Finals

Dear BBLers, we apologize for our lack of output over the past few weeks. We have finals like most of you. We will be back in full force shortly.

Student Sues Under ADA for Testing Accommodations

A classmate passed along this interesting article from October describing a Princeton University freshman's suit for extra time on her exams. The student claims in the suit to have a hodgepodge of learning disabilities:

• Mixed-Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder, which limits her ability to comprehend language, express language or recall material.

• Disorder of Written Expression, which leaves her ability to communicate in writing below the level expected based on age, intelligence or life experiences. When she writes, she has to repeatedly re-check what she has composed.

• Developmental Coordination Disorder, which leaves her ability to spell, punctuate and form sentences below the level expected based on age, intelligence or life experiences. She needs to read material several times over, isolate key words and highlight them so she can locate them again. Also under this disorder, her visual-motor processing skills are in the sixth percentile, "far below the average person, let alone the typical Princeton University student." She also suffers eye strain when taking tests and needs periodic breaks because of the way she reads passages over and over.

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, which limits her ability to focus. When reading, any distraction requires her to go back to the beginning of the passage.

Open Thread: Finals Prep and Superstition

Well, BBL fans, the least wonderful time of the year is upon us: Finals.

For some of the more fortunate of us (i.e. those with post-graduation job offers), it's largely a huge pain and a waste of time--one just needs to graduate and sit for the bar. However, seeing as most of us are overachievers, we're basically still studying nearly as hard as a 1L.

For those of us who are victims of the economy, this is just another potential hurdle--I mean, if I can't get a job with my grades now, how the will I get one next semester if my grades get worse?

For our younger readers (especially the first semester 1Ls), this is a time of increased hair-loss, weight-gain and the occasional heart palpitation.

So, in furtherance of what we all know is some mad procrastination, your dear friend Fred has decided to ask "what's more appropriate than sharing some Finals superstitions?" Tell us, dear readers, what kind of odd, nonsensical action(s) do you take to make yourself feel more comfortable before, during, and after finals week?

I'll start: I have a blue waffle knit shirt I wear for every fall semester final. It is called my "battle shirt" in reference to the red shirt Gen. A.P. Hill wore during the Civil War... and because it is awesome. It's a tradition I started as an undergrad. Also, I listen to "Touch of Gray/Grey" by the Grateful Dead as the last song before typing "Start" into the stupid SecureExam program.

So, kids--tell us whatcha got!

Finally Finals

The other day, Fred pointed out that finals were coming and invited our readers to share their finals rituals with the Blackbook Legal community.

My fourth round of law school finals kicks off tomorrow, and I feel as overwhelmed and terrified as I did for my first attempt two years ago. Even though I have unique study methods that I'm comfortable with, I always have this sense of impending doom leading up to exams. I'm beginning to think it's an anxious law school reality that we all go through.

On the other hand, a lot of my peers seem really calm and collected. So maybe it's just me. Either way, I hope I don't wind up in an exam room with the guy (or girl) who doesn't shower. That would totally screw my day up...which, I guess, is the point?

Finals Draw Nigh...

Well, BBL-ers-- It's getting to that time of the year where Finals hangs over our heads like the sword on the thinnest string (as if I would have to remind such a studious group of scholars!) This is an open thread; I welcome each of you to participate in answering the following questions.

(1) What are your Finals superstitions (if any)? For example, do you have a lucky pair of socks, or shirt, or favorite McDonalds super-combo ($1 McChicken, I'm looking at you!)

(2) What is your biggest pet peeve leading up to finals? What about during finals?

(3) What advice would you give to 1Ls who may not know how to play the 'game' yet?

I look forward to all of your responses!

Beating Law School Finals: An Unconventional Study Tip

Finals season is here, and law students everywhere are far too immersed in their studies to be reading blogs...right? Okay, maybe not. But everyone is looking for an edge, especially 1Ls, and I guess I can't blame them. After all, eat or be eaten is the law school way.

So I'll feed the finals frenzy by offering some unconventional study advice: after preparing via the conventional means (e.g. outlining, practice exams, etc.) try creating your own exam. Have a friend in your class do the same thing. After you've both made your exams, swap them and take them. Then discuss. It's a very simple protocol, really, and it works rather well. Here's an example a classmate created in preparing for a criminal procedure examination last fall:

Police receive various reports regarding possible public sex strings (ala Larry Craig) operating in various rest areas within the 120 mile stretch between Wilimington, Delaware and Baltimore, Maryland. In response, they randomly choose 2 such rest areas at which to conduct visual surveillance. In order to do this, agents install "mini-cameras" without sound capacity in each men's room and in each lobby.

