Advice on Con Law from your TA's

I asked each of your TA’s to offer some words of advice and effective strategies for making the most out of your Con Law experience. Here’s what they said:

Welcome to Con Law! While Con Law is a fun and exciting course, it can also be challenging. It is important to set yourself up for success when preparing for class and reviewing your notes after class. Some of the cases you read will be difficult to understand, especially if they were written in the 1700s and 1800s. If you don't understand a case after your first read, read it again! If you still don't understand a case after your second or third read, discuss it with your classmates. Even if you are both confused about the case, talking it through will help both of you better understand the case and identify what you are specifically confused about. After you've covered that case in class, look over the case one more time! Class discussion should clear up your confusion so reading the case one more time after class will help solidify your understanding. 

It’s also important to figure out what note taking strategy works for you. Most people are used to typing their notes during class so switching to handwriting your notes requires some adjustments. I liked to type up my case briefs prior to class, print them out for class, and handwrite my notes into the blank spaces in my case brief. I organized my briefs with headings that follow the flow of class discussion (facts, state action, petitioner's argument, respondent's argument, etc.) and left lots of blank space under each heading to handwrite my notes during class. This way I could easily see how I understood the case prior to class and how class discussion altered or supported that understanding. I also made sure to review these case briefs before class so I could fully follow along with class discussions. Finally, don't be afraid to disagree with or question the court's logic! The Supreme Court doesn't always get it right and paying attention to whether you think the court got it right will keep you more engaged with the material.

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The best piece of advice I can give for being successful in Con Law this year is to come to class prepared, allow class discussion to clarify spots of confusion, and then review the material after class to solidify your understanding. Con Law can be confusing and overwhelming, but if you take the time to consistently prepare and review, the pieces of the puzzle will start to fall into place. What especially worked for me was to begin my outline early and continue to work on and edit it at the end of each week. The more you can make Con Law become muscle memory by periodically re-engaging yourself with the material, the easier and more manageable it will feel come finals time.

There are many factors that make Con Law different from other subjects. One difference is that often times there is no set test that can be applied to determine what the outcome should be. Other subjects, like Civ Pro, have tests that can be comfortable to us as law students since all we have to do is memorize and apply them. Con Law is different in that there isn’t always a clear test to be our safety blanket. In Con Law, you have to be thinking about each situation from the two opposing views and then interpret the holdings of cases both narrowly and broadly in order to support/oppose each. Every professor tells us to consider things from both sides, but it is even more important to do so in Con Law, so get yourself in that habit from the beginning.

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The most important thing that helped me succeed in Con Law was understanding that this is not a black letter law class. You will not be studying clear-cut statutes or regulations that tell you exactly what “the rule” is. While it can be frustrating at first, it will become easier once you realize a few things. First, realize that your Con Law “rule book” will come from the rules and holdings from Supreme Court cases. As a result, cataloguing each and every case is absolutely paramount for success. Second, realize that holdings may be interpreted in more than one way; even a singular holding will give you two ways to argue the law, for both the plaintiff and the defendant. Push yourself in this regard to make analogies and distinctions from the reasoning in each case; if you can do this, you will be in great shape. Third, Con Law is an ever-changing body of law, embrace its amorphousness and get comfortable in the “grey areas” – not everything is always black or white.  

These may be novel ideas to you as a 2L, but you will learn to understand them. Make sure to put in the work each and every week and enjoy the ride along the way. You will be given the opportunity to practice your skills with written assignments – take advantage of them! These are key to sharpening your exam skills. And finally…go to your TA sessions! You can do this, good luck.

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Con law was the first course I really learned how to think about both sides of an argument and articulate that using cases and terms of art. I think the real world applicability and the opportunity to argue both sides is what makes Con Law so unique. Con law is the kind of course that has you asking “why?” All. The. Time. So don’t be afraid to do so! If you’re not confused and questioning everything, you’re  probably not doing it right. Keep an open mind and be comfortable with being uncomfortable! 

The thing that really worked for me was prepping for every class by creating a table that had the arguments each side would be making for every case we read. Having that prepped and ready helped me remember the key points and made studying for the final exam much more manageable. It also made it so that rather than scrambling to write down everything I could, I got to really listen to Professor G, highlight and star the points he reiterated and supplement what I had already prepared. At the end of each class, I would also write a brief summary statement from each case with the terms of art that Professor Gewirtzman took the time to highlight and made sure I knew those cold so I could reference them during writing assignments and the exam. Lastly, I leaned on my TA! Going to the TA sessions really helped me to fill in the blanks and feel more confident.

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Welcome to Con Law I! While this is a challenging class, there are ways to make sure you are keeping up with the coursework. I suggest reading ahead by one class. I believe that this helped to fully understand what was going on during class. I would definitely take notes while reading and pay attention to the questions Professor Gewirtzman poses on the website for each reading. If there is anything you do not understand, try reading the case again after the class and also talk about it with your friends. I find that talking about the material really helps you to engage with it. This subject is different than others because it is constantly changing. There are probably going to be decisions you do not agree with, and that is okay! Try to have fun this semester and be engaged in class, it is one of the best classes you will take!

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Welcome to Professor Gewirtzman’s Con Law Class! I am ecstatic to be one of your TA’s and can’t wait to meet you all! A few quick pieces of advice—Embracing this class early on and tapping into your “inner geek” will not only make the class more interesting, but will allow you to engage more fully with the material. Read every case, whether your group is on call or not. Doing so will allow you to participate meaningfully in the class discussions. Pay special attention to the words used by Professor Gewirtzman both in class and in his videos. As a 2L, I know you’ve learned by now that words really matter—they matter even more so in this class. Think about whether you agree with the reasoning behind a decision or not, and why. Being critical of the Court’s reasoning allows you to truly invest yourself in the material and come out on the other side with a higher level of understanding. Finally, don’t be afraid to ask questions and get answers wrong—this isn’t the class where you’ll be penalized for that. Most importantly, have fun! I hope you have a meaningful and successful semester. The rest of the TA’s and I are rooting for you!

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Think critically and challenge your own viewpoints. You might have a tendency to think a certain way, which is totally normal. But now imagine you were hired by someone who thinks the exact opposite way on the same topic. You have to bring the strongest possible argument against your own personal views. And this is what lawyers do all the time. Separating yourself from the issue is easier to do in tort, or contract, than it is in constitutional law, especially when discussing personal rights and liberties. So, it is a challenge but one you must overcome to be an advocate, and to do really well in this course.  

For myself, I would do the same hypo questions twice. First, as one side, then again as the opposite side. Instead of limiting my counter-analysis to one section of my IRAC, having an entirely separate answer allowed for a stronger logical framework of my opposing arguments. In doing so, I was able to frame not only the facts, but the law / cases used as my rules. 

Finally, I highly recommend thinking critically about both sides' arguments in cases, writing out two separate answers on hypos and challenging yourself to think, "what is the strongest argument against my own personal view here?" and then trying to defeat that argument. 

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Con Law 1 & 2 are two of the more unique classes you take in law school. They require a level of creativity that is not needed in many other classes. To that end, my biggest recommendation is to read the cases and truly understand the rules of law that you distill from each class. From there, you aren't going to be asked to simply regurgitate what was said but apply it in unique and creative ways. Sometimes, this means there is more than one answer. This is ok so long as you use the law to create a coherent legal argument to defend what you think. Understanding and rereading the cases are the best way to accomplish this.