Lawyers must show adaptability in a world full of change

Career development seminars aimed at lawyers are forever beating the drum for the need to change and move with the times. It seems that “versatility” and “adaptability” are the new legal watchwords (apparently ‘commercial awareness’ alone doesn’t cut it any longer).

Chief amongst the areas in which they need to show this adaptability is how they manage information. Lawyers need to competently juggle an ever-increasing array of materials and sources and across a wide range of formats. Of course, technology can be both a blessing and a curse in this regard. (Isn’t it always?).

Lawyers need to be conversant with electronic and conventional book and paper sources and they cannot afford to ignore one format over another. It’s clear that offices are slowly (very slowly in some cases) moving away from their reliance on paper, but the realisation of the ‘paperless office’ is still a frightfully long way off.

Despite the lack of instantaneous ‘inline search’, conventional book sources still play a vital role in legal practice and legal research. Sometimes, browsing or thumbing through a volume can help you get the ‘feel’ of an unfamiliar area of law and help you focus in on appropriate keywords that can then be used in an electronic search. After all, searching electronically only ever works efficiently when you’ve identified the right words to search for!

We’ve recently made a conscious effort to vastly reduce the amount we print. It’s interesting that the transition was far less painful than people feared and to see how readily people adopted and accepted it. Now we just need to focus on getting employers to recycle more waste besides paper.

While I’m on the subject, why on earth do some law firms insist on having their air conditioning cranked up to such a high level that staff need to sit their shivering with their jackets buttoned-up? Practising law doesn’t absolve people from the need to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

But I digress. For what it’s worth, academia still over-emphasises traditional paper sources which doesn’t exactly help students when they get into practice. The Legal Practice Course is particularly bad in this regard. For instance, it still assumes firms opt to use hard copies of lengthy reference materials over electronic versions. In my experience at least, that’s utter nonsense.

No matter how unshakable you are on using conventional paper sources, when you’re dealing with lengthy pieces of legislation, for example, it simply doesn’t make any sense to use the paper version. Have you seen the full size of the Companies Act 2006 recently? Why on earth are we forcing students to lump around hard copies? Heck, they’ll be brining personal injury claims for lumbar and shoulder injuries before we know it!

We’re in quite an interesting, transitional phase with not just vast electronic databases of cases and legislation but electronic versions of conventional academic law books and practitioner texts. When you combine that with the burgeoning popularity of ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) access to this content across a range of devices such as e-readers, tablets and smartphones is not just possible, but happening. Yes, many law firms still regard BYOD with about as much relish as pro bono work, but there are some avant-garde players out there.

As this transition continues, lawyers must stay on their toes and continue to evolve and adapt to the changing environment of information sources. While it’s vital they embrace the benefits of modern technology, younger lawyers in particular must be careful not to ignore traditional sources or downplay their importance.

Studying for a law exam - a cry for help

It’s been a while since I did a mailbag feature, so here’s to turning that around. ;-)

The following email plopped into my inbox a couple of weeks ago from a law student panicked by the prospect of open book exams:

Just found your law blog after having a complete mare over open book exams.
I appreciate this is a completely cheeky and out of the blue question,
but I don't suppose you happen to have those old company law notes you
mention in your revision entry do you?! Completely terrified about it,
have no idea what I'm doing or how to answer question from the second
semester, and generally worried I'm not going to get a 2:1 and thereby
miss my TC offer!

Totally understand you telling me to piss off, but thanks for the
hints and tips anyway :)

Jodie G

For those wondering, my “revision entry” was this post back in 2009.

I stand by the techniques I propounded there – certainly for closed book exams, anyway – and there isn’t really much I can add.

Open book exams are a bit of a different animal. Quite obviously, they call for a slightly different focus with less of the course material committed to memory and more focus on meticulous organisation and knowledge of your permitted materials. But that’s not to say you don’t need to be able to recall a large proportion of the content without being reliant on your books.

Your permitted materials are an aide memoire – not a memory replacement.

Jodie’s email didn’t really inspire me to respond (nope, not even to tell her to piss off). Amongst other things, the experience of a law degree is about trying different study methods to see what works for you, learning from your mistakes and emerging the other side richer for the experience.

As I said to a student colleague recently, “I don’t want to rob you of the learning experience”. I think the subtext there is blatantly clear.

For what it’s worth, I did have the revision notes of which I spoke in the post but they were a) tailored for my course and not Jodie’s, b) the fruit of my exam-time labours (why should I share them) and c) let me ask you this: would you, even as a desperate law student, risk asking a complete stranger on the internet for revision notes of which you have no assurance of quality, accuracy or anything else?

Who’d do that? It’s scary that someone who’d risk trying that has a training contract offer. (Sorry, that’s how I feel).

Btw – “a complete mare”. Excuse me? Is this new street talk?

Update: I’ve Googled it and thanks to Wiktionary, it seems it’s a colloquial contraction of “nightmare”.

(UK, colloquial) (Shortening of nightmare) A nightmare; a frustrating or terrible experience.

I'm having a complete mare today.

Well, there you go.

