Law Memos

Well, I managed to complete the memo due at 5pm. I finished around 10:30, so really I had hours and hours to spare. I'm not sure how good it is, but it's definitely done.

I found it very hard to organize the information in a coherent manner. They want us to use the IRAC method, which makes sense, but I still have a hard time bringing everything together. The statement of facts and the question(s) presented are clear enough; it's the discussion section that's difficult. I remember having a hard time with the organization of a paper when I was in undergrad, too; it's like I can't write unless I have a clear road map of where I'm going to go, but in the case of the memo, I just can't figure out where I want to go.

The bigger probably is that I'm so fixated on the organization that I'm fairly sure my analysis is somewhat lacking. I am certain that there are a few big jumps that I made between the facts and the conclusion.

We are going to have meetings with our "Senior Partner" and hopefully, if she can clarify some of the organization issues for me, I can do a better job on the analysis next time. Of course, starting the paper before Saturday would have been a better idea. They gave us over 3 weeks to do it, and I managed to procrastinate until the final weekend. I'm not sure that it really would have been much better if I'd spent more time, but if I don't gotten cracking on it early, I could have met with either the Senior or Junior Partner with my draft, which probably would have been helpful.

The bright side is that the next memo is a group endeavour and I won't want to let down the others in my group, so I'm almost certain to get an earlier start on it.

Things I Really Need

1. To start getting more than 6 hours of sleep per night.
2. To not catch the swine flu that is supposedly sweeping through the law school.
3. To find my motivation for the memo due on Monday.
4. To spend some quality time with the puppy tonight (this will probably take precedence over #3).
5. To have a few hours of mind-numbing entertainment.

Update:
1. I did manage to get more than 6 hours of sleep on the weekend; part of this stemmed from having no exciting weekend plans, but I'll take what I can get.
2. Still swine flu free.
3. Managed to procrastinate for a long time, but still got it done.
4. Lots of quality puppy time (this also goes back to having a relatively dull weekend).
5. Watched Sunshine Cleaning, which was only okay; also went out for pizza Friday night, but it was only for an hour or so.

In other, more exciting weekend news, I did get a new book on grilling and then bought lots of delicious meat at the grocery store. T-bones and short ribs and pork chops, oh my! Also a lamb chop!

Motivation

There are a lot of things I really like about law school. The readings are (for the most part) really interesting, the classes are engaging, and the people (again, for the most part) seem pretty cool.

This week, however, I've really started to notice a different degree of anxiety amongst a good portion of the 1Ls, or at least the 1Ls I know. Our first memo is due this week and people seem to be freaking out over it a bit. They told us only to spend 10 hours on it and I know there are a lot of people who are spending way more than that. It's not due until Monday at 5pm and people are on like their third drafts.

I, on the other hand, have a rough outline done. I just am not getting worked up into a frenzy over it. The first memo we did went pretty well for me, and while this one is certainly more complicated and is about twice as long, I see no reason to get stressed out over it. The class is pass/fail and the memo is graded on a scale of 1 to 5 and we're expected to get 3s.

This isn't to say I don't want to do a good job, but both this week and last week in our legal research class, we were getting tips on how to organize and analyze our memos and some people already have them written. I'm glad I don't have it written yet, because I think I got a lot out of our class discussions.

Yet, I find myself second-guessing. What if I'm not motivated enough? Why am I not worried? Taking a few years off from hard-core academia certainly mellowed me from my undergraduate ways. I don't want to be too lax, but with just reading assignments (with the exceptions of this memo), it's hard to get yourself worked up over the assignments. As long as I've read and am ready for class discussions in case my name is called, I don't worry at all.

I've heard that after fall break, things will start to get even more frantic. I do hope to start outlining over that long weekend, but I just don't feel any anxiety yet. Maybe I really have calmed down in the years since I was a stressed out mess. Or maybe I'm deluding myself. Only time will tell.

Boys and Cardigans.

As you might imagine, library school is much more female-populated than a lot of graduate programs. I mean, you hear librarian and you think a chick with glasses and a cardigan, right? (Complete side note: I love cardigans....so, so much.) Well, at law school, there is a much more even mix. There are guys everywhere.

