Shadowing Practice: What I Wish I'd Known When Starting Law School - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Today I'm going to be talking to you about a couple of things
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Today I'm going to be talking to you about a couple of things
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that I wish I had known going into law school.
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I'm a 1L going into my winter quarter,
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and we're on the quarter system here,
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but most law schools will be going into their winter semester.
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I wanted to make this video because I was actually super apprehensive and anxious going into law school and,
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you know, throughout the whole process.
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Because once you accept your law school and you decide where you're going,
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that's a moment of, you know,
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real triumph and excitement, and it feels like a huge decisive step.
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but then after that you have this sort of blank period of waiting
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and for me personally I felt like I should spend all of
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that time prepping or doing something to get ready and I didn't know what that should be.
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If you are going to law school you're probably a type A personality
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or sort of type A adjacent
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and those of us who have those personalities we always like to go into a situation as prepared as possible
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but with law school it's not always possible to do that and In fact,
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it's not super helpful to try and pre-learn the law.
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I mean, I remember the sensation of trying to read this book on the history of the Constitution,
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which I had never studied before,
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and thinking, oh my god,
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I have to get through this book.
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If I can't get through this,
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how will I get through law school?
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And just really stressing myself out over the summer before law school started.
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And in the end, none of that mattered at all and had nothing to do with how well I did in school.
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I wanted to make this video now
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because a lot of you probably are getting your acceptances
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and starting to make that decision I know that sort of anxiety process is beginning in some of you.
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It was for me I also wanted to wait to make
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this video until I got some of my fall quarter grades to know Whether I would be basically qualified
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or not to make this and turns out I am
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So here we go First thing to note is
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that law school is going to test you on two very separate skill sets.
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When you're in the daily grind of classes,
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it's going to feel quite different from when you're taking your exam,
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which for a lot of schools is what determines your entire grade for the class.
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It's not going to be like an undergrad where you had,
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you know, problem sets or shorter papers plus participation.
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For the most part, your beginning classes are going to be determined by a single exam.
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For us at Stanford, we basically sat for three to four hours in a room all together
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and typed as much as we could as quickly as we could.
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And that, you know, 14 to 20 page essay that we generated was what we were graded on.
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All of that is very different from what you need to do to prepare for class.
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It's important to keep in mind,
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first of all, that some people are going to seem really,
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really brilliant in class because they talk all the time.
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For one thing, the amount of speaking you do in class and your understanding of the material are not exactly always correlated.
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People, you know, have different approaches to speaking out loud in class and you shouldn't feel pressured to,
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you know, speak just for the sake of speaking.
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Secondly, being prepared for class means knowing the minutia of cases really well and understanding the issues of each particular case.
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And while you will be tested on issues in the final exam,
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it's not always going to be the same sort of stuff.
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So for example, in class,
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you know, if you get cold called,
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which is something where the professor just,
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you know, randomly calls your name and you have to answer on the fly,
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the professor might ask you about the procedural history of a case.
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Stages of trial went through,
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like did it get appealed,
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where was it first heard,
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you know, what sort of court.
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All of that will feel extremely important in the moment of class where,
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you know, you're speaking in front of your classmates and the spotlight's kind of on you.
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But for the vast majority of cases that we studied,
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none of that procedural history really came up on the final exam at all
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because it's not super relevant to the application of these cases to the sort of black letter law itself.
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Black letter law is basically the actual rule that the case created.
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So that's one thing to keep in mind,
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that your class skills and your exam skills are two separate things.
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So you know you do want to be very prepared for class
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but keep in mind that at the end of
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that road you're going to be asked to do something fairly different
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which is analyze everything that you've learned in that class sort of holistically.
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They use the metaphor of the forest and the trees a lot
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so for the exam you're going to do a forest type approach
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but
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when you're going from class to class day to day it
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feels very much like you're in the thick of the forest
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and it can be easy to lose sight of the final goal
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which is to get sort of an overall understanding of the material
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which brings me to my second point
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so in your orientation you'll most likely learn how the basics
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of briefing a case the word briefing is kind of it was a little bit confusing for me at first
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because it means different things so briefing a case in
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that situation is just reading the case in your case book
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and writing yourself a mini outline of the important point so
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that you can later talk about it in class
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or study you know make your outline for finals from it um you'll also be writing briefs
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which are another thing entirely
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so don't get those mixed up we learned a sort of standard briefing structure
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which is first facts
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so what are the facts of the case what literally happened the procedural posture
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which is you know what court did it start in how did it end up in this court issue
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so the issue of law that the court in the opinion is is trying to determine the rule,
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pretty straightforward, so like what rule is going to be passed down from this case the holding
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which is the holding is basically another word for the outcome of the case
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but holdings can be construed broadly or narrowly
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so a holding might be something like in every case involving
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a ship of this kind x will happen you know x will be applied
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that sort of thing the reasoning of the court in coming to that holding or conclusion,
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and then any dissents that,
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you know, might be interesting or useful to understand the issue.
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Dissent will often be most important in Supreme Court cases.
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It's a basic structure of briefing a case for class.
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So again, facts, procedural posture,
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issue, rule, holding, reasoning, and dissent.
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That's how I basically structure them.
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Every case that I read,
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I try, I really try,
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but you know, you can't always,
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sometimes run out of time.
