There was a glitch. It seems my blogroll reverted back to an earlier form and is all out of whack. If you used to be on my blogroll and no longer are, please let me know. If you were never on it but would like to be, let me know and I will include you if you are worthy.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Barely Likely to Pass - otherwise known as Business Law and Practice
Big Law Firm: hello
Susie Law School: hi, Susie Law School here. Reckon I failed BLP.
Big Law Firm: That'll be £13,000 please.
Susie Law School: OK, thanks a lot, bye bye.
Stripper-R-Us, here I come!
Susie Law School: hi, Susie Law School here. Reckon I failed BLP.
Big Law Firm: That'll be £13,000 please.
Susie Law School: OK, thanks a lot, bye bye.
Stripper-R-Us, here I come!
Monday, February 25, 2008
The Fear
"An emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight). "
I am experiencing Business Law related fear.
It is immense.
Fear.
Immense fear.
I am experiencing Business Law related fear.
It is immense.
It is not aided by the fact that I get to a point where I feel like I know things, only to find something else entirely that I have not even considered.
In 25.5 hours it will all be over. Sadly said time is not sufficient for me to actually learn everything I need to know.
Fear.
Immense fear.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Exam II... and III
Big day today. Civil Litigation AND Criminal Litigation both in one day! Four and a half hours of flicking through statute books, writing like a small beast and pretending my arm did not ache and it is over.
This is how it went.
Civil Litigation
Some MCQs. Some were easy, some were difficult. Sadly, my two favourite topics, foreign jurisdiction and Part 36 t offers already appeared in MCQ so no long form questions to guarantee full marks from! Managed to do all of them fairly quickly and figured there would be plenty of time for Section B (80% of the paper). Turned over to Section B and found most of it was ok, but I would have preferred different questions. Compare arbitration and mediation. talk about Tomlin orders. Case law on Summary Judgment was v sketchy. Wasn't sure what part of Security for Costs was for what part of the question, put it all down but wasn't sure if it was in the right sections. Disclosure was a disaster. Thought it would be easy marks but managed to completely confuse myself. Also completely confused myself in Particulars of Claim. This should not happen!! I am clever, I work hard. I should be ble to get many many marks for this stuff! Goodbye 100%...
Criminal Litigation
This paper was a dream!!! No rush, got everything down I wanted to say, apart from think there was more to say about bail than I said but wouldn't be too many marks. Case study was almost identical for Formative Assessment!
At least the day ended on a high.
Business Law is on Tuesday. Another very long day and bound to be the toughest. Back to the library I go tomorrow...
This is how it went.
Civil Litigation
Some MCQs. Some were easy, some were difficult. Sadly, my two favourite topics, foreign jurisdiction and Part 36 t offers already appeared in MCQ so no long form questions to guarantee full marks from! Managed to do all of them fairly quickly and figured there would be plenty of time for Section B (80% of the paper). Turned over to Section B and found most of it was ok, but I would have preferred different questions. Compare arbitration and mediation. talk about Tomlin orders. Case law on Summary Judgment was v sketchy. Wasn't sure what part of Security for Costs was for what part of the question, put it all down but wasn't sure if it was in the right sections. Disclosure was a disaster. Thought it would be easy marks but managed to completely confuse myself. Also completely confused myself in Particulars of Claim. This should not happen!! I am clever, I work hard. I should be ble to get many many marks for this stuff! Goodbye 100%...
Criminal Litigation
This paper was a dream!!! No rush, got everything down I wanted to say, apart from think there was more to say about bail than I said but wouldn't be too many marks. Case study was almost identical for Formative Assessment!
At least the day ended on a high.
Business Law is on Tuesday. Another very long day and bound to be the toughest. Back to the library I go tomorrow...
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
I really should check my emails...
It seems I've been featured on LawCareers.net! It was very useful to me before I got a training contract and now I'm being featured! So exciting!
Thank you for the heads up those who told me, particularly Asp on comments, as I wouldn't have known otherwise and may have missed it altogether! And there was an email about it from LawCareers but silly me hadn't got to it yet. But yay!
Keep reading, kids!
Thank you for the heads up those who told me, particularly Asp on comments, as I wouldn't have known otherwise and may have missed it altogether! And there was an email about it from LawCareers but silly me hadn't got to it yet. But yay!
Keep reading, kids!
Exam I
Property Law and Practice was the longest exam I have ever done. And is likely to remain the longest until the New York Bar at least. I mean it actually WAS the longest, three hours and 15 minutes. I left 10 minutes before the end having finished my answers a good ten minutes earlier. This asn't happened to me since my undergraduate exams - I finished early! Oh except for Accounts but that wasn't a real exam...
That in itself is not however, an indication that the exam went well. I had high hopes for this one. I felt like I knew it.
