limeblawg

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.

happy new year.

It feels like forever since I last posted. And I can't believe I've had this blog going for a year now. I don't think 2004 could have been more stressful or more rewarding. It's really nothing short of a miracle that I got accepted to law school. And it's a blessing that I wound up at a school where I'm happy. In short, it was a year of cliches that were all real.

My first semester was a success. The biggest surprise was how fun I found it to be. I really enjoyed working harder than ever, and challenging myself like never before. Just about everything I learned was interesting. I met some really good people. I liked all of my professors. I felt like they, along with the school's facilities and staff, gave me everything I needed to do as well as I could.

Two of my four grades have already been posted. Professors have another couple of weeks before they must turn in final grades to the Registrars office. I was a bit disappointed with one grade and pretty happy with the other. But I am not complaining in the least. I did my very best and so far I'm happy with the results.

The three week break was good. There were anxious moments when I thought about grades, but on the whole I rarely thought about school. In the days leading up to yesterday (the first day of the semester), I was fully charged and ready to get back into it.

So now I'm back and school is already kicking my ass. This is going to be a very busy semester. Part two of both Contracts and Torts; Criminal Procedure; and part two of Legal Writing and Research which includes the Moot Court competition.

ahh finals.

Reading period began on December 3, and I just had my first final, Criminal Law, last night. I studied my ass off the entire reading period, 8 to 10 hour days. I think my first law school final went well. (Technically there was the Legal Research final several weeks ago but these are the ones that really, really count.) It was a three hour exam in two parts: 40 multiple choice questions (1hr 20min) and one essay (1hr 40min). Multiple choice questions in law school can get gnarly; you're presented with a fact pattern and must apply the correct version of the correct rule to find the relevant facts which point to the right answer. My professors structure the MC sections to allow two minutes per question. The essay was a long hypothetical and we were asked to discuss the various crimes the actor may have committed, along with the relevant defenses he may raise. It seemed a little too straightforward. I think my analysis of the obvious issues was good, and I think I picked up on some of the facts that triggered the nuances in the law we covered. But I think toward the end of it, I started reaching a little too much, and included irrelevant analysis as a result. I felt compelled to write more in order to demonstrate a full knowledge of the material. I included caveats like "the prosecution must prove X in order for this to apply." Since "X" would have stretched the facts presented, I probably screwed up. Hopefully it won't affect my grade much.

I experienced the competitive tension at school for the first time today. I'm surprised I hadn't experienced it sooner, since I spent the majority of the reading period studying at school, mostly with a core group, but sometimes with other classmates we've seen around and welcomed in. There wasn't a major incident per se; just a strange moment during an impromptu study group session, and some conversation with others that clued me in on how some people in our class are coping with their anxiety. It's far from the horror stories I have heard about law school, but it's still kind of weird to hear that there are some who have no qualms about voicing their hopes that others will do poorly on the exams so that they'll have better chances with the curve. These are people who I don't really associate with, but had always thought they were fairly laid back. I hate that I've let this get to me. Guess I just need to grow up and get over it. The thing is, I'm the kind of person who has no problems bouncing ideas off classmates, and I try to be as helpful as I can. Nothing wrong with focusing on #1, but no need to be a dick either. Yes, this is sounding really naive so I'll stop.

Contracts is up next, and because it's an intimidating subject, I think everyone is feeling the heat. I feel like I know everything I need to know but I'm still nervous.