Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

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pi.radians

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by pi.radians » Thu Aug 17, 2017 12:34 pm

The_Pluviophile wrote:Hello! Just got section 7! Thoughts on Reynolds (Civ Pro), Rakoff (contracts), Freeman (Legislation and regulation), Smith (prop), and Tobin (LRW)??
Rakoff is great. I know Freeman and Smith are great fun also.

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lawstud24

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by lawstud24 » Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:53 am

Is taking securities regulation with ferrell this fall a good idea if I haven't taken corporations and I don't have a business background? the course description recommends taking corporations concurrently but I couldn't fit it into my schedule.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by CHaNT » Tue Aug 22, 2017 3:10 pm

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by slippin_jimmy » Wed Aug 23, 2017 9:55 am

Chuck Rhoades wrote:Do any 1L professors actually require access codes/subscriptions for textbooks?
Out of all the books I had listed by the Coop with some sort of 'access code' marker, I never had a professor care or require it. I think that may be how the ISBN populates it on the website. If you want to be safe, e-mail your prof's assistant and double check.

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gamerish

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by gamerish » Mon Aug 28, 2017 11:11 pm

Anyone have insights on the transactional law clinic? There's nothing substantive on Dope

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AlexFergusonLS

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by AlexFergusonLS » Sat Sep 02, 2017 9:14 am

Thanks!
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by neptunian » Wed Sep 06, 2017 3:55 pm

Any advice on Sunstein or leg reg in general? I got really confused in his class and couldn't figure out the main themes of the lectures. The worst part is that this is his first time teaching leg reg (I believe) so there's no past outline available. Any recommendation on a leg reg supplement?

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by tomwatts » Thu Sep 07, 2017 12:16 am

neptunian wrote:Any advice on Sunstein or leg reg in general? I got really confused in his class and couldn't figure out the main themes of the lectures. The worst part is that this is his first time teaching leg reg (I believe) so there's no past outline available. Any recommendation on a leg reg supplement?
Yeah, uh, good luck. Leg Reg is a sort of weird class, so there aren't good supplements, or at least there weren't a few years ago. You might be able to use an Administrative Law supplement and a Legislation/Statutory Interpretation supplement (if the latter exists).

The essence of Leg Reg is to figure out the ways in which courts interpret statutes (Leg) and review and interpret agency actions (Reg). As far as statutory interpretation, there are a bunch of possible sources (the text itself, dictionaries, legislative history, canons of construction, etc.), and courts have various things to say about how to use these various tools together. As far as agency stuff, different administrative agencies (which do the actual work of carrying out the business of the government, e.g., making sure that people who sell food actually obey food safety laws) have a wide variety of different powers that work in different ways, and possible topics include: how the highest-level positions are filled (appointment and removal powers); how agencies make forward-looking statements about the law (rulemaking); how agencies decide what to do about potential violations of the law in the past (adjudication); how courts deal with agency interpretations of law (Chevron deference); and probably lots of other things I'm forgetting.

I think Leg Reg was the last class in which I felt like I had any idea what we were learning. We just kept going through seemingly unrelated cases (because they involved wildly different statutes or wildly different agencies) and learning how these seemingly unrelated cases were resolved. It wasn't until about a month in that I saw how the cases related to each other. So it's normal to be pretty confused now; stick with it and you may get a better sense soon.

smieclux

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by smieclux » Thu Sep 07, 2017 12:55 pm

Thoughts on Randall Kennedy's "From Protest to Law"? Seems to be just a paper rather than an exam, but considerable amounts of reading.

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prisonerofazkaban1

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by prisonerofazkaban1 » Sat Sep 09, 2017 9:38 am

tomwatts wrote:
neptunian wrote:Any advice on Sunstein or leg reg in general? I got really confused in his class and couldn't figure out the main themes of the lectures. The worst part is that this is his first time teaching leg reg (I believe) so there's no past outline available. Any recommendation on a leg reg supplement?
Yeah, uh, good luck. Leg Reg is a sort of weird class, so there aren't good supplements, or at least there weren't a few years ago. You might be able to use an Administrative Law supplement and a Legislation/Statutory Interpretation supplement (if the latter exists).

