Law Don't Go Around Here, Law Dog

WTF is going on in Washington?

2013-10-03T01:05:00.002-07:00

In much the same spirit as the current shutdown in Washington, the furloughs have given me enough time on my hands to start blogging. Yeah, it's like that. And I'm going to keep doing it until I get my way. It's just that in this case, "getting my way" means letting me go back to work and earning a paycheck. Until then, I can keep crankin' this stuff out. You've seen it before. I probably won't like this any more than you do.

So, today's topic is inspired by a friend who asked me to summarize what the heck is going on in Washington right now. The text of my e-mail to her is copied below:

Okay, so here's the breakdown in a nutshell.

The whole thing starts because we have this thing called the anti-deficiency act. Basically, it's a very old law, but it says that you can't spend money in the federal government unless it comes from a congressional appropriation. (There are also some areas that involve "non-appropriated funds" but those aren't what the problem is, now.)

1. So, basically, you can't obligate money on behalf of the federal government unless congress says you can.

The congress and the president agree on a budget. That hasn't happened in a while. So, what happens if you can't agree on a budget is you might just agree to pay for things the way you have been, which is called a continuing resolution. That's how we've been paying for our government for the past several years. If you can't pass a budget OR agree to a continuing resolution, then congress has not approved a plan to spend money.

2. Congress has not approved a budget, and they are not agreeing to a continuing resolution.

Why? Because the republicans in congress don't like the affordable care act. (Obamacare.) They have tried, I believe, 40 different times in just the past couple of years to repeal it or repeal parts of it. Unfortunately, they control the House of Representatives, but they don't control the Senate. Also, the president can veto laws, and you have to have a supermajority (two-thirds or 67%) if you want to override the presidential veto or if you want to overcome a filibuster in the Senate.

These are not the rules just for Obamacare. These are the rules for every law that has ever been passed in the history of the United States.

Because the republicans have control of the house, but not the Senate, and they are nowhere near a supermajority, they have said they refuse to implement a budget unless the implementation of the Affordable Care Act is delayed. (The number they throw around is they want it delayed by 1 year. No doubt, to try and mount some other attempts at defeating it legislatively.)

The president refuses to delay implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

3. So, because the president won't delay implementation of ACA, the Republicans are refusing to pass a budget.

What's happening now is that non-essential services are just shut down. The workers (like me) are home without pay. At some future date, they may, like they did in the past, go back and pay us for our missed work. However, they may not. They've done it in the past, but who knows. Federal workers just got furloughed over the Summer and no, we did not get back-paid for those days. We just lost them. That was unprecedented. So, saying that we will get paid for these days just because it happened in the past is not at all a safe bet.

Essential services, it's even crazier. Those folks HAVE TO report to work, but they can't be paid. When congress eventually agrees on a budget, they will be paid, but until that happens, they won't. Previous shutdowns have gone a month or two at the most. So, it's not going to be pleasant. That's a long time for your typical American family with a mortgage to go without any income.

Moderate Republicans (like McCain or Nunes) think this is crazy. But for the most part, the Tea Party Republicans wield a lot of power. They're not the majority of Republicans, but when a Republican crosses them, they mount a primary challenge. (So, when the moderate republican runs for re-election, the tea party sponsors a more extreme Republican instead and keep the moderate republican for running for office in the general election.) In that way, a small band of pretty extreme folks are able to get the entire Republican party to toe the line.

What the Republicans needed was a message to sell to the people. They think they found one. It basically goes, "the president will negotiate with syria and iran, but he won't negotiate with Republicans."

So far, it's working as far as solidifying their position with the Republican base.

Trouble is, it's not really a good argument. Sort of like I go to a restaurant, I order a bunch of food, I eat it all. The bill comes and I say, "Unless you give me free dessert, I won't pay the bill."

The restaurant owner says, "What? No, that's not the way you do things. You're responsible for this bill. You need to pay it."

And in response, I tell the owner, "Well... geez, you negotiate with your bread vendor, you negotiate with your wine merchant, but you won't negotiate with me!!!"

The basic idea is that if the Republicans are willing to compromise (in this case by passing a budget... which is their job and isn't a concession at all), the president should be willing to compromise (in this case, by taking a law that was passed and just not doing it.)

Remember, the Republicans in this case have tried on about 40 previous occasions to repeal Obamacare or parts of it. It didn't work, so they're basically saying that the whole process by which laws are decided didn't work for them. So, they're going to shut down the entire government because the way the system works didn't go their way.

If you include the original passage of Obamacare and the Supreme Court challenge, they've lost this fight 42 straight times. So, their position is basically that the system, which works for every other law in this country, needs to be abandoned, and that it's fair to shut down the entire government because government by representative democracy didn't produce a result they like.

What part of the government do these Republicans work in? The representative democracy part. The Senate and House are how we pass laws.

It's this attempt to draw equivalency between the two positions that I quibble with. As a friend of mine said, "If somebody comes to you and says they want to kill your family, you don't negotiate with them to only kill half your family in the spirit of compromise."

If you accept the premise that our elected officials should shut down the entire government every time there's a single law they dislike, (but that they can't change through the democratic process), then I guess the Republican position seems reasonable.

I think it would lead to anarchy. For instance, the Democrats, after decades of trying and failing to get onerous gun-control legislation, could simply shut down the government unless the President "negotiates" with them on the subject.

People who want school prayer could shut down the government. People who don't want school prayer could shut down the government. Basically, anybody in the country who could think of a single law they didn't like could shut down the government.

Trouble is, we have a method by which we change laws. In fact, the Republicans are pretty familiar with it. They've used that method 40 times to try and repeal Obamacare. It's just that sometimes you don't get to get something just because you want it. There's a process, and when everything was said and done, that process has told the Republicans "no". 40 times. Then the Supreme Court weighed in and told them "no" one more time.

After that, you need to either try the process a 41st time, or you need to accept that things aren't going to go your way right now and you need to move on. At least I think most people should accept it. Or... well... you can hold nutrition for infants hostage.

Meanwhile, to make things even more complicated, the Republicans are floating bills that would fund PARTS of government, but not others. For instance, one bill would keep national parks open.

The reason they're doing this is that they can then fund the parts of the government they like (like national defense) or parts that are pissing people off (like national parks) and play politics with the parts that republicans don't like (like WIC, meals on wheels and headstart.)

The president is saying no to this piecemeal attempt at funding the government. He says they need to give him a bill that funds everything or nothing.

Both sides are sorta wrong on that. It's a normal part of the legislative process to fund the government bit by bit. Typically we get a budget and 13 separate appropriation bills, and that's how our government is funded. But I think the president has a valid point: once the Republicans fund the parts of the government that people care about and which are most visible, they have no incentive to be reasonable on the rest.

On that issue, who is more wrong? I'm gonna say maybe the president is a little more wrong than the Republicans, but I chalk that whole thing up to the way politics operate.

Shutting down the government because you disagree with one law? That's not the way politics operate in anything but a banana republic.

The After-Finals Blogpost!

2012-05-03T17:53:00.002-07:00

Okay, I won't talk about finals, except to say that this semester, I just didn't do very well at all. Honestly, most days, this semester, it was all I could do not to end up in a straightjacket in a rubber room. Nothing to do with Law School, oddly. It was just the rest of the world crashing down around my feet. Couldn't sleep, couldn't focus, didn't keep up in school.

