Choosing Electives

In your second year at Loyola, you have to take Constitutional Law, Evidence, and Ethical Lawyering. Those classes total 11 credits, which leaves you with about 18 credits of your choice (about 9 a semester).

So how to choose what to take?

Part of what drew me to Loyola was the dual degree J.D. / Tax L.L.M. program, that allowed me to finish law school in the normal 3 years with an added L.L.M. in taxation. The program requires 12 credits of class in the summer after your first year, and an additional 12 credits of tax courses in your 2L and 3L years. To keep on track, I decided to take 4 units of tax classes every semester. That led me to choose Tax Policy Colloquium and Advanced Federal Tax Research in the Fall, and both Tax Law Practice and Tax Practice and Procedure in the Spring. My fall classes were excellent. Tax Policy gave me the opportunity to meet with and critique the work of leading tax theorists, and Tax Research honed my memo writing skills in a national tax memo competition. I cannot recommend those classes enough.

That left me with about 10 credits of available classes for the whole year. I knew I was interested in business courses, all of which require Business Associations (4 credits), so I signed up for that right away. Coming from the creative world, I was also interested in what Entertainment Law (3 credits) had to offer. Last, I signed up for Financing the Business Startup (3 credits) just because it seemed fun. It’s only the second week of class…but so far I love it.

I have two pieces of advice. First, take classes with your GPA in mind. This will matter so much more than you could guess. I promise you. Be defensive with your grades. Second, take classes for fun. I promised myself that I would take at least one class every semester just because it seemed cool, to help balance out the stress of law school. Law school is a long three years. Make sure to have little rewards for yourself.