I don't think I've exactly gone guy-crazy, but there seem to be an awful lot of cute guys around all the time. Maybe it's because I know they're all (at least semi-) intelligent -- and let's face it, intelligence is sexy -- but it's a very interesting dynamic to be around so many males all the time. I feel like I'm back in high school -- that was the last time I remember being surrounded by guys, since my undergrad also had a very uneven female to male ratio. I think this might be why there are so many Dress Girls -- they want to look nice b/c there are so many guys.

Even I succumb to this. I think I've only worn a hoodie once. Or twice.

But I've worn a cardigan nearly every day. Something don't change.

Client Interview

Today marked my first client interview. Basically, a mock client (who is actually a 3L student) comes as a client and we interview them.

I thought it went pretty well; the trickiest part was balancing the question-asking between my self and my co-counsel. I was constantly trying to think what my next question would be and so I wasn't really listening to what the other person was saying. This resulted in our questioning being a bit convoluted. It's also difficult to make sure you're not talking over the other person when you have two people asking the questions. Our "senior partner" (aka our professor) told us that in the real world, we would hardly ever have two people asking questions -- it would either be just you, or the senior partner would do the question-asking while the junior person watched. So our biggest problem is something we won't have to deal with much in the real world.

Overall, I feel like it went pretty well. Now we just have to wait to hear back before we move on. Before then, we have our first big memo due, so as far as our legal writing/practice class goes, that's where all my energy will be focused for the next little while.

In other news, just a little bit of reading to do, since we're behind in Civ Pro (resulting in smaller readings this week -- and I managed to get mine done between classes; now that we're out of Personal Jurisdiction, the reading isn't nearly as bad, anyway) and Torts (meaning we have NO reading tonight!! WOOT!). So just a little bit of Crim Law to do -- which I might have even read earlier in the week. I can't remember right now.

Also, 1L Representatives for the SBA are being voted for today. I live in fear that the Fuhrer will be elected -- but I'm guessing the odds of that are small.

Girl Drama

I'd forgotten how much drama there can be in college. Why is it that girls find so many things to be petty about? I found in my time in libraries and at library school that drama needn't exist in one's life.

That's right. I think I might have my first law school frienemy. I thought this girl and I were cool; we hang out all the time, along with this guy. I think of the guy as my closest friend at law school -- but in a very little brother kind of way. I'm about three years older, but with my immature sense of humor and the fact that he really gets my sarcasm, I find that we click. In a totally non-romantic, non-sexual way. Now the guy, he likes this other girl -- big time. Which I thought was fine, because she seems like a pretty cool chick.

I found out today that she told him I said that his notes were sucky. This all came out because she missed class on Monday morning and I was kind enough to offer my notes to her. I jokingly said that she wouldn't want to borrow his, since he plays minesweeper and freecell during class. I really don't see any way that it didn't come across that way. We both smiled and laughed.
But apparently, I "don't think much" of his notes.

I know that my sarcasm can sometimes be misconstrued, but seriously, folks? Seriously? I can't figure out now whether she just doesn't like me (which is fine -- not everybody does, but if she doesn't she shouldn't bother with being all friendly at other times), whether she thinks I'm after this guy (who she had got to know likes her -- and maybe she has a thing for him, too), or what. But I've been nothing but nice to her and I really don't need people talking about me behind my back.

Anyway, I'm trying not to let myself get too upset about it. It's not really worth getting upset over, but I thought I'd made this new circle of friends. I've made the mistake in the past where I became friends with the wrong people before, but I thought after my time in library school that I'd started having better judgment. I guess I'll just have to keep my cards a little closer to my chest for the next little while.

That's all for now, I have to go finish getting ready for a barbecue -- and yes, both of the aforementioned are coming over. I'm just going to try to stay my usual self, can't change for other people.

Characters, Part 2

While I'm busy mocking people, I should probably mention that after freezing in class two out of the three times I was called on last week (it was like they'd all agreed to torment me last week), I'm probably considered the dumb kid. It's okay with me. If I'm perceived as dumb, they won't think I'm a threat and I can skate through school, studying hard and perhaps being one of those kids that people are surprised at when they get good grades. This is all dependent upon me starting to study a bit more and actually doing well on exams, but I'm optimistic enough at this point to see that happening.

Okay, back to mocking others. It's more fun.

