Word of the Week - Monday 25th April 2011

Monday 25^th April 2011 – Jury

This week’s Word of the Week is ‘Jury’...

“A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgement. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to judge whether an accused person is not guilty or guilty of a crime. (There is no such verdict as "innocent"). They are composed of jurors, who are by definition layman finders of fact, not professionals.

The old institution of grand juries, which are now rare, still exist in some places, particularly the United States, to investigate whether enough evidence of a crime exists to bring someone to trial.

The jury arrangement has evolved out of the earliest juries, which were found in early medieval England. Members were supposed to inform themselves of crimes and then of the details of the crimes. Their function was therefore closer to that of a grand jury than that of a jury in a trial.”

-- Wikipedia

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Word of the Week - Monday 18th April 2011

Monday 18^th April 2011

This week's 'Word of the Week' is 'Conspiracy'...

“In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement. There is no limit on the number participating in the conspiracy and, in most countries, no requirement that any steps have been taken to put the plan into effect (compare attempts which require proximity to the full offence). For the purposes of concurrence, the actus reus is a continuing one and parties may join the plot later and incur joint liability and conspiracy can be charged where the co-conspirators have been acquitted or cannot be traced. Finally, repentance by one or more parties does not affect liability but may reduce their sentence.

A civil conspiracy or collusion is an agreement between two or more parties to deprive a third party of legal rights or deceive a third party to obtain an illegal objective.^[1] A conspiracy may also refer to a group of people who make an agreement to form a partnership in which each member becomes the agent or partner of every other member and engage in planning or agreeing to commit some act. It is not necessary that the conspirators be involved in all stages of planning or be aware of all details. Any voluntary agreement and some overt act by one conspirator in furtherance of the plan are the main elements necessary to prove a conspiracy. A conspiracy may exist whether legal means are used to accomplish illegal results, or illegal means used to accomplish something legal.^[2] "Even when no crime is involved, a civil action for conspiracy may be brought by the persons who were damaged."^[1]

In the law of tort, the legal elements necessary to establish a civil conspiracy are substantially the same as for establishing a criminal conspiracy, i.e. there is an agreement between two or more natural persons to break the law at some time in the future or to achieve a lawful aim by unlawful means. The criminal law often requires one of the conspirators to take an overt step to accomplish the illegal act to demonstrate the reality of their intention to break the law, whereas in a civil conspiracy, an overt act towards accomplishing the wrongful goal may not be required. Etymologically, the term comes from Latin con- "with, together", and spirare "to breathe".”

   

--  Wikipedia

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Best Apple Apps for Law Students

Applications seem to be everywhere in today’s society, and that is mainly down to Apple – the driving force behind the ‘apps’ success. With so many applications in today’s market, there is an app for almost everything, so how can you find what you really need, without wasting money? In an attempt to save you both, time and money, I will be listing my favourite applications, which I feel will be useful to other law students. Three of the six applications listed will be free, and I really recommend checking them out.

Blackboard Learn – Free – Blackboard learn is an application designed to help students view their course management system whilst on the move, or away from a computer. With this app you can keep track of your grades, get course updates from lecturers and receive school announcements – all whilst on the move!

LexisNexis Get Cases & Shepardize – Free – Although not as fully functional as the online version of the software, this application allows students to search cases and summaries – providing that you know the case siltation in advance. This is a great free application, especially for those who are on the move a lot or can’t access a computer.

Fastcase – Free – Fastcase is a relatively new application which lets you search case law and statutes whilst on the move. It acts as a free mobile library for your law needs, and even allows you to save your search history and documents which you may need at a later date. For a free app this is certainly useful, and can save time as you don’t have to try and find the information you need online or find the time to visit a real library.

