Journalist fight for right to practice law
In California, a ex-journalist is fighting for this right to practice law. The journalist while in his twenties was caught writing fake articles for several magazines. The gentlemen had passed the California's bar exam in 2007. His application was rejected by the Committee of Bar Examiners because they found him morally unfit. In California when its time for you to take the bar exam, you also have to submit information for the State Bar to examine your background to ensure you are morally fit to practice law. So it is a two step process but very few people fail the second part after they past the really legal test. In California, the bar examination is a three day event. It consists of two days of written examination in a total of 4 three hour periods and one day of multiple choice questions in two three hour periods.
After his license was denied, he challenged the ruling and now the California Supreme Court is going to take up his appeal. The gentleman is currently working as a law clerk while he awaits for his appeal to be heard.
Second year schedule
Here is what your second year of law school schedule could look like:
Civil Procedure I and II (2 units and 3 units)
Constitutional Law I and II (3 units and 3 units)
Property (4 units)
Two electives of your choice
Class schedule for part time first year student
Here is the typical work schedule for a non-traditional law student in their first year of law school:
Fall Spring
Contracts I and II 3 units 2 units
Criminal Law 3 units
Law I and Law II 3 units 3 units
Torts 4 units
Total 9 units 9 units
Part time student
Most people think or consider a part time law student as a non-traditional law student because those individuals graduate in 4 years instead of 3 years. If you go to ruthless law school where 20% of your class gets cut in the first year then that is not a bad strategy. The first year in law school is the hardest. As a part time student you are able to take less classes and are able to concentrate on school with less workload. Some people go into school anticipating taking a full load and switch to part time status. It all depends on your circumstance. Others do it because of their time commitment or have a family or work a full time job. Some are night students. Whatever your reason, do what you think is best for you. Law school is expenses and you need to make sure you are going to pass and graduate otherwise it is a complete waste of money.
IRAC
IRAC stands for Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion. It is a form of analysis that all law students employ in reading and reviewing any case. It is one of the first things that you learn in law school. You are repeatedly told to formulate a IRAC for every case that you read so that you can understand the issue involved in the case and the court's ruling on that issue. After you read a number of cases in each topic of law, you will see a pattern develop in terms of how the court address a issue in the law and what type of standards are required or test that the court employes to reach a conclusion in an area of law.
IRAC was very helpful for me to use in my first year, even though I was not your traditional law student. It trained me to think in a issue rules matter. It trained me to automatically look to figure out what the main issue of the case was about, how the court analyze that issue and how it ruled. This was very helpful because later on understanding the court's analysis of issues, help me to format arguments on why the court should rule one way or another in my own legal briefs.
A case is about providing elements of the law to establish a cause of action. For each element, there are issues that must be proven or established. Learning and understanding the IRAC method of thinking and analyzing helps one think like a lawyer if that is possible.
Property Class
My first class on the first day of law school was Property. Property is not like any other areas of law. Its not straight forward like Civil Procedure or Contract law. Its based on common law and legal concepts that date back to a time the United States was not even formed. The first set of cases that all Property classes discuss on the first day of school relate to abstract concepts where no law student could possibly understand to any great degree of comprehension much less be able to articulate with any authority. The first student in my class to get called upon in Property that morning was poor Tracy. She completely froze and could not responded. The rest of us, well especially me did not pay attention to her tormet, I was too busy trying to scramble and figure out what I would say if I was called upon on the next case. Right there I knew that I came to the first day of school under prepared. I thought it would be simple like in undergraduate in my Constitution law classes but this was in another league. Thank god I didn't get called that day.
First Day of School
There is nothing like it. The first day of law school is not pleasant. If you been out of school for a few years and you are just starting law school, there is that nice excitement of being back to show and seeing all the girls and guys in an academic setting but that excitement quickly pasts away as you rush to prepare for that first day of class. We have all heard the horrible stories. We have all seen the television shows about law school. There is nothing like it when the first class begins and you know you did not adequately prepare because no one could have possibility been prepare for what is to happen to some poor classmate of yours on that first day.