I just finished my first year of law school! Ask me anything!!!!

I wrapped up exam week today with my contracts final. Now I've got three weeks vacation till I start my internship. :-)

Humanitarian Law, the Conventions of War, the Hague Conventions and the treatment of POWs, et al?

:-)

Just kidding,contract law is far more boring

;-)

Congrats by the way

my neighbor mowed my yard today to return a favor. His blade must look like Howdy Doody's teeth because it left gaps in my yard all over the place. What recourse do I have? Class action? Personal injury? Grand Jury? Egg his house?

Do you plan on practicing?

n/t

My neighbor Matt also finished his first year of law school, says he wants to be a public defender

Where are you going to school?

Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.

My tips would be:

Forget everything you think you know about learning. Law school isn't so much about learning the law as it is learning how to think like a lawyer.

Many times, there isn't necessarily a right answer to a legal question, and your Profs will be less concerned with your answer than how you got to the answer that you gave. Concentrate on learning how to break legal rules down into their basic elements, be prepared to argue both sides of an issue, and don't get emotionally attached to a particular argument because it reflects your personal feelings.

My other tips would be, book brief your cases, it saves a lot of time, and think of everything in terms of IRAC (Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion).

Good luck!

Heh heh.

What type of internship?

I start in June.

:)

"I have no quarrel, therefore, with the doctrine that judges ought to be in sympathy with the spirit of their times."

And Antonin Scalia has said: "The Consititution must remain static"


discuss how these diverging views can be reconciled in a tri-partite governmental system in which the latter must interpret the rulings of the former that have altered the meaning of that same document.

please annotate where neccesary.

hey Zax, nice reasoning. I like the posts of yours I have seen this am. Very thoughtful.

part of the whole thing with asking for questions, is actually answering them. You better get used to not getting much sleep for a while, so how bout some answers? huh?

And not counsel.

lol

Congrats!

:)

The rule against perpetuities? :-)

I think they only keep it so that law professors will still have jobs.

I can parrot the definition back to you, but in all honesty, I have practiced for 6 years now and have run into that specific issue only a handful of times. When the issue does come up, it's pretty easy to refresh yourself on the rules. Just some playful teasing.

Congratulations to you on getting through the first year!

That is, within the lfe of someone then living plus 20 years, isn't that it? Boy its hard to remember that crap. And of course you must distinguish between leaping and springing remainders, with one considered vested and the other not vested, and then there are the exceptions to the exceptions. I beleive that a New Jersey legal malpractice case once held that its not malