Fall 2021, after my brief hiatus, I came back to law school. This time around, law school was slightly different than what I was accustomed to. Since I began law school in August 2019, I would commute to school, the old-fashioned, pre-pandemic way. I knew everyone in my classes since it was the same people in every class. Now, I just knew people by their Zoom names and occasionally when people turned on their cameras. This semester, I was doing a combination of JD and MBA courses since it is my third year in the program.
First semester I tried to take as much as I could to take advantage of the virtual environment since my MBA classes were held late, 7 pm to 9 pm. I knew that if it was in person classes, I wouldn’t want to be on campus that late three times a week when my days started as early as 8 am on Thursdays! My MBA courses were: BSUS 6500: Business Strategies for Sustainability MBAN 6200: Realizing Value from AI and Analytics in Organizations MGMT 6800: Innovation Through Technology and Design These courses helped me explore different fields of business and explore my creative side a lot more. Through BSUS 6500, I even landed a Research Assistant position relating to Sustainability Accounting, a field I was not aware of prior to attending that class. At Osgoode, I took Taxation Law and Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law. In addition, at Osgoode, I’m a student Caseworker at the Investor Protection Clinic. At Schulich, I’m enrolled in the 601, which is the capstone project for the MBA. Both of these obligations are year-long. I may have gone a little overboard because I did tack on an extra credit at Schulich to fast-track because at the time I was gung-ho on going on exchange in my final year, thinking that COVID-19 will not be a barrier in 2022 to international travel. Now this is TBD :( What I wish I had considered: While at face value, it seems like I had everything under control. A big takeaway from concurrently doing the dual degree is to consider the timeline for evaluations. At Osgoode, the exam schedule is posted over the summer when course selection occurs, that way there are no surprises and we can plan which courses to take based on the proximity of exams. Since I did not think of that as much as I should have, I had Schulich classes in the same week as my Osgoode exams and 601 deliverables. These Schulich classes mainly had at least a project per class due in that final week, so that first week of December was a little bit of a challenge to say the least. As for fast-tracking, would I do it again? Probably, because now that I know I handled it last semester, if the opportunity presented itself I would do that again because that’s just me. However, the reality is that starting mid-October (after Thanksgiving) to the first week of December, there was a lot going on at school with different deliverables, team meetings, etc. It does become a little bit of a higher pressure schedule and little downtime so make sure you have your trusty agenda by your side to help you navigate that patch. But if I could do it, you could do it too! Just requires some fortitude and a lot of planning :) By: Karen Randhawa This time of year is the busiest. Apart from the holiday spirit, law students are currently writing high-stake final exams. For most of my courses at law school, my exams are worth 100% of my final grade. I made a TikTok to share how I am currently preparing for my Taxation Law exam. In addition to this video, I would highly recommend forming study groups with people in your classes! It's always nice to discuss tax policies with my peers, I know I can count on a few people in my class. Contact your professor for office hours for questions that you have. Do practice problems/ practice exams as well - since law exams are generally about applying principles, statutes and case law. Getting into these habits will help structure your studying! Good luck everyone! Group work is meant to prepare you for "the real world." With people going back-to-the-office, it was only a matter of time until I would need to return to campus. Did I imagine that being 20 months since I last stepped foot on campus? Perhaps. But what I didn't think would happen would be that I would be going to campus on a Sunday afternoon to meet with my group to discuss our next steps. All this to say, that not every Sunday is like this, but there have been more than one in this semester alone to get the team together across a table to figure out what course of action to take next in our Capstone project for the MBA. Starting the TikTok series at Legally Brown with a Day in the Life video! I summarized my busiest day of the week this semester, Thursdays. Mind you, when I first found out that I had 8 hours of lectures (two at Osgoode and 1 at Schulich), 3 hours of work I was a little bit worried on how to optimize my day since it is easier to lose sight of what is important when you're in virtual school. But within the first three weeks, I was able to figure out a way to prioritize and gauge what I absolutely need to fulfill on Thursdays. During the summer of 2020, I worked with a team of four other students (Elif Babaoglu, Amanda LaBorde, Irene Lai, and Junghi Woo) to support Professor Garrick Apollon of the University of Ottawa, with a visual legal research project studying the film Black Code on Cybersecurity. It was a visual legal advocacy program brought to us by the Hennick Centre, in partnership with UDocs. Over the summer, the team worked on conducting research on big data. We worked together to create a published research document for what would ultimately become a CPD/CPE accredited course for legal and business professionals. In addition, we researched potential experts to depose on these findings.