Ah, the Dress Girls. In my mind, I often think of them as future Stepford Wives. DGs wear ribbons in their hair and always look as though they've spent three hours in the morning getting ready (including one at the salon getting their hair done). They often wear dresses (hence the moniker). The unofficial uniform of the DGs is anything from J. Crew. In fact, one of the DGs likes to spend most of Civil Procedure looking at the J. Crew website. It would, after all, be a catastrophe if she were to miss the newest piece of prepster wear. That said, I am kind of impressed that she feels like she understands the reading well enough that she can't pay attention in class; even knowing that my name won't be called there again any time soon, I still live in fear of missing some important point. You know, except for when I'm daydreaming and checking out what kind of online shopping is being done by the DGs.

P.S. I am totally aware that I am just jealous that I can't look that put together in the morning. But I would never give up time exercising or playing with the puppy just to make sure every hair was in place. And let's face it, even if I did take the time, it would still probably be an epic fail.

Characters

I remember reading through some law school blogs when I was getting ready for law school. Different websites had different names for some of the schools, but they all had the gunner. My classes certainly have some, but they're not as bad here as they have been depicted on some blogs. One kid just always seems to have something to say, another seems the feel the need to bring her personal life into her responses, but my favorite by far is "The Fuhrer."

"The Fuhrer" raises his hand into the air at a direct 90 degree angle, as though he is saluting another Fuhrer. "The Fuhrer" raises his hand with such intensity that it seems that he will wet his pants waiting to be called on. I am fairly sure "The Fuhrer" is already being ignored by our Torts professor; if there is anyone, anyone, else to call on, she'll do it. His response to this is usually to groan and throw his hand into the air with even more determination. But one day, he ignored her a little too long.

"The Fuhrer" will not be ignored. He just decides to speak without being called on. He begins, "I was just going to say...." blah blah blah. I can't continue with his undoubtedly brilliant thought, because I was hiding behind my monitor laughing as quietly as possible. The people I sit with in class could barely contain ourselves, since we'd watched him go from excitement at having something to say, to his insistence on being called on, to his frustration at not being called on, to bursting and just having to say something.

I have to say I laugh a lot at law school. Not always when I should be.

And the first person to leave Survivor is....

A buddy in all my classes leaned over to to me in Torts today and said, "I wish this was like Survivor and we could vote people off the island."

My response: "I've got a few people in mind who'd get my vote."

It's funny how when he nodded I knew with certainty that we were thinking of the same person.

Maybe we should make an alliance.

Absolutely, I do.

Exhaustion

I knew there would be a lot of reading in law school. I really did, but holy crap, I'm exhausted. I feel like my brain is waking up from a very long hibernation, in which analytical thought was not necessary at all. It's like this intense pleasure-pain; I practically elated in class because we're learning so much and it's (mostly) really interesting, but my head hurts from all the thinking.

I think I'm going to have to rethink my study schedule. I'm going to need to do more reading on the weekends to get ahead for the rest of the week so that Tuesday and Wednesday nights in particular are not this brutal -- especially since I have to function for all three classes on Thursdays. I can't imagine having all this reading to do, plus writing the memo that we have coming up in a few weeks, unless I make some kind of change.

That said, I seem to be understanding the readings pretty well; with the exception of Civil Procedure and one dreadful case this morning on personal jurisdiction, I seem to be grasping the concepts. I also think I have a good method for organizing my notes from the readings and my notes from class, and how to combine them to make them useful for studying later on. Microsoft OneNote is my savior.

I think I'm also going to try to go to a writing workshop on legal writing on Friday morning. I don't really need an extra thing to do, but if I learned one thing in undergrad, it's how important writing is. Legal writing is a drastically different kind of writing, so I want to get whatever help I can. It's been a long time since I've had any real writing to do (since I put such little effort in my library school papers).

Okay, this blog has gotten much too serious, but I'm too tired to even try to bring any wit to the table, so I'm just going to sign off and go to bed.

Law Camp Survival and then Some

Well, I have officially done it. And it is: moved to Law School Town, USA, survived Law School orientation (including the first brief and the first memo and watching two other kids in our "law firm" conduct the first client interview -- that third task was really a hardship).

I'm not going to pretend that orientation was exactly pleasant, at least not the first few days. Being the oh-so-perky people person that I am, you can only imagine how please I was to have to make small talk with strangers for several days.

Another thing to make Wednesday even more enjoyable is when the woman instructing us on doing case briefs decided to showcase the "Socratic" method on us by calling on me. I suppose I stumbled through an answer well enough, but it took at least a month off my life to her "Ms. me" called.

