That's a Lawsuit

Diary of a 24 hour take home final.

2006-01-11T13:24:00.000-05:00

8:30am- Woke up in a panic, thinking I slept through the window of time to pick up the exam even though I had set my alarm. Unable to regain my previous sleep pattern, I decided to get cup of coffee #1 and try this breakfast thing so many people recommend.

11:00am- Picked up the test. I don't work well in the mornings, even if I did wake up all on my own.

11:01am- Didn't even open the test yet for whatever reason but a wave of nausea came over me. Briefly wondered to myself, if I took a good 5 minutes to lay down and get a grip, if I would have enough time to finish the test.

11:07am- Nearly hit by a car in Brooklyn yet again. As I saw it, I wondered if I should stop scurrying away from it. I quickly reasoned that the test wouldn't be that horrible and kept walking.

11:10am- Back in my room. Finally look at the test and decide it's going to suck but it's fair. Despite that, I still allow myself 5 minutes to doubt myself to write a single word.

11:45am- I've actually begun to write by now. I think it might be an early night...Who am I kidding?

12:00pm- Coffee #2

12:30-3pm- Worked but the pace began to slow down pretty quickly. Sometime around 2 I went out to get air. Decided I couldn't handle people being drunk and done with finals around me during my final just yet.

4:30pm- Finished the 1st question and it was only 3 pages long....and I went over. Not satisfied with the answer but at least 1/3 of the test is over. For those interested: Dormant Commerce Clause.

4:45pm- Coffee #3. I don't normally drink more than 1 cup day and I don't drink it on a daily basis either so i'm starting to feel the effects.

6:00-8:00pm- A blur. I might have been in a caffeine induced blackout. All I do know is, caffeine is a total appetite suppressent and I knocked off question 2 (Commerce Clause/N&P). 2 page limit, went over again.

8:30pm- Coffee #4. I'm not even tired but I think I developed a habit. My body is awake but i'm mentally tired.

9:00pm- Coffee kicks in, feeling euphoric and ready to work again.

10:00pm-12:00am- Question 3 is on war powers and Iraq. I have to research and learn it all. There were paragraphs I wrote in 5 minutes time, certainly not from extensive knowledge, but because i'm certain I might be high.

1:00am- Tired but at the same time, I couldn't sleep even if I tried. It's a mental marathon to look at the same 3 pages off and on for 12+ hours. I might have forced myself to eat at this point.

3:00am- Finished the exam and proofread it. I disliked it. Hopefully that helps you out.

4:00am- Sobering up from caffeine.

5:00am- Caffeine hangover. Going to have to sleep this one off--if I can.

8:30am- Decide that I must hand the test in as early as possible because as long as I have it in my possession, I feel more guilty and worse about it. I make a pact with myself to not read it again on the way over so I don't get cold feet.

8:45am- Waiting for the exam control room woman to help me, I accidentally glance at my final. I have about 2 hours left and I live close. I could still fix something. I promptly decide against it, arguing that if I haven't gotten it by now or during the proofreading stage, it won't come to me now.

8:47am- It's finally over and there is nothing I can do about it now. Which is my reasoning for not being upset over tests after the fact (even if they didn't turn out as well as I had hoped).

9:00am- Crashed. I had trouble getting to sleep--who knew caffeine had such a long withdrawal time?
------------
Tomorrow is the first day of class and we have legal writing during the first week of class this semester. The one thing I miss about last semester is I think they're going to coddle us less now. I sense it.

Con law final tomorrow.

2006-01-09T19:27:00.000-05:00

I hope the commerce clause is enough to get me through it because it might be the one and only thing I know even the slightest thing about. At this point I intend on spending close to 24 hours looking everything up.

Trager knows we don't know anything. He commented multiple times today during the review session that people seemed scared. Why shouldn't we be scared? I'm not sure this class had a clear direction from day 1.

People say he gave us 24 hours because he expects it to be good. I think he just doesn't want to actually give out any F's.

