Sunday, February 13, 2011

Podcasts for Paralegal Students

I am totally into podcasts and have found them to be an amazing way for me as a paralegal student to learn, laugh and sometimes both at once.  The easiest way to get access to podcasts is to download iTunes to your computer.  iTunes is free, and is easy on PC resources.  Most podcasts are also free, and the ones that aren’t should be in my opinion.  I personally refuse to subscribe to any podcasts that charge a fee, but I’m sure there are some good ones if you wanted to search for them.

Listening to podcasts is simple.  Listen directly from your computer, put the files on your MP3 player / iPod or burn them to a CD.  I use an iPod and also have an iPod hook up in my car so I can listen in the car.  Since I spend so much of my time in the damn car, making it as homey as possible is worth the investment to me. I'm thinking of installing shelves.

Here are some of my favorite podcasts (all free of course):

The Paralegal Voice - Legal Talk Network
The Paralegal Voice is co-hosted by Lynne DeVenney and Vicki Voisin.  Lynne is a North Carolina Certified Paralegal in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Vicki is a NALA Advanced Certified Paralegal in Charlevoix, Michigan. The podcast is monthly and covers issues and trends for paralegals and other legal staff.  Let me just say this; when you listen to this show be prepared to take notes.  The information they provide is so awesome, that I listen to some of the old podcasts over and over again. 

Law Technology Now - Legal Talk Network
Monica Bay, editor-in-chief of Law Technology News, interviews key experts in the field of legal technology.  This is podcast is great if you're kind of a geek (like me) and you have a good grasp of technology.  It probably is not the best if you are a tech newbie.  I personally get a lot out of this podcast, and I think their coverage of legal software and cloud computing are invaluable to a paralegal student in this job market.

SupremeCourtClassic’s Podcast -  Kelli Robinson
This is a set of 10 podcasts posted in 2008 of the audio recordings from some of the most important Supreme Court arguments in United States history.  Cases include Dred Scott v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson and Skinner v. State of Oklahoma.  These are great to help improve your legal terms of art!  If you have never listened to an oral argument before the Supreme Court you need to listen to some of these.  They give a whole new meaning to the word "intimidation."  I am honestly in awe of the kind of preparation an attorney has to do to field a barrage of questions from the entire U.S. Supreme Court.

Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Podcast – NPR
This is a weekly radio show on NPR that is hysterical and a great way to get your political humor fix while keeping up on current events.

Digital Detectives – Legal Talk Network
The hosts on this podcast talk about computer forensics and electronic discovery.  This is the future in discovery everybody… so we need to stay up on it.

The ESI Report, E-Discovery News & More – Kroll Ontrack – Legal Talk Network
ESI is a another great electronic discovery podcast hosted by Michele Lange.

There are thousands of podcasts out there in almost every subject.  iTunes lets you power search through podcasts by author, title or description so a keyword like “comedy” or “paralegal” will net a lot of results.  Choose a variety of podcasts that suit your interests both personally and in the areas of the law that interest you to give yourself the edge you need to be competitive when you finish school.  Listen in the car, in your headphones or while you're doing laundry.

Immerse yourself!

 



Sunday, February 6, 2011

How to keep textbooks from becoming your personal Nigerian princess.

The following facts were posted in June 2010 on the blog for the Worldwide Center of Mathematics:

  • There are 17 million college students in the U.S.
  • Each student uses on average 5.3 textbooks per semester
  • 180 million+ textbooks are purchased annually (new and used)
  • The average 40 ft tree yields 8,333 sheets of paper
  • The average textbook is 715 pages
  • 11.6 textbooks = one tree
  • 15.5 million trees per year killed to make our textbooks
 
Most of my peers are spending between $500 and $1000 per semester on text books alone. I have learned some tips and tricks for keeping that number easily below $500 while saving a few trees along the way. Whose trees are we clear cutting to make all these textbooks anyway?  Rainforest?  Probably.

 
I always start with the possibility of buying used, unless the course requires a newer version not yet available from used booksellers. The versions change at least every two or three years, with some books changing versions annually. Is there really that big of a difference between the North Carolina Rules of Court versions 2011 (retail $140) and 2010?  I can get the 2010 version on the free shelf at local used book seller Ed McKay.

 
The biggest waste of money is in the textbooks I purchase and never use or hardly use at all. If a teacher doesn’t really like a textbook that the college requires, they just don’t use it. Most of my classes are dependent on Power Point presentations and lecture notes anyway. The way to deal with this problem is to 1) either hold off buying your books until after school starts (not recommended) or 2) make sure you can return the books within the first week or two of school for full refund. Do this by keeping them pristine!  Also, read your syllabi. Most teachers post them online the first week of the semester. They might tell you not to bother getting a book at all, or that it’s okay to buy an older used version.

 
Here are some tips and links that may save you a few bucks and the Rainforest a few trees:

 
  1. Rent. http://www.chegg.com/ has pretty much everything you need and rental prices are at least half the cost of buying new. They make it super easy to return books at the end of the semester. The books are in good condition, meaning they may have some highlighting or annotating but spines are in good shape. They don’t penalize you if you did some highlighting of your own either. Choose to rent instead of purchase when you know you won’t want to keep the book in perpetuity. I know for myself, there are some paralegal books worth keeping. I freely annotate and on those pages because I’m keeping them until they give up the ghost. Consider Chegg for selling books also. If Chegg buys your used textbooks the shipping is prepaid to send them to Chegg, plus you can either get cash or put the credits toward your next rentals. Either way it’s a good deal. 
  1. Compare prices when buying new books. Try websites like Amazon.com, which is almost always less than college bookstores. You can also try BarnesandNoble.com and Borders.com. The downside is that if you need to purchase paralegal books exclusive to your state such as Rules of Court, the major websites don’t have them and you will probably have to purchase from your college bookstore. 
  1. Buy used. There are several websites that deal exclusively with used books that I have had great success with. One is Abebooks.com and the other is Alibris.com. Don’t forget about Ebay
  1. Consider buying an e-version of the book you need. This is pretty impractical for most paralegal books, but if you have to read novels for any general education classes then by all means get an e-book or better yet an audio book. Just make sure you get unabridged if you choose an audio book.

 
Happy book buying!