Law School Academic Support Blog

Professor of Practice at UNT Dallas College of Law

UNT Dallas College of Law is hiring a Professor of Practice for the Office of Academic Success and Bar Readiness. The role includes: teaching and assisting in the development of academic success and bar readiness related courses and workshops; providing individual academic support and bar readiness counseling to students in all stages of their studies, including those struggling academically and those preparing for the bar exam; serving as an individual support to bar takers, monitoring the progress of bar takers, and providing the encouragement and empathy necessary to contribute to successful bar exam passage; and assisting in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of student data and bar exam data.

The UNT Dallas College of Law is a new public law school whose inaugural class started in Fall 2014. The College of Law currently has, and plans to continue having, one full-time section of approximately 80-90 students, and one part-time evening division of between 40-60 students. For the near-term, each entering class will include a day section and an evening section of approximately these sizes. The College of Law’s goals are: (1) widening access to legal education for those who could be superb legal professionals but who cannot realistically access a legal education given factors including location, cost, and the current role of the LSAT in admission to and financing of law school; (2) providing an educational program focused on excellence in developing practice-related competencies, through a curriculum mapped to those competencies and using best instructional practices, including multiple formative and summative assessment throughout, engaged class design, and a spectrum of experiential education; (3) creating opportunity for our students by keeping tuition and debt low and producing graduates with high value and ability in multiple segments of the market for legal services; (4) becoming a national leader in advancing understanding of best legal education practices, of professional formation, and of the relationship between legal education and the evolving practice and business of law; (5) improving access to justice for underserved legal needs; and (6) serving as a valuable partner in civic engagement with the City of Dallas and the North Texas region.

Congrats Marsha Griggs and Kevin Sherrill

Congratulations to Marsha Griggs and Kevin Sherrill for being picked up by the AALS news feed.  The feed includes links to quality blog posts and news stories.  They included Marsha's The Other Side of Bar Prep post and Kevin's guest post The Art of Being Clutch - Part 2.

You can see their links on the news feed here.  You can also go to the first page of the feed to see the most up to date links.

 

 

 

A Quick Exercise to Help Break Down Barriers to Learning (and Seeing)!

I love youth activities because they start out so spirited, often with a riddle, a challenge, or a song.

Recently, I realized that my some of the difficulties that students face is that they can easily avoid the obvious.  That's because many students often lack confidence that they actually belong in law school, seeing themselves as imposters.  

In working with children, youth leaders understand that the sense of inadequacy is omnipresent, especially with middle schoolers.  So, in order to help build community and break down barriers to learning, leaders often start youth meetings with some adventurous fun.  Call it team building if you want.

As academic support professionals, perhaps it might be helpful for us, likewise, to kick off workshops and classes with an "ice-breaker" of sorts because, let's face it, law school can share many of the insecurities of teenage life. So, below, is an exercise that might help your students relate to each other, laugh a bit, and learn perhaps even a little too.  

As background, this week, most of my students missed a relatively easy essay issue dealing with consideration, even though it was right under their noses.  That's because we really do often believe that we aren't smart enough to solve the problem or that they must be tricking us.  But, sometimes the answer is right in front of us, if we just take the time to ponder it a bit.  Nevertheless, we are often in a rush, because of time pressures, to start working on the problem at hand before we even understand the problem at hand.

With that background in mind, let your students know that you'd like to take a breather, and oh, let's say, work on a math problem for a moment.  Not one that is too difficult, mind you.  Just one from back from the days when you were taking algebra.

Then, scribble on the board: "Find x."  Follow that with the equation: y = 2x/3 + 25.  Then let them have at it.  Oh, and make sure that they know that they are free to work in groups, after all, its a math problem!  

At this point, a few engineers and scientists will be plugging away but most students will be frantically trying to figure out: "How do we solve for x?"

But note the "call" of the question.  It's not to "solve" for x but rather to "find" x.  And, just like that, one of your students will scream out I've got it!  I've found x!  That's when you ask the student to come to the board, with a marker in hand, and explain what they came up with.  Watch with amazement as the student circles on the board where x is!

Back to my essay problem involving consideration.  Based on a past bar exam essay, the problem involved a person who immediately risked her life to save a dog from a burning house.  After the dog was rescued, a conversation ensued between the rescuer and the dog's owner with the owner learning that the rescuer wanted to go to paramedic school but couldn't afford it (no contract yet!).  That's when things got exciting.  The owner promised that she would pay for paramedic schooling because she wanted to "compensate" the rescuer for his heroism in rescuing her dog.  Well, as things go on bar exam problems, the owner didn't pay and the rescuer, who was denied admission to the paramedic school, pursued a different line of education.  

Most students explored lots of issues, including offer, acceptance, statute of frauds, mistake, conditions, anticipatory repudiation, and you name it.  But, the key was in writing the issue:  "The issue is whether the rescuer has any contract claims when the owner promised to pay for paramedic school to compensate the rescuer for a past act of heroism."  In a nutshell, there was an issue concerning whether there was consideration based on the pre-existing duty rule and there was an issue concerning whether, assuming no consideration, whether the promise could be enforced under the material benefit rule and/or promissory estoppel.  That was it.  Once the students saw the answer, they then saw the facts that triggered that answer, and it all came down to writing the issue statement.  

