like actual appellate lawyers do. They will learn about various careers in the legal field. The law school's legal writing instructors will teach them some of the nuances of drafting a brief, and one of our most entertaining and distinguished faculty members will introduce the students to the basics of law.
There will also be fun activities, such as a weekend trip to "The Rez," a local lake park. We will go bowling and play outside on Landis Green after the day's formal activities are finished.
I am serving as a mentor in the program this year, a job I also performed last year. I hope the students have as much fun as I did last year. This is a great job- to work with intelligent, positive people who have their whole lives ahead of them.
Being a student (or a mentor) in this program is a privilege, an opportunity, and a great time. I look forward to meeting all the new students and introducing them to our law school, one of the best law schools in the country.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
Over the next month, the students will meet prominent attorneys and judges in Florida, visit the Florida Supreme Court, the Florida Senate and the House. They will also perform an oral argument in front of a panel of judges just like actual appellate lawyers do. They will learn about various careers in the legal field. The law school's legal writing instructors will teach them some of the nuances of drafting a brief, and one of our most entertaining and distinguished faculty members will introduce the students to the basics of law.
There will also be fun activities, such as a weekend trip to "The Rez," a local lake park. We will go bowling and play outside on Landis Green after the day's formal activities are finished.
I am serving as a mentor in the program this year, a job I also performed last year. I hope the students have as much fun as I did last year. This is a great job- to work with intelligent, positive people who have their whole lives ahead of them.
Being a student (or a mentor) in this program is a privilege, an opportunity, and a great time. I look forward to meeting all the new students and introducing them to our law school, one of the best law schools in the country.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
Baseball to Relax the Mind
Despite the end of the semester, I continue to stay just as busy. Next week will see me begin another turn as a mentor with the Summer for Undergraduates Program. To my surprise, I was asked to write blog entries here about the program as part of my job duties.
Lee Corso, a former great of the gridiron at Florida State, said not too long ago, "Life is about change and your ability to adapt to it."
While it is always exciting to meet new people and come into new environments, the change can be a little stressful as well. The house cats at my friends' and family's homes do not always react so well to my visits. The cats sometimes leave little "items" on my bed or on my suitcase to let me know that my new presence in their space is upsetting to them.
The 60 students we have coming in for the Summer for Undergraduates Program will also be wondering about where they have arrived, the people they will meet, and what they will be doing. I can assure them that we will have a lot of fun. If they are anything like the group from last summer, they will make fast friends and learn a lot about themselves and law school. It will a great experience for them, something they will remember for a long time. . .
I also have ways of trying to relax my mind during times of change. In my first year of law school, I was completely focused on classes and took little notice of the outside world. This year, however, I started following the Florida State Seminoles baseball team. I have been surprised at how much I enjoy their games.
As a kid, I was an avid fan of the major leagues. I also played baseball from the time I was a toddler up until high school, when the ball began moving too fast for me to compete.
But the players' strike in the 1990s, the steroid use, and the obscene salaries the players received to play this little game with a round bat and a round ball cooled my enthusiasm for the major leagues as an adult.
The rediscovery of baseball in the college ranks, though, has been like a breath of fresh air to me. I had forgotten how fun a game it is, with the hitting and the fielding, the pop of the leather glove as a ball comes sizzling into the pocket, the squeeze play, the double play, the perfect throw from the outfielder to nail a runner trying to reach home.
I understand baseball more than any other sport, and as such I enjoy watching the games within the game: The interplay between the shortstop and the second baseman to see who will cover the bag if the runner on first tries to steal; how tight the infielders play when there is a runner on third; how aggressive a base runner is against the pitcher's pick off move; whether the batter will swing away on a 3-0 count; all the options a manager has when there is a runner on first and third with one out. The list goes on and on.
Yesterday, I went to see Florida State play North Carolina State, and I will go to watch the same two teams play again tonight.
My uncle is also an avid baseball fan. He was a much better athlete than me growing up, though, and coincidentally played baseball for North Carolina State when he was in college. He will travel to Omaha in June to watch the College World Series.
My uncle sent me an email message earlier this semester, encouraging me to watch as many 'Noles games as I could, as baseball "relaxes your mind."
I had never quite thought of baseball in this way, but he is right. The rhythm of baseball is unlike any other sport. There is a quiet method to playing baseball. Because I understand the game well enough, the rhythm and method lends itself to a predictability and analysis that can be a comforting distraction to the other stresses of life. Watching a baseball game unfold is like watching all the pieces of a puzzle come together in a satisfying way. And you are outside in the warm summer air with all the familiar sounds of the game, the colors of the uniforms and the green grass of the field.
