Hello class of 2020! Welcome to the Allard law community. As a recent graduate of Allard I can say that you’re in for a great few years. Within your first few weeks you’ll be exposed to tons of extracurricular and volunteer opportunities. I’d like to introduce you to one particular program which may be able to help you navigate the academic part of law school: the peer tutor program.
The peer tutor program has two components. First and foremost, upper year peer tutors provide one on one tutoring for first years. You can request a peer tutor about a month into law school and will usually matched with someone who has had at least a few of the same professors. Generally about 50% of all first years sign up for the program.
In addition to one on one tutoring, peer tutors also provide two or three lunch time academic success lectures each semester. These talks are open to all first year students and provide tips and advice on various topics including note taking, preparing for exams and revamping your study habits after first semester. These lectures are also a great opportunity to ask lots of questions!
I signed up for the program in my first year of law school, and found it extremely helpful. I was matched with a friendly upper year student who was able to field my many questions (How do I read a case? How should I study for exams? What is a CAN*? Can I keep handwriting notes** or do I have to switch to typing? I don’t understand what’s going on in property law!! ….) and who provided insight, tips and a number of different suggestions for how to tackle law school exams. Although professors are of course a wonderful resource, it was great to be able to seek advice and assistance from someone who had just recently gone through first year law.
In second and third year I continued as a peer tutor myself. After several training sessions I took on a handful of first year students. After an initial meeting with each tutee, we would meet up every few weeks. Depending on the needs and concerns of the student, we might review their class notes and discuss strategies for taking more effective notes, discuss how to manage law school readings with other activities and commitments, or go over practice exams together. The great thing about the peer tutor program is that it’s flexible and can easily be tailored to the needs of each student.
You’ll get more information about the program and how to sign up after your first few weeks of law school.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer and good luck to you all!
Maria (4L)
*Condensed Annotated Notes – basically documents you create from your class notes and readings. The process of making CANs helps you study. You can also take them with you into open book exams.
**YES!