I know after the Fall Semester that predictions are pointless. However, I'm going to go out on a limb again.

Legal Research and Writing: B-
Constitutional Law: B-
Criminal Law: C
Contracts: C-
Property: C-

Yes, I know that if my prediction comes true, I'd have to repeat Contracts and Property.

All I can do at this point is pray that my prediction is wrong.

My LRW appellate brief will be available to pick up tomorrow. I was going to just wait for it to be posted, but I think I'll jog down to the school and get it just to find out. May not have a letter grade on it, but will have a raw score that will let me know how close I am to the class mean.

The rest will probably get posted anywhere from a week to a month from now.

It sorta sucks that although Law School was the one part of my life that was under control, and that I really enjoyed (outside of my son), that the rest of the world just absolutely crushed me to the point that it impacted my law school performance.

I really, really want to come back in the Fall as a 2L. I've got so much working against me. Now, thanks to some probably crappy final exam performances, I'll also be looking at academic probation or something.

So, now, after a pretty good Fall, my law school life is just as much of a mess as the rest of my life. Will keep everybody posted as grades come up.

When I See a Little Light

2012-04-30T03:43:00.000-07:00

I was whining on Facebook, and a 1L classmate mentioned that Capital University is not totally out of the question as far as driving-distance from where I may be getting a job. The only hurdle I could see is that they require a 2.75 gpa to transfer in.

Not a problem with my current gpa. I've got about a 3.1. However, with the grades I'm anticipating for this coming semester, this could be a challenge. I have to get a tick higher than a 2.4 to have a cumulative of 2.75.

That's not impossible, but again, given what I've been up against this past semester, it's going to be a more difficult feat than it should be. However, there's also a shot at redemption if I don't get there. Capital will let you transfer and to graduate, you need to finish 45 credit hours, there.

Which means I can keep going at UT until I get my GPA up. So, I could take a class here and there until I get over the 2.75 number.

As for the Fall, I think I can stay at UT and take at least six credit hours, which keeps me moving towards graduation and keeps the student loans at bay another semester. Looking over the schedule, if they'll let me, my best bet is to try and take all flex classes. For the most part, they are 1 credit hour classes that meet over a long weekend. If I had to take a half-day off for drive-time, I'd be looking at only a handful of vacation days all told.

I don't want to miss out on the chance to take some credit hours, but I don't want to overcommit if I'm going to be starting a new job, either. I can knock out flex hour classes pretty easily.

After the Fall semester, I should have a good idea of whether I can get telecommuting at work, and/or whether I will have the gpa to transfer to Capital.

Speaking of GPA, I feel okay about my prospects of passing crimlaw. Need to study a little more and the exam is at 1:00 this afternoon.

Damage Control, What comes next?

2012-04-29T18:31:00.001-07:00

I feel pretty good about my prospects in Crim Law. The long weekend should be enough to get me prepared for the exam on Monday. I also will need to get some Contracts in there, too, since I'll only have Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare for that.

I actually didn't feel that bad about my Property exam (taken on Tuesday.) I know I missed a lot of points, but I think I have a shot at getting a C. Unfortunately, the more I talk about the exam with fellow students, the worse it looks for me. I missed a lot of major issues.

That's my lowered expectations for this semester. My life has pretty much been a disaster since March. Everything that could go wrong, did, pretty much beyond my most horrifying nightmares.

On the bright side, everything seems to be okay with my son. I also am not experiencing any health issues. So, thanks for small mercies, I guess.

I just don't know what's going to happen after this, but ever since March, my time-frame for planning has shortened considerably. Most days, I am just trying to get through the day.

I can't help but feel that I'll have a couple of classes from this Spring semester that I'll need to re-take. I also may have to drop out and get a job. I don't know if, when or how I'll finish law school at this point. That's just something that's largely out of my control.

I do wish I could continue law school. Even if I had to repeat two classes, that would still mean I successfully completed 8 of my 10 1L classes. Yeah, that means taking Summer classes, or taking classes beyond the proscribed 3 years, but there are worse things in the world. On the bright side, I feel confident that I got a passing grade in Research and Writing and I feel pretty sanguine about the possibility of pulling out a passing grade in a couple of my other classes.

Today is sorta nice. I feel like I did well enough on Constitutional Law to pass. The exam finished up at noon. I'm already jumping on Criminal Law. Now, I'm finally in the swing of things.

I would say there's about a 50/50 shot that I passed Property. However, I feel pretty good about Constitutional Law, the exam I took today.

I think I'm in good shape for Crim Law based on what I see here, and the fact that I have 3 full days before the exam.

I need to allocate some of that time to Contracts, and I think I can pass that, too.

So, all in all, trying to thread the needle. Maybe I'll get through with only Property to repeat. It's not that it was hard stuff to master. It's just that it's hard to focus and stay current when the events in your life have kept you from sleeping more than a couple of hours a night since late February.

I'll need a liberal dose of luck this time around. I truly am testing the question: "how bad can an exam be and still get a C." No offense to my classmates, but I sure wish there were a lot more dumb ones. This curve is seriously tough. I've already seen how tough it is to try to break into the better grades. Now, I'm going to see how hard it is to stay out of the bottom ones.

WTF is going on?

2012-04-26T11:03:00.005-07:00

Okay, a brief break during finals to explain a little of what is going on in my life.

First, I may not be back next semester. When I started this law school thing, it was sort of on a wing and a prayer. Held together with duct-tape and chicken wire. I really needed things to go well in other parts of my life for me to be able to do this. Fall semester, everything went pretty well. I was able to devote a lot of time to school. Did fine with grades. Was in no real danger of flunking anything.

Spring semester, without going into too many details, has been a disaster in every imagineable way, other than two important ones. Knock on wood, but my health is still good, and my son is still doing well. Pretty much everything else in my life got in serious trouble after January first. Again, don't want to go into too many details, but it was, without doubt, one of the most trying times of my life. Pretty much everything that could go wrong for me, did. It was utterly horriffic.

Starting early in March, I wasn't able to sleep. Really, not until about mid-April when I finally got a little luck and things got a little more under control. So, I'm still sleep deprived. It's been difficult to find time to devote to school with all the other fires I've had to put out in my life. Since March 1, I've been completely exhausted, totally stressed out, sleep-deprived.

The smart thing to do would probably have been to withdraw from all my classes. I went into finals completely unprepared. Realistically, I will have difficulty passing any classes.

In the final analysis, though, I figure I'll just cram what I can, take the exams I can take, and see if I pass any of them. Even if I only pass 2 classes, that's still 2 more than dropping everything.

So, what does the future hold? Right now, I'm not that sure I'll be back in the Fall. For one thing, it's entirely likely I'll get into some academic trouble after this semester. Might be put on probation or kicked out, or whatever. At a minimum, I will probably have to repeat a couple of classes. So, things aren't good on the academic front.

I'm also looking for a job, which is problematic in this economy. Though, I may have a line on a job down in Dayton. We'll see. After so many years of trying to keep the business afloat during this recession, it'd be welcome to have a steady paycheck again. This particular job is one I'd have wanted after law school, anyway.

If I get that job, I guess I could try to transfer down to U of Dayton or Ohio Northern law. Who knows. The idea of spending 5 more years getting my degree, part-time, isn't very appealing, in all honesty.

