Preparing for Moot Court

By Brendan Horgan

The suit is pressed, the hair is perfect, the shoes are shined, and your notes are impeccable

A moot court argument is a mock appellate argument. The lawyer stands behind a podium and advocates to a panel of judges. During the advocate’s arguments, the judges can interrupt and redirect the conversation with questions. So, a lawyer can never be 100% prepared for a moot, because after all, who knows what the judges will ask?

A prepared advocate will anticipate the questions. By knowing the case law inside and out, a prepared advocate becomes an expert on the field being discussed. So, the advocate must prepare for the unknown by mastering the subject matter, and conducting practice arguments. Practice arguments get the advocate accustomed to thinking on their feet.

To paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia, “Appellate advocacy is simply one lawyer attempting to educate other lawyers on a particular area of the law.”  So, in preparing for your argument, you must learn the applicable law and cases in a way that you can explain them to other people. Think of your argument not as a speech, but as a lawyer sitting at a table with other lawyers discussing the law. Your job is to keep the conversation travelling in the area you desire. The judges can ask any number of potential questions, but you must be able to answer their question in a way that brings the argument back to your major points.

There is nothing like the impending feeling of a pressure packed oral argument. A law student advocate is consumed in the days leading up to the big event. Thousands of potential scenarios are running through the advocates head. The key to success relies heavily on preparation. Preparation breeds confidence, and confidence leads to success.

Finals Survival 101

Surprisingly, it is possible to survive finals. I’m surprised “Survivor” hasn’t just crowned us all winners already. Finals can seem impossible at times but the things to keep in mind are:

1) Don’t give up. It isn’t your only choice. You can still study and review your notes. There’s still time to ask questions before finals. Teachers have emails for a reason. Also, your classmates can been good sources. Chances are they are feeling the same way as you.

2) GET OFF THE INTERNET! No, really. If you’re so worried about grades, why are you trying to ‘study’ the life of your neighbor’s cousin’s grocer’s jaywalker’s shoe salesman from twenty years ago down to the minutest detail? Totally not important. The flip side? At least you can remember who that super distant individual was, thus training yourself for minute details needed for the exam. Yes, you do eventually need Buzzfeed to tell you what city you should live in, but lets try to graduate from law school before we think about moving.

3) Set goals. When you reach those goals, you can take a brief—brief, I said—break. Maybe you can watch one of the tv shows you added to your Netflix watch list sometime in October that you never got around to watch. One. Not a zombie marathon that will have you unearthing every single zombie movie made in the history of the world. Quotas. A small reward to give the gray matter a break and keep it up to studying capacity. This will help you keep your sanity.

4) Exercise. Finals time is rough. I don’t care if your idea of exercise is walking around the block, but get OUT. Finals—especially your first finals—are around the holiday season. Surprisingly, there IS a world out there not drowning in papers and study guides. That world happens to be a pretty place of happiness and cheer. Go check it out for a little.

5) Don’t get down on yourself. Don’t get depressed. You’re not stupid, or dumb, you aren’t a worthless slacker. Remember why you came to law school and your goals and go for them. If that doesn’t help, and you are seriously in a bad place, go to student services. They are there for a reason and they often have candy.

Now it’s time for me to go and actually put this list to good use to fend off being dominated by finals.

One last tip.... the dry erase boards in the library are meant for work, but sometimes drawing a picture of a shark eating your law books can be just the therapy you need.

Preparing for Your First Month

By Allison Roso

In racking my brain to figure out what words of wisdom I have about how to prepare for law school classes, my search came up rather empty. By the time you’re entering law school, you’ve had (at least) 17 first-day-of-schools, so a lot of the advice I could give is something that you probably had mastered by the end of elementary school. Instead of rehashing the basics, I jotted down my perspective on a few questions you might have:

1. Taking Notes…Type or Handwrite?

Many of you probably decided this question in undergrad, but it is worth a second look. The

material you are learning is going to be new to you and the concepts you learn during your first year are going to be the foundation. The bottom line is that it is important to pay attention and absorb as much as you can. For this reason (and because I have an honest appreciation for penmanship), I used notebooks through my entire first year. It allowed me to be less distracted by the inane wonders of the Internet and forced me to be engaged with the material. It is purely a matter of preference, but I would suggest trying both and deciding which works better for you. No matter which method you choose, be diligent about organizing and reviewing your notes as you go – it will make life easier preparing for exams!

2. First Assignments…what am I supposed to do?

You might feel overwhelmed when you crack open your casebooks for the first time and try to figure out how to tackle the pages your professor assigned for the first day. Don’t worry. You’ll learn how to “properly” brief a case later in the semester, but for the first assignment, just make sure you read everything thoroughly, try to figure out who is saying what and why, and don’t feel like you just wasted tuition dollars if you don’t understand the law right off the bat. Legal-ese is a tough language to learn and the style of legal writing can be all over the map, but I would advise you to take notes, write down any questions you have, and try not to skim (which I’m sure we’re all guilty of) so you can understand the material as much as possible. And if you still feel totally clueless on the first day, don’t be embarrassed to ask a question!

3. Study Aids…Flash cards? Hornbooks? E&E?

There are easily as many study aids as there are casebooks, and a good chance that there are even more. There is nothing wrong with using them to help you understand or clarify the information in the casebook, but it can be confusing to know if, when, and how to use them. The most important thing is to only use them to supplement your casebook, not replace it. You will probably have at least one casebook that is not ideal, but remember that your professor chose that casebook for a reason and that is where the exam is going to be derived from. To figure out what works for you, look through the various study aids in the Coop, order a few online (older editions are cheaper and usually haven’t changed significantly), or ask your professor what he/she would recommend.

Journal Write On Competition

By Alexandra Cavaliere

As you probably know, there are four legal journals on campus: Connecticut Law Review, Connecticut Insurance Law Journal, Connecticut International Law Journal, and the Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal. Many students, and more importantly employers, see journal membership as an asset to resumes and a great experience that shapes you into an excellent writer. To snag these sharp legal writing skills you need to opt into competing in the Journal Write On Competition during the summer. Unless you grade-on onto a journal (meaning you are ranked high enough in your class that you are offered a spot), then you have to compete for a spot. It’s a closed material, two part competition, where you have to write essentially a short journal note on a predetermined topic, and complete a Blue Booking exercise where you flex your footnote formatting muscles. There is also an "Alternate Write On" that the Public Interest Journal holds for those who are only interest in a seat on its journal. The competition unfortunately takes places right around the end of June. The experience is just about as fun as you think it will be, but thankfully taking the time out of your summer to compete is well worth it. Being a member of any of the Journals on campus will definitely enhance your law school experience.

With your submission, you rank in order of your preference as to which journal you would like to join. The process works kind of like sorority/fraternity bidding. The summer that I received my Journal Write On competition materials I rushed to print out the whole packet (a totally unnecessary move) and then I put it on my desk and didn't pick it up again for a few days. This was a bad move as I should've started reading on the first day. Over 400 pages of reading material and learning the Blue Book takes more than just a few afternoons (good thing I had my kitten to help me). Many people told me to take time off work which I luckily did. Those few days I took off work ended up being a life saver. After going through the process, I thankfully got everything done in time, and a week or two later, I accepted a position on the Connecticut Law Review, my top pick.

Before the semester ends, all of the journals hold an information session to more clearly outline exactly how the competition works and what it entails (a lot better than I have). If this hasn’t scared you away from competing (which it shouldn't), your time competing will be more than worth it. With some hard work and time management, Write On won’t be a daunting task at all and you’ll be sure to land the journal you wanted.