Staring in the face of a new year (2012 already? Is it just me or was it just yesterday that people were stockpiling water for the Millennium?), it is that time that we all begin to reflect on our past year went, so I thought it appropriate to offer some of my thoughts on the first semester of law school and what I learned.

 The first thing is that as much as we all may joke about it, it genuinely can be difficult to get yourself out of the law vortex. As one of our professors said during Orientation Week “Your friends and family will no longer understand you, nor be able to stand you” and to a degree, this could not be more true. You forget that not everyone can relate to your frustrations with the seemingly endless exceptions in contract law, knows the definition of various torts, or understands what it means that an exam is composed of fact patterns. It is important to remember that you had friends before you came to law school and that while it can admittedly sometimes be easier to hang out with your new friends who speak the same language, it is really important to make time for the people who matter. These people are the ones who will provide you with an excuse to NOT talk about law and will remind you that law school is not the entirety of your existence. Otherwise you might find your world limited to legal jokes (I admit to writing a few song parodies), and as much as everyone loves the classic “What do you call 1000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean”, you don’t really want to be that guy/gal.

 The second thing is that you should (ideally) not do anything last minute because it will probably take you a lot longer than you anticipate. I think a perfect example of when a lot of us 1Ls learned this was during our first open memorandum. Set loose in the library and on legal databases, most of us, myself included, became incredibly overwhelmed at the sheer volume of information out there and had a difficult time narrowing down our searches to the truly relevant facts. In undergrad a lot of students, as long as they have done their research, can just sit down and write a paper in a few hours. This was absolutely not the case for our memorandum. Because law is a foreign area to all first years, you are simply not as comfortable with the material and it becomes a lot more difficult to write since you are constantly questioning whether what you are saying really is correct. I am sure that this process will speed up with practice, but needless to say…don’t leave it to the last minute. You will get it done, but your stress level will be far higher than is necessary.

 The last thing I will mention is: Make a plan and stick to it during exams. This was something I picked up after attending an academic success lecture held by upper years.  When you are in seven classes, studying for December exams is a complex juggling act and can seem unbelievably daunting. If you don’t have a plan, it seems as though there is an unmanageable volume of material to review and you spend more of your studying time staring forlornly at your stacks of books than actually studying. Making yourself study schedule will break the courses up and let you better focus your attention since you know exactly when you will be studying the other materials. I can honestly say that if I hadn’t taken this approach to finals, my studying would have been far less efficient and there would have been a lot more panicking.

 I will do an updated post to this effect in April, as I am sure that I will have learned a lot more by the time that finals (gulp!) are over, but if you have any specific questions in the meantime, fire away! I will be posting again within the next week or two about the Law Games (basic information regarding them can be found here: http://lawgames2012.ca/#/about/4554150810), which were a crazy and amazing experience. 

 Best of luck with your resolutions everyone!

I last wrote the night before on-campus interviews (“OCIs”): those 17-minute, preliminary interviews with big Vancouver law firms. I promised to report back on my experiences, but before I get into the details, I want to make a quick disclaimer. This process was pretty competitive and intense. This probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise – students across the country were vying for a small number of positions – but I think it’s worth emphasizing.

I feel extremely lucky to have come out of this whole thing with a position at a firm I really like. Without a doubt, this process didn’t end with everyone getting exactly what they wanted. I’m not trying to scare anyone, but out of approximately 200 second year students, only around 50 got jobs through OCIs. With that said, there are lots of jobs out there with firms that don’t participate in this process. This is but one possible path.

September 19^th – 20^th: On Campus Interviews

My nerves compelled me to be about an hour early for my first OCI. This meant I had plenty of time to scope out the set up, fret about missing classes, and make nervous chitchat with classmates while I waited. We reassured each other that our outfits were appropriate and that firms would be crazy not to hire us.

The interviews were held in small booths made out of curtains, which were not the most welcoming, but were very functional. For whatever magical reason, even though there was only a thin piece of fabric separating my interviews from others’, the acoustics were such that you couldn’t hear other people. By the time introductions had been made and hands had been shook, the other interviews melted away into background sound. This was a BIG relief because some interviews went better than others, so I could convince myself that what happened behind the curtains, stayed behind the curtains.

