limeblawg

BREAKING NEWS, only a month or so late.

So much has happened, and I've been meaning to update this thing. I've started a couple of rambling posts but never finished them because I got busy. So here's the deal:

1. LIME HAS TRANSFERRED FROM SOUTHWESTERN TO LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL! This is a long story by itself. The nutshell version: I'd considered it, then applied at the last minute, and I got in at the last minute. It was my first choice school, and my only transfer application. I'm very, very happy to be where I wanted to be all along.
2. Not only has Lime transferred, but Lime managed to get himself into Loyola's day program, which means despite being an evening student his first year, he still has a good chance of graduating in May 2007!
3. I'm stoked, grateful, blessed, a little overwhelmed. Couldn't do it without the support of my wife.
4. I've been busy as hell with Con Law, Evidence, Remedies, Civ Pro and Property; the law review write-on competition; and OCI.
5. I like all of my classes and all of my professors. The reading is heavier, and the upper division material is more intense. I'm in the library all the damn time. My schedule is SWEET. My earliest class is at 1:10 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays; and 3:30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have evening classes, but I'm out by 7:15 or 7:30. No class on Fridays, so three day weekends every weekend. But like I said, it's a crapload of work and I'm in the library all the damn time. I spend Fridays and one weekend day studying too.
6. The write-on competition didn't go so well. It was a struggle just to get it done. I was up until 5am every night/morning for a week straight, and I pulled an all-nighter the day before it was due. I'm actually proud of the mere fact that I turned it in. My paper was logical and decently creative, but I just took way too long deciding what to argue. As a result, the paper was technically a total wreck; I'm sure I made all kinds of citing errors, which was at least as important to the competition as what I actually wrote. Whatever -- I tried like hell, didn't make it, but hey, it's a miracle I'm at Loyola, so I ain't complaining.
7. OCI (On Campus Interviews) has been rough, but surprisingly has turned out OK. For those unfamiliar, before school starts, students submit bids for interviews with firms that come onto campus to recruit their summer associates for the following summer. Well, I was admitted to Loyola after that bidding deadline, so unfortunately I really had no chance of getting interviews through OCI. I tried a mass e-mailing with cover letters tailored to each firm that explained my situation, but everybody knows that that mass mailing shite doesn't work. I just didn't know what else to do, and felt the need to do something. Firms starting coming last week, and I watched them come and go. BUT, this past week, I got smarter, got proactive, got my hustle on. I hit up the attorneys who were actually conducting the interviews, and managed to get four of them to take pity on me. All the interviews went pretty well, and I've even gotten one callback already! That means I've been invited by one firm to come for a series of interviews at their office. I've set that up for next week. Hope I get more callbacks, and wish I had been this smart last week, but again, I'm a lucky bastard, and I'm not complaining.
8. Oh by the way, the summer externship went well.
9. I'm playing in a golf tournament this Sunday, put on to benefit the Cancer Legal Resource Center at Loyola Law School. Mostly Loyola alumni in the tourney, and they reserved some spots for students to play at no cost, so me and a friend and some of his friends are in as a team. Free golf, plus some networking, good.
10. Lime turns 31 in 10 days.

Well there it is. I'm happy. More later.

just felt my first earthquake.

I'm at an outdoor cafe right now, and a minute ago I felt someone shaking the back of my chair... I looked behind me and saw no one. It lasted about five seconds. The guy at the table across from me confirmed that I didn't imagine it. There have been several earthquakes in the six years I've lived here, but I've slept through most of them, and never felt the others.

other thoughts.

In the fall I wrote about a good guy who had to postpone law school. Well this fall he'll be back, with a commute that doesn't involve airports. He blogs here. Way to go, Evan.

Law school is tough. I know, this observation may be too profound for this blog... I'm thinking of those who had a first year that left them wondering if the end justifies the anguish and sacrifice, or if the end is something they ever really wanted. That reality -- knowing some people who face that reality -- has had a surprisingly intense effect on me. It's galvanizing, I guess. It also makes me want to reach out to those people. I think that's a pretty natural thing to want to do. But I also kind of think it would be arrogant and a little selfish to do it, especially unsolicited. Fortunately, the people I know who find themselves in that awful situation are good people. In the end, it always works out for the good guy. So their decisions will take them to exactly where they need to be.

grades, rant, books.

