Final Blog Post

One thing I really wanted to talk about from this semester was the note taking style we used in this class. Professor Smith, you had us take notes word for word, exactly as you wrote them or said them, because that's what would be on the quizzes. And honestly, at first I thought it was pretty strict, I thought Why would he make us take these notes word for word, letter for letter. I didn't truly understand, but then I took the first quiz and realized that whatever was in my notes was the exact answer to the question. I talked to Professor Smith about this, and he told me that in law, everything is word for word, and one different word can change the meaning of the entire phrase.

As a pre-law student who wants to be a lawyer, I realized this is actually really valuable preparation. In law, everything has to be exact. You can't just paraphrase a contract or a statute because changing even one word can completely change the meaning. Like, legal documents are super specific for a reason, and if you're off by even a little bit, it can mean something totally different than what was intended.

Thats the thing about legal documents is that they are written the way they are for a reason. Every word is written the way it is and in the place it is in for a reason.  Lawyers have to quote cases accurately, draft documents where every word matters, and if you misquote something in court or in a brief, that can be a serious problem. You could lose a case or even face ethical consequences.

When having to write these notes down exactly as they were said or written, it not only allows me to get a good grade on the quiz, but it also prepares me for my future in law. Lawyers quote cases all the time, and when they do this, these quotes have to be accurate word for word, just like the notes we took in class. 

Learning this as a freshman is a big advantage, I'm building this habit now, early on. Most people don't develop this level of precision until law school, so I'm getting a head start on what will be expected of me professionally. Having this advantage going into Law school gives me one less step of the hard process that law school is. 

There were points this semester where I didn't see the point of the word for word notes and just wanted to write down the main points. But now I see that something I thought was annoying and tedious is now something that is going to give me a huge advantage and have a very good effect in my future. 

So I just wanted to say thank you, Professor Smith, for making the notes we took have to be word for word. But also for an amazing semester, this class has taught me so much more than I thought it would. This class and specifically the note taing has built habits and brought things to my attention that will help me tremendously in my future, not only as a lawyer but also as a person. 

Also im gonna need to start investing in some silver and gold rather than stocks. Maybe that will help me the most.