Take that comment spammers

I have activated word verification on the comment section of this blog. I apologize to any legitimate posters for the extra effort you will need to make, but I think it is better than seeing 10 comments about online poker.

Time to rub some more aloe on my lobster-red sunburn and have my evening snack.

Thoughts on law school orientation & first week of classes

Since I'm now done with my first week of law school, I thought I'd go back and recap my orientation and first week experiences.

Orientation was held on a Thursday and Saturday (presumably so that the day and evening student orientations could be combined-- apparently it's better to get us day students up at 6 am on a Saturday than to have the evening students take a day off work). The first day of Orientation was pretty much useless. We had welcomes from all of the Deans. They were all pretty much the same. Congratulations on getting accepted. You're all really smart (but not smart enough to get into a first tier school). Work hard, but not too hard. Law school is important, but not the most important thing. After an hour's worth of speeches, we went to Legal Methods, which is basically an intro to law school. Our Legal Methods professor gave us a speech similar to that of all the Deans (although she was the first one to come right out and admit that she had gone to our school because she didn't get good enough LSAT scores to go to a first tier school). We then went around the room and introduced ourselves. I found that most of the people in my section had taken at least a year or two off before starting law school. Some even had impressive career accomplishments including road managing for well known bands, acting credits, etc. I also realized that I was one of a very small number of people not originally from California. Only 5 people out of the 100 person section had not gone to UC something or other for undergrad. I felt a little out of place when I realized how many people already knew one or more people in the class.

The second day of Orientation was much like the first. Speeches (including some good lawyer jokes like: How is a lawyer like a sperm? ---- Only one in a million does anything worthwhile.) and Legal Methods. The second Legal Methods consisted of watching a tape of a lecture and seeing if our brief that we had written the night before matched up. All in all, there was nothing about Orientation that couldn't be gained by reading a book or blog about law school. The most useful part was learning where all the buildings were and getting my sign-in information for the law school network. (I got to print out my syllabi and start my reading. Joy!)

On Thursday, I overheard someone say that she couldn't remember not being in law school. I feel the same way. The first week of classes felt like a lifetime. By Wednesday, it seemed that everyone was in their routine: read, go to class, read some more, sleep, wake up, repeat. It will probably take me a week or two to figure out how to best schedule my time so that I don't have to read right up until bedtime every night. (I did manage to fit in some relaxation time on Thursday-- the husband and went for a swim and I watched our new Ren & Stimpy DVD. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep after the first episode.)

I also went to my first club meeting. One of the best things about my law school is that they provide free lunch at every club meeting. I didn't go just for the free lunch though. The Law School Democrats had emailed me earlier in the week to see if I was interested in joining (I guess they looked at everyone's voter registration records. My Mom was kind of creeped out about that.) I figured that since they asked nicely, I might as well go. The meeting was pretty quick. The club seems worthwhile and the executive board members seemed friendly-- plus I'll get free lunch ever time there's a meeting.

My first time

8 am. Torts class starts. Professor recites hypothetical situation, looks down at seating chart and calls my name. And thus, my first experience being called on in law school begins. After I answered the question (successfully I think), he moves on to the next victim. Her question is way harder than mine. I don't think I could have answered it. As she struggles through the next 30 minutes of questions, I'm relieved that I was the first person called on. I should be safe for a little while at least.

After class as I am sitting outside reading for another class, the Torts professor comes up to me and asks, "How's it going?" Does this mean that he was impressed with my answer to the point that he wants to make small talk?

Or do I just seem like the kind of person that needs to be monitored to prevent me from taking a dive out of a third story window? How's it going? Any negative emotions today? How does that make you feel?

Early thoughts on law school

Here I am in California, leeching off my neighbor's wireless connection until our net is hooked up. (Tip to anyone reading this: put a password or some sort of security on your wireless network to keep us moochers away.) It's getting close to my bedtime (8 am class tomorrow means I have to get up before 6 am.) so this will be quick. I will try to post about the big cross-country move, Orientation at school, etc. when I get a moment.

So far, law school seems doable. I read in another law school blog that the way to coast through law school is to go to your safety school. Since I only applied to 4 schools and didn't get into either of my 2 reaches, I have followed that advice by default. So far, it has led me to almost fall asleep in my classes -- each and every professor has gone over the same basic info (ie: law school focuses on case decisions as compared to black letter law like statutes.) This information is available to anyone who Googles "law school." It should not require 10 hours of explanation. All the repitition almost made me thankful for Torts where we went 20 pages past the assigned reading the first class. Almost, but not quite.

5 minute law school

Right after I took out all those loans and bought my course outlines, I came across this: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20050803.html The author, Michael Dorf, condenses the entire first year of law school into one article that takes about five minutes to read. I found the discussion of Constitutional Law especially amusing. ("Your job as an aspiring constitutional lawyer is to figure out where you stand on these issues, and then accuse those who disagree with you of being either judicial activists or hypocrites.")

Take a look at the article and I'll give you a call around exam time in December. (I'll be taking Torts, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law and Contracts first semester.)

Added at 3:45 pm:
Hmm.. seems I've been posting in some other time zone. Anyway, I am down to 1 hour of work left. I have denied 4 files today and I won't be here to listen to the applicants whine when they get the letter in the mail. (Ha! Fear my evil bureaucracy!) I feel pretty proud of myself: everything here is in order and the person who gets my job should have no problem figuring out where I left off with all my work. I should make them fill in and time stamp some forms first though-- or it just wouldn't be government.

Countdown Continues

take the WHAT INTENTIONAL TORT ARE YOU test.


and go to mewing.net. because law school made laura do this.


Only 1 day of work to go! That means I'll actually have to start packing, but it's okay because I'm so excited to have something more challenging to do than "Googling" my name all day long.

Back to work

A year and a half of planning for something that's over in 5 hours. Pretty anti-climactic if you ask me. At least I'm all done with wedding planning (permanently, I hope). Everything went off without a hitch (this seems like bad word choice considering. Oh well.) and I'm told that everyone had a good time. Now I just need to get through 2 more days of work, pack my stuff and head out to California.

I received my Orientation packet yesterday and finished my first homework assignment. We had to read a case involving a 5 year old who pulled a chair out from under an old lady, causing her to break a hip. (Yes. A 5 year old can be sued and found liable.) After reading the case, we had to answer 5 questions that I assume were designed to help us get started on case briefing. I got through the whole thing pretty quickly thanks to some of the preparation I've been doing. The moment of truth will come at orientation when we actually go through the assignment. Let's just hope that grades and LSAT's really do predict your ability it lawschool-- if so, I should be somewhere near the top of my class, which is what I need to do to get the scholarship I so desperately need.

The packet also contained a link to my class schedule. I found out (The Horror! The Horror!) that I have an 8am 3 days a week. This means I will have to get up at 6, which means I'll have to go to bed at 10 pm or spend 3 days a week walking around like the living dead.