In my internship this summer, I had the opportunity to work alongside 1Ls, 2Ls, and 3Ls from law schools in the South Florida area and with students from other states as well. Two aspects of St. Thomas' unique 1L program bore through to the forefront of my mind. Our year long 1L courses and our Research & Writing program.
In terms of the former, the majority of law schools seem to have only a couple courses that span the entire first year. At St. Thomas, all 5 first year classes (Contracts, Civil Procedure, Torts, Property, and Research & Writing) are two full semesters. My internship was in the area of criminal law, and I thought to myself, "oh no, no Crim. Law classes, can I handle this?" What I soon found out was the year long classes provided me with such a foundational base that I was able to see strings and concepts extending from each of these classes into the area of criminal law. I also realized that my legal 'magnifying glass' allowed me to see a little deeper and looker a farther and clearer at the issues present in the cases I was assigned. As Professor Ronner told us, "in law school you take Property Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, etc. But in the end, you might find out there is not such a great divide between them." The year long classes also afforded me the opportunity to get to know my colleagues. I have made a couple really good friends at St. Thomas, who I know I can count on should I ever need anything. Friendship is a gift in and of itself.
In conjunction, St. Thomas' Research & Writing program provided me with a huge box of tools when I was dealing with cases during my internship. My professor, Anna Chan held us to the standard of a 'professional attorney.' In class we had drafted Memorandum, wrote a Motion for Summary Judgement, Interoffice Memos, Closed Memo, Open Memo, and more Plaintiff's and Defendant's documents. Although I had never written a 'Criminal Law' Motion or Memorandum, I had everything I needed to be able to do so.
I still have a great deal to learn, but I am confident that I am on my way with STU.
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John, I also found the extended 1L classes to be extremely helpful during my internship this summer. I think it is great that St. Thomas employs this learning tactic! I feel much more prepared than if I had only taken one semester of each class.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. I went to Law School in a place that has single four credit classes instead of two three credit classes. You get it all overwith in one semester, which I thought was okay, until I realized there was another way to do things.
ReplyDeleteBreaking it up is probably better. Gives you a chance to really dig in and understand things.