planning

I am oddly calm considering all things. I turned in my final paper for my clinic yesterday. I’m not overly thrilled with it. But I am curious to see how I feel about the same type of project when I have an actual client and it actually matters. I will be getting my trial transcript sometime before the semester is out. I won’t be able to write about it here, but I don’t think there is any harm in saying that I am going to be handling both the brief and the oral argument on a criminal appeal. I am really looking forward to it.

I haven’t applied for the FAFSE fellowship. If I’m going to do it, I need to get all over it this week. Otherwise, it will be too late. I’m leaning against it simply because I have so much to do between now and December. On the other hand, I would really enjoy it and would benefit from the experience should I be lucky enough to get in. I’ll let you know what I decide.

So, I luck out this semester and only need to prepare for three exams: Criminal Procedure, Evidence, and Federal Income Tax. The tax exam is take-home, which scares me more than a little. Still – if the only exams I need to take in class are Crim Pro and Evidence, then I had damn well better make them count. I want A’s in Crim Pro and Evidence. And Tax. I need to make up for last years fiasco. Possible? Well, we shall see.

Negotiation and progress

So, I spent my weekend at the ABA negotiation competition in my region and thus did not make much progress on anything else. My take on the competition? There is a heavy bias towards aggressive, demanding, get every penny you can type of negotiating and against my style, which is based on cooperation, politeness  and honesty. And I’m not changing, thus I won’t be winning any competitions. My  advice to anyone participating in a similar competition is to bring some leisure materials that don’t require thought. There was a lot of downtime, but I didn’t want to get into the legal reading I had brought with me. A handheld video game or some crossword puzzles would have been a much wiser choice. 

Disturbing comment of the weekend: “When my clients tell me they don’t want to sue, I say, ‘Don’t worry. We won’t. That’s why we’re going to threaten them and let them know we’re gonna sue if we don’t get what we want.’” I’m thinking that my way of doing business is more likely to earn me the respect of my clients. Perhaps I’m wrong. It’s not like I plan on allowing my clients needs to be walked on. But sometime maintaining a relationship is just as much of a motivator. I would not want that attorney representing me. If I say negotiate, I mean nicely. That is the whole point. Apparently, the attorneys I met see it much differently.

So…I need to go write a paper. But not before I mention Shaniya Davis. Her mother should be put to death. This is the type of crime against children that is most heinous.  The television had a video of all the little dots where sex offenders live in the town and every one of those people was a suspect. That is wrong. These people should pay for the crimes they have committed. But they shouldn’t be automatically blamed for crimes that are committed by other people.  I bet you 99.99% of them would never sell their own child into prostitution, to be raped and murdered at the age of 5.

Well, I hope my readers have a lovely day. I will write again when I get the opportunity.

increments

I have no idea what I am doing, but I sure am getting it done. Piece by little tiny piece. Task for today – figure out some amortization tables for a commercial real estate problem. That sounds simple enough. I’m sucking energy from the bottom today, so it’s not so easy. What I’m doing here, clearly, is procrastinating. Increments of what, you might ask. I have no idea. Boredom. Slavery. Drudgery. Boredom. repeat. I’ve had plenty of happy days lately but today is not one. I want a nap. I want a Carvel Banana Foster Dasher. Where the hell did that come from? Hmm. OK. So perhaps when I am done procrastinating on the internet I can go to Carvel’s and then come home and take a nap. Maybe after that I can calculate some amortization. Like dessert only backwards. Ask me why I choose to share these random musings? Because I am 100% certain my current mental state has something to do with law school in November. I want out.  [Disclaimer: This is a momentary condition and has nothing to do with my true feelings on the matter.]

moody

That’s me. Sometimes I think my mood affects my perception of things. Most of the time I think things affect my mood. I am tired. Law school is full of highs and lows and it just never balances out. There is also a distinct disconnect between why I’m in law school and what law school involves. Only rarely do the two things meet and every time they do I become confident I’m in the right field. So yesterday I got a chance ot talk about child sex offenders. Here’s the interesting thing: I think we have a problem with how these people are treated. I would never advocate sexual abuse. But I think we are violating the rights of some of these people who are accused. We are also violating the rights of those people who have been convicted, served their time, and been released back into society. It is crazy. And it does no good for the children. The most dangerous people to children live in their own home and have never been accused of molesting anyone. And recent cases prove that we don’t protect children better just because we know a person has committed sex crimes in the past. Look at Jaycee Dugard. Or the sex offender on the news right now who had eleven bodies in his apartment. These are terrible crimes, but they are unrelated to the convicted sex offenders who are homeless because of laws restricting where they can live. It’s a fine line. So….its my weekend. I need it. I am taking one solid day off from law school on Saturday. I need to plan a weekend long break pretty soon, before I lose my mind. I hope all my readers have  a lovely day.

