The Most Important Study Hack I Learned in Law School

One fact that a law student could never get away with in law school -- running out of time.  It is particularly so when you need to cram for an upcoming exam, time is on fastforward mode so how do you make the most out of it will make or break your chances of graduating.

I wasn't an honor student all throughout my years in law school except during my 'trying to impress the SO phase' in freshman year, so you better take these tips with a grain of salt.

Here is what I did;

I prioritized the law codals because you need to have a basic grasp of the laws and this allows you to zero in on the real issue in the exams questions. Now, I am not for memorization, it rarely works for me but I admit it helped at some point. I remember way back in first year, I was forced to memorize in verbatim the provisions in the Revised Penal Code. To this day, most of the provisions still stuck in my head (thank you Judge P.).

When I still had extra time, then I get to read my text book twice.  I would often read it once or twice before so during exams week, reading it once, or a second time (again) will be a lot easier.  Some people love to use highlighters, but whenever pressed for time, highlighting slows my reading pace. Later on, I ditched my highlighters.

IF I still had extra time left, I browsed my outline or digests. Great, still have time left? I would go over concepts and if I had written an outline, that would be great (I didn't, taking down notes is just such a pain for me)  that you are still not clear about. Then would  review the whole subject in my head just so you know, make a mental map of how the concepts are connected to the greater picture.


The Blogger is a senior law student (on indefinite leave) from Manila, Philippines, a digital marketer and former beauty pageant finalist.  Aside from this blog, she is passionate about content creation  and writes mostly about beauty, travel, dating and fitness --her articles achieving a total of over 1 million views from her featured hubs in HubPages.com. She also manages a number of social media communities on issues concerning environmental conservation, beauty, travel, and personal development.  On her free time, she dabbles as a judge for beauty pageants and manages a beauty & fitness startup and gobble a lots of cakes..  For collaborations, shoot her an email thru gmmurgirl@gmail.com

Career Paths in the Legal Profession

Golden Lady, Bruges Belgium by Emmanuel Huybrechts
from Laval, Canada  [CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons]

Contemplating on what you can do after graduating from law or after passing the bar exams? Here is a list of possible career options you might wanna look into to further your expertise and get integrated into the legal profession.


Law Firm

For any lawyer worth his salt, most of the people I know who passed the bar or waiting for bar results are already working in a law firms or join private law firms as a junior associate. It is the most common route for new bar passers.  The work is cut out for you as you become part of the legal team of the firm.

It is a career path that requires long hours and lots of room for building your craft as a lawyer.  If you seek this career option, brace yourself but at the end of it - meaning after years of hard work you could look forward to that plum senior partner post.

Corporate lawyer

Many lawyers join the corporate world as part of their in-house legal team and this includes being part of or become the head of the human resource department.  This depends on your background and strong points during or prior to your law studies. If you have a background in labor relations, industrial relations and HR, you might want to join as head of a company's human resource department.

Academician

Some of my friends who are working in private companies also dabble in teaching either at a university or in a law school.  Many find this career path quite rewarding as it allows them to practice their passion for teaching and help mold the minds of the next generation of professionals or lawyers. If you have the heart and the patience to teach, why not?

Your Own Law Firm

If you have friends who are already practicing for a longer time than you, and you are the enterprising among the group, why not ask them to pool resource (money, brains and office space) with you and put up a law firm.

Government

There are many career paths you can follow if you work in the government. Who knows it could bring you to that highest legal post in the land, being a Supreme Court Chief Justice.  With dedication and hard work, going for a government post as lawyer can have it's own rewards and benefits.  You get to serve the Filipino people what is more rewarding than that! Be mindful that working as a lawyer in the government impose restrictions on practicing law.

These are just some of the career options you might want to check out after finishing your law degree. If you can add more information, feel free to post in the comments section below.


This Blogger is a senior law student (on indefinite leave) from Manila, Philippines,  digital marketer and former beauty pageant finalist.  Aside from this blog,  she is passionate about content creation  and writes mostly about beauty, travel, dating and fitness --her articles achieving a total of over 1 million views from her featured hubs in HubPages.com. She also manages a number of social media communities on issues concerning environmental conservation, beauty, travel, and personal development.  On her free time, she dabbles as a judge for beauty pageants and manages a beauty & fitness startup.  For collaborations, shoot her an email thru gmmurgirl@gmail.com

When I Take the Bar Exams I Need a Million

Coz you gotta look good while studying :P

Hola! So, it is bar exams months once again.  Hurray for those taking the bar this year 2016! I salute you guys. As for me, no, I'm not one of the barristers yet.  I just hurdled a beauty pageant, thank you.

