Law School is Intensively Time-Consuming...and Fun!
Welcome to the Northeastern University School of Law Blogs! As one of two 1Ls blogging this year, I want start off by giving you a sense of where I am now (busy, busy, busy) to where I was last year (busy, busy, busy). A year ago, I was working a full-time job, volunteering, and applying to law schools. I applied early admission, early decision, and just plain early to the schools on my list. Feel free to follow my example. Or not. Fast-forward to the present: I'm finishing my second full month at Northeastern, and, as you read above, I find the pace maintaining at a full-tilt. Or faster. Of course, I don't imagine anyone seriously considering committing their lives to three years of law school--as I imagine many of you are now so considering--would have any fantasies about it not being a heavy and deadline-ridden workload.
You may ask, then, how am I--as a 1L--finding time to write this blog? Honestly, I just sleep a little less. There is no rest for the weary, after all.
You may also ask, what is the first year like in law school--you know, besides all the "busy" and the "go, go, go?" What is the meat of it? What should I expect?
First, expect a lot of reading. That is a standard law student answer, but that's because reading is a staple and the answer holds true. Secondly, know that the professors and the administrators and your fellow students will expect a lot of initiative out of you. Your success, at the end of the day, is up to you. Even in the many group projects, your success is reliant upon how much you put into it. Everyone is here to help and, as far as I've witnessed at Northeastern thus far, is totally approachable when your have questions or problems. Yet, they are training future lawyers and thusly expect a higher level of responsibility and effort.
As a 1L you take a standard first-year curriculum. At Northeastern, you take a standard first-year curriculum and then some. This semester we all take Civil Procedure, Tort Law, and Property Law, and a course titled Legal Skills in Social Context (LSSC). I'll talk a bit more about LSSC in the next blog, but know for now that it is an intensive course--emphasis on INTENSIVELY time-consuming--that teaches in-depth legal research and writing while examining the social aspects and application of the law. Unlike research and writing courses at other law schools, LSSC is unique in that it stems straight out of Northeastern's commitment to public interest law and public service. Again, more on this later.
Monday, at or around the mid-point in our semester, all 1Ls took a Torts practice exam. Many considered it a mid-term and prepared for it accordingly. Many are now drained from having studied Torts exclusively this past weekend and neglected other pressing assignments. "Many" could be a code-name for "Ira." Honestly, I actually fall somewhere in between being totally drained and very glad it is over. A benefit to the practice exam was recapping everything we've studied in American tort law to date. It's amazing how many cases one can read in two months.
To wrap up, a word or two on living in Boston in the eyes of an out-of-towner. I moved from North Carolina where I lived the majority of my life, did my undergraduate studies, and worked. It's too easy to turn a cliche and say that the Northeast is totally different from the Southeast. I mean, it's true and it isn't. Some things are the same, some are not: people still drive like maniacs; the seasons still go Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall. Yet, people do indeed talk faster and behave with more of a hurry up North. It's not unfortunate, just noticeable. Also, quite inconveniently, you can't buy beer in grocery stores. I haven't discovered yet if this is a singular Boston or State of Massachusetts practice. Stay tuned. Either way, it made two stops out of one. More stops when you're in the city--on foot or in car--is not always a cool situation.
Lastly, just imagine living in Boston when the Red Sox win baseball championships. For those of you not familiar with what Franklin Street in Chapel Hill looks like after Carolina wins big at basketball--picture pandemonium.

