Yet Another Exam Recap

I always get a bit frazzled around finals time. I know a lot of other people do, too, but I get crazy in a maybe I just won't show up for my final exam kind of way. Of course I always do show up, but for a split-second, or a few days really, I just want to check out, but most finals are never as difficult as I think they are going to be. This term, they were slightly harder only because the subject matter was - well - mushier; I tend to do better with code based exams.

Basic Criminal Procedure: Moderately difficult. The hardest part of the exam was confining the long essay answer to 850 words. No easy feat that but I managed to land exactly on 850 words. I think my classmates were having problems, too because nearly all of them were still furiously typing after two hours and fifty minutes (our exam period is only three hours).

Property: Easy. A 1L class that I skipped. Very typical multiple choice section followed by one essay questions. No word limits. Open everything (books, notes, supplements). I think I spotted all the issues.

Poverty Law: Frightening. I expected a difficult exam because eight-hour take home exams are inherently difficult. I didn't expect my professor to ask us to draft a majority opinion, a concurring opinion, and one (or more) dissenting opinions - on the first question. The second question was a synthesis question, which was a bit tricky too, since she'd told us many times during the semester there was really no way to read the cases together. Naturally, there were word limits. I think I did well, but I thought I wrote an 'A' paper for her class last semester, too, and we all know how that turned out. This term, I'm just hoping the curve is kind to me.

Living My Life

I have an exam tomorrow but I am a stellar procrastinator so very little studying has been done this weekend. But, in my defense, the exam is an eight-hour take home. Not exactly a breeze but not the toughest nut to crack either. After all, I did major in English so I'm pretty adept at synthesizing a whole lot of material in a really short amount of time.

I did try to study this weekend. Ok, that's a lie. I thought about studying, yesterday, when we were at brunch, but today, while I was gleefully stuffing my basket full of vintage candies from the sweet shoppe and having a snowball fight with the kids, I didn't think about studying at all. Now, I'm thinking my case map is a bit anemic, but the Colts/Ravens football game is on and I'm riveted by Peyton Manning's enormous head, so studying is pretty much a lost cause at this point.

Pardon the Silence

But, it's finals time and I've been busy, outlining, taking practice exams, and using every bit of spare energy I have to craft coherent and passable exam answers. Somehow, I've managed to stick to Operation: Dinner In; the Risotto is a keeper, but the Crab Bisque was a little too "fishy" for me.

Between meals and exam prep and wiping toddler butts and noses, I have NO TIME. You MILS know how it is. I have another exam tomorrow and a monster exam on Monday, so posting will be light for...a while. Good luck to everyone, especially the pregnant MILS, who've got to endure this exam period alcohol-free.

Con Law Doesn't Suck

Loads of law students have blogged their hate for Con Law (the study of the Constitution, not the study of criminals for the uninitiated) but - I don't get it. Maybe it's because I've just enrolled in my fourth Con Law class, but more likely it's because I have an intense, burning need to understand it all: individual rights and how courts have determined that the right to privacy applies to marriage and contraceptives, but not to poor people who tell state welfare workers "no, you cannot come into my home." The obvious answer is the composition of the court at the time the issue is being decided. I know this, but a boxy, legal answer doesn't help that woman who lost her welfare benefits. To put it bluntly: that sucks. And I, a thinking woman, cannot sit idly by and while millions of people have their rights trampled upon. So I will take as many Con Law classes as I can until I understand all the legal arguments, can wield them well, and destroy the hegemony that oppresses so many. A lofty goal, I know but, jeezus, it's why I came to law school in the first place.

Registration Proclamation

Yesterday, registration opened at 9am. I was enrolled in all my first choice classes by 9:03 am:

Evidence
Reproductive Rights
Sales & Leases
Laws of War
Employment Law Seminar

I Already Know How to Read

So, I have this Professor, we'll call him Professor Lovejoy, who sent me a kind e-mail the other day inquiring whether I was still enrolled in his class. See, I haven't been to his class in awhile and he was concerned about my future exam performance. In short, he doesn't think I have a snowball's chance of passing. I disagree. In some classes, my attendance matters. In Professor Lovejoy's class - not so much.

Professor Lovejoy's preferred teaching method is via PowerPoint slides. From which he reads. And which he makes available on the class website. So, I ask, what's my motivation for attending class? Yesterday, there wasn't any. Today, it's the threat of a failing grade. I officially hate Professor Lovejoy and his stupid PowerPoint-led class.