Kidding aside, the bar exams is a baptism of hellfire, and I am not ready to take it this year.  I would often tell myself that I would need to have a million in my bank account first before I take the bar. Why?


Seriously, taking the bar is no laughing matter.  It requires preparedness in mind, heart, soul and body altogether.  Anything less will just not do.  For me, I need serious breaks, my goodness what will happen if you breakdown due to too much stress.  I have a high level of stress tolerance mind-wise but my physical state might betray me.

I am talking about falling hair, major skin breakouts,  patchy skin, delayed periods and all kinds of unimaginable physically-damaging horrors that would make me run to the nearest spa in no time! Also, since I will stay in some 3-star hotel for four full weekends,  most probably my bill for room service, massages, spa, etc, will rack up to tens of thou!

In addition, I need to literally live in Starbucks for the 4 months or drink coffee intravenously because that's the best way for my brain to work.   With the toil of cramming those last-minute bar tips, some serious R&R is in order.

A budget for some weekend escapade to a remote paradise beach when the going gets too tough for my fragile brain.  Then I need to have lots of moolahs for a night out or party with the gang after completing the 1 month bar exams. I have to celebrate being alive after 4 weekends of the grueling, life-changing exam of my life, right?

Finally,  think about the following 4 months of waiting for the results. That would take another million to survive I guess.  Now you know why my condition to have at least a million free to spend whenever I please.  When I take the bar,  you can bet I already have a million tucked somewhere. I'm just kidding.

Best of luck to you guys!


This Blogger is a senior law student (on indefinite leave) from Manila, Philippines,  digital marketer and former beauty pageant finalist.  Aside from this blog,  she is passionate about content creation  and writes mostly about beauty, travel, dating and fitness --her articles achieving a total of over 1 million views from her featured hubs in HubPages.com. She also manages a number of social media communities on issues concerning environmental conservation, beauty, travel, and personal development.  On her free time, she dabbles as a judge for beauty pageants and manages a beauty & fitness startup.  For collaborations, shoot her an email thru gmmurgirl@gmail.com

5 Reasons to Ditch the Nightlife When in Law School

Party's over for me

If you are keen on surviving law school but still undecided on what to make of your nightlife, here are a few tips from Laws and Found Blog to make that decision for you less painful. First things first,  I guarantee you an abundance of (over)night kind of life for the next four or five years, and a you get to spend with books!

1.  Find a middle ground
If you cannot give up the 'partying 'til the sun comes up' kind of life, you may opt to reduce the frequency to say once a month or once every two months.  Don't worry dear,  the receptionist at your favorite club, or bar won't forget you despite the absence.  See,  now you will have a different level of nightlife, one spend in complete silence as you pore over them codals, cases and voluminous books.

2.  Seriously,  you will benefit from not spending a night out.  
It's a win-win situation.  Your weekends well be less stress-inducing, you get to have a good night's sleep to prepare you for the arduous week ahead.  I've been there, trust me.  Dancing the night away in clubs is fun while it lasts but after it is quite torture on the feet, on your head and everything else, unless you count dancing as your cardio.

3.  Save a lot of moolahs.  
Sure, fun and happiness are supposed to not cost you your law school education fund but admit it, going out every weekend can put a drain on your pocket.  You have to buy killer dresses.  I have to buy lots of party dresses,  I for the life of me, cannot imagine wearing the same outfit to the same club. For me that was like a big sin,  like committing a felony under the Revised Penal Code.  Then drinks in those clubs are not cheap honey,  unless you look like a supermodel and get free drinks, then you better stick to icedtea or water if you don't want to spend the moolah in those night outs.

4.  Preserve your life or limb.
Spending nights in the parking lot is not the safest way to roll.  Well, it is part partying like a commoner, unless you are Paris Hilton and have a chauffeur to wait on you, there will be nights when staying in the parking lot until it's light will be part of the deal.  You cannot risk violating our law on drunk driving, it is akin to signing your own death certificate.