Stating the obvious – postgraduate study makes a HUGE difference

^{Darn it – there was no electronic version (at least not that I could find). Still, that scanner’s got to justify its existence somehow! ;-)}

Anyhow, let me run that first line past you again.

Students who want to stand out in the job market now need postgraduate degrees, says a think-tank.

Really?

It took a think tank to figure this one out?  Is this another case of “more tank than think”?  Which politician was it who coined that one?  ;-)

This isn’t any kind of revelation at all; graduates have been experiencing the “degree inflation” phenomenon first hand for several years.  Quite why it’s popped up again suddenly as “news” is beyond me.

When I was towards the tail end of my LL.M, I immediately noticed what a difference having a postgrad qualification made.  In fact, my employer explicitly told me it was my postgrad degree which made the difference in them hiring me over other candidates (helped in no small part by my quirky dissertation). 

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that postgraduate study made a huge difference to my employability.  Sadly, it’s gone from being the icing on your curriculum vitae cake to being a quasi pre-requisite now.

And from things I’ve heard anecdotally, I know I’m not the only one who’s witnessed this.

Law Schools as Charities

As the portly gentlemen observe to Scrooge at the start of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol:

“At this festive season of the year it is more than […] desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time.”

Well, thank God all that charity and benevolence was flushed out as the New Year rang in.

Since graduating from the university at which I studied for my LL.M, I’ve found they have an annoying tendency to come cap-in-hand begging for donations on a fairly regular basis.  And their quarterly magazine aimed at their alumni simply doesn’t make up for the inconvenience of being frequently hassled.  When I flick through it (usually with scant attention before I toss the thing aside in mild disappointment), I am often hit by a wave of guilt that I should make a donation.

I freely admit that I absolutely loved my LL.M and save for that awful summer I spent cocooned in my home office slaving over my dissertation, it was a wonderful experience I’d happily repeat again and again.

Anyhow.  Completely out of the blue, I received a call a few weeks ago from one of the university’s marketing people (he sounded like a student himself - probably was).  After making some very thinly veiled smalltalk, he proceeded to tell me all about the valuable research the university was doing and how vital contributions from its alumni are in keeping that going.  Yadda, yadda, yadda.

However, I really wasn’t prepared for the hard sell I got.  After asking whether I would be willing to contribute £3.00 a month, I politely but firmly declined.  When the chap pressed me why - whether it was the amount or some other reason - I felt my blood pressure rising.  The simple fact is, I hate having my pocket picked by these do-gooders.  (I never give to beggars either; I’d rather get a knife stuck through me than voluntarily part with loose change).

Clearly feeling he could press me further, he asked whether a one-off donation of just £20 or £10 pounds would satisfy me.  Whether it would satisfy me?  Because having your pocket picked is always so satisfying isn’t it?

Appalled at the nerve of the chap, I told him (in no uncertain terms) that it wouldn’t satisfy me, and that the only thing that would was if he got off the phone and stopped hassling me for money.  Bastards!!
 
Unfortunately for them, I had been seriously contemplating making a donation (of my own volition) towards the end last year.  However, after that pestering call, I have reconsidered and think I’ll be holding on to my money, or at least giving it to a worthy charity that don’t pester me with phone calls.  The RNLI, for instance.

Let’s hope not all of their alumni are like me - else they’ll never get any money! 

Masters of the Universe - London Business School

Contemplating a Master’s degree?  I can sympathise – I have been uncomfortably placed on the horns of that particular dilemma myself.  In the end, I decided to take the plunge and I’m very glad I did.

I strongly believe that my Master’s degree made a huge difference to me.  Although I decided within the first semester of being an undergraduate that an LL.M was something I’d like very much, the twists and turns of my law degree (which included participating in ERASMUS for a year) meant I very nearly didn’t get chance to fulfil my LL.M desire.  Thankfully, when it mattered, the stars aligned themselves correctly and everything came good.

I don’t think it was a total coincidence that on completing my Master’s, I walked into the very first job I applied for.  I had barely submitted my dissertation when I had snagged an opportunity I thought was too good to be true. I’ve a lot to be thankful for.

Whether you’re a contemplating a change of direction or want to supplement your knowledge or increase your employability, a Master’s at the London Business School may be the perfect solution.

The London Business School (LBS) is currently ranked number 1 in the world by the Financial Times for its post-experience Masters in Finance programme (and, come on, that’s really quite something!!).

The Masters in Finance degree was launched by LBS in 1993 and quickly become synonymous with academic excellence.

Its students are taught by the School’s world-leading finance academics – including Professors Stephen Schaefer, Julian Franks, Ian Cooper and Suleyman Basak – many of whom act as consultants to financial institutions, industry and government, and hold directorships in a wide range of organisations.

The School is conveniently based in the global financial centre of London, and works closely with organisations such as Credit Suisse, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Standard Chartered and UBS.  All such organisations have recently recruited from the School’s talented pool of Masters in Finance graduates.

The Masters in Finance course is available as a full-time one year programme, or as a part-time programme running on weekends over the course of two years.

