Student Blogs

Posted by Peter Eraca
03/12/2010 at 10:27 AM
As you may be aware, all 1Ls take a "legal methods" courts, essentially it is legal research and writing. The project for the spring semester is an appellate brief on some topic the LM faculty thinks up and gives us. The worst part about it is, it is the gatekeeper between you and spring break. Many students will stress for weeks on it, others won’t start even researching until the 11th hour. Now, my advice on the LM stuff, don’t wait to start, you’ll be sorry. It is virtually impossible, in my opinion, to churn out a "good" brief in 12 hours, beginning from scratch with no research done...
Posted by Peter Eraca
03/12/2010 at 10:12 AM
One of the biggest selling points of RW Law for me was the recreation center. It is at the doorstep of the law building, how much more convenient can that be? Before enrolling here, I would spend 3-4 day per week at the gym back home (I won’t plug which one), AND the college I worked for had a pool which helped my love of swimming (I swam competitively in high school). Therefore, some ability for me to get a work out in during the day was a large component of selecting a place I wanted to spend the subsequent 3 years of my life. Many law students will use the gym, particularly because it is...
Posted by Peter Eraca
02/26/2010 at 12:47 PM
Yes, you heard that correctly. Every 1L in the country takes a course on property. It covers a variety of areas, and I need to say one of the areas I really enjoy is Estates and Future Interests. Now, while that doesn’t matter much to you yet, and frankly, if you’re already thinking about "getting ahead" in your course work, take a step back and enjoy your time before coming to law school. Anyway, from what I’ve been told, and what I’ve seen, students either love this topic or hate it. If you have a thing for history, language, or words you will probably enjoy it. One of the things I enjoy...
Posted by Heather O'Connor
02/18/2010 at 12:13 PM
This past week was a very, very long week.  There’s a study somewhere that states Roger William School of Law Students have earned the ranking of one of the highest, if not the highest score, regarding how many hours per day a student here studies.  Please don’t ask me where I read this study right now because it is 10:30 on a Sunday night and I think I put in over 35 hours of studying this weekend alone.  I’m tired.  But I remember reading the results and wondering why we earned this particular title.  Are the students here more competitive?  Did the school...
Posted by Peter Eraca
02/17/2010 at 05:26 PM
Have you ever felt like you were behind, didn’t know where the time went, and that you probably won’t catch back up? Yeah, I feel that way right now. Today, someone said we were in week 5 (ok, he said 7, but I double checked for accuracy) and I did a mental double take. I couldn’t believe we had already gone through 1/3 of the semester. Thinking back to the first semester everything seemed to go by exceptionally slowly. That doesn’t really change. One thing I’ve realized while being here is that the weeks seem to go buy slowly, but when looking back they go by like lightning. It is probably...
Posted by Heather O'Connor
02/12/2010 at 02:39 PM
Since the day I turned 18, I couldn’t wait to be called for Jury Duty.  In 1999, the day finally came.  I received my little Juror’s Card in the mail informing me I had been selected to serve.  I felt as though I had just won the lottery!  I had been SELECTED!!!  (No calling me dork or any of the other names you’re thinking in your head right now.)  There was one problem though.  The date I was scheduled to serve was very soon after my second child’s due date.  I could have checked that little box that claimed I wanted to reschedule, but nope, I was...
Posted by Heather O'Connor
02/12/2010 at 02:26 PM
The first few weeks, or maybe even months of getting called on was scary.  I was envious of those people that could be in the hot seat and it seemed like just an ordinary conversation between them and the professor.  That person is not me.   Whenever I get called on – correction, whenever I hear the professor even start to say, “Ms. . .” – I can feel my blood start to boil and all the facts, issues, and ideas I had about any particular case just start floating out of my brain.   And then someone else gets called on instead of me.   Everything comes...
Posted by Heather O'Connor
02/04/2010 at 03:43 PM
I figure I should start this little writing journey by telling you about why I am in law school, and why I chose to spend the three years of my law school career at RWU.  Growing up, I wanted nothing more than to be a stay at home mom.  I wanted to be one of those barefoot, pregnant ladies that spent time cooking, cleaning, and playing with my kids.  Ok, maybe not so much the cleaning part, but I definitely wanted to be involved in my future children’s lives as much as possible.  However, life has a funny way of making you reconsider your options.   I was married...
Posted by Peter Eraca
02/01/2010 at 02:25 PM
The beginning of the second semester is probably one of the most stressful of all. While you would think the first semester “end game” of exams would be (and don’t get me wrong, it is), finding out how you did on those exams is unnerving. Unlike being an undergrad, our grades don’t get posted until January. What I find amazing at times is that, like undergrad, students seem to have various methods (or mind-sets) of checking their grades. Some people will obsess and check them hourly even though they are posted around 4 PM (that was me in the beginning), others will only check when they know a...
Posted by Hala Furst
12/20/2009 at 01:00 AM
You may have heard that there was a blizzard working its way up the eastern seaboard this weekend. It hit Rhode Island about 8 hours after I finished my last final for the year. While I still have a paper to write by Tuesday, it felt pretty good to watch the flakes fall from the coziness of a friend’s apartment, knowing that I was done studying for at least the next three weeks. As much as I would like to go sledding, the 9 degree wind chill suggests that Mother Nature would like me to finish that paper before I leave for home tomorrow. Not that my break will be that relaxing. Unlike first...