At the end of Day 2, I’d had so many adrenaline peaks and troughs that I was totally spent. There was a two-week wait before interview call day, when I would know the outcome of my OCIs. Interview call day is when firms call to schedule “in firm” interviews – the next step in getting a summer job.

October 17^th – 19^th: Interview Week

Interview week was truly an experience. I spent those three days running around downtown Vancouver, going from firm to firm, event to event. Thank heavens it was sunny. At times interview week was super fun, other times it was pretty stressful. It was an opportunity to meet scores of interesting and successful people, but it was also a week of tough decisions and some rejection.

Firms put a ton of resources into interview week (well, the whole recruitment process really). There were lunches and dinners, receptions and coffees.  I met dozens of partners, associates and students – many spent a significant amount of time answering my questions and telling me about their practices. Firms put a lot of effort into getting to know students, and while Career Services will be able to advise you better than I can, I think it’s safe to say that firms are looking for a bit of reciprocation in this process. The people I met weren’t concerned that I didn’t know what kind of law I want to practice, but they wanted to get a sense of why I wanted to work for them in particular.  They certainly gave me every opportunity to show my curiosity about their firm.

My focus for interview week was pretty general (because I don’t know what kind of law I want to practice).  I paid attention to the vibes I got from the people I met, and the kinds of things they emphasized as being important to their “firm culture”. I also asked lawyers about their pre-law background and what drew them to their practice area to get a sense of what my path might be if I ended up at their firm. Lastly, I tried to imagine what it would be like working at the firms I interviewed with.

When it was all said and done, I consider myself to be very lucky to have received an offer, and from a firm I really like. I’ve heard all sorts of stories from friends – some knew exactly who was going to be their first call with an offer; others were really surprised by who called and who didn’t.

The best advice I was given during this crazy month and a half was: Don’t read into anything. If you’re digging a firm but they don’t invite you to a lunch: don’t read into it. If you thought you nailed an OCI but the firm didn’t respond to your follow-up email: don’t read into it. If the firm gives you gifts, tells you they think you’re amazing, invites you to meet every lawyer in the firm: don’t read into it. I’ve heard lots of stories, and you may not know exactly where you stand with a firm until they call with a job offer.

For example, the firm that I will be working for this summer didn’t call me on interview call day to schedule an interview. Yup. They called me a full 30+ hours later. I thought for sure they must have gotten a cancelation and I was top of their pity list. It was hard not to read into it! But it turned out to be an awesome interview (sparks flew!), and they were my first call with a job offer (and they called me at 8:00 am sharp that time).

That’s a pretty long summary (I know), but if you have any questions- I’d be more than happy to answer them!

On my last post, I threw out an open request to anyone for the topic of this post. I received one (lonely) comment from a reader out there requesting me to adress the applications process and how it relates to life in law school.  So, below are my thoughts thusfar.

Disclaimer: Let me start this post by clarifying that I am from Toronto. I applied to Ontario and BC schools only, so my experience is limited to those two provinces.

The Hardest Part is Getting In.

To be honest, there is some truth to that statement. However, I think to leave it at that is a gross injustice to the amount of hard work law school students do. Depending on your university of choice, getting in requires communications for letters of recommendations, transcripts, composition of letters of intent and equivalent bureaucratic requirements. You need to achieve high academic standings throughout four years of university. You need to get a relatively decent LSAT result. All of these things combine to create your application. So yes, this is a difficult process.

However, law school itself is not EASY. The idea is that you get into law school because you are driven to do it. The requirements you must meet are designed (in my opinion) to make certain this is a career you will be serious about. You do not just put your name down to get acceptance, you need to work hard. Once you meet all of those standards of admission, it is not that requirements suddenly drop or that law school itself is easy. Rather, the main concept is that by meeting the requirements set out by admissions, you are better prepared to take on the assignments and you are committed to doing so. Hundreds of pages of reading will avert some people but the people who do get in typically are ready to handle it or if not, are willing to put in the time to get there.