So, there were my favourite three free applications, let’s take a look at some of the more pricier – but still extremely useful applications on the market at the moment.

iStudiez Pro - $2.99 – Law students have to be organised and have a routine; that is exactly where this app offers a helping hand. iStudiez helps you to organize a schedule by splitting your day into groups and therefore allowing time for assignments, deadlines and studying. You can change the colour of each label, to easily differentiate between your set activities.

Law in a Flash apps - $31.99 to $47.99 – This application is your standard flash card application, which attempts to prepare you for your exams. There are sixteen ‘Law in a Flash’ applications, providing you with almost every law school subject you will ever need to revisit for exam preparation. Each app has more than 300 flash cards, and also includes the ability to bookmark or save cards so that you can revisit them at a later date. The application also allows you to ‘shuffle’ the cards, to prevent you from memorising the answers, rather than studying the card. You can also add notes to the cards, which may help you understand the question or answer a little easier the second time around.

Black's Law Dictionary - $49.99 – Having a dedicated law dictionary on your iPhone, iPod or iPad is incredibly useful – especially for those times when you aren’t in a WiFi zone and don’t want to pay to use 3G internet (if you have 3G in the first place!). This app may seem expensive, but it is a useful tool for law students on the move, and is much lighter than carrying the paper version of the book.

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Word of the Week - Monday 11th April 2011

Word of the Week (WotW) is a new part of the blog, where I will post a new word with a definition every Monday. The majority of words will have a legal meaning, however the idea is to improve everyone's knowledge and vocabulary.

Monday 11^th April 2011 

This week's 'Word of the Week' is 'Perjury'...

“Perjury, also known as forswearing, lying under oath or lying on oath, is the wilful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding.^[1] That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the case. For example, it is not considered perjury to lie about one's age unless age is a factor in determining the legal result, such as eligibility for old age retirement benefits.” 

  --  Wikipedia

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Useful Gadgets For Law Students

There are a few useful and reasonably priced gadgets which are now available for students all around the world, but what are the most useful for those of us studying law at university?

•  E-Reader – Studying law requires a lot of reading and research, and an E-Reader allows you to carry thousands of books at a time, without weighing you down. E-Readers are also relatively inexpensive, which is always great when you are competing with a student budget. I own a Bebook One, and it is such a small and useful device to carry around with me. It makes it much easier to carry multiple books around, as the device is very light and thin. Two of the most popular E-Readers include the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook.

• Smartphone – Smartphones allow you to keep in touch with classmates in multiple ways, including traditional methods such as calling or texting, but also gives you the option to use the internet to connect via social networking websites on the go. As a law student it is important that people are able to contact you, especially if you wish to work pro-bono cases, and having a smartphone allows you to connect with people in a variety of ways.

• Laptop or Netbook – Laptops and Netbooks are both portable devices which allow you to take your work with you, giving you more flexibility. It also allows you to work on campus using your own computer, instead of having to transfer data via memory sticks and ensures that you always have a place to work. Netbooks are smaller and cheaper versions of laptops, however they generally don’t include a CD-ROM drive and aren’t very good for running heavy programs or games.

• Voice Recorder – With the lecturers permission, a voice recorder is an excellent way to record your lectures, allowing you to listen back to them later on. This is especially useful if you are struggling with a certain module or aren’t very good at taking detailed notes, as you can review the whole lecture again and again until you get all of the information that you need.

• External Hard Drive or Memory Stick – Backing up data is crucial for a student as anyone who has ever lost data will tell you. No-one wants to lose all of their hard work, especially when the hard work in question is lecture notes and coursework. It is important to buy an external hard drive or a memory stick so that you can back up your work frequently. These two devices also allow you to transfer work easily. Using either of these devices you can access your work on any computer, providing that it has a USB port, and print out copies of your work, which is really useful if you don’t own your own printer.

• Printer – Whilst there is bound to be multiple printers at your university, you may find that printing every document that you need will become an expensive process. Purchasing your own personal printer and ink may set you back a little bit in the beginning, it will save you money in the long run. You also don’t have to worry about queuing to print a document, or whether the university printer is going to work!