At approximately 10:30PM on the third night of surveillance, 3 agents notice two black males (A and B) exchanging some type of material in the bathroom. Upon walking out, the agents stop the individuals, conduct a pat down search, and find a wad of $100 dollar bills in A's pocket, but nothing in B's pocket.

Police then ask what the money is for. A responds that he is merely receiving payment for a paper route. However, agents notice that while questioning A, B begins to look nervous. A says, "can we please go?" One agent responds, "yes, if you let us search your vehicle." B quickly says, "yes." But, A refuses. The vehicle is registered to one, C, A's father.

Officers conduct a broad search of the car, find 10 grams of marijuana, and arrest both A and B. Without giving Miranda warnings, police ask, "did you leave anything in the bathroom?" B responds, "yes, we left a gram of marijuana in the stall under the toilet paper dispenser for [another individual] to pick up." Officers find the gram, and seize it.

Prior to trial A and B both move to suppress many pieces of evidence obtained by the officers on this night. What result?

Why does this work? Because creating a remotely decent law school exam is exceptionally difficult, and requires a comprehensive understanding of the material--especially how it all fits together. Thus, this approach will--as I'm sure Usha Rodrigues at The Conglomerate would agree--give students a "newfound respect" for what law professors do.

And it's not just mimicking law professors for its own sake; by exchanging your efforts with a classmate, you often realize that there are issues in your own fact patterns that you did not even consider. Professors, I'm told, have this happen to them too. Seeing how others perceive your fact patterns is illuminating, and expands your understanding of the material immensely.

In short, I highly recommend the method.

Law School Supplements (The 2L and 3L Edition)

Due to popular demand, here is our second law school supplement post (the 2L and 3L edition). The majority of the e-mails we received asked about helpful supplements for a variety of law school courses not covered in our prior post and, due to our commitment to interactivity, we now recommend a supplement for each request. After all, addiction to supplements is, as Craig noted, a "pretty good vice to have" and one that ensures that you "never have insufficient resources to figure out confusing legal doctrine."

I have taken some of the following courses myself, but there are a few I have yet to conquer. In that vein, I have been in touch with students who have completed these courses in order to get their best recommendations. Here goes:

Federal Courts: Without exception, Federal Jurisdiction (Introduction to Law Series) by Erwin Chemerinsky has unequivocally been the most ubiquitous supplement recommendation I have received from most students who have taken this course. However, I have yet to take Federal Courts, so I cannot speak on its merits from my own experience.

Antitrust Law: I have taken antitrust, but will have to admit that buying a good, comprehensive supplement for it is quite tricky--principally because the law is not very concrete. Thus, my recommendation splits two ways. First, if you just want a quick summary of the current case law and a brief explanation of underlying, basic economic principles embodied in the law, try the Antitrust Law and Economics Nutshell by Ernest Gellhorn, et al. If you have a little more time to explore the nuances of prominent cases, check out the Hornbook on the Law of Antitrust by Lawrence Sullivan and Warren Grimes.

Conflict of Laws: I have searched the internet for recommendations on a supplement for this class, but there does not seem to be a dominantly suggested one. The one supplement that seems to get consistent praise is Conflict of Laws (Introduction to Law Series) by Lea Brilmayer.

Administrative Law: Examples and Explanations by William Funk and Richard Seamon--hands down.

Remedies: I am told the Examples and Explanations by Richard Hasen is the best supplement for Remedies. The Remedies Nutshell by William Tabb and Elaine Shoben is also very helpful.

Immigration Law: Depending on your teacher, some supplements can certainly be better than others. There is not, however, a great selection in the aggregate. I found the Immigration Law and Procedure Nutshell by David Weissbrodt and Laura Danielson extremely helpful, but it focused more on the constitutional aspects of immigration law than on the nuances of the Immigration and Nationality Act and its application. That said, I cannot imagine a supplement going into too much detail about a statute as complicated and as long as the INA.

Criminal Procedure: I, like Craig, love Joshua Dressler's work in the criminal law arena in general. I used his and Alan Michaels' Understanding Criminal Procedure (Investigation) as a supplement, and read it front to back. It was very helpful.

Corporations: Everyone's favorite course, no? I have heard mixed reviews on a number of (potentially helpful?) supplements. First, Corporations (Introduction to Law Series) by James Cox and Thomas Hazen has been adamantly praised by some, but criticized by others for oversimplifying the Delaware General Corporation law--but this may be moot if your teacher does not emphasize it too much. I have also heard that Examples and Explanations by Alan Palmiter is a fantastic reference.

