Drawn from interviews with students and attorneys from leading law schools and firms, Finding Your Voice in Law School delivers winning strategies for succeeding in law school and beyond. Many college graduates aren't prepared for the new challenges they will face in law school. Intense classroom discussion, mock trials and moot courts, learning the language of law, and impressing potential employers in a range of interview situations--it sounds intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. Finding Your Voice in Law School offers a step-by-step guide to the most difficult tests you will confront as a law student, from making a speech in front of a room full of lawyers to arguing before a judge and jury. Author Molly Shadel, a former Justice Department attorney and Columbia law graduate who now teaches advocacy at the University of Virginia School of Law, also explains how to lay a strong foundation for your professional reputation. Communicating effectively--with professors, at social gatherings, with supervisors and colleagues at summer jobs, and as a leader of a student organization--can have a lasting impact on your legal career. Building the skills (and attitude) you need to shine among a sea of qualified students has never been more important. Finding Your Voice in Law School shows what it takes to become the lawyer you want to be. "Law school--with its emphasis on classroom discussion and public speaking--can be intimidating. This useful and highly readable book demystifies the law school experience by giving concrete guidance on answering questions in class, mock trials and moot courts, what to say during a job interview, and how to interact with professors and legal professionals. It will not only help you be a better law student, it will help you become a better lawyer." -- David M. Schizer, Dean and the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law and the Harvey R. Miller Professor of Law and Economics at Columbia Law School "From preparing effectively for class, to succeeding in mock trial and moot court, to making persuasive presentations, to shining at job interviews, Finding Your Voice in Law School provides step-by-step guidance on how to be a better speaker (and, in turn, a better student) in a whole range of contexts. Professor Shadel not only shows students how to be skillful communicators, but she also inspires them to have the confidence in themselves necessary to excel. With sound advice, easy-to-understand anecdotes, and insightful tips, the book is a gem. If you're a law student or planning to go to law school--whether a natural public speaker or someone horrified at the thought of it--this book is for you." -- Austen Parrish, Interim Dean and Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School "There are many books about the written side of law school, but this is the first to stress the myriad ways in which getting the most out of the law school experience requires mastering a range of in-class and out-of-class oral skills. Although focused on the law student who wishes to excel in classroom performance, moot court, interviews, and many other oral experiences, it will serve as a valuable guide for the new and not-so-new practitioner as well." -- Frederick Schauer, David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia, and author of Thinking Like a Lawyer "This is a book that all incoming law students should read. And if they want to get (and keep) the best possible jobs, they should read it again before their interviews start." -- Kevin M. Donovan, Senior Assistant Dean for Career Services, University of Virginia School of Law

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Finalist for the NAACP Image Award for "Outstanding Literary Work" "Valerie has been one of Barack and my closest confidantes for decades... the world would feel a lot better if there were more people like Valerie blazing the trail for the rest of us."--Michelle Obama "The ultimate Obama insider" (The New York Times) and longest-serving senior advisor in the Obama White House shares her journey as a daughter, mother, lawyer, business leader, public servant, and leader in government at a historic moment in American history. When Valerie Jarrett interviewed a promising young lawyer named Michelle Robinson in July 1991 for a job in Chicago city government, neither knew that it was the first step on a path that would end in the White House. Jarrett soon became Michelle and Barack Obama's trusted personal adviser and family confidante; in the White House, she was known as the one who "got" him and helped him engage his public life. Jarrett joined the White House team on January 20, 2009 and departed with the First Family on January 20, 2017, and she was in the room--in the Oval Office, on Air Force One, and everywhere else--when it all happened. No one has as intimate a view of the Obama Years, nor one that reaches back as many decades, as Jarrett shares in Finding My Voice. Born in Iran (where her father, a doctor, sought a better job than he could find in segregated America), Jarrett grew up in Chicago in the 60s as racial and gender barriers were being challenged. A single mother stagnating in corporate law, she found her voice in Harold Washington's historic administration, where she began a remarkable journey, ultimately becoming one of the most visible and influential African-American women of the twenty-first century. From her work ensuring equality for women and girls, advancing civil rights, reforming our criminal justice system, and improving the lives of working families, to the real stories behind some of the most stirring moments of the Obama presidency, Jarrett shares her forthright, optimistic perspective on the importance of leadership and the responsibilities of citizenship in the twenty-first century, inspiring readers to lift their own voices.