These are some of the gadgets that I would recommend students in general, but especially those considering law. For a more detailed overlook of what is needed for Law School, please read; 'What Do I Need For Law School?'. Please feel free to recommend your own list of gadgets for students in the comments section below!

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What Does 'Lawster' Mean?

‘Help! I’m A Law Student…’ was a descriptive blog name; one which was quite self-explanatory. However, after the recent rebranding of my blog, I decided to change the name to ‘The Lawster’. Now my readers took the change in a positive manner, but I have been asked a repeated question via Twitter – ‘What does Lawster mean?’

At first it may seem like a generic name, but deep down it does have a hidden meaning. The word itself not mean anything in particular, however when the word is broken down it seems less generic. Let’s take a look by breaking ‘Lawster’ into three parts:

• Law = this part is fairly straightforward as it is the main topic of the blog, and also the course in which I am studying.

• St = the main meaning of this part is to stand for ‘student’, however it has a duel meaning and could also stand for ‘stories’, which is especially useful for when I have graduated from Law School, but still wish to continue updating the blog.

• Er = the final part of the word stands for ‘Europe’, and I was originally planning on spelling it as ‘Eur’ to make the meaning a little clearer, but after a lot of careful consideration I decided that it would make the name harder to pronounce as a whole. Additionally, spelling it as ‘Eur’ could have caused some confusion with spelling, so I decided against that spelling and dropped the ‘u’, producing the name ‘Lawster’.

The plan behind the new blog name was to create a name which is short, generic and easy to spell, whilst still consisting of a meaning which helps to describe what information the blog is going to contain. So whilst the blog name may seem generic and un-thought out a first glance, it does have a deeper and more significant meaning!

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Rebranding my blog

Previous - 'Help! I'm A Law Student...'

New - 'The Lawster'

As I’m sure a few of my readers who have read my blog from the start will have noticed, the blog is no longer called ‘Help! I’m A Law Student…’. All of the content will remain the same, however I will be looking to add some new sections, such as small competitions, quizzes and a rundown of the latest legal news.

There are a few reasons for the name and branding change, the first being the blogs target audience. With the name ‘Help! I’m A Law Student…’ I felt that it may intimidate or prevent people who aren’t students from visiting the blog. Of course, this would limit my target audience to students, and I didn’t think that this would be a smart move; especially considering that a lot of the content which I want to add at a later stage would be relevant to anyone interested in the world’s legal issues. So, instead I thought a more ‘generic’ name would suit and give me the freedom to write in more areas, rather than focussing solely on students.

The second reason for my decision was marketability. The domain name ‘Help! I’m A Law Student…’ would look much less professional and too long to promote when put into domain format – ‘www.helpimalawstudent.com’. Whereas, ‘www.thelawster.com’ is short and sweet, making it easier to read and remember. I also had quite a few people ask me how to type my previous blog name to find the address – does it use underscores or dashes? 

My final reason for changing the name is probably the least important, but I realised that I’m not going to be a law student forever, so I therefore didn’t want to lose my credibility after graduating. I know that I plan to study law for at least four to five years, but I didn’t want to wait to rebrand because I would then have to regain my page rank and would lose traffic. 

It wasn’t an easy decision to make, because I did like the ‘Help! I’m A Law Student…’ brand and it already had a high Google page rank, but hopefully starting fresh will help the blog attract more visitors and grow.

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Maintaining A Hobby In Law School

Being a prospective law student, I am sure that you have been told multiple horror stories by other students, friends and even family, in regards to how much time commitment is required in order to succeed at law school. I think that having less free time for hobbies or social activities is one of the main concerns for many university students, but law students seem to be affected more than most. Whilst it is true that studying law at university level takes a lot of time and commitment, it isn’t always the best idea to spend every minute of the day studying, or huddled in the library.

