I taught a master’s program as an assistant professor at The George Washington U., to include a course in negligence, and one in evidence. I insisted that my students write a research paper no longer than ten (yes, only ten) pages, plus citations that could be found in a law library — not Internet cites. I explained to them that ten pages required very tight writing — clear, concise, controlled.

In my first few classes, I received tomes of weighty legalese, to include Supreme Court decisions that were not on point.

I finally declared that while Learned Hand and the Federal Rules of Evidence were fun reading, I would read only the first ten pages of any paper submitted for credit.

As Beethoven said, the rule is Exposition, Development, Recapitulation. When you finish what you need to say, stop writing.

Furthermore, when I do get a live person, I always ask “have I caught you at an alright time?” Just some thoughts…

Also, share your class notes. You will need someone to return the favor some day.

Try to treat law school like a job: At school by 8am, study hard, finish by 5pm, then socialize, read a non-law book etc. It will probably seem (and maybe is) impossible to accomplish this as a 1L, but you should be able to do this by 2L. Of course, if you add on a bunch of extra curricular activities or a job (I was guilty of this), you may be putting in some Saturday hours.