Dennis J. Tonsing - 1000 Days to the Bar: But the Practice of Law Begins Now, 2nd Edition

1000 Days to the Bar

But the Practice of

Law Begins Now

2nd ed.

Dennis J. Tonsing

William S. Hein & Co., Inc.

Buffalo, New York

2010

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tonsing, Dennis J.

1000 days to the bar, but the practice of law begins now/Dennis J. Tonsing. 2nd ed.p.cm.Includes index.ISBN 978-0-8377-3881-9

1. LawStudy and teachingUnited States. 2. Practice of lawUnited States. I. Title. II. Title: One thousand days to the bar, but the practice of law begins now.

KF272.T66 2010

340.071173dc22

2010008682

2010 William S. Hein & Co., Inc.

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

This volume is printed on acid-free paper.

DEDICATION

In memory of Trevor Douglas Tonsing

Et in perpetuum, nepe, ave et vale.

And to Matthew Paul Tonsing

Perseverantia omnia vincit.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

What I have learned about academic support I have learned from three sources:

My colleagues who have dedicated themselves to helping students navigate through law schools across the countrythe academic support professionals. They confer, they write, they blog, they constantly communicate via e-mail and telephonethey help each other and they help law students become lawyers. Those educators with whom I have worked at Vermont Law School, at Roger Williams University School of Law, and at Concord Law School, who have continually encouraged me to innovate and learn. The thousands of law studentsnow lawyerswho have attended my presentations in law schools and conferences, worked with me one-to-one, enrolled in my doctrinal classes, and so often provided feedback about how one learns to think like a lawyer.

Informed readers may hear echoes of the voices of their own law school academic support professionals as they sift through the nuts and bolts sections of this book. Most of the ideas you will find are sprouts from seeds planted by my sources of learning, especially my colleagues in this field of dreams. I have done my best to attribute those ideas to their generators. To all of these mentors, teachers, students, colleagues and friends I say, Thank you.

Ten years ago, Sheila Jarrett, now Senior Editor for William S. Hein & Co., encouraged me to write this book. In 2009, she encouraged me to write a second edition. Sheila recognized the importance of the message in this book, and followed through. For this I thank her.

Special thanks for many varieties of assistance with this second edition to Kim Baker, David Chipps, Debi Curry, Silvia Haas, Amy Jarmon, Rich Litvin, David Logan, Meredith Muller, Larry Ritchie, Jon Strauss, Dan Weddle, Merlin Williams, Daniel Iglesias Wolter, Pavel Wonsowicz, and, of course, to Kristy Tonsing.

FOREWORD TO THE
SECOND EDITION

Every summer, I send a letter to all members of the incoming first-year class, advising them to purchase Dennis Tonsings 1000 Days to the BarBut the Practice of Law Begins Now. I tell them to read the book before the first day of class and to reread it through the semester as their familiarity with the study of law grows. In addition, I incorporate it throughout our schools Law School Strategies Program. It informs my lectures to the student body at large and my advice to individual students. My study group leaders are thoroughly familiar with it and work hard to help first-year students incorporate its advice into their daily preparation.

Why does this book occupy such a prominent place in our program? The reason is simple: it is the most powerful, accessible, and practical book on law school learning strategies I have ever seen. My students who implement its advice routinely see their grades jump dramatically across the board in a single semester, and they sustain and increase those improvements for the remainder of their law school careers.

But it does something even more important: it prepares my students for the real world of law, where clients entrust to lawyers the protection of their rights, their property, their liberties, sometimes even their lives. What professors and students do in law schools is serious business because the fortunes of clients we have yet to meet are riding on our efforts. Dean Tonsings book is rooted deeply in that fundamental reality.

The key to this books power, consequently, is twofold: Dean Tonsing breaks law school learning strategies into understandable, logical, and practical steps that maximize the effect of students study efforts; and he explicitly ties those learning strategies to the strategies practicing lawyers use to understand, analyze, and apply legal concepts in the real-life representation of their clients. Students who employ Dean Tonsings methods not only improve their law school performances; they come to understand the practical implications of their hard work for their transition into the world of practice.

In other words, they learn how to practice law while pursuing success in the study of law: hence, the subtitle: The Practice of Law Begins Now. As David A. Logan, Dean of Roger Williams University School of Law, wrote in the foreword to the first edition of this book,

Dean Tonsings ... goalshowing law students how every one of their activities, even those that appear to be drudgery, is a direct predecessor of, and an essential aspect of a skill used by practicing lawyers results in a refreshing clarity about the link between the immediate and the permanent. 1000 Days does more than point out the link; it shows how a law students daily activities promote accomplishment of what are every students three goals: developing a rich, deep understanding of legal principles necessary to the successful practice of law; earning grades that reflect each students personal best effort; and passing the bar exam on the first try.

In this second edition, Dean Tonsing maintains this central strength of the first edition and provides new material detailing a step-by-step approach to attacking law school essay questions. His advice is, as always, insightful and accurate. Rather than providing tricks or silver bulletswhich law students should always regard as suspect, by the wayhe makes the analytical process explicit, and does so in a way any novice legal thinker could follow to great effect, both on a law school essay test and in the development of his analytical skills.

Therein lies the genius of this book. Students who implement its strategies properly will see much more than improved law school performancethey will see improved legal reasoning. While mastering the skills required to meet the demands of law school, they will be learning to be outstanding legal thinkers. In other words, they will be learning to be outstanding lawyers.

My advice to the readerwhether you are a law student, a professor, or an academic support professionalis to make this books advice central to the strategies you apply to the study of law. Dean Tonsings advice, after all, does nothing more than make explicit what successful law students do to succeed. Much of it, professors will realize, is what they themselves did, often intuitively, while in law school and later in practice. Dean Tonsing has simply removed the mystery and chance involved in students discovery of effective learning strategies and analytical processes.

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