Securities Regulation: A lot of people with whom I have spoken love the Examples and Explanations by Alan Palmiter, but some suggested that the examples are too short.

Federal Income Tax: The Examples and Explanations by Joseph Bankman, et al. has been given resounding praise from those I know who have taken the course.

Evidence: There are numerous fantastic supplements for this course. Among the many suggestions I received are Understanding Evidence by Paul Giannelli and McCormick on Evidence (Hornbook Series) by George Dix, et al. For practice, Siegal's Evidence: Essay and Multiple Choice Questions and Answers was highly recommended.

I hope these recommendations were moderately helpful. If nothing else, they should at least provide for a decent starting point when you begin preparing for exams. The tip line is always open for more requests and, in the words of Craig Reiser, 'happy shopping!'

Are Multiple Choice Exams an Appropriate Method of Legal Examination?

In the wake of the delayed law school grades drama, we’ve been confronted with many-a-proposal that would hasten the process. The problem is real, and at least one school has gone so far as to adopt an otherwise unthinkable approach: fining "tardy" professors. But, as Craig notes, fining professors is pretty extreme…and it doesn’t seem like that (potential) solution has caught on.

So where do we go from here? A commenter proposed one obvious answer: multiple choice exams. I had planned to broach the subject of whether multiple choice exams were appropriate as a means of evaluating legal knowledge, and with this recent focus on delayed grades, I figured what better time than now?

An increased use of multiple choice exams would undoubtedly speed up the grading process. Moreover, grading written exams is difficult on other levels for professors. Frankly, I have to sympathize with law school professors who are forced to read our vomit of (often incorrect) legal analysis. It must be time consuming, monotonous, and irritating. So, it seems that multiple choice exams present a win-win option: law students can receive grades in a matter of days (at least in theory) and law professors can avoid what must be a painful grading process.

However, in my opinion, multiple choice exams are a highly inappropriate method of legal examination. The benefit of receiving grades quickly does not, by any means, counter the inherent weaknesses of multiple choice exams. A law school final should test how well you identify issues and apply legal concepts. The ultimate conclusion is insignificant compared to the analysis that the student provides. Further, breaking down a legal issue into a multiple choice question assumes that there is only one correct answer when, in fact, this is rarely the case. And, don’t even get me started on the “A&B” “A&C”, or “All of the above” answers. It’s pure trickery.

I have had professors who swear that a student’s performance on multiple choice questions directly correlates with performance on essay questions. Some even go so far as to say that multiple choice exams are a better indicator of a student’s knowledge of the subject matter because essay exams merely amount to a speed typing competition. Others, however, have vigorously stated that multiple choice exams are better suited for the waste basket than the law school classroom. I agree with the latter bunch.

But the multi-state bar exam is multiple choice, so maybe my critiques are overstated. What is clear is that there are problems to be fixed. In the words of my colleague in a different context, "what innovative solutions can we come up with?"

More Grade Drama: Should We "Fine" Tardy Professors?

My answer would be a (somewhat) emphatic "no." But The Shark brought to light some interesting commentary we hadn't seen in preparing our earlier discussion of the 100-day grade debacle.

Apparently, Florida State University recently began fining professors who turned grades in late. As the article explains, Florida State seems to be the only institution to fine professors for turning in late grades, and charges a $10 fine "for every grade for every student that is not runed in by [the] deadline[.]"

Interesting. As I expressed in my earlier posting, I do believe law schools would benefit from rigid deadlines, but this really does seem over-the-top--not to mention the potential legal problems associated with a punitive approach of this kind. Professors, like students, have things come up that need tending to...delays are obviously not ideal, but are a very necessary reality for those who have other important obligations to tend to.

No Grades after 100 Days: April Fools?

My initial reaction after reading this article on Sua Sponte was that I was being had. But the story's apparently true, and really rather unfortunate. As the anonymous 1L at The George Washington University Law School explains:

As many people know, 1L Section 13 has yet to receive its grade in Criminal Law from the fall semester, taught by Dean Lawrence. This doesn’t affect just the section — it affects all 1Ls because with that grade outstanding, no one knows their class ranking/scholar designation.

Wow. Though I'm not sure what the date of this final was, I do know that GW's last 1L final was on 12/18. So, at best, it's been about 104 days. Having suffered through the wait for my own 1L fall grades, and the ensuing job search that depended so heavily on said grades, I can only imagine what these 1Ls are feeling. And I'm sure this isn't easy for Dean Lawrence either--he's a great professor who cares a great deal about his students, so I'd expect he feels badly about the delay.