Hopefully this helps both answer my one reader’s question and anyone else who is thinking of applying.  I would add one thing in terms of the application process and researching your schools. Try to get as much information about all of your choices (I—with a potential bias—suggest you closely look at UBC) and find out what gels with who you are. Talk to students, ask questions, and try to nquire. Go beyond traditional questions. Think about everything. Consider the location (can you see mountains from every law library? I think not). Consider the social requirements and look beyond the name on the pamphlet. Look at the facilities available.  I never would have advocated this until I was fortuitous enough to be among the first class of students into the new facilities at Allard Hall. Facilities can impact education and this new building has been incredible.

For my fellow out-of-province potential applicants:  do not be intimidated from a big move away from your home province. UBC has a really big mixture of Canadians from across the country and you will definitely meet people who are from where you are. There also is support from the university to help get you here. When I was applying last year, I remember thinking that it was just too far. I knew one person in the entire province of BC. Not only have I met people but, as funny as this may sound, I have not even had time to miss the people left behind. Make the
decision that is best for you and your future. Do not worry about a big move; it is completely do-able. In fact, it is a great adventure that I am so
thrilled I decided to undertake.

I will be coming up on exams soon so will be taking a brief hiatus from long-winded posts on my blog. Hopefully after my first set of law school exams, I can give you a better idea of what to expect. Any questions you may have are still welcomed and if I can answer it in short form, I’ll do that instead. If not, I will be back with a breath of fresh air (see what I did there with my use of imagery–you do not get to do this in legal writing) in late December or early January. I am thinking of topics for upcoming posts such as exams, preparation for law school, extracurriculars, firms and social events… if any or none of the above appeal to you, leave a comment or ask away.

Happy holidays to everyone out there.

Toto, we are definitely not in Kansas anymore. The difference between mid-September, when there were organized social events abound and light(-ish) reading, and early November, having just finished our first exam and with 250+ pages of reading a week, is pretty striking.  That is not to say that it is unmanageable, but let’s just say that my weekends aren’t necessarily my own anymore.

Schoolwork isn’t by any means all there is to being in law. During September, we were bombarded with different clubs, teams, and organizations that we could join. I am certain that every student could find at least three things that pique their interest among the multitude of activities offered, and that is without even looking past the UBC Law community to the UBC campus as a whole. This was completely overwhelming, and I have to say that I’m pretty glad I went into it with a strategy – allow me to elaborate.

Everyone in law school has a drive to be successful; if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be here. The problem is that this passion can sometimes get the best of us and result in overcommitment. As one of my friends likes to say, “if you want something done, ask a busy person”; while this may be true, there is also a point where said busy person has a miniature nervous breakdown, climbs into bed, and watches every season of Mad Men available on Netflix. I came to law school knowing that there would be a lot of ways to get involved, and that I would tempted to take on more than I could probably handle. In order to try and prevent the aforementioned Netflix coma-like state, I decided to limit myself to a sport and two other activities.

Here are some of the strategies I used to grapple with the choices:

1)      Research beforehand: this doesn’t have to be anything lengthy by any means, but take the time to look up a few of the clubs online and start thinking about which ones interest you. When you get to school you can then attend the club days, and if your opinion changes that’s completely fine, but it might help you to zero in on how you would most like to spend your time.

2)      Join a sport: exercise can easily fall by the wayside when you’re busy, so joining a sport will not only be a great way to meet your classmates, it’s a fun way to make sure you’re getting in at least one workout a week. There may be days where you don’t want to make it out, but the mental break is important and the endorphins don’t hurt either.

3)      Know what you want from your experience: think about what you liked and didn’t like in your undergrad, as well as what kind of work habits you aim to have in law school. For example, I know that while I am way happier when I am involved in university life beyond the scope of classes, I also really dislike feeling like there is no way that I am going to get everything done. I am not a last minute person, nor will I ever be, so I needed to make sure I would have enough free time to not be rushing before class all the time.

These are by no means must-follow rules (I am no Joel Bakan writing the Oakes test – incoming students, you’ll understand this somewhat feeble attempt at a law-related joke in September of your first year), but they might help you feel your way through the process a little bit and hopefully prevent you from feeling like you simply cannot narrow down your options. And remember – everyone can handle different amounts of work. If you are someone who loves being busy, don’t be afraid to try out everything that interests you; if it proves to be too much, you can always drop the ones you aren’t as passionate about.

