The Law School’s Academic Support Program
The Law School’s Academic Support program is absolutely outstanding—I would not be where I am today had I not taken advantage of the program. I can tell you that there are a number of defining features (the water-front campus is certainly one of them) of RWU’s School of Law that distinguish it from the many other schools that you may be considering—but the Academic Support Program is the one feature/opportunity that truly separates this school from others.
The program is designed to make the transition for first year students a bit easier and to equip students with the knowledge and ability to excel throughout their law school career. The Program consists of three major aspects including: (1) an Exam Preparation Workshop that is run by the Dean of Students, (2) the opportunity to work with the Law School’s Writing Specialist, and (3) the Mentor Program, which is also coordinated by the Dean of Students. Because I feel that I owe a great deal of my success in law school to the program, I want to use this entry to give prospective students an overview of the program (I am going to discuss the Mentor Program in my next entry). Not every student chooses to utilize the program as it is entirely optional, but I can honestly say that this is an opportunity that you should not pass up!
The Exam Preparation Workshop
The program is broken up into several distinct components; each component targets a different skill and helps prepare students for final exams. The first part of the program is held in the law school’s appellate court room and consists of an overview of what students should expect to encounter during the first semester and how to deal with the demands of law school. The Dean of Students puts on a presentation that targets several important skills including: note taking, time management, and general organizational skills. Usually, the Dean will also invite several of the top students from the second and third year class to come in and answer specific questions about how to approach the process. While you may be thinking that I have no problem with managing my time, keeping things organized, and taking good notes—you will be surprised about how helpful this component of the program will be. After attending the program I really took on a new outlook regarding how to approach law school. I was able to learn how to take great notes (by writing only what is necessary instead of every other word the professor says) as well as how to structure my time so that I could get all of my work done and still have time to keep in touch with friends and get a workout in everyday.
The second component of the program consists of a workshop designed to teach students how to develop a course summary for each class. You will soon find out that preparing an outline/course summary for a law school class is entirely different and much more challenging than anything you have ever prepared in college. Perhaps it’s the vast amount of material that you cover in a law school class or maybe it’s just that the language used in law school classes is so different from what you may have encountered in college—but whatever it is, I can tell you that this was the most difficult part of the first year. The Dean of Students will hand out several samples of what he refers to as “great course summaries” as well as several examples of what he refers to as “poor/unhelpful course summaries.” He then takes the time to go over each of the samples in detail and point out the differences between the really good course summaries and the poor course summaries. He then provides several pointers as well as time lines so when you leave the workshop and begin to create your own course summary you will have a good idea as to whether you are on the right track.
Finally, in the last month or so of the semester after you have learned how to prepare a solid course summary that includes all of the important material that will be covered on the exam, the Dean runs several exam simulation workshops. These workshops are truly invaluable. The first several workshops involve taking simulated one hour exam questions that give you a feel for the type of questions that may be posed on your first year torts or contracts exam. After you have finished writing out the practice exam questions, the Dean passes out answer keys that detail all of the key points that a student would need to discuss in order to earn an “A” on the exam. You will be surprised how different law school exams are from any other exam you may have taken, thus this is a really great opportunity to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes before you take your real final exams.
The last few workshops in this component of the program consist of taking simulated three hour exams (the real final exams for each first year class are three hours). These workshops not only allow you to continue perfecting your exam writing ability, they allow you to work on your timing. Timing is really a key thing and you need to get comfortable with the three hour time frame so you know when it’s time stop exploring a particular issue and move on to the next issue. Just like with the one hour simulated exam questions, the Dean provides a sample answer key for these three hour exams so you can get an idea of how you did. If you manage to squeeze in the time to get to all of these workshops, I can promise you that it will payoff in the end!
The Writing Specialist
By far one of the greatest benefits that the Law School provides is the opportunity to work one on one with the Law School’s Writing Specialist. I cannot even describe how helpful she is, so you’ll have to trust me on this and take the time to schedule an appointment with her. You’ll find out that the most important skill you will learn in law school is legal writing; every employer you interview with will ask you for a writing sample. Thus, you can see how important it is to make sure that you develop good writing skills.
As part of the first year curriculum students are required to take Legal Methods I and II. Therefore, just about every two/three weeks during your first year at RWU you will have some type of writing assignment due. The Law School’s rules do not permit you to talk with anyone else except your professor and the Writing Specialist. The Writing Specialist here works closely with several of the Legal Methods professors and she attends a number of Legal Methods classes, so she is quite familiar with what the professors expect.
You need to schedule an appointment with her about a week before your writing assignment is due. Thus you should try to stay ahead of the game so you can prepare your assignment before the due date in order to get feedback on how to improve. It is most helpful if you can send her what you have prepared about a day before your appointment. She takes the time to hone in on one portion/segment of your assignment and notes various suggestions on how to improve your work. By the time that you arrive at her office, she’s quite familiar with your writing and the areas in which you need to improve. She takes the time to discuss each sentence with you and points out the areas in which she feels you could improve and offers various suggestions on how to improve—it really is a great opportunity. By the time you leave her office you understand exactly what it is that you need to do to improve your work and you can spend the next several days before the assignment is due going over your paper with a fine tooth comb making sure that it is the best it can be.
In my personal opinion this is one feature of the Law School that really distinguishes the type of training you get here from that offered by other schools. Just to clarify…you do not have to be a first year student to work with the Writing Specialist—I have taken advantage of this great opportunity throughout my entire law school career.