Finals momentum is gone for good until the end of the spring semester.

T-4 days until the con law final.

2006-01-06T22:52:00.000-05:00

I'm beyond unprepared.

January is a wacky time to be posting about finals and I still find it baffling that there are other law schools that purposely schedule all finals after break. However the MTA and TWU had to do their thing and the administration had to poorly do theirs so here we are.

I cannot for the life of me bring myself to carry on a semi-productive study session. My head just isn't in it at the moment and I know i'm not alone. It's not even like we had an overly long, college-style winter break that lasts for a minimum of 4 weeks. We had 2 weeks, if that much.

The problem is, it takes so little time to get used to doing nothing but so much time to get back into law school mode. 2 weeks, while short in terms of relaxation time, is long enough to lose any and all momentum that you had during the actual finals period. It's January and it feels like a new semester. Our new professors are already emailing us, we need to get new textbooks, and it has that calm feeling that I began to long for sometime around the second memo.

....Except we have a con law final.

Losing your finals momentum has got to be worst part about this. I know mine is gone and from the looks of everyone else, they don't have it either. Will everyone regain their early to mid December form? Doubtful but we'll have to figure something out.

Good luck to anyone taking a final. I know i'll need it.

MTA strike: The new snow day.

2005-12-21T16:51:00.001-05:00

Finals went about as well as you can hope. I wasn't totally clueless (thank god since I actually studied) then again I don't feel that they went as solid as they could have. However I think that is the nature of a law school exam. Everyone here clearly studied a lot and no one is stupid so it's just you against the curve. All I know is that I worked hard and that is all I can do.

The last exam I have is con law and I will not be taking it until January sometime. This is good for two reasons: First, I am the most screwed for this final out of all of them. I know the least about this class and I don't have the slightest idea of what to expect. If there is any test that I need more than 2 days to study for, it's this one. Secondly, I took the night off after my civ pro final and then proceeded to take the next day off too and go drinking that night. If by some stroke of my typical bad luck TWU and MTA solved their differences, I would have been even more screwed than I already was. That was a gamble I was willing to take and thank god it paid off.

Minus the con law final that is up in the air, I have completed my first semester of law school. I never doubted my ability to do it since i'm not the quitting kind. However i'm pretty satisfied with myself, no matter how grades turn out. I know I actually learned something this semester and now i'm halfway to completing one of the suckier years of law school. I told myself if I could survive year one, I would make it through the entire thing.

In retrospect, the semester only truly got tough when finals began to loom...and we had memos. If I can survive the appellate brief, oral argument, and finals next semester then I should be ok.

Thanks to the MTA, i'm able to go drink and relax much earlier than expected and for the first time in several weeks.

Why did Professor Mazzone ban laptops?

2005-12-08T21:39:00.000-05:00

"I came to the conclusion that serious and attentive students suffer when they use laptops in class. First year law students don’t know how to take notes effectively, particularly in a difficult course like Constitutional Law. Their strategy, therefore, is to record every single word uttered in class. Their hope is that even if they have no idea what anything means at the time, so long as they get it all down they can look it up later on and they’ll be OK.

Laptops, I found, turned the most diligent students into scribes.

I spoke—they typed. I spoke again—they typed some more.

But law schools train lawyers not court reporters. Learning to be a lawyer requires hands on experience: tussling with the cases, articulating arguments, reflecting on what others have said, offering quick reactions, presenting rebuttals. This is the whole point of attending law school rather than just reading about the law in a library. And you can’t do these things if you’re busy typing. There is a good reason lawyers are not the ones asked in the courtroom to produce the transcript of what has transpired. "

----

Out of the jungle

A reflection on the Fall 2005 semester.

2005-12-08T21:00:00.000-05:00

I'll do this before I take finals so as not to have a biased opinion.