That's when I brought out the math problem below.  Using this challenge, students were reminded that it's important to ask the right questions in order to get the right answers.  And, in order to ask the right questions, we have to take time, before we write, to think.  It was one of the most memorable learning exercises of all for my students because they all knew the rules of consideration and promissory estoppel but in their haste to solve the problem...they missed the problem.  Love to have your thoughts on how the "Find x" exercise goes with your students!  (Scott Johns)

 

 

The Importance of Growth and Grit

This week we, as in the legal community, are in the midst of the February Bar Exam. For many taking the Feb exam, this can mean that they weren't successful in July. This isn't always the case, there are plenty reasons to take the bar exam in Feb for the first time. However, working with repeaters has made me reflect quite a bit on growth mindset and the importance of grit. 

Grit is defined, by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, as "firmness of mind or spirit, unyielding courage in the face of hardship." Growth mindset is a frame of mind, a belief system we adopt to process incoming information. People with a growth mindset look at challenges and change as a motivator to increase effort and leaning. Most experts agree that grit and growth mindset are the most important factors in success. 

Let's start with Grit. An entire book on grit was written by Angela Duckworth.   (See her website for information on her book, as well as her grit scale - https://angeladuckworth.com/) Angela Duckworth is a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and founder and CEO of Character Lab. She started studying why certain people succeed, and others don't. She began at West Point Military Academy, studying why some complete the "Beast Barracks", essentially a boot camp, while others drop out. Given that to get into West Point, there was a certain similarity of background, in term of grades, extracurricular, etc. she set out to see if she could predict who would make it, and who wouldn't. It turns out they couldn't predict this based on grades, or background, but could base it on a grit scale that Prof. Duckworth created. The grittier the West Point cadet, the more likely they would complete the "Beast Barracks". She later expanded on her studies and found that the grittier you were, the more likely you were to complete a graduate degree. She further expanded this to other professions, Olympians, etc, and found that generally, the more grit you had, the more like you were to succeed.

This applies to law school, the bar exam, and the practice of law. Grittier people get back up. They fail, but they learn from that failure and try again. And sometimes try over and over again. However, the key is always learning WHY you failed. This brings me to growth mindset. Dr. Carol Dweck coined the terms "fixed mindset" and "growth mindset." These terms describe the underlying beliefs we have about learning and intelligence. 

Professor Dweck explain why a fixed mindset can negatively impact all aspects of your life, but especially your learning:

"Believing that your qualities are carved in stone creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character, well then you'd better prove that you have a healthy dose of them. It simply wouldn't do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics.
I've seen so many people with this one consuming goal of proving themselves in [a learning setting], in their careers, and in their relationships. Every situation calls for a confirmation of their intelligence, personality, or character. Every situation is evaluated: Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart or dumb? Will I be accepted or rejected? Will I feel like a winner or a loser?
But when you start viewing things as mutable, the situation gives way to the bigger picture.
This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments, everyone can change and grow through application and experience.
This is important because it can actually change what you strive for and what you see as success. By changing the definition, significance, and impact of failure, you change the deepest meaning of effort."

In short, if you focus on learning for learning's sake, and not the end result, like grades or the bar exam, you will get more out of your effort! As a law student, focus on learning the law, and learning to be the best lawyer you can, will help you be more successful.  (Here is the website on mindset, where you can take a quiz to find out where you are on the mindset scale, and learn more about the years of research done by Prof. Dweck - https://www.mindsetworks.com/science/)

Grit and growth mindset also take practice. Those that are grittier know that they have to put in the time and effort, that no one is just a "natural" - there is always behind the scenes work. Again, this also takes serious self reflection to learn from each failure, and to learn from each success. If you are a law student, assess your exams. Learn to assess your practice hypotheticals. Reflect on how you can improve. If you are studying for the bar, learn to track MBE questions and learn from each practice essay. If you are a practicing lawyer, learn from each and everything you do, whether it ended in a win or a loss. There is always room for improvement, and that is what makes successful people successful. 

I don't think lawyers, as a profession, talk enough about our failures, or ways we can improve. Therefore, the messaging doesn't get passed down to students. But we have to make it the norm to fail, and get back up again. That needs to be part of our culture.

It should also be noted that I'm biased, because as I'm writing this I'm working on an entire CALI lesson on growth mindset and grit for law students, so if you are a student, look for that soon, and if you are a professor, feel free to pass it along to your students. In that lesson, I encourage students to reflect on failures, and what they learned. I encourage you all to share your failures, and how you bounced back, with your students. 

Stay gritty! (Melissa Hale)

The Power of Celebration

For the first time in eleven years, the February bar examination starts on Mardi Gras. For those celebrating the first day of Carnival, today will be a joyous and hopeful celebration, followed tomorrow by a weeks-long period of disciplined self-denial; for those taking the bar exam, today marks the culmination of a weeks-long period of disciplined self-denial, to be followed tomorrow by a joyous and hopeful celebration. To both krewes I say: Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Meanwhile, those of us in Academic Support engaged in less elevated pursuits are already making efforts and plans to help the next set of examinees get ready for the July administration of the bar examination. As we communicate with our current 3L students to lay the foundation for their prep work over the summer, it is not a bad idea to consider Shrove Tuesday and some of the value of celebration and ceremony in general. Holidays like Mardi Gras and festivities like weddings are not merely commemorations of momentous occasions, nor excuses for fun and excess. They also serve as cultural and psychological turning points, signaling for participants the seriousness of the transition they are about to make. (“Carnival” is, after all, derived from a Latin phrase for “remove meat” or “farewell to meat” – we associate the term with fun, but it really means preparing to sacrifice.) The grandiosity and tradition of such celebrations convey weighty significance, and their communal nature impress upon participants that they have both support from and responsibility towards a society – that they are not just taking this on alone. When effective, these implications encourage celebrants to take on their new situation immediately and wholeheartedly, and the (often subconscious) gravity impressed upon them by the jubilee can give them the perseverance not to abandon it when times are hard. Wedding ceremonies help couples take the hard work of being married seriously, even when they want to walk away. Mardi Gras helps observants stick to their resolutions of Lenten sacrifice, even when led into temptation.