Grades turned out to be OK. No flashes of brilliance and no disasters. Basically I held serve, although I scuffed a little off the overall GPA. Hopefully I held serve with respect to class rank; I will find that out probably in another week.

I'm less than thrilled with my school right now. I've had to deal with the school administration on two matters, and both were handled poorly. This of course means I didn't get my way, and I'm still reeling and whiny about it. But I can assure you that my positions were on firm ground and my requests were extremely reasonable and fair. Perhaps these interactions were messages, telling me I should be somewhere else.

I've read two compelling books lately: Blue Like Jazz, and Into Thin Air. The first is about a Christian's search and discovery of an honest, meaningful relationship with God. The second is a writer's account of his perilous ascent of Mt. Everest, and the aftermath. I highly recommend both.

1L is over.

Overall it was a success, and I am relieved it's over. But finals this semester didn't go as well as they should have.  I worked hard last semester, did fairly well, and basically got arrogant this semester. I kept up with the reading and understood almost everything as it was covered, but paid little attention to the fact that the material was way more dense and voluminous this semester. I worked my ass off the last two weeks to memorize all of the rules and analyses. Like last semester, I had it all down walking into each final; however, I wasn't as sharp and confident when it came to write the essays. Some of my analysis was good; but most of it was between fair and not so good. At least two big screw-ups on different finals. Yes, I'm being a little hard on myself at the moment. I'm trying to let it go. I didn't bomb anything, and the curve may help me. I have a good externship this summer, and I'll be a 2L next fall. OK, I'll stop whining. For at least a few weeks -- that's how long it should take for grades to come back.

still not feeling the love.

Crim Pro final is tomorrow night. I'm trying to remain calm. I've studied, I know the rules and when they're triggered and how they're applied. I hope it translates on the exam. I still have a couple of things to solidify in Torts (next Monday). I'm not feeling confident at all about Contracts (next Thursday), but there's a little time.

This fall, I will be a traditional day student. I'm happy about it, and pretty intimidated by my fall semester's "strength of schedule" (not necessarily the number of courses). Evidence and Copyright are supposed to be brutal. From what I've heard, Con Law is no picnic either. Then there's Civ Pro and Property, which are the parts of the 1L curriculum that I have to make up with my evening section; I'm assuming they are at least as tough as the courses I have now.

The externship drama continues. I was given a conditional approval of my externships, I satisfied the condition, and now they've essentially reneged and are making me jump through another set of hoops. It's a hopelessly ridiculous situation.

cue the violins.

Finals. Stress. Reading period starts tomorrow. I feel like I know nothing. I feel like I have a week to learn everything. That can't be true, can it?

The registration materials for next year were finally made available yesterday. I plan to transfer from the evening program into the traditional day program in an attempt to finish in three years. I am looking at an extremely difficult second year with a terrible schedule that goes from 9am to 7:30pm every day but Friday.

Neither of my two externships are approved yet, and I'm supposed to start the first one in three weeks.

In short, my law school life is sucking right now.

moot court; crim pro; crap golf.

The two mandatory rounds of oral argument are over, and I think I faired well. The optional third round is this weekend, and it marks the beginning of the moot court competition. Octa and quarter rounds are the week after, and semis and finals are the weekend after that. The top 16 or so get interviews to be a part of the Moot Court Honors program. I'm getting into the idea of doing it, which is weird because I didn't think I'd be interested, and I definitely didn't think I'd be any good at it. We'll see if I am any good this weekend. Since Moot Court and Law Review are what competitive employers expect to see on resumes, it's a big deal. Evening students aren't eligible for Law Review until after their second year.

Had a Criminal Procedure midterm tonight. It didn't count for anything; it was just an opportunity to see how the professor tests, since he's visiting from Gonzaga and doesn't have any practice exams on file. (If anyone from Gonzaga LS is reading this... ) It was also a good excuse to review.

