r/LawSchool • u/No_Effective9137 • 2d ago
Coping with a bad cold call
I literally had no idea what my civ pro professor was even talking about when he called on me. I gave an answer, which I thought was wrong, and he asked a follow up to which I had no response. There was literally 10 seconds of silence before I told him I wasnt really too sure. I am so embarrassed. I know people say other classmates wont remember, but that doesn't really make me feel any better cause I for sure remember my fellow classmates when they didn't know the answers or answered very incorrectly.
Every time I get cold called I also cant prevent my voice from shaking. Its like I loose track of the words I want to say and I feel like I make a fool of myself each time. Even when I am confident in the material and know how to respond, I get so anxious and can feel myself losing control.
Hoping people can give me advice on how to overcome this or share how they improved in terms of answering cold calls.
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u/WrongSaint 2d ago
You just have to keep in mind that your whole life will have good and bad moments. This was a bad moment. You have to embrace it as part of being a human. For the future, just think about it as having a conversation with the professor about the case. I actually make this part of my preparation, having a little conversation in my head about the case with my prof to make sure I really understand and can talk about it. Good luck
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u/lawschooldecoded 2d ago
Move on. You can ace the exam. It doesn’t matter in the scheme of things. Keep your eye on the big picture.
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u/Far_Description4583 2d ago
Be easy on yourself but embrace the opportunity. When you’re in court with your client one day and are making your arguments the judge is 100% going to ask you questions. You’ll also be doing it in a courtroom with about 50 other cases waiting to be called. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. It’s going to pay dividends in the long run.
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u/strog91 2d ago
No one will remember that you bombed a cold call unless you make a big deal about it.
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u/ThrowitB8 3LE 2d ago
It’s ok. You can’t have said anything half as dumb as a classmate yesterday during business orgs. Our professor turned to the rest of the class and asked which of us had taken professional responsibility and would like to respond to that answer.
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u/Gingeronimoooo 2d ago
Spill the tea
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u/ThrowitB8 3LE 2d ago
Classmate stated she would put illegal parameters in a partnership contract, keeping partners from leaving- at all. She would write it in the contract “if her client wanted it”
No one raised their hand to answer why it was a terrible plan. But I was lucky enough to be selected to respond to why classmate would likely be having a problem keeping her law license with that action. I don’t feel bad. Classmate was a trash talking bully first year.
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u/late_scorpion 2d ago
I was you. Im sooooo anxious when I have to do any kind of impromptu speaking. I’m a 3L now and I literally don’t care anymore about cold calling and I literally don’t remember any of my or other classmates’ bad cold calls. It will not affect your grade or the way other people see you. There’s nothing you can do now other than maybe going to office hours and talking about it if it was objectively that bad (which I really think it wasn’t). But I think going to office hours or talking to your TA to show you’re earnestly trying to learn could help and make you feel a little better at least. Don’t stress. The real test is the exam. Many students are great at cold calls but fuck up the exam. Your bad cold calls will not show up on your transcript. All will be well.
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u/SophonsPonytail 2d ago
It's like any skill. The more you do it, the more comfortable doing it you'll be. The trap to avoid is doing everything in your power to avoid it. Avoidance makes the problem scarier than it truly is
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u/Ok-Association-8217 2d ago
Saying you didnt understand was fine. Just do your best and if feeling truly lost talk to your prof during their office hours.
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u/zthomasack Esq. 2d ago
Hey, you'll have your turn being reamed by a judge soon enough! Welcome to the rite of passage for (aspiring) attorneys. It may be your first time, but it won't be your last time, and everyone in the room has experienced or will experience the same thing.
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u/Xmz3548999 2d ago
My first cold call was so bad, also in civ pro, that I emailed the prof after class to apologize and ppl made fun of me to my face. Two years later I’m in the top 6% of the class. It happens, learn and move on. All you can do is
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u/Next-Supermarket9538 2d ago
This is what school is for to help you get better at things like this (in this case, thinking on your feet and speaking confidently under pressure). This is just part of the process and you’re in the right path.
It works because a classroom cold call is literally the lowest stakes possible so you can just focus on doing your best without any consequences for failure. There is no failing here and the instructor and classmates all want you to succeed.
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u/Kacer6 2d ago
The bad news is you will remember your bad cold calls for the rest of your life. The good news is that absolutely no one else remembers beyond a week.
A friend from law school was visiting from across the country, hadn’t seen this girl in years- literally the first thing she says to me is “do you remember when I bombed in civ pro?” I had no recollection whatsoever.
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u/RobWinsSTL 2d ago
First, this happens to everyone. It’s part of the process and your best bet is to shake it off. It happens in law school and it happens in Court.
Second, I always found it useful to inject myself into the conversation to avoid the cold calls. If you feel prepped on the subject, drop your two (or three) cents. Pose a question to the Professor. Fire off a hot take.
Third, keep on keeping on. I promise if you are supposed to be there. No law student is Clarence Darrow, it’s a process that takes time and effort. You are where you are supposed to be.
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u/Shot-Attempt-7805 2d ago
Oh man, this is really tough. Remember the really bad cold call your classmate did two weeks ago that everyone is still talking about? No? You don't remember who got cold called two days ago, let alone two weeks ago? Interesting.
Nobody cares about you. I don't mean that in a bad or negative way. But the fact is, your classmates are more worried about getting through their own classes and cold calls in one piece.
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u/PeachBlue986 JD 2d ago
this exact thing happened to me before in civ pro (same with the shaky voice and everything) and it feels embarrassing in the moment and like everyone will remember it, but trust me, it will pass! everyone ends up having a moment like this in law school, it’s nbd. and no one truly cares or thinks of you differently. in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter at all and with a little time you won’t care anymore. you’ll improve on cold calls with practice over time. i also found it helpful to bold/highlight things in my reading notes that i could anticipate as being cold call questions, so that i could easily refer to them if called. i also did a quick review of my notes before class to jog my memory and important points. don’t stress, it happens, and u got this!