I understand my uncle when he says baseball relaxes your mind. It does provide a pleasant distraction for me. A baseball game would relax me even more, though, if I could stop myself from scanning the crowd for pretty women sitting by themselves. That is one distraction that baseball has yet to overcome in my mind.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Lee Corso, a former great of the gridiron at Florida State, said not too long ago, "Life is about change and your ability to adapt to it."
While it is always exciting to meet new people and come into new environments, the change can be a little stressful as well. The house cats at my friends' and family's homes do not always react so well to my visits. The cats sometimes leave little "items" on my bed or on my suitcase to let me know that my new presence in their space is upsetting to them.
The 60 students we have coming in for the Summer for Undergraduates Program will also be wondering about where they have arrived, the people they will meet, and what they will be doing. I can assure them that we will have a lot of fun. If they are anything like the group from last summer, they will make fast friends and learn a lot about themselves and law school. It will a great experience for them, something they will remember for a long time. . .
I also have ways of trying to relax my mind during times of change. In my first year of law school, I was completely focused on classes and took little notice of the outside world. This year, however, I started following the Florida State Seminoles baseball team. I have been surprised at how much I enjoy their games.
As a kid, I was an avid fan of the major leagues. I also played baseball from the time I was a toddler up until high school, when the ball began moving too fast for me to compete.
But the players' strike in the 1990s, the steroid use, and the obscene salaries the players received to play this little game with a round bat and a round ball cooled my enthusiasm for the major leagues as an adult.
The rediscovery of baseball in the college ranks, though, has been like a breath of fresh air to me. I had forgotten how fun a game it is, with the hitting and the fielding, the pop of the leather glove as a ball comes sizzling into the pocket, the squeeze play, the double play, the perfect throw from the outfielder to nail a runner trying to reach home.
I understand baseball more than any other sport, and as such I enjoy watching the games within the game: The interplay between the shortstop and the second baseman to see who will cover the bag if the runner on first tries to steal; how tight the infielders play when there is a runner on third; how aggressive a base runner is against the pitcher's pick off move; whether the batter will swing away on a 3-0 count; all the options a manager has when there is a runner on first and third with one out. The list goes on and on.
Yesterday, I went to see Florida State play North Carolina State, and I will go to watch the same two teams play again tonight.
My uncle is also an avid baseball fan. He was a much better athlete than me growing up, though, and coincidentally played baseball for North Carolina State when he was in college. He will travel to Omaha in June to watch the College World Series.
My uncle sent me an email message earlier this semester, encouraging me to watch as many 'Noles games as I could, as baseball "relaxes your mind."
I had never quite thought of baseball in this way, but he is right. The rhythm of baseball is unlike any other sport. There is a quiet method to playing baseball. Because I understand the game well enough, the rhythm and method lends itself to a predictability and analysis that can be a comforting distraction to the other stresses of life. Watching a baseball game unfold is like watching all the pieces of a puzzle come together in a satisfying way. And you are outside in the warm summer air with all the familiar sounds of the game, the colors of the uniforms and the green grass of the field.
I understand my uncle when he says baseball relaxes your mind. It does provide a pleasant distraction for me. A baseball game would relax me even more, though, if I could stop myself from scanning the crowd for pretty women sitting by themselves. That is one distraction that baseball has yet to overcome in my mind.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Stress
The three week span from the last day of class, through the "dead week" of no classes or exams while students study and prepare, through the day of the last exam is the most stressful time of the semester for a law school student.
This was my fourth time going through it. A person's reaction to stress varies in expression. I am no exception. Once classes ended this semester, I noticed a strange tickling twitch in my stomach almost every night when I laid down and tried to sleep. During one stretch when I had exams three days in a row, my sleep pattern got completely screwed up. I woke up in the morning at 3am and, unable to get back to sleep, decided to just go on to the library. I was there from 4:30 in the morning studying until my exam started at 8:30am.
In other students, I saw a need for physical comfort. Some guys and girls would suddenly become affectionate couples- if only for these three weeks. I remember a female friend of mine saying last year during exams, "I just need to be held." Another student would go off by herself and cry and then come back normal in time for the exam. Yet another good friend of mine had to seek professional help to get through this semester. He has other things going on in his life, though. I really hope he makes it through law school.