It's All a Lie

Okay, I'm mad as hell. Law school is supposed to get easier after the first year! I've heard about the free time, the easy class schedules, the sleep. So...where is it? Are you hiding it from me?! Seriously, though, I have less free time now than I did as a 1L because, when I was a lowly 1L, I didn't have a job. Now that I do have a law job, I have other stuff to do. I've got project deadlines and meetings and articles and - not that I'm complaining - but, you know, it's a lot of ish. It's a heck of a lot more than I had planned for my third year. I was so looking forward to cruising.

Oh, I still read for class - most of the time. I'm reading something* for Poverty Law right now that is just not sitting right with me and it's just pissing me off because I'm supposed to be Ms. Poverty Law, but this article just makes me mad. Let's get this straight: Poor people are NOT A SUSPECT CLASS, so they get rational basis. Nothing more. No fundamental right to wealth or even a living wage. No 14th Amendment protections. Nada. What we oughta be talking about is public policy, not constitutional law. Why, oh, why is my professor making us read this stuff right now when we all know the answer. *sigh* Back to work a little less optimistic than I was two years ago about saving the world.

*39 Hastings L.J.

Class Acts

I'm sitting in Property with a bunch of 1L's. Just so we're clear, I heartily rail against the combining of 3Ls with 1Ls. I also now know why my school "discourages" upperclassmen from taking classes with 1L's. Some of them really suck. There are super gunners and scared, deer-in-the-headlights students all crammed into one room and I think God, was I ever like this? Were my 1L friends this annoying, this dumb, this green? I think so. I remember saying some very stupid things in Torts class that still make me hang my head in shame.

It has taken a two years of distance for me to realize just how much professors of introductory classes really do force feed students. The Socratic method - at least in my Property - class is nothing to fear. My professor is so sweet and so kind, that if you don't get the answer on the first or fifth try, she still gives you a verbal pat on the back buttressed by the correct answer. Naturally, my Property professor is an anomaly.

Most of my professors are contentious and argumentative and they bluntly and rudely ask students whether their brains are made of mush and - really - how the hell they even got into law school. It's brutal, it's hazing, it's temporary and it separates the wheat from the chaff; either you can give it as good as you get - by giving the right answers most of the time while managing your Fantasy Football team and IMing your buddy across the way - or you can go freeze up and piss yourself in front of your future colleagues.

We Interrupt This Blog to Bitch

My first day back to school was awful. The hallways and my classes are teeming with people I don't know, which is my fault for taking so damn long to complete this degree. And, because of some registration quirk, I never completed two typical first year courses - Property and Criminal Law - so I'm jammed into a section with 1Ls who stare at me blankly when I ask for a case cite because they don't know what a case cite is. Yeah, those numbers at the top of the case aren't randomly generated. They actually mean something!

If I sound cranky and bitter, it's because I am. Driving into the city twice a day because the courses available to upper class students are separated by long - two to three hour - breaks has me feeling frantic and disgruntled after only one day of classes. It's going to be a long semester.

Oh, and to the person who got here by searching "sleeping around and law school," my advice to you is don't do it. Your section mates will find out about it, and it will spread to the other section, and then next thing you know, it's four years later, you're in a pre-trial conference and opposing counsel just happens to be that boy/girl with whom you had a one-night stand during first-year orientation. Talk about awkward.

Back to Law School

There are quite a lot of you who visit my blog on a daily basis in the hopes of gleaning some special insight into law school. Don't try to deny it. Google magic tells me you're out there. I'm talking to you, "I haven't started a family and I'm too old for law school" and to you "I used to write well, then I went to law school." And, I can't forget "Montessori school satanism," but I suspect you were drawn to my blog for a different reason. Well, I have no pearls of wisdom save this: get used to tedium. Despite my warning, some of you still want some information. Okay, here goes, but it's just boring law school stuff. You've been warned!

I made a small change to my fall schedule. I dropped Sales (yes, I know its a bar subject) and I added a far more interesting class: Federal Indian Law. My decision was shockingly easy. Sales is painful, and, as a person who is both from New Mexico and who still travels there quite frequently, I might actually practice Indian Law someday. Plus, it's interesting to me. Besides, I still have time to cram my schedule full of bar subjects, but Federal Indian Law is one of those classes that comes around only once every few years or so - kind of like Poverty Law, which I'm also taking.