Graduation is already a significant celebration in the minds of our law students, and we can use the weight and jubilation already associated with it to the advantage of our future bar examinees. A little additional messaging, suggesting that commencement is not just the start of their professional lives but also a milestone that marks the transition to a new mode of intensity, can help students see graduation day (even if only subconsciously) as a ceremony that signals their immediate and wholehearted commitment to bar study, and one that lends them additional perseverance throughout the months of May, June, and July. Be overt, be enthusiastic, and remind them that they will celebrating and then sacrificing together. There is power in a party, and we can put it to use.

We See You

The bar exam is so much more than a test. It is an arduous all-encompassing journey that begins with months of study and practice. Today, the journey comes to an end for the February bar takers. As we send positive thoughts and well-wishes to our students taking the bar exam, we should consciously acknowledge the individuality of the journey for each student, the diversity of experiences, and the sacrifices that were made to reach this point.

Bar takers of all ages and backgrounds have sacrificed, surrendered, lost, ignored, delayed, and missed so much while studying for the bar. Yet, life circumstances would not pause during bar study. Some wed, or welcomed a new child; others dealt with the loss of a pet or family member; some faced separation or divorce; while others moved in, moved away, or moved back home. There are bar takers who made the necessary decision to leave young children in the temporary care of  family or friends, while others had to find ways to incorporate parenting and family time, or perhaps elder care, into the bar study routine.

For so many, there were financial struggles. Students took out loans to pay for a bar course, to eat, to live. Some quit their jobs for full-time bar study; others lost their jobs because they could not keep up with the hours and the demands of study. Repeat takers managed the stigma and financial distress of a second, or third, bar prep period. No dollar amount can truly capture the real cost of studying for the bar. There is a toll on your body, your back, your hands, and your eyesight.

Bar takers everywhere, we see you. We acknowledge your struggle. We affirm your efforts and we cannot wait to celebrate your success!

(Marsha Griggs)

Moot Court and the Bar Exam

This weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year.  The NALSA Moot Court competition occurred at UC Berkley.  I love working with students in January and February to prepare for the competition.  Watching students get more and more comfortable with their arguments and the constant questioning is a joy.  The sense of fulfillment on student faces at the culmination of the event is fun to watch. 

The final round this year illustrated a skill many bar students need to hone.  I watched as the finals panel asked predictable questions.  All the students answered those questions with ease.  However, the finals participants illustrated the same ease with the not as predictable questions.  A few questions were tangentially related to the problem, but the students probably had not heard them before.  They still answered with principles they learned.  All the students also used general principles of Federal Indian law when they didn’t have a specific answer related to the facts.  The ease and comfort with all the areas demonstrated why those students were in the finals.

The ability to answer any question is critical to the bar exam.  Most exams have predictable questions.  Most students can answer the predictable questions.  They have pre-written answers or a structure ready.  However, the bar exam always includes questions or subparts of questions that are a little farther from the basic rules.  The ability to answers those questions with ease will make a huge difference in an examinee’s score.  General principles within the subject and well-reasoned arguments will score high points on the exam.  The goal is to use the principles within the subject area you know to answer the question the examiner asked.

The bar exam is a couple days away.  I hope all students see as many of the predictable questions as possible, but if something comes up you don’t know the specific rule for, channel your inner moot court competitor to score well on the exam.  Good luck to everyone on the bar!

(Steven Foster)

Tenure Track Position at Penn State

Penn State Dickinson Law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania is seeking applicants for the Director of Academic Success and Bar Passage position.  The Director will hold the rank of Assistant/Associate Professor of Lawyering Skills and serve in a 48 week, tenure-track position.  Visit the full job posting for details and to apply.

In addition, we’re seeking an Assistant/Associate Professor of Lawyering skills, also tenure-track, to teach legal writing, reasoning, and analysis courses.  Visit the full job posting for details and to apply.

For both positions, apply by March 11th for consideration.  The faculty appointments committee and our Dean are hoping to run the searches on an efficiently brisk timeframe. 

A Quick Classroom Experiment on Cognitive Bias

We've been told that seeing is believing but I suspect that most of us don't really think that's quite true, at least when it comes to our own cognitive biases.  

After all, we are trained attorneys, steeped in expertise in evaluating evidence carefully and thoughtfully.  We don't rush into conclusions.  We sort, we deduce, we reflect.   At least that's what I used to think...until I got caught by one of my own students.

Here's what happened.

We were talking about cognition, and one of my students - a former teacher - asked me if I wouldn't mind taking part in a little experiment about thinking - a mathematics experiment. I was so excited because I'm a mathematician by professional training.  I was ready for the test, or so I thought.  

Step by step, my student became my teacher, asking me the following questions in front of about 90 of my students:  

Prof. Johns, what's 1000 + 1000?  Good.  

Now, add 50.  Good.

Now, add 40. Perfect.

Now, add 10.  

What's that give you?  ______.

I blurted out, as proudly and as loudly as I could...3000...and I was completely wrong and utterly embarrassed (since the correct answer is 2100).  

Here's what happened:  My thinking got in my way because I wasn't really thinking but acting like I was thinking, which is what I think cognitive bias might come down to.  

Try this out with your own students.  Ask them to work through this little math problem, out loud, one calculation at a time, as a class.  