5.  Save a night, save the day after.
For each night you spend hanging out in a club or drinking in a bar,  you might as well say goodbye to the day after that. You see, when you go out,  most probably you get a hangover and then you need to sleep the day after.  This is precious time you could spend instead in reading.

I haven't been out for almost four months now.  Before this period I used to be in party mode as early as Friday morning.  Now it's like, "Wuhoo it's Friday, almost weekend, bed here I come!"

Don't take me seriously,  law school is serious enough, so whatever you read here, do take it with a grain of salt.  Our subject of study is heavy enough so my posts are half-serious.  If you want to read more about my 'out of this world' kind of experience of being in law school, don't forget to click on the Follow button on the right side of this page.

5 Tips to Survive Summer in Law School

Taking summer classes in law school is no joke.  Indeed for some, there is not much of a choice. Here are few survival tips, culled from my very exciting, first-hand experience way back when I was in the same predicament.

1.   Forget social media.
In general, if you are a law student, you are not supposed to waste time on social media.  I did try (and still try)  to deactivate my FB a few dozen times but notifications from the class and school-related assignments are via FB groups, so ugh.  Just minimize time you spend on social media to at least 5 minutes per day,  not per hour okay?

2.   Forget your significant other (SO).
Just take a leave from your relationship, it will only be for a month by the way.  Your significant other (SO) will not miss you, promise.  I am sure the SO will enjoy this much needed break from you.  No more pleading and negotiating for a date night for over a month, what a relief!

3.  Forget house-school lines.
Repeat to yourself, my school is my house, my house is my school.  Learning to blur the line between school and your home life will save you a great deal of time   A house or home is just a place to take a couple of hours worth of sleep anyways,  why bother going home when you can sleep in your desk in-between classes, right?

4.   Forget holidays and weekends.
Believe me, such concepts do exist in the real world, but in law school? Nah.
Uhm, would you care to remind me again, what is a 'holiday'?  Chances are, you will have classes on all days, holidays included and don't even count on the weekends.  

5.  Forget fun.
Did I forget to mention in my previous posts that the word 'fun' seldom exist in this realm. The word you must acquaint yourself with is 'sacrifice.'  There is nothing more noble than you surviving every single day trying to earn a few more units closer to your dream law degree while you classmates are touring Europe, that's sweet sacrifice for you.

Kidding aside, good luck to law students taking their summer classes this year!

Digesting Cases in My Brain

As a law student we are bound to read countless cases, some interesting, some crazy, and quite some horrifying (criminal cases give me nightmares).  That is an understatement my dears.  During my earlier years in law school I would dread those classes (and professors) who assign 20-30 cases per session.  On a lucky semester,  I get to multiply that number by 3 or 4, that's almost 100 cases each day!

Then I realize that I should not look at case reading as a terrible experience and forcefully convinced myself that it should be a pain I ought to be looking forward to.  Just enjoy it to the fullest in the same way that I enjoy reading my Facebook timeline or as interesting as stalking my party-mates on IG.   From then on,  I started viewing this activity as an opportunity to learn about the 'chismis' of strangers' lives.   You bet this change in perspective made my life a lot easier!

Do the 'full monty' baby

As a rule,   I would read the full text and no, I am not being barbaric to myself.  There is something so fulfilling when you know you are not missing out on some useless details in each case.  Digests would be helpful if I did them in the first place.  I would only look at others digest as a last resort, or in emergency cases.  In fact, I seldom join digest groups because,  I just find it so limiting.  

I think I wrote a post about how to easily find the important points of every case you read.  Despite this,  I do not discount the power of other peoples digests when the full text is super lengthy or when I have a hard time finding the issues.  

How I Do Digests in my brain

Lately,  due to other commitments (like partying and doing my hair and makeup on a daily basis),  I am unable to spend much time doing case digests.  To resolve this,  I discovered an easier way to do it,  doing brain digests! This is how I do it.  Follow at your own risk!

a. Read the case, make a mental note of the important points, facts, issues, rulings.  Then I would go over it if there are some points that I forget or clarify. 

b. On the day itself, I would skim again and just focus on the main points.  

c.  If I still have time,  I guess by the third skimming, the brain is quite familiar with the important points and that's it.  Digest in my brain, no sweat!