So, that's what's been going on. It's not been a great few months and everything just became way too much. The irony is that all these things that I don't like, and that largely I can't help, intruded on one of the parts of my life that I do like, and that I do have some control over: law school.

It's just that sometimes, the tank is empty and you just don't have anything left. As things stand, I'm shooting for Cs, and anything higher would be a miracle. Also, I'm very, very ready to get grades lower than a C based on how I've prepared.

In my life in general, I think after all these years, you just get sorta stubborn and get a determination that quitting just isn't an option. I have a son to think about and take care of. Everything else is a mess, but who knows. It's not impossible that I could straighten everything out before I die, but it just might take that long.

At this point, for perhaps the very first time in my life, I set a goal every morning of making it through to bedtime. More than that? It's just too much to think about and is too overwhelming.

I know I'll be right as rain someday. However, I know that it won't be any day soon. I also don't know how I'll do it.

Ya just pull up your bandana and cowboy up. That's what cowboys do.

All in all, it's sort of funny to think that 1L is over. What a year! Went by so very quickly. I wish the stars would align to let me finish this thing out. Just don't know how I'd make that happen, but who knows.

Back from Spring Break

2012-03-12T04:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, time to get down to crunchtime at law school. Spring break is over and I stretched it out by taking the previous week off to work on my memo. I still have 2 absences left in each class, but don't intend to use them.

At this point, there are 6 more weeks of classes and 2 weeks of finals to go. I'm really limping towards the finish. This is the crunchtime period, though. I need to start prepping for finals.

Strange how my perspective is different. Used to be if I studied the night before an exam, I felt completely prepared. Now, if I start studying 6 weeks out, I have this nagging feeling that I should probably have started earlier.

Not sure if I'll be able to continue full-time after this semester. I have so much up in the air. The business has been doing so poorly, I probably need to find a job. If I can't find one, I might need to move to a city with a more vibrant economy.

Like pretty much everything in my life, my plans for getting through law school are a bit hazy. However, I know what I have to do for the next 2 months. Whatever happens after that is anybody's guess.

Spring Break!

2012-03-03T08:36:00.000-08:00

I just finished my appellate brief. Nice to have that weight off my shoulders. No more real writing assignments this year. I'll have an upper level writing requirement eventually, but not sure when that will happen.

Still totally lacking in motivation. I'm going to take this Spring Break away from school entirely. Won't study much if any. I also need to devote some attention to non-school stuff. I have a couple of training classes I need to attend, for instance.

Hard to believe that there is only 6 more weeks of class after Spring Break. If you don't obsess about it, the time goes by pretty quickly. Hard to believe that in 2 months, my first year of law school will be in the bag.

1 down, 2 to go. Not that encouraging, really. However, I'll have the Summer to recouperate. I am not looking for any internships or legal employment over the Summer. Probably should, but won't. The Summer classes are all offerred in the evening, when Logan's mom works. So, taking a class here or there won't work, either.

If I can just get through this semester without having to repeat any classes, it'll be a wonderful thing.

Fall 1L Grade Post Mortem

2012-02-08T04:44:00.000-08:00

I've met with all my profs to discuss my exam results from the Fall semester. There were quite a few surprises in there.

The biggie is that I missed an A- in Civ Pro by one point. Literally by one point.

Second, in Torts, on the MCQ section, I was 1 point away from having the highest grade in the class. I thought I killed the essays, but apparently the prof disagreed. Might have done a little better than average on those, but nothing too extraordinary. The prof did say I had one of the higher B+s.

Contracts, I forgot to mention consideration on a short essay and it cost me 9 points. Probably the difference between a B- and a B.

So, if things had gone a little differently, I'd be looking at more like a 3.3 instead of a 3.1.

Not to sound like I'm rationalizing, but there's really not a significant difference between, say, a low A- and a high B+. I think my grades were fair, but it does look like I didn't get a lot of luck, here.

Where things could have gone one of two ways, it looks like more often, they went the other way.

Not sure to be encouraged by that. Initially, it does sort of suck to think I was so close to an A- in Torts and Civ Pro. On the other hand, I guess I could tell myself that it was basically a coin toss in a couple of my classes. I just happened to come up tails twice.

I also am coming to grips with the fact that all my other committments probably are hurting my grades. I would be doing this differently if not for the time I need to spend on them. How much difference? Who knows. I don't think it's huge, but it might be enough to make a 1 point difference on a couple of exams.

Okay, on to semester two.

3 weeks in...

2012-01-26T08:24:00.000-08:00

3 weeks in. 11 weeks to go. It already feels like we've been in this semester forever. All I can think is how much I'll enjoy setting my own schedule next Fall. It's been a strain to be here 5 days a week. Only 11 more weeks of it, but I really need to move past the 1L phase. Although we're not allowed to have jobs, I still have the biz and the kid. This 5-day schedule blows.

Brief due tomorrow in writing. I just can't get going on it. I have all day after school today, and all morning tomorrow for it, though. Not sure if it's graded or whether we just get a completion grade on it. I'm hoping for a completion grade. After this, the only remaining written assignment for Legal Writing is our final trial brief. It'll be nice to kiss this class goodbye.

So, survive, survive. Finals aren't for a while. Study group starts next week. I think that'll help some. Didn't do any last semester. If it can help me get one tick higher on one or two grades this semester, it's more than worth it.

Post Mortem on Fall Semester, 1L Year

2012-01-21T13:09:00.000-08:00

All my grades are in. Two B+, Two B, and one B-. Overall GPA is 3.088. So, just a tick shy of a 3.1. I need a 3.2 to keep my scholarship. So, basically, I need a 3.3 in the Spring Semester to keep it.

If I don't, I honestly don't think it will change my plans at all. All in all, I'm not unhappy with my grades. I feel like I did my best, or at least an approximation of it. The difficulty I had was mostly in trying to write good answers during pretty severe time constraints on the exam.

The only thing I could have done, but didn't, was work harder to put together a study group or two. I am starting one up, now.

I'm not really that optimistic that I'll be able to pull a 3.3 in the Spring, but I'll do what I can. Just a couple of grades break my way and it could happen.

Contracts Grades Are In

2012-01-07T03:28:00.000-08:00

Contracts is really the only exam where, when I look back, I feel like I just booted the thing. The grades are posted and I got a B-. This one, frankly, it would not have surprised me to get a C. I was praying for a B. I ended up with something in the middle, shading towards the B. So, I'm pretty happy.

At this point, my GPA is ever so slightly higher than a 3.0, because my one B+ was in my 4 credit hour class.

The other class I'm worried about is Civ Pro, and I'm not confident about that one, but I'm certain I did much worse in Contracts. I'm thinking I have a good shot at a B, which would put me in at the end of the semester with just a tick higher than a 3.0.

Today is actually the deadline to post grades. So, the suspense should be over, soon.

Freakin' 1L. It's funny, but they say that 1L classes really bond because they went through 1L together. I can totally see that. It's not that the classes, themselves, are that bad. It's that there's so much emotion surrounding almost everything that happens.

In a foul mood...

2012-01-06T14:32:00.000-08:00

I'm just generally in a bad mood for all sorts of reasons, but one of them is my disappointing Law School grades. With three grades in, I have a B+ and two Bs.

