My family law "exam"

The exam is in quotes because it was more like a series of trick questions. Rather than give an essay exam about how we would advise a client who came in with a certain issue, the exam asked us to pick the best answer out of 4. We had 150 minutes to answer 40 questions. That's not even 4 minutes a question. Each question had a long paragraph of facts and then four two or three sentence answers to choose from. Just reading each question took a couple minutes. That left no time to ponder an answer or think through anything.

What does this teach us?

In practice, if a man comes in for a divorce, I am not just going to blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. I will consider carefully his options and maybe look at the statute. Why wouldn't our exam encourage us to do just that?

While I don't intend to practice Family Law, I do intend to practice a kind of law that involves me and a client. I don't intend to practice "dartboard law" and I don't enjoy being tested that way.

I have started totally not caring about grades and wanting to just be a good lawyer. What a novelty, huh?

Not quality time, QUANTITY time

For me, the best part of all this finals studying is doing what I am right now, hanging out in a coffee shop and outlining with a group of people who I think are pretty cool. We are mostly studying, but each of us occasionally stops to share something hilarious from the internet, or to consult about a snippet of information missed during class. The chatting to studying ratio is at about 5 minutes of chatting for 30 minutes of studying. We aren't incredibly productive, but we are staying SANE.

Since I had a grown up life before law school, the joy of just having time to spend with my friends had been lost. Now don't get me wrong, finals studying isn't the ideal friend-time. Not for me, not for anyone. However, it is a lot of time, and we do manage to squeeze in a lot of laughter and commiserate about our plight. I love my friends back home, but every action lately has been planned to death. Dinner at 6:00 or a poker game from 9 to 11 pm, or Richelle's wedding on the 14th. Not much time as a grown up to just "hang." I complain a lot about law school, but getting to just do my thing around smart, funny people is really cool sometime.

Life is not that bad.

Ah Thanksgiving

Sometimes, no matter how old you are, you just want to be by your mom. My SO and I got to see both our mothers last night and it was wonderful. I am way too old to actually NEED my mom anymore. I haven't lived with her for almost 18 years. I haven't relied on her for financial support for about the same amount of time. However, the feeling of being around someone who loves you for the entirety of who you are (including the things you would rather forget, or just forgot because you didn't think they mattered) is priceless.

Screw the turkey and pumpkin pie. I just wanted a hug from my mom. You are never too old for that!

With the pilgrims nearly forgotten, and the times when you would make a turkey by tracing your hand on a paper plate behind you, Thanksgiving is simply about family. The older I get, the more I appreciate mine.

Law School admin slogging through red tape

So, as a state school, we suffer with a lot of regulations by various state agencies. Recently, those regulations were found to have been ignored in the area of food sales inside the law school.

Today, I met with a bunch of perfectly reasonable administration officials about how to work within the rules.

Unfortunately, the rules mean that a few law school traditions are going the way of the dinosaurs, including the incredibly fun chili cookoff.

I think that as long as they tell everyone what the CAN do, instead of emphasizing the negative, the students can't argue much.

For those who know that I love complaining and agitating for change, it was a surprise to find myself agreeing with what was said at the meeting today.

My law school hates poor people

That's the only explanation I can figure for why we haven't offered the Poverty Law or Consumer Law classes listed in the school catalog I received before I started here. Seems like they listed all these great classes to get me to accept admission, but once I got here, it was only patents, trademarks and 8 sections of legal writing taught by former 7th grade teachers.

Speaking of consumer law, does this sound like the familiar "bait and switch" sales tactic? I wonder if I can force the law school to honor its advertising....

Just stop typing and listen for once!

Question #1: When did it become OK to send a text message from your cell phone while someone is in an in-person conversation with you?
Answer #1: Never

Question #2: When did it become socially acceptable to show up at an event where someone is taking time from their busy day to give you advice and surf the net on your laptop the whole time?
Answer #2: Never

If you think that the correct answer to either of these was "sometimes or always" you should be beaten with a stick.

I have been dismayed lately that many law students seem to think that it is OK to use their electronic devices constantly. I know that you all spend most of your day on your laptop, but real human face-to-face interaction won't kill you. It is rude to pull out a laptop during the lunch hour career talk with lawyers. They don't have laptops in front of them - because they are communicating with you. Show these people some courtesy and just pay attention for 45 minutes!

Time spent in law building & my own immaturity at all time high

I received an email this morning that my Professional responsibilities class was cancelled and let out a little squeal of delight. It's not that I don't like my ethics class, it's just that any reprieve from the constant onslaught of information is always welcome. I am just embarrassed that I was as happy about class being cancelled as I was in 5th grade when our teacher had her appendics removed, and we got an extended winter vacation. At this rate, I will have the attitude and intellect of a 5 year old by the time I graduate from this place. 2

I can't believe that these students can't fund raise!

