The University of Georgia School of Law is dedicated to providing the tools students need as they undertake the journey of learning to study the law. While that journey is stimulating and fulfilling, it can also be challenging and difficult. Almost all law students, no matter how qualified and prepared they are for the task, struggle at times to master the skills required.
 
The Academic Enhancement Program (AEP) was created to help students adapt to the unique demands of law school. AEP conducts a series of workshops scheduled to coincide with the times students are likely to have concerns about particular topics. Workshops target skills that cut across the curriculum, such as how to prepare for and manage classes, how to outline and create review materials, and how to successfully prepare for and take exams.
 
AEP also provides one-on-one counseling to students who would like more individualized assistance. Contact Allison Hale (ahale@uga.edu), director of the program, for more information or to make an appointment.
 
 
University of Georgia School of Law

Academic Enhancement Program

‘OneL’ Series

Fall 2024

[Sessions will generally last around 50 minutes. Feel free to bring your lunch.]

* First session – Wednesday 8/21 at 11:00 a.m. in Room J:

Aug. 21 – The Basics: Things Every New Law Student Needs to Know

  • As you are getting used to reading cases and navigating your classes, this session will provide tips specific to each of your first-year subjects and alert you to unfamiliar terminology, legal doctrines, and principles that cut across all your courses.

* Remaining sessions – on the following Mondays (not every Monday) at 1:00 p.m. in Room J:

Aug. 26 – Beyond the Case Brief: What Are You Actually Supposed to be Getting from All of This?

  • What is the end game here? What will you actually be tested on? The answers to those questions are unique to law school and should dictate how you approach the cases you are reading, how you take notes in class, and how you study outside of class. In this session, we will answer those questions and look at some typical law school exam questions to help you better focus on what matters.

Sept. 9 – Starting to Construct the Puzzle – Synthesizing for Classes

  • You understand the individual cases, but understanding how they fit together is what will matter for exams. This session will focus on how you can begin to pull clusters of cases together and start to lay the groundwork for outlining.

Sept. 23 – Outlining: Your Biggest Assignment (That is Never Assigned)

  • Creating your own outline of a course is critical to making sure you will ultimately be prepared for the exam. Now is the time to begin that process, but make no mistake about it: there are wrong ways to outline.
  • This session will show you how to effectively begin pulling together the case briefs, class notes, hypotheticals, rules, and other bits of materials you are accumulating into manageable and organized study aids that will help you at exam time.

Oct. 7 – Who’s Afraid of the (big, bad) Bluebook?

  • Wrestling with The Bluebook is rite of passage for all new law students, and learning to do it properly is critical for your legal research and writing assignments, for journals and Law Review, and for practice. This session will provide tips to help you master the ins and outs of the Bluebook (you may even find that it can be kind of fun!) and will focus largely on case citation. This is a hands-on workshop, so bring your Bluebook with you.

Oct. 21 – Exam-Writing Series –Session 1: Spotting & Framing the Issues

  • This session will focus on unearthing and framing issues and sub-issues in essay exam questions, and on effectively organizing your discussion of those issues.

Oct. 28 – Exam-Writing Series – Session 2: Dealing with the Rules

  • How much “rule” is enough in an exam answer? How much is too much? What about exceptions to rules? This session will focus on these questions and others related to dealing with rules in exam answers.

Nov. 11 – Exam-Writing Series – Session 3: Explaining the Analysis

  • Application of the relevant rules to the facts you are given on an exam is the heart of a law school essay exam answer. This workshop will focus on how to explain your analysis of the facts in a way that earns maximum points.

Nov. 25 – Exam-Writing Series – Session 4: “Pencils Up”

  • With exams just around the corner, this session focuses on last minute practical advice for reading week as well as exam day -- everything from skinny and attack outlines, to anticipating and preparing for exam questions, to managing your time on an exam.