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Letter 1: July 6, 2023
This email is the first of three that will provide you with important information and tasks to complete before Catholic Law’s Orientation, August 16-18, 2023.
Dear Members of the Classes of 2026 and 2027:
In less than two months, you will begin your legal career at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law (Catholic Law). You have made an excellent choice. At Catholic Law, you will receive a first-rate legal education, personal attention, and connection to a thriving professional network. All this will occur in the heart of the Nation’s capital, one of the most significant places to study and practice law in the world. All you experience here will ensure you are ready for modern legal practice in the field of your choice upon graduation.
Pre-Arrival
Before you arrive on campus, you will need to complete a number of steps to start your first semester smoothly, including obtaining required immunizations, submitting your official final undergraduate transcript, and more. For a current list, please review the Pre-Arrival Checklist and make sure you are on track to start your semester off right. Please note that this list will be updated throughout the summer and that we will notify you as changes are made.
If you have the time, you might consider reading one of the following books to help you prepare for law school:
For practical advice:
- Richard Fischl and Jeremy Paul's Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams(Carolina Academic Press)
- Herbert N. Ramy’s Succeeding in Law School (2nd Edition Carolina Academic Press)
- Charles R. Calleros’ Law School Exams: Preparing and Writing to Win (2nd Edition Wolters Kluwer)
- Robert H. Miller’s Law School Confidential: A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience: By Students, for Students (3rd Edition St. Martin’s Press)
- Molly Bishop Shadel’s Finding Your Voice in Law School: Mastering Classroom Cold Calls, Job Interviews, and Other Verbal Challenges (Carolina Academic Press)
For inspiration:
- Anthony Lewis’s Gideon’s Trumpet: How One Man, a Poor Prisoner, Took His Case to the Supreme Court-and Changed the Law of the United States (Random House)
- Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld, and Jim Dwyer’s Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make it Right (Penguin Books)
- CUA Law Alumnus Brian Stolarz’s Grace and Justice on Death Row: The Race against Time and Texas to Free an Innocent Man (Skyhorse Publishing)
- Michael J. Sandel’s Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? (D&M Publishers, Inc.)
Additionally, for fun, you also might want to take a look at Scott Turow's memoir One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School.
Orientation, August 16-18, 2023
The entire Catholic Law community – including the Dean, faculty, staff, alumni, and upper division students – is busy this summer preparing for your arrival with Orientation programming. Orientation is designed to welcome you and introduce you to the unique academic, professional, and ethical dynamics of law school and the legal profession. For specifics on the programming, please take a look at the agenda here. Please note that this agenda may change slightly over the summer, but the dates and overall time commitment will not.
Also, we welcome your family and friends who will support you throughout this journey to attend the Welcome Reception and Induction Ceremony on Thursday, August 17, beginning at 5:00 p.m. If you are coming alone you do not need to RSVP, but if you are bringing any guests, ideally limited to two per student, please register online by August 1.
Pre-Orientation Academic Skills Development Program
Law school will be a unique educational experience. A common mistake law students make is assuming law school is a continuation of their undergraduate educational experience. We can assure you it is unlike anything you have previously done in your academic careers. To help prepare you for this change, Catholic Law has contracted with a global leader in legal education preparation, BarBri, to provide all incoming registered students access to their excellent law school prep course - free of charge. This is a short (14 days over three weeks) but substantive and comprehensive online course designed to provide all incoming students the foundational framework and introduction to analytical skills necessary to thrive in law school. It is not a passive course, but a fully interactive pass/fail course with an exam at its conclusion which will help position you to begin law school from the best possible position. The Law School generally, and your professors specifically, will expect that you have completed this foundational course by the start of classes. We anticipate the course opening to you in the next few weeks and will email you when you may start the online programming.
Student Survey
As part of the Catholic Law experience, our community provides you with focused advice and support. To better prepare us to support you and ensure the best possible experience, please complete a brief survey that will allow us to get to know you better.
