The Definitive Guide to 1L

Paloma van Groll

Gunners in Class

“All of this has happened before… but it doesn’t have to happen again”

Breaking the Cycle

1L is always a stressful year, but it doesn’t have to be. Typically it goes something like this: a new cohort arrives and everyone is excited and a little terrified. Some of your classmates have won prestigious scholarships and some went to better schools than you did. And everyone seems so smart and on top of things. You don’t want to be the ‘dumb one’.

So everyone starts the year off intensely— reading their cases closely, taking detailed notes, joining at least one journal. Once in a while the school puts on an academic seminar that manages to stress everyone out. Everyone stays on top of their readings for a while. Then small-group assignments set you back. Then you have to do all those citation checks for that journal you signed up for. Then you get a cold. Then people panic about December exams because firms look at those grades for 1L jobs.

When second semester comes around and there are a lot more readings, no one even pretends to do them all. A few people get 1L jobs, but the vast majority don’t. Everyone does their best to get through the term, but more people rely on shared notes, old summaries, etc. Blink and it’s April exams. Blink again and you’re done 1L.

When you return as a 2L, you’ll look at the incoming 1Ls and see your own anxieties in them. You’ll tell them not to freak out, but they won’t believe you—and who’s to blame them? It’s hard not to freak out when everyone else is.

So this is why we made the Definitive Guide to 1L. It’s an attempt to tell you how your year will play out, and to explain the important, yet surprisingly limited, role grades will play. It was also a way for me to work a gratuitous BSG quote into a UV article.

Key Fact # 1: Grades are a means to an end! They are not measures of your self-worth, and no, that’s not just something that people with poor grades tell themselves to feel better. If you really want to work on Bay St, average grades will get you OCI interviews. If you want to clerk for the Supreme Court, you’ll need to be at the upper end of your year. If you’re not sure what you want to do, try your best and then see what options are open!

Key Fact # 2: Law firms want you to be socially presentable to clients. Grades will help you get interviews, but after that it’s up to your interview skills. If you really want to work on Bay St, you’re better off with average grades and good small-talk skills than you are with all HHs.

Key Fact #3: Nobody fails. Seriously. Ask around. The worst you’ll get is a few LP’s (and even people with LPs go on to work at great firms!)

Key Fact #4: No one cares what extracurricular activities you did, they want to hear that you engaged in activities you liked and maybe learned something from the experience. You checked some citations for law review? Sounds exciting. No firm will be impressed by that. The point here isn’t that journals are bad, it’s that you should only do extracurriculars you might actually enjoy.

Studying

A big part of law school (for some…er…most). Studying methods are incredibly personal and if you know what works for you, you should stick with it. That means if you know someone is spending 14 hours a day in the library, don’t feel bad— they may just need more time than you, you, the smart person who can just read a case from the 1800s once and easily boil it down into a 1-line ratio. Man, you’re smart. Anyway, two things to keep in mind are that the faculty offers academic support that is free and confidential, and that the SLS organizes student study groups, where students are matched with others of similar studying styles to bounce ideas off each other and talk over practice exams together. If you don’t form your own groups, consider taking part in these.

The reality of grading is that most people end up with a mix of Passes (P) and Honours (H). That will get you lots of job interviews. You should think backwards from what doors you want to keep open. If you want to clerk at the SCC you will probably need very high marks. Getting interviews for New York law firms will also require decent marks, but not as high as clerking.

How much independent work you need to do will also really depend on your professor – some profs kind of ramble around during lecture but expect you to read and know every case any- way, so in that case you have to do more independent work. Other profs make amazing slides that summarize what they think is important about the case, which will be better than any summary you could make yourself. I don’t want to say December exams are a rude awakening, but they are certainly the most effective way to discover if what you’re doing is working or not. Even in just studying for December will you realize what’s important and what’s not. And we can’t over emphasize enough how important it is to do practice exams. Also feel free to reach out to upper year students if you have any questions at all. I think it’s fair to say that upper year law students are the most keen-to-impart-advice people I’ve ever met.