While I've never waited quite this long to get my exam grade back (1.5 months is the longest so far), I've often wondered why professors routinely take as long as they do in the grading process. I respect that the process is time consuming if done correctly, cf. Other Methods, but does it really need to take more than three weeks? I imagine the answer varies by type of exam, but--either way--I think the turnaround would improve immeasurably if law schools imposed real, rigid deadlines on their faculty. And if my hunch is right, I have to wonder why this hasn't been done yet. Students, after all, have to successfully juggle multiple obligations--sometimes even mandatory pro bono work--with tight deadlines. Why do our professors get an exemption with respect to grading?

------

UPDATE (Apr. 2, 4:35 PM): Given the array of e-mails and interest this story has generated, we wanted to provide a brief update. We have not been able to get in touch with Dean Lawrence personally, but are now able to confirm that the Dean's Office and Registrar expect the grade to be released on Monday, April 6. I hope this news helps quell the anxiety of at least some of our anxious GW readers.

------

UPDATE (Apr. 2, 4:51 PM): We were able to get in touch with GW's Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Dean Gregory Maggs, and he shed some new light on the story. Although he did not confirm the April 6 date we heard from other contacts at the Dean's Office and Registrar's office, he did say that the grades would be coming in "soon." Moreover, he provided several explanations for the delay--the Dean has been out of the country several times this semester raising money for the school, and has been involved in various other (pressing) professional functions. Dean Maggs expressed sympathy to the students, and noted that the Dean was doing his best to facilitate as quick a turnaround as possible. This confirms our earlier hunch that there was, in fact, a good reason (in fact, several) for the delay.

Supplementing your legal education with...supplements

A recent e-mail asked us to comment on our favorite law school supplements. Given my slavish obsession with supplements, I am happy to oblige on The Blackbook's behalf. There's a wide array of supplements to choose from, and I have, despite the fact I'm only halfway along my law school journey, literally seen 'em all. And not just because I really "needed" to review every outline, hornbook, case summary or nutshell. Rather, I'm a card carrying member of the modern day analog to the hunter-gatherer in our law school bubble: the "supplement collector."

If you know what I’m talking about, you’re probably a supplement collector yourself. Every semester, you seek out the best supplements to purchase, and buy the lot. But then you realize there may be a really useful point of law in another supplement you didn’t buy, so you just need to have that one too. Eventually, you have your own personal library collection of supplements.

I've been hooked since 1L. Before first semester started, I bought all of the "Examples and Explanations" series for every class I was enrolled in, along with the "Emmanuels Outlines" and the "Hornbook Series." Succeeding in law school, I thought at the time, was expensive and I was willing to pay the proverbial price. After barely using any of my supplements to prepare for finals, I vowed never to go on a supplement binge again. But I've since done it every semester since, and I just can't stop myself. Maybe this has something to do with the law school personality we've talked about?

All things considered, this is a pretty good vice to have. Sure, it's expensive, but at least I've never had to worry about having insufficient resources to figure out confusing legal doctrine! And, in some cases, I have actually used my supplements to, er, supplement my education. So without further ado, here's what I recommend based on my past experiences…I'm only addressing 1L supplements for now:

Contracts: The Emmanuels Outline was most useful for me. I found the Examples and Explanations more or less worthless.

Torts: The Gilberts Outline was really helpful, although my Professor's idiosyncratic style made any secondary source more or less worthless (naturally, though, this didn't stop me from buying more!). I didn't like the Examples and Explanations, but some friends raved about it.

Civil Procedure: The conventional wisdom is that Glannon's Examples and Explanations is the supplement to use, and I couldn't agree more. I also consulted the Hornbook Series which I found helpful, albeit much more detailed than necessary for my purposes. You should be aware that owning (and using) a hardcover supplement like the Civil Procedure Hornbook Series is almost a surefire guarantee that you'll be made fun of by your friends; I was no exception to this.

Constitutional Law: Erwin Chemerinsky's book was fantastic. Even if you're not an avid supplement reader, you need to have a copy of this one. It's one of the few supplements I didn't sell back on Half.com after using.

Property: The Emmanuels Outline was my favorite for this class. I found the other popular supplements to be pretty unhelpful in most instances.

Criminal Law: Dressler's book from the Lexis Understanding Series was my favorite. I pretty much love everything Dressler has out there, and also looked at his Black Letter Series outline.

Happy shopping...