Not so bad, but that's with my two strongest subjects in there. The remaining classes were my weakest. The deadline for reporting grades is tomorrow, but it wouldn't surprise me if they're posted a lot later than that, especially for one prof who had to grade another prof's exams after having to take over the class on short-notice due to an emergency.

I'm worried about both exams. Made big mistakes on both of them.

Now, I do think my grades are fair. I guess I'm just in awe that so many people kicked my ass. Property was the real stunner. I thought I nailed that thing, but if I got a B, that means that probably 10 other students, give or take, did a better job than I did. Smart people in this class, no doubt.

Also, the gravitational pull of the B is starting to dawn on me. We have roughly a 3.0 curve at the school. I think only about 10% get As, but there's a little latitude in there. Not sure how many get B+ or A-. Figure if another 5% or so get those grades, then we're talking maybe 8 people in a class of 50 would get something higher than a B.

I'm also hoping it works in reverse: that on a 3.0 curve, that also means that only 8 people or so will get less than a B.

This means that, in a class of 50, about 35-ish will get a B. An unlucky 8 or so get less than a B. A very smart 8 or so get more than a B.

Also, it's hard to guess how you did in a class. I thought I did pretty poorly in my legal writing class, but when the points were tallied I was almost spot-on for being right at the mean. I honestly feared a C in that class.

Torts? Felt really good after that one, and did end up with a B+. So, who knows. Property, I honestly thought that was my strongest exam and I got a B.

I'm hoping the gravitational pull of the B will also keep me from getting a C in Civ Pro and Contracts. I should know tomorrow. That's the deadline, but like I said, it wouldn't surprise me if I only knew one of them by then.

It sorta sucks knowing that I'm an average student. I did work pretty hard on this and put in a lot of prep, even before the semester started. It does remind me a bit of b-school. I was always getting my ass kicked by the touchy-feely types in classes like organizational behavior and labor and human resources. I was always getting my ass kicked by the engineers in all my quantitative classes.

In the end, I got a 3.5, which wasn't competitively graded, but if I had to guess, was probably about average for the program.

In Law School, it's looking a lot like I may end up with a 3.0. Average for the program.

Of course, both b-school and law school attract a lot of driven people who want to do well because a lot of money can be at stake. Figure you take the general population. Only 1 in 3 get a bachelor's degree.

Of those, most feel like they have more than enough school and never go back. Then, you have the folks who think about law school. You pretty much need an average or better LSAT to even get into an accredited law school. In the end, my peer group in law school might very well be representative of something like the top 4% of the general population.

(33% of population gets a bachelor's degree. 25% of them even think about going on for graduate school. 50% of them can't test well enough to get into law school. That works out to roughly 4% of the population. Being average in that cohort means you're at about the 98th percentile in academic chops. Also, being top 10% means you're in the top 4/10ths of a percent of the population as a whole. Sort of shows why it's hard to get an A. Those percentages aren't authoritative, by the way. They're just my guesses as to what they should be.)

Now, on the bright side, I won't have to spend all that time working on law review!

Ah well. Schtuff happens. My only worries related to my GPA are that I won't maintain a high enough GPA to keep my scholarship. I need a 3.2 and as it stands now, I'd have about a 3.08 if I pull Bs in my two other classes.

The other worry is that I would like to gain some experience working for a law firm before I graduate. Preferrably a personal injury firm. However, if my grades aren't good enough, I won't be able to score an internship.

All in all, not the biggest deal. Really, in the final analysis, I need to remind myself that my A plan at graduation was to hang out a shingle and start a solo practice. Nothing has really changed about that.

Fun Time is Over

2011-12-16T03:37:00.000-08:00

"Fun time is over. And I guess it's enough. But just for the record, it was a little too rough."
-'Til Tuesday "Sleeping and Waking"

(NB: 'Til Tuesday's "Welcome Home" album? Freakin' awesome.)

Okay, exam season is over. I can do things like spend a half hour watching a Beatles documentary with my son, now. Won't know grades for a few weeks, probably. As one prof pointed out, he's grading about 300 essays. It just takes a while to plow through all that.

I just can't say one way or another. For the most part, I got most of the stuff I should have onto the paper. Just not always in the way I should have.

For example: on one question, I categorized a death-bed gift as an intevivos gift (an unconditional gift given during life) and not as a gift in causa mortis (a gift given in anticipation of impending death, conditional upon actual death). The reason I categorized it this way was that the donative intent was simply that it be a gift. When the donor then survived, he did not want the gift back (as you would if it were a gift in causa mortis).

The optimal answer would have included something like, "donative intent is demonstrated by the fact that, upon survival, the donor did not want the gift back."

Instead, I said something to the effect of, "the gift was given without conditon with the words 'this is yours'." Then, in the next paragraph discussing bailment, I said, "Because it is an intervivos gift, and not a gift in causa mortis, the donor does not want the chattel back,"

So, it's in there, but not in the most optimal way. Is it wrong? Yeah, maybe. Is it right? Yeah, maybe. Is it something in between? Yeah, probably.

Another example? In my torts exam, there was an action for wrongful death. What I did, which wasn't really right, wasn't really wrong, was to first discuss the underlying torts. I discussed battery (it wasn't). Then discussed negligence (it was.) Then discussed actions for wrongful death and the fact that damages are nuanced a wrongful death action.

The optimal answer would have been to discuss wrongful death based on the underlying torts. So, it's all in there, just in the wrong order / format. Basically instead of: "Discuss Battery. Discuss Negligence. Discuss Wrongful Death", it should have been: "Discuss wrongful death and the underlying tort."

This seems like a distinction without a difference, but this is one of those gigantic differences between b-school and law school. B-school is all about decision making tools and it is driven by the "it". Find "it". Everything is driven by "it". You don't have to find a perfect answer. You need to find a justifiable business answer that you can move your organization towards. If you make money? You got the right answer. Here's your bigass bonus. Do it again next year.

Law? Law is war with words. The 90% right answer loses to the 91% right answer. So, attorneys almost never arrive at "it". They arrive at a 95% right solution, then obsess about the possibility that their opponent might find a 96% right solution. Nothing is ever right or wrong. It's always a shade of maybe. You just pray that your maybe is better than the other guy's maybe. (This, of course, refers to cases that go to trial. Most of the time, the law provides a pretty definite answer, and the matter never reaches trial. In law school, though, everything we study is based on decisions at trial.)

In another case, on a 30 minute bar style essay, I forgot to mention consideration in a contract. The prof had hammered that point nearly every day since the class began. It wasn't that I forgot it, per se. It's that time ran out and I didn't have enough time to go back and check if I was missing anything. That'll be a gigantic point deduction, I'm sure. I did discuss a lot more issues than most people probably did, but missed one of the biggest ones.

It's just hard to compose a great answer in 30 minutes or 60 minutes, or sometimes even in 90 minutes. Figure a 650 word bar-style essay in 30 minutes? If you could do that and still truly produce high quality work, you could write 30 novels in a year. It's just hard to get all that in there, that quickly.

So, at this point, all I can say is, I haven't got a freakin' clue how I did. I feel good enough about my exams that I'll be stunned if I have to repeat any classes, but beyond that, no guesses, really. If you told me I got a C, I wouldn't be shocked. If you told me I got an A, I might be overjoyed, but not shocked.