[Note: At first, few will participate by calculating answers, after all, because most are scared of math, so start the whole problem over until all are participating by speaking - out loud - the answers to each step of the math problem.]

What's 1000 plus 1000? _____

Plut 50? ______

Plus 40? ______

Plus 10? ______

Most, just like me, will blurt out 3000.  And that's a problem - as attorneys and as law students - because that means that the first impulses of our minds are often wrong, whether we are working through multiple-choice questions, sketching out possible issues as we read through an essay question, or probing problems that we might need to address to help our clients.  

So if you have a chance to try out this little experiment with your students, please let me know what you learn.  And, let me know what your students say that they've learned from this experiment. If your students are at all like me, this little experiment will not just open up their minds but also their eyes too.  And that's something worth seeing.

(Scott Johns).

I get by with a little help from my friends....

I think we all do. It has been that kind of week. I think we are all there, the bar exam is next week, it's the middle of winter, first year students want to meet about Fall grades, and most of us are teaching and doing workshop. So, it's a crazy time of year.

Today, as I am putting together a workshop for first years, and a class on the MPT, I realized that I was only able to do both of these things with the help of fellow ASPers. Literally, I was using parts of their powerpoints and handouts. I mean, 80% of my outlining presentation was the property of other ASPers. And that's what I love about this community. We share resources, tangible outlines, PowerPoints, syllabi and and so forth. Email an individual, or ask on the listserv, and you shall receive. Everyone is happy to share their work product without blinking. 

Our conferences are also great for these tangible resources. I feel like each presentation is a collection of tangible things we can all take back to the classroom.  (Speaking of conferences, remember that there are regional conferences coming up in TX (March 6th), Chicago (March 13th), and NY (March 20th), not to mention our annual conference in Washington, D.C. in May).

And then there are the intangibles,  knowing I have people that get it. Knowing that there are people I can count on. Knowing I can email people in any state for a question about their state character and fitness or that they are willing to help one of my students. Knowing that they will listen, vent, share ideas, help brainstorm. Or even agree to write a book with you! To all of you, you are my people, my network, my village. And, as a colleague likes to say, "Teamwork makes the dream work."

To that end I encourage people to reach out. Maybe you're new, or feel like you can't reach out. I certainly felt like the new kid at my very first conference. I didn't feel confident reaching out to ask people for their syllabi or materials. But do it. We all encourage you to reach out. We are all happy to share ideas, advice, or actual materials. The AASE leadership is also diligently working on making sure our website has a section for materials from conferences, and otherwise, and we are getting there!

I also had to ask for help in a different way today. I had a health issue that wasn't going away, and had to cancel class. Something I hate doing. I was on the fence, wondering if I should just suck it up and push through. But my friend and Dean of Students insisted that she drive me home, while lecturing me on self care. The lecture was well deserved, and I needed to hear it.

So, while all of us are in a potentially stressful week, don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't stop practicing self care. And don't hesitate to email the listserv asking for something!

(Melissa Hale)

 

Who Am I to Pass the Bar?

Bar takers, you have seven study days remaining to prepare, to take one last look at your bare bones outlines, to try to crack the code for recognizing recording statutes, and to improve your speed at performance testing.[1] Adding to the angst of sitting for an exam that will determine entry into your chosen profession, is the foreboding fact that national bar passage rates have declined and not returned to prior years heights.[2] News from bad to scary, logically, can lead to doubt and self-debasing thoughts like who am I to pass if as few as four of every 10 bar takers pass the bar in some states?[3]

The negative thoughts creep in and resound even louder to those who entered law school against the odds. Those with LSAT scores below 150; those who juggled working to provide for a family by day, and the competitive rigors of law study by night; those who managed the anxiety of chronic illness and attendance requirements; those who faced implicit biases that created a presumption of lower competence and precluded their appointment to prestigious posts; those whose humble social or financial backgrounds placed them in a daily battle with imposter syndrome; those whose law schools don't rank elite; and those who’ve found a home in the bottom quartile of the law school class are left to silently question who am I to pass?

Let these words be the fight song for the academic underdog. You entered law school, wind at your front, and made it. You fed your family and persevered. You commuted two hours to and from school and made the 8:00 AM lectures. You tutored yourself. You feared failure, but kept going. You ignored the rankings, and focused on your exams. When things got hard, you got harder. So to those who still question, who are you to pass . . . ?

I ask the better question: who are you not to?

(Marsha Griggs)*

 

[1] The Louisiana Bar Examination is administered February 17 – 21, 2020, eight days before the administration of the Uniform Bar Exam and other state bar exams.

[2] Mark Hansen, Multistate Bar Exam Average Score Falls to 33-Year Low, A.B.A. J. (Mar. 31, 2016). See also Jeffrey Kinsler, Law Schools, Bar Passage, and Under and Over-Performing Expectations, 36 QUINNIPIAC L. REV. 183, 187 (“Between 2009 and 2013, nationwide firsttime bar passage rates remained in the high seventy percentile range with three years at 79%, one year (2013) at 78%, and one year (2012) at 77%. Those nationwide bar passage numbers slid from 78% in 2013 to 74% in 2014, 70% in 2015, and 69% in 2016.”).

[3] Joshua Crave, Bar Exam Pass Rate by State, LAWSCHOOLI (Jan. 29, 2019), https://lawschooli.com/bar-exam-pass-rate-by-state.

*adapted from BarCzar Blog originally published April 2018.

