The second year, they work you to death

I'm not sure that it really is SO much more work than second semester of 1L, but they do schedule things so that your life has to suck. Period.

Before I harp on the negative, I should say that I am in love with my classes this semester, even Con Law II, which I thought I would hate based on my Con Law I experience. So far all the reading is interesting, class time is interesting, discussions in class are awesome and truly discussions with lots of people providing input. I love it.

What I am not loving is the out of class stuff. SBA is still the bane of my existence. It's taking up too much time becuase our pres is a nimrod. Seriously. Law review. Well, I'm not complaining about it exactly. I just wish that the note deadline was a little more realistic. It's like some sick hazing that the note and OCI are all at the same freaking time. I feel like I am not doing either of them well. Not enough time to put into either of them, and things are getting overlooked. I'm still not sure that I should stick with the topic that got approved. And we got our first copy work this week. sigh. The author was a the cow prof that I hated before... the one who is loosey goosey and detail schmetail-oriented. So far of the 6 footnotes that I have tried to check, um, only 2 have anything to do with anything. 2 are wrong and 2 are something the prof pulled out of its a$$. I'm looking at about 10-15 hours just on that this week. Eek!

Finally, the spouse has been working psycho hours, so I have had significantly less study time than I really need. I think I am going to have to consciously decide to blow off some class assignments over the next few weeks and hunker down on my note and apps. If I can get one thing off my plate, then I think that I will come out alright.

Advice needed--keep commercial paper?

So, one of the blessigns of taking summer school is that I can slack off thereafter in terms of credits. One way to do this is just take 12 credits a semester. Another way is to take a really light fall, 10 credits-ish, and then take 13 or 14 to make up for it. After totally reorganizing my fall and spring schedule (and now I am MUCH more excited about my classes), I am taking (for sure) con law 2, real estate finance, and bankrupcty in the fall. I am currently signed up for commercial paper too. it's only two credits and it meets just once a week. My faculty advisor thinks that I should drop it. He pointed out that I will have a lot more going on with law review and interviews and that all of those classes are relatively challenging to really understand.

In my heart, I know he's right. And I am SO freaking tired right now. And my LR note has to be written by October 1. And it always takes me 2-3 weeks at the beginning of a semester to be able to read my cases quickly (there's just a huge upcurve on the lingo in a subject and deciphering what your prof thinks is imporant). The only reasons I want to take it are 1) I'm actually interested (I know, I'm a sicko), 2) I'm not sure if it will be offered next year, and 3) there are SO many interesting classes that I want to take and not enough time to take them in.

So what do you think?

Spring schedule and networking

We have to register for both semesters at the same time at my school, which I suppose is a good thing because it forces you to focus on more trees. When I initially registered, I did NOT sign up for moot court. I just thought: 1) it's one piddly credit that destroys my entire winter break, 2) based on my experience this year, I think that I will suck at it, and 3) meh.

But now I'm starting to think about OCI and fall interviewing in general. And for whatever odd reason most of the attorneys that firms send to our school are litigators. I'm thinking that even if I don't ultimately take moot court, it might be helpful to register for it (since the transcript shows what you sign up for) just so I can play both sides: sure I want to try litigation; sure I want to try transactional.

Next week, I am going to call the wife of one of the clerks i worked with for my externship. She's at a firm in town that I love for all kinds of reasons, not the least of which is they expect people to want and have lives outside of work. They are hurting for good women associates ... even more for good women partners. It seems like almost all of their women have babies and call it good. In any case, they also have a really really rocking real estate department, and I am so into property. So what's the trauma you ask, networking. Oh, I hate it. I feel so awkward and uncomfortable. The only trick that I've learned so far is that I relax if I force myself to smile. Relaxing makes me seem more personable, I think anywy. So, point: wish me luck. It's just a call to see if we can do lunch, but I think it will really be the key to getting interviews at that firm to start with.

What are your networking secrets?