This has been the most intense semester of schooling that I have ever encountered. However, I can say with total certainty that this is one of the most fun semesters as well. As the years go on, I continue to meet smarter and smarter people who encompass many interesting and eclectic backgrounds. Just when I think i've met the best of the best, I prove myself wrong.

I believe the thing I like best about this school is that not only are people smart but they like to let loose and have some fun. There are law schools out there where people will not go out on the weekends but here, people like to get away from it all and keep their sanity. I know my level of satisfaction with law school as a whole would have been much different had I not been here. That's the bottom line.

Pulling up to BLS in August, I was very excited to be living in the much hyped building but also uneasy about what was ahead. I knew I wanted to be in law school and I knew that I was very happy to be attending BLS. However, I had heard all the horror stories of law school and having come off a year of intense laziness and senioritis, I was afraid I wouldn't be ready. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to snap out of it.

Furthermore, I didn't know if it would be hard to meet people in law school since it was such a different atmosphere than college was. My fears were unfounded. This has been especially true as of late. Another rumor I heard was that people were cutthroat come finals time. Everyone I have seen has been more than willing to help their classmates out.

Law school and its finals are not enough to negate the first 3 months of school. The first 3 months where everything was fresh and there was a lot of fun to be had.

Good luck to everyone on finals.

Which FRCP are you?

2005-12-07T19:20:00.000-05:00

YOU ARE RULE 20(a)!
You are Rule 20, an important part of the Federal
Rules' policy of permissive joinder. You are
designed specifically to allow as many parties
in an action as can be tried efficiently, and
you'll include someone as long as there is some
factual overlap between a claim involving them
and the rest of the case at hand. You are
popular, out-going, and are never far from
friends. However, your overly gregarious
nature and magnanimous approach do make things
a bit crowded--you're the reason that lawsuits
are often cluttered with innumerable parties
and even more numberous claims for relief.
Still, despite the crowds that you attract, you
can't argue with the efficiency of getting
everything done at once!

Which Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Are You?
brought to you by

Con law: annoying right until the end.

2005-12-07T11:45:00.000-05:00

There is no reason why this final needs to end on the 23rd of December.

There is a party thrown by the school at the end of the semester that I will most likely not be able to attend because of this final. While everyone else is letting loose and slipping into a liquor induced blackout, I will be holed up somewhere inventing information that i'm going to pass off as constitutional law. We are most likely the last people in the entire school to finish a final too.

Relaxation aside, having a final end so close to the holiday would not even allow people any travel time. In addition, it's not like any of us have had time to shop, what with law school currently sucking.

It's pretty fitting that con law would be last. It's my least favorite class, it seems to be the most ambiguous, and the outline is very up in the air at the moment. However, i'm thankful it's last. I need to teach myself pretty much everything and with it being last, I can devote time to it without neglecting anything else.

The school should think about scheduling finals before the 23rd of December in the future. It's been a crazy semester and all we're asking for is to be able to go celebrate the end with the rest of our fellow classmates.

Misery

2005-12-04T22:38:00.000-05:00

Finals mode is in full swing and sleep is no longer a necessity. Forget about it even being an option. You just don't get much of it or have time for it for that matter.

The nights you spend studying just seem to fly on by and before you know it, it looks like the sun might be rising outside.

Outlines take a long time to do and even when they are done, you aren't much better off. I have 2 done, 1 that is about 85% done, and of course, as expected, con law has gone untouched--much like the casebook for the past 2-3 weeks.

Today my mother called me because she has sent me 4 emails in the past 2 weeks and have answered none of them. The first words out of her mouth were that she was very worried about me and wanted to make sure i'm ok.

December 23 I will be much better when i'm pouring copious amounts of alcohol down my throat.

----

Crim law final is closed book. Advice?

Tortious Acts of the Holiday weekend.

2005-11-25T21:42:00.000-05:00

Watching people trample over each other and fight to get into a store first never ceases to make me laugh. If I were a torts professor, I would find a way to make a case like this part of the syllabus.