The most work

  • Do all readings using the highlighter method
  • Go to all classes and take detailed notes
  • Make notes/summaries of all readings and including your class notes,
  • Make maps from those summaries, etc etc,
  • Do practice exams that are online
  • Go rooting around in the basement of the library and do every single practice exam
  • Hash over the exams in study groups

Less work

  • Do readings
  • Go to class
  • Use upper year summaries for studying, using what your prof focuses on in class as a guide
  • Do practice exams on your own, then take them up with a study group

Even less work

  • Do no readings yourself, but
  • Read upper year summaries
  • Show up to class to see what the prof focuses on
  • Do practice exams

No work

  • Don’t read
  • Don’t go to class
  • …Fail law school (unless you’re a genius, in which case, why are you wasting your time and money with law school)

Do’s & Don’ts

Do’s

  • Use the first term to find a study-method that works for you. Some people focus on the readings, others focus on class. Some people study in groups, others solo. December exams don’t count, so see what works.
  • Go to at least a few pub nights. 1Ls start the year trying to seem professional, but that disappears by around the Halloween Party.
  • Pursue a couple extracurriculars that look interesting and fun. Could be DLS, could be Law Follies, could be anything. Try it because you want to, not because you think you should.
  • Practice exams. Write them on your own (to test your map), and then meet up with friends to compare answers. Your friends will have spotted issues you missed, and you’ll remember those during the exam. Writing the exam independently first ensures that you’ll actually get something done.
  • After December exams, go over your answers with your professors during office hours. They will likely have some helpful tips for April.

Don’ts

  • Treat class time like office hours. It’s fine to ask a couple questions, but if your hand is always up, you might be getting on people’s nerves.
  • Over-analyze your cases. A 20 page case might boil down to one rule. Know the facts, so you can recognize similar facts on exams, and focus on how the cases fit together.
  • Worry about doing ALL the readings.
  • Overcommit. You can do still Law Review and/or DLS for credit in upper years (even if you didn’t do them during 1L)
  • Join a journal because everyone else is doing it. Do it because it looks interesting.
  • Worry about 1L hiring. Participate if you’re interested, but don’t stress about it. There are so many good ways to spend your 1L summer (from traveling to RA’ing to Netflix)
  • Date someone from your small group. Just don’t.

Timeline

Basic outline of what the next year of your life is going to look like:

  • O – week
  • First two weeks of school there will be a meeting about different extracurriculars at every single lunch inducing you to believe that you have to do a million extracurriculars
  • The weird vibe of the first couple months
  • Thanksgiving
  • Halloween Party – people put effort into their costumes. its fun. Examples of previous creative costumes? Last year: a brick house, ‘Your Greatest Fear’ live chalkboard, OCIs
  • Applying to IHRP – start researching/contacting organizations
  • Reading week (used to be Ethics week! 1Ls are LUCKY this year)
  • December exams
  • January – applying to jobs (Firms and IHRP things)
  • Follies
  • Reading week
    • Interviews for 1L jobs
    • Last year = admin paper
  • Law ball
  • April Exams
  • FREEDOM

Extracurriculars

There are so many options for extracurriculars at the law school. Some people choose to do none, while others seem to be doing everything. We suggest picking somewhere between 0 and 3 extracurriculars that you really want to do. It’s way better to do a really good job in one or two things, than do a mediocre job in five things. Also realize that you have two more years to try out different clinics and participate in journals (etc), you don’t have to do everything in 1L.

Here is a rough outline of some of the kinds of things that you might want to get involved with this year. It’s impossible to be exhaustive about the opportunities that are out there—this is just a brief overview. There are a lot of one-off experiences that you might want to look into, like the ADR competition in October, or the mini Mooting competition in March. Certain professors also hire Teaching Assistants, which is a great way to get to know a prof. Whatever you do, make sure you’re doing it because you’re really interested, otherwise, honestly, it’s a waste of time. And trust us, we know how little time you 1Ls have to waste.

Journals

Options: JILIR, Law Review, Law and Equality, Indigenous Law Journal

The work: One part of your job is reading around four to five of 30-90 page papers, making comments on the strength of the paper’s idea, writing, and research (this is called “carriage”), and then discussing them in a group. Then, when a paper is chosen to be published, you will be assigned a handful of citations and have to make sure they are correctly formatted.

Why do it?: People sometimes think that law review looks good if applying to New York firms, as Law Review is a huge deal down there, but most interviewers are Canadian and know its a joke here. However, there have been cases of New York interviewers grilling students about their experience on law review; it’s rare, but it has happened. This is even more true for Toronto firms – they will most likely not be asking you about your 1L law review experience. But, to quote an overalls-wearing, bucket-peeing, Clinton-bashing Canadian pop star, “never say never.” Also, it’s great if you want to practice doing McGill Citations. It’s super great for that.

If you’re not sure about joining a journal this year, you will still be able to apply to be a senior editor without ever having done it in 1L. However, upper years on journals do really appreciate the work that the 1Ls do, and the more 1Ls that sign up for a journal, the less amount of work it is for you overall as it gets spread around to more people.