Finding Your Voice: A Comprehensive Guide to Collegiate Policy Debate provides an in-depth introduction for students entering Collegiateor National High School Circuit Policy Debate.

Each year, over 40,000 new students enter America's law schools. Each new crop experiences startlingly high rates of depression, anxiety, fatigue, and dissatisfaction. Kathryne M. Young was one of those disgruntled law students. After finishing law school (and a PhD), she set out to learn more about the law school experience and how to improve it for future students. Young conducted one of the most ambitious studies of law students ever undertaken, charting the experiences of over 1000 law students from over 100 different law schools, along with hundreds of alumni, dropouts, law professors, and more. How to Be Sort of Happy in Law School is smart, compelling, and highly readable. Combining her own observations and experiences with the results of her study and the latest sociological research on law schools, Young offers a very different take from previous books about law school survival. Instead of assuming her readers should all aspire to law-review-and-big-firm notions of success, Young teaches students how to approach law school on their own terms: how to tune out the drumbeat of oppressive expectations and conventional wisdom to create a new breed of law school experience altogether. Young provides readers with practical tools for finding focus, happiness, and a sense of purpose while facing the seemingly endless onslaught of problems law school presents daily. This book is an indispensable companion for today's law students, prospective law students, and anyone who cares about making law students' lives better. Bursting with warmth, realism, and a touch of firebrand wit, How to Be Sort of Happy in Law School equips law students with much-needed wisdom for thriving during those three crucial years.

An urgent, compact manifesto that will teach you how to protect your rights, your freedom, and your future when talking to police. Law professor James J. Duane became a viral sensation thanks to a 2008 lecture outlining the reasons why you should never agree to answer questions from the police--especially if you are innocent and wish to stay out of trouble with the law. In this timely, relevant, and pragmatic new book, he expands on that presentation, offering a vigorous defense of every citizen's constitutionally protected right to avoid self-incrimination. Getting a lawyer is not only the best policy, Professor Duane argues, it's also the advice law-enforcement professionals give their own kids. Using actual case histories of innocent men and women exonerated after decades in prison because of information they voluntarily gave to police, Professor Duane demonstrates the critical importance of a constitutional right not well or widely understood by the average American. Reflecting the most recent attitudes of the Supreme Court, Professor Duane argues that it is now even easier for police to use your own words against you. This lively and informative guide explains what everyone needs to know to protect themselves and those they love.

This primer on legal reasoning is aimed at law students and upper-level undergraduates. But it is also an original exposition of basic legal concepts that scholars and lawyers will find stimulating. It covers such topics as rules, precedent, authority, analogical reasoning, the common law, statutory interpretation, legal realism, judicial opinions, legal facts, and burden of proof.

"This unique and powerful book is a must-read for any woman on a path of self-discovery and personal empowerment. Authored by seven leading female psychologists, Finding Your Voice is full of inspiring wisdom and practical tools and will give the reader thousands of dollars worth of therapy for the price of one book!" -Barbara De Angelis, Ph.D. author of Are You the One for Me? Recognize and realize your true desires Is your life what you want it to be? For most women, the answer is not really. Too often, we listen to everyone but ourselves when it comes to determining how our lives should be proceeding-and this prevents us from living the lives we really desire. In this remarkable new book, a team of highly credentialed psychologists shows you how to overcome unproductive, blameful thoughts and unrealistic expectations-the things you tell yourself about how marriages, friendships, children, and careers should be. Each chapter lays out widely promoted images of a modern woman-the mother raising a perfect child and loving every minute of it, the top-of-her-game career woman, the woman who loves her body just as it is-then reveals how women more often beat themselves up with these ideals than achieve them. Finding Your Voice shows you how to use self-talk to sort through expectations, isolate your own voice, and take the necessary steps to meet your unique needs. You'll be happier and more confident, and you will live a more fulfilled life-the one you're entitled to.