The essence of Leg Reg is to figure out the ways in which courts interpret statutes (Leg) and review and interpret agency actions (Reg). As far as statutory interpretation, there are a bunch of possible sources (the text itself, dictionaries, legislative history, canons of construction, etc.), and courts have various things to say about how to use these various tools together. As far as agency stuff, different administrative agencies (which do the actual work of carrying out the business of the government, e.g., making sure that people who sell food actually obey food safety laws) have a wide variety of different powers that work in different ways, and possible topics include: how the highest-level positions are filled (appointment and removal powers); how agencies make forward-looking statements about the law (rulemaking); how agencies decide what to do about potential violations of the law in the past (adjudication); how courts deal with agency interpretations of law (Chevron deference); and probably lots of other things I'm forgetting.

I think Leg Reg was the last class in which I felt like I had any idea what we were learning. We just kept going through seemingly unrelated cases (because they involved wildly different statutes or wildly different agencies) and learning how these seemingly unrelated cases were resolved. It wasn't until about a month in that I saw how the cases related to each other. So it's normal to be pretty confused now; stick with it and you may get a better sense soon.
I'd look up an outline for some of the other LegReg profs on TooDope (e.g. Vermeule, Rakoff). They all use the same book (which I think Sunstein wrote?), so should have the majority of the information.

Also, if you have Sunstein you probable have Donahue. Gilbert's and the Kitten outline are your friends.

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cannonballer

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by cannonballer » Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:41 am

I have two completely unrelated questions:

1. One of my professors (Rubenstein) told our section that he awards DS's by looking at the highest grades (once the blind grading process is finished) and then factoring in class participation. Is this typical of most professors or unique to him?

2. Is it commonplace for lunch talks to have waaaaay less food than there are people in attendance? It is so sad to arrive at a talk at 12:01 and see all the food gone, but if this is normal I will at least be able to adjust my expectations (and attendance) accordingly.

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QuentonCassidy

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by QuentonCassidy » Mon Sep 11, 2017 1:22 am

cannonballer wrote:I have two completely unrelated questions:

1. One of my professors (Rubenstein) told our section that he awards DS's by looking at the highest grades (once the blind grading process is finished) and then factoring in class participation. Is this typical of most professors or unique to him?

2. Is it commonplace for lunch talks to have waaaaay less food than there are people in attendance? It is so sad to arrive at a talk at 12:01 and see all the food gone, but if this is normal I will at least be able to adjust my expectations (and attendance) accordingly.
1. That seems very weird to me; at least none of my professors did that. It seems especially weird that he only mentioned DS's rather than just saying he adjusts grades on the margins for participation.

2. Yeah that happens more frequently than not. I stopped attending lunch talks after the first week because I only attended for the food and the food was often difficult to get. If you really really want the free food then you can just try to go to the least popular talk each day, which can often be anticipated based on their names.

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cannonballer

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by cannonballer » Mon Sep 11, 2017 2:51 pm

QuentonCassidy wrote:
cannonballer wrote:I have two completely unrelated questions:

1. One of my professors (Rubenstein) told our section that he awards DS's by looking at the highest grades (once the blind grading process is finished) and then factoring in class participation. Is this typical of most professors or unique to him?

2. Is it commonplace for lunch talks to have waaaaay less food than there are people in attendance? It is so sad to arrive at a talk at 12:01 and see all the food gone, but if this is normal I will at least be able to adjust my expectations (and attendance) accordingly.
1. That seems very weird to me; at least none of my professors did that. It seems especially weird that he only mentioned DS's rather than just saying he adjusts grades on the margins for participation.

2. Yeah that happens more frequently than not. I stopped attending lunch talks after the first week because I only attended for the food and the food was often difficult to get. If you really really want the free food then you can just try to go to the least popular talk each day, which can often be anticipated based on their names.
Thanks for your reply, that's pretty much what I figured. Good advice on choosing talks based on their names to maximize potentially for food - I'll keep that in mind if I'm really desperate :P

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tomwatts

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by tomwatts » Mon Sep 11, 2017 3:36 pm

I found the non-pizza lunches ran out by noon, but the pizza lunches generally didn't unless it the event was some big-name thing. Also, the administration's events in large Wasserstein event rooms on the second floor tended to have sandwiches and stuff well past noon. At least, that's how it worked five or six years ago.

I definitely got a free lunch every day, and free dinner about once or twice a week. Sometimes this involved going to some weird, weird events, but they were occasionally kind of amazing. I remember that the SJDs put on this one event with Noah Feldman and Roberto Unger that I had no business being at (but it was open to all students and had free food), and it was actually riveting.

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cdotson2

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by cdotson2 » Mon Sep 11, 2017 3:51 pm

Anyone taken Class Actions: Litigating Advanced Topics with Richard Clary? Any feelings for difficulty and curve? no reviews on toodope.

