Ethan Brown ‘25
Features Editor
On Tuesday, January 23, this tired 2L did something deserving of a medal: I voluntarily sat through Student Affairs’ “Reorientation for 1Ls and LL.M. Students.” Surrounded by throngs of plucky 1Ls dying to hear if they’re going to flunk out of UVA Law because they got a B+ in Torts,[1] I listened to Deans Goluboff and Davies describe to students the various obstacles of the spring semester, offering words of encouragement about the same.
I remember the class of 2025’s Reorientation last year quite well—namely, how much everybody hated it. Last year’s Reorientation largely centered around a panel of three UVA Law alumni who talked at us about how miserable legal practice is—surely a valid topic, but not exactly what you want to hear when you’re already feeling a little negative about returning to school after a bruising 1L fall.
So even though it wasn’t my dream way of spending half an hour on a Tuesday afternoon, I was at least a little interested in seeing if Student Affairs had tweaked things from last year. And to my welcome surprise, this year’s Reorientation did seem better, both in content and audience reception. Most of the 1Ls I spoke to about the event didn’t have the same vitriol that last year’s meeting attracted.
Dean Risa Goluboff spoke first. Echoing many of the sentiments she expressed last year, Dean Goluboff reminded the 1Ls and LL.M.s present that the first semester of law school is meant to be hard—and that there is no shame in feeling that way. She noted that after her first semester, she too feared that she wasn’t getting the whole “thinking like a lawyer” thing. But obviously, with time, it clicked. She encouraged students to be patient until it does for them too.
Dean Goluboff also touched on the frustrations that many 1Ls feel after taking four months of Civil Procedure, Contracts, Criminal Law, and Torts, all of which might feel distantly removed from the topics that brought students to UVA Law in the first place. She said that these courses—even if they aren’t the sexiest in the world—help form a solid foundation for students’ legal education, a foundation that will no doubt help them in their elective classes this spring. 1Ls are eligible to take up to seven credits of electives in areas of personal interest, a tantalizing prospect but one that segued nicely into Dean Goluboff’s next point. It is impossible to do everything at UVA Law, and she cautioned students against biting off more than they could chew.
Indeed, there is a lot for 1Ls to chew on this semester, as Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Sarah Davies ’91 and Student Affairs Director Megan Durkee ’15 made clear. Once Dean Goluboff had concluded her remarks by encouraging 1Ls to seize the exciting months ahead of them—and by strongly reminding 1Ls that their fall grades do not define them[2]—Student Affairs took over to outline the items on the agenda until May. The list is long. 1Ls this semester face two heavy doctrinal lifts in Constitutional Law and Property; classes for the first time with 2Ls (gasp) and 3Ls (bigger gasp); journal tryouts in February and March; student organization leadership elections; job applications; networking events; LRW briefing and oral arguments; the list goes on.
Dean Davies cautioned the importance of staying sane during all of these events. Even during things as daunting as the journal tryout, take time to talk with friends, exercise, shower, sleep, eat, and relax. She said that the same logic should dictate for every other event during the semester, which as someone who has recently gone through the gauntlet of 1L spring, I wholeheartedly endorse.
Keeping to a tight hour-long presentation, Dean Davies then invited four UVA Law alumni—Joe Charlet ’18, Jonathan York ’18, Dascher Pasco ’18, and Rambert Tyree ’22—to the stage. Your humble writer left just a few minutes after they began talking because he got hungry. But I am sure they offered similar advice to Deans Goluboff and Davies: Keep calm, take a deep breath, and do your best.
As a closing message, I will offer my own unsolicited Reorientation advice. 1L spring is hard. I found the second semester of law school to be much more challenging; much of 1L fall is laid out for you, whereas the spring semester is the first chance to truly make UVA Law “yours.” This is exciting to be sure, but scary—how can anyone, after just four months of study, know what paths to start taking and which ones to leave temporarily unexplored?
To that, I say: please lean on the 2Ls and 3Ls around you. Law students are narcissists who love to talk about themselves, including their study strategies, favorite professors, relaxation techniques, and everything in between. I feel so grateful to the upperclassman who helped me navigate the spring last year, and I don’t know a single 2L who doesn’t relish the opportunity now to repay the favor. So please—let us help you, whether it be over coffee, or through a reassuring email, or whatever makes the next several months feel less stressful to you.
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bwj2cw@virginia.edu