The School’s students are supported by a Career Services team based in London who act as a guiding hand and enhance their graduates’ job prospects and earning potential.

Why not download a programme brochure today.

Click here to download the latest Masters in Finance employment report or here to view student and alumni profiles.

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Best exam advice ever

Judging from the stats on my blog at the moment, there are a lot of students (and not just law students) who are desperate (I mean really desperate!!) to find some kind of magic answer to:

• how to revise super-effectively and craft great answers in exams;
• knowing what’s going to come up in their exams;
• fluking their exams with or without any revisions if all else fails; and
• ending the months (years?) of studying torment because, you know, it’s all got a bit too much.

Hmm - must be that time of year or something!

This year, there's been a big focus on question spotting for some reason.

Trying to question spot and limiting your preparation is always a dangerous practice. I didn’t do it for any of my LLB, LLM or LPC exams and I’m still thankful I had the sense not to try.  I remember my biology teacher at A level bizarrely boasting that “we’re in the business of question spotting” (I think he fancied himself as a bit of an expert at it).

Sadly he proved to be wildly myopic (and I think was looking the wrong way down his binoculars).  When the class’ results came out it wasn’t pretty. 

Weren’t A levels just the worst?!?

So, really, don’t shoot yourself in the foot by trying to question spot. It’s just not worth the risk.

Still, if you’re a poor desperate student cramming for all you’re worth and fancy giving it a whirl, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

King’s Student Law Review

For those who aren’t in the know (and in the interests of karma), I thought it would be well worth flagging up the King’s Student Law Review, the existence of which I was alerted to recently.

So what’s the big deal?

Well, firstly, it’s an excellent peer-reviewed journal written by students for students everyone.

It describes itself as an:

online academic publication managed by students of the King's College London School of Law. The Review seeks to publish high-quality legal scholarship written by undergraduate and graduate students at King's and other leading law schools across the globe.

If you aren’t a King’s student and your law school has a law school magazine which is more like this, have no fear. The KSLR isn’t locked behind an expensive paywall; its open access policy means everyone can access and download the material completely free of charge – just as God intended. If you feel a bit funny accessing ‘free-as-in-free’ material, it’s also available via HeinOnline, for you old-school sticklers out there.

Either way, it’s well worth checking out.

Secondly, they’re accepting articles for publication.  Yep, all you law students out there – that’s where you come in.

Working on the basis that practise makes perfect, writing an article for the KSLR would provide you with a great opportunity to improve your legal writing whilst getting your name out there. Plus, for those undergraduates keeping an eye on the future (that’s more or less everyone, right?) it’s something else which might elevate your CV over those of your peers.

That’s not the only incentive, though, as for each edition, the author of the best judged article is awarded £250.

Oh yes. 

The requested word count for each article is between 5,000 to 10,000 words. Like I said, practise makes perfect.

Still, if that sounds a bit over-ambitious for you, submissions are also welcome for shorter pieces (around 1,000 words) for their various blogs in the following areas:

• European Law
• Legal Theory
• Human Rights
• Constitutional Law
• Commercial Law
• Criminal Law
• International Law
• Legal Practice, Procedure and Profession

Submissions for the next edition of the KSLR are due by 29th February 2012, 23:59 GMT, so, you know, you might want to get your skates on!

Submissions for the blogs are welcome at any time.

You can find submission guidelines on their website at http://www.kslr.org.uk/. 

While you’re at it, why not follow them on twitter via @KCLSLR, too?

Asbestos dust and the corporate veil… revisited

From the Metro 17/01/12:

When Korah Leah came home from his job clearing asbestos his children would fling their arms around him the minute he arrived.

As a worker in the 1930s he had no idea he was putting their lives at risk when he hugged the youngsters in his dust-caked overalls.

But now, long after his death from cancer in 1968, two of his children have died from asbestos-related illnesses and a further six have irreversible lung damage.

‘It’s a terrible thing to happen to one family,’ said Maureen McGeogh who lost sisters Marjorie, 67, and Cecelia, 77, within six months of each other.

She said her father would be ‘covered in dust’ when he came home from work as a foreman in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.

‘We’d all crawl all over him and hug him. I remember my mother shaking his overalls and dust going everywhere. We didn’t realise it was dangerous,’ added Mrs McGeogh, 73, of Luddenden, West Yorkshire.

Her only two siblings not affected by pleural plaques – which can develop into malignant mesothelioma – were born after their father left Cape Asbestos in 1958.

The family has been denied compensation for years as none of them worked directly with asbestos.

I came across this story in the Metro a couple of weeks ago which reminded me of a rather poignant article I read during my LLM. (Yes, I know: I surprised myself, too).

I remember it formed part of our rather painful and protracted analysis of the methods, means and history of piercing the corporate veil under English law. Those early weeks seemed entirely taken up with reading a shedload on the Adams v Cape Industries litigation - all that toxic tort (quote-unquote) stuff made for such cheerful reading. In fact, if memory serves, it formed the first formative assessment we had to prepare for the company law module.