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Dcc617

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Dcc617 » Mon Sep 11, 2017 7:21 pm

Any thoughts on Wroblewsi? I just signed on to his sentencing seminar.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by gun_r » Mon Sep 11, 2017 10:54 pm

Is the start of 1L supposed to be this overwhelming?

I'm not interested in just skating by with P's, but I find that I have barely any time to complete all of the readings and finish all of the writing assignments blasted at me. I don't have time to consolidate and think about what I've learned to get a grasp on what the classes are about and where they're going.

2/3L's, any words of wisdom? :cry:

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Joscellin

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Joscellin » Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:47 am

cdotson2 wrote:Anyone taken Class Actions: Litigating Advanced Topics with Richard Clary? Any feelings for difficulty and curve? no reviews on toodope.
He only recently started splitting out the class actions class from his Complex Lit class. For reviews on him, check under that - they should be similar.

I took complex lit and wound up with a P despite writing what I thought was a pretty good exam. Read into that about the curve what you will. Was an 8 hour takehome.

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Joscellin

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Joscellin » Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:50 am

gun_r wrote:Is the start of 1L supposed to be this overwhelming?

I'm not interested in just skating by with P's, but I find that I have barely any time to complete all of the readings and finish all of the writing assignments blasted at me. I don't have time to consolidate and think about what I've learned to get a grasp on what the classes are about and where they're going.

2/3L's, any words of wisdom? :cry:
You'll get faster at reading and absorbing, but it can take awhile. If there are discrete concepts you're just not getting, try asking questions of friends or going to office hours about those specific things, but don't worry if the big picture isn't clear to you quite yet.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by despina » Wed Sep 13, 2017 3:32 pm

I thought 1L exam grading was supposed to be blind, so how is he taking class participation into account?
gun_r wrote:Is the start of 1L supposed to be this overwhelming?
Yes, that's normal. You're fine.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by tomwatts » Wed Sep 13, 2017 10:38 pm

despina wrote:I thought 1L exam grading was supposed to be blind, so how is he taking class participation into account?
I think I heard that a professor can submit different weighted scores to the registrar and have the registrar calculate a grade on that basis — so, like, if you want to have a midterm and a final and weight them 40% and 60%, you can submit both sets grades blind and somehow it'll get worked out. I think some profs somehow take class participation into account in a similar way: the exam is blind, and the class participation isn't, but they get mixed together blind.

But I think there's a rule somewhere that you can't take class participation into account in a class over a certain size, and all 1L classes are over that size. So I'm pretty sure that, at least as of five or six years ago, 1L classes weren't allowed to use class participation as a factor.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Pneumonia » Wed Sep 13, 2017 10:45 pm

tomwatts wrote:
despina wrote:I thought 1L exam grading was supposed to be blind, so how is he taking class participation into account?
I think I heard that a professor can submit different weighted scores to the registrar and have the registrar calculate a grade on that basis — so, like, if you want to have a midterm and a final and weight them 40% and 60%, you can submit both sets grades blind and somehow it'll get worked out. I think some profs somehow take class participation into account in a similar way: the exam is blind, and the class participation isn't, but they get mixed together blind.

But I think there's a rule somewhere that you can't take class participation into account in a class over a certain size, and all 1L classes are over that size. So I'm pretty sure that, at least as of five or six years ago, 1L classes weren't allowed to use class participation as a factor.
IIRC, the policy when I was a 1L was that exams had to be graded blind, but final grades could take participation into account. However, any professor that wanted to use participation as a part of the final grade had to say so in the syllabus. I had one class as a 1L where the final grade explicitly included participation—not just for DSs. Also in my year, Hanson's Torts conditioned Hs on completing some Barbri nonsense. So exams are graded blind, but your professors can include participation in your final grade as long as they let you know ahead of time.

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cannonballer

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by cannonballer » Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:42 am

Pneumonia, that makes a lot of sense because the professor who said he considers participation for DS's did state it in the syllabus and made a point to mention it very explicitly on the first day.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by akagan700 » Thu Sep 21, 2017 9:09 pm

Guys,

Does anyone know how you can find out all the books/supplements (E&E, etc) that a 1L in any particular section might need?

I see that the Coop bookstore lists (link below) the books & EE for each particular course. But is this it? Are there any other books/supplements not mentioned by the bookstore but that almost any 1L would buy?

Thank you in advance :D

http://harvard-lawcoopbooks.bncollege.c ... reId=57054)

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by FascinatedWanderer » Wed Sep 27, 2017 1:07 pm

What approximate class rank is 7H/3P after 1L at Harvard? (With one Dean's Scholar)?

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