My worst grade will come in Legal Research and Writing, I'm sure. I can get my memo back, with a point tally, today. Since I'm going back to sell back my books, I'll go ahead and get it. That won't tell me my grade, per se. On Monday, though, the grades for LRW should be posted.

Beyond that, most of the profs have indicated that we should be looking for our grades closer to the January 7th, than sooner.

Funny how expectations have dropped. I started off hoping for a top class rank and transfer to U of M. Then, devolved to hoping for maybe a top 10% class rank. Then, hoping for a 3.3 so I can keep my scholarship. Then, hoping for mostly Bs. Then, just praying I do well enough that I don't have to repeat any classes.

I would like to get a law degree, but won't be doing this if I have to repeat classes. It's just not that important to me.

There are, absolutely, some brilliant people in this class, though. Much smarter than anything I remember. It is somewhat taking me back to my days at the Weatherhead School at CWRU. I'd go in there thinking I was smart and was going to work my balls off, and would end up getting a B in Quantitative Methods, behind a gaggle of engineers. I think it's going to be largely the same experience, here.

I do worry that perhaps I'm just not as sharp as I once was. Motorcycle accidents, age, whatever. I'm probably not working with as much mental horsepower as I once was. Who knows.

I just don't know what I could have done, with one exception, to do better. I knew the law pretty well. My performance wasn't really due to lack of preparation. Perhaps a really good study group would have helped. Who knows. There are just some realities about my situation, with family and all, that make it tough for me to do that sort of thing.

Anyway, last law post until the grades start coming in.

Property Mnemonics

2011-12-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

Requirements for Adverse Possession:

Let's say you want adverse possession of an ax you found on the cusp of the arctice cirle railway:

"Ax ON Artcic Cirlce Railway cusp"

A X: Entry must be Actual with Exclusive Possession
O N: Open and Notorious
A C R: which is Adverse Under a Claim of Right,
C U S P: Continuous and Uninterrupted for the Statuatory Period

Rights of Owners? Think of the movie, "My Cousin Vinne". All aspiring lawyers should be able to recite every line in this movie from memory. Especially when the Judge asks about "Two Utes?"

So, remember, 2 UTE

or U U T E

Use
Usefruct
Transferrability
Exclusion

A Bailment transfers right of ownership to one who is not the owner.

Bailment creates R7O. Or ROOOOOOO
Right
Of
Ownership
tO
One
whO is
nOt the
Owner

Duties and Standards of Negligence for Bailments

BEE
MOO
BSG

Bee. Moo. Battle Star Gallactica.

If the Bailment benefits the bailee, he must use extreme care and is liable even for slight negligence.
If the bailment is of mutual benefit, bailee must use ordinary care and is liable for ordinary negligence.
If the bailment benefits the bailor, bailee must use slight care and is liable for gross negligence.

Easier to visualize in a grid.

Along the top row, put: Benefits - Standard of Care - Liable For
Second Row: Bailee - Extreme Care - Even slight negligence (to avoid confusing this with Bailor, think "Bee". Bailee.)
Third Row: Mutual - Ordinary Care - Ordinary Negligence
Fourth Row: Bailor - Slight Care - Gross Negligence
(No real way to memorize this, but contrast with Bailee: Slight care is at the opposite end of the spectrum from Extreme care. Gross Negligence is at the opposite end from Slight Negligence.)

The Four Unities of a Joint Tenancy With Right of Survivorship

TIP IT

Time
Interest
Possession
Instrument/Title

The Five Unities for a Tenancy by Entirety:

Same, but add "Marriage".

Tip Tim?

Time
Interst
Possession
Title/Interest

Marriage

Requirements to Acquire by Finding?

We found an IED under our APC. It was an APC IED.

IED APC

Intent to Exert Dominion
Assert Physical Control

Halftime in the Finals Game!

2011-12-08T16:07:00.000-08:00

Today I finished my Civ Pro exam. My two worst subjects: Contracts and Civ Pro, are behind me. My two better subjects: Property and Torts, are ahead.

One more week and the semester is over. Nothing left but the cryin' when grades come in.

I made at least one dumb mistake on the Contracts exam that is probably big enough to keep me out of the best grades on the test. Other than that, I felt okay with it.

Today, I did well on the essays for Civ Pro, but I got annihilated on the multiple-choice questions. Probably did bad enough that regardless of my essays, I'm hosed for a good grade in there, too.

On the bright side, I don't feel like I did poorly enough in either class to have to repeat it. A C- or lower means you have to take the class again.

Taking a little break with my son. We went to his school book sale for a few minutes, then off for ice cream. I'll probably get started a little with Torts tonight. That's the 4 credit hour class. Worth it to try and do as well as possible.

I'm really enjoying taking exams. This is bittersweet, though. Once the grades come in, the period of self-delusion will be over. We'll have our grades, we'll know our relative place in the scheme of things. 1L grades are largely destiny and first semester grades are huge. Still, after everything is said and done, I want to know how I did. It'll be nice to have some actual grades.

First Day of Crunchtime Down...

2011-12-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm finished with my first day of Crunchtime. I think I know my Contracts outline, now. Will reinforce it over the next 3 days. The Contracts final is on Tuesday. I also tightened up my Civ Pro outline. I will be working on it this weekend, too, but a little less than Contracts. I pretty much have 2 days to prepare for the Civ Pro exam after the Contracts exam.

Feeling good about Contracts. As always, work to do on Civ Pro.

I'm already feeling a little edgy and a little stressed. It dawned on me that law school is easy until final exams time. You don't have to do anything until final exam time. If you want, you can sleep in every class and surf the internet. It's only on the exams that you really have something to do, then it's learning 4 months worth of stuff in every class for winner take all exams.

I still feel pretty good. If I get straight Cs, so be it. I'll keep trudging along so long as I don't have to repeat any classes.

I am starting to feel bad that I've been neglecting my business. We'll finish the year at $400,000 in revenues, give or take. That's not a bad year, but it sure isn't a good one. We should really be recovering back to our old sales volumes of $850,000 or so. I know I need to spend more time there. It's just hard to do the way they structure 1L classes. They do it so that you pretty much are in school 5 days a week for a big chunk of the day.

2L will be a lot better. My plan is still to try and take all my classes on 2 days a week. Outside of class, I need to work on my business. I've enjoyed this little escape from reality, but I need to get back to things. Of course, this may very well mean that I won't be able to look for part-time law work, but I've always known that going to law school at this point in my life would involve compromise.

Oh well. One thing at a time. I have to get through these next two weeks of finals. After that, I'll have all sorts of time to deal with things.

Wrapping up the First Semester

2011-11-30T20:54:00.000-08:00

This will probably be my last post for a few weeks. Taking the night off, but about to step into the buzz-saw. Finals start on Tuesday.

I should probably have studied over the Thanksgiving break and I did do some law in a flash cards. However, I'm glad I took my son to Disney. It is one of the few chances he gets to see his Arizona cousins. Plus, I am trying to do this law school thing without him having to suffer for it.

My sump pump died the other night, but thankfully I have two of them. The other one, though, was already broken. I was able to take parts from both units and put together one fully functioning unit. I was going to pay a plumber to put in new ones, but I'll probably just do that myself. Trouble is, we just had massive rains and the stores all sell out of sump pumps when that happens. The plumbers are always swamped replacing sump pumps, too. People don't test their sump pumps. At least most people don't, including me. They only find out they're broken when they need them and they don't work.