I checked my school bookstore for my books and (surprise!) they only sell new copies. I like shiny and new, but I also like to eat. Since, I'm already shelling out thousands of dollars in law school tuition, I am motivated to get the best deal possible on books. I know Amazon is great for used books, but our SBA runs a consignment bookstore that offers the same low prices with instant gratification. Bonus!

And, finally, the last rite of law school passage: locker assignments. Somehow I missed the memo about locker renewal and I am in danger of losing my prime locker spot. I e-mailed Student Affairs right away and I am waiting to hear back from them. It's not too big of a deal if my locker has been re-assigned, but the whole process of getting (and keeping) a locker is just a pain in the ass.

So, there you have it. My law school stuff. I warned you it was painfully boring stuff. I know you are thinking I'm being dull on purpose, but trust me, it only goes downhill from here.

Don't Give A Damn, Get a B-

Another grade solidly below the curve in Administrative Law, but it could have been much worse; I could have actually cared about my admin law class. I only attended a handful of classes and I completely spaced the review session (not recommended) so I missed out on professor written hypotheticals that were likely on the exam.

Admin law gets a bad rap but I really didn't find it all that painful. Then again, as I've already pointed out, I was rarely in class. I'll take my B- and count my blessings that (a) I didn't get a "C" and (b) I have an employer that doesn't care about my grades, but I'm still really interested to see the grade distributions for the class.

Thirty Days

Today is the thirtieth day of the registrar imposed thirty day time limit professors have for posting grades, yet I am still missing two one of my three grades. The b*tch of it all is that the two missing grades are from the same absent-minded professor who takes his sweet ass time grading because he's too busy researching and traveling. Add to the mix that he's straight from an Ivy, and seems to think the rules are more of a suggestion than an actual policy, and you've got yourself the classic delayed grader.

You would think Professors would have more sympathy for their students, especially since they know first-hand that even the laziest law student has a fair amount of her self-worth tied up in grades. We care because employers care. And law students applying for fall internships, or like me, participating in early fall career fairs, need ample time to experience the five stages of grief - that second stage is particularly long - for whatever marks bestowed upon them by the grading gods.

Scheduling Conflicts

I have rearranged my schedule no less than ten times since making my registration proclamation. Though it may seem like the actions of a madwoman, I assure you I am quite sane when making these changes. My first try at registration was excellent - I got into all the classes I desired. Then, the preschool acceptance arrived along with the realization that my classes extend beyond the end of Bubba's day. We have no nanny and no family living nearby to pick up the slack, or, in this case, the child, so back to the registration board.

Of the six day hours I have available, there are approximately two classes that fit into my schedule. Problem #1: the classes are on opposite days. Problem #2: it's only TWO freakin' classes! *sigh* That leaves me with only one option - night classes. I HATE going to night school. I am a morning person, so by three o'clock nearly all my energy for the day is spent and I just want to sit quietly with a glass of wine and a good book. I want to do that, but usually my afternoons are spent refereeing sibling fights and frantically weaving in and out of traffic in a quest to make it to piano/violin/soccer lessons on time.

Unfortunately, when it comes to my school schedule, I have little choice. Our school registrar has shown, time and again, her indifference to the scheduling needs of us lowly law students, so I am left to choose from the course offerings before me. Somehow, I have managed to fill my schedule with fifteen credits:

Evidence
Poverty Law
Sales and Leases
Workers Compensation
Internship

but come August, my blogging may take a significant turn for the worse.

Give Blood, Get a B-

I usually don't discuss or even think about grades all that much. I cram the information into my head, regurgitate it in a fairly concise and organized way, and toss the textbook into the trash bin on my way out of the exam room. Sometime between buying the following semester's texts and raising three children, I find time to check my grades.

This time was different, though, because I actually liked the class but I was completely wiped out by my paper. It got rough there for awhile. There was swearing and wine. Lots and lots of wine and swearing. Then, more wine. Grades for my seminar class were posted online on Friday and I managed to squeak out a B-.

Ugh. Not quite the mark for which I had hoped but all things considered better than where I could have landed. I know exactly where I went wrong and why I was unable to garner those other 20 points: attendance. Attendance was 30% of our grade and I blew it. I had pneumonia, kid stuff, apathy, more kid stuff. Of course, I'm assuming I got the full 70% for my paper.

While not terrible or particularly damaging to my gpa, the grade does reaffirm that I am totally incapable of adhering to stringent attendance policies.

