Ramsey Cooper is a first-year student at Loyola Law School dedicated to centering community and humanity through her legal studies and career.
There is a huge emphasis on office hours at Loyola, especially for first year students. I could count on one hand how many times I attended office hours in undergrad. I was always doing something else outside of class that kept me from going and building relationships with my professors. Now, I go to office hours whenever I have any question or comment about the class. It is important in law school to develop these relationships with professors because the learning in law school is not just academic. Professors will teach you the content in class but can teach you about how to apply the concept to your profession in office hours.
I attend legal writing office hours most frequently. As the weeks stretch on and the persuasive brief assignment fast approaches, I find it helpful to talk through the content of the assignment with my professor. Though she tries not to give me direct answers, just the act of talking through the issues that I’m having helps me collect the building blocks to establish a plan for resolving those issues. Learning to write memos and briefs has been like learning to speak another language. Each time I go to office hours, I find a flaw in my assignment. This could be discouraging, but taking these flaws, fixing them, and being able to recognize them later is the goal of the course. Shying away from office hours because you are scared that your question is silly or your assignment isn’t far along enough will only hurt you in the long run.
At the end of the semester, office hours will be packed full. Last semester, my section had to sign up for slots for our criminal law office hours because there were frequently too many people to fit into the office all at once. Most of the time, depending on the professor, office hours can be a place to sit and listen to your classmates’ questions. When you’re so confused and don’t know where to start, listening to the questions of your classmates can be inspiring and helpful. Office hours are a place of understanding and comfort especially for people who learn better talking things out.
TOPICS: 1L, Faculty