Anyway, I've got one functioning unit that should hold me over for the next few days until the stores get a few new ones in. I was going to have a plumber replace them, but I think with any luck, I can replace the broken one in about an hour. So, I'll probably tackle the project myself. I'll buy two, though. One spare for when the one I rigged eventually dies. The thing looks a zillion years old and it's put together from two units that had each previously failed.

I'm glad that this semester is ending. It's been a fantastic escape from reality. I plan on finishing up my 1L year as a full-time student, regardless of what happens in the coming year. However, in the Spring, I'm going to evaluate things and might change course.

If my grades are really good and I can keep my scholarship, I'll probably just continue to go full-time. If I lose my scholarship, I may still go full-time if I can schedule all my classes two days a week. (For instance, if I can get them all done on Tuesday and Thursday.) If not, I may drop back to part-time.

That's a long ways off, though. In the mean time I just need to be ready for exams.

I'm getting there. Wish I had more time, but everybody else probably does, too. Won't really know much until the grades come back.

2011 is coming to a close and I'm in much better shape than I was a year ago. Not a great year, but better than 2010. If I can make it past 2012, in 2013, a lot of installment debt (both personal and business) will be paid off. 2014, the same story. By the time 2014 ends, the difference in monthly debt-service, alone, will be almost $4 grand. Life will be a lot different then.

I also need to refocus on rebuilding my business. This past semester has been a thoroughly enjoyable and much-needed escape from reality, but it's time to put my shoulder back to it and get this company back on track.

So a lot of upside on the horizon. More than ever, I'm sure that I need to continue to own my own business and continue to look for diversification opportunities, and to build my law practice over time.

So, lots of good things if I can just survive 2012. The mayans say we're all done for in 2012, anyway. However, 2013 is when things really start to change and by the end of 2014, if I can get through law school and retire all this debt, my life should be monumentally better than it is now.

Okay, Civ Pro Outline is Done... ready to move forward

2011-11-20T18:23:00.000-08:00

I finally have a workable outline for Civ Pro. You hear law students talk a great deal about their outlines, which are basically summaries of all the law they had to learn in a course. They can range from maybe as few as 10 pages to as many as 200. Depends on the student and how much they feel they need in the outline versus how much they feel they already know by heart. It basically serves as your study guide for final exams. In theory, if you know your outline, you know all the law you need to know to do well on your final, which is the only graded assignment in most classes.

Civ Pro gave me a lot of trouble, but only because I might as well have been cranking a music box and making a monkey dance all semester. Really, I just didn't have a clue. Once you understand the framework, it's not so bad, but it's like they taught all the elements and then at the end, you're just supposed to understand how they all work.

Sort of like if you took a class on the anatomy of an elephant without ever having seen one (or any similar animal) before. Maybe one day, they start with what an eye is. The next day they describe the hooves. The next day they describe the ears. They finally get done describing all the parts, but what is it? Does it look like a kangaroo? A babboon? What was missing from Civ Pro was an explanation of what the thing looks like from the macro-level. Literally, the class consisted of the rules. Every day, we'd learn a handful of rules with an overall theme of, say, "discovery".

Now, I have an outline. Now, after sitting in the class for over 3 months, I finally feel like I can START to learn the material. Time is ticking away, though.

This was, by far, the worst of my subjects. That's why I tackled the outline first. I honestly think that in my other classes, putting together my outline might be a 2 or 3 hour task. This one? All told, I probably have 20 hours into it and I still don't know it. I just have it all mapped out.

I also probably could have done 3 outlines in the time I spent, but I kept starting, stopping, stepping back, trying to find a better integrating perspective, going back to something I'd worked on previously. This was a mess. Not sure how I could have done better other than getting a good commercial outline on day one and using it. Who knows. I doubt I'd have used it, though. I needed the looming spectre of a final exam to make me sit down and try to internalize all this.

Contracts is the next one. It's not going to be easy, but I have a good outline, there. Just need to learn it. Love the prof. Love his method for teaching it. Both the prof and the method are a little crazy, but then, so am I.

The outline for Property will be not too bad. A few holes to fill in for the outline, but the subject is straghtforward.

Torts, that's been by far my easiest class.

Spent the weekend going through LEEWS again and kicking myself for not doing this before my final memo. It would have given me what I needed to address all the shortcomings that I know are in that thing. If I get a B on it, I'll be amazed.

Now, though, the time crunch is on. I can literally count the remaining full days I have to study. I have Wednesday, but a chunk of that day will be spent getting things in order for the trip to Disney I'm taking Logan on.

I'll have time to study on the plane out and the plane back. I might have some time to study in the park. I'm thinking of just taking my law in a flash cards to study while waiting in lines. Thursday and Friday it's just me and him in at Disneyland. Saturday, the family will be there. Might see if I can fob him off on one of them and find a place to sit down and study. I'd still be in the park and still sorta move with the swarm, but might not wait in line for rides if he has somebody else he can wait with. Then, Sunday, return trip. Again, time to study on planes and during layovers.

After that, school on Monday and Tuesday, then the semester is over. 5 days off (Wed thru Monday) and then the Contracts final. A day off and the Civ Pro final. 4 days off then the Property final and 1 day off and the Torts final.

Generally speaking, the finals will go from hardest to easiest for me. That gives me almost two week's worth of full days off plus whatever studying I can do over Thanksgiving break. (Probably just law in a flash.) Full days of studying generally involve a lot fewer hours than I'd like. I wish I could get in maybe 12 or 14 hours, but in reality, it almost always ends up being only 4-6. Usually closer to 4.

Right now, I have it mapped out that I'll use 5 or 4.5 days to keep blasting out Civ Pro. 3 or 3.5 to tie down Contracts. 3 for Property. 2 for Torts. Combined with studying after school a little here and there, studying on vacation, I think that should be able to get me through this.

2 more weeks to finals

2011-11-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

This week is half done. After this, two more weeks and finals start. On Friday, I have a citation quiz and that's it for legal research and writing. I'll have 3 day weekends for the rest of the year.
At this point, if I had to put numbers to it, I'm 70% ready for Torts. 60% for Property. 40% for Contracts. 30% for Civ Pro.

I now know what I need to do to prepare for Civ Pro. Contracts, although I'm stronger at the moment, I'm less sure how to get to where I need to be for the final.

The fact that Law School is going to be a series of compromises is really coming to roost, here. Days when I don't have my son, I can get in like 5 or 6 hours of studying in the evenings. Days when I have him, I'm lucky to knock out a half hour or hour. It's not that he ties me up at all. It's just that between feeding him, taking him to practice (and he ALWAYS has a practice to be taken to), unwinding a little bit, there just isn't much time left over.

In the grand scheme of things, though, being a father is still job #1. It is the integrating value of my life. Everything else needs to fit into that. It's the most fun, most rewarding, most satisfying thing I've ever done and I fully intend to enjoy every minute of it. I may have 2.5 years of law school left, but I have only about 7 more years with my boy. In theory, I could do law school some other time in my life. However, once Logan is moved out, he's gone. After that, I hope he'll always be part of my life, but not like this.