Instead you should try to maintain your current hobbies, or perhaps find a new one to enjoy. Law school can be very stressful as there is a lot to read, meaning that you are left with a lot of information to remember. Everyone needs a break, and a hobby is a great way to take your mind away from your studies, while still doing something that you enjoy. 

I know many law students who say that they struggle to find enough time to study effectively, let alone finding time to socialise or keep up with a hobby. However, the solution is learning to manage time more effectively. Do you really need to read the whole text book, or can you skim through it and pick out the relevant points? Do you spend too long time wasting on Facebook when you could be doing something more productive? 

Time management is the key to being a successful student, and I know many successful and happy students who are currently in their second or third years at law school. They are happy because they manage to keep the balance between study and life. Hobbies won’t make time for themselves, you have to find the time to do the things that you enjoy. Just remember, as important as studying is, you must set aside some time for yourself to do things that you enjoy, outside of school.

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My Worries About Starting Law School

Starting any university course is sure to give prospective students a few headaches and nightmares before the term starts, so it is no real surprise that I am already starting to feel the nerves - especially after reading of other students hesitations and problems when studying law. 

Law is one subject which has a lot of negativity surrounding its difficulty. I have read many a story about law students who can’t keep up with the recommended reading, struggle to understand the text and can’t manage their time effectively. I have been told by many people that studying law will leave me with almost no social life, let alone time for hobbies, and this is certainly off-putting.

What do I worry about in concerns to studying law? Well, first of all I worry about the difficulty of the course and the complexity of the material which I will have to memorise and evaluate. Secondly, I worry about how I will get on with other students in my class – not on a personal level, but more on the professional side. A typical law student worry is about having free time, because I have other things which I enjoy doing and also have a boyfriend and family to keep in touch with. 

No-one really knows what to expect from university, or from their course. You can’t predict what type of people will be in your class, or what each module will cover, and it is that uncertainty which invokes fear or anxiety. At the moment I am just trying to keep my mind on other things I enjoy, trying to make the most of my free time!

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Acting Professionally As A Student

Acting appropriately and professionally as a student isn’t always an easy task, especially with so many distractions and unhelpful friends around to change your demeanour. Behaving in a professional manner doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun whilst studying, it just means that you have to conduct yourself in a more positive manner when you are in the company of people that you don’t know all that well.

You may wonder why it is important to act professionally whilst still studying, after all you aren’t seeking work, you’re still a student – and we all know how students are stereotyped! However, this isn’t the case as employers are always looking for the best and most professional candidate for the job role. Communicating effectively and professionally with the people around you, you project yourself in a positive manner, which potential employers are desperately seeking. Who would you rather hire to fill a role in your company; someone who posts pictures of all their drunken parties on Facebook, regularly adds curse words to their sentences and doesn’t type using correct grammar, or someone who communicates effectively, keeps their personal life exactly that… personal, and who participates in activities within their area? Not a hard decision to make, is it? 

It isn’t as hard as it may seem to present yourself in a professional way, in fact there are a few easy steps that you can take to ensure you are seen as professional and motivated.

• Communication and Emails – be sure to communicate effectively, limiting the use of any curse words to friends and family. Remember to use spell check when sending emails to potential employers or contacts… simple typos give off a negative image, especially as most email programs include a spell check feature.

• Appearance – try to dress appropriately for the situation. Common sense tells you not to attend a job interview in a football jersey! The same goes with wearing too much make-up, or having an unusual hairstyle. If your job role includes interacting with potential clients, then image plays an important role.

• Social Networking – Be wary of what you post or upload to social networking websites, such as Twitter or Facebook. It is not unusual for potential employers to do a background search on all job candidates before or after the interview process. Do you really need to put the pictures of your latest drunken party online?

• Interact with fellow students – Again, as part of the background check potential employers may even decide to talk with your fellow students, teachers or previous employers to get some information on how you interact with other people and how well you work in a team.

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Do Law Students Need Business Cards?