In the coming month, you will receive additional information about community service day, required readings, your courses, and booklists. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to be in touch.
All of us at the Columbus School of Law look forward to welcoming and supporting you as you begin the wonderful opportunity that is law school.
Best regards,
Mary Graw Leary
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law -
Logon Information for Pre-Orientation Law School Class: July 14, 2023
Dear Incoming Members of the Class of 2027,
Earlier this month, you received a letter from me welcoming you to law school and advising you of a number of tasks to be completed. That letter referenced more information would be coming about an important, indeed essential, task for you to complete to help position you for success in law school: the Lawyering Fundamentals class.
Catholic Law has partnered with one of the nation’s preeminent testing and bar preparation companies, Barbri, to offer you a mini-course to introduce you to law school. This comprehensive interactive course will help introduce you to legal education, some of the methods used in the classroom, and some of the skills needed to hit the ground running when you arrive for Orientation. Completing this course is part of your checklist and when you complete the final exam in the course that will serve as your certification that you completed this class by the scheduled dates.
Attached you will find a welcome letter (click here for the welcome letter) from Barbri as well as a syllabus (click here for the syllabus). Please be aware that the online course is comprehensive and does encompass approximately 30 hours of work. We recognize that most of the students in the Part -Time Division have many demands on their time including full-time work. The attached syllabus is a guide for how you can stay on track to complete the course. We recommend you do your best to follow it, but your Part-Time section has more flexibility around these deadlines. That being said, you are expected to complete it within the time period of the syllabus, and the Orientation instructors, as well as your first year professors, will assume that you have done so.
By now, you have received a CUA email. Please be on the lookout in your CUA email for log-in credentials from support@lawstudentonline.com to access the classroom.
We at the Law School are looking forward to meeting you and embarking on this exciting journey to becoming an attorney with you. Welcome again and enjoy this class!
Regards,
Mary Graw Leary
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law
The Catholic University of America
Columbus School of Law
Washington, D.C. 20064 -
Letter 2: July 24, 2023
This email is the second of three that will provide you with important information and tasks to complete before Catholic Law’s Orientation, August 16-18, 2023.
Dear Members of the Classes of 2026 and 2027:
All of us at the Columbus School of Law hope that this email finds you well and growing in excitement about beginning law school. We are eagerly planning for and awaiting your arrival.
By now you have started to receive different communications from the Law School. I know it can be difficult to keep track of everything but please consider this the second of three communications from Academic Affairs and Student Affairs focusing on preparing you for the first week of orientation and classes. We will post these broader messages to the communications section of our orientation website. This week I am writing with several reminders about orientation.
Orientation Reading and Rules & Certification Forms
Because the pre-orientation Lawyering Fundamentals course is so robust, we have substantially limited some of the reading for your in-person Catholic Law orientation. However, some items do remain to be read and certified that you have done so. The first three items to read, as detailed below, relate to academic rules and professional conduct expectations governing you while you are a Catholic Law student. For the mock class on Thursday, August 16, there is one case to read. That case and assignment is now listed under the required reading section of the Pre-Arrival Checklist.
Before arriving, you must read Catholic Law’s Academic Rules (the Rules), the Rules of Professional Conduct (the Honor Code), and the University’s Code of Student Conduct. These are also listed under the required reading section of the Pre-Arrival Checklist. You also must complete certifications that confirm you have read the Rules and the Honor Code and have considered whether you need to disclose any additional information concerning criminal or disciplinary incidents in which you were involved.
In addition to completing these certifications and readings, now is the appropriate time to review our Pre-Arrival Checklist and the orientation agenda (see here for the complete day division agenda and here for the complete evening division agenda) to be sure you have blocked out your schedule accordingly. Please be sure to send in your photos so that your student ID will be available to you on the first day of orientation.