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But I try to write out all those categories
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and then put you know little bullets under each one some people have different methods
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and it's actually important to note that briefing the case for class
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that is just for you
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so whatever method helps you understand more fully what the case is about is the best method
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so for some people they switch the order of the categories
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so maybe the reasoning goes before the holding
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or the rule comes after the holding
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that doesn't really matter it's just as long as it makes sense to you you You might also add different categories.
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So some people like to split the reasoning into the plaintiff's argument,
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defendant's argument, then the court's sort of approach to synthesizing both of those arguments or picking one side over the other.
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Don't get bogged down by the categories and the need to produce a perfect product in your case brief.
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It's really about making something that is functional and that will help you approach your classes.
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The third point I would emphasize is staying on top of your daily notes.
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So of course going to class is very important
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and taking good notes is very important because
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when you sit down at the end of the quarter or semester to try to pull together your outline,
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your notes are going to be the foundation of your review.
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You know, most of us going into law school were strong students
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and we feel that we know how to study and that's true.
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But for me anyway, law school involved a much greater amount of detail that I wasn't particularly super interested in.
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For each case, you know,
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there's a lot of minutiae that you need to keep track of.
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Things that also feel counterintuitive because they have historical roots in law that,
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you know, it's not always clear exactly how we got to
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that point it's very important to keep track of all that
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because if you fall behind it's very difficult to catch up
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so making sure that you have a well-structured note-taking system
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that makes sense to you and
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that you keep on top of it every day every week it feels very tedious and difficult,
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but it's going to pay off at the end when you're trying to make that outline.
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We have a database called Slata,
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and we use those outlines.
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Former students of the class can upload their outlines,
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and you can use that as a guide for creating your own.
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I did that, but it's not enough to just rely on
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that because obviously course material changes from year to year
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so it's very important to have your own notes to rely
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on it also feels weird to try to go off of someone else's notes
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because it's like picking someone else's brain things are organized differently
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and things are emphasized differently
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so having your own notes is very important the last thing i'll mention is how important it is to try
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and carve out time for yourself i mean i talked to current students here before coming
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and they did tell me that you know fall semester was going to be extremely difficult
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and honestly going in i was like you know i was an English graduate student.
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I used to sit and read for like eight or ten hours a day.
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How much harder could it be?
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It's harder.
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It's harder.
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Fall quarter, we basically had,
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you know, four hours of class a day
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and literally the almost the entire rest of the day I would spend reading for the next day's classes
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and I would also spend all of the weekend reading except for Friday nights and maybe like one morning or afternoon,
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like Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon,
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but most of the weekend was also spent reading and it was very very difficult not to burn out.
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I mean luckily my boyfriend,
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now fiance, was living with me
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and he you know really helped take care of me
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and made sure that I wasn't just totally getting this tunnel vision
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but beyond that you know you really can't rely too much on other people to take care of you obviously.
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You need to look out for yourself and part of
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that is making sure that you put your body and your health as a priority.
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Making time to work out,
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making sure you're eating and trying to maybe cook for yourself also,
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those are all nice things that give you a little bit of room to breathe
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because otherwise it can get very overwhelming very quickly.
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It's difficult to find that balance and it's something that you have to actively cultivate in yourself before you start school.
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So those are my very basic,
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very general tips, things that I wish I had known going into fall quarter.
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If you guys have any questions,
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please feel free to leave them in the comments below.
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If you haven't subscribed yet,
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please subscribe and let me know what else you would like to know about the law school experience.
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I would love to talk to you guys about it.
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Thank you.
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See you next time.
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Context & Background
In the video titled "What I Wish I'd Known When Starting Law School," a first-year law student shares her journey and reflections as she navigates the early stages of law school. The speaker expresses the anxiety and apprehension many students feel when transitioning from undergraduate studies to the demanding environment of law education. She emphasizes the importance of preparation, conceptual understanding, and effective study techniques, particularly when adapting to a system that evaluates students primarily through comprehensive exams rather than ongoing assignments. Her insights are particularly valuable for those preparing for similar academic challenges.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- "I'm feeling apprehensive about my classes." - Use this phrase to express nervousness.
- "Can you explain this case to me?" - A great way to ask for help in understanding complex material.
- "What do you think the professor expects from us?" - Useful for clarifying expectations.
- "I need to stay organized with my notes." - A reminder of the importance of good study habits.
- "I need to review the procedural history of this case." - Highlights the detail needed for law studies, applicable in shadowing contexts as well.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
For English learners looking to improve their speaking skills, particularly in legal contexts, shadowing can be an effective technique. Here’s a step-by-step guide to leverage insights from the video:
- Select a Segment: Choose a specific segment of the video focusing on anxiousness or preparation for classes. This will allow you to connect the emotional content with practical vocabulary.
- Listen Actively: Play the audio while following the transcript. Train your ear to recognize the speech patterns and intonation used by the speaker.
- Shadow Speak: As you listen to the content, mimic the speaker. Repeat phrases like “I’m feeling apprehensive” with the same tone and rhythm. This helps improve your English pronunciation.
- Pause and Reflect: After a few sentences, pause the video. Summarize what you've heard in your own words. This strengthens comprehension and builds confidence in articulation.
- Repetition: Repeat this process multiple times, gradually moving to longer sections. Use a shadowing app or a shadowing site to track your progress and compare your pronunciation.
By focusing on targeted phrases and employing the shadowing technique, you can develop a deeper understanding of legal jargon while improving your overall fluency. Start shadowing today and watch your speaking skills elevate!
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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