UVA Law Students Taking Questions Forum

A forum for applicants and admitted students to ask law students and graduates about law school and the practice of law.
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nimbus cloud

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by nimbus cloud » Tue Jan 15, 2019 7:21 pm

What are the least time-consuming clinics? Trying to fulfill my professional skills requirement.

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LawMan16

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by LawMan16 » Mon Jan 21, 2019 7:35 pm

Another question as I get my schedule set:


Does anyone know if Doran cold calls in his non-doctrinal classes? Does he use a fairly narrow curve?


Thanks again for any insights!

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Specter1389

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by Specter1389 » Wed Aug 07, 2019 5:43 pm

philawsopher wrote:
VirginiaFan wrote:When and how do we buy parking passes? Is it worth it if you live nearby?
Also, there's a myth out there that if you get the cheapest permit--blue--that you're chancing it in the lot by The Park (farthest lot east of the law school) because it'll fill up with Jag people. I had a blue permit all year and never had that happen--always had my choice of spots. The D3 lot is about 3 mins closer (i.e. 3 mins less walking to get in the building), but to me not worth double the price or whatever it costs.
Does this still hold true? I don't want to spend an extra $270 or so just to save 3-5 minutes on my daily walk, but I also don't want to run into a situation where the blue lot is full and I have to park by JPJ.

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Br3v

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by Br3v » Thu Aug 08, 2019 7:34 am

Specter1389 wrote:
philawsopher wrote:
VirginiaFan wrote:When and how do we buy parking passes? Is it worth it if you live nearby?
Also, there's a myth out there that if you get the cheapest permit--blue--that you're chancing it in the lot by The Park (farthest lot east of the law school) because it'll fill up with Jag people. I had a blue permit all year and never had that happen--always had my choice of spots. The D3 lot is about 3 mins closer (i.e. 3 mins less walking to get in the building), but to me not worth double the price or whatever it costs.
Does this still hold true? I don't want to spend an extra $270 or so just to save 3-5 minutes on my daily walk, but I also don't want to run into a situation where the blue lot is full and I have to park by JPJ.
It was true when I was there. The lot doesn’t even come close to filling up. Like I’m talking over half of the lot available.

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VirginiaFan

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by VirginiaFan » Thu Aug 08, 2019 6:33 pm

Br3v wrote:
Specter1389 wrote:
philawsopher wrote:
VirginiaFan wrote:When and how do we buy parking passes? Is it worth it if you live nearby?
Also, there's a myth out there that if you get the cheapest permit--blue--that you're chancing it in the lot by The Park (farthest lot east of the law school) because it'll fill up with Jag people. I had a blue permit all year and never had that happen--always had my choice of spots. The D3 lot is about 3 mins closer (i.e. 3 mins less walking to get in the building), but to me not worth double the price or whatever it costs.
Does this still hold true? I don't want to spend an extra $270 or so just to save 3-5 minutes on my daily walk, but I also don't want to run into a situation where the blue lot is full and I have to park by JPJ.
It was true when I was there. The lot doesn’t even come close to filling up. Like I’m talking over half of the lot available.

Yeah, nowhere close to filling up last year.

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Hintergedanke

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by Hintergedanke » Thu Aug 15, 2019 12:21 pm

So canvas just populated two of my courses and it looks like I am in section H with Nelson- Civ Pro, Duffy-Torts, Ferzan-Crim, Contracts-Kordana

Any advice and opinions are appreciated!

persia1921

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by persia1921 » Fri Aug 16, 2019 9:36 am

Ferzan and Duffy are both excellent. Both pretty much follow the standard 1L teaching method—cold calls, pretty doctrinal. When I had them, the cold calls generally went around the room in a circular pattern so you had some warning of when you would be up.

Ferzan will mix in a good amount of policy/theory. Duffy will spend a lot of time on intentional torts (a subject that will be skipped by most other professors) and likes to focus on minor seemingly unimportant points in cases. It was not uncommon that you’d walk into class having read a short case that you thought was straight forward, only for him to spend the whole class discussing its intricacies. As a result, expect to get behind the syllabus fairly early.

