1. First Year is the Hardest Year.
Getting used to the reading requirements, keeping up with the pace, and having the heaviest course-load of your three or so years at Osgoode Hall will all make your first year a thrilling, scary ride. But the hardest thing you’ll likely learn this year is how to “think like a lawyer”, and how to accept that your carefully constructed, highly researched, meticulously-polished argument is wrong. Not because there’s anything wrong with your argument, but because your professor (or judge, or classmate) likes somebody else’s argument better. The hardest part about first year is accepting that it’s the constructing, researching and polishing of arguments that is the point, and not whether you got the right answer or not.
2. Master the Bell Curve, Grasshopper.
Understanding the bell curve and how it works will go a long way to helping you get the most out of your classes here at Osgoode. What your particular score is on an exam is much less relevant than how everyone scored on the exam. For example, if one of your goals is to get the best grades possible for yourself, you may be inclined to also take classes with the very best professors. If you do, you’ll find yourself in fierce competition with a large number of other keen people, over a handful of A grades. If instead, you take the less popular classes with those of us who aren’t quite so motivated to pull down A’s (or even B’s), your competition will be greatly reduced.
3. Hard Exams are Your Friend.
Forget about building character, hard exams will help you get a more accurate picture of how well you understand the material, and you’ll be less likely to be shocked by a low grade if the exam was tough. Because of the bell curve, an easy exam can result in the situation where there may be only 5-10 points between the C grade and the A grade. If you happened to drink too much (or too little) whiskey that morning, and maybe misspelled a word or two that otherwise you wouldn’t have, it could cost you a letter-grade as your professor looks for something, anything to distinguish your paper from eighty other near-identical answers.
4. Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law.
Of all the market-speak you’ve heard about Osgoode, one factoid rings most true. At Osgoode, there’s a little bit of everything for us law students. Take this chance to explore legal areas that might not have otherwise occurred to you. Get involved in extra-curriculars. Have fun, it’s your last chance.
5. Don’t Believe the Hype about Bay Street.
You’re going to hear a lot about OCIs, and Articles, and things like “If you ever want to work on Bay Street, you have to start on Bay Street.” Don’t believe it. All you need to know about Bay Street can be summed up in two words: pyramid scheme. You’ll be herded like a cow through a chute, if you buy into the propaganda. If you want to work on Bay Street, go for it: there are obviously rewards for those suited to the work. But don’t think that you have to participate in their process if you might maybe possibly want to work there some day. If you have talent, they will be most happy to welcome you on board.
6. Don’t Believe the Hype about Grades.
Unless you’re going to be an academic, it really doesn’t matter that much what grades you get. If you are applying for Toronto jobs, the firms might use grades to differentiate between closely matched candidates, but nobody else cares. Hirers would rather know if you’ll fit in with their team, or if you’ll monopolize the Red Stapler.
7. You Are Not Here By Accident.
No matter how impossible the work seems, you can be sure that the rest of your class- or section-mates are just as scared shitless as you. The hardest part of law school is getting in.
8. Keele campus is a hole.
That is all.
9. Get Yer Ass Out to the Pubs…
… And Mock Trial…And Clubs Fair. Go for Intramural sports. Get out and have some fun. You’ll be working with the people you meet here at Osgoode for the rest of your legal life. Get to know them. Party with them, play with them, accumulate blackmail material on them.
10. It’s Not a Competition.
Okay, the bell curve does make it a competition, but it’s not a cut-throat competition. As I said above, you will go on to work with the people in your classes and they will remember how you behave towards them now. Treat your colleagues with kindness and respect, be helpful, accept help graciously. We’ve all seen the bastard lawyers on T.V., we all know the stories about students cutting cases out of the books in the library, and we all think those people are asses. You don’t have to be that person to be a great lawyer. Being nice will pay you dividends in the long run.