14th Annual Meeting of Law School Diversity Professionals

Professor of Lawyering Skills at USC

USC’s Gould School of Law is hiring a Professor of Lawyering Skills who will serve as the Assistant Director of Academic Support.  This is a full-time, year-round RTPC (non-tenure track) position.  The successful candidate will co-teach a 2L academic support class; regularly meet individually with students; help to hire and train student Peer Tutors; conduct workshops for students on legal writing and other topics; and assist in curriculum and program development for the Academic Support Program. 

The full description and application  can be found here.

Congrats to Melissa Hale for Top 10 Award!!!

Congrats to Melissa Hale for being recognized by the Texas Bar Today.  Her post Keep Calm and .... Make Things Up was recognized as one of the top 10 legal blog posts last week.

Keep up the good work!

An Experiment in Learning to Think Reflectively

Let me ask you a couple of questions posed by a recent article (illustrating how easily our minds can mislead us). M. Statman, Mental Mistakes, WSJ (Feb 9, 2020).

First, do you consider yourself an above average driver?

Second, do you consider yourself an above average juggler?

Most of us answer the first question: "Yes, of course I'm an above average driver."  In contrast, most of us answer the second question: "No, absolutely not. Why, I can't even juggle so I'm definitely below average."  But context matters in determining whether our answers to these questions are accurate.  Id. 

Let me explain.  

Take driving.  Most of us think that we are at least average drivers (and most likely above average) because we drove today and didn't (hopefully) have an accident. But most drivers are just like us. They didn't have accidents either.  Id. Consequently, at least half of us have to be below average and the other half above average.  And, because we haven't yet explored any factual evidence in order to accurately gauge our driving abilities (such as accident records, traffic tickets, etc), we are often mistaken about our driving abilities. 

Now let's take juggling.  Most of us can't juggle at all, and, because that includes virtually all people, we are probably at least average jugglers (and maybe even better than average jugglers!). Id. You see, evidence matters in judging accurately. Id.

Likewise, with respect to learning, most of us think that we are at least above average with respect to easy tasks (like driving) but below average with respect to the hard tasks of learning (like juggling).  However, without concrete facts to evaluate our learning, we are likely wrong.  And that's a problem because if we don't know what we know and what we need to know we can't improve our learning...at all.  Indeed, that's why learning can be so difficult.  We tend to get stuck within our minds, our own framework, seeing what we want to see rather than what is really true about our learning.

So, as you evaluate your own learning, step back.  Ask yourself how do I know what I think I know.  Challenge yourself to see from the perspective of others so that you don't miss out on wonderful opportunities to improve your learning.  Be honest but not harsh.  Focus on identifying ways to improve.  

If you're not sure how to go about self-reflective learning, here's a quick suggestion:

Take for example an essay answer that you've written.  

First, find, identify, and explain one thing that in your writing that is outstanding (and why).  

Second, find, identify, and explain one way to improve your writing (and why that would be beneficial).  

Indeed, towards the end of most meetings with students, rather than telling my students to do "this or that," I ask them to tell me what they've learned about themselves from talking together and what can they do to improve their own learning.  And, I don't stop with just one answer.  I keep on asking until we have at last three concrete action items, all of which sprung out from them rather than me.  That's because the most memorable learning happens in "aha" moments, when we see what we didn't see before.  And, after all, isn't that the essence of learning...seeing anew with free eyes to boot.

(Scott Johns).

Taking on Student Stress

The other day I noticed that the ABA published an article called "When Caring Costs You: Lawyers can experience vicarious trauma from work"

Essentially, the idea is that lawyers take on the trauma, or stress, from clients.

"Jan Newman, a psychologist and mindset coach in Charlotte, North Carolina, says that vicarious trauma occurs when a professional experiences the signs and symptoms that mimic post-traumatic stress disorder in connection with traumatic material presented by the client. Newman says these signs and symptoms can include intrusive or persistent negative thoughts, avoidance and withdrawal, hyperarousal and hypervigilance, or sleep disturbance.

Clients experiencing trauma put their lawyers at a higher risk for vicarious trauma, says Jeff Sherr, training director for the National Association for Public Defense"

I think Academic Support Professionals experience a similar phenomenon. We are often take on the stress and trauma of our students. Especially this time of year: students are getting back grades, and if they aren't happy, trying to figure out what went wrong. This can lead to some difficult discussions about family life, mental health issues, and general trauma that the student might have faced.  

The article suggests setting boundaries. While setting some boundaries can be helpful, the nature of counseling students means that sometimes boundaries aren't as clear as we'd always like. 

It's for this reason that I prefer the article's suggestion of practicing self care and normalizing discussion. I noticed today while counseling a student through ways to deal with anxiety and stress that I have great tools for students, so I know what I should do, but actually using those tools can be more difficult. 

This is also why I love this community. I think we are great at supporting one another, normalizing discussion, and encouraging each other to take time out for ourselves.

So let me echo Marsha's sentiments from earlier this week, and tip my hat to my fellow asp-ish people. Consider this a nudge, and permission, to exercise the very important self care that you might need this time of year. 

(Melissa Hale)

Leave Enough for a Real Solution

The year: 334 B.C.
The place: The ancient Phrygian city of Gordium
The tale you are about to read is as true as it can be:

Hephaestion: Hey, Seleucus!  You just missed all the fun!  Alex here just fulfilled another ancient prophecy!

Alexander the Great (shrugging): Don’t listen to Heph.  It was no big deal.

Seleucus: “No big deal”?  And a shrug?  That’s what you said after you razed the city of Thebes.  “Eh, no biggie.”  Just another complete victory and total annihilation.  Whatever.  So what was it this time?

Hephaestion: Get this: There was this ox-cart in town tied to a post –

Seleucus: And Alex chopped it into kindling, burned it to ashes, then scattered the ashes to the four winds?