Played golf last week at Industry Hills. The new putter is working, but I've lost my swing. No idea of where the ball is going. Only five fairways hit, only four greens hit. Need more range time, and need to force myself to take more club for approach shots.

grinding.

It's been a grind lately. As always, I feel like I'm not working hard enough, and it's probably true. Lately, I've focused a lot of attention on securing an internship for the summer. I went on two interviews this past week, and both went extremely well.

I've put a pretty fair amount of effort into my appellate brief. It's still lousy and I will probably rewrite the whole damn thing this week. It's due on 3/7. The first of two mandatory rounds of oral arguments is this coming weekend. Stress. Can't wait till all of this Moot Court shite is over.

Skipped class the other night to attend a SoCalDawgs meeting. I'm serving on the executive committee this year. Should be fun.

General updates:

New irons and a new putter are in the bag. In my previous golf posts I have bitched about my irons. Playing blades is stupid when you suck. I'm now playing the TaylorMade RacLT irons with Rifle 5.0 shafts. Also playing the TaylorMade Rossi center-shafted putter (the black one). The result? Well, I think I might suck a little less now. Need more practice.

The music list needs updating -- I bought a bunch of new CDs the other week and haven't listened to them all yet.

yo.

Thought I would check in.

Class rank is still not out yet. Bummer. I am kind of over it though. I guess not actually, since I'm meeting with a couple of professors to politely but not so covertly grovel. I may have gotten f'd out of a couple of points that really cost me. But I get the feeling that professors are pretty reluctant to have those sorts of conversations. I have one of the professors this semester so I'll kick it off with "Can I get some test taking tips?" I think I may have an angle for talking to the other one, who I don't have this semester.

Legal Writing and Moot Court is taking up way too much of my time and thoughts. It's cool because I didn't think I would be interested in being a litigator, and now I'm motivated to do well to see if I can make the team. We'll see.

all grades are in.

Got the Torts grade last night, so all grades are in. It was my lowest grade -- above the curve, but nevertheless kind of rattled me.

I'm trying not to be too critical of my performance because I really felt I gave it my best effort. That effort was kind of a shot in the dark, not only because it was my first semester of law school but also because I've never truly committed myself to doing well in an academic environment. Studying hard definitely did not come naturally, so that was a major success in itself. I feel like I really learned the difference between studying hard and studying smart. I'm proud that I knew the material inside and out, but I knew all along that a command of the material wasn't enough: exam preparation and exam-taking skills are the critical factor in being successful in law school. Although I believe those who have some positive experience and momentum in exam preparation have a better chance at doing very well right off the bat, there are definitely things I could have done more effectively to put myself in better scoring position, so to speak.

It's very different, refreshing, and ultimately agonizing to expect so much of myself. I came to law school with so much purpose and motivation, and have big advantages of not having to work this year while taking on the lighter load of night school. I feel like this leaves little excuse for not finishing at or very near the top. When class rankings come out in a couple of weeks, I think I'll be near the top, but not "very near." The good news is I probably won't have a lot of ground to make up.

weekend update.

Crim grade was posted on Friday. Not thrilled, but not incredibly disappointed either. It was my first-ever law school final, and I was a little nervous. As I think I mentioned in my post immediately after the final, I felt the need to write and write and write... and I think as a result, I included some irrelevant analysis which probably had an adverse effect. Hopefully my exam will be available for pick-up today, and I can see what happened. I felt like I did really well on the multiple choice, but we'll see how that went too. It's now down to Torts. Because Prof. Torts is known as a hard grader, and because it was an all-essay final, I have no idea of what to expect. I did my best though, and he didn't throw any curve balls on the final, so I'm optimistic.

Awesome weekend in Park City, Utah. Same resort where there was an avalanche in the adjoining backcountry -- it happened the day before we arrived. That was a downer, but I must say the conditions were incredible. The avalanche must have scared lots of people off because it was practically deserted, especially given that it was a holiday weekend.

Time to get my ass back in gear. I am sore. Must get in the car and go to school now.