The article itself was a subtle (and not-so-subtle) indictment of the way the corporate form could be legitimately abused utilised in managing the threat of multi-billion dollar lawsuits from hazardous business activities. The fact the threat was being ‘managed’ decades after the hideous risks came to the surface (which were supressed with the effectiveness with which a certain group of modern newspapers might be proud) was something of a fly in the ointment that their Lordships had to grapple with once the case reached the House of Lords. 

But what always struck me as so chilling was the fact it wasn’t just the mine and factory workers who were struck down by deadly asbestos dust  Day to day contact with the Cape workers (and the dust on their clothing) meant that their families became even more unwitting victims too.  And it wasn’t just the ‘shop floor’ workers who were affected; it was many of the Cape executives who were responsible for supressing those deadly facts for all those years.

If you fancy reading more (just in case January hadn’t depressed you enough already) here are the details:

G. Tweedale and L. Flynn, ‘Piercing the Corporate Veil: Cape Industries and Multinational Corporate Liability for a Toxic Hazard 1950-2004, (2007) 8 Enterprise and Society 268-296.

Life as a modern law student - a few thoughts

On the back of my half-hearted ‘back to school’ series, I’ve been thinking a lot recently about just what an awful time it is to be a law student (or any kind of student for that matter).  Not to put anybody off, of course, (but seriously - think carefully).

Let’s face it: graduate jobs of any description are hard enough to come by right now.  I know a couple of people who are/were tackling the LPC part time and have put it on hold half way through because they’re so fearful of ploughing in the rest of the fees and then coming out the other side with a useless diploma and no chance of a training contract.

Understandably, there is a lot of concern that many would-be students are taking the attitude that going to university is simply not worth the expense, hassle and stress.

The Law Gazette report this:

The biggest fall in university applications in more than 30 years has seen the number of candidates applying to study law drop by a record 5.2%, according to figures released by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service.

Last year 13,858 people applied to study law at 26 universities that supplied figures to UCAS, but this year the number applying to start their course in autumn 2012 fell to 13,139.

Things aren’t even looking good for graduate recruitment schemes at the moment.  A few years ago, graduate training schemes were all the rage for students with almost any degree.  What a difference 2 or 3 years make.  Your average graduate is now more likely to get a bucketful of smelly stuff from a rocking horse than get accepted onto one of those programs.

Not long ago, a law degree was meant to be one of the more useful and versatile degrees out there, and one that would stand you in good stead for a wide range of graduate careers.  I’m not sure that holds true right now.

Other ‘friends of friends’ are considering jumping ship, all of whom are at various stages of their legal education. Right on cue, I’ve been fascinated to read about US blawgger Katie Luper who recently finished law school and jumped straight on an engineering course.  Kudos to her for that.  I don’t think many law graduates would have the guts to do that.  I know I wouldn’t.

So all in all, it’s an uncertain, scary time, folks. But if you’re a prospective uni student with absolutely no idea which path to take, do the responsible thing: flip a coin and let fate decide.

You’ll thank me for it.

For construction jobs try visiting Mane Recruitment.

Graduation Time

I've got my graduation for my LLM coming up next week which should be interesting.  Personally, I don't think that holding it in the depths of winter is a great idea – and is causing my GF no end of trouble when trying decide on her outfit.  

I remember graduation time last year and just what disruption it caused: my competition seminar had to decamp over to the maths faculty at the far-flung reaches of the campus as our usual room had been suddenly made-over as a photo studio.  There were people milling about every which way and getting anywhere within the law school was a huge struggle.

It seems strange to have the ceremony so long after the degree was, to all intents and purposes, done and dusted. Things have moved on considerably since I submitted my dissertation last September: we've moved house, I've a new job, am thoroughly out of 'student mode' and, well, my LLM seems like a distant memory.  But a very pleasant one.

We went back into my university city yesterday on a shopping spree. One of the shops was virtually next to the law school so it was the first time I'd been 'back on track' as it were, since exam period last summer.  Walking that route brought back a lot of good memories from my LLM.  :D

I was thinking a while back, if I'd do it all again - knowing what I know now.  To go through the pain, hassle and sacrifice; trying to fit the endless studying around my part-time job at the time; the extra expense; the added stress. 

In fairness, though, it didn't take a whole lot of thinking about.  Of course I'd do it again!

Like a shot!!  :D

Dissertation put to bed - LLM is officially over

Yes, I can hardly believe it myself - my masters is finally over. As of Sunday evening around 21.00, my dissertation was finally RTM’d (Released to Manufacturing) and submitted the next day. I think the sigh of relief was audible throughout the entire neighbourhood.

On the whole, my LLM has been a fantastic experience and have thoroughly enjoyed (almost) every aspect of it. One thing that did catch me out slightly was the dissertation. While I picked a subject which interested me greatly, I didn’t find the actual writing of it as enjoyable as I thought I would. The research and planning stages were exciting, as were thrashing out some of the finer arguments which would hopefully set my paper above the also-rans but as for the seemingly endless writing and re-writing of a 12,000 word paper, well, it proved a descent into utter tedium.

