(Source: stayclassic)

(Source: styleguy)

(Source: whereisthecoool)

(Source: whereisthecoool)

I walked in to a room to wait for my final to start as a Civ Pro final was ending. One of the test takers said, “We won’t ever have to use this information ever again. I mean, how relevant is personal jurisdiction ever going to be?”

Oh sweet 1L babies. I want to cuddle you.

I’m on a quest to never get cold called on again in the next year and a half of law school. I have a few strategies that will always work, and have worked all semester when I’ve used them:

1. Put yourself out there. You are never going to escape the cold call by laying low and not looking up. This, in my classes, is basically the equivalent of performing jumping jacks in the aisle.
2. Ask questions, even if you know the answer. Even if you know exactly what the answer is, but the professor might have forgotten to mention it, go ahead and ask it. It will show that you’re paying attention in class (even if you haven’t read beforehand).
3. Say at least one sentence each class. If you say something each class the professor is likely to pass you over when “randomly” selecting who to call on.

Yes, all three of these points are pretty much the same. However, I guarantee you that if you heed this strategy you will: (1) get better at speaking in class/care less about peer-judgment, (2) rarely get called on, and (3) if you are called on, you will be given more leniency if you don’t know the answer because of your continual participation.

Let the quest begin for you, and continue for me. Protest cold calls, feel comfortable coming to class less prepared than those who obsess over the peer judgment, and sleep easy at night.

Dear law students,

If you need a backpack, rolling suitcase, and laptop bag for class, then you are carrying too much.

Sincerely,
Everyone walking behind you 

If you’re scared of getting called on in class you are in law school, but you are not a law student.

You are a bystander. A pilot fish.

You’re a law student when you are called on and feel nothing; you act on instinct. Fear is a non-factor when you stop worrying about how others will judge you and simply act.

If your peers judge you (congratulate or denounce) one way or the other, you are in the wrong environment. 

There is no shame in wrong answers, no glory in right answers. 

Knowing this: you are free to act, free from fear. You are a law student.