Luckily, Wednesday evening was kind of the turning point. Our law firm senior partner (aka, our professor) knew the key to loosening us up: garbage can frisbee and beer pong in the law school lobby. Well, technically, our law firm was supposed to be meeting in one of the classrooms, but it was locked, so we moved our par-tay to the lobby. By the end of the night, we'd all kind of bonded, which made it significantly easier to find someone to sit next to during orientation on Thursday and Friday.

I spent a large portion of the weekend reading for my first classes in Torts, Criminal Law, and Civil Procedure, probably from about 9am to 4 on Saturday and 11 to 3 on Sunday. I'm told we'll get quicker as the semester goes on, so I'll hold my breath for that day to come. I've had all three classes so far, and all the professors are pretty engaging. I really enjoyed Torts and Criminal Law today, but I am currently procrastinating reading Pennoyer v. Neff for Civ Pro. I've been working on it for over an hour and only gotten through like 6 pages. The professor said it was probably the most difficult 1L case, but I can't help wondering if it'll be like this every night for Civ Pro. It doesn't help that I keep finding things to distract me; the Torts and Crim Law readings hold my attention much better.

Well, I suppose I better returned to Civil Procedure: A Contemporary Approach. If you're suffering from insomnia, you might want to check it out, too.

(Speaking of books, but this time one that won't put you asleep, I just started reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, at the suggestion of a pal. Fair warning: they are children's books, but I'll be damned if they don't capture the imagination, especially if you're an Ancient Greek nerd like me.)

500 Days of Summer

I have seen a number of movies this summer (including Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, The Ugly Truth, The Hangover, The Proposal, Public Enemies and Away We Go, to name a bunch), but BY FAR, the best I have seen is 500 Days of Summer.

It's the most realistic depiction of life and relationships that I have seen in a movie in a long time. It really shows how the ups and downs of relationships and how, even though you might think someone is the only one for you, they might not be. I love the idea that it you can just be in the most random place and meet someone who will be your "soul mate" (if there is such a thing, which I'm still not convinced of). Even more intriguing, however, is the idea that there is just some indescribable factor that "the one" has that other people you care a lot for don't have.

I highly recommend checking this one out. The narration might seem a little annoying to some (though I personally enjoyed it) and there's a kitschy dance (though definitely entertaining) musical number in the middle. There's a lot of humor and the two leads put in incredibly charming performances that I can see myself coming back to watch again and again.

The Doomsday Key by James Rollins

James Rollins' Sigma Series is some of my guilty favorite pleasure reading and the newest installment, The Doomsday Key, reminded me why I love hanging out with the Sigma Force characters. I love that the book brings us back to Gray, Seichan, Rachel, Monsignor Verona, Kowolski, Painter, Monk, Kat, and Lisa each time. I love these little glimpses we get into their lives, as they strive to keep the Guild from getting their hands on important and deadly historical and scientfic artifacts.

Rollins is a master at weaving science and history together, and puts in just enough romance to satisfy the girly side of me and enough action to fulfill the rough-and-tumble side. I also love that there's always true history and science forming the background of his stories, so the reader is always learning.

Definitely give these books a try if you want to lose yourself in a race between good and bad as they move towards historical and scientific truths.

Rapidly Approaching

As we near the end of July, law camp is imminent. Friday is my last day of work at the libraries and then it's up to New York for 6 days to see friends and family before coming back to Maryland, grabbing my stuff, and moving to my new mini house in law school town. Right now the apartment is getting pretty clean but there are boxes EVERYWHERE, as I've been packing and steam-cleaning and scrubbing kitchens and bathrooms. The dust that gets kicked up is killing me, since I've got a crazy dust allergy.

My friend, who is taking over my current apartment, is moving in on Friday, so I've consolidated all my stuff in one half of the room, so that we can get all her stuff in.

People keep asking me if I'm excited, but honestly, I find moving too much of a pain to be focused on being excited about starting law school. I did receive a letter from my "law office" -- our Legal Writing and Research class, and it looks like we will both interview our first client and write our first memo during law camp. I guess we get things off with a bang.

I also have most of my books, all of which I found pretty good deals for. The only two I don't have yet are ones that were just published this year and which don't have used copies available anywhere. I'll just have to suck it up and order them in the next day or so, but the Torts book is upwards of $100 since it's a new edition -- blech!

