I have four classes: Torts, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law and Lawyering Skills. The first three involve large heavy casebooks. The 4th is a hands-on class where we apparently will learn skills like case briefing, writing complaints & motions, research, etc.

Torts is about how injuries (of which there is an amazing diversity) are converted into money -- who pays and why.
Civil procedure covers the life of a civil lawsuit, from inception to completion.
Criminal law is about why & how certain acts are criminalized, and what it takes to establish guilt or innocence.

The workload is not, dare I say it, especially taxing as yet. For each class session we usually have one case assigned, maybe a total of 10-12 pages of reading, though it's usually worthwhile to go through more than once.

The one essential habit that I've picked up is immediately looking up any unknown legal term as I come across it, some of which are common ('certiorari') and others superfluous ('ambit')

The other is taking as few notes as possible during class. I personally get more out of giving my full attention to the lecture rather than taking oodles of notes. Also, it's pretty clear that these classes are not like a history or literature class where you move along a one-way track -- it's more like the snowball model, where you have a key concept that grows and refines as you watch it progress through sample cases.

I expected to be more confused than I am. Since last Friday, I actually feel like I've learned something -- not much, to be sure, but measurable progress has been made.

27 Aug 04