Good Advice @ Texas Tech: An Advising Blog

Students:

Recently the Provost approved an interdisciplinary minor in legal studies! Since that time we’ve been working to set up some tools and resources to help you evaluate and declare, if you determine this is a good choice for your academic plan. Today we are pleased to (Tech)announce that everything is finally ready … just in time for your spring course selection and registration!

The tools we’ve developed can be used as follows:

1. You can read about it for yourself in the updated version of the online University Catalog … visit http://j.mp/ttulegalstudies.
2. Though it is unofficial, you can use the “Degree Audit (CAPP)” in Raiderlink to run a “What-If” Analysis.
   1. Find the “Degree Audit (CAPP)” link on the “MyTech” tab in Raiderlink.
   2. Choose “What-If Analysis.”
   3. Find your declared or intended academic Major in the drop-down list.
   4. Click “Add More” and choose your Major Concentration (if applicable).
   5. Then click “Add More” and scroll down in the list of available Minors to select “Legal Studies.”
   6. When you “Submit” these selections, you will be presented with three report formats. We recommend that you use the “Detailed Information” report format, but feel free to explore the others.
3. If you would like to schedule an appointment to review this with an Academic Advisor, visit http://j.mp/ttulegalstudiesadvising.

When you are ready to declare the minor, just visit us in 79 Holden Hall and ask for the minor declaration form. If an advisor for the legal studies minor is available, then we can visit at that time, or you can schedule an appointment with our Triage Advisor at the front desk. You can also take the form and use it to evaluate and select the 21 credit hours that best-fit your academic interests and goals. Your primary academic advisor will review the course selections in your larger degree plan, and then you’ll bring the signed form back to 79 Holden Hall. The Legal Studies advisor will validate all signatures, provide electronic copies to all offices for documentation, and forward the matter for processing in MyTech (so you’ll be official).

Additional Resources: Please let us know if you have any questions, suggestions, or challenges along the way! The easiest ways are to send an email to prelaw@ttu.edu, or to schedule an appointment (call 806-742-2189 or use our online scheduler at http://j.mp/ttulegalstudiesadvising).

We are very excited about this new academic offering. Please note that a minor in legal studies has course options which can begin as early as your first college semester!

Regards,
The TTU Prelaw Program Team
www.prelaw.ttu.edu | prelaw@ttu.edu
806-742-2189

Let’s be real. Getting into law school is a journey that requires hard work and dedication, but you do not have to be the most intelligent student in class. Should you attend class? Yes. Should you study often? Yes. Do you have to make a 4.0? No. While maintaining stellar academic achievement can only benefit you in the long run and make the application process for law school easier, you must not overlook the importance of building a personal network. The saying “It’s not what you know, It’s who you know” holds much value in the legal profession. Just think about. You are in the year 2015. You have gotten into law school, graduated, and passed the bar – just like most of your peers. You have earned the right to attach the initials J.D. at the end of your name. Congratulations! Now what? Exactly! This is a good time to use your personal network you created to open the door for opportunities. You call an attorney in the Dallas area, whom you interned for over the summer before your senior year began. BOOM! You landed a job. Again, Congratulations! You might not have had the best grades in law school, but you sure appear more intelligent than the straight- A guy and gal you sat in between who have yet to find a job.

It is not always as easy as I have made it sound though. What if that attorney did not have a position to allow you to become a junior partner? Then what? This would be a good time to make other phone calls, fills out more applications, and hope for the best. Now I hope you are beginning to see the importance of building professional relationships – your network. Alright. We know networks are important, but how do you start the process of building these relationships? That is where many students tend to run into trouble, so do not feel like you are the only one. I will leave you with some helpful hints. Some may work for you and others may not. That is why it is called a process; one which you should begin immediately.

Helpful Hints:

1. Have an open mind! Not everyone is exactly like you. Your small group of friends can only get you so far. Talk to people in class (not while the professor is speaking though). Join in study groups.
2. Become involved in and around campus. Be careful not to spread yourself too thin, however. Join the organizations you love, and give yourself the potential to hold leadership positions.
3. Apply for an internship at a law office, or two, or three. You can even apply for internships or jobs with local officials. (Representatives, Judges, etc.)
4. Always be friendly. You never know who you might cross paths with today!
5. Remember names. You might meet someone who can help you achieve a goal. Remembering his or her name and job title will direct you to the right section of the phone book when the time comes.

So, you are interested in Law School and want more information, but you do not know where to find it? There is an easy answer to your problem. The Texas Tech Pre Law Program offers a workshop series. The workshops offer ample amount of information as well as opportunities for you to have all your questions about law school answered.  We invite guest speakers from the Texas Tech Law School to present some of the workshops, so you will be getting information directly from the source.
By attending these workshops you will be obtaining all the information you need to have a successful Law School application process. The workshops will help you stay on the right track and not get behind on your path towards applying for law school.  The series includes workshops on Getting Started, LSAT Prep, Financing Law School, Personal Statement, and Admissions Process. The series also includes multiple Mock LSATs that are held on Saturdays. Remember that by starting early on obtaining information, your application process will run much smoother than trying to do everything at the eleventh hour.