Recently I have been asked a pretty common question from other potential law students: ‘Do law students need business cards?’. In my opinion, the answer to this question is quite simple… a resounding yes!

Business cards are a great networking tool, and allow students to make contacts early on in life, before they even start heading down their chosen career paths. With careers and industries being harder to break into, business cards are a vital way to make contacts and get your foot in the door. Networking with potential employers early on gives you an advantage over most other job candidates and shows that you are interested in enhancing your career.

The giving of a business card invokes a direct reaction, and the receiver of the card is inclined to give their card in response and this is why business cards work well for students. Giving out your business card isn’t the overall goal – the overall goal is to receive a business card from contacts who work in the field that you wish to enter. 

Handing out business cards is also a great way to provide potential clients with your contact details, without stopping to find paper and a pen to jot them down. It also looks much more professional and helps to represent you as a person in a more positive manner. 

Carrying business cards doesn’t solely apply to law students, but to every higher education student who wants to break into a professional industry such as Law, Politics, Game Design, Marketing, Advertising, Consulting, Journalism, etc. 

With the current price of business cards on the decline, there is no real reason to avoid using them. Don’t feel that you have to give out your card to every single person that you meet! Be selective and give out your card to people who you feel will be able to help you later on in life. Networking and making contacts takes some work, but will definitely help you later on in life, when you have finished your course and are looking for work, you will have the advantage of knowing people in the industry, who might even put in a good word or two!

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My New Hobby

As I don’t start university until September, I decided to start a new hobby – hopefully one that I will enjoy, learn and grow with. After a lot of debating and researching I finally purchased a Panasonic Lumix TZ8 (ZS5 if you live outside of Europe), memory card and case from Amazon.co.uk. I had read a lot of great reviews about the Lumix range, and the TZ8 provided me with a lot of manual control options normally found on more professional and expensive DSLR cameras, which will help me learn what each setting means and how it affects the overall image. 

First of all I have to say that I am very impressed with the camera for the price I paid. The ‘Intelligent Auto’ mode works quite well, unless you give the camera a really high contrast scenario. There are a bundle of scene modes, including Panorama Assist, Baby, Pet, Sports, Sunset, Food, Party, Scenery and many more. The camera is also quite impressive with night photography, which is where a lot of small compact cameras fall down. The longest exposure on most compact cameras is around 15 seconds, however the TZ8 manages an impressive 60 second exposure; a tripod or steady surface is highly recommended!

I have spent the last couple of days taking multiple shots of the same subject, but with different settings such as Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO to try and understand how each of these changes manipulate the image. Most of my shots have been taken indoors as the weather hasn’t been too co-operative with my efforts to take up a new hobby. 

Overall, I am really impressed with this small camera, it has so many great shooting features, not to mention HD video recording with sound, 16x zoom (12x Optical Zoom), simple controls and probably the best feature of all… it’s near pocket-sized and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg! 

As I mentioned, the Lumix TZ8 is priced in the general consumer range, and has even taken a price cut with the new Lumix TZ18 and TZ20 models being released this year. The price tag really made the camera a solid investment, even if I do decide that photography isn’t for me, or simply don’t have the time to stick with it whilst at university, as I will still have a great, well priced camera for family and holiday occasions. 

If you are looking at buying a new compact camera then I would definitely recommend the TZ8. The big brother of the TZ8 is the Lumix TZ10, and if you have a little more money to spend then you may find that this camera has some features which would be advantageous to you. The Lumix TZ10 has the same zoom range, lens and image quality as theTZ8, but with a few added features.  such as Geotagging or a 0.3 inch larger screen. Alternatively, you may be able to find the Lumix TZ7 (the predecessor to the TZ8) for a bargain price on websites such as eBay. The TZ7 has great image quality, however it doesn’t have any manual controls – so if you want a general point and shoot camera, the TZ7 is better for your needs than a TZ8 or TZ10.

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