I start back to law school on the 9th of January, 2009! If you did not graduate this last term then you will be starting back around the same time I’m sure.  Christmas is over, the holiday season will soon be wrapped up with the celebration of bringing in the new year.  Before you go back to studying case law, tax codes, and outlining your notes, make sure you take the time to really relax and get re-energized for the upcoming term (and year).

Enjoy your family.  Get involved with your church.  Catch up on your (non law related) reading.  Whatever you can do between now and the first day of law classes, do it.  You and I both need the time to slow down and get re-energized for what lies ahead.  God bless and have a great day.

After my exams I never crack a casebook or look through an outline.  Once my answer has been submitted I have recorded my knowledge of the particular question.  The time for second guessing and analyzing is over.  Don’t stress out about things you cannot change.  My best advice to every law student who has just taken an exam is this: forget about it.  You have earned the right to relax for a while.

Remember, if you cannot change it, forget it and move on.  If you perhaps feel that an essay answer is appealable, then you can review your notes.  Until then you should give your mind and body a well deserved break.  God bless and have a great day.

For non traditional law students it is a welcomed break from the hustle and bustle of work, family, and school.  Take this time as I will be to forget about school and work for a few days.  Concentrate on your family and that scrumptious turkey and gravy.  God bless and have a great Thanksgiving!

• The night before the exam do not study.  If you have not learned the material by now you simply will not learn it.  Last minute studying up until the very moment of the exam increases your stress levels.
• The night before the exam spend time with your family.  Watch t.v.  Go to a movie.  Do anything that helps you to relax.  Your brain will function much better when prompted to recall information if it is relaxed and fresh rather than stressed and hurried.
• Eat a healthy dinner the night before the exam and a healthy breakfast the morning of the exam.
• An hour or two before the exam drink a glass of orange juice.  Stay away from sodas and too much coffee.  I say too much coffee because I gots ta have my java. 
• If you don’t exercise regularly, begin walking at least one week before the exam.  Exercise releases stress and makes your body feel better and your mind more responsive.
• Have a positive attitude.  You are in law school.  You are probably working as well and raising a family.  This is a great and difficult accomplishment.  If you have made it this far, you have no reason to doubt yourself now.  If you have prepared and studied like you should, you DO know the material and you WILL do fine on the exam.
• Don’t listen to other students; they are not you.  It is not about other students’ experiences.  It is all about how you have prepared for the exam.  Never let another student make you believe that an exam is impossible to pass simply because he or she did not pass it.  For all you know that student may not have studied like you did.
• Arrive early for the exam, especially if you commute to classes like I do.  Allow for weather and traffic.  The last thing you want is to be stressed out about being late and running out of time.
• A few minutes before the exam begins, forget about everything else in the world.  It is just you and that exam for the next three hours.  Believe me, everything will still be there when you are finished.
• During the exam don’t second guess yourself.  If you have prepared properly and you believe an answer to be correct, it probably is.  I made that mistake last term and changed an MC answer at the last minute.  I’m sure you know what happened there.  Yes, I had the correct answer the first time.  Don’t check you common sense at the door when you sit for your exams.
• Finally, after the exam is over, FORGET ABOUT IT!  You cannot change your answer now.  You are finished so move on.  If need be you can appeal later.  But for now, do not worry about something you can do nothing about.

The term is almost over.  If you have done your job in preparing exams will go fine.  God bless and have a great day.

If you want to keep sane – especially if you are a non traditional law student – you must take time for yourself often.  It does not need to be a long time, but you simply must take time.  If you go through law school without taking the proper time to just relax and enjoy yourself your brain will literally melt.  Well, it may not literally melt, but it won’t do it any good.

When I get overwhelmed I take 20 minutes and go outside.  That’s it.  I love God’s world around me.  I look at the animals, the trees, and the flowers.  It relaxes me.  You may not like the outdoors like I do, but there is something that you like to do that relaxes you.  When law school (and live in general for that matter) gets you down, do what you like to do for a while.  You will thank me later.  And your brain won’t melt.  God bless and have a great night.

For the most part, a traditional law student will devote most of her time to school (study, law review, moot court, etc.).  For the non traditional law student however, law school is in addition to work, family, and probably many other responsibilities.  Of course we must also balance the fact that many non traditional law students do not attend full time either.  That notwithstanding, most stresses for traditional law students come from school, while for the non traditional law student they come from many more sources.

That being said, for a law student who has basically all of her time to devote to school, she will probably obtain a very nice GPA if she wants to.  For the rest of us, it may be almost impossible to pull the same GPA simply because we do not have enough time to devote to our studies.  Does that mean that we are not as intelligent or as hard working as our traditional counter parts?  No.