-------

When the lamp fell on those two sisters at the Thanksgiving Day parade, the first thing I thought was "that's a lawsuit."

However, their father said it was a freak accident and no one is suing since accidents happen.

Class notes=useless.

2005-11-16T11:15:00.000-05:00

As I write this, i'm sitting in class. This could be why but it's not.

I came to the conclusion last week that if I had to make an outline and be prepared for a law school final based solely on my notes, I would fail out. I hear no one fails out but without any type of supplement, I would go against that notion.

It's not that I take terrible notes....well not in every class anyway. The thing is, notes are generally haphazard and contain things like "?" and "I don't know". That cannot be helpful for the academic hazing known as first semester 1L finals.

From speaking to upperclassman, however, I see that this isn't limited to 1L's. In fact, people seem both surprised and impressed that I still go to class and take notes at all. Notes, to me at least, seem good to get some basic black letter law, some policy, and make use of my "?" key. It also prevents me from playing spider solitaire for the entire 1 hour and 50 minutes of class. There is no way in hell that these notes alone could be enough.

In beginning to make my torts outline, i've noticed that i've relied mostly on Emanuel for structure and information and very little on the majority of my notes. Sure, stuff has gone in there, but by and large I wonder why I helped facilitate the early on-set of carpal tunnel syndrome by typing down 70% of this.

Paying attention is beginning to get hard. It's November and we are tired. The people that speak most have begun to ask the professor things that even he or she does not know. Safe to assume it won't be on the final?

Finals and one last memo loom. I have come to terms with my mediocrity.

Beat the clock.

2005-11-06T11:35:00.000-05:00

I hardly get sick except since i've started at BLS, i've already had 3 throat/nose ailments. I hate this. Is this 1L syndrome or are you all just sicker than the average people?

Thursday I had a midterm in civ pro and it was pretty much what I expected. What I mean by that is, if I were Nan Hunter and I wanted to write a fact pattern that encompassed as much of the syllabus as we have covered so far, I would probably have wrote something similar.

The main issue: TIME. I can see time is pretty much what will get you on these exams. We had 2 hours to read a 3 page fact pattern and write. To non-law school people that doesn't sound too long but as the rest of you out there know, you can really pack a lot into those 3 pages--and I know it's going to get worse.

I allowed myself about 10-15 min to read it, underline, jot stuff down, and then re-read. You really couldn't spend too much time doing that though because as it is I barely just "finished". Who knows what finishing in law school even means? Spotting and writing about more issues than everyone else?

It's only worth 10% of my grade. Like she said, it's a painless way to see what a law school exam was like and I do now have an outline for the class.
--------
A recommendation: if you like beer, you should go to Peculier Pub in the Village. They have a menu with beers from all over the world, including countries I didn't know existed. What's even better is that it's not expensive and they include tip in the price.

Bluebook quiz today.

2005-11-01T13:49:00.000-05:00

Fast fact: a 2L said the average last year was a 95.5

Confirmation?

It's good if we know what F. Supp. means but it remains to be seen what kind of impact 10% of 2 credits will really have if any at all.

Good luck to any other 1L's out there who might read this.

Reality is setting in and it hurts.

2005-10-24T18:26:00.000-04:00

This morning I handed in my first graded memo of the year bright and early. I had mixed emotions; part of me was ecstatic to get it off my hands and another part of me was afraid. Once I submitted the email and dropped the hard copy in the box it was all over. No longer can I change anything. Even as I was riding the elevator back down, I began to re-think my QP. I should try acting less 1L-ish.

I did sleep last night. I know quite a few people who didn't and i'm glad I wasn't one of them. I'm very used to all-nighters whether they be voluntary or procrastination induced. I just couldn't bring myself to stay up all night on top of having the dullest weekend of the year because of all this. If I don't do one fun thing the whole weekend, then work should be done so I can sleep. If i'm going to stay up all Sunday night, it better be because I wasted the whole weekend--or was wasted the whole weekend. Same thing.

