‘Cold Called’ and Unprepared?

Posted by LawRiotAdmin on June 1st, 2010

Getting ‘cold called’ can be traumatic for some and a breeze for others. It can also be pretty good entertainment for the rest of the class and likely the professor when a fellow student gets called on and is obviously not prepared. LawRiot wants to hear your story of a time when either you or another student was ‘cold called’ and had no idea what to say.

**Please leave out names and schools. Thank you.**

Posted in Law School

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http://hubbabubbafansite.com Rea Townsend

Oh my god. I hate getting cold-called. I can handle certain profs who are nice, but then there are some who will pick apart every little thing you say–down to the “ifs”, “buts” and “or’s”. It’s nerve-racking! Thought I’m talkative with my friends, I get really worked about this one prof. Sometimes my Contracts prof will rip me a new one just for saying something like “He considered the offer”.

As a result, 1) I’ll be asked harshly, “HE??? WHO IS HE? DON’T GIVE ME PRONOUNS!” and then 2) my Prof will say “DON’T USE THE WORD CONSIDERED LIKE THAT!”

Ugh.
Lorenzo “Danger” Gianni

How about the obnoxious people? There seem to be quite a few in law school. Especially the ones who love to talk generally about their own life and the things they see that correlate with the law. Usually, the same people who have the gift of the gab for off-topic class discussions have absolutely nothing on-point to say during Crim Law class. Here’s one such conversation:

Student: Teach, so, like let’s say the dude was an alien? What then? Will he be liable for attempted murder? I mean, can he? He’s an alien.

Professor: (sighs, speaks in wry voice), well then I guess we’ll have to prosecute him in an intergalactic tribunal. Moving on. Obnoxious Student, tell me the facts from People v. Kromensky

Student: Ummm, one sec. (flips pages). Umm. What page is that again?

Professor: 897.

Student: I uh, I think the case was about a homicide…and he got convicted.

Professor: Close…but not entirely. Anyone else wanna help out Obnoxious Student?
Nothing to Say

Although I have plenty of stories of being cold called and not being prepared regarding myself, I’m going to save myself the embarrassment and go with a classmate. I’ve seen numerous methods when someone gets cold called and they are obviously unprepared, mostly ranging from merely saying ‘pass’ to looking through the book and acting like you care and are looking for the answer but are really just flipping pages hoping they move on, to the classic, ‘I was actually really confused on this case, but i’ll try anyways’ and then just begin reading almost straight from the case book, and to my personal favorite comment, “sorry, one second, I just read this case so long ago”. This student, who will remain nameless took a much more interesting approach, silence. Their name would get called and they would literally duck in their seat, refuse to make eye contact and not say a word. The professor knew who they were, I mean it was week 10 and this person chose to sit up front which confused me as well. The best part about this was, it happened more then once. Absolutely amazing and so difficult to watch all at the same time.