Faster than you can say “hideous monstrous rabbit squishing a young girl,” we’re halfway through our fall 1L semester. Can you believe it?
No, that’s not Ninja Kid. I have no idea who this poor little girl is BUT GOOD GOD LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT RABBIT!
Anyway.
I forgot previously to write about the Negotiations competition. The competition was actually two weeks ago. So I partnered with another girl in my section and we signed up for the Negotiations competition. Nobody really knew what was going on or what to expect, so we were all on a pretty level playing field. There were 74 teams competing overall and three preliminary rounds to be held before any scores were tallied. Once we got our problems, my partner and I got together and worked out where our firm limits were, areas where we had some wiggle room, and our initial offers.
So maybe we weren’t the best negotiators evah. Okay, maybe we weren’t even in the top 16 best negotiators evah. Or even in the top 16 best negotiators in the 1L class at Ninja School of Law. But still, I’m glad I participated. Obviously it was a great learning experience. Like I said, I certainly had very little understanding of how the process would work, and after going through it three times I think I’d be much more comfortable with it in the future. It was tons of fun to play lawyer for a little while and represent a client’s interests. I was surprised at how un-nervous I was before our first round, and by the time our third round came along I was downright relaxed.
For the preliminary rounds we were judged by 3L students. The judging was pretty inconsistent. One judge would tell us not to do a certain thing, and the next judge would count off for not having done that same certain thing. For example, we were on a 40-minute time limit as far as the actual negotiations at the table. In each of our first two rounds, we finished early and each judge told us it was no big deal. For our third round, however, we finished early and got chastised for it. I happen to know one team got criticized for sitting next to each other rather than across from each other during self-analysis with the judge.
I heard quite a few of my classmates complaining about this and I must admit I did my fair share of griping, too. It’s frustrating not to know what is expected of you and then to get corrected on it.
And then, whilst in the midst of a deep conversation with my good friend Billy, I had a minor epiphany.
I mean, this is how it’s gonna be. In real life. Doing the lawyering thing. There are going to be times — in fact, probably lots of them, especially as newbie lawyers — when we aren’t sure exactly what’s expected of us, or exactly where certain lines are drawn, and yet we will still be expected to perform to the best of our abilities.
Actually, all of law school is kindof like this. For example, Prof. CivPro hates it when someone uses the words “clearly” or “obviously” because, her thinking goes, things are rarely clear or obvious. The first time a student used one or both of those words in CivPro, he or she (I can’t remember who it was) got corrected and treated to a mini-lecture. Now, obviously, I have a disagreement with the professor on this, because clearly there are a lot of things that are both clear and obvious to me:
Brad Pitt is the hottest man in the galaxy EVAH. Trust.
My dog understands every word I say.
Jokes told in the quiet section of the law library inherently carry a funny quotient of x100.
Cats and dogs are irresistibly drawn to sit upon open casebooks.
I could go on; the list is lengthy. But I digress.
The point I’m trying to make is that the law school experience wouldn’t be authentic if there weren’t a high degree of uncertainty involved. Someday you’re going to go up in front of a judge and you’re not going to know beforehand that he hates some specific words and here’s how it’s gonna go down:
YOU: Your Honor, I object! This is clearly speculation and whatnot.
JUDGE: Overruled. Counselor, please refrain from using the word “whatnot” in my courtroom.
YOU: Apologies, Your Honor. Obviously, I was unaware of your disdain for that word, etc.
JUDGE: Counselor, you would do well to never utter the word “etcetera” in my courtroom again.
YOU: Your Honor, would it be possible for me to get my hands on some sort of list of words that are disfavored in this courtroom?
JUDGE: COUNSELOR I’M HOLDING YOU IN CONTEMPT.
YOU: But, sir! Would you please just make a ruling on the law? I’m correct on the law.
JUDGE: [hammering wildly] BAILIFF!!
See? That could so totally happen in real life. This is what law school is preparing you for. Prepare to be unprepared.
Well, week 7 is in the books. We’re nearing the halfway point of 1L fall semester. I know a lot more than I did seven weeks ago, that’s fo sho. But the thought of exams coming up in less than two months now… [please hold for major panic attack]
Seems like the only class with anything exciting going on any more is CivPro. Take this last week, for instance. We only had three days of CivPro because the professor was out of town, but it culminated in a real, live Battle of the Big Talkers. It was like THE CLASH OF THE TITANS!!!