Being cooped up in my stuffy office during the height of the summer probably had something to do with my frustration but I don’t feel that’s an entirely adequate explanation. Strangely, it wasn’t the length of the paper which bothered me – I had over 8,000 words of excerpts for example – but rather the editing of a paper so much longer than what I was used to. Trying to massage a plethora of paragraphs into a coherent and harmonious whole was much more difficult than with papers of a shorter length.

A jump from 3,000 to 12,000 word limit is significant and I think as students we could have been better prepared for this. For those modules assessed entirely by coursework, for instance, we could have been required to produce a 6,000 word essay for papers 2 or 3, to better break us in.

Also, allotting us 10 weeks was excessive in my opinion and needlessly prolonged what was already a painful experience. For the last 3 and half weeks, my dissertation was as good as finished and I downed tools, fully intending to finish the editing later that week. Sadly, I lacked any incentive or enthusiasm to resume and put the damn paper to bed, meaning I finished editing just a couple of days before the paper was due in. Those 3 and a half weeks proved a horrible time; doubts and uncertainties as to the quality of my paper constantly troubled me and felt suspended in limbo. I did, however, work my way back through series 1-3 of ‘The Office, An American Workplace’ so, you know, every cloud and all that!

The fate of my dissertation is now down to my supervisor and external markers. Trying to give myself every edge possible, I debated the psychological pros and cons of various colours of report folders for my dissertation. Ultimately, I rejected grey, dark green, red and yellow and plumbed for blue as it was the nicest of the bunch in my opinion.

In the meantime, I’m left to reflect on the experience of my LLM, my impending final result and my exciting new legal job which begins at the start of next month.

Dissertation Update

Yes, in between job apps, work, blawging and all the rest, I am managing to get a bit of this damned dissertation done. I’ve written my first 1200 words so have at least got the thing off the ground.

As ever when writing extended papers such as these, my planned structure has evolved  - nearly out of all recognition.  Come to think of it, I think ‘blown out of the water’ might be a more suitable phrase.

But it’s actually all quite positive. I’ve successfully wrestled the myriad of disjointed fragments that my dissertation synopsis consisted off into one (vaguely) harmonious whole. For the most part, I’m very happy that I did choose this topic, despite my somewhat wobbly start.  I feel I know where I’m going with it, have got a rough but logical chapter outline and feel I’ve given myself good scope for whacking plenty of critical analysis in there. Yes, the dissertation seems to be firmly on track, people.

Let’s hope I’m still saying that in a few weeks time.

Dissertation Doldrums

In the past week or so I’ve been somewhat troubled over my apparent lack of motivation to press ahead and crack out this dissertation. Although this could be attributed to pure laziness or post-exam buzz coupled with that summer-of-fun mentality that so often hits students, on reflection, I think my ill-timed inertia might be understandable.

Besides the hot weather we’re experiencing at the moment – exacerbated by my monster PC pumping out serious heat in my office – I think the postgraduate schedule conflicts with the natural yearly rhythm that’s ingrained in all law students.

The final stage of the orthodox academic cycle can be expressed thus:

Hot weather + sunny days = summer

End of exams = summer = (fun + no academic work)

Obviously having the dissertation spread out before me for the rest of the summer – we’re supposedly to spend 10 weeks wrestling with the beast – throws something of a spanner in the works. For every academic year that I can remember, the end of exams always signalled freedom from the shackles of academia – a chunk of downtime in which we could do exactly as our little hearts desired. Facing up to the reality that things are different this year has not be easy.

Fortunately, I’ve already arrived at the conclusion that procrastinating over this final hurdle of the LL.M won’t do me any favours. I’ve already done a chunk of research for it yesterday – adding considerably to my ‘depository’ of resources as well as hitting some proverbial dead ends – and have my first allotted meeting with my dissertation supervisor tomorrow.

Hopefully, that meeting will provide some help in tracking down a couple of killer sources which the university and their myriad of subscriptions seem to have circumvented entirely.  Actually, to be clear, it’s not the tracking down which is proving the problem - it’s the cost of them.  I’ve heard my uni are quite generous when it comes to subsidising sources for postgrad dissertations so fingers crossed I won’t be dipping into my personal funds over this.

How to Revise for a Law Exam

Just before the exams started, I mentioned that I might release a revision-method type post. I so often make these promises of posts which never subsequently appear so thought I’d make good on my intentions for once. I realise the exam season is pretty much over for everyone now, but I guess it might be of interest to procrastinating students next year looking for inspiration or a boost of motivation. I’m not sure this post will provide either, but the revision method I outline just might be of interest.

Way back during my A-levels, I discovered a method for revising which worked fairly well and which I’ve gone on to tweak over the past few years. I feel I’ve graduated to a revision system which works well for me, though I realise everyone is different. From personal experience, I think many students’ approach to revision is, to put it mildly, less than optimal, though I recognise that we all learn in different ways. Ultimately, though, your method needs to work well for you – and if it does so, who am I to suggest something else? That said, it doesn’t hurt to mix things up occasionally and to try a different approach; what works for me might work well for you also.