Technical Difficulties

What a horrible day for a final exam! No, no...wait. That last bit implies that there might just be a "perfect" day for a final exam, which is very, very untrue. Instead, I shall say today was an even worse day than normal for a final exam.

I went to the small gym near my house (instead of the luxurious one a few more minutes east of my nabe) for my morning run. Oops. Only one decrepit treadmill with no cup holders for my iPod. I cut my run short by a full thirty minutes. It's hard to ignore the boredom of running when worrying about palm sweat and an impending iPod breakage.

Then, on my way to school, I rushed out of the house, leaving my soy Chai on the counter at home, which coupled with my failed workout means I was feeling both fat and downright grumpy. Entered the exam room. Stopped. Packed to the gills with people who I didn't even know were in my class. Mostly because I was also never in class. Finally found an empty seat after many failed attempts: This one's taken or This one has a broken ethernet/power source. Stupid Microsoft Vista patch blocked all of us from accessing the internet. Some of us moved to a different classroom in search of an internet high. We were rewarded with a much later start time than those people who were too settled to switch rooms.

First one done with the exam. Suspicious eyes followed me to the table where I left my exam, my extra sheets of paper, and a good part of my brain with the proctor. Immediately sold my Administrative Law book and took my pittance to the local Qdoba where the family and I dined al fresco on burritos au natural.

What The Fvck Did I Just Write?

Have you ever been so in the zone when writing that you completely lose sight of what you are writing and it's just clicks on a keyboard and random words on a screen? Then, you read what you wrote, which was so obviously brilliant otherwise you would not have been so into it, and you have no idea what the hell you just wrote because it makes no damn sense whatsoever?

By its own admission, the United States Supreme Court declined to apply the Sherbert test to the facts in Employment Division v. Smith. In doing so the court ignored its most recent precedent and instead hearkened back to 1878 to the applicable “belief/conduct” standard advanced in Reynolds. Why the court would ignore its own precedent and decline to apply strict scrutiny to a set of facts in which a fundamental right is obviously at issue at first appears to make little sense. However, in applying the “belief/conduct” distinction enumerated in Reynolds, the court clearly defined which type of religious conduct would receive First Amendment protection.

See what I mean?!

Registration Proclamation

Amazingly, I got into every single class I wanted. Here's the rundown for Fall 2007:

• American Legal History
• Employment Discrimination Law
• Evidence
• Poverty Law
  

The Paper Chase

All I have done for the past three days is work on my Sex paper. I've been pulling cases, then other cases cited in those cases, then furiously forcing it into my paper like a hyped-up gerbil.

Yesterday, I gave a PowerPoint presentation about - you guessed it - my paper. You know, the paper that is only sixteen pages long which means I still have fourteen more pages to write. I'm far enough along that a devastating statement like: Did you read all these cases about THIS issue before you started writing? would completely freak me out and cause me to lapse into a hysterical crying fit at the lectern. Luckily, no one said anything like that.

My Professor really likes my paper topic because - um - I sort of chose it because I knew she would really like it. I am a wee bit of a kiss-up but only in seminar classes. Put me in a class with more than twenty people and I clam up. I don't give a freak whether the Professor likes me, which is why I have no problem saying 'pass' even if I have done the reading.

Unlike seminar classes, classes with more than twenty students have anonymous grading so when my Professor reads my exam, he has no idea that I've missed a healthy amount of his class or that I'm the one who called him a wacko on the class message boards.

Although I really like this class and the paper, I just want it to be over. I need to reclaim my life. The only bonus is Westlaw and Lexis points, but even the lure of free stuff is not enough to surmount the boredom of writing a law school paper.

I Spell Relief With an 'A'

Remember my bit of anxiety a few weeks ago? It turned out to be a waste of energy. I got an 'A'. I guess that puts me squarely in the two-thirds range.

Writer's Block

My sex paper is coming along very slowly. As in, I've written a bit of the introduction and not much else. I've been researching and researching, then thinking about researching, then thinking there is surely something else I forgot to research. So, I go back to Westlaw to research some more.

Now I am at the point where I really need to piss or get of the pot. Literally, of course. I need to sit down and write the damn thing and stop using research as an excuse. But, what if I've missed something like -oh- a major case? Yes, I am slightly neurotic. How did you know? The negative side is that 70% of my grade depends on this paper. The silver lining is that I will be blissfully ignorant of that grade until well after summer break.