Not having con law today was so sweet and timely. I love how we never have that class. It's even sweeter having the day off after memo weekend.

I am beginning to feel that as fun as this upcoming weekend is going to be, I think people are going to go into panic mode all of a sudden immediately following. November begins next week and from what I hear, this is the beginning of the big freak out. I don't think i'm ready for all of this and i'm definitely not ready for people to give me agita because they have it.

At the time of this blog entry, I haven't begun to outline yet. I attempted a torts outline a few weeks ago and I hate it so it doesn't even count. This wasn't the plan. I never stick to my own plans.

Stupid stupid memo.

2005-10-22T20:54:00.000-04:00

Entrapment: lets talk about it. That is, if you aren't entrapment'd out yet.

Legal writing is the most important class, I know. I still think it's a nuisance. It's memo time and I will do anything to avoid it so I blog.

My legal writing professor has given me a bit of a complex. My first "practice memo" had so many pencil markings I feared I might get lead poisoning. I guess it turned out about as well as I expected my first memo turn out. She assured me that everyone had the same amount of pencil markings. The thing is, lawyers lie so I don't know if I should believe her. I fear now i'm bound to fuck this next one up.

I'm also very scared that it is worth 40% of my grade. That is a high percentage right there and all I can keep thinking about are all of those pencil markings.

I will soon have my very first law school grade, and at 40%, it will be hard to overcome and will stick around for a while. What if I fuck up? Anytime I see someone that I know isn't a 1L, I envy them for no longer being in legal writing.

To anonymous high ranking official at BLS, I apologize in advance for dragging your name through the mud by choosing you as my alias name for the memo. Perhaps if I had chosen my professors name, she would subconsciously grade me higher.

First 1L scandal of the year.

2005-10-12T11:17:00.000-04:00

I don't know if it's spread past sections 7,8,9 but it originated there.

Apparently someone has dedicated almost their whole facebook profile to ripping on the school.

Now I understand that this is how people bond. Everyone can make a remark or two about the school and laugh about it with their classmates because they can all relate. They can even attempt to write a sarcastic blog about certain aspects that they would like to rant about. Obviously I do this as do many others. It's good to hear the opinions of others on their experiences but from what i've gathered this was a little different.

After overhearing some fellow classmates talking, many seemed to agree that they took it pretty far and came off downright rude. It wasn't a lighthearted remark about the elevators or even a professors hairstyle. This person belittled the school as a whole and seemed to imply that the quality of the students here is below them.

In order to protect the identity of this person, I will paraphrase certain portions:

Interests: Getting the fuck out of Brooklyn Law

Clubs and Jobs:
Member of anonymous student organization (resume boost
to get me out of BLS), The I want to get the fuck out of BLS Society

About Me:I go to a shitty law school and am aware of that fact.
I'm pretty sure I'm the smartest one here. And I am aware too of my conceit.

Whoa. I know this school isn't perfect but no school is. In fact the people here have been a pleasant surprise from all of the horror stories i've heard. I actually didn't know what to say when I saw this. It's fine that you are aiming to transfer up. You have to do what is good for you but to essentially talk down to the student body when you have yet to earn a single grade here is jumping the gun. Whatever crawled up their ass and died, they should look into removing.

-----

On another note, we finally have a day off tomorrow. I can't decide if I should read for Friday tonight or save it for tomorrow. What I should do is think about making a dent in that memo packet at some point tomorrow. So much for days off...

The tracks don't need work.

2005-10-10T17:57:00.000-04:00

The weekend schedule of the subway does though.

One of the best aspects of NYC is that there is a lot of public transportation to take and it isn't priced that badly. Sure it wasn't always $2 for a subway ride but you can get really far for 2 bucks. There is nothing I love more than saving money and getting the most I can for a buck.

The subway was atrocious and failed me this weekend.