Somehow our discussion about personal jurisdiction devolved into… polluted drinking water? You can’t possibly know just how epic it was unless you were there.
Sidebar: Is it weird that I remember this movie, while most of you probably weren’t even born when it came out in 1981? [cue midlife crisis]
So I’m thinking I’d better start outlining soon, right? I’ve read lots of advice posts all around these tangled intertubez, and I think I’m about ready to get started. Especially since I did absolutely nothing productive this whole weekend. Well, by productive I guess I mean law-school-related. I was, in fact, exceedingly productive at Talbot’s and Dillard’s.
If you’re thinking about outlining, or maybe you’ve already started but you’re not sure if you’re doing it quite right, check out some of these links. Also, if you have any other questions or advice to offer re outlining (or a helpful link that I missed — apologies), please stick them in the comments.
So apparently the blog has been down for a little while. I’m not sure exactly how long, but I know it was longer than 24 hours. Apologies if you were trying to access the site and you got an error message. Hopefully the problem has been fixed and we’re good to go.
In case you didn’t notice, the week 6 edition of Law School Lessons is suspiciously late. Sorry about that. Strangely enough, I’m finding that some weeks are just not as amusing as others. Who would’ve thunk it?
Week 6 was… well… Eastwoodian.
The Good: Prof. Torts and Prof. K were both out of town on Thursday and Friday of last week, and Prof. Legal Practice figured out that if she held class there wouldn’t be very many people who showed up, so I was done last week for the week at noon on Thursday.
The Bad: I chose to spend that extra time staring at the cobwebs on my ceiling rather than getting ahead (or catching up) in my classes.
The Ugly: We had to have two Torts classes on Tuesday (one at 8:00 and one at 10:00) to make up for one of the missed classes later in the week.
The Good: I got my practice exam back in CivPro. Prof. CivPro wrote a lot of things on my paper, but the “good first effort” made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
The Bad: Every person whom I’ve talked to also got the “good first effort” comment.
The Ugly: On closer inspection, I’m beginning to think the comment actually reads “cod list effect.” Except I didn’t list anything about fish anywhere in my answer.
You get the picture, right? A mixed bag. Something tells me this may be a recurring theme.
Week 5? You mean more like week 5… hundred? Seems like I’ve been a law student for FO-EVAH already.
Let me ’splain it to ya.
On the one hand, I am certainly still more confused than not regarding the big picture. I think this is why some people suggest waiting to start outlining until later in the semester. Also, my body and my mind still haven’t accepted the new schedule for the most part. On Saturdays and Sundays, however, my brain seems to get a kick out of waking me up at an unreasonably early hour. It mocks me, my brain.
On the other hand, when you consider where we started just five weeks ago, we have really come quite a long way, baby. For example, remember reading that very first case they gave us for orientation? And it took like more than an hour just to read and understand that one case about the guy who killed his grandpa before he could change his will? Remember how scary that was? That was only five weeks ago, and now look! I can read through cases, pick out the important parts, highlight them (color-coded, of course!), and even discuss them in a somewhat informed manner. This is progress!
Okay, self-congratulation phase over.
Now on to the lessons of the week (last week, that is).
But first, are you guys tired of my breaking down each week by subject? I’m kinda tired of it. I feel like for some classes I don’t really have much to say. Take Torts, for example. I mean, from here on out it’s gonna be negligence, negligence, and more negligence. Surely you don’t want to read about that for eleven more weeks, right? Right. So I think I’m just going to hit the high spots from here on out. Okay, good.
With that out of the way, there’s really only one event last week that I want to talk about.
Last week will go down in history as The Notorious CivPro Blood Bath of 2009. Also known as The Great 1L Gut Check. Also known as The Day When At Least 85% of Section 2 Seriously Contemplated A Different Career Path. It was horrible. Prof. CP felt like some people were un(der)prepared for class and made an example out of them.
Now, the truth is this: At orientation, we were treated to a lengthy lecture on time management, study skills, etc. In that session, we were told of this Magical Device, which, if used properly, would guarantee that we’d never be caught unprepared in class. And everybody knows that if you want to get a 1L’s attention, tell them how to avoid embarrassment at the hand of the Dreaded Socratic Method. The name of said Wondrous Weapon is The 2-Day-Ahead Reading Schedule.
