By: Mary Levine
Beginning law school is no easy task, but the addition of a global pandemic forcing many law schools to adhere to remote learning has not make the task any easier. With that being said, law schools across the country, including Suffolk, have developed numerous programs and initiatives to ensure that your quality of education remains intact. Fortunately for you, this quality assurance has also been extended to your legal writing course.
Legal writing is undoubtedly the most important class of your early law school career. With its focus on adequate research methods, legal memorandum structure, oral advocacy, proper citation, and much more, your legal practice skills course prepares you for the bare-minimum tasks immediately required of a practicing attorney. Divesting much of your efforts into your legal writing course will only assure that your legal writing is stronger, thereby fast-tracking your success as an attorney. Given its clear return on investment, it’s imperative that students taking this class online determine the ways in which they can maximize this course and the skills obtained from it. Below I’ve listed the three most important ways students can ensure they take advantage of their legal writing course.
- Utilize Your Professor’s Virtual Office Hours
While office hours are typically available to students in person, your professor’s virtual office hours are significantly more important in an online course. Switching to a virtual setting has disrupted many of the opportunities students normally have to interact with a professor, namely, questions before and after class, run-ins in the school building, out-of-class events, and more. These few moments of your professor’s time are vital, and without them, students will lose the opportunity to asking clarifying questions, discuss relevant legal principles, and develop a lasting relationship with their professor. As such, students must reallocate this lost time into attending a professor’s office hours. Luckily, taking a legal writing course online provides students with more readily accessible professors, and the ability to quickly join into office hours with any and every question. Take advantage of this unique period of time with your professors, and make sure to visit virtual office hours frequently!
- Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Questions via Zoom
It is undeniable that law students face some anxiety while participating in class – particularly during a cold call. Further, it’s also true that many students feel an added anxiety interrupting professors to ask questions in a Zoom class. While anxiety-inducing, participation in class is essential to your success in your legal writing course. Participation, of course, allows for clarification, but it also serves to refine your verbal communication skills. Exercising this skill while in class will give students the opportunity to better prepare themselves for interviews, internships, and ultimately, their career. If you’re feeling particularly anxious, read the syllabus or reach out to your professor to determine the most effective way to ask questions in class. Foregoing the opportunity to participate in class should never be an option for students!
- Make Connections with the Students in Your Class
LPS is unique from your other courses your first year, as it divides your section into even smaller cohorts. This cohort remains with you for the entire year, allowing students to develop both personal and professional relationships with all members of the class. The students in your LPS class, especially in an online setting, will quickly become individuals you rely on and turn to in times of stress. While increasingly difficult online, reaching out to and fostering relationships with other students in your LPS class will only benefit you in the long run. The legal world is built on forming lasting connections – now is the perfect time to start!
While there is no way to mimic an in-person legal writing course, taking advantage of the unique opportunities an online course presents will prove to be beneficial to students looking to refine their written and oral skills. Following these few pieces of advice will certainly put students on a path to success!