So the first semester was teaching us that the way we have learned in the past is not the way we will be learning now. It’s not about learning all the laws and spewing out results. It is about changing the way you think. “We are training you to think like a lawyer.” How do lawyers think differently from everyone else? Don’t know. But that is what is going to happen to us. Apparently.
Read a case. Learn how to brief a case. Learn the terminology. Analyze the decision. Spot the issues. What is the rule or holding? Don’t count obiter as law. Apply the law to your facts. Tell me the conclusion. Discuss in class. Realize that what you thought the judge said and what the judge really said are not the same thing. Do it again.
We also need to learn how to write. So we write some exercises. Then we write a closed memo. Then an open memo. Oh, the open memo.
If you thought writing about your facts was hard with a limited number of cases, try having the whole country of cases for decades available to try to figure out what the law is and then apply it. There really is a black hole of research. I got stuck in it and didn’t even come out with the right cases. But the biggest problem I have is that I lack application. Sucks to be me.
But I do my reading - not necessarily all my briefs. Okay, if I were completely honest I didn’t do more than a handful or two of briefs. But I used my colour markers! Blue is facts. Green is issue. Pink is law. Yellow is application. Orange is conclusion. And I attend all my classes. I even participate in discussion. It’s really not because I am a keener or know anything. It is because I don’t know and am a talker. I learn from conversation.
On a side note - first semester was hard. Not just because of the work, but because I was part time and felt like I didn’t really get to know anyone. It felt kind of lonely. And I felt like even as we came up to exams at Christmas, I was still floundering looking for that land. Oh, I was pretty good at treading water. I didn’t feel like I was sinking anymore. But I am certainly not a mountain goat.
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