A 2L’s Take on Lessons Learned & Lessons Still Learning

So, if you’ve made it here, you’re likely one of four people: a 1L hoping to discover the secret to surviving your first semester as a “reasonably prudent person under the same or similar circumstances” (if you’re there yet in Torts, you know, you know); a 2L like me, whose arms are sore from carrying around our Constitutional Law textbook; or a 3L or 4L who, upon hearing “bar prep,” is already trying to change the subject. Either way, you’ve made it this far, and I promise this reading doesn’t require your Bluebook.

My name is Rose Edenfield, and I have the pleasure of writing for The Blackacre Times this year. I wanted my first post to start by saying: welcome back (or welcome to) law school! Regardless of what year you’re in, it seems like we’re all faced with the same balancing act as the school year kicks off: new classes, plenty of reading, applying for or starting new jobs and externships, spending time in clinics and extracurricular organizations, and, somewhere in all of that, maintaining a social life outside of this building.

Needless to say, we all have our own ways of coping with the ever-full agenda of a law-school semester. I, as a teacher in my past life, love to color-code my calendar, classes, and even my highlighters when briefing different parts of cases. But I know plenty of people who find their routines in their Outlook calendars, the Reminders app on their phones, or even those last-minute texts from their group chat.

Speaking of study groups, if you don’t feel like you have one yet—or haven’t even thought about the idea of letting new people into your life—you’re not alone.

When I started law school last year, I spent most of my time on the 6th floor (shout-out, but quietly) reading, briefing, and taking notes by myself. I turned down plenty of opportunities to spend time with friends outside of school because I thought I needed to review my case notes for the fifth time that week. When finals came around in December, I didn’t huddle up with a group of friends and spend late nights over coffee reviewing our outlines until 2 a.m. I thought I did my best work on my own. After all, wasn’t I the only one taking my exam?

Boy, was I wrong.

When grades came out in January, I remember thinking, “Wow. Was all of the time and effort I sacrificed last semester all for nothing?” In hindsight, I know it wasn’t. My grades were fine, I got a great job for the summer, and life went on! But in that moment, I didn’t know how I would ever recover. Over the next few days, I came to realize that I needed to adopt a different perspective for the semester.

I was still—and still am—an avid 6th-floor resident, but I started spending lunch with my friends in our favorite study room talking about things that had absolutely nothing to do with school. Some days, I went home immediately after class and camped out on my couch for hours watching TV. I took time on the weekends to focus on the relationships I had outside of school and reminded myself who I was apart from being a student or colleague.

When finals season came around, I was lucky enough to spend countless hours with my study group re-teaching concepts to each other, reading our class notes while devouring countless snacks, and peer-reviewing each others responses to practice questions. I felt like I had genuine moral support, and the weight of the world no longer felt like it was sitting entirely on my shoulders.

When I got my grades back, I saw improvement. More importantly, I realized that while changing my approach to exam preparation helped (more to come in later posts!), I couldn’t have done it without the people I had around me at the end of 1L.

All of this to say: it is totally okay—and necessary—to spend time by yourself and focus on your goals. But don’t forget to look up from your laptop every once in a while and realize that you have an entire community around you that wants to help you reach them.

Maybe that’s one of the biggest lessons I’m carrying with me into 2L: you don’t have to figure it all out on your own. And if you’re starting law school for the first, second, third, or fourth time this year, neither do you.

Lucky for us, the Law Library provides free scanning machines on both the 5th and 6th floors in case you need to scan some class notes or just prefer your materials digital. 

Scanners are located in Room 502 and Room 601, and you can send scans directly to your email address or save them to a flash drive. Free scanning can be especially helpful when working with printed handouts from professors or working on collaborative assignments in class. It can also ensure you stay super organized by keeping everything in a digital, easy to access format. 

These scanners not only make day-to-day tasks much more convenient but also reduce unnecessary expenses for GSU’s law students. How lucky are we?

Forgot to do your reading? Left your casebook at home? Still waiting for it to arrive? You’re in luck.

The Law Library’s Course Reserves collection allows students to check out course textbooks directly from the library.  These materials can be checked out for three hours at a time.

Course Reserves are especially helpful during busy weeks when you may need temporary access to a book for reading or reviewing before class, or on days your backpack is already stuffed with big books (like Con Law days). They are also a useful backup if you are sharing a book or waiting on your shipment to come in because of a back order.

Missing a reading assignment because of a logistical issue can add unnecessary stress to the already stressful environment of law school. Having course textbooks available in the library ensures that you always have a way to stay on track. Access to Course Reserves is just one more reason we are lucky to be at GSU!

You may not know this, but on the 5th floor of the Law Library, you can find a dedicated computer lab reserved exclusively for law students. The lab provides access to the ENTIRE Adobe Suite (think Photoshop, Premiere, Illustrator, etc.) as well as easy printing straight to the library printers. Of course, you can use computers to conduct any research or studying that you would normally do in preparation for your classes or jobs.

Reliable access to research tools and technology is essential in law school. Luckily, the 5th floor computer lab is just another resource that the Law Library provides that may give you a little more luck when doing legal research and writing!

To kick off the “Lucky to Be at GSU” series, the Law Library wants to highlight one of the most valuable resources in the building: research assistance.

Legal research can be time consuming and often incredibly frustrating. Whether you are searching for an on-point case, tracking down a specific statute, or trying to determine whether something is still good law, you do not have to figure it out alone.

The reference desk is staffed from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.​​ on Fridays, and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays with librarians and trained-student GRAs available to assist with research questions, source selection, or anything else you may need. If you are working outside of the staffed hours, help is still available. You can use the chat reference feature on the left side of the Law Library website, email questions to lawreference@gsu.edu, or call (404) 413-9102.

Sometimes a quick conversation can save you significant time on your research. Or maybe you just want to talk through a research strategy before you start.  Either way, having access to experienced research support is something we are truly lucky to have at GSU.

The College of Law Library is celebrating Women’s History Month with a book display dedicated to the women who have served on the Supreme Court.

115 people have served on the United States Supreme Court since its inception, and only 6 of them have been women, 4 of whom are currently serving on the court today. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female justice to serve on the Supreme Court in 1981. Since then, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson have all been confirmed to serve in the highest court of the United States.

Feel free to stop by and view the display, and possibly even check-out one of the books for yourself! The display is located next to the reference desk on the 5^th floor. The featured books are:

Being Brown: Sonia Sotomayor and the Latino Question by Lázaro Lima.

Sonia Sotomayor: A Biography by Meg Greene.

Elena Kagan: A Biography by Meg Greene.

Sandra Day O’Connor: Justice in the Balance by Ann Carey McFeatters.

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik.

The Collars of RBG: A Portrait of Justice by Elinor Carucci and Sara Bader.

Reference:

Women on the Supreme Court. (n.d.). RepresentWomen. https://www.representwomen.org/women_supreme_court