What's Going on in Class?
More questions than answers
If you are like most law students, your experience of law school classes is different from what you have experienced in other educational settings. In law school classes more questions are asked than answers given. In their book, Law School Without Fear: Strategies for Success, Shapo and Shapo put it this way (Call number KF273 .S43 1996):
...studying law will teach you to ask questions and to analyze problems, but will not always provide clear answers. Many of your law school professors will not spend much time communicating clear legal rules, except to question them. The law student's lot is to live with uncertainty, and that can be unsettling. If you begin to feel troubled as you explore this new educational world, you are reacting normally. Shapo and Shapo
Basic Legal Knowledge you should know
Although law schools do not require entering students to know specific information about the law and the legal system, you will it easier to understand your reading assignments if you have some basic legal knowledge. In her book, Starting Off Right in Law School, Carolyn J. Nygren wrote (Call number KF273 .N94 1997):
...students need to be familiar with fundamental legal principles and legal terminology as well as know information about the court systems and the trial and appellate processes. Students at most law schools must spend a great deal of time during the first semester trying to fill in the gaps in their basic knowledge at the same time that they are trying to cope with their course work. Carolyn J. Nygren
help from the academic support program
For those reasons (and others), you may wonder what is going on in class. For some students, things seem to magically clear up as the semester progresses. For other students, however, even if they are working hard on their assignments, some limited assistance from outside sources may be necessary.
Early in the Fall semester, the Academic Support Program presents a workshop designed to help you understand what is going on in class. The workshop will provide suggestions regarding how to prepare for class in advance, what to "take away" from each class, and what to do with your class notes after each class. You should not hesitate to ask your faculty these same questions. See Workshops
Although no single method will work for all students, we offer some guidance online at Resources and Links.