Clinics

Options: Artists Legal Advice Service (ALAS), Downtown Legal Services (DLS), Advocates for Injured Workers (AIW), David Asper Centre, Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC)

The work: Is extremely varied depending on which clinic you are working at. But generally speaking, clinics are geared to give you more practical legal experience – instead of doing legal research and writing for lofty academic purpose during law school, it will be for a very real and specific purpose. Sometimes even for a real live client.

Why do it? Often the most sought-after positions, clinics are attractive to law students because they get to develop actual legal skills that they will hopefully use and build upon on their careers. It also can be great for in interviews, as a way to demonstrate skills in legal research, writing and advocacy. Don’t worry if you don’t get accepted to a clinic in 1L, there are plenty of opportunities to do them in upper years, including doing them full- or part-time for credit.

Since the work is so variable, we asked current 2Ls to explain their 1L clinic experiences last year:

  • Artist Legal Advice Service  – “At ALAS you spend part of your shift booking appointments for future shifts, and the rest of the time you get to listen to a lawyer give artists legal advice, which is actually really cool. A lot of the lawyers care that this is a learning experience for the students. They look to you to make sure you understand the advice that is being given. You only have to do two shifts each semester, so it’s a really doable time commitment” – Alanna Tevel
  • AIW – “I was given two clients, and was effectively their lawyer for the year. These are people who had some kind of workplace injury and are seeking remuneration for their loss. There is one training session and then you’re given the file and told to ‘go,’ which can be great as you learn as you go along, but of course is challenging. The supervising lawyers are incredibly supportive and have to sign off on every single document you write, so you don’t have to worry about making any irreversible errors for your clients. It’s 3 hours a week, sometimes more if there is a hearing or something big coming up.” – Paloma van Groll
  • David Asper  “The Asper Centre’s Privacy Working group last year was a great way to develop the substantive legal skills we learned in Research and Writing Class. I even got the chance to do some work in French because some of the lower court precedents from Quebec were not translated. Writing the final memo was my first experience working with a large team to tackle a major legal issue, which was great practice for the collaborative work environment you will get in a firm. The workload was very manageable (15 hours per semester), and the deadlines were projected well enough in advance that I was able to fit it all in despite being involved in a number of other extracurriculars.”- Leah Sheriff
  • DLS – “Your once a week 1hr-long phone intake shifts are a great way to wet your feet dealing with clients. Once second term rolls around, you are able to take on a client, either by yourself or with a partner. It’s really exciting to work on your own file, which makes the added workload to an already loaded 1L schedule worth it. You research the case law and pertinent statutes and guidelines, and then make a recommendation to one of the supervising lawyers. I had the opportunity to go to a tribunal last year and that was an eye-opening experience. It’s amazing to see the amount of people, every day, struggling with legal issues and many do not have the resources to give themselves a fair representation. It makes you realize the huge impact the legal system has on everyone. The bottom line: through DLS you get to see the law in action and give legal advice without even finishing one year of law school.” – Marita Zouravlioff
  • PBSC is more of an umbrella organization that serves as an organizer for lots of different types of clinics and projects. Here are some examples of projects that 1Ls last year did:
    • Barbra Schlifer Clinic: “I applied through PBSC at the beginning of 1L. I was involved with the clinic’s Family Court Support Program, which allowed me to spend 4-8 hours per week at Toronto family courts. I was typically in consultation rooms assisting a family court support worker while conducting intake interviews or holding appointments with female victims of domestic violence. The services we offered included advocating for clients with Legal Aid Ontario, connecting clients to the appropriate counseling services, and assisting clients with paperwork and next steps in the family law process. My placement offered tons of experience in a client-facing role and I found it to be incredibly meaningful work.” – Sam Greer
    • “I worked for Justice for Children. My project involved blogging about situations and legal consequences regarding issues prevalent in the lives of children and youth. I led monthly meetings with the public legal education team to facilitate projects that educate youth on their legal rights. The time commitment was once a week for about 3 hours, but I could sometimes do the work from home which was great.” – Lauren Grossman
    • “The PBSC McCarthy Tetrault Internship is a great opportunity to work with a large full service firm on Bay Street. Each student is assigned one or two projects per semester depending on the pro bono work McCarthys is involved with and the topics of the projects can range from immigration to bankruptcy. Time commitment for the projects is approximately 3 hours a week. Students also get the opportunity to attend Continuing Legal Education luncheon sessions at McCarthys with their articling students and other firm events where students can meet and talk to lawyers. I worked on three projects last year. I wrote two research memos for immigration cases and researched bankruptcy case law for a lawyer.” – Andrew Chan

Clubs

Clubs are great if you have a specific interest that you want to maintain, or explore, while in law school. Since clubs tend to organize events and speaker panels, they’re a great way to meet actual lawyers and people who are practicing in a field that is interesting to you.

