I’m a TA for Lawyering again this year, and my professor wants me to give a “tip of the day” when I’m in class (which is once a week). And because I have not written anything on here for a while, I thought I would share my wisdom with the general public… or no one, as the case may be.
Week 1:
- Maintain balance in your life — get to the gym, do things outside the law school, be involved in the community, etc. — balanced people are happier and I think they are better students because they learn to be efficient with their time.
- Form relationships with each other — these will be your colleagues, so take care of each other. Send people notes when they miss class, form study groups, get to know each other.
Week 2:
- Believe it or not, professors do actually know a lot, probably more than your friends, so do not be afraid to ask questions during class or outside of class.
- If you’re going to battle a library book, make sure you can win without damaging your wrist. (This was a particularly dumb story that resulted in a lot of pain for my poor wrist.)
Week 3 (this week):
- Try and categorize things in other ways when you read cases or compare cases. For instance, even though you will not take Criminal Procedure until next semester, my favorite categorization is the animal-rule category. This includes the raccoon rule (determining curtilage and trash cans), the eagle rule (determining observations during flyovers), the adolescent hippopotomus rule and the parakeet in a locket rule (determining reasonableness for a search gained by warrant).
- An eagle may soar, but a weasel doesn’t get sucked into a jet engine. (A friend suggested that one.)
I haven’t really been limiting myself to one tip each week, but I just have so much wisdom to pass on. Ha.