I think one of the biggest mistakes students make is to start learning the material before they’ve got a damn good set of consolidated notes. The fact that creating those notes is actually an effective means of ‘breaking you into’ the revision process is an added bonus. Taking your time at this stage can reap huge dividends later on.

Hardcore Notes

The basic objective here is to know the topic backwards - literally. That way, coupled with an effective plan in the exam, you are well placed to answer virtually any essay or problem based question on the topic at hand.

In essence, I create a list of structured points, which form the basis of my revision notes. The order is crucial and spending a fairly long time on perfecting those notes is time very well spent. If the exam is open book, think about using the natural structure of the casebook as a pointer for the order of the notes. When under the pressure of an exam, this might just save your skin and anything which means you worry less about the order of the material has got to be good – particularly when pulling out the relevant content for answering a problem question. The idea is simple: you then learn those notes inside out, being able to dip into them at any point, picking out the relevant parts for a problem question or being able to follow it through coherently for discursive essay question.

I’ve always referred to these notes as ‘hardcore notes’ – and please, don’t look at me like that! The ‘Key Facts’ books published by Hodder Education form an excellent structure for hardcore notes; in fact, for many of my subjects I used those as the basis which I complimented with my own notes. The better organised you are throughout the year, the easier it is to compliment the structured notes with your own content, of course.

Each point is usually supported by authority. Connecting case names to a particular legal principle is one of the more fun parts of the revision process where you can inject some creativity into what is often a boring and monotonous process. For instance, if there is a batch of successive cases and associated principles connected with a sub-topic, using mnemonics and the like can help recall the order.

Certain content lends itself to being tabulated and doing so adds structure around a sub-topic that can aid in recalling it. For instance, I tabulated the legal principles regarding fraudulent and wrongful trading for my recent company law exam and assigned a distinctive colour to each.

Tough Times

Certain legal topics are just killers and incredibly dry – I’m thinking back to contract law in my first year and property law, and equity and trusts, in my last. I found the only way to conquer them was to brute-force the facts into my brain. And the emphasis really is on force here; as Nigella Lawson might say, ‘this is no time for restraint’. The first step in this process involves writing out the hardcore notes by hand and then, taking it section by section, regurgitating it from memory –either through writing and/or repeating them orally. Of course, it’s crucial to pay careful attention to the order. Then, it’s a question of repeating, repeating, repeating. It’s not a method for a faint-hearted: I would go through several hundred pages of A4 paper over the course of the revision process, scrawling out regurgitated content. But seriously, once you get going, it’s not as hard as you might think. Doing so much writing has other benefits too: as you recall the facts faster as the process wears on, you find yourself writing faster – excellent practice for those impending exams. I also feel that it strengthens the writing muscles, meaning you don’t succumb to the dreaded ‘writer’s cramp’ as easily.

To spice things up, I would also practice writing the content out from memory on computer. Later on when you really know your stuff, I found it useful to brainstorm the material, using A3 sheets. I found a white board and dry wipe markers particularly efficient for this, and far less wasteful. I have even created powerpoint presentations on the material I’ve been revising. Quite how you do it doesn’t matter, but the more time you spend immersed in the material and practice reciting it in various ways, the better and more comfortable you will feel applying it in the context of an exam. I have, on occasions, even resorted to pacing around the house recalling it orally from memory. Others I know record the material and listen to it repeatedly. I never found this worked well for me as my brain tended to switch off far too easily.

In addition, I create gap-fill tests as another means of learning the material – even creating the template is a good learning experience. I found this an excellent way of learning the basic order of the notes early on in the process. Finally, as you are nearing the end of the revision process, applying the knowledge you now know very well in practicing past papers is an excellent means of final preparation – providing you don’t get too hung up on the specifics of the question in hand.

Revising the Revision Process

My hardcore notes started out at about 2.5 pages, Times New Roman, 12 point font. Over the years, they were becoming progressively longer – Company Law, Directors’ Duties weighed in at a heavy 7 and a bit pages with a ‘narrow’ margin. Back in 2005/2006 I found the need to consolidate the hardcore notes down in further by making a flowchart printed in landscape mode, in even more succinct language. This serves as a useful exercise in condensing the material down – an excellent means of revising. Making good use of colour at this stage can better improve your chances of recalling the material quickly and accurately in an exam by helping to focus your mind’s eye in recollecting the content on the page. Practicing recalling the content of the flowcharts can be done in writing, orally or through roping a friend into testing you. The flowchart makes this possible as you’re just following simple points on a list but the knowledge is in your head to expand on any point if called to do so in the exam. Don’t try thrusting the hardcore notes in front of them and asking them to test you; I think we’ve all had experience at some point in our academic lives where you’ve roped some poor soul into ‘testing’ you who hasn’t the foggiest of what they’re doing and end up pulling you up if you get a mere word out of place or for explaining something which doesn’t match verbatim what s/he has on the sheet in front of them. A very frustrating experience – for both parties involved.