Anyway, after two more days of week, one week of family time, and one week of assimilating to my new apartment, my law school adventure will begin. My best friend from home is coming down to VA with me to help me set up the apartment and get settled in -- though I imagine it's our trip to an amusement park that is the real reason she's coming. Either way, it will be nice to have some company as I get started in a new place.

School Books

Now I knew going into law school that the books would be expensive. And they are. However, I feel like I've been able to scout out pretty good prices for all of my books.

What I find really disturbing, however, is that there are 8 required books for the Legal Research/Writing course at my school. I know a couple are necessary and will be useful for throughout law school, for example the Bluebook Citation Guide. But EIGHT? REALLY?

To those law students out there in the universe, do your schools require so many? And more importantly, did you actually use them all?

Study Schedule

I should just admit it: I'm a planner. Now some people might thing that this isn't a bad thing. With me, however, it's not just a general plan for what my days will look like. In undergrad, I used to take my syllabi and map out my reading for each night for the entire semester before classes even started. Then, each night I would have to do the reading before going to bed.

I had thought I'd mellowed in the three years since then. Getting my MLS turned me into a lazy learner; I rarely read. And why would I, when the readings were then reiterated to us in class and the professors provided 70+ slides for each class that also repeated the material? I'd only do what I needed to get the assignments in.

Ever since I got my IL Fall Schedule, I've been trying to figure out what my days will look like. On average, how many hours a day will be required of studying, or how many hours per class session? Obviously, this differs for everyone, but is it really about 3 hours per class session, as suggested by Law School Confidential? How much time does Legal Research and Writing take up?

These are just some things I've been thinking about lately. I cannot wait for school to start so this blog can be more about mocking law students (none of whom are any stranger than I am, I'm sure) and the law school experience.

For the time being, I'm chugging away at my two jobs and looking forward to 5:00pm on July 31st, my last day. Packing is taking up the majority of the rest of my time...2.5 out of 5 bookshelves packed. I ran out of small enough boxes for books -- they get heavy so fast, so I've moved on to cleaning out the rolltop desk for the time being.

Til next time.

Fall Schedules

Fall schedules were released this week. I have to say I'm fairly pleased with mine, although I may be the only nerd at law school who likes having an 8:30 class three days a week (MWR). I'd be up anyway, so I might as well be in Civil Procedure.

My other classes are at 10 o'clock (every day but Monday) and 2 o'clock (MTR). Along with Civil Procedure, I have Torts and Criminal Law, as well as the required IL research and writing class. I'm really glad that I'll be done by 3:30 everyday. Of course, I have to work in my eight work hours/week, too.

Now that I can sort of visualize that what my weeks will look like, I'm starting to get somewhat excited to start. Of course, this means, with my move now only a month a way, I need to get started on packing. My books alone will take hours to pack.

Okay, I'm off to finish watching Wimbledon and then get some more summer reading in.... because, before long, I imagine there won't be a lot of time for pleasure reading. Flaubert, here I come!

A Librarian in Law School?

I remember a time when I used to be decisive, but before I graduated from undergrad, this melted away. I spent five years in a liberal arts-filled bliss and planned on going for my Ph.D. in Classics before I realized that I really did not want to teach. So I took a year off and worked in a library, as I'd done all through college.

I spent a lot of time contemplating what I wanted to do next and I thought long and hard about law school before deciding I wasn't ready to make that decision, and knowing it wasn't a decision that should be made until I could be decisive.

This led to me going to graduate school for library science. Luckily, I had an assistantship, so I didn't acquire any debt. I figured I would learn a lot about researching that could be helpful no matter what profession I eventually entered. It was okay, but the lack of analytical thought drove me nuts. I enjoyed the reference classes when I was actually researching, but there was no challenge, which is something I need to hold my interest.

Long story short, my mind returned to law school. I was certain I would be challenged. I knew I'd be using the analytical part of my brain that was so dormant during my library classes. I enjoy research and writing. I think I'd be good at it, which is also something mandatory of the profession I choose.

I'm heading to law school with the security that if I don't want to practice law, I enjoy reference librarianship and law librarians positions are more financially stable (so I'll eventually be able to pay off all the loans).

I'm looking forward to using my brain again, to wake up from the lull that my life has been the last three years. It'll be interesting to see how the next three compare....