  • Business Law Society: “The Business Law Society is your portal from law school to the world of corporate and commercial legal practice. Events held throughout the year provide students with meaningful interaction with the legal profession, including firm tours, business law workshops, and discussion panels. Last year, BLS was proud to host its first-ever contract drafting competition, which allowed students to get hands-on experience and build a foundational understanding of what transactional lawyers do.” – Scott Ma
  • Women in the Law – “In my first year, Women & the Law presented opportunities to network with practicing women lawyers at varying stages of call, hear from academics and practitioners on issues that I am likely to face as a woman in the profession, and most importantly, get to know the women in my year and upper years in a warm, open environment. This year, the exec hopes to grow this community through social events like a pre-pub night hangout, career advancement programming such as speed mentoring and tours at firms, and diverse panels discussing issues affecting women in the law.”
    –Elizabeth Kagedan
  • UV – Shameless UV plug alert: writing and editing for this extremely prestigious and serious newspaper is a ton of fun, and it is great for keeping you up-to-date with the goings-on at the law school. It’s also good for keeping your concise writing skills sharp while you spend the rest of your time briefing cases in 1L. If you’re don’t want to be an editor, consider submitting articles at any time! We’ll be publishing the article ideas we’d like to see written in each issue, but you can also pitch ideas to us.
  • Law games – I asked a two-time Law Game-er, how would you describe Law Games in 100 words or less? She replied “The best thing ever. Is four words enough?” Every year, law schools across Canada send their best and brightest (or at least their best at drinking and brightest at sporting) to a different location around the country (this year it’s MONTREAL so get excited!), to play sports during the day and party at night as a competition. It happens the weekend before second semester starts so you literally have not a reading in the world, so no excuses. It’s also a great way, as a 1L, to meet upper year students who probably have the same values as you (ie they like to have fun, just like you!).
  • Law Follies
    • The annual law school sketch comedy show is one of the highlights of the year.  Law students get together to write sketches, musical numbers, and make promotional videos.  It’s a great way to meet like-minded people in the upper years, and it never feels like work.  Some people have a background in comedy or acting, others are just getting involved for the first time. It’s an amazing mix of students coming together to make fun of how bizarre the legal world can be.
    • The Work: As much or as little as you’d like.  You can write, act, direct, edit, or offer tech support.  Most of the rehearsals happen during lunch hours in January, then the show is one night in February before reading week.  If you’re interested, or even just curious, contact Jules Monteyne (3L).

Intramurals

There is really no explanation needed for intramurals. Pick a sport, join the team, and relish the chance to play sports and blow off a little steam after class. Chances are you’ll become friends with people you might otherwise not have known, and maybe even win a sweet free t-shirt if your team comes up on top.

SLS

As this is printed, 1L SLS elections will already have taken place. However, we had one of last year’s 1L SLS rep’s recount his experience anyway, maybe to let the 1L reps, now elected, know what they’re in for:

“I had an amazing time as a 1L SLS representative on the Student Affairs and Governance side last year! It was a good way to meet and help represent different student groups throughout the year, as well as become more involved in the student community at U of T Law. During the year, I sat on the Financial Aid & Tuition as well as Library & Technology committees where student representatives were able to have a significant influence on a near-daily basis. Being on the SLS is definitely a major time commitment for students in 1L – but it is worth it given the influence you can have on decisions at the school and the great people you get to work with on a daily basis!”  – Aaron Hunt (2L)

1L Summer

Possible things to do after 1L summer, and when to start thinking about it. The examples from students here are not exhaustive, just illustrations of possibilities.

1L firm jobs

There is a 1L recruitment process which you will be made aware of in January. You will apply online and then interviews are during reading week. Benefits to applying now and getting a job for the summer is you don’t have to worry about OCIs in the fall. The drawback is that only a handful of firms do 1L recruiting, so you don’t get as much exposure to the firms and might get stuck working at a firm when perhaps your OTF is still out there (One True Firm).

“I spent my summer trying to apply the obscure 18th century British law that I picked up in 1L to today’s corporate law environment. While I did not get to argue human rights cases overseas or hang out in Europe like my pals, I did get to see the ups and downs of working in Big Law. The result? I absolutely loved it (and am now the least interesting hipster in the West end).  I was included in some big acquisitions, got in on client negotiations and tried my hand at drafting. Our student crew also became super close through some legendary social events. For those applying in 1L, do not be afraid to reach out early to 2Ls who went through the 1L hiring process – we want to help you succeed.” – Elliot Pobjoy ( 2L and hipster wannabe)

IHRP and similar internships

IHRP internships allow you to essentially pick any organization you want – in the world – as long as it is somewhat legal and human rights related, and the IHRP will fund your expenses for the duration of the summer. The downside is you won’t likely leave the summer with any savings. For an IHRP internship, you can only get funding if you are receiving financial aid, whereas other funding pots of money such as the Donner you can receive with or without it. However, you can still do an IHRP internship or be set up with an organization through the IHRP (they have amazing contacts!) without receiving the bursary.