The flowchart is perfect for ramming the order of the material firmly into your brain – which is so crucial in answering a question in a law exam. You know the general content of the hardcore notes by this point to be able to expand sufficiently on any principle, but with so much material floating around in your head, the flowchart helps to make more sense of the overall structure. I always make sure I stick to the same means of ordering the material in the flowchart – usually left to right rather than clockwise as this makes the structure more fluent if it is (as it almost certainly will be) spread across more than one page.

Generally when revising – by which I mean actually recalling the material - I would always work through a topic to completion rather than setting myself 50 minute chunks of work-time and the like. Whether it’s a perception thing or otherwise, I always seemed much more productive that way.

So there it is: my technique when it comes to law exams and revision. It works for me and works well but it doesn’t come with guarantees. It was good enough to get me a A’s at A level and a First for my LLB but hey, what do I know? Some people revise through postcards or post-it notes stuck on their walls – I’ve always found that a little too much of a ‘soft touch’ approach for my tastes. My technique calls for dedication in spades but then it yields worthwhile results too.

Knowing the topic so well also means you are far less likely to have revised it but avoided answering it in the exam because you ‘didn’t like the look of it’. Using this method as an undergrad and postgrad, I have never prepared for a subject and then not answered it in the exam.

And Finally

Revision group work can be useful, when used in moderation and at the right stage. In my experience, it should be used quite late on, close to the exams when you know your stuff and you can effectively test each other and straighten out the one or two remaining queries. But the bulk of the work should be done and dusted by then as group sessions can so easily turn into an excuse just to ‘catch up’ socially and wind up being totally unproductive. And a word to the wise: it’s time to socially shun the guy who utters late on in the game, “uhh, I haven’t started revising yet”. 

Exam Season is Over

Yes, it’s finally finished and I can put the trauma of LL.M exams firmly behind me. My final exam (competition law) went fairly well with only one distinct curveball (I guess the cricket equivalent ‘googly’ would be more appropriate here) in the 3 questions I tackled. As per my plan, the desired questions in the desired format all came up on vertical restraints, abuse of a dominant position and refusals to supply.

I was somewhat perturbed, though, to discover that I was going to be sitting my final exam at desk 13 (unlucky for some). I’m not a particularly superstitious person but I have to admit that it had a slightly unsettling effect on me, albeit for a few minutes. Perhaps exam halls should omit the number 13 when labelling desks, if only to appease the more superstitious candidates out there. For instance, hotels often avoid numbering a room ‘13’ and Formula One skip the number 13 when numbering the cars for the season, though there is a P13 grid slot of course.

So I’ll be enjoying some downtime after a very hectic LLM schedule, and I’m heading back home to Cornwall next week. Hopefully, I’ll get a couple more fishing trips in when I’m down there.

Sadly, that’s where the good news ends, though; I realised the other day that I’m working the evening of my birthday. Damn.

One exam down – one to go

This morning saw me take the first of my two exams on the LLM - company law. Despite the exam room being incredibly hot, the exam itself was ‘textbook’ with barely a curve ball thrown at us throughout the entire paper. In fact, two of the three questions I answered on the corporate veil and directors’ duties respectively, were incredibly similar to the practice essays we had done throughout the year. Our tutor had informed us that attempting those practice questions would stand us in very good stead and she certainly wasn’t kidding! Thank God I duly completed both and looked them over yesterday as part of my revision.

Despite prepping my statute book with the requisite plethora of page markers, I reflected on leaving the exam that I didn’t refer to it once. Still, I rarely thumbed through a statute book during all of my exams as an undergrad either. If you’ve revised properly, I’ve always said that statute books are more like security blankets for law students; you don’t really need one but you’re comforted that it’s by your side. Under pressure of exams, law students are sometimes prone to ‘tizzies’ when that section number obstinately evades them.

I’ve been understandably focussing on revision of late (and had booked the entire week off of work, though that was at the time when BOTH of my exams were scheduled for this week). That said, it hasn’t been all work, as my girlfriend and I ventured out on one of our (increasingly rare) trips over the Bank Holiday weekend, engaging in a little retail therapy and checking out the movie ‘Angels and Demons’ - amongst other things. Having just finished the book, my girlfriend spent the rest of the day bemoaning the inaccuracies and inconsistencies between the book and film, concluding as is so often the case, that the book was infinitely better. She isn’t much of a lover of fiction but that was one book that she barely put down.

Anyhoo, while I won’t be back to regular posting for another 10 days or so – my competition law exam is on June 9^th – I thought I’d generously brief the blawgosphere with a Law Actually update. I’ve always feared the competition law exam and I’m praying there won’t be any curve balls in that paper either.  Until the next time, then.

Try not to miss me too much! :p

Oh, I almost forgot: for the first time in my life I also had to ask for extra paper in the exam.  How the hell did that happen?  Has my handwriting suddenly swollen or have answer booklets gotton thinner?

Brief Hiatus – Courtesy of the Exam Season

Yes, it’s that time of year, again, and much as I would love to carry on blogging with full vigour, I feel compelled to focus on revision for my two exams: company law and competition law. Happily, the dreaded exam season only has 3 and a bit weeks left to run, with my final exam on June 9^th.