Ooooh. Aaaah.
Did you learn about this at your orientation? Basically, you do Monday’s reading on Saturday, Tuesday’s reading on Sunday, etc. That way, you start out the week two days ahead, and if you get bogged down in something and fall behind, it’s easier to play catch-up later in the week. Or so the theory goes.
I have friends who are using this method still, five weeks into the semester, and they like it. I think I’d like it if I could make it work for me, but the truth is that I don’t get much reading done at home because of the distractions. So, by all means, if you think this sounds like a good idea and you want to give it a try, or you’re already successfully Wielding the Wondrous Weapon, that’s awesome. I’m actually kinda jealous.
For the rest of you, let this be your cautionary tale. You see, Prof. CivPro told us early into the semester that she’s not a fan of the Wondrous Weapon because students have a tendency to forget the details of a case (which Prof. CP absolutely loves to ask about) in two days. She told us very early that we should not follow the advice of the Study Gurus and should only do our reading the day before. (For the record, I’ve upped the ante and started doing the CivPro reading between Contracts and CivPro. Such a daredevil.)
So, the truth of the matter is that the people who were called upon on The Day The CivPro Class Stood Still had actually read the material, but it had been a couple of days since they read it, and they forgot to refresh the ol’ memory bank before class. So, when called upon, these people appeared to be unprepared.
So the moral of the story is this: If you read ahead, make sure you take a look at the cases just before class to refresh your memory.
Well. The first week of law school is over. Do I love it? Absolutely. Is it going to be a huge challenge? OMG. Yes.
So rather than bore you with a lengthy account of my first week, which was probably very similar to your first week as a 1L, I thought I’d just do a brief recap of my week by class. Hopefully I can do this as a weekly series.
But first, I do have some general thoughts:
I just love my law school. Love. I realize I’ve only been there a week, and all you seasoned law students are at once rolling your eyes and thinking to yourself, “Let’s ask her how she feels in three months at exam time.” I know I may be a little doe-eyed at this point, but seriously, it’s been great so far. The building is nice (especially the new add-on), there are lots of comfy chairs and couches and nooks and crannies in which to study, and it just has a good vibe. Most of the professors are pretty un-scary and everybody seems to be very willing to help when you run into a snag. I’ve met some nice people and some fellow snarksters and some who annoy the crap out of me, all of whom make for a very entertaining day.
I didn’t spend enough time doing the assigned reading before classes started, and as a result I was barely able to keep my nose above water as far as reading for class. Luckily, the gambles I made paid off and I didn’t get caught unprepared, but I have to get a little farther ahead in my reading. This week I had a mandatory parent’s meeting at Ninja Kid’s school and that two hours cost me.
On a related note, it took me about four days to realize that this formal case briefing business is for the birds. It simply takes way too long. If you have some extra time or you just want to make the time, more power to ya. Instead of formal briefing, I’m just highlighting (color coded!!) and making notes in pencil in the margins of my book.
Waking up at 5:45 every morning SUCKS. Is there some sort of button I can push to make myself go to sleep at 11:00 instead of midnight or later? For some reason, no matter how tired I’ve been all throughout the day, shortly after supper I get a second wind and I can’t make myself go to bed at a reasonable hour. This resulted in my falling asleep with my head in my torts casebook by the time Thursday came around. I really, really need to get this under control.
I love OneNote for organizing all my class materials. Can’t say enough about this program. However, I’m kindof at a loss when it comes to taking notes in class, especially in those classes where we spend inordinate amounts of time on details of cases rather than the big picture. I can hear some of my classmates typing furiously throughout the entire class period, yet for some of my classes I barely have half a page of notes for the whole week! Just when I was starting to think I was missing something, I came across this post on Fearfully Optimistic. [Sidebar: If you're not reading Fearfully Optimistic on a regular basis, shame on you. It's brimming over with helpful, practical advice and you owe it to yourself to check it out if you're a current or future law student.] Anyway, I feel better about my lack of notes now. Thanks, John!
And now, for this week’s installment of Law School Lessons!
TORTS
I like Professor Torts. He’s got a good sense of humor and he makes funny jokes. He uses PowerPoint and he posts it so we don’t have to copy down a bunch of stuff if we don’t want to. Better yet, at the end of each major concept he hands out an outline of the pertinent points. So helpful! He generally takes volunteers, and so far he hasn’t called on anyone out of the blue. There are a lot of people in my section who like to talk.