Legal and Study Skills Development: Lawyering Fundamentals
As we previously noted, law school is one of the most challenging and rewarding endeavors you will take on in your academic careers. I can assure you that it is different than your previous academic experiences and those differences can require learning new skills and approaching your studies in new ways. To assist you in making that transition, we are thrilled to offer you an exceptional opportunity to jumpstart your legal training and to begin your studies well equipped for academic success. In partnership with Barbri, incoming Catholic Law students are expected to complete the interactive Lawyering Fundamentals online course and to complete a brief assessment by August 13. This course offers an immersive experience that will provide you with invaluable insights into legal education, enhance your critical thinking and analytical skills, and help you develop a solid foundation for your future legal studies.
By now you should have received an invitation to access the course through your Catholic University email address from support@lawstudentonline.com as well as a description of the course. Additionally, you also received a welcome note from Assistant Dean Bryan McDermott introducing himself and answering some questions about the course. If you have not received the invitation, please contact Assistant Dean McDermott in the Office of Academic Affairs.
Peer Mentorship & Community Service at Catholic Law
Mentorship, community, and service are the hallmarks of a Catholic Law education. In the years after the height of the pandemic, we have come to value our community more than ever and continue to look for new opportunities to strengthen our student relationships and support our neighbors in the Brookland area of Washington, D.C. where we are located.
To continue to help you acclimate to your first year of law school, you have the opportunity to participate in a mentorship program with an upper-division student. Cardinal Crew members are available to give advice and insight about law school, to help you balance the competing demands of classes, and to be someone to help you become connected with the opportunities here at Catholic Law. If you would like to request a student mentor, please be sure to complete the incoming student survey and you will be paired with an upper-division student.
If you would like to participate in one of our orientation community service projects, please complete this survey, also linked on the Pre-Arrival Checklist. For many years, students have listed Community Service Day as their favorite part of orientation. It allows students time to get to know each other and the Brookland community.
Optional Pre-Orientation Program Hosted by Diversity Council
The Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, the Black Law Students Association, the Latin American Law Students Association, the Middle Eastern Bar Association, and the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council invite all incoming students to attend an optional, in-person pre-orientation program on Monday, August 14 at the law school and Tuesday, August 15 at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Current students, alumni, and faculty members will present a series of workshops and panels designed to introduce you to the law school community, help you connect with other incoming students, and prepare you for Orientation August 16 - August 18.
Register to attend by submitting this form. All are welcome to attend, but please note that spaces are limited for the Tuesday outing to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. For questions about this program, please contact Shani Butts, Assistant Dean for Admissions at butts@law.edu.
Financial Planning for Law School
One of the many benefits of attending Catholic Law is our partnership with AccessLex Institute, the largest nonprofit organization in the country focusing on access, affordability, and the value of legal education. We are excited to introduce you to the Education Network at AccessLex and in particular MAX by AccessLex®, an innovative personal finance program created exclusively for law students and available to you at no cost.
In MAX, you have access to personal finance courses specifically designed for law students, live events, and one-on-one financial coaching. Completing courses and attending events will even gain you entries into the annual MAX scholarship drawings.
To get started, go to https://askedna.accesslex.org/learn and click on “REGISTER” in the top right corner of the page.
Your name, email address, school, and class year are all you need to log in to the program, personalize your experience and track your progress. No other personal information is required, and all information remains confidential.
An AccessLex representative will be available during orientation to provide you with additional details about their student resources.
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In early August, we will send you a third email with reminders and final details about orientation logistics (what to bring, what to wear, how to get to and park on campus, and more). In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to be in touch.
Best regards,
Mary Graw Leary
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law -
Letter 3: August 3, 2023
This email is the third of three that will provide you with important information and tasks to complete before Catholic Law’s Orientation, August 16-18, 2023.
Dear Members of the Classes of 2026 and 2027:
This week we are writing with the final details you will need before orientation starts on Wednesday, August 16. All of us at Catholic Law are excited to welcome both our day and evening divisions for a full day of programming on the first day orientation. For the rest of the week, our day and evening divisions will meet separately, all according to our orientation schedules linked above.