Hephaestion: What?

Alexander the Great: Gee, thanks, Seleucus, you make me sound like some kind of rampaging destroyer.

Seleucus: Well, you are conquering the known world.  There’s bound to be a certain amount of destruction involved.

Alexander the Great: It’s not all destruction.  Sometimes there’s creativity involved.

Seleucus: Yeah, like creating widows.

Hephaestion: As I was saying: there’s this ox-cart tied to a post by this knot.  Been there hundreds of years, and no one’s ever been able to untie the knot.  If you saw the knot, you’d understand why: totally complicated, gnarled and tangled, just a huge total mess.

Seleucus: Like Hephaestion’s tent.

Hephaestion: I’m ignoring you.  This knot was tied by Midas—

Seleucus: Hold up, you mean King Midas?  You mean everything-he-touched-turned-to-gold Midas?  The guy who starved to death because every grape and loaf of bread he picked up turned to gold before he could eat it?

Alexander the Great: Yeah, I always wondered about that.  Why didn’t he just have servants drop the food into his open mouth?

Seleucus: That’s what I like about you, Alex; always thinking outside the box.

Hephaestion: Yes, it was that Midas.  See?  Big names.  No ordinary knot here.  And there’s this prophecy, too: Whoever unties this knot is destined to be the ruler of all Asia.

Seleucus: I see where you’re going with this.  Alex had to have a go at it, didn’t he?

Alexander the Great: Well, if you counted the number of turns visible around the rim of the knot, you could tell that—

Hephaestion: I’ll say he had a go!  He scrunched up his Macedonian eyes, looked at it for a minute like it contained the secrets of the universe, and said, “I know how to take care of this!”

Seleucus: Did you?  I’m impressed.

Hephaestion: He whipped out his sword, and snap!  Cut right through that sucker!

Seleucus: You did?  I’m not impressed.

Hephaestion: Oh, go suck a pomegranate.  Alex dismantled that puppy!  That knot is no more.  And that means that Alex = ruler of all Asia.  And what did you accomplish this morning, Seleucus?  Clean your tent?

Seleucus: Yes, I did.  But I’ll tell you what I didn’t do – I didn’t cheat.  Which is what Alex did do.

Alexander the Great: Wait, Seleucus, you don’t understand—

Seleucus: No, Alex, I don’t understand.  The prophecy said “whoever unties the knot”.  I don’t understand how chopping it to pieces counts as “untying” it.  When I untie my sandals do I pop a blade into them?

Alexander the Great: Look, I needed to use my sword—

Seleucus: Did you?  Did you really?  I’ve been seeing this trend in you for the last few years, Alex: when in doubt, wipe it out!  Rivals to the throne – gone.  Vanquished armies – eliminated.  And now this knot – oh, let me just slice the cord in twain – problem solved!  Well, you know what, Alex?  That’s just cheating.  Eliminating a problem is not the same as solving it.  “Thinking outside the box” does not mean you just move yourself into a different box.

Hephaestion: Hey, step off, Seluke!  You don’t know what you’re talking about.

Seleucus: Don’t I?  Look, this time it’s just a damn knot, and knowing Alex the press will probably eat this up.  They’ll be writing about it for at least 2,354 years – “And then Alexander the Great cut the Gordian Knot, and found a solution where no one else could!”  But Alex is trying to rule the whole world, Heph, and this attitude of destroy/eliminate/repeat is going to be the end of him.  If he doesn’t learn how to actually solve these “unsolvable” problems, then what’s he going to do when he encounters one he can’t get rid of?

Alexander the Great: Seleucus, I hear what you’re saying, and I appreciate it.  But Heph is right – you didn’t hear the whole story.  I didn’t simply chop the Gordian Knot into pieces, although I bet you’re right about that being how the press will report it.  Quick and brutal gets people’s attention, but even I know that slow and elegant is often more effective.  With the knot, I simply noticed that it could never be untied so long as the two ends of the rope remained spliced together, so I pulled out my sword and trimmed the splices.  That left me with the two original ends of the rope – just like the two ends of your sandal laces.  Once those were freed, I could actually start to work on the knot, like no one had done over the last, what, three hundred years?  Duh.  It took me a couple of hours, but eventually I was able to work the knot loose.

Seleucus: Oh.

Alexander the Great: I think there’s a difference between changing the conditions to make them workable and completely blowing the problem up.

Seleucus: Yeah.

Hephaestion: Is that all you can say?  “Oh.  Yeah.”  You called out the future ruler of all Asia by mistake and can’t even apologize?

Seleucus: Ah, Alex, I’m sorry.  You know I was just worried about you.

Alexander the Great: I know.  But I think I’m going to have to have you and your entire bloodline executed now, and your ashes — how did he put it?

Seleucus: Alex.

Hephaestion: “Scattered to the four winds,” I think he said.

Alexander the Great: Yeah, that was it.  I like that — little pieces of burnt-up Seleucus, and his kids, drifting south on a zephyr.

Seleucus: Alex!

Alexander the Great: I’m just kiddin’, Seleucus.  I know you care.  Later, dude.  Heph, let’s you and I go clean your tent.

The Other Side of Bar Prep

And you'll finally see the truth, that a hero lies in you. Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff

Every lawyer who has completed the journey that begins with law school and ends with a multi-day bar examination knows the anxiety, the overload, and the sheer exhaustion that is bar study. There is no shortage of horror stories involving the bar exam.¹ Virtually every attorney has a bar-related cautionary tale. Some of these tales recount the angst of making up legal rules to answer an essay question about which they had no clue how to answer.² Other tales may involve the heart-stopping panic brought on by “Barmageddon” when technology glitches prevented examinees from electronically submitting their essays.³ The bar exam is a grueling rite of passage that no attorney wants to revisit or repeat.

