August 24, 2015

My First Day of Law School



"Wish me luck, Bruiser. This is my first class as a serious law student."

Originally, I had planned to wake up at 7 and finish my briefs for Torts, but I couldn't sleep last night and ended up letting myself sleep in until 9 because my first class on Mondays and Wednesdays doesn't start until 10. I have an hour and a half lunch so I just decided to come home to eat and finish up. I know eventually I won't be coming home for my lunch break because that'll add up in gas and I can utilize that time for reading when those start piling up. And to save money on paying for a locker, I plan to just keep my day's supply of books in my car and rung out and switch what I need into my backpack since I have plenty of time between classes.


What I Wore

For lack of a better explanation, I'd say a good outfit to wear is something that you'd wear meeting up with your friends for day drinking. Look nice, but don't worry about having to dress up too much or be formal or business-y. I think you might describe this as "snappy casual," if not a notch below that. I even noticed one girl wearing sweatpants and a messy bun, and I'm just going to assume that she's a 3L. Idk though, because according to Pinterest, most other schools take their clothes a little more seriously and business casual is the case with lots o' blazers and some pencil skirts thrown in for fun. Although, all of those posts makes me wonder if these people actually went to law school or if this is just what they assume law students dress like, and if they did go to law school then was it recently or has the typical student outfit shifted towards more casual in the past 8 years? Who knows. 


first day of law school | brazenandbrunette.com


First Class: Contracts

I rushed to get to class a little early just in case the whole Legally Blonde assign-yourself-a-seat thing happened; however, when I walked into my classroom, none of my section was in there and I started to panic. I walked out and checked that I had written down room 104, walked back into room 104 and like a total first year stood there awkwardly looking for anyone I knew, and then in full-freakout mode I text the one girl whose number I got during orientation. Yep, we were moved to room 106 last week. I rushed over across the hall and found a seat right beside her in the most perfect seat: right in the center of the entire classroom. Turns out I was right in my worrying and we had assigned ourselves to that seat for the rest of the semester so I'm glad I sat where I did. 

Then we went over the syllabus and dived into the readings. My professor used the socratic method, choosing a student per case to go over it with. When one student said that he wasn't sure of the rule of the case, my professor asked us what we thought it was. The next student cited some theory that was mentioned in the text before the case, but really wasn't the rule of the case. I raised my hand and stated the rule and got an "exactly" from my professor. Still so proud of myself like oh hot damn I'm 2/2 in answering questions correctly so far so I'll take it. I was also proud of myself that everything we touched over in class was already highlighted or somehow noted in my book, so at least I'm somewhat on the right track. 



Second Class: Torts

So this class didn't have assigned seating, which is kinda disappointing because again I scoped out the perfect seat and now it's not reserved for me. My Torts professor is super anti-electronics, so I spend the whole class furiously jotting down notes while my professor talked.


A poor girl that was the second student chosen to talk in my Contracts class was the first student chosen to talk about a case in this class. When we saw her stand up again we all felt bad for her, but the students closest to her whispered some encouragement. That's what I like about this school so far— it's more friendly than competitive and the professors seem pretty chill.

Luckily, I don't have any readings for my 3 classes tomorrow, so I'm enjoying a celebratory margarita and finishing The Paper Chase. Maybe it's because I'm also taking Contracts right now, but I like this movie more than Legally Blonde and How to Get Away With Murder because as a 1L I literally know nothing about the law and think it's a little unrealistic that 1L's would be helping their professors with actual criminal cases. Who knows, maybe in a few months I'll change my stance on that. And in the words of my Contracts professor, "This isn't as sexy as criminal law, but it's one of the more applicable are common areas of the law." 

Related: Perfect movies for law students and Favorite law TV shows

$More Books$

The books for my Legal Research and Writing class finally came in at the bookstore and I'll admit, I'm irritated. Why does one 2-hour class require 4 damn books?! I took a picture of the ISBN numbers to try to rush order some from Chegg since I don't have any reading in it this week, and part of me is really tempted to push how much is required. I have a citation book that a professor gave me in my freshman year, and I have yet to use it once. Do I really need a Blue Book? Like will I be expected to bring it and the three other books to class? Chegg only had the first two books, with renting the first one being almost the same price as buying a used one once you add in shipping and taxes, and the bookstore actually had a new Blue Book cheaper than a rented one off of Chegg, so I guess it'd just be easier to get them from the bookstore. FML there goes more money. 


first day of law school | brazenandbrunette.com

In case you're wondering, in addition to the above required books for my Legal Research and Writing class, I've also paid this much for my other books:
  • Property- $175 (used) 
  • Contracts- $191 (rented)
  • Tort- $95 (rented)
  • Civil Procedure- $240 (bundle with a required workbook)


A photo posted by Nikki (@oh.nikki.you.so.fine) on

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