So it's time to figure out 2L classes

So my school does an odd thing (at least i think so): you have to register for fall and spring cases at the same time. It's a good thing/bad thing. I like it because if something doesn't work out on your fall schedule you know to fix it for spring right away and vice versa, But i don't like it because I don't know how I am going to feel or still be interested in come spring.

So right now, I've signed up for fall:

• Bankruptcy
• Business Organizations
• Real Estate Finance
• Appellate Practice

I will now also have one credit of law review. I only need to take 12 credits a semester to graduate, thank you summer school. now I'm nt sure which substatnitve class to drop. Originally, it was appellate practice. Now I don't know.

Spring is:

• evidence
• con law 2
• and something i can't remember

I'll also have 2 credits of law review and two credits of TAing for a 1L class.

yeah so that's it. I'm not as excited about it as I was when i signed up.

I'm already in research hell... and this is a good thing

So I realized that between my two classes that end in early aug and taking the MPRE on the 4th of Aug. i've got 2 papers (of the research variety) and 2 tests to do in a 7 day period of time. Yowza!

For whatever reason, that lit a fire under my butt and I am happily, OK maybe contentedly, researching my first topic. Oddly enough, I have found only books that are on the direction I want to go and one web site. Sigh. I need a meaty law review article. Hmmm. I guess I will find that later.

Is anyone confused yet as to what the heck I am talking about? Good, so am I. All this summertime anonymity kind of blows when it comes to comprehendible posts. Sorry bout that.

So here we are, another semester underway

So I am taking a fullload this summer in an effort to get instate tuition at my school by Fall. Yeah, good luck with that I know. The first half of the summer I am clerking for a judge and taking a class and the second half I have 2 classes. One of the classes is my ethics class. You would think there would lots of sexy itneresting stories to keep the several hour long classes entertaining, you would think... but you would be wrong. Gah! Fun suckers. They've sucked all of the fun right out of my class. So it is. It's also got lots of touchy feely kinds of assignments instead of just a test or paper at the end. Blergh.

On a happier note, I love love love clerking. Too fun. And intimidating really. I'm still working on my first order, but I should have that done by tonight. Lots of interesting topics and sexy facts. I've been able to sit in court several times as well. And let's just say some of the attys are freakign brilliant and others are, well, um, less so? It's been enlightening to say the least. And next week, i get to sit in on a trial. Yeah. I'm so excited.

I so want to be a real clerk right after grad, but we'll see. Grades come out today, so I may be weeping in my pillow.

Does anyone know if the rules for lawyers changes substantially each year?

Just wondering. One of the books I ordered used wa my ethics rulebook, but I got it and it is the 2005-2006 version, not the 2006-2007 version. Do these rules change substantially each year? Any advice here would be good.

I know what I am doing this summer!

Hooray. I knew that I was doing the whole summerschoolgetenoughcreditstoqualifyforinstatetuition thing, but the jury was still out on whether part of my credits would be from an externship with a judge. Well the jury has rendered a happy verdict with my number one choice. Hooray. I've been to this judge's courtroom a couple of times for school outtings as it were. The judge seems to be pretty progressive procedurally. I think I will really enjoy it. And in some demented kind of way, I am stoked that I will be writing so much. Nothing like doing lots of writing to get really fine-tuned in a particular style. (Yes you can remember this when I complain about it later).

I don't think I can talk about anything else related to this, but I just wanted to share my bliss.

I stil really really hate con law.

I am sick, sick to death of con law. I hate it. I hate everything about it. I hate my prof. I hate his tangents. I hate the detainee cases. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Wow, 1L classes are over

Seriously, this last year has to have been the fastest mad dash of time in my memory. But I made it through. Ironically enough, first day of class my daughter was dog sick and last day of class my daughter is dog sick. Which sucks generally. We're starting to talk about getting tubes in her ears, but I guess she is a little older than when they usually do it? I don't know. I just wish she didn't have to be sick so much, poor thing.

Which brings me to the firm declaration, that you, a mom, can go trhough law school and survive. Sometimes you feel like it is by the skin of your teeth, but nonetheless you come out OK.