Whys

1) I don't have much time

The thing is, digesting or summarizing cases takes time when you have to read then do an outline, and put it in writing or encode it.  For the past year,  I have done my case readings either the day or night before a class.  I do not get the hardcopy, I just make do with the online version because you save on ink and paper by doing so. 

2) I'm not rich enough to have a secretary or PA to gather my notes into an intelligible and organized whole

For one, I am not really good at note taking. I get distracted when I take notes.  I don't even have a proper notebook or note taking system.  Aside from the distraction, even if I get myself some notepad, I would either forget or lose it so what's the point?

Come exam time, somehow my brain retains those bits of digest.  In some weird twist I can recall infos and issues.   It works for me.   Mind you, I am just an average student,  I just find a way to learn things differently by trial and error method.  I guess you just have to find a way that will make it easier for you to survive your case assignments.   This is mine.

Nevertheless,  one of these days, I might get down and gather all these cases in my head to add to the case digest section of this blog for those emergency times, you know.  If you find this post enlightening or worth sharing don't be shy to share it in your social media or just click on the 'Follow' button on my Google+ located in the upper right side of this page, believe me, it would be the best decision you have ever made in your entire day. ;P

I Haven't Blogged Much, Here's Why

Busy but same old cray me #lawsandfoundblog

Hey it's summer in the Philippines!  This is the time of the year when I ought to be spending my days in a hammock by some perfect beach. But WAIT!  I haven't blogged for years, or was it errrr weeks? That can only mean one thing -- that my life has been so exciting that I didn't find time to sit down and write something. Well, let's just leave it at that, ahem.  Let me just update you on some harmless happenings for the past weeks. Oftentimes, I forget I am a blogger.

School!

I have been busy with school, what else is new?


Partying

Moreover, I took the partying part on a higher notch and even went out on some weekdays, so much for being a good law student, eh?  I know, right?  As I always say, life is short baby so let's make each and every moment count.

The rule before is that I have to do school on weekdays then party two nights on weekends.
I am quite sure that this partying phase will soon be over hence, I am still in control and it will never spiral into a long term thing.

Nevertheless, when I party, it has to be over the top.  It came to some point when I even party on a weekday and take this,  the best thing about it? I have an early, like early 8AM major class the day after!  Man,  it is not something for the weak-hearted.  Maybe I was just lucky that I manage to survive my 4 hour class being sleepless, having a hangover and yes, needing to read tons of pages.

When you have an 8am class and
you partied hard the night before

You meet a lot of awesome people when you got out and then some aweful creatures at the same time.  Good news,  I still manage to get good exams results that are way better than when I didn't party, so I am sure I am doing something awesome!  Don't do this my dear fellow law students, what works for me may not work for you, I'm warning you!

Yay, got the top marks!  So much for being a party gal, eh?

Weightlifting

What else?  I have been weightlifting lifting crazy these past weeks to the point where I convince myself that my day would never be complete if I am unable to do so.  I am kinda addicted to it right now.  It is like having a really nice new boyfriend or something. You could not get enough of it.  I am still gunning for my target body and will stick to this sort of routine until I get there.

My favorite rack #dumbells

All by ma self! #gym

Sometimes,  I make lifting a reward of sorts which I would look forward to after finishing a certain number of book chapters. I would read then do some reps. Awesome, right?

Ahh, makeup diva and nail polish stuff!

These days I am also into makeup and nail polish , like I am truly obsessed, literally.  Some days, no - make that everyday, it doesn't matter if I have class or not, if I go out of the house or not, I just have to fix my makeup, my hair first thing in the morning.  Thank you so much makeup for stealing my reading time, I really appreciate this development.

The only drama I can stand is in my lashes #eyemakeup #fleek

But you know what? I realize that since my limited time has now been reduced, then I get to be resourceful in studying so I make use of the little time I have.  For some reasons I feel like

I am sure girls would relate, you know how awful it is when your nail polish chips right?  So some days I get to change my nail color every 2 days or so, so where do I get the time to do this out of my law school reading schedule? Of course I lessen my sleep time, I get by with just 2 - 4 hours of sleep time on most days.