But not accounted for in the published bar pass lists and statewide bar statistics is a group of unsung heroes that contribute in meaningful ways to the attorney rosters of each state. This group is largely unnoticed, unnamed, or misnomered as law school academic support staff, professional development personnel or even student services providers. These gifted folks, whether or not named or recognized, essentially relive the nightmare that is bar prep two times per year, every year, without break or exception, and without earning any additional licensure.

So, here’s to the bar prep heroes who, despite already having at least one law license, restudy, listen anew to lectures, and peruse endless pages of commercial outlines in search of changes to a majority rule or a better way to explain testable material. Hat tip to my colleagues in the trenches who biannually endure the round-the-clock cries for help, the endless essay grading, and the ulcer generating impathic nervousness for the aspiring attorneys in whom we are emotionally invested.

As the end of February draws nigh, you will soon return to regular sleep patterns and be able to answer the 100+ unread messages in your inboxes. Yes, all will be back to normal . . . except for the two to three months filled with delightfully dreaded anxious anticipation of released results. You are the heroes on the other side of bar prep.

[1] Marsha Griggs, Building A Better Bar Exam, 7 Tex. A&M L. Rev. 1 (2019).

[2] Id.

[3] Karen Sloan, Software Maker Settles Barmageddon Class Action for $21 Million, NAT’L L.J. (May 15, 2015, 12:26 AM), https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/

(Marsha Griggs)

The Art of Being Clutch: How to Perform Your Best on Exams and Avoid the Choke Part 2

So how can we avoid having a student’s working memory become compromised?  There are a lot of different methods for doing so. 

Practice Really Does Make Perfect

If we want to get better at anything, we have to practice it.  A lot.  This isn’t a novel idea, most of us know this instinctually or through our experiences.  Malcolm Gladwell makes a very compelling argument in his book Outliers that in order to become an expert in any field or task, you must put in approximately 10,000 hours of practice.  For example, Tiger Woods needed 10,000 hours of practice before he became a top-flight golfer, and he had amassed that mount of practice at a fairly young age because he had been trained since the age of 2 to play golf.  By the time The Beatles had any real success, they had played 1200 times over a period of a few years, playing up to 8 hours at a time. 

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom became one of the largest and most powerful law firms in the world because its founders practiced hostile takeover law for decades before hostile takeovers became common – and being a master in that area of law became insanely valuable.  That amount of practice shouldn’t be required to avoid the choke on a law school exam, but practice is certainly going to help. 

So what might a student do in order to be better on pressure-packed law school exams, or even the bar exam?  Take lots of pressure packed exams of course!  Faculty can’t replicate the pressure of a bar exam perfectly, but they can put the students under pressure as often as possible.  For example, one thing we do is have students take lots of timed, in class, for-credit examinations throughout certain courses.  Students are subjected to the pressure of doing well to pass their course, the pressure of performing with their classmates around, the pressure of the clock ticking, not to mention the simple pressure placed upon themselves to perform as best they can.  This training can greatly improve results, and might actually change the physical wiring of student’s brains.

Practice and experience can actually change the structure and function of people’s brains.  London cabbies, who must navigate the city from memory all day, have enlarged hippocampus, the part of the brain that deals with navigation and recollection of driving routes.  Individuals trained in juggling have increased brain mass in the areas of the brain that understand motion.  Musicians, who must have superior control of both hands and be able to coordinate them in complex manners, have enlarged corpus callosum.  The corpus callosum is the connection between the two halves of the brain that allows for the two halves to communicate with each other – an essential function for a musician who needs their hands to work together.   

This makes sense when you think about our bodies’ ability to adapt to what we throw at them.  I may not be able to go out and run a marathon tomorrow, but if I take the time to train my body to be able to do something like that, then it can be done.  Likewise, practice under pressure can train our brains to manage pressure and stress much more efficiently.  It can teach us to handle the pressure and allow our working memory to function at its highest level. 

Practice has another terrific benefit for our working memories.  Through practice, mental processes can be automated.  Take for example a child learning how to tie their shoes.  When the child is first learning this process, it requires most of their working memory to tie that shoelace – they have to focus on the process that was recently taught to them and make sure they are executing the steps properly.  After lots of practice, however, the same child can carry on a conversation or perform some other mental task at the same time they tie their shoes.  Why?  Because they have automated the process of tying their shoes, thus freeing up their working memory for other tasks.  Another way to look at it:  the process for tying shoelaces has moved from the child’s working memory into procedural memory.

The same process can happen for students in law school.  This is why we teach and drill our students on the proper use of IRAC throughout law school, for example.  Through long periods of practice, the process of structuring an essay around an IRAC format can become automated.  It becomes something the student doesn’t have to think about; they just do it as they have done a hundred times before.  That frees up the student’s working memory to focus on handling their facts and doing good analysis.

Another example comes during bar exam preparation.  We always teach our students to have rule statements memorized for as many different issues as possible.  That way, when that particular issue shows up on the bar exam, the student has that rule statement in their procedural memory ready to go.  They don’t have to think about it, they just write.  Again, working memory is freed to focus on other things.

Practice is something that many of us already know is very effective in helping students achieve on exams.  The rest of the suggested methods for dealing with difficult and stressful exams may not be as apparent to many.