I'm not going to talk about finals right now, I'll think of that tomorrow.

So 1L class recap for me:

favorite class: this is a toughy, it's a toss up between civ pro, contracts and property, leaning toward contracts.

least favorite class: Con law, hands down.

odd thing i learned that i didn't plan on learning: hmmm, 2 major ones I guess. law school is like jr high, complete with gossip or getting used to the administration, which is so not operating from a business model, but embracing gleefully an academic model (translation: talk, talk, talk, do nothing)

favorite prof: prof contracts. bless that woman and her love of the UCC. Don't worry prof contracts, I'll wait 'til you come back from visiting and take your other glorious UCC classes.

biggest nonacademic perk: amazing freaking people that I go to school with. really, there are only a few big stinkers. I'm touched when I think of the dear friends that I have made here. Surprised at some of them being 10 years my junior. But overwhelmed by the decency of my classmates. Here's to us, collegial atmospheres and just being who we are!

Oral arguments are over, thank heavens

Yeah, um that sucked. No really. That was just bad. I will say, I'm sure it could have been worse. But not by much. I was just not prepared for the line of questions that the "judge" threw at me.

To add insult to injury, my opponent is one of those annoying put herself up by putting you down kinds of people. And she likes to publish her victories. Which is annoying. I'm being small. But I got creamed by the judge. I don't know if I actually got creamed by my opponent because I think i was shellshocked at that point, so I didn't really follow her argument.

Can I go crawl into a hole now? Only if i take my conlaw hornbook with me.

so the study plan is going only marginally well

Rats. The good news is that I think I have amassed all the research for my paper. This is very very good. The bad news is that I still have to right the damn thing.

The other good news is that I did read all of my reading for the week, except for con law... which i have just been reading the supplements and hornbooks for. The bad news is that I think I need to read the cases from class today. I have no idea what my oh so great prof is talking about. A classmate and I have decided that based on his diagrams the prof's actually calling in life was geometry professor. Lots of triangles and unintelligble scribbling.

Tonight is my oral argument. eek. Actually I am not all that freaked out about it yet. The key word is yet.

Law review write on, getting organized and stress headaches

Blurgh! That about covers how I am feeling these days. Exhausted and just blergh. But somehow, some way, I will pull some energy out of my butt and make it through to the end of finals... um, I mean law review write on. Our school does NOT have a grade on option (not that I would necessarily qualify anyway), so we all have to go through the torturous hell that is write on. My one big problem with write on is this is the first thing in law school that I really really want so badly I can taste it. If I don't make it, I will be so disappointed.
No point in worryabout that right now.

Rather, what I should be worrying about is learning the material we are covering in classes this week (oh, and the material I am supposed to have been learning all semester). I've also got moot court this wednesday night. Terrifying. And a paper for my paper as final class that would be ideal if it were in tip top shape by next Tuesday.

To that end, here is my battle plan:

• No more fun. Not after school. Not at school. It's just for a few weeks. Really, it's time to buckle down.
• Must go to bed early.
• Will do all my reading for the week today.
• Thereafter, commit to 2 major topics each day of a core subject; today will be crim law.
  
• Thursday night and Saturday are all paper.
  

That's all so far. Let's hope it works.

By the way, my frequent updates are in no way related to my desire to procrastinate studying for finals. And if you believe that, I've got a life estate in a bridge in Brooklyn that I would like to sell you.

Meditations on mock trials and trials in general

So, I got to go and participate in a mock trial this last week for some 2 and 3 Ls who playing lawyers. It was actually really cool. And it was the first time that I thought, maybe, just maybe, I can do litigation. Part of this was that of the 4 law students participating, 3 were stellar. Just strong, incredibly bright, and quick-thinking. The last one, well, being nice, not so much. I don't know if it was just nerves, but man the opposing counsel sure seemed to know their stuff much better. And I guess that was apparent to the judge too, who granted the opposing counsel's motion to exclude some rather key testimony that I personally tihnk should have gotten in. But the unprepared guy just was not able to be persuasive. Oh, and temper, temper.