This week we studied Intent and Battery; next week we start with Assault. What’s cool about Torts is that the cases are interesting and sometimes even kinda funny, so reading is not a chore.
Somehow this week, while talking about intent to harm, we got off onto a discussion of duty versus obligation to help someone in need. He mentioned that in some instances, if you stop to help someone and you end up harming them in the process, you may be held liable. One student was incredulous and asked, “You mean if you just try to help somebody they can sue you later?” Professor Torts replied, “Well, the basic principle of life is that it sucks and then you die, so… yeah.”
Regarding the obligation to help someone in need, Professor Torts explained that if we see a fellow classmate whom we don’t particularly like drowning in the local lake, it’s legally okay to “pull up a lawn chair, light a cigar, and watch the show.” Totes.
CONTRACTS
Professor Contracts is great. He sports a bow tie on most days, and Fridays are Hawaiian shirt days. Snazzy! He’s pretty laid back and a slow talker, and he also has a great sense of humor.
On Friday, Professor Contracts announced that it had come to his attention that some in our class were concerned that we weren’t moving quickly enough through the material and that we needed to pick up the pace. He assured us that he knows what he’s doing. WTF? Somebody actually complained about that?! In the first week of class?! WTF is going on here? I guarantee you, if I find out who it is, I’m gonna have my posse boil their bunny on the stovestick a horse’s head in their bedattack them in the shower give them a stern talking-to.
This week we studied contracts in general and we started talking about consideration. We were reading a case that referenced a “noted thinker” named Chitty. Professor Contracts said, “Okay, Chitty on Contracts. Why do we give a chit?”
CIVIL PROCEDURE
Professor CivPro is the most intimidating of the lot. We can’t use laptops in her class. When you get called on in her class, you have to stand. And you don’t just answer a couple of questions; you have to stand there for about half the class period (20-30 minutes) and respond to hypotheticals.
This week we studied due process. Professor CivPro’s class tends to devolve (or maybe it’s intentional) into discussions of public policy, such as the fairness of the welfare system or the disability benefits system, instead of focusing on the law. This aggravates me for two reasons: (1) isn’t this what we did in undergrad? (2) is it even relevant if my classmates think it’s unfair to rely on the testimony of doctors in determining disability benefits because a friend of a friend once had an on-the-job injury and the one doctor said she had this percentage of disability and the insurance’s doctor said she had less disability, so therefore doctors could be biased and we should just give Mr. Eldridge the benefit of the doubt when he says he’s in pain…? Now I’m not saying I have no empathy, but I just don’t think it has anything to do with the case we’re talking about, now, does it? Grr.
A lot of people in my section are spending an inordinate amount of time preparing for CivPro because of their fear of getting called on and not knowing every single little tiny miniscule detail of the case. As a result, one student already got caught unprepared when she got called on in Contracts. I think this is a losing strategy, and I ain’t fallin’ for it. Here’s my rationale: If I get called on in CivPro, regardless of how well I know the case, I’m going to end up looking like a fool because Professor CivPro is eventually going to get the best of me. Additionally, this will eventually happen to every single person in my class. So I’m going to read the cases and do my highlighting tricks, and I may jot down a couple of notes on a piece of paper to keep handy just in case. But I will not neglect my other classes just to join in the freak-out-over-CivPro party. Hopefully this strategy will pay off.
LEGAL PRACTICE
This is the research and writing class and it lasts for two semesters. I have nothing but nice things to say about Professor LP. She’s pretty, she’s a fashionista, and she seems really, genuinely nice and very smart. She tells us stories about when she was practicing. Also, she bakes birthday cakes.
For this week, this was my favorite class. That’s because it was so easy. We talked about court structure and that’s about it. It was like taking a freshman government class. But please don’t misunderstand: it was glorious, restorative therapy for my overloaded brain to get to sit there and relax for an hour. I realize that later in the semester I won’t be such a fan, but for this week it was just right. Also, my classmates who have different LP professors have already had one quiz and one group exercise where they had to prosecute/defend a fictional character. None of that from my Professor LP. No stress here (yet).
Okay, so this didn’t turn out to be as brief as I intended. In my defense, though, there was a lot to cover. I suspect when things settle down a bit this weekly post will, too.