Until I started preparing my applications last year, I believed that ‘law school’ was simply the institution an individual attends to gain a legal education. Au contraire mes ami(e)s. Law school comes with its own baggage (enough to keep airlines in business for years). Mentioning this institution to friends, family and acquaintances may render you some sort of ethereal glow in the eyes of others as people seem to be in awe of your future life in Law and Order. Disclaimer: this may be a gross exaggeration but there is truth to the claim that there are expectations and connotations associated with law school.

Let’s play a little word association game. Ready? Okay, let’s start and end with one, well two, words—law school. Typical answers may include: stress, reading, competitive, stuffiness, intensity, expensive, prestige, difficult, reading, lawyers, advocacy, and, did I mention, reading? All of
these potential answers are true, or, at least after a month of going to law school, that is my impression. During orientation week, as 1Ls we were encouraged to share our expectations of what law school would be like and my peers mentioned many (if not all) of the above descriptors. So if you thought them, you are not alone. For those of you that have, I would like to take this opportunity to help you explore your expectations.

The main thing to always remember is that all of these preconceived notions oversimplify law school. After a month and a bit of school, I realized many of these expectations were not an accurate depiction of law school. Yes, you have to read. Yes, at times, there is stress in your life. No, it is not easy. However, law school is not impossible and can actually be fun.

My personal expectations of law school envisioned professional attire, long-winded excurses between colleagues in to the meaning of law, and the end of my social life. Further, I expected to be completely overwhelmed with new terms, subjects, ideas, and ways of thinking. I worried about not keeping up. The point was that I had a view of exactly what law school would be like and for the most part, I was wrong.

I have been pleasantly surprised to find that my fellow colleagues and professors are actually people too. I could start up an intense debate about the newest Supreme Court decision just as easily as I could stir up a debate about the latest pop culture phenomenon. At the Orientation Banquet, half of my small group discussed, in-depth, the latest Harry Potter film. Imagine my excitement to discover that the legal profession does not (contrary to some opinions) attract automatons or people with the personality of a shark.

There is a sense of community at UBC, which has been a great comfort as I moved here from Toronto, leaving all my friends and family behind. No matter what initiative or idea I may have, there is always someone to share the opinion or at the very least is willing to discuss it.

This diversity is no better expressed than during clubs week. I think I signed up for every activity. I did not care what it was, I wanted to be involved. Some of you may be wondering if undertaking this blog is included in my haphazard extra-curricular frenzy. It was not. I wanted to share my experiences with those of you out there who may have trepidations. There are all kinds of options open to all students, and you are
able to shape your law school experience as you choose. If you like athletics, we have a rugby team. Have an interest in knitting? Got you covered.
We have environmental clubs, women’s interests groups, yoga sessions, the school paper, LSLAP (law students legal advice program), PBSC (pro bono students Canada) and many more. Apple may have an app for it but we have a club for everything.

There is no one definition of law school; it is what you make of it.  So if you read this as you, possibly, prepare to apply to UBC’s Faculty of Law (do it), remember that this next chapter in your life will be written by you. You get to choose your path, and you need not worry about LAW SCHOOL as everyone else conceives of it. So, yes, you may have certain beliefs and expectations about law school but those are yours and they
are subject to change. Sure, classes and courses in 1L are set but you are free to arrange the periphery however you choose.

Just remember, no matter what your expectations of law school, in some way it will surprise you.

If you have any questions out there you’d like me to answer or address in a subsequent blog, please feel free to shoot them my way.

Hello from lovely Manchester. Currently lovely because it does not look like it’s going to rain today – the definition of a good day in Manchester. I am a 3L student at UBC but at the moment I am on exchange to the University of Manchester for first semester and I thought I would share how the experience has been thus far.

In a word, amazing. To be fair, classes started on September 26th, so I have only been in school for about three weeks…but on the bright side, classes started on September 26th, so I have only been in school for about three weeks. The great thing about doing an exchange through Go Global, whether you’re a law student or any other student at UBC is that you have the privilege of experiencing an international education without paying the international fees. So far, the professors have been great, the classes are interesting and I am studying with a large international class, I was told in orientation that approximately 1 out of 4 students are international. My flatmates (roommates) are also international students, one from Nigeria and the other from Indonesia, I am therefore constantly learning something new about places I have yet to travel to.