I do not have a 4.0 GPA.  But I work full time.  I have a wife and six children.  I cut the grass and pay the bills.  I take the kids to activities.  The list goes on and on.  If you are like me, and I know some of you are, you know exactly what I am talking about.

I am very competitive and put a lot of pressure on myself.  During my first few terms I did very well grade wise, but my family and personal life suffered somewhat as a result.  In my later terms I have decided that being a 4.0 student is not worth three years of alienating my family, church, and friends.  This is not to say that I do not strive to do the best that I can do.  This is only to say that I realize that I must prioritize my life and create a proper balance.  Grades are certainly important, but they are not the most important.

I carry a class load that I feel comfortable with; that I can maintain a good GPA and still have time for the other important things in my life.  I have just had to except the fact that if I want to graduate from law school before I am, ahem, too old, I will probably not attain the GPA that I wish I could.

But consider this.  If you can average a 3.0 (or even a 2.5) with a moderate amount of study time, just think of what you can do if you really apply yourself during your study for the bar exam.  If you are serious about learning you will learn the material.  When you go for your bar review course it will all come back to you.  Then you can take 2-3 months and really cement the material into your mind.  Moreover, once you are a lawyer you will not have a full time job other than that of lawyer.  For me this means 40+ hours a week that I will have to familiarize myself with areas of the law that I did not have each week I was in law school.  After all, ethics do not require you to know the law in an area before you take a case.  They do require you to be able to learn the law through proper research and preparation.

So if your GPA is not as high as you would like it to be, take a moment to reflect why.  Is it because you are lazy?  Is it because you really just don’t care?  Or is it because you have made the commitment to prioritize your life and accept the fact that law school is not the most important thing in the world to a non traditional law student?

Don’t read this and think for one minute that I am promoting any slackers out there.  I study hard.  I just don’t study as much as I would like to because there are only 24 hours in a day (and I like it when my kids remember who I am.)  If you are doing the best you can, and you are not on academic probation, buck up and be happy.  When the bar review rolls around you will kick some booty!  God bless and have a great day.

I have often been asked, “how do you do it?”  My reply is always the same, “I just don’t think about it.”  I have found that the more I think about everything that I have to do the more stressed out I feel.  This is not to say that I do not care or plan for situations.  What I mean when I say that I just don’t think about it is simply this: I know I must do it, so I just do it.

In one of my very first posts I outlined what I thought about before deciding to attend law school.  If you can follow this method then why continue to dwell on everything you are doing?  The time for dwelling or planning is before you make committments.  After you have committed to law school you should quit dwelling on all the work, time, and energy it takes and just do it.

I knew what my responsibilities were before law school and so did you.  I heavily researched what law school entailed and (presumably) so did you.  Although I could not envision everything law school would entail, I knew it would be difficult.  But I also knew that I could do it.  You can do it too if you don’t think about it too much.  Keep your mind on the goal and not the journey.  Your mind will thank you in the long run.  God bless and have a great day!

Well, I dragged myself out of bed, grabbed my two 20oz cups of coffee, and stopped by the local filling station for a honey bun.  This did not help my stomach situation.  I spent the day mostly at my desk trying not to lose my so-called breakfast.  My mind could barely function, and my concentration was worse than my 8 year old.  But, what can you do?

I finally made it through the day only to come home and remember that I have a paper due this weekend.  Ugh.  So, I have been doing my best to write something coherent.  I will hopefully feel better tomorrow, and start the whole routine all over again.

As law students, and particularly non traditional law students, we have all been there.  However, the show must go on as it were, and the mind must keep working.  I love law school, but today I felt like chucking my books and computer out in the street.  Frustration.  But this too shall pass, and I will once again get back into my “zone”.

If you can relate – and I know you can – hang in there and keep the faith.  Take some deep breaths and maybe a short (or looong) nap   Better health and brighter minds are just around the corner.  God bless and have a great day.

Either way I have enjoyed my break, and I am looking forward to things to come.  I hope you are too.  Law school can be a trying experience, but it is also one of the most rewarding things you will accomplish.  God bless and have a great day.

Of course, the word “difficult” is a relative term.  Generally what they mean is that the class will require much more study to master the legal concepts.  For non traditional law students this means more time devoted to study and less time devoted to everything else.  When you have “easy” classes the temptation is there to get a little lax with your studying.  It is sometimes difficult when we fall into this trap to get back in full swing and excersize our legal minds.  On the good side though, by the time you take secured transactions you should have your legal mind pretty well trained.

Remember that more time studying will take its toll on the others in your life that may have become used to your “regular” study routine.  Just be sure to keep your head on straight and inform the others that may be affected by some extra study time that this term may be a little more intense.  I am sure they will understand.  Keep focused and don’t slack off.  By now the end is very near and the light at the end of the tunel is getting brighter.  God bless and have a great day.