I need to study pretty much every available minute of this coming weekend. I'm going to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving and will try to haul books around Disneyland with me, but I doubt I'll get much quality studying in. I'll do what I can.

I have a lot of work to do and with just a little less than three weeks to my first exam, I'm running out of time. Sorta regretting committing to Disney this year, but see previous note regarding raising a kid.

I also don't want to make it sound like I'm making an excuse for performance in Law School. It would be easier without other committments, but no way do I think I wasn't given ample chance to perform to my potential. I just pray, pray, that I get to the next semester without having to repeat any classes.

I think at this point, just spitballin', that if I have to repeat a course, that's going to be game-over. I want this, but don't want it that bad. So, that gives me all the more incentive to just do the best I can. Trouble is, you have to repeat any class that you get less than a C in, which means a C- is as good as an F.

Also, this is making me think about my life. Midlife really is hitting me. I'll be in my late 40s when I finish (that's putting it charitably.) If I spend 5 years learning the ropes from somebody else, that'll put me in my mid 50s when I'm ready to hang out a shingle. Of course, I could hang out a shingle sooner and may have to if nobody will hire me. Still, learning the ropes under somebody else is the way it's supposed to be done.

Anyway, that's all for another day. Right now, I need to be ready for the citation quiz on Friday (it shouldn't be that bad, but it is 20% of our grade). Then, I need to study my balls off to learn Civ Pro and Contracts, and fill in the gaps on Torts and Property.

I'm starting to feel stretched a little thin... The crunch is on full-tilt-boogie.

Civ Pro, Richmond, Pleading and Practice...

2011-11-15T20:59:00.000-08:00

If you're reading this, you're in my P&P section. I was totally lost until today when I started cramming for the practice exam tomorrow. Seriously, I didn't have a clue as to what I needed to study.

Sat down and waded through the material and it all makes sense today. That outline that was going around the central table in the lobby today is a little sketchy. Use it, but double check everything.

Still, that was a little bit inspiring because it seemed to show that the material can be learned. It was encouraging.

As I dug into it, I was mostly reviewing all the powerpoints and comparing them to the syllabus. Only got about halfway through.

I feel like I finally understand what's going in on the class, now. I still have a long way to go, but for the first time, I know where to start and what I need to study.

I really couldn't care less about the practice test tomorrow. No grade = who cares. However, just these past few hours of cramming gave me a roadmap of what I need to do to get there on this subject. This was the only class where I was just flat-out lost and now I feel a lot better.

1. If you're using the E&E, Pleading and Practice is sections III thru VI. That's like 400 pages, though. I'd only go through the sections I needed some more clarity on. It also doesn't match up very well with the course outline and/or all the other outlines I see out there. (Didn't read those pages, but did read the first part of the book on Jurisdiction and lord, it's a drag. I'm not looking forward to Civ Pro II in 2L year.) I guess you can always use the examples to act as practice test questions, though. The E&Es are always good for that.

2. Be careful on the outline that got e-mailed out today (you know who you are... if you have to ask, it wasn't you). Found a few sections where I don't trust the rules they reference.

3. The sections to focus on in the Themsis Law School Essentials is pp. 38 thru 92. Honestly, this thing looked like it was taken directly from the syllabus.

4. The part of the Kaplan 1L Edge Program to focus on is pp. 363 thru 389. Tighter summary, but you pretty much have to know the material already for it to make sense.

5. As always, you can use the syllabus and match the numbers on the right to the notes/ppt downloads. Didn't help me. I think that's why I was so lost up until now. However, doing this, along with checking another source or two worked great. I only got halfway through, though. This is pretty time-intensive.

6. Haven't gone through Law in a Flash: got bad reviews from some folks. However if you want to try, use the Part II box, and get the pleading cards out of the Part I box. (Cards 421 thru 493).
7. Not sure how much of Legalines Civ Pro I'm going to do. It's basically Section VII on, so almost 200 pages. I want to make sure I hit all the black letter law, though. I'll at least skim it and focus on the law, maybe not so much the cases.

8. If you don't want to go through all that, either because of time or expense, like the syllabus says, you can use the Understanding Civil Procedure Book and go through chapters 8 thru 12.

Happy hunting, guys. Not too worried about anything that's not-graded, but close enough to crunchtime to start getting religion. I know this comes too late to help for the practice test, but I feel pretty confident this will get me through the final.

Closing In...

2011-11-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

Turned in the final memo today. It amazes me that I could spend so much time on the thing and still come down to the wire on it. I was making corrections up until the minute it was due.

I don't feel that good about it. If I got a C on it, I wouldn't be surprised. It's done now, though, so no need to obsess.

What makes this paper different is that it needs to be structured with all the arguments, according to IREAC, which is a version of IRAC. (Issue, Rule, Application and Conclusion. IREAC adds "explanation".)

That seems straightforward, but it gets tough when the issue doesn't break down neatly. I also had trouble stuffing cases into my issues. It's all done now, but it was harder than I thought. Sort of kicking myself, but what can be done?

Also, the other factor is that the paper is competitively graded. So, it's not enough to do well. To get a good grade, you have to do well relative to the rest of the class. There will be enough people with good papers to fill out the top of the curve. Right now, I'd be happy as a clam if I could swing a B in the class. I guess we'll just wait and see. Worst-case, I just need a grade higher than C-, or else I'd have to repeat the class, and I honestly would probably just drop out of law school before I'd repeat any classes.

Now's the big crunch for finals, which are three weeks away. I'm going through LEEWS again and starting to work whole-hog on my outlines. Gonna start hitting the crunchtime books and do at least a few example problems every day.

When you're young, the semesters never really seem to end. Seems like when you're old, time always passes faster than you'd like though, and that's true for me this semester. I feel like 3 weeks isn't enough time.

I'm still basically relaxed, though. Unlike most of my classmates, I don't need this in order to earn a living. Don't get me wrong. I really want a law degree. I really want to be an attorney. However, if it didn't happen, I'd be fine. I'd find a way to get by.

I do love being a student, though. Like most experiences of youth (for instance, love), being a student is wasted on the young. I really enjoy being around all the twentysomethings. They don't seem to mind an old guy in their midst too much.

I did get a little discouraged with my property mid-term, and I'm afraid I got even more discouraged when I turned in my final memo. However, I am trying to remind myself that I can still get As in 4 of my classes, even if my memo stank. I know what I need to do. It's just a question of finding enough time to do it.

This semester is going to be over before you know it. My goals are getting a bit more realistic as far as what I want to do with my law degree. In fact, they're going all the way back to what I had intended originally. I want to have a small practice where I handle PI, and maybe Labor and/or Family Law. Maybe bankruptcies in this economy.

We'll just have to see how this goes. I waited so long to go to Law School, it's hard to believe that in about a month, I'll have my first semester grades. Fortunately for me, although I'm an obsessively introspective person in many regards, when it comes to chosing a goal and pursuing it, I really don't have many moments of doubt about whether I want to continue. (Of course, my first C- may change that.)

Every once in a while, though, I sit back and think how cool it is that I'm actually in law school. Lawyers get a bad rap and law school doesn't get the respect it deserves. (I can say this as a former dispenser of this disrespect.) However, being an attorney is still a big fat deal and graduating from law school is not something that just anybody can do.