I thoroughly enjoyed this experience as I had the opportunity to explore the legal realm of privacy, technology and big data law. Watching the documentary, to analyzing and answering questions associated with the need for reform in this field was intellectually stimulating. Prior to this UDocs experience, I had shown an interest in the field through a course I took named Legal Values: Law, Ethics and Social Media. My research paper was on catfishing and the need for reform in the area of law. A take-away that stayed with me is the overlap between privacy breaches and freedom of expression that lags behind in the area of internet law. So, when students are stressing about what to do in their 0L/1L summer, I would strongly encourage them to seek “non-traditional” opportunities as such. Those interested in the field of Visual Legal Advocacy can always contact UDocs directly. There is much to learn in the legal field that is constantly evolving, and with the changing nature of society – do not be disheartened if plan A does not play out. By: Karen Randhawa In the fall, I had the opportunity to speak on Professor Haigh's podcast "What's Law Got to Do With It?" featuring my mentor, Felicity Radan. I shared my experience of knowing from the outset that I wanted to be a business lawyer, with a heightened interest in tax law. This interest sparked in undergrad through my fourth year Income Taxation course. However, in law school there are a lot of individuals who have no idea what they want to practice upon graduation, and that's totally fine. No one expects you to have it all figured out! I, myself, would like to explore the field of business law in more depth in my upper years. My biggest piece of advice for incoming students trying to navigate law school is to be open to new experiences. There may be a course or experiential learning experience that reshapes what you want to do with the rest of your life, and that's okay. A year ago, I was not in the JD/MBA program. It was not originally in my ten year plan. However, being a student in this program has really helped me grow intellectually through taking courses I was not able to during undergrad. It's been an enriching experience, and I can't wait to see what's in store next in my law school journey. By: Karen Randhawa It’s crazy to believe that we've made it halfway through the fall semester. It feels like it was just yesterday that we were writing about going back to school and planning for Zoom University. I thought I’d be great to give you a review of the first half of online school. When I heard that school would be online, I was a little excited that I would not have to face my two-hour commute. It didn’t take me long to realize that I actually miss in-person classes. Don’t get me wrong, I love being in my sweatpants all day, but I really miss being able to talk with my friends and interacting with my classmates. Our professors have done a great job at moving their syllabus online and trying to make the classes as engaging as possible. But nothing beats the dynamics of an in person class. Here’s how I’ve been keeping up with online school:
This past school year the word unprecedented was newfound in my vocabulary. By the end of the school year, it became the most overused term, from emails I didn’t know I was subscribed to, through announcements on television this word was everywhere. The sudden switch to remote classes, university campus becoming a ghost town seemed like I was part of an apocalyptic movie, without the pay grade of being casted of course. I was accustomed to studying from home, and lectures were recorded prior to COVID, so I was fortunate in that I didn’t find the shift to be too taxing. However a few pieces of advice for those who are beginning online school, whether it be law school or another program: Make a schedule. The added flexibility can make or break the habits you had instilled in prior years. A quote that speaks volumes to me today is “character is what you do when no one is watching.” I understand that the pandemic has impacted people in different ways. It’s a privilege if the only hindrance in your daily life is that the commute is cut out from your daily routine of going to class but in all other aspects there’s little to no change. I was a person in this category, so that’s why this advice may not fit all people who read this post. Don’t be afraid of emailing your profs. If you’re confused about a topic, reach out to them and plan a time. Our profs were flexible in terms of holding virtual office hours, replying to emails or sending out FAQs from previous years about concepts. Just because you can’t see your profs’ enthusiasm about the topic, doesn’t mean it’s not there. They want you to understand their course. Your future's in your hands. When you’re on campus, you’re surrounded by your peers to an extent that may impact how you behave: from attending classes, to participating in class discussions. When school is