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Joebear wrote:Just found this forum, and this seems like a great thread to follow. So checking in as a soon to be 1L at USC.

Welcome to the thread and congratulations, Joebear

Joebear wrote:Just found this forum, and this seems like a great thread to follow. So checking in as a soon to be 1L at USC.

Woo a new person itt! Congrats JB!

Oh yea, a side note: I would appreciate it if you guys don't call me Laws or LawsRUs IRL. TYIA

Also is anyone doing substantive "prep" like reading e&es? I ask because I'm neither doing it nor planning on doing it, and I feel kind of bad / lazy. It's okay not to do any prep, right?

LawsRUs wrote:

Joebear wrote:Just found this forum, and this seems like a great thread to follow. So checking in as a soon to be 1L at USC.

Woo a new person itt! Congrats JB!

Oh yea, a side note: I would appreciate it if you guys don't call me Laws or LawsRUs IRL. TYIA

Also is anyone doing substantive "prep" like reading e&es? I ask because I'm neither doing it nor planning on doing it, and I feel kind of bad / lazy. It's okay not to do any prep, right?

Everyone says to just take it easy and enjoy your last weeks of freedom. Prep allegedly doesn't do much to help and isn't worth the fuss.

LawsRUs wrote: Oh yea, a side note: I would appreciate it if you guys don't call me Laws or LawsRUs IRL. TYIA

Just realized that names might be abbreviated, good thing I didn't pick BearJoe as my username.

Anyways, I am not doing anything substantial over the summer, or at least whats left of it since I am working at a pretty hectic startup overseas. But I am in the process of reading GTM. From what I have read in the threads, I think its better to know what areas of the law your particular professor will pick first before doing anything substantial. Although test prep, like being able to type faster seems to be a good idea. I am also planning on buying the LEEWS thing, and will keep you guys posted on how useful it actually is.

No prep, just relaxing and getting ready to move soon. I'm thinking about proactively reaching out to a peer mentor and seeing if they have any tips for orientation or the first week of class though.

Okay so this might sound stupid but is the Procedures course we take in the fall semester Civil Procedures? Or is it some sort of civil/criminal combined thing.

Joebear wrote:Okay so this might sound stupid but is the Procedures course we take in the fall semester Civil Procedures? Or is it some sort of civil/criminal combined thing.

Just Civ Pro. We take our Crim course in the Spring. Here's the 1L schedule for the entire year that Laws originally put in the OP for reference:

Fall:
- Law, Language and Values (2 units)
- Torts (4 units)
- Procedure (4 units)
- Contracts (4 units)
- Legal Research, Writing, and Advocacy (3 units)

Spring:
- Criminal Law (3 units)
- Constitutional Law (4 units)
- Property (4 units)
- Legal Profession (3 units)
- Legal Research, Writing, and Advocacy (2 units)
(1 Elective)

Joebear wrote:Okay so this might sound stupid but is the Procedures course we take in the fall semester Civil Procedures? Or is it some sort of civil/criminal combined thing.

Yeah, I think criminal procedure is an elective.

Great, thanks. Just checking

LawsRUs wrote:

Joebear wrote:Okay so this might sound stupid but is the Procedures course we take in the fall semester Civil Procedures? Or is it some sort of civil/criminal combined thing.

Civil Procedure is deceptive because it's a more important course than it appears to be. It is actually the most difficult core course you have next semester unless you get an appreciably challenging professor in another course. Basically, Civil Procedure will focus on the rules of filing and disputing a law suit in federal court between a Plaintiff (the guy suing) and the Defendant (the guy being sued). There will be an entire rule book with tons of section numbers to memorize (how fun!). The rules of civil procedure are basically the rules of engagement when someone files a law suit based on tort law or contract law or property law - which as it happens are your other courses.This is an important point because it shows that Civ Pro unlike the other core courses is more inter-disciplinary. As Joebear alluded, Criminal law has it's own rules of procedure because criminal law suits are tried in a different court than civil court (i.e. criminal court). Yes, Criminal Procedure will be a class you may or may not elect to take. However, both Criminal Law, in the first year, and later Evidence, usually taken in second semester, are required courses and sometimes referred to as bar courses because they are tested on the bar exam along with the other 1L courses.