We are trying to sell coupon books to benefit the organization that is going to the Gulf Coast this winter. I was foolish enough to assume that people who planned to make their living off of getting new clients for their firms, schmoozing existing clients, and possibly making presentations at court would be outgoing enough to sell stuff.

Not so.

Many of the people have been acting like they are doing me a personal favor by selling these coupon books (even though the money we raise helps every single student save money). They are whining about selling just three of the books, and behaving like I should buy them all myself to make it easier.

I sold 7 of the books with a total of an hours effort, just by TALKING to other people about them. Oh, that, and just by asking.

Instead of "don't ask, don't tell," I am dealing with people who are engaging in, "Don't ask, don't SELL!"

My classmates scare me sometimes

This week, a girl in my professional responsibility class indicated that she would bill the client for time she spent SLEEPING on an out of town deposition trip.

And I used to wonder why people hate lawyers? Not anymore!

See, this is exactly the kind of stuff I wanted to avoid

So, after being way too stressed out last semester, I vowed I would ease up on the involvement with a trillion different organizations and obligations and live my life more. That's not happening. Why? Because I fail to control my ridiculous need to try to get involved.

Half the time, I get involved thinking that I can make a difference. When a difference isn't what's needed, I get stressed and frustrated. It sucks.


However, I am thinking that my involvement with at least one of the student orgs I am in can end, and it really won't matter. I have a "leadership" post in a student org that doesn't really want leaders - the rest of the executive board wants to do things exactly like we did last year. Doing what we did last year was ineffective, pointless and did nothing for our members. Why repeat it? Because innovation isn't prized much of the time in law school. Being a follower is.

I prefer to not be associated with any group that would rather follow than lead. I want to be a trailblazer. I want to try new things. I want new experiences. Isn't that why I decided to pursue a law degree at age 34?

Frankly, I think that my time is better spent getting to know like-minded students better. I also plan to do more work on things that count - like my relationship with my boyfriend and family.

Well, it sounds like I will have one less stressor on my plate by the end of the week, huh? I plan to resign my position on Thursday. :)

Whatever happened to the do gooders?

My friend Erlignition posted about the rise and fall of the public interest folks at our law school here.

My response:

...as one of the people who spent last year trying to get a better LRAP (and found that the school just really doesn't give a damn in any meaningful way), I felt fear in my heart when I realized that I was going to be very very poor upon graduation and that all my classmates were not. I felt bummed that the definition of success around this school (and to many family and friends) is a big firm job that sounds prestigious and pays a lot of cash. Despite that, I still couldn't swing applying to one. I did, however, apply to a handful of small plaintiff's firms that actually PAY MONEY to summer help. Working for free is great, but it sure doesn't pay the bills! I also did the unthinkable to many of my classmates: I got a part time job!

I think that many in our class have persuaded themselves that they are taking these high paying summer associate positions so that they can "afford to work in public interest after graduation." For some reason, I just don't think that's true. I think they are kidding themselves. The same way that I was by not admitting that I wanted the recognition from my peers and others that would come if I tried for and got a prestigious firm job. For some reason, getting paid a ton of money a year for what amounts to having 2 full time jobs after graduation makes people think that you are really smart, while working in public interest makes people...well, I don't know what people think about that. In the end, I have decided to follow my gut. My gut led me here to law school, and it has been more reliable than the public service pronouncements of my classmates. :)

I don't know, because we don't see it very often. Usually for law students like for the rest of the country, greed and consumerism rule and doing the right thing is relegated to rhetoric.

A new year, a new me?

OK, that's probably not true, but it made for a great post title, didn't it? Well, in case any of you are wondering (or if any of you read this blog anymore) I did make law review. I wrote my case note while registering voters in the middle of a field in IL and partially in a hotel room in Peoria, IL and I still made it on! A miracle for certain!

Now that I accomplished that feat, I have to pick a topic to write about. Since I will be spending a long long time working on this article, I really need to make the topic a great one. I am open to suggestions, so feel free to post here.

What else is going on....

Well, I have decided to relax a bit, and I concentrate my energies on things that are a little more beneficial to me. That means that I dumped my non-profit volunteer job registering voters. I felt taken advantage of and unappreciated, and it just wasn't fun anymore. So I stopped. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but it also took a 100 pound weight off my shoulders.

Those of you that know me also know that I tend to be a worrier and that I carry the weight of everyone's problems around with me. That can make for a very miserable me!

I am enjoying being a 2L, and my classes seem much more pertinent now that I did some actual lawyerly work this summer.

Tonight, I have a Women's Law Student meeting, and then bar review. I really need a cocktail!