The subway always had a lame weekend schedule. If there is ever a time that people wanted to take the train, aside from rush hour, it's weekend late nights. When do they drastically cut back service? Weekend late nights. It was even worse this weekend because you basically couldn't find a train into Brooklyn Heights. I know the N replaces the M/R late nights but not this weekend. No, it was re-routed for "maintenance". What has to be maintained? Certainly not the cleanliness. Not that I care, the dirtiness gives it the character I love.

I am fully aware that you can transfer lines but the problem with that stems back to the weekend late night schedule problem. I have never seen a shortage of people that were either on the train or waiting on the platform. No one wants to wait 25 minutes per transfer.

I've never run into this problem before. If you only need to ride one train home and it is one of the few that hasn't been cancelled altogether, even a 20 minute wait isn't that shabby.

However for the next two weekends, don't bother with M/R/N, and just split the cab with 3 other people to begin with.

My political beliefs.

2005-10-07T09:19:00.000-04:00

According to http://www.okcupid.com/politics , anyway:

You are a
Social Liberal
(63% permissive)

and an...
Economic Moderate
(41% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Centrist

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

I got publicity!

2005-10-06T22:56:00.000-04:00

I see my visitor counter has skyrocketed recently even in my absence. I also see that BLS News did a write up on blogs here at school. It's always good to get new readers. I just wish I were worthy of the attention or had anything of interest to say at all. Thanks for plugging the blog.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I think the reality of 1L has begun to sink in among other things. I'm either consumed with reading, going out when I do have a spare moment, or I am just so tired that I can't bring myself to sit and write anything. Let's not forget that I have nothing interesting to say anymore because i'm in law school. Since I assume the majority of my readers go here then I know you can feel my pain.

How many of you go out to the bar and you are having a great time then suddenly someone starts talking about law school? This happens all the time. They really weren't kidding when they said you would be consumed by school. I was hoping we wouldn't become a statistic but it always seems to come back to law...

Here are quick thoughts on classes:

Crim law: I like this one a lot. Very interesting class and from what I hear, we have the best crim law syllabus/professor

Torts: I'd enjoy you even more if you didn't meet at 9am on Friday. I also have a hard time drawing your charts on my laptop

Con law: I dread reading this casebook but you make up for it by rarely having class meet

Civ pro: I heard such bad things but I oddly like this class. It is taught very well.

Legal writing: I can tell the memo writing process will be a gigantic burden. I also think this class could stand to be shorter but it's fine otherwise. I will try smirking at my computer less.

Aside from the subject matter itself, I got lucky with my professors. They are all nice, very bright, and aren't brutal with the socratic method. It's about time something goes right.

The secret to winning the socratic method sweepstakes:

2005-09-22T18:22:00.000-04:00

Professors that call on people because they know they are on AIM or otherwise not listening to them because the internet is much more exciting:

Hunter (Civil Procedure)
Guerrini (Legal Writing)
Cheng (Torts)

There might be an internet users blacklist among the professors. I have seen the same people get called on multiples times in multiple classes already while countless others have yet to speak. These people happen to be the ones who surf the internet 90% of the time. Coincidence?

Watch out, you could be next.

Salaries of Lawyers in NY

2005-09-21T11:35:00.000-04:00

A small sample of salaries of legal professionals in NY:

Robert Morgenthau
$150,000
District attorney, Manhattan

Jeannine Pirro
$136,700
District attorney, Westchester

Eric Rosen
$50,000
First-year assistant district attorney, Manhattan

Shannon Stallings
$45,922
First-year public defender, Legal Aid Society

Laura Held
$126,072
Parking-violation judge

Judy Sheindlin
$30 million
Television judge

H. Rodgin Cohen
$4 million
Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell

Josh Dubin
$512,500
Jury consultant and trial strategist

William Joshua Brant
$125,000
First-year associate, Weil, Gotshal & Manges

For additional salaries
Credit to raging pundits

A student group will feed me lunch everyday this week.