Pre-Orientation Community Building
As we previously shared, all incoming Catholic Law students are invited to attend an optional pre-orientation community building program on Monday, August 14 and Tuesday, August 15.
This program will be hosted by our Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, the Black Law Students Association, the Latin American Law Students Association, the Middle Eastern Student Bar Association, and the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council. Current students, alumni, and faculty members will present a series of workshops and panels designed to introduce you to the law school community, help you connect with other incoming students, and help you prepare for orientation August 16 - 18.
Register to attend by submitting this form. All are welcome to attend, but please note that spaces are limited for the Tuesday outing to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. For questions about this program, please contact Shani Butts, Assistant Dean for Admissions at butts@law.edu.
Book List, Check List, and Required Readings
By now you should have received messages from our Assistant Dean for Academic Services and Registrar, Stuart Schept. Dean Schept wrote to you about course registration and exam software and forwarded a link to the Fall 2023 book list. You may also purchase textbooks via our Barnes & Noble site. Please order your books early as students are expected to come to the first class prepared and there can be unanticipated delays in book delivery.
In my first email, I referred you to the Pre-Arrival Checklist, and in the second email, I provided your orientation reading assignments and required certifications. It’s important that you review these items and that you submit your ID photo, see here, and your certifications that you have read our Academic Rules and made necessary disclosures. We need your ID photos at your earliest convenience so that we are able to provide you with your new student ID during orientation. This identification is necessary for building access.
Technology Support at Catholic Law
Catholic Email, Campus Internet, and Zoom Access – You now have access to your Catholic Law email account. Your Cardinal Mail username is the same as your other Cardinal credentials such as Cardinal Students. Your password is the same as well.
- During orientation, we will provide you with instructions for accessing our secure wifi and for connecting to our Law Library printers. We encourage you to bring your laptop and any other devices that you would like to connect with the University’s computer system to orientation on August 16.
- During orientation, you will also be provided access to research databases, LexisNexis and Westlaw, as well as Westlaw’s course platform system, TWEN, which many of your instructors will use.
- Zoom may be used for various meetings and programs during your time at Catholic. You will need to access your free Catholic student account as some programs may restrict users to student accounts.
- Full instructions for accessing your Catholic University Zoom account, logging in to your email for the first time, and connecting to campus wireless networks can be found here. We encourage you to review this page and connect prior to orientation.
Logistics and Beyond Orientation
Getting to Catholic Law – Catholic Law is located within walking distance of D.C. Metro’s Red Line, Brookland-CUA station. If you are not familiar with the Metro system, you may want to familiarize yourself with the WMATA website, system map, and any upcoming service projects that might impact your commute.
Attire – Please dress business casual on the first two days of orientation - noting that our photographer will plan to take a group photograph of your class on August 16. For Community Service Day, you should dress comfortably (if you plan to join us for this event, please register by Wednesday, August 8 as assignments will be finalized this week and tend to fill up quickly).
Lockers – For those of you who have visited our beautiful building, you already know that the Law School has a limited number of lockers located just off of our first-floor student lounge. We will be able to offer lockers to most incoming 1Ls who require one on first-come, first-served basis. If you require a locker, please let us know via this form.
Parking – If you prefer to drive, the University garage adjacent to the Law School will be open for complimentary parking during orientation. Parking on John McCormack Road is expensive (as are D.C. tickets), so we encourage you to park in the garage. The Law School’s physical address is 3600 John McCormack Road, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20064.
To park in the University garage adjacent to the Law School after orientation, you will need a parking permit. Campus parking permits will be available for purchase online here in the coming weeks. The garage will be open in the meantime for complimentary parking (please check the website for updates about purchasing a parking permit).
Dining Options – There are a variety of food service options available on campus and off campus in the Brookland neighborhood. There is also a refrigerator and microwave available for your use in the Law School Student Lounge. You may want to try several options and then consider purchasing a dining plan for use throughout the academic year.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Catholic Law community on Wednesday, August 16!
Best regards,
Mary Graw Leary
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law