Why these rather extreme reactions? As I have explained before, exams mean more in law school than in undergraduate classes. In most law school classes, your exam grade IS your grade for the class. You receive no other feedback from the rest of the semester. There is a mandatory curve grading system in most classes: The top 5% receive As, the bottom 5% receive Ds and Fs, with the remaining percentages divided between Bs or Cs. We are all aware of what our individual class rank is. Job offers may appear or not based on how well you perform on your exams. Differences of many thousands of dollars in future pay ride on your grades on these exams.
It is a credit to the students of Florida State Law that we do not become cut-throat competitive over exams the way I have heard they do at other law schools. We frequently study in groups and share notes or outlines. I have yet to see a student slicing pages out of a library text as sometimes happens in other places.
While they are no fun, I would much rather deal with the pressure of three exams in a row than trying to complete two mail routes before 9pm in Washington, DC, as I had to do in times past. But that is an analogy unique to my life experience. . .
After two years of law school, I've taken a number of different styles of exams. Some are more fair than others, in my humble opinion. Professors work hard in crafting an exam that challenges students and covers the material taught in the course. The professors here are much smarter than me and have put many more hours into thinking about their exam than I have, but I do have some suggestions that may or may not be useful. While a "fair" exam will probably do nothing to relieve the stress students feel prior to taking an exam, it can help during the test itself and afterwards when we are replaying the questions and answers again and again in our heads.
My number one pet peeve is to encounter an exam that is a typing race. Some of my colleagues are amazingly fast typists, and almost everybody in law school types faster than me. About once per semester, it seems I get an exam designed so that you are not supposed to finish, and the person who can type the fastest and get the most information in a "word vomit" on paper wins and gets the best grade.
One friend who is a very fast typist heard me commenting about this after one exam. She came up to me in the library and asked me to show her how fast I could type. I went to a computer and gave her a demonstration. Her eyes got a little wide after watching me for a minute and she said quietly, "Yeah, that's pretty bad."
During a four hour marathon typing race exam, I managed to get out 8 typed pages, though I could have continued typing for another four hours. One of the highest grades in that class, on the other hand, was an exam of 18 typed pages.
A pet peeve of other students (though not me) is the multiple choice exam. I tend to do better on multiple choice exams, but many students complain about these. When a client comes off the street and presents you with their problems, the students say, you are not going to have multiple choices magically appear before you to select the correct advice to give the client. Some professors in the law school will not give multiple choice exams for this reason, though much of the Florida Bar Exam is in multiple choice format.
The exam software can throw off the fairness of the exam. "Exam 4" is the software we use, and it allows for the professor to have the exam administered in "open" or "closed" format. The closed format shuts down access to any files on your laptop while you take the exam, but open format allows access to these files. Open format gives a great advantage to the students who type and save their notes on their laptop during the semester. They can use the Control F key to locate specific terms instantly in notes that may span well over a hundred pages. A person who hand writes, obviously, does not have this ability. When an exam is open book/note but closed mode on the "Exam 4" software, students who have typed their outlines or notes simply print them off prior to the exam, which levels the playing field with those who hand write. Some professors are unfamiliar with the differences between open and closed mode on "Exam 4."
The most fair exams, in my opinion, are those which present fact patterns like you would receive as a lawyer practicing in the particular subject being tested. The student would then write an essay, identifying the issues and explaining the legal advice that student would give. The exam could be open or closed book/notes, depending on the complexity and amount of material covered during the course. The exam software would be in closed format, with a word limit imposed for those typing or a set number of blue book pages for those hand writing. The test would be one that every student could easily finish in the time allotted. This style of exam would also minimize problems that occur when a student's computer malfunctions- which has happened in several of my exams.
I am sure there are students who would argue that my suggestion is also an unfair exam style. We are in training to be lawyers, after all. And personally, I will defend the multiple choice exam format, though I can see the other side's point.
Part of this blog entry is just me venting some of the ideas and emotions I felt during the stress of exam season. But at the end of the day, all of the students at Florida State Law are in a pretty good position. The style of an exam is a petty thing to bicker about when millions of gallons of oil are beginning to hit the Gulf Coast. There are thousands if not millions of people who would trade places with the students at Florida State Law, who would instantly trade the pressures and stresses of their own lives for the pressure of doing well on school exams. If the format of a law school exam is all I have to complain about in my life, then I should not be complaining at all.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
This was my fourth time going through it. A person's reaction to stress varies in expression. I am no exception. Once classes ended this semester, I noticed a strange tickling twitch in my stomach almost every night when I laid down and tried to sleep. During one stretch when I had exams three days in a row, my sleep pattern got completely screwed up. I woke up in the morning at 3am and, unable to get back to sleep, decided to just go on to the library. I was there from 4:30 in the morning studying until my exam started at 8:30am.