By the way, a high grade in Civ Pro is impressive to employer's since as a first year associate a student that shows they are strong in Civ Pro basically demonstrates that they understand one of the most practical and applicable courses to the work you will actually do as a practicing attorney. Not every first year class is as practical.

Is anybody here planning on buying supplements for our classes this upcoming semester?

I've been reading that E&Es are great for Torts and Civ Pro.

FlyingNorth wrote:Is anybody here planning on buying supplements for our classes this upcoming semester?

I've been reading that E&Es are great for Torts and Civ Pro.

That's a great question. If I do buy them, I'm planning on buying them after our classes start to see how the professor is teaching and what students who have taken the class recommend. I'll probably end up picking up that CivPro E&E and working mostly from casebooks. I've heard that the order of consideration is (1) if the professor wrote a treatise, (2) if the professor recommends a certain one or don't, (3) if the author of the casebook wrote a supplement, (4) if 2Ls and 3Ls recommend a specific one for that professor, and (5) if you find a general consensus on a class (E&E for Torts and CivPro, Chemerinsky for ConLaw, and so forth). Honestly, I'm concerned about how I can find the time to read casebooks + read supplements + outline + brief + LRWA + .... Ideally, I'd like to skip on the supplements, but realistically, I'll end up buying them because everyone has them. (Not a great reason, obv. .) What is everyone else planning on doing?

LawsRUs wrote:

FlyingNorth wrote:Is anybody here planning on buying supplements for our classes this upcoming semester?

I've been reading that E&Es are great for Torts and Civ Pro.

That's a great question. If I do buy them, I'm planning on buying them after our classes start to see how the professor is teaching and what students who have taken the class recommend. I'll probably end up picking up that CivPro E&E and working mostly from casebooks. I've heard that the order of consideration is (1) if the professor wrote a treatise, (2) if the professor recommends a certain one or don't, (3) if the author of the casebook wrote a supplement, (4) if 2Ls and 3Ls recommend a specific one for that professor, and (5) if you find a general consensus on a class (E&E for Torts and CivPro, Chemerinsky for ConLaw, and so forth). Honestly, I'm concerned about how I can find the time to read casebooks + read supplements + outline + brief + LRWA + .... Ideally, I'd like to skip on the supplements, but realistically, I'll end up buying them because everyone has them. (Not a great reason, obv. .) What is everyone else planning on doing?

Great point. It is extra reading, but apparently it's a great way to clear up confusion you may have after reading an assigned case.

If you don't get a concept, read the supplement's take on it. Will help you a lot.

It looks like class schedules have been posted on our myUSC accounts!

Things are starting to get real now, haha

Did you guys get Torts, CivPro, and Con Law (not Contracts) for doctrinals?

(Also, thanks YAR and FN.)

LawsRUs wrote:Did you guys get Torts, CivPro, and Con Law (not Contracts) for doctrinals?

(Also, thanks YAR and FN.)

I got Contracts, CivPro, and ConLaw, but not Torts
Wondering how much we can expect schedules to change between now and orientation...

cwin25 wrote:It looks like class schedules have been posted on our myUSC accounts!

Things are starting to get real now, haha

How did you access your "myUSC" account?

It says I need a USC ID number from my USCard, but I wasn't a USC undergrad and don't have a USCard and I don't think I have a USC ID number (I could be wrong). Do you have access because you attended USC as an undergrad? Or is there a way for me to get a USC ID number now?

Nevermind, I figured it out haha

Civ Pro, Torts, K's

Anyone else have a different letter designation for their section type?

Mine is "N"

Mine also is "N."

Mine is "N" as well.

Good news:
It seems like about 175 students are enrolled in LRWA. Which means--
Although they might add more students until the first day of classes, it seems like our class size is going to be less than 200. It's a very good news.

LawsRUs wrote:Good news:
It seems like about 175 students are enrolled in LRWA. Which means--
Although they might add more students until the first day of classes, it seems like our class size is going to be less than 200. It's a very good news.

oohh yayy how do we know this??

calawgrl wrote:

LawsRUs wrote:Good news:
It seems like about 175 students are enrolled in LRWA. Which means--
Although they might add more students until the first day of classes, it seems like our class size is going to be less than 200. It's a very good news.

oohh yayy how do we know this??

If you go to myUSC >> Web Registration >> Fall 2015 >> Law Department, you can see how many people are registered in your classes and even who your professors might be. (tentatively)