Speaking of travel, Manchester has one of the main airports in the UK and is central enough to facilitate easy travel. I have already been to Italy and Edinburgh and have booked trips to Prague, Barcelona and Dublin. Jealous? You should be.

Back to the educational part of this trip, the reason I am here, of course. A full course load is three classes and I only spend about 7 hours a week in lecture. The rest of the time is in seminars or the library, a seminar here would be similar to a tutorial session back home. There is a fair amount of independent study and a heavy load of reading. Manchester is one of the few universities in the UK which allows for fall assessment instead of requiring exchange students to return in January to write the exams. Therefore, I am writing major term papers for all three of my classes which will be based on a question assigned by the professors.

The most interesting class that I am taking would be Counter Terrorism. We have weekly seminars which are essentially hour long debates on the readings and we are pre-assigned which side to take. It definitely forces the students to come up with arguments that might be against their personal beliefs and so far the debates have been extremely interesting. There are no marks allocated to the seminar and so the environment is relaxed but students still take the time to come prepared with arguments.

Manchester itself is a great city, very vibrant and young because of the University and always has something going on. But if you think you can handle the rain just because you’re from Vancouver, think again. There are days of rain here where the rain pours down in buckets and the wind whips it at you from all angles, making an umbrella utterly useless and this is a normal rainy day. I have also heard predictions of snow for the end of October…so that should be fun. Although, my flatmate from Indonesia has never seen snow before and is ridiculously excited for the first snow fall, seeing it from her point of view will be a pretty amazing thing.

Till next time, cheers love!

Never in my life have I been repeatedly asked the same questions so many times as in the first week of law school. These questions are standard and so frequently repeated that by the end of the first day of orientation a new friend suggested to me that it might be faster to simply write on all of our foreheads the following information: name, hometown, undergraduate university, and undergraduate degree. These four questions are the basics that you find yourself asking everyone, even as you feel a small twinge of guilt for being so unoriginal and barely scratching the surface of who your classmates truly are. For a while, I attempted to switch it up by asking people what their favourite band was, but let’s face it, that’s basically impossible to answer without having the time to develop a series of flow charts and highly complex ranking system.

If you talk to someone longer than the amount of time it takes to cover the Fundamental Four, the next question is often “So, why law school?” Several of my small group members have concrete, concise answers for this and I am slightly intimidated by their conviction in the fact that this has always been where they belonged. My own path, on the other hand, has entailed a series of events which culminated in the decision to go to law school.

I first had a taste of what it might be like to practice law in grade 7 when my class did a mock trial. I was one of the defence attorneys and standing in the heritage court downtown in my gown, I felt completely in my element. In high school I somehow wound up in almost all science courses and entered university as a science major, unsure of what I would do after I graduated. After two years at UVic, I decided to transfer to UBC and get my B.Sc in psychology, which I thought would eventually lead to a Ph.D in clinical psychology. I really loved a number of my upper-year courses, but after a year of volunteering in a lab cleaning rat cages and observing their sexual activity (I wish I were joking about that, but unfortunately I’m not), I became somewhat disenchanted with research. Around the same time, I took a forensic psychology course with a truly phenomenal professor and my interest in law was reignited. As a result, I decided to write the LSAT and take it from there.

The last stop on my way to deciding that law was probably for me was in late April 2010 when the class average for an 8 credit stats course was dropped to 72% from 81% at the very end of the year, thereby violating several university policies (fact: they were supposed to have scaled throughout the course). A fellow classmate and I wound up fighting the head of the department on the issue and successfully had our class’s average raised 5%, a pretty significant victory considering when we went into our first meeting with him we were promptly told that while he “sort of” felt bad for us, there was no way he was going to change it.  Regardless of the outcome, I thoroughly enjoyed researching my case and became even more interested in the possibility of doing it for a living.

Long story short, my path to law has not been a straightforward one. There are no lawyers in my family, no philosophy or political science courses under my belt, no debate teams, nothing; simply a string of relatively random experiences. I’m interested to learn more about my fellow 1Ls’ journeys as the year goes on because we are definitely an eclectic mix. So, on that note (yes, I am predictable…), why law school?