s | b | a CHICAGO-KENT STUDENT BAR ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER
November 29, 2021
Announcements
This will be the last SBA Newsletter of the Fall 2021 Semester. We wish you the best of luck on final exams. If you have an important announcement, please let SBA know. We can send the announcement to the student body on a case-by-case basis!
ASP Exam Workshop: We understand that you may be pressed for time at the end of the semester. So, join Prof. Young on Thursday, December 2, 2021, for a mini-workshop (just 30 minutes!) on attacking your exams. Learn 10 exam hacks (what to do before and actually during the exam). This will be a no-nonsense, straight to the point, list of exam hacks for all students (day, eve, LLM). Access the Zoom link in the SBA Calendar or contact Prof. Young at dyoung.
Study Resources for 1Ls (and everyone!): Hello, 1Ls! Congratulations on completing your first Fall semester of law school! I know, I know. You’re thinking: but it isn’t over yet, there are exams! You are correct. However, you’ve endured an entire semester of taking multiple law school classes. Be proud of yourself! The fact that you are still here (and reading this) speaks volumes! You can do it!
As we head into the days before finals affectionately known as “read period,” SBA wanted to make you aware of the following resources that may help in your final exam preparation. Most of these resources are FREE to you as a law student.
1) West Academic Study Aids – As law students, we have FREE unlimited access to West’s database of academic supplements. This includes popular series books like “In a Nutshell,” “Quick and Happy Guides,” “Sum and Substance,” and MORE. Think of it as a bunch of free electronic supplements on every law school subject you can think of! You can access it through the Library’s Electronic Resources > Databases page through Kent’s website. Just login with your Kent IIT username and password! You don’t need to make an account, but you can easily make a FREE account with your Kent email. This allows you to create a list of favorites, bookmark and highlight books. They also have apps for both the books and the audio lectures, and once you create an account, you can download anything and access it directly from the app. Studying with free supplements has never been easier! Check it out HERE.
2) CALI (Computer Assisted Legal Instruction) – CALI not only sponsors those coveted “top score” awards you see listed in the Record after semester grades are issued, but also offers TONS of free interactive lessons FILLED with those hypotheticals our law professors love. Hypotheticals are a great way to practically apply the law you’ve been learning all semester to a set of facts, with feedback! They also offer podcasts on law school subjects, so you can study anywhere – the train, in an Uber, while working out, grocery shopping, walking your dog…just about anywhere you can listen to a podcast! CALI information is typically provided to students at the beginning of the semester, however, feel free to email refreq or stop at the service desk in the library for Kent’s school access code. The link to the database is HERE.
3) Chicago-Kent’s Exam Database – One of the greatest resources for knowing what to expect on a law school exam: looking at previous exams! Many (but not all) of Chicago-Kent’s courses and professors provide previously-issued exams (and often, answer keys) for students to use as a study tool. Professors may also provide their old exams on Blackboard, a personal website, TWEN, or through a Teaching Assistant. Taking an old exam under simulated, timed testing conditions is an excellent way to prepare yourself for the real thing day-of! Find the Chicago-Kent exam database HERE.
4) BARBRI 1L Mastery – BARBRI isn’t just for the bar exam…they also offer an excellent, FREE 1L Mastery program covering all required 1L courses: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Real Property, and Torts. The program includes incredibly detailed, comprehensive outlines for each of these courses, downloadable for free online. Your friendly neighborhood BARBRI representatives may even have extra printed copies of these outlines if you prefer paper – don’t be afraid to reach out and ask! Sign up for the FREE 1L Mastery resources HERE.
5) Quimbee – There’s a reason so many law students rely on Quimbee for their go-to supplement database. Quimbee is a one-of-a-kind educational resource providing a comprehensive database of law school study aids, including case briefs, case videos, outlines, flashcards, quizzes, video courses, practice essay exams, key terms, multiple choice questions, and more. There’s both a website and an app component, so you can study anywhere! Quimbee isn’t free (unfortunately), but the cost varies on subscription tiers and timing. (We recommend the Gold membership purchased annually to get the most bang for your buck!) Quimbee offers a 7-day free trial through their website. Alternatively, as a law student, if you sign up for a free ABA law student membership, you can get a FREE 30-day Gold membership to Quimbee – just in time for exam season! Access this great deal HERE.