In other students, I saw a need for physical comfort. Some guys and girls would suddenly become affectionate couples- if only for these three weeks. I remember a female friend of mine saying last year during exams, "I just need to be held." Another student would go off by herself and cry and then come back normal in time for the exam. Yet another good friend of mine had to seek professional help to get through this semester. He has other things going on in his life, though. I really hope he makes it through law school.
Why these rather extreme reactions? As I have explained before, exams mean more in law school than in undergraduate classes. In most law school classes, your exam grade IS your grade for the class. You receive no other feedback from the rest of the semester. There is a mandatory curve grading system in most classes: The top 5% receive As, the bottom 5% receive Ds and Fs, with the remaining percentages divided between Bs or Cs. We are all aware of what our individual class rank is. Job offers may appear or not based on how well you perform on your exams. Differences of many thousands of dollars in future pay ride on your grades on these exams.
It is a credit to the students of Florida State Law that we do not become cut-throat competitive over exams the way I have heard they do at other law schools. We frequently study in groups and share notes or outlines. I have yet to see a student slicing pages out of a library text as sometimes happens in other places.
While they are no fun, I would much rather deal with the pressure of three exams in a row than trying to complete two mail routes before 9pm in Washington, DC, as I had to do in times past. But that is an analogy unique to my life experience. . .
After two years of law school, I've taken a number of different styles of exams. Some are more fair than others, in my humble opinion. Professors work hard in crafting an exam that challenges students and covers the material taught in the course. The professors here are much smarter than me and have put many more hours into thinking about their exam than I have, but I do have some suggestions that may or may not be useful. While a "fair" exam will probably do nothing to relieve the stress students feel prior to taking an exam, it can help during the test itself and afterwards when we are replaying the questions and answers again and again in our heads.
My number one pet peeve is to encounter an exam that is a typing race. Some of my colleagues are amazingly fast typists, and almost everybody in law school types faster than me. About once per semester, it seems I get an exam designed so that you are not supposed to finish, and the person who can type the fastest and get the most information in a "word vomit" on paper wins and gets the best grade.
One friend who is a very fast typist heard me commenting about this after one exam. She came up to me in the library and asked me to show her how fast I could type. I went to a computer and gave her a demonstration. Her eyes got a little wide after watching me for a minute and she said quietly, "Yeah, that's pretty bad."
During a four hour marathon typing race exam, I managed to get out 8 typed pages, though I could have continued typing for another four hours. One of the highest grades in that class, on the other hand, was an exam of 18 typed pages.
A pet peeve of other students (though not me) is the multiple choice exam. I tend to do better on multiple choice exams, but many students complain about these. When a client comes off the street and presents you with their problems, the students say, you are not going to have multiple choices magically appear before you to select the correct advice to give the client. Some professors in the law school will not give multiple choice exams for this reason, though much of the Florida Bar Exam is in multiple choice format.
The exam software can throw off the fairness of the exam. "Exam 4" is the software we use, and it allows for the professor to have the exam administered in "open" or "closed" format. The closed format shuts down access to any files on your laptop while you take the exam, but open format allows access to these files. Open format gives a great advantage to the students who type and save their notes on their laptop during the semester. They can use the Control F key to locate specific terms instantly in notes that may span well over a hundred pages. A person who hand writes, obviously, does not have this ability. When an exam is open book/note but closed mode on the "Exam 4" software, students who have typed their outlines or notes simply print them off prior to the exam, which levels the playing field with those who hand write. Some professors are unfamiliar with the differences between open and closed mode on "Exam 4."
The most fair exams, in my opinion, are those which present fact patterns like you would receive as a lawyer practicing in the particular subject being tested. The student would then write an essay, identifying the issues and explaining the legal advice that student would give. The exam could be open or closed book/notes, depending on the complexity and amount of material covered during the course. The exam software would be in closed format, with a word limit imposed for those typing or a set number of blue book pages for those hand writing. The test would be one that every student could easily finish in the time allotted. This style of exam would also minimize problems that occur when a student's computer malfunctions- which has happened in several of my exams.