One thing to keep in mind is that you should really start thinking about this in the fall. These are bunch of information meetings run by the IHRP that help you keep on track. Competitive internships at places like the UN and ICC have earlier application deadlines than other smaller NGOs.

Here are two examples of internships from this past summer:

“I completed a fifteen week IHRP-funded internship at the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, Netherlands. I worked in the Immediate Office of the Prosecutor, acting as a legal assistant to the Madam Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda. Typical assignments included: drafting official correspondence, drafting executive directions to the trial and investigation teams and participating in executive meetings. These strategic meetings were fascinating; I was in a position to witness high-level discussions on the issues of the day including overseas investigations, trial strategy, witness handling, legal argumentation and international relations. One of my most memorable tasks was to write a speech for the Madam Prosecutor. The other half of my time, I spent with Senior Appeals Counsel drafting legal research memos. This research was eventually incorporating into actual filings in the Gbagbo (Côte d’Ivoire), Gaddafi & Al-Senussi (Libya) and Ngudjolo (Democratic Republic of the Congo) cases which involve alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity, or both. I also got to attend many interesting hearings and guest lectures.” – Drew Beesley (2L)

“I had the incredible opportunity to participate in an IHRP internship at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Sri Lanka. While I was there I worked on submissions for major human rights cases which I later saw argued before the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and I co-wrote a policy brief criticizing the Government’s illegal land acquisition practices. I also had the chance to conduct comparative international law research and engage in work with many of the human rights issues currently facing the population there including the disintegration of the rule of law, the lack of freedom of press, and the mounting religious and ethnic tensions.”- Dharsha Jegatheeswaran (2L)

Clinics

A lot of the clinics that run programs for U of T students during the year also hire students for the summer. The applications tend to begin in January on utlawcareers.ca, but you will receive emails reminding you closer to the date. Here are two examples of students who spent their summer at a clinic:

AIW: “In the summer, AIW hires eight U of T students from those that volunteered there in the year. Caseworkers take on approximately 15 client files (in comparison with three files during the school year) that they manage throughout the summer. The work involves communicating with clients, drafting written submissions, and leading oral hearings in front of adjudicators. It’s a great place to improve your legal writing as the lawyers are sticklers for perfect written submissions (typography included). Plus, as a bonus, students get three weeks paid vacation!” – Eryn Fanjoy (2L)

DLS:“This summer, I, along with 15 other U of T law students worked at DLS. I worked in the family law division, providing legal services to clients on issues of child custody, access, and support. I received training in the substantive and procedural areas of family law, and worked closely with review counsel and peers, managing client files. My work included all aspects of practice: from client meetings, to research, to negotiating with opposing counsel, drafting court materials, attending case conferences, and making submissions before a judge. My peers and I also had weekly shifts on the intake line, and conducted satellite clinics at community partners. I loved working at DLS because it acquainted me with the immense need of underprivileged populations in Toronto for legal services, and connected me with a community of people passionate about working in the public interest.” – Ilana Arje (2L)

Become a Research Assistant for a professor

To become an RA, apply through utlawcareers in late February/early March. Some professors will also just email the student body directly, soliciting work. Again, this is a great way to get to know a professor, and sometimes you can continue work for that professor into the next year.

“My experience working as a Research Assistant this past summer was interesting and fulfilling. My research focused on public international law and I assisted specifically with matters concerning the governance of cyberspace, the use of force and international environmental law. I helped Professor Brunnee revise a textbook chapter, format a paper for publication, and prepare a talk at a conference. Moreover, I had a flexible schedule that allowed me to comfortably work on OCI applications, and travel overseas. I would highly recommend working as an RA.” – Ryan Tinney (2L)

Traveling and fun!

If you feel burnt out after your first year of law school, do not despair. It’s normal. Summer of 1L is a great time to explore Toronto or travel, and even go to the gym! Just make sure that whatever you do, you’re doing something. Whether its travel, volunteering, going back to your old non-law related job, or some other great fourth thing that we aren’t creative enough to think about! You just don’t want to have nothing to say when potential employers ask you what you did with your 1L summer.

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