SBA is cheering you on and hopes this list of resources serves you well in the upcoming weeks.
You’ve got this! SBA (and Magic Cat) believe in you!
Fitness Center Lockers: Please note that the fitness center lockers are not for overnight use. The lockers are only to be used while you are using the Fitness Center. Items left overnight may be thrown out.
Judges’ Panel Recording: Last week SBA hosted four sitting Cook County Judges to discuss their careers and positions on the bench. The Judges have kindly agreed to let us share the recording from the event for you to view that you can find, here.
Holiday Happy Hour: Looking to destress before finals? Interested in learning how to make cocktails to impress family and friends? Want to join in a virtual happy hour from the comfort of home?
Join us for a virtual cocktail hour on Thursday, Dec 2, from 7-8:30 PM! The cocktails are riffs of classics with some winter ingredients for a fun twist! No previous cocktail experience necessary, and if you don’t have equipment at home anything with a sealed lid will do (tupperware, mason jar, travel mug, etc). If you want to skip the cocktail part, feel free to BYOB and just mingle virtually with fellow students.
Ingredients list:
1) Gin, cranberry juice, lemon juice, simple syrup (1/2 c. sugar & 1/2 c. water, heated until dissolved), heavy whipping cream, soda water (lacroix/bubly/etc), egg (optional)
2) Whiskey, orange bitters (for example, angostura), sugar, pomegranate seeds, fresh rosemary sprig (optional), orange wheel (optional)
Join us Dec 2, 7-8:30 – https://cutt.ly/SBACocktailHour
Fall 2021 Student Tech Survey: Help the Chicago-Kent Tech Team improve your digital education & classroom teaching tools by sharing your experiences & feedback. The survey is anonymous, but requires your kentlaw email to access to validate your student status. Please respond by Friday, 12/3/2021 at 5pm.
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Survey link: https://forms.gle/5UrdRcPYsoPmEYLf7
Note: If you would like to report issues and receive a personal response, please contact our helpdesk account, which includes our IT, audiovisual, and digital education support staff. The survey won’t allow individual responses.
Fall 2021 Exams: For more information about exams this semester, please visit the following links:
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Exam Quick Guide-Remote Exams
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Exam Quick Guide-In Person Exams
Upcoming Conferences:
Please join the Office of Continuing Legal & Professional Education virtually for these upcoming webinars! They are all free to Chicago-Kent students but registration is required. Click links below to register.
Thursday, December 2 – Friday, December 3, 2021
37th Annual Illinois Public Sector Labor Relations Law Conference
This program is eligible for up to 7.5 hours of general CLE credit, including 1.0 hour of Mental Illness Awareness credit, pending approval. This event is free to Chicago-Kent students when you enter the discount code CKCLE1 during checkout.
Student Organizations
American Bar Association (ABA):
If you would like to be more involved in the ABA or make the most out of your free membership, register for an account here and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions! Some benefits of that account include:
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Free Membership in up to 5 Sections, Divisions, and Forums
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Access to ABA Advantage Programs
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Free content
And if you go for the premium $25/year membership, you also get:
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ABA Career Forward Powered by Korn Ferry Advance
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After the Bar digital publication
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ABA Bar Bundle Prep (discounts to various prep services)
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ABA Legal Ethics Bundle (MPRE Prep)
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90 Day Free Trial of Quimbee Gold Plan with up to 50 case briefs
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Free JD Advising 1L sheets, discounts on tutoring and law school resources
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Access to leadership opportunities and national competition
ABA Announcements
The 2022-2023 Law Student Elections application period is now open!
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Our student leaders are the voice of law students in the American Bar Association. Council members can learn leadership skills, advocate on behalf of their peers, and make connections with attorneys across the nation.
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As a member of the council, you’ll be representing law students from coast to coast. You’ll also have the opportunity to attend the next two ABA Annual Meetings, the ABA Midyear Meeting, and other events such as attending the Young Lawyers Division spring conference.