Nail polish 

How I Survive Exams Week

Pre-exam week night out with my best party buddy
(Photo credits: Prive Luxury Club, BGC)

Hey fellas, it is exams week in law school again and the best way I deal with it?  Of course, I party on the pre-week!  Well, you cannot cram half a semester's worth of readings a week before your exams right? Just kidding.

In reality,  the best way to deal with exams is to study and read every single day.  That way, come pre-exams week, all you need to do is just go over your outline, read the law,  visit your digests and voila, you are all set.  So yes, I do party sometimes but I have not been remiss in my reading responsibilities.  Always finish the dirty before partying, of course!

I know this seems easier said than done, especially if you skip a lot of daily readings.  The trick is, you should never, ever skip your daily reading quota.  Even when there are days I don't get to attend some of my classes due to some emergency, I still attempt to read the class coverage for the day.

Being in law school requires a lot of reading but one thing you must remember is that all those time you spent for reading is like depositing to your brain bank. This investment will soon be useful to you come exams time!  Never ever underestimate the product of those daily sacrifices we make in law school.

(Photo credits: Wendell)

So there you go folks. Read, read, read.  It doesn't hurt to party a bit to break the monotony and release all the stress during the week.  To some it might be anti-productive but for me, that is how I roll.  Most importantly, it is not useless partying,  you get to network with a lot of people.  In our industry,  having a wide network is gold!

My Blogging Future

From a distance, this is how my blogging future looks like

I am currently sitting in my room contemplating (and wasting time) on whether I should spend another sleepless night reading for my weekend class or instead come up with a decent blogpost today.   Believe me,  I have more than enough drafts to update this blog for two (2) weeks.  However, I am also at a loss as to what is next for my blogging projects.

As you may well see,  I have always tried to limit my posts to law school, case digests, simple forms and similarly related stuff.  Lately however,  I spawned interests which may not be appropriate to post in this blog.  Anyways, these and a lot of other issues have to be thresh out on days that I have ample time to dilly dally.

Did you know that I have over 10 other blogs apart from this one?  I dare not link them here because most of them have not been updated for months.  Since the start of the school year, I have been inactive and have only managed to churn out a few blogposts, it is indeed embarrassing, to say the least.  It makes me wonder and (thankful still) that I still manage to stay on TopBlog rank and generate over 20K visits every months.

Blogging is one of the best things that happened to me (apart from learning how to master doing my brows on fleek).  I know my life would be incomplete if I abandon stopped blogging altogether.  The thing is, I know I could take on this blogging to the next level if I just got the time to do so.  My blogs are just one of the few channels that I get to tell the world how awesome it is to exist on this planet.

Although I do not consider myself a writer (I am not) I have a not-so secret dream of publishing a book one day and no matter how impossible you think that will be,  I have this unwavering belief that I will make it happen.

The law school thing however has forced me to put my blogging duties in the back burner as I am fully aware that all I got now is borrowed time.  Nevertheless, I know in my heart that I will always go back to blogging no matter what.  I don't earn much from this blog as of now but I know it will allow me a few luxuries if I just put my heart into it. As with any great endeavor in life,  you can only reap benefits from something if you truly focus.

I do promise to do more posts despite the toxic law school schedule this year.  You may not be interested to know how I run my life or how relationship-challenged I am, or how I view the world differently from ordinary people, or how I am taking my time finishing law school,  but one thing is for sure, I will continue blogging because this is something that I love to do I have something to say about anything under the sun and some people might find that useful in a weird way.

My life has been very exciting lately (as always) with fewer mischiefs that the previous years popping along the way.   So here's to wishing more blog posts, finishing law school this year, and your continued visiting this blog for the remaining months of 2016 and beyond!

Lost

Lost... but let me take a selfie first. :P

I've been lost (but not confused) these past weeks.  Lost under the weight of my readings and case backlogs, that is. Lost and sleepless.   Hey,  it has been 2 months of fabulous school time when my routine is basically school-house-and-school-house interrupted by a night out during the weekend. Well, I have to have that last one, otherwise I would have succumbed to burnout out so easily.

Many times I forget what is a definition of a 'bed'.  Is that a new contraption that I haven't heard about? What does it do?  You have to remind me how good it feels to sleep in a regular bed, not in my car, not slumped down in my study chair or tryin' to steal a few winks while I am waiting for something or someone.