This hiatus is particularly ill-timed, though, as there is a wealth of potentially bloggable material out there at the moment:

- Lawyers protest over ‘Tesco Law’ as it takes one further step towards reality. Oh yes!

- The findings of Lord Justice Jackson’s report on the status and future of civil litigation. As the Times reports, somewhat predictably, the prognosis isn’t exactly one of unmitigated good health. The article made some interesting suggestions for reform as regards lawyers’ success fees and alternative payment structures as well as suggestions in response to the broader problems that ensue from contingency fee arrangements, particularly in respect of personal injury cases.

- The EU fining Intel for competition law infringements. Actually, if I’m honest, competition law and I aren’t exactly on the best of terms right now, so I doubt I would have blogged about this anyway.

- I had intended to post a ‘revision procedure’ post, based on my tried and trusted methods. That might still emerge at some point but quite when, God alone knows.

Despite this heads-up re. the hiatus, I might still throw up one or two posts in the next 3 weeks, but I wouldn’t count on it. I’m relying heavily on caffeine to see my through these 3 weeks and need all the help I can get, particularly as far as competition law is concerned. Wish me luck!

The sign of a hard-working law student

Checked my LLM folder on my computer today, you know, just for the hell of it.

Was surprised to see it had reached the mammoth size of 283MB and had 862 files with 66 folders. Wow. And I’ve still revision work and the full fury of my dissertation to be thrown at it yet.

The fact the folder houses 862 files doesn’t really surprise me. The size is certainly an eye-opener and is due in large part to all of the journal articles I’ve used for assignments that I’ve downloaded in PDF format. The downside of open standards I guess!

While on this topic, I thought I might share my back-up and syncing strategy with the blawgosphere. Law students, in my experience, tend to be lousy at backing-up, but with the wide range of free automated backup and syncing tools available today, there really isn’t an excuse any longer.

My precious LLM folder is backed up (and synced) to a USB key using Microsoft Synctoy 2.0. Creating a folder pairing between the folder on my PC and the USB key means that syncing is just a one-button-click job – just as it should be. You could even automate the process via Task Scheduler in Windows. My LLM folder is also backed up (and synced again) to the cloud and a laptop using the fantastic Microsoft Live Mesh, though I guess MS haters out there can make use of services like Dropbox instead which works well across Windows, Mac and Linux. Technically, Live Mesh is still in Beta but I’ve been using it for virtually a whole year and have had no problems with it. Overall, I’ve found this happy back-up and syncing arrangement to serve my needs well for the past year or so.

I also perform random backups to external hard disks and the web. I’ve been a user of BT digital vault (their free service, that is) for a couple of years or so and find it adequate. I’ve used a variety of web-based back up services over the past few years (a few which have since disappeared from cyberspace) but with Live Mesh and BT’s digital vault, plus my variety of on-site backups, I think I’m reasonably well prepared. Still, there’s room for improvement, I guess: I might add a Networked Attached Storage (NAS) solution or a Home Server to my computing arsenal. After all, it’s the type of thing you can’t have too much of - when it comes to backups, more really is more.

Summer Term Starts

I knew this day would come but that hasn’t made its arrival any easier to accept. Yes, today marks the start of the summer term and all of the revision/exam fun that goes with it. Before the games can begin properly, though, I’ve got to wrap up the coursework-based modules.

I’m not quite up to where I’d wanted to be as have my final corporate governance paper to write before I can switch properly into exam mode. (Before the start of the Easter break I had stated I wanted ALL papers written by the end.  Hmmmph: so much for that). Still, I started the research for the paper last week while I was down in Cornwall so aim to have it finished by the end of this week (subject to change and all that).

Unfortunately I have to head into the city for the next 3 days straight – which is a bit of a hassle. Still, I don’t want to miss a single session at this stage in case any precious exam-hints are given out. More so this year than any other, even before Easter, it felt as though things were wrapped up and it was all over bar the shouting exams. Unfortunately, two classes have spilled over into this term – Company Law and Corporate Governance. Just brilliant!

I’m also bracing myself for the final instalment of course fees to be snatched from my bank account in the next few days but can at least take comfort from the fact I will not be shelling out on any more education for the foreseeable future. 

Oh and if there were any doubt that summer term has arrived in full vigour, the fantastic weather has descended and I’m stuck inside tapping away at a computer keyboard.  Sounds about right!

Cornwall

I’m heading back home to Cornwall for a few days tomorrow. The weather isn’t supposed to be great – that’s Cornwall for you – but it should be good nonetheless. I’ve not been back since early September so I guess this trip is overdue.

I’d originally set myself the goal of completing my IT law paper before leaving. It’s virtually done now but I still need to edit about 300 words out and finish the referencing. Quite why this assignment has been akin to having several teeth pulled I don’t quite know but I’m certain it’s going to feel great when I’m the other side of it. :-)

Anyhoo, I expect I’ll still be keeping my finger on the pulse of the blawgosphere while I’m gone – just a bit less frequently, that’s all. In any case, we seem to be going through a bit of a lull at the moment. It’s that time of year, I guess.