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Applications to run for these positions on the council are now open! The deadline to apply is January 14, 2022, at 12noon.
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Division Chair
Join us and submit your Law Student Division election application today!
Jewish Law Student Association: Come join the Jewish Law Student Association (JLSA) to celebrate Hanukkah, have some sufganiyot (traditional jelly donuts), and mingle with other students before finals. December 1st, 9am-2pm, Room 704. Open to everyone, stop in for as little or as long as you can. Hope to see you there!
Upcoming Events
NOVEMBER 23rd: NLG Brown Bag Lunch Series with Attorneys Melinda Power and Candace Gorman
NOVEMBER 23rd: LELS Next Semester Chat
DECEMBER 1st: Hanukkah Finals Break
DECEMBER 2nd: SBA Holiday Happy Hour
More events may be found on the SBA calendar. Please make sure you are accessing via your Kent email address.
Resources
Writing Competitions: Interested in submitting a paper to a competition? The law library has created a guide to student legal writing competitions. For more information, please see the library blog post about the guide.
Apply to the Louis Jackson Memorial National Student Writing Competition. It is a competition that recognizes the best in student labor and employment law scholarship. Jackson Lewis P.C. underwrites the prizes ($3,000 for the first-place winner, and $1,000 to two second-place finishers). The entries are anonymously judged by a panel of five law professors.
Eligibility requirements are on the website and the attached flyer. We are able to review only the first two entries we receive from a single law school, so make sure to send it in as soon as you’re confident that a manuscript is your best work!
Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (IICLE) Writing Contest. Find out more information here.
From ASP: 1Ls: Listen from students and faculty on what strategies they used for academic success: https://youtu.be/wQquU7OyoTI
Events to Remember:
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Date & Event |
Description |
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Month of November, Native American Heritage Month/Indigenous People’s Month |
Native American Heritage Month was originally celebrated as a week-long celebration in 1986. Since then, every US President has issued annual proclamations designating November as a time to celebrate the culture, accomplishments, and contributions of people who were the first inhabitants of North America. The Chicago area is located on ancestral lands of indigenous tribes such as the Council of the Three Fires, comprised of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi nations; the Miami; Ho-Chunk; Menominee; Sac; Fox; Kickapoo; and Illinois Nations. To learn more, see the resources linked below: Native American Heritage Month Events |
Birthdays & Special Days – November/December:
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November 1 |
Hailey LaMay, 2L |
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November 2 |
Tayrn Trusty, 3L |
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November 3 |
Erin Monforti, 3L |
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November 3 |
Stephen Cruz, 2L |
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November 6 |
Professor Mary Nagel |
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November 11 |
Aleathea Williams, 2L |
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November 13 |
Erin Granger, 2L |
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November 17 |
Ian Murray, 2L |
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November 18 |
Claudia Wojslaw, 2L |
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November 20 |
Chelsea Smith, 2L |
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November 22 |
Julian Verdream, 2L |
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November 22 |
Zelpha Williams, 3L |
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November 23 |
Jonah Brandhandler, 2L |
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November 24 |
Professor Kari Johnson |
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November 24 |
Monika Nasiadka, 2L |
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November 28 |
Valeria Lopez-Fernandez, 2L |
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December 1 |
Mairead DeWitt, 2L |
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December 2 |
Shiny S. Patel, 2L |
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December 4 |
Donna Elias, 3L |
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December 6 |
Greg Kelley, 3L |
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December 10 |
Alyssa Lanier, 2L |
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December 12 |
Madeline Moore, 2L |
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December 13 |
Alisha Panthier, 1L |
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December 13 |
Devin Ross, 2L |
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December 16 |
Eleni Galanopulos, 3L |
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December 17 |
Carmen Otubsin, 2L |
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December 18 |
Teona Pipia, 2L |
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December 19 |
Vanessa Makris, 2L |
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December 24 |
Julia Veeser, 2L |
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December 29 |
Haley Zobel, 2L |
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December 30 |
Hayley Loufek, 2L |
*if you wish to share your special date with the student body, click here