Being lost is bad  You have be lost in something whether it be your studies,  your work, your life, or even with love cause that's how you know you are still alive.   That's how you know,  you are on the right track.  Whatever I do,  I have to give it all, all of my 100%.  So, that's why I'm lost.

The Fitness and Law School Struggle is Real!

Hello second sem!  I had an awesome week! School is open and of course I love going back to my books. I love the smell of new books, too bad the prices have double too! Oh well, one day I can see myself publishing my own law book,  watch out for that!

On another note, I can feel a struggle going on.  Since I have to be on track on my fitness regimen (Fit Mob blog), some days I find it difficult to do things when I have not done my workout for the day!

I would often sleep early and wake up early because I find it really easier to read when the world is sound asleep (in my location at least). Then at around the 3am or 4am I start doing my fitness routine before everyone else wakes up or before the sun rises.  There is something primal and addicting about these hours and though it may seem weird  (but I like weird),  I love it!

So that seemed to work for the past week and I hope to keep it up with a few modifications to accommodate be school commitments further.  On one hand, my class schedule has been really irregular and also at unusual odd times at certain periods of the day.  In short, my class sked is not a routine, now that may be exciting for me but it puts a damper on my "early to bed, early to rise" program.

When I wake up at 1am or 2 am, that means that by 6pm, I'm almost ready to call it a day, but then I got an evening class on some days.  Nevertheless, there is always a way to work things out.  Maybe a nap will extend my wake up hours on those days I have an evening class.

To my fellow law students, let's kick the high gear early on!  Good luck to everybody this second sem.  Let's rock law school!

5 Things I Love About My Law School

Studying in a law school of your own choosing is often not a choice given to many law students.  I took 4 exams in 4 different law schools.  The first one was with my undergrad university but unfortunately I did not make the cut.  Then I took the exam at a sectarian university,  I made the cut and was allowed to enroll bypassing the interview but I did not push through with my enrollment there.

The third is another sectarian law school which honestly was not my own choice but my boyfriend's. It is where I spent a considerable amount of time before I got to my current school which brings me to this discussion

The school that I am currently in is one that I am truly proud of for these apparent and unusual reasons:

1.  I choose it.
Yes, that is definitely one major important dealbreaker for me.  I chose my school and nobody did manhandle me to enrol there.   In my past life, I have been a very obedient and agreeable person and I often do not have to really think for myself, other people close to me have the habit of doing that for me, for free.  Unfortunately,  there came a point when I realize that I don't want anyone thinking for me.  I realize that I don't don't like orange but something else.

My current school is of my own choosing. That is why I am happy with my choice because it signifies something more important than the simple act of choosing my path without the unsolicited prodding from others.  So there.

2.  The faculty is just awesome great

Our dean and a majority of the members of the faculty in my school come from my Alma Mater (undergrad) so more or less the way of teaching is something that I can already relate to.  It is kinda comforting to be in that kind of environment.

3.  The school has the perfect learning environment

Despite the usual and expected pressure to study which is really a given if you are in law school,  my school provided the right mix of instruction and level of student participation in the whole learning process.  In fact,  I felt more pressure to study now than I was in my previous law school.  I am not saying that my school is better than the previous but here I felt like every class I need to be on my toes all the time. In my previous school I could not say the same.

4.  It is very accomodating to working people

If you study law and you also work at the same time, it is akin to being in smashed in from of 2 boulders especially if your boss or school do not meet head to head when it comes to the fact that you are a working law student.

Here in this school I never felt not even once that I would have to make special arrangement or accomodations in my work or that I would have to exert extra effort just to make things work between my previous work and my studies.   It is like my school undertands our plight as working people so I really have to thank this school for that.

5.  It is very accessible 

My previous school it takes me at least an hour to get there and that was years back before the hellish traffic sitch in Metro Manila right now.  I cannot imagine the gruelling daily commute I would have to do now, maybe it would take double that time to just attend my classes everyday!

My current school is about halfway and on good days, I can reach there in 15-20 minutes.

All in all, I feel very lucky to be in my school right now and I could not have chosen any other school if given another chance.  For most part , it is the school that chooses whether to admit you or not,  not for me, it is the other way around. And for that,  I feel so lucky and thankful..