Winding down

The semester is coming to a close, and I am realizing just how much time my clinic has taken. We have been working diligently on a major memo over the course of the semester, and I just submitted my “almost final” draft which stands right now at 22 pages. It needs to be revised again, I think once, but maybe twice more. The important thing is it’s almost over. I would like to say that when its done its going to be my finest piece of writing ever. But the truth is that legal writing is not my strong suit. I am better at writing non-legal materials, although I haven’t had any opportunity to do that in some long time now. So – the memo should be my best piece of legal writing ever. So, on this Tuesday evening, I have time left over. And that is encouraging. I will take the evening off and devote tomorrow to getting ahead a little bit. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to say that. I hope all my readers are having a great week. Good luck to all law students through the hell of a month that November is.

Next Up

One application for the FASPE Fellowship at Auschwitz for the study of professional ethics. Now THAT would be something. I am going to apply, realizing that my chances are very slim.  That is the opportunity of a lifetime. Beyond that? I have finalized my schedule for the spring semester. It is a mixed bag. I have class five days a week instead of four, and I have one crazy day on Wednesday. On the other hand, I am out by noon two days a week. So, what’s on the list? Commercial Law (aka UCC), Law and Medicine, Administrative Law, Medical Malpractice, and the final semester of my clinic. I need to get that health law thing rolling along. I would really like a summer job in the health law field but I need to get my butt in gear if that is going to happen. Other news? Not much. My life has gone crazy, high school has re-entered my life, aka I got into a dispute with a fellow student, and that’s about it. I hope my readers had a great day. Let’s begin the countdown until exams are over, shall we?

law student meets halloween

I don’t need a costume. Simply go another few days without finding time for a haircut and my frazzled look will match the cartoon depictions of electrocution. In other words, I’ve been a little busy and have not been prioritizing my time very well. My children don’t have halloween costumes yet. I really do need a haircut. I need to take ten minutes to take the old nail polish off my own fingers. That is pathetic. They say that in 1L, they scare you to death and in 2L they work you to death. So far, that seems to be accurate.  Do I have anything positive to say? Yes I do. I love law school. I’m having a good time. I’m working hard. I’m doing my share to contribute to the community and to the school, and in the end, I am happy even if I don’t have time to breath. I hope all my readers are having a great week.

All half-ass or half not done?

This week was all half-ass, and I hate it. I hate that I did it. I hate that I had to. And I hate that the only other choice I had was to choose. From my perspective, there was nothing on my list that I could choose to not do. So it all got done bad.

So now I choose. I have exactly one weekend to get something done right. (That needs to happen in between an entire day devoted to negotiation and half a day devoted to a charity event that is, like I said, not a choice.) So I have half a weekend to get something done right. As of now, there are two things on my list. My defense clinic and my research assistant work. Because there is nothing more embarrassing than turning in half-ass junk. So wish me luck. I’ll write again when I can.

Craziness

Defined as the inexplicable physical state of the world as experienced by law students in mid-October. The resulting belief that doom is imminent if one does not miraculously find more time in a day to master the overwhelming quantity of legal information swimming in one’s head. AKA my life. Which has less to do with mastering the material and more to do with finding the time to complete the pure quantity of work that awaits me. I hope all my readers are having a splendid start to their week. I’ll write again soon. (PS, yes, I did make the moot court team, and I am happy about it.)

Mid-semester 2L

I can’t believe the semester is half over already. I’m really having a much better time this year than I did last. I am enjoying myself, completing the work, and feeling generally competent in an honest way. Last year was more like “I’m going to do my best here come hell or high water.” And hell came, and I survived it. In retrospect, 1L was tough. It was humbling to say the least. But I made it through, scholarship intact, to go another round. I am SO happy I did. I love law school. So…here is the schedule for the coming weekend: Tonight I’m going out to buy a new notebook. Then it’s home to work on Tax. I’m going to school tomorrow to practice for the upcoming ABA Negotiation competition. In the afternoon and evening I will work on Criminal Procedure. Saturday is Evidence, and Sunday I need to write a paper. As far as classes go, it will be some reading, but mostly working on outlines and reviewing supplements. That I have found time to get the outlines done and read supplements is really a far cry from last year. I hope it pays off for me this time around.