Both gave standard issue spotter exams and gave plenty of practice exams (not that you should be worried at all about that yet). Ferzans will have a policy question, Duffy’s will likely be one very long (4+ pages) fact pattern that will have a ton of issues in it which makes it a bit of a typing race.

geodesics

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by geodesics » Fri Aug 16, 2019 11:40 pm

Kordana's teaching style isn't a perfect match to everyone and he keeps an infamously tight curve--especially when he teaches a small section.

However, the Chirelstein book, which he'll recommend, and strong typing fingers will definitely help if you want to beat the curve. He switches up his style of exam between years, so it's hard to say what to expect now, but historically it's varied between 3-4 shorter fact patterns with one policy question or a fairly long and complex fact pattern and a shorter one.

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rhododactylos

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by rhododactylos » Sun Aug 18, 2019 9:47 pm

You will not have a boring semester. I never had Duffy but each of the other 3 will give you a quite distinctive classroom experience.

Nelson is one of the smartest and kindest human beings in this world. You should be forewarned that his lectures will be a bit like drinking from a fire hose. He will cover an enormous amount of material in great detail each hour, but has a good practice of repeating important points a few times to make sure you have a chance to write it down. Definitely get to know him outside of class---he is truly a special person and educator.

Ferzan is very popular. She's policy-oriented and does most of her teaching through example. She's also a good person to get to know outside of class.

Kordana is a crazy person and the key to his class is accepting that you will not be learning conventional hornbook contracts (don't worry, you'll learn that 3 years from now when you take the bar). Some people find his schtick hilarious, others frustrating, but either way just roll with his weirdness and don't try to fight it. You can actually use his favorite (sometimes bizarre) metaphors and theories to explain legal concepts on the exam and he'll give you full credit for it.

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AJordan

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by AJordan » Sun Aug 18, 2019 11:34 pm

Thoughts on:

Ks: Geis
Torts: White

??

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VirginiaFan

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by VirginiaFan » Mon Aug 19, 2019 9:42 am

Any insight on corporations with Harrison? Teaching style, curve/exam, etc?

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rhododactylos

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by rhododactylos » Mon Aug 19, 2019 3:13 pm

I am a platinum-level member of the John Harrison fan club but I will admit that it is a small club. Harrison is brilliant, quirky, maddening, and hilarious. He teaches through a very distinctive style that will be apparent from his first lecture and that you will either love or hate (I loved, about two-thirds of people hate). Basically he opens every class with a random anecdote that will somehow become related to the main point of the lecture, then gives a very long recap of what he wanted you to take away from the previous class, and then moves on to a cold call that is a mix of classic 1L hide-the-ball and random "guess what I'm thinking today" trivia. The cold call will be interspersed with the main lecture, which Harrison will periodically interrupt with even more random tangents. But no matter how off-topic he seems to get, Harrison will always explain the case exactly the way he wants you to interpret it at some point during the class, and then repeat it during the recap at the start of the next class. As long as you stay with him and understand his main point, you'll be good.

Harrison's Corporations exam was hard. It was a mix of multiple choice and short, pointed essays (no big issue-spotter questions). From my experience he used a narrow curve for his 1L classes and a broader one for electives.

I would recommend going to the first few classes before add/drop and then making a decision then about whether his teaching style works for you. If you do end up taking the class feel free to PM me for an outline.

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by deventine » Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:19 pm

Hi I'm wondering how the 1L electives for spring semester work.
1. What classes are available to be chosen from?
2. Are there 'standard' choices that most people take?
3. Are the classes just for 1Ls, or do you end up in a class together with 2Ls and 3Ls? If the latter, are there any benefits/disadvantages to that?
4. For my intended career, I know I need to take Administrative Law and Federal Courts. Are those reasonable choices for 1L electives and if not, why not?

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rhododactylos

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by rhododactylos » Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:54 pm

1. You can take any class that doesn't have a class you've yet to take as a prerequisite, and that isn't a time conflict with Property, Conlaw, or LRW.

2. People take a little bit of everything, but some of the most popular are Evidence, Corporations, Criminal Procedure, Torts II, etc.--think major doctrinal classes.

3. None of the classes are just for 1L's, although some (like the ones above) will have more 1L's than others. Personally I found that the fewer 1L's in a class (whether you're a 1L or not) the more relaxed it is, the fewer questions get asked, and the easier it is to gun for a good grade if you do the reading.