Preparation and Confidence

A related concept to practice is preparation.  The concepts are related, yet differ in important aspects.  Practicing is when you actually do the task you are ultimately hoping to accomplish – for example, practice exams to get ready for the real exam.  Preparation is different – this is the studying required to have the baseline knowledge required to perform well on the exam.

The need for preparation is obvious – if we need to prepare for an exam on ancient Greek history, we must study ancient Greek history, as well as write practice exams.  But there is an added benefit to preparation, and it is confidence.  When you know that you have thoroughly reviewed all required materials, you can answer questions about that material with more confidence.  There are no surprises, and nothing rattles you because you have seen it all before – in both your preparation and your practice. 

Famous trial attorney David Boies perfectly demonstrates how important preparation can be.  He describes his preparation as such:

“When we showed up for the opening statement, I had read every single exhibit we had marked before we marked it.  I had read every single deposition excerpt that we had marked for offering into evidence before we had marked it.  I had read every single deposition line they had offered.”  Such preparation required reading thousands of pages of documents, something most lawyers don’t do in preparation for trial because of the massive resources required to do so.  “There are no surprises for me, but you can’t imagine how few people that’s true for” he says.  “There is no way most lawyers do that.” 

This preparation gives Boies a major advantage.  He knows all of the material so well that he can remain focused on the story he wants to tell – not on reacting to what the other side might be saying.  “When I get up there, I have the confidence of knowing what the total evidence record is, and I know how far I can push it and how far I can’t.  I know what the limits are, and that’s the way you maintain your credibility.”  And it is this credibility that wins him major cases, such as the antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in the late 1990’s.  “Most good lawyers lose credibility in a trial not because they intentionally mislead but because they make a statement that they believe is true at the time and it is not.” 

Preparation can then clear your working memory to focus on the task at hand.  In Boies’ case, he is never caught off-guard by anything during a trial, as happens to so many attorneys.  He has seen everything before, and as he says “there are no surprises.”  He can focus on his story, on his goals, and not get distracted. 

For even more practical advice on this topic, see the Fall 2018 issue of the learning curve on ssrn.  That issue includes additional information on overcoming negative stereotypes, journaling, and meditation to improve exam performance.

(Kevin Sherrill - Guest Blogger).

 

Sources

Sian Beilock, Choke:  What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting it Right When You Have To, Free Press Publishing, 2010.

Paul Sullivan, Clutch:  Excel Under Pressure, Portfolio/Penguin Publishing, 2010. 

Larry Lage (June 26, 2008). Mediate makes the most of his brush with Tiger, The Seattle Times, Associated Press. Retrieved October 24, 2013.

Gerardo Ramirez and Sian Beilock, Writing About Testing Worries Boosts Exam Performance in the Classroom, Science Magazine, January 14, 2011 (Vol 331). 

Daniel T. Willingham, Why Don’t Students Like School?,  Jossey-BassPublishing, 2009.

S.J. Spencer and C.M. Steele and D.M. Quinn, “Stereotype threat and women’s math performance.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35 (1999). 

Matt Scott, Olympics:  Korean Double Medalist Expelled for Drug Use, The Guardian, Retrieved on October 25, 2013 from http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2008/aug/15/olympics2008.drugsinsport

Malcolm Gladwell, The Art of Failure, The New Yorker, August 21 & 28, 2000.

Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers. 

Director of Academic Success Program at the University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee College of Law invites applications for the position of Director of its Academic Success Program (ASP). This is a full time, non-tenure track faculty position. As a member of the faculty, the Director will hold the initial rank of Lecturer (or Senior Lecturer for an applicant with an established track record of success teaching and/or directing an academic success program at a US law school).

The individual will have the opportunity for contract renewal and promotion pursuant to the University of Tennessee’s Faculty Handbook. https://facultyhandbook.utk.edu/non-tenure-track-faculty/ As a member of the faculty, the ASP Director will participate in faculty meetings, will exercise voting rights as defined by the College of Law bylaws, and will have the opportunity to seek funds to support travel to attend and speak at professional conferences. The ASP Director will coordinate, manage, and teach in the Academic Success Programs at the College of Law. UT Law’s Academic Success programming currently includes a 1L pre-orientation program; an Academic Enrichment Program for selected spring semester 1L students; one-on-one advising for students in our Academic Alert program; and other programs and advising for the full student body on topics of academic success and bar exam preparation. The Director will have significant creative input in shaping the future direction of the program. The ASP Director will collaborate with the rest of the faculty to identify opportunities to change our curriculum, teaching methods, and assessment techniques to equip our students with the tools to succeed in law school and on the bar exam.

A law degree from an accredited law school and indicators of academic success in school are required. Additional desired qualifications include at least two years in an academic setting, ideally in the area of law school academic support; knowledge of learning theory (as evidenced by an advanced degree, publications, speeches, etc.); and an understanding of the Uniform Bar Examination, the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, and other licensing exams used by various states.

This is a twelve-month position with a renewable contract on terms agreed upon at the time of hire and based upon rank. In furtherance of the University’s and the College’s fundamental commitment to diversity among our faculty, student body, and staff, we strongly encourage applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and others whose background, experience, and viewpoints would contribute to a diverse law school environment.

Screening of applicants will begin March 1, 2020, and continue until the position is filled. To apply, please mail or email your cover letter, curriculum vitae, and the names of at least three references to Paula Schaefer, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Professor of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law, 1505 W. Cumberland Ave., Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 or [email protected]. Applications will be considered as they are received and will continue until the position is filled. The University of Tennessee is an EEO/AA/Title VI/Title IX/Section 504/ADA/ADEA institution in the provision of its education and employment programs and services. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, or covered veteran status.