I admit that I’m a “Law & Order” junkie. Nothing beats Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy standing in the middle of a packed courtroom with the defendant sitting in the witness box. It is only a matter of time before McCoy’s questions finally frustrate the defendant enough to where he stands up in the jury box and admits that he killed his wife. The courtroom gasps, the judge bangs her gavel, and McCoy raises his eyebrows in his patented “bewildered look.”

If only a trial were that easy.

The fact is that trials are nothing like the ones portrayed in “Law & Order.” Lawyers do not dramatically stand in the middle of a courtroom, defendants do not suddenly feel guilty on the witness stand, the courtroom is hardly ever packed, and nobody is there to keep your hair perfect and your suits expensive. All too often, students get caught up in the dramatic portrayal on TV and think to themselves, “I really want to do that.” I know several people who have declared themselves as Prelaw because of “Law & Order” and Pre-Med because of “E.R.” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” I can only shake my head and wait until they begin to take junior level Chemistry and realize that a career in medicine is not for them.

Now, you are probably wondering, “Well, jeez, what is this guy getting at?” Well, here is my message my skeptical friend. Intern. Volunteer. Find something that will give you an accurate idea of the profession that you want to go into, and do your future job without pay. Do this early in your college career. Do it during the summer or just five hours out of the week during school. You may think that having a paying job will be more beneficial, but saving money on classes and having that extra notch on the résumé will be well worth it.

I had to go through this experience personally. The summer before my senior year of High School, I attempted to get a minimum wage job. However, my parents pressured me to find an internship in Tarrant County Courthouse. My jaded mind thought I would see Jack McCoy standing in the courtroom in all his glory, but that was not to be. For the first couple of days, I thought to myself, “There is no way I want to do this stuff for a living.” However, things changed. I began to understand the routines of the courtroom. I learned the tricks and games involved with a trial. I learned the importance of communication. And I learned that I loved law. Without that internship, I would have never given law a second chance once the Jack McCoy image was shattered. I cannot thank my parents enough for making me stick with the internship because I learned what my true passions were. I urge all of you to at least intern somewhere so you can find a profession that makes you truly happy.

Essays. Compositions. Papers. The idea of any of these imminent assignments strikes fear into every college student’s heart. The prospect of sitting down and working on them is a hard pill to swallow. The process is painful, and once it is over, you hope to never to see that monstrosity ever again. However, there is a trick to completing these assignments with minimal head trauma. A trick that attorneys have been using for ages, and one that is truly necessary for law.

Find your voice. And no, not the noise that protrudes from your vocal chords. It’s your writing style which varies from person to person. As one of my professors proclaimed the other day, “Each person’s writing style is as unique as a fingerprint.” That’s true. I know personally I write a lot in the “argumentative format.” Maybe it’s because I had to quickly and thoroughly convince my mom that my brother started the fight (which HE DID! I promise!), or possibly because I had to continuously convince my friends to not do stupid things in high school. Nonetheless, I write like I am always trying to convince my professor that there was a UFO in Stephenville as if my life depended on it.

How do you find your voice? It’s like everything else with life, it comes from practice. In high school, I wrote papers that were fundamentally sound. They had great evidence and were organized correctly, but they were dead. They were absolutely boring. On the urging of one of my teachers, I joined a UIL Writing Team because although I was boring, I still made some sense. After minimal success, I sat down with my teacher and began to analyze what was wrong with my papers. She read over my paper and told me to talk through my paper. I began to, and she stopped me half-way through and told me, “Everything you have said makes sense, but your paper does not reflect how you speak at all.” Soon afterwards, I had to write a 1200 word paper every other week within a two-hour time span. It took some effort, but I eventually learned to write like I spoke. Once I was able to accomplish this feat, I applied this to everything I wrote. Now out of habit, I write AIM, text messages, and Facebook messages in sentence format with some SAT words thrown in. I might be the biggest nerd you ever see on Facebook, but it provides me an opportunity to practice without making it tedious.

You might not want to write unless you get something in return, that is why I am an advocate of taking Intro to Non-Fiction and Technical Writing. Intro to Non-Fiction makes the student think about how to logically argue an opinion clearly and effectively. Technical Writing makes a student express the information he or she is trying to convey concisely and quickly in an understandable format. These classes might be thought of as constrictive by some people, but they help to evolve your voice into formats that will be extremely useful later in your career. Your individual voice is far from lost, it has taken an enormous step towards professionalism.

Find your voice, and all writing assignments will come easy. Maybe you can convince your peers that there was a UFO in Stephenville.