4. Those are great elective choices but you can't take either as a 1L because Conlaw is a prerequisite. Don't worry, they're both offered every semester so you'll have plenty of opportunities to take them.

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taxman14

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by taxman14 » Sat Sep 07, 2019 11:12 pm

Reaching out from HLS - my section has Spencer for CivPro (he sounds wonderful from the comments on here) and we were wondering if anyone has an outline for his class? Since it's his first year here from UVA, there's no existing outlines. 80 people would truly appreciate it :D

deventine

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by deventine » Sun Sep 08, 2019 3:39 pm

taxman14 wrote:Reaching out from HLS - my section has Spencer for CivPro (he sounds wonderful from the comments on here) and we were wondering if anyone has an outline for his class? Since it's his first year here from UVA, there's no existing outlines. 80 people would truly appreciate it :D
There's one from 2014 here:

http://www.virginiasba.com/outlines/

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taxman14

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by taxman14 » Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:21 pm

deventine wrote:
taxman14 wrote:Reaching out from HLS - my section has Spencer for CivPro (he sounds wonderful from the comments on here) and we were wondering if anyone has an outline for his class? Since it's his first year here from UVA, there's no existing outlines. 80 people would truly appreciate it :D
There's one from 2014 here:

http://www.virginiasba.com/outlines/

Appreciate it! I found that one, but it wasn't super great, if anyone has one they made themselves, I think it'd be much more helpful (plus this one is a bit old :( )

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AdieuCali

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by AdieuCali » Tue Sep 10, 2019 9:11 am

taxman14 wrote:
deventine wrote:
taxman14 wrote:Reaching out from HLS - my section has Spencer for CivPro (he sounds wonderful from the comments on here) and we were wondering if anyone has an outline for his class? Since it's his first year here from UVA, there's no existing outlines. 80 people would truly appreciate it :D
There's one from 2014 here:

http://www.virginiasba.com/outlines/

Appreciate it! I found that one, but it wasn't super great, if anyone has one they made themselves, I think it'd be much more helpful (plus this one is a bit old :( )
Not an outline, but he wrote this supplement. His checklist was extremely helpful.
https://www.amazon.com/Acing-Civil-Proc ... 1628100419

Law2020!

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by Law2020! » Sun Sep 15, 2019 4:18 pm

Themis v. Barbri for bar prep?

albanach

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by albanach » Mon Sep 16, 2019 12:56 pm

Law2020! wrote:Themis v. Barbri for bar prep?
I'm not sure this belongs in the UVA thread. People pass with both. It's also been discussed in this thread and I'm sure many others: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=287910

You might want to mention which state you're prepping for, as that could be relevant.

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by Law2020! » Tue Dec 31, 2019 9:21 am

Does UVa still do Order of the Coif and what’s the approximate GPA required?

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by ProbablyWaitListed » Sat Jan 25, 2020 10:13 pm

Does anyone have housing recommendations and advice on when to get moving? I'm committed to start at UVA Law this fall and want to make sure I have everything set. Also, is there anything there worth doing as 0L in the summer if I want to move out in June or July?

Law2020!

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by Law2020! » Fri Jan 31, 2020 6:27 pm

ProbablyWaitListed wrote:Does anyone have housing recommendations and advice on when to get moving? I'm committed to start at UVA Law this fall and want to make sure I have everything set. Also, is there anything there worth doing as 0L in the summer if I want to move out in June or July?
Congrats! Almost all law students live in the Pavilion at North Grounds or Ivy Garden. Both are in walking distance to the law school. Pavilion is nicer and slightly closer but more expensive. I would just call both and find out the availability to see if you need to reserve a unit now. The summer is pretty hot, but you can use the time to explore the area (go on hikes, visit wineries, tour historical places, etc). There is nothing you could or should do related to the law school in the summer other than just visiting.

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by Random24 » Thu Jul 16, 2020 5:28 pm

Has Order of the Coif been announced yet? If not, does anyone know when it will be?

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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions

Post by tomstp » Wed Nov 03, 2021 3:25 pm

What is Laycock's remedies course like?

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

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