online, your peers may not know if you’re even awake! Sleep schedules have changed, 5 am became the new midnight. You can succumb to newfound “freedom” or get distracted by all other things that you wanted to do but school got into the way, or you can manage your time. The latter sounds mundane, but reinforce why you’re in the program that you’re in. COVID is temporary but GPA is forever. If you have trouble focusing on your work, talk to your friends to ask them how they’re coping with the change. Technology has us more connected than ever before. Group calls that turn into review or rants, your choice but I find a support system is key in order to succeed or stay sane to say the least. By: Karen Randhawa As many of you begin your law school journey online, you may wonder how your classes and semester will pan out. I can’t claim that I know everything about online schooling because it truly is uncharted territory for all us. Having completed half of my Winter semester online, here is my take on succeeding your first semester of law school online:
By Lucinda Chitapain I don’t mean to incite Karen’s hatred for the word “unprecedented” but for those of you starting law school in the fall, this is truly an *unprecedented* time for you to start this new journey. While law school is more conducive to the online format than other programs, it is still difficult to get the full law school experience online. While it’s easy to fall into a pool of despair about online law school, here are some tips that might help you make the most out of it.
By Veena Ganesarasa The following post is an anonymous contribution from a friend who wrote the LSAT during COVID-19.
If you thought writing the LSAT was hard enough, imagine trying to coordinate to write it in the middle of a global pandemic. That brings us to the LSAT-Flex, the Law School Admissions Council’s (“LSAC”) version of the test to write at the ‘comfort’ of your home with a live proctor watching you through your computer webcam. The pandemic meant a few things for the LSAC: (1) in no way could there be any in-person writing of the exams due to lockdowns in most, if not all, countries that the LSAT is administered in, and (2) the LSAC had to decide whether to cancel the LSAT writing for each month the pandemic continues, or administer the test remotely to each person. Hence, the LSAT - Flex was formed as their solution. Structure: the LSAT - Flex was not like your typical LSAT. The exam became 3 sections instead of 5 sections - they removed the experimental section and removed one Logical Reasoning section. This meant that the exam had one section each of Logical Reasoning, Analytical Reasoning (‘Logic Games’) and Reading Comprehension. To maintain the integrity of the exam, no bathroom breaks were permitted during the exam. Administering the LSAT: The LSAC had to hire a third party administrator, ProctorU, to administer the test. ProctorU has been used for many years by institutions trying to administer tests/examinations virtually - but many steps had to be taken by each test taker before Test Day with ProctorU. For one, everyone had to sign up for a time in the day to write the LSAT (not everyone wrote at the same time). On test day, your entire desk had to be clear except for your pencils, erasers, and 5 pieces of blank paper. There would be someone watching you through your computer webcam, watching every move to see if there is any cheating happening behind the scenes. Before the exam began, you had to show the proctor your entire room, show underneath your desk and use another vanity mirror to show that there were no sticky notes on your laptop screen. Furthermore, they download a software on your laptop that grants them complete control of your laptop and can watch where your mouse is moving on the screen throughout the test. Final Thoughts: A shorter exam with fewer sections that I also could write in the comfort of my own home? I thought this exam was a no-brainer, of course I wanted to write this. But be warned - your strategy has to change a bit. For one, now your Analytical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension sections are weighted more (33% now compared to 25% of your LSAT score on a normal test). Some test takers were furious by the change, as for them, Logical Reasoning was their best section and was not being weighted as much this time to their score. Others were upset because they tended to perform better in an exam setting outside their home. For those reading this that have more than one year for law school, consider which one you might perform better in. For those applying in November, your best bet is to prepare for both types of LSATs - amidst the uncertainty of this pandemic, the LSAT-Flex could continue to be administered for some time. |
Legally BrownThree Osgoode Hall Law students sharing their lived experiences and providing *unsolicited* advice. Archives
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