What to Do If You're Not Prepared for Law School Class

Professors have different policies for students who are unprepared. Some simply ask that you provide them with a note before class if you were unable to do the assignment. Others assume that if you are in class, you have done the reading. If you have a professor with a zero-tolerance policy, you might be advised to sit in the back on the days when you are unprepared so that your seat remains empty (called "back-benching"). If your professor simply requests notification before class on those days when you are unprepared, taking him or her up on the offer is advised. For there is nothing quite so frightening as being cold-called when you simply never cracked open the book.
 

The solution to this problem is in fact rather simple, albeit painful. If you are cold-called on a day when you are completely unprepared, you must bite the bullet and say, "I'm sorry, Fm unprepared." If you actually seem contrite and can avoid falling into nervous laughter- laughter that could be interpreted as your feeling that this whole matter is one big joke-you may escape with only a mild case of embarrassment. At all costs, refrain from offering up an excuse in front of the entire class. If you have a legitimate one, you may be wise to mention it to the professor on your own time. But at that moment, the professor is probably not in the mood to hear it.


Once you have been caught unprepared, you will likely have to spend the remainder of the semester dealing with the repercussions of your lapse by doing the reading carefully every day. Older professors have been known to conclude each class by informing a previously unprepared student to be ready tomorrow-yet when tomorrow comes, the professor does not call on the student and instead repeats the same warning for the next class. Such tactics keep that student in a sort of purgatory for the duration of the class as he or she never knows if the next day will be "the day." The best way to avoid this particular problem is to do your reading each night, even if you cannot always do it closely.

The majority of law students do not talk a great deal in class; in fact, most students hardly speak at all. Classes thus become divided between the 15 or 20 students who may ask questions and the 100 or more who never do. It is useful to remind yourself from the very first day to speak up when you do not understand the material being discussed. Few things can be more daunting than raising your hand in front of your peers and admitting that you do not know what is going on. But it is often these questions-rather than the lengthy philosophical ones-that help the most students. If you are afraid of getting tongue-tied, hate speaking in public, or just cannot seem to formulate a question as well as some of the class's regular talkers, you should feel free to fall back on the standard "I'm sorry, I did not understand that. Can you repeat or clarify that for me?" You'll be surprised how many pens start to scribble when the professor answers you.

AVOIDING EMBARRASSMENT

In addition to doing and understanding your reading, preparing to be called on, and maximizing the value of your class experience, there are a few odds and ends that you should know before your first class begins. Some of these may seem obvious, others less so, but either way, remembering them can spare you embarrassment:

1. Juries return verdicts; judges render decisions.
    
2. Criminal suits involve the government charging an individual with a crime, and the crime is proven by guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Civil suits tend to involve private parties suing each other (usually for money). The plaintiff wins not by showing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but rather by the lower standard of a preponderance of the evidence-it's more likely than not that the defendant did it.
    
3. A defendant in a civil suit is either liable or not liable. A defendant in a criminal suit is either guilty or not guilty.
    
4. Most judicial opinions open with the name of the judge who authored them: for instance, Scalia, J. The "J" is not the judge's first initial, but rather stands for Judge or Justice. "CJ" stands for Chief Judge or Chief Justice.
    
5. Many English cases have names such as Regina v. Party X. "Regina" is not a person's name but refers to the Queen.

One additional word to the wise: Among the numerous study aids you will see when you arrive at law school are books of case briefs that correspond to your casebook. These books can be handy time-savers that help explain the more difficult material, but you should be wary of relying on them as a substitute for doing your reading. The first-year law school curriculum is designed to teach you how to think like a lawyer. Your exam at the end of the semester will not consist of questions such as "What happened in Marbury v. Madison" but rather will require you to apply legal principles you have learned to a different set of facts. Although reading a commercial summary of Romeo and Juliet might have gotten you through your English Literature 101 class in college, reading commercially prepared case briefs instead of your assigned reading will not allow you to perform well on law school exams. There are few shortcuts in learning to think like a lawyer; commercially prepared case briefs are not one of them.

If you're fortunate enough to have a professor who assigns panels of students to answer questions for a given class day rather than randomly calling someone's name out of the blue, you'll likely have a comparatively stress-free experience. You'll do the reading, you'll be prepared on your panel day, and you'll swim right through the class. But because so many professors still insist on the virtues of the Socratic Method, it may be useful to know a little more about how to prepare for and handle the cold-call experience.