The Docket
academics|academic advising|student services| career services|financial aid

issue date: April 9, 2007

Student Services Update

See Docket home page.

-top-
Career Information

__________________________________

ALL STUDENTS

Office Hours

The Career Services Office is located in Room 113 and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and to 8 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. Individual appointments can be scheduled for times when the office is not open. Mary Pat McInnis, Anne Hensley and Jon Baris are available for individual consultations to assist students in all aspects of the career development process, including resume and cover letter review, interviewing tips and general job search strategies. Anne Hensley is also a licensed professional counselor in Missouri and can help with personal issues and career assessments, which include the Strong Interest Inventory and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. We encourage all students to meet with us. Do not hesitate to make an appointment or stop by the Career Services Office.


Career Services Thursday at Noon Programming

April 10: Judicial Clerkship Application Process

April 17: No program

All programs will be held in Room 02. Pizza will be provided. Please bring your own drink.

 


NALP 2008 Online Apartment Exchange

Law students seeking summer housing and students with housing available for the summer are invited to participate in NALP’s free online 2008 Apartment Exchange. Visit www.nalp.org and follow the link to the Apartment Exchange. The Apartment Exchange is a free service and will be available from Jan. 18 through
May 16, 2008.

National Housing Law Project

The National Housing Law Project (NHLP) is a policy advocacy and law center focused on advancing housing justice for low-income people. NHLP attorneys are considered national experts on the laws governing the federally-assisted housing programs administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Internal Revenue Service. Each year current law students from throughout the country work as interns and clerks. In 2008, new funds will be available to enable NHLP to provide funding for one student intern in its Oakland, Calif., office as well.

Third year students also may be interested in NHLP’s fellowship program, which seeks interested candidates and project ideas for post-graduate fellowships. NHLP offices are located in Oakland, Calif., and Washington, D.C. Additional information is available in the Career Services Office and online at www.nhlp.org.

Dates and Deadlines

Third Year Student Information

The 2008-2009 Borchard Fellowship in Law & Aging
The Borchard Fellowship in Law & Aging affords one year for two law school graduates interested in, and perhaps already in the early stages of pursuing, an academic and/or professional career in law and aging, the opportunity to pursue their research and professional interests. The Fellowship is $39,000 and is intended as a full-time position only. The Fellow’s sponsoring agency is responsible for providing work space, administrative support, computer, telephone and e-mail access, and employer’s FICA payment. Fellows may live and work where they choose in the United States; Fellows must be either U.S. citizens or legal residents of the U.S.

The Fellowship period runs from July 1 to June 30 each year, or for the calendar year beginning the month after the Fellow’s completion of a state Bar examination. Applicants must submit a completed application form, an explanation of the applicant’s planned activities and projects, a current curriculum vitae, a law school transcript, a letter of support from the proposed supervisor, and two other letters of support. Fellowship application 
information and form are available at www.borchardcenter.org.

Completed applications should be sent to:
The Borchard Foundation Center on Law & Aging
Mary Jane Ciccarello, Assistant Director
335 4th Avenue
Salt Lake City, UT 84103

Applications must be postmarked by April 15, 2008. Selections are made by June 1, 2008. For further information, please contact Mary Jane Ciccarello at 801-532-3626 or mjcr@xmission.com.

Job Fairs and Networking Opportunities

Cook County Bar Association Annual Minority Law Student Job Fair
The Cook County Bar Association (CCBA) is pleased to invite law students to participate in the 25th Annual Minority Law Student Job Fair. The Job Fair typically attracts more than 700 law students and nearly 160 law firms, corporations and government agencies. The job fair is open to all first and second year law students (regardless of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.). The only students not eligible are those graduating this May or August. Please be advised, however, that participating employers are looking for students with a demonstrated commitment to diversity in the profession.

This year only students in the classes of 2009 and 2010 are invited.
This year's Job Fair will be held on Friday, August 8, at the Embassy Suites Chicago-Downtown/Lakefront, 511 North Columbus Drive, Chicago, IL 60611.

Registration information is available in Career Services. For more information, please visit www.ccbaminorityjobfair.com. If you have questions, please contact Anne Hensley at hensley@slu.edu or 314-977-2729.

-top-
Academic Advising

Academic Hint #17

Here are a few additional pieces of advice for exam-taking:

Give meaning to your rule. On the exam you are often required to tell the professor not only the issue, but also the applicable rule. Often students merely state a definition and then move on to the application of facts.

However, you might want to add additional information to this section. Ask yourself how the court went about deciding how or if this rule applied in your casebook. Rather than simply applying a definition, the courts considered certain facts, factors, or circumstances of facts when deciding if that rule should be applied. So ask yourself “what does the court look at?” or “what does the application of this rule look like?” when you are writing your answer. If your professor prefers the use of cases in your answer, you can point to the important facts in those cases that led to that court’s conclusion. If the professor prefers a more general approach, you can explain by thinking of the factors or areas of general facts that might cause a court to find that the rule applied.

The result will benefit you in two ways. First, the professor will know that you understand how a particular is decided. Second, it allows you to set up an analogy or distinction with respect to your exam facts. That leads to creating a better application to your exam facts. Moving next to application of your exam facts, start with the use of a simple word.

Use "because." Many professors tell students when reviewing their exams that they needed to “give them more” or “explain why” with respect to their answers. Some professors suggest using IRAC, or IREAC, or even CREAC. While I would agree that these organizational tools can be helpful in constructing an answer, the important term that you can’t forget is “because.”

Use because to explain:

  • why this rule is applicable
  • why those facts are important
  • why the facts are distinguishable or analogous
  • why this rule or concept in this set of facts equals this answer!

Next time you look at a sample good answer, or write an answer to a hypo or past exam question, circle the “because” and analogous terms. You will notice that an explanation of a concept or conclusion generally follows. Because. It’s a good word.

 

Writing Support Services

2L and 3Ls are welcome to get feedback on seminar projects. Please be advised that I need at least a 4-day window to read your paper and provide feedback. E-mail me for an appointment or drop by my office, 101A Student Services.


Kim Novak Morse, Asst. Director Writing Services, morseka@slu.edu


Send in Your Accomplishments

Current and recent SLU law student grads are invited to send their name and their writing/competition accomplishments to my attention to be posted on an upcoming Web site here at the School of Law.

Kim Novak Morse, Asst. Director Writing Services, morseka@slu.edu

Bar Preparation Workshop Schedule

BARBRI’s ESSAY ADVANTAGE will be held here at the law school on Saturday, April 12. It will begin at 8:30 a.m. This is a wonderful program that will put you on the road to being successful in passing the bar exam. The cost to you is only $50. The law school covers the rest of BarBri’s fees for this program. Sign-up sheets are located in Student Services and Career Services. You can sign up now and pay on the day of the program. Don’t miss this opportunity!

BAR PREPARATION TIP: I know that you are often inundated with bar exam preparation offers. Before you discard any of the flyers, make sure you read them and determine if the program might be helpful to you. Some of these programs are not meant to replace your main bar prep course, but can act as supplements to help you with bar exam essays or multiple choice questions.

Please direct questions to Professor Twinette Johnson at johnsot@slu.edu or call 977-4141. Professor Johnson will hold office hours in Student Services on Tuesdays from 3 to 5:30 p.m.

-top-
Registrar Updates

See Docket home page.

-top-
Financial Assistance

See Docket home page.

 

-top-