Section A was multiple choice, not a big fan actually. They try to catch you out wit really tiny detail so youneed to be mega-careful to read the question exactly and not miss anything! I got lots of D's. There is of course no statistical probability involved so they could all be D's but it did not inspire confidence.
Section B was about registered land. It was fine, mostly, but I thought for a while I was running out of time and started rushing and possibly didn't answer the middle questions as well as I could have done. There was a professional conduct question which totally threw me and even though I think I got some of the points, I certainly missed out talking about the fact that it isn't in the client's best interest to lie to their mortgage lender... bah.
Section C was on leases, my least favourite topic area. Many were hoping for a big question on Security of Tenure but instead said topic was in MCQs. I hadn't looked at Landlords' Licences in enough detail so missed out a lot of points on section C. Not amused.
Next one is on Friday, litigation. Two papers, one in morning one in afternoon. Am hoping it will go better!
That in itself is not however, an indication that the exam went well. I had high hopes for this one. I felt like I knew it.
Section A was multiple choice, not a big fan actually. They try to catch you out wit really tiny detail so youneed to be mega-careful to read the question exactly and not miss anything! I got lots of D's. There is of course no statistical probability involved so they could all be D's but it did not inspire confidence.
Section B was about registered land. It was fine, mostly, but I thought for a while I was running out of time and started rushing and possibly didn't answer the middle questions as well as I could have done. There was a professional conduct question which totally threw me and even though I think I got some of the points, I certainly missed out talking about the fact that it isn't in the client's best interest to lie to their mortgage lender... bah.
Section C was on leases, my least favourite topic area. Many were hoping for a big question on Security of Tenure but instead said topic was in MCQs. I hadn't looked at Landlords' Licences in enough detail so missed out a lot of points on section C. Not amused.
Next one is on Friday, litigation. Two papers, one in morning one in afternoon. Am hoping it will go better!
Monday, February 18, 2008
T minus 12 hours
First exam tomorrow. Property Law and Practice.
You will pleased to know tat today I got to that point were you feel like you know a lot of stuff and just want to get to the exam and see what the questions will be like.
I did a past paper, timed, managed 88% which was nice, but this of course means nothing in real terms. It did reassure me that I do actually know quite a bit of stuff though! It also reassured me that there probably won't be such a godawful rush as last year, and I actually have a decent chance of finising the wole paper.
Watch this space! And wish me luck of course.
You will pleased to know tat today I got to that point were you feel like you know a lot of stuff and just want to get to the exam and see what the questions will be like.
I did a past paper, timed, managed 88% which was nice, but this of course means nothing in real terms. It did reassure me that I do actually know quite a bit of stuff though! It also reassured me that there probably won't be such a godawful rush as last year, and I actually have a decent chance of finising the wole paper.
Watch this space! And wish me luck of course.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Last year...
...someone apparently got 100% for Business Law and Practice.
Would be nice. Doable? Perhaps not...
Would be nice. Doable? Perhaps not...
Saturday, February 02, 2008
This week students at London Law School were invited to provide feedback on their experiences on the LPC. Despite the fact that the majority of my fellow students compare the LPC to the equally-pleasant experience of having one's eyelashes plucked off one at a time with sharp, heated tweezers, while a 2-tonne weight is balanced on their right foot, I have actually enjoyed it. A lot. I can't wait to be a lawyer.
But how do I know if I'll be any good? How does anyone?
One spends hours labouring over application forms, telling firms about excellent communication skills, team-work, attention for detail, commercial awareness... you get the idea. Then they invite you for interview and it is more of the same, with well-thought out illustrative examples from a previous life. However, that is just practice, learning what questions could come up and what answers make firms bend over backwards to offer you a position. So how is one supposed to know whether one will be a great lawyer - an Atticus Finch or Denny Crane? Or whether one will become a statistic, one of the 1.5 people in professional conduct class who apparently WILL be struck off.
For one, the LPC is very artificial in many ways, consider Practical Legal Research or Interviewing and Advising. Will any of the skills* learned actually translate themselves to being useful in practice? Short of "that guy paying your fees with a suitcase full of cash covered in white powder is not suffering from extensive dandruff, he is money-laundering" - how much of the LPC will actually be relevant to real life law? Will budding lawyers not just learn many things by Mr Supervisor barking at them how to do things when after an all-nighter in the office it turns out they got the whole task completely backwards?
It is a slight fear of mine that I will not be a good lawyer. I love it, I can't wait to do it, but what if it turns out I am genuinely completely abysmal at it? I am doing well on the LPC, I have good academics, I have work experience... but what if I'm simply missing the lawyer-gene which no amount of hard work can substitute? Then what?
*Of course the same applies much less to actual law, since obviously one will need to understand the ins and outs of share issue and conveyancing to be able to get started as a lawyer... but still?
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