So, major takeaway for all genders there, be prepared, know the law and the depos and everything inside and out.

For the ladies: let's talk presentation. I realize this sounds sexist but short of a guy showing up to court in khakis or bermuda pants, it's hard for them to screw up. I've seen at least two times now where women lose the battle in court before they say a word, and I think they both thought they looked great. Tip 1: If you choose to wear a grey suit. And if you choose to wear one that is "chicly" cut (read: more form fitting that not) and if you choose to wear a blouse that is not meant to be tucked in, you've got to wear a jacket. Seriously, I though this girl was wearing grey jeans at first glance. She looked sloppy. Not chic. And honestly, I never thought I would be one of "those" people, but I had a hard time getting past that for credibility. She looked like she was playing lawyer, not actually a lawyer (or soon to be one). Tip 2: big hair=bad in court. I don't care if you had it done by a "professional" before you showed up to court. If your hair is the first and only thing I notice about you, not good. I observed a federal court proceeding about a month ago where this defense attorney came in and I couldn't a) see her face or b) take her seriously. It was long. It was elaborately curled (think little girl). It was hair sprayed within an inch of it's life and had about a 3 inch vertical from the top of her head to wear her hair stopped.

Throw things at me if you want. I feel like I am betraying the sisterhood, but really get several opinions about your outfit and hair (and not just the saleslady who is trying to make a commission) before you go with "that look". Eek.

It's all crim law, all week

Yup. I'm getting the outline together. Sigh. I will pull the motivation out of my butt to do this. I will.

Say it with me: all crim law, all week, all crim law all week... maybe I should do some online shopping?

Time for an awfully close to the end of the semester update

court brief--turned in, check
optional draft of funky class's paper--turned in check (piece of incomplete trash, check check)
panic about finals setting in--check

Things left to do:

• teach myself con law
• outline for crim law (for real)
• do the Q&A supplement questions for property
• write something decent for the funky class to replace the piece of trash
• continue to ignore the need to prepare for oral arguments

Oh, and my hubby is turning 30 next week. I should really think about doing something for that.

If I had to do it all over again...

I would forego buying my con law case book, and I would buy only the Chemerinsky hornbook recommended by Kristine. Seriously, my book is poorly organized and poorly written and completely unintelligble.

I love the hornbook. So clear. So pretty. So everything that I need. So late for me to figure this out. On my honor, I promise to guide 1Ls next year to a better way.

No more laptops!

Wah!!!!! I have a hideous class that I hate hate hate. And now, to add insult to injury, the prof has realized that we are all glazed over playing games or surfing on the net, so we are not permitted to use laptops for the rest of the semester. Wah!!!!!!!!!!

Kristine brought up some good reasons for having a no laptop class, but I'm going to agree with her that I would only want to do it in a class I was really interested in and with a handpicked teacher.

I usually use this classtime to work on my paper for the class or to play games. I've only really listened to guest speakers, but the rest is pretty useless. Sigh. Total waste of my time. I'm collecting crosswords from the papers now to get through these weeks of class.

Looking forward

So 4 weeks of class left. then 2 weeks of finals. then 2 weeks of law review write on competition. then disneyland and socal vacation for a week. then summer school starts. I can rest on August 2. Unless I get onto law review, in which case, I need to write my note in August.

I'm tired. So basvcially, I've decided to go to summer school and extern for a judge for credit. I'll take 2 classes as well so I can get in state tuition. I'm hoping the clerkship will be enough of difference from regular classes to feel like I get a break. the happy thought then is that for the rest of law school I need only take 11-12 hours a semester. Yeah. I can feel good about that.

I still really really hate con law

But I have come to realize it's not the topic's fault. It's entirely my prof's fault. Someone shoot me please. I can't do this for anothe 7 weeks. It's like one disjointed history lesson, heavy on the war, light on chronological order.

Please someone help me! I hate this class.


On another note, I decided to give my laptop a vigorous shake on Sunday night and lo and behold the D started to work. Thank heavens for that.