I am sure there are students who would argue that my suggestion is also an unfair exam style. We are in training to be lawyers, after all. And personally, I will defend the multiple choice exam format, though I can see the other side's point.
Part of this blog entry is just me venting some of the ideas and emotions I felt during the stress of exam season. But at the end of the day, all of the students at Florida State Law are in a pretty good position. The style of an exam is a petty thing to bicker about when millions of gallons of oil are beginning to hit the Gulf Coast. There are thousands if not millions of people who would trade places with the students at Florida State Law, who would instantly trade the pressures and stresses of their own lives for the pressure of doing well on school exams. If the format of a law school exam is all I have to complain about in my life, then I should not be complaining at all.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
"The Force is with you, young Skywalker. But you are not a Jedi, yet."
Exams are done for this spring semester. I have to wait for my grades, but otherwise two years of law school are in the books.
My experience at Florida State Law has prepared me well, and I am now ready to begin work as a lawyer- sort of.
I have complete confidence in my abilities to start tomorrow as a personal injury attorney. Of course, I won't be an expert in the field, but there is not much more that another year of law school will do to help me prepare for that job. One of the courses offered in the spring is "Complex Civil Litigation," and that will be my number one draft pick for classes next year. A class in "Remedies" would also be helpful, but otherwise I just need to get into the fray and learn my way.
I am also ready to dive into work as an insurance defense attorney. This job is often the other side of the battle in personal injury cases. My insurance law class taught me a lot this year, and now it is time for me to apply that knowledge in a practical manner.
These are the only two areas where I can say that I am "good to go," though. As of the end of two years of law school, I am not qualified to do corporation law, nor criminal law, nor wills and estates, nor employment law. I have had absolutely no exposure to family law or tax law.
Many of these subjects are tested on the Florida Bar Exam. So next year, my final year of law school, will be devoted to learning these subjects better.
Law school is fun for me, but I now understand better the phrase: "The first year of law school, they scare you to death. The second year, they work you to death. The third year, they bore you to death." School has never bored me, but I am somewhat anxious to be done for one reason only- I am ready to start making money again.
Filling out FAFSAs (the federal application for financial student aid), going further into debt, and living the economical lifestyle of the cash-strapped student is getting a little old. I'm ready to swing out some, go out a little more and not worry so much about finances. I have heeded well another phrase about law school: "If you live like a lawyer when you are a student, you will live like a student when you become a lawyer."
But I can not complain. Life in Tallahassee is good. The weather is warm, and tonight I will celebrate the end of exams with my friends. I am a happy person, much happier than most people in this world. I have enough experience to know that when you are in a place that makes you happy, you should not be in such a big rush to change it.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
My experience at Florida State Law has prepared me well, and I am now ready to begin work as a lawyer- sort of.
I have complete confidence in my abilities to start tomorrow as a personal injury attorney. Of course, I won't be an expert in the field, but there is not much more that another year of law school will do to help me prepare for that job. One of the courses offered in the spring is "Complex Civil Litigation," and that will be my number one draft pick for classes next year. A class in "Remedies" would also be helpful, but otherwise I just need to get into the fray and learn my way.
I am also ready to dive into work as an insurance defense attorney. This job is often the other side of the battle in personal injury cases. My insurance law class taught me a lot this year, and now it is time for me to apply that knowledge in a practical manner.
These are the only two areas where I can say that I am "good to go," though. As of the end of two years of law school, I am not qualified to do corporation law, nor criminal law, nor wills and estates, nor employment law. I have had absolutely no exposure to family law or tax law.
Many of these subjects are tested on the Florida Bar Exam. So next year, my final year of law school, will be devoted to learning these subjects better.
Law school is fun for me, but I now understand better the phrase: "The first year of law school, they scare you to death. The second year, they work you to death. The third year, they bore you to death." School has never bored me, but I am somewhat anxious to be done for one reason only- I am ready to start making money again.
Filling out FAFSAs (the federal application for financial student aid), going further into debt, and living the economical lifestyle of the cash-strapped student is getting a little old. I'm ready to swing out some, go out a little more and not worry so much about finances. I have heeded well another phrase about law school: "If you live like a lawyer when you are a student, you will live like a student when you become a lawyer."
But I can not complain. Life in Tallahassee is good. The weather is warm, and tonight I will celebrate the end of exams with my friends. I am a happy person, much happier than most people in this world. I have enough experience to know that when you are in a place that makes you happy, you should not be in such a big rush to change it.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
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