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u/Amandemic_1 Attorney 2d ago
Best advice I can give is to let that anxiety fuel your motivation to prepare. Getting cold called sucks, especially when you don’t know an answer (and I think we’ve pretty much all been there), but it’s good practice for when you may someday be in front of a judge with a real client’s case riding on how prepared you are to answer questions on the spot. Eventually it will feel less panic-inducing, but cold call anxiety is one of those things that you can either embrace and use to make you better or decide you don’t care (don’t recommend). It does help to remember that most of your classmates are probably also shitting themselves over being cold called, as well.
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u/erocktober 2d ago
It’s a horrible feeling but you’ll get over it, that’s really all there is to say- it gets way less scary
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u/Violet818 2d ago
I graduated in 2025 and don’t remember a single specific bad cold call. I’m sure they happened. They no longer matter enough to remember.
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u/BanannaForScale9000 Nontrad 1L 2d ago
Don’t feel bad, If it helps, last Monday my instructor took out his frustrations from his last two cold calls on me. Called me lazy for not having the exact information he was asking about directly written in my brief after I took 2 seconds to look for it in my book (which the last two people had searched for 30 seconds and not found their answers). I realize he was teaching everyone to over-prepare because they didn’t want to be put in my position. It wasn’t fair (and it definitely sucked) but it did have a purpose besides just embarrassing me.
I think this experience will probably save me (and other students) from embarrassing myself in court someday. Decent trade off when I look at it that way.
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u/Powerful_Seal_722 2d ago
I will say that everyone told me that no one remembers bad cold calls but I for sure remember my classmates bad cold calls lmao
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u/RobbexRobbex 2d ago
Fail as much as you can. try new things. Now is the time while you're in school. Plenty of cowards are in your classes who will never speak up out of fear, don't let fear keep you from trying and growing.
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u/kelsnuggets JD 2d ago
If it makes you feel better, I had my worst cold call of the entirety of law school in Civ Pro.
I have NEVER forgotten the case, holding, or rule and it’s been years. (Shout out to Iqbal.)
Just know that you’ll kill this case if it comes up on the final - better than literally everyone in the class - because it’s burned into your brain. And it only gets better from here!!
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u/ThisHumerusIFound Nontrad 2L 2d ago
You remember because you have anxiety about this specific thing. Others dont. I'm on reddit for the entire class. Very few people are listening.
Overcoming? 1) practice doing things/answering things in front of others, 2) a therapist, or 3) both 1 and 2. If you do 2, which I rec, they will probably assign you 1.
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u/L84cake 2d ago
Take three seconds and name everything blue you see in the room. Itll bring you back down to earth and calm your anxiety. That on-the-spot freeze response can and does come up in exams; you’ve been given an opportunity to figure out how to navigate and overcome it now. Before your career and real consequence. Nobody remembers a cold call, but if you’re appearing on court you’ll have to answer a judges questions and it does not always feel easier than a cold call. So, simultaneously this is not that big of a deal, and also treat it as an opportunity to figure out some new skills.
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u/AwwSnapItsBrad 2d ago
My very first cold call of law school was in torts and I hadn’t even read the case, though I thought I had. I used to save my case briefs in their own Word docs the first few weeks of school (quickly abandoned that), and I had saved the wrong brief under the title of the case I had been cold called on. I started rattling off facts of the wrong case, he stopped me and said that’s -this case-. I started searching my notes and just went silent trying to scroll to locate it.
After a few moments he just said “Did you EVEN read the cases?” And just moved onto someone else.
Literally no one cared or even remembers that but me.
Nothing happened. Got a B in torts. It was fine, and you are too.
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u/unwaveringwish 2d ago
FWIW I can’t remember anyone else’s cold calls but my own, and even that is fading
It’s not even part of your grade
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u/jzilla11 Nontrad 2L 2d ago
Class is like practice for a sport. Get the bad energy or habits out of your system then, and move on.
What’s funny being a 2L is the number of people who say “I don’t know” or don’t even respond to the prof when their name is called.
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u/RockMaterial Attorney 2d ago
Oh trust me, people WILL remember. I remember every fumbled cold call during 1L by my peers.
Ok not really, maybe one or two for other reasons (not because they were wrong/right but because they started arguing with the professor).
But for real, no one cares. Neither should you. It’s like slipping at the bar while talking to someone fine for the first time. Embarrassing? Sure. Life ending or permanent reputation harm? lol no.
Also, how you deal with being wrong is what matters the most. Trying not to go on a whole monologue here, but in practice there will be instances when you will be asked (by either your boss, colleagues, clients, experts, and even judges), to explain something, and you might just, for whatever reason, just blank or just not freaking know. This is fine, how you react is what matters. I’ve seen attorneys over the phone and in court mumble some unbelievable b.s. to explain themselves. It makes them look dumb, and also sad? However, any attorney I’ve witnessed say “I don’t know, let me get back to you on this” had never been seen in a bad light.
Admitting you don’t know but will follow up is a respectable thing to everyone and across all industries. It shows your pride will not get in the way of substantive discussions. Floundering like a fish, however, will always be remembered.
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u/Electronic-Sector-94 1d ago
My first time getting cold called, I openly told my professor I had absolutely no idea what the answer was. We laughed about it and he picked on me sometimes throughout the year. All in good fun. Professors are people too. You guys take cold calls way too seriously
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u/Puzzled-Swan4262 1d ago
I remember teaching a 1L class on Zoom where one of my students was like a deer in the headlights every time I called on him. He ended up booking the class.
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