It'll be a heck of a thing when I graduate. I'll be the first attorney in my family. (Including extended family. Far as I know there aren't any other Strebler attorneys in the US.)

Property Mid-Term Results

2011-11-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Finally got my property mid-term results. This is essentially the only feedback we're going to get on how we're doing until our report cards. (I suppose there's an outside chance that we might get our grades in Legal Research and Writing a little earlier than that, but probably not much.)

Of course, thus endeth our season of self-delusion. The tough thing about Law School is not so much that you have to master the material, but that your grades depend on how well you are doing relative to your peers. The much discussed "class rank" is everything in LS, specifically because you are constantly assessed relative to your peers.

Everybody who came here either thought, "I've always been an academic winner and I'll be a winner, here", or "I haven't done so well in the past, but that's because I wasn't giving it my best, and I'm going to give it my best, here" or maybe "I have good skills, but have always been able to out-work everybody and have always been successful because of it."

Regardless of what folks may think of lawyers, law schools really are filled with some smart people. A top class rank depends on being smart, and hardworking and not just learning the material, but learning how to answer law school type exams which are a different animal than the types of exams people are used to.

Anyway, so how did I do? Looked it up and was in the 2nd quartile in results. Towards the top, but still far enough from the best scores in the class to know I won't be booking anything with these smart muthas all around me.

This does put me in the range of people who might end up with a good enough GPA to keep a scholarship, though. The school just lowered my scholly renewal requirement to 3.2 from 3.3. So, if I can manage an A in just one class per semester, I'll scoot by. Of course, that's hard to do. Means you really kicked ass in the class relative to your classmates.

The prof said something sort of interesting. It goes along with what I saw when I was in b-school. By about the middle of 2L year, most students sort of accept their place in the class ranking. The stop trying to think of, "gee, what can I do to get better grades?" and start thinking in terms of, "how little work can I do and still get the same grades?"

The mid-term is only 30% of our grade in the class, and I did well enough that it is basically a non-factor for my final grade. I can ace the final and get a good grade in the class, and I could bomb the final and still bomb the class. The mid-term won't do much for or against me.

So, it's intense here. Everybody is going at it full-blast and nobody has resigned themselves to anything, yet. Tough to stand out with this crowd.

All in all, not happy with the results of the mid-term, but not unhappy, either. I had hoped to do better, but it's going to take a little more.

First Blood... Mid-term in Property

2011-10-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

Today was our first real graded work of the semester. We had a mid-term in property over Estates and Future Interests. It will only be 30% of our grade in that class. So, I guess it's possible to bomb it and still do well in the class, overall.

I think I did adequately prepare for the thing. Strategized everything well. Went into the test with everything I need. I also usually test well. However, I usually don't do well on ultra-detailed stuff and that's kinda what this was. Most attorneys can remember learning things like the Doctrine of Worthier Title, the Rule in Shelley's Case, and the Rule Against Perpituities. They're sort of like a tough logic problem that you apply to various estate grants.

So, how did I do? I don't think I messed anything up. I knew the material. If I missed something, it was missing details in the question. Trouble with that is, I wouldn't know that until/unless somebody else pointed it out to me. I just won't know how I did until I get the results back.

Part of it also, is that it depends not just on how I do, but how everyone else does, too, since this is graded on a curve. I really don't think I flunked, but I could realistically see getting the thing back with anywhere from a C to an A on it and I wouldn't be shocked.

No rest for the wicked, though. I need to plunge into my Memo, which is basically the bulk of my grade in Legal Research and Writing.

No class tomorrow, though. I am looking forward to a few days away from school. I just got my schedule for the Spring and it blows. Classes all 5 days a week, including a 3 hour, 20 minute gap two days a week.

Next Fall, though, I'm busting my butt to try and get all my classes squeezed into two days a week. I also hope they have an interesting elective that only meets once a week on Tuesday nights.

Oh well. I'm tired, but need to complete a citation workshop before I turn in to bed. Should only take 20 minutes or so.

Crunch Time

2011-10-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

Halfway through week 9 and it's officially crunch time. I got my final memo materials today. That's basically the final exam for my legal research and writing class. It's 70% of the grade. Need to get a good grade on it to get a good grade in the class.

Also, in property, our midterm is next Thursday. It's just on estates and future interests.

I'm still sorta exhausted from the trip to Texas. I'm pursuing a transfer to the IRR, which means I won't be an drilling reservist anymore. I hate to do it. My military service was one of the aspects of my life I was most proud about. However, I lost money every drill because I was travelling to Texas at my own expense.

The other big problem was that this left nobody to watch my son if his mom had to work. So, although I really hate the idea, my military career is over. I never intended to stick around for retirement. Just wanted to be here to deploy if the troop levels got thin. These days, they're lowering headcount. I may as well make their job easier.

Not sure how smoothly the transfer will go. I've come to distrust military administration, but with any luck, by Christmas or so, the whole situation will be resolved.

Logan's football season ends this weekend. That is happening at just the right time. I need to hunker down with the books and having 2 hours worth of football practice most nights was more than I should probably have dealt with. I just felt that it wasn't fair to the head coach not to get help and although a few other dads showed up here and there, and one in particular showed up pretty regularly, most practices, they really did need my help. Probably could have survived without it, but 10 year olds need a lot of guidance.

I'm still tired and sleep deprived from my trip. I'm also probably ever so slightly behind at school. Starting next week, though, I should have more than enough time to catch up. I'm eager, yet somewhat anxious about next week's mid-term. That and the memo are the only graded assignments I'll have until the final exams.

Things just got serious.

Halfway There

2011-10-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

This is week seven, pretty much after tomorrow, I'm at the midpoint of the semester. I turned in my first memo, which will not be graded, but will be critiqued. It is basically the first assignment I've turned in this semester. The prof is meeting with us throughout the next couple of weeks to provide feedback on how we did.

So far, so good. I do wish I weren't coming here five days a week but I think that's something they do deliberately to 1Ls. This will be much smoother next year when I'm only here 2 or 4 days a week.

I still have so much work to do on my outlines. It's not that I'm falling behind at all. I just wish I were a little further ahead and more on top of things.

I go to Fort Worth for drill at the end of next week. I don't think I'll be able to attend either the November or December drill. November drill will be right before the big memo is due for legal writing. That's 70% of the grade for the course. December drill is right in the middle of final exams. Again, no way.

I'll have to talk it over with my commander and XO this weekend. It may very well be that I can't do Navy reserve and law school, both. If push comes to shove, it'll suck, but I'll stick with law school. I never really intended to stick it out in the reserves and retire.

In the mean time, I'm really tired. 3 more weeks of Logan's football season. So, there's an end in sight, there. However, baseball Fall workouts have started. I hope they don't do more than one day a week of that. Those usually end sometime at the end of October or the beginning of November. However, in the Spring, right after New Year, the indoor baseball workouts start.

I really don't want to be that involved with Logan's baseball team, since things will be ramping up just in time for Spring final exams, but it doesn't look like the parents for that team are very involved at all.

Just taking it a day at a time, a week at a time. Time is flying by. I have no doubt I can finish law school. At this point, though, I have no idea beyond that.

Just gotta grunt it out and do it. I'm not really in a different boat than my classmates, except that my time is a bit more constrained. We'll see what's what when the first semester grades are posted.