Counsel’s Counsel is the world’s preeminent advice column for law students. Written by recent UVA Law graduate, Jane Doe, J.D.
Question:
Dear Jane: Over the summer, one of my friends was invited to join VLR. At the time, I was thrilled for my friend. She worked hard last year and deserved to be recognized and rewarded for her success with a spot on VLR. I personally had zero desire to be on VLR. In fact, I quit the Unified Journal Tryout halfway through the weekend.
The problem started soon after we got back to school. A week into the semester, my friend told me about the VLR Outline Bank. I had heard of other organizations having member-only outline banks, like Virginia Law Women and FedSoc. I didn’t realize VLR also had its own outline bank. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that year after year, gunners pass down their best outlines to help the next generation.
I asked my friend to send me an outline for Securities Regulation from the outline bank. I explained that I have been confused in class and could really use some extra help. I asked for the outline in a moment of desperation. She seemed sympathetic; we all know SecReg is a challenging class. She told me she would look through the bank and send me an outline.
A week went by and my friend did not send me an outline. I reached out again with a friendly reminder. “Sure, yeah, will do,” she responded. We’re now four weeks into the semester, and I still haven’t gotten the outline. She mentioned something about having to check the Managing Editor’s lengthy “rulebook.” Do I keep asking her to send me a VLR outline? Or should I accept defeat and pay the $10 dues to get access to the FedSoc outline bank?
- Outline or Out of Line
Answer:
Out of Line: I understand why you think you want an outline from the VLR Outline Bank. After all, who wouldn’t want an outline titled “CivPro Outline_GOD,” or a National Security outline with all of the answers to the cold calls already filled in?
Unfortunately, I’m not shocked that someone on VLR wouldn’t send you an outline. VLR doesn’t share their office door or their purified water with VJIL. They didn’t even give their newest editorial board members the latest merch, VLR-embossed Lululemon sweatshirts. A journal that doesn't share these basic necessities of life would never donate a pristinely-formatted Word document with pages of tables reciting the holdings for all of the unassigned notes cases.
The bigger question is: why are you taking SecReg? You clearly aren’t a gunner; you didn’t even make it to the writing component of the journal tryout. Did someone in the transactional group at your law firm tell you during OGI that you need to take the class to succeed in Big Law? I know add-drop has already ended, but you need to get out now.
If it is too late to drop the class, I don’t think your only solution is paying the $10 FedSoc dues. You don’t need FedSoc on your resume—there isn’t a single appellate judge in any of the eleven judicial circuits who is hiring a clerk that didn’t even bother to join a specialty journal. But if you are willing to shell out some cash for an outline, I would suggest paying $14 to access the Virginia Law Women outline bank. (The extra four dollars accounts for the gender pay gap.) You might be a man, but I’m certain that the women of VLW will take pity on you given your desperation.
You can also refocus your efforts on getting an outline from a member of a specialty journal or a different student organization. I can’t imagine someone on VLBR or VJOLT not sharing an outline. The Tax Journal will probably give you an outline and a Spindrift. VELJ will give you an outline as long as you promise to recycle it after finals. Many other student orgs, including SBA and ACS, have free outline banks. While I can’t vouch for the quality of these outlines, something is better than nothing.
I’m sure you’re feeling let down by your friend. You really shouldn’t blame her though. The Managing Editor runs a tight ship out of the new VLR office, and they clearly didn’t include “sharing is caring” on their long list of rules. Good luck finding an outline.
- Jane Doe, J.D.
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