2005-09-15T13:24:00.000-04:00

Except for Monday since this idea didn't dawn on me until Tuesday.

Don't get me wrong, I did attend some general interest meetings because they were groups that I was actually interested in and wanted to join. However in doing so, I decided to turn this whole thing into a game.

I vowed (minus Monday) to eat lunch for free everyday this week and would do so by choosing a meeting each day of something that I could mildly tolerate.

Think about it, if I spend anywheres from $2-6 on lunch per day, I have saved upwards of $24 on lunch this week! Granted I don't spend $6 on lunch all too often but this was a truly brilliant idea on my part.

I now have upwards of 24 more dollars to blow this weekend on booze.

For the record, one group who will remain anonymous had the best lunch setup I have seen. They had pepperoni pizza, not just the standard cheese, AND garlic knots. Friday has yet to come but i'm pretty certain that you will win the "best free lunch of the week" award.

Library Pet Peeves.

2005-09-12T01:22:00.000-04:00

Making unnecessary noise including, but not limited to, slamming things.

Is your purpose in life to make as much noise as possible or is it just to get on my nerves? Why do you exist? The library is so quiet that it is the little things that begin to get to you.

I have already gotten to know the "regulars". You know, the people that you always see day in and day out and you expect them to arrive any minute.

There is this one person who is the loudest of all. Without fail you feel the need to slam your books, pens, and throw things around the table. You also love to pick up your iced coffee cup and shake the ice for a good 5 minutes. If winter time and frigid weather means that iced coffee season is over, I welcome it. Anything to stop the madness.

To the guy who pounds on his laptop keys: stop. Type easier, why are you at war with your poor laptop? The smokers out in the courtyard on street level could hear you all the way upstairs I bet.

To the guy drumming on the table, blasting his IPod, and using the phone for what looked like a bill collecting service: you are beyond help. Additionally, pens aren't expensive. You can refrain from asking me 20 times for mine which i'm in the middle of using. The Duran Duran eminating from your headphones was distraction enough. I like them too and I like them even more when I don't want to read for constitutional law. However pick one distraction and stick to it.

This is a sign that I go there too much.

Criminal law class makes me want to practice criminal law.

2005-09-06T14:02:00.000-04:00

What is it about this class that makes criminal law sound so interesting?

I would be lying if I said I never had a passing interest in the subject, that I will never, ever take a criminal law case in my career, and I don't have more real life experiences that would cause some casual interest. Truth is, I am a blank slate at the moment. I didn't come here with clear, set goals and my whole career planned out. I could do anything right now but there is definitely something about the dynamic of this class that makes anyone I have spoken to have an increased interest in this area.

Cohen is a typical ex-prosecutor and for that, he is awesome and quickly becoming one of my favorite professors.

He whips knives out in class in a manner that makes it clear he has become quite proficient with using them in his Tennessee days. Today was the icing on the cake when he came busting through the doors to the classroom to demonstrate just what "breaking and entering" was in terms of burglary.

Speaking of burglary, the quote of the year so far is credited to this same man: "Burglary is like foreplay."

Why is burglary like foreplay? Think it through a bit. Even if you can't figure it out, be immature enough to giggle at your law professor using the word foreplay as a part of his lesson plan.

I expect other professors to come up with similarly humorous statements in order to keep my interest away from the [shitty wireless] internet.

To the rest of my professors: Keep the class cancellations coming and while you are at it, don't re-schedule them.

My temporary ID and I don't get along.

2005-09-06T13:53:00.000-04:00

In 4 years of college, I lost 1, maybe 2 ID's tops.

In 3 weeks here, I have lost 1 ID and nearly lost the second one on so many different occassions I have lost count.

I have no idea what it is about this card that I can't keep track of. I should also mention that I have lost a mailbox key too due to my new-found alcoholism.

It takes really long to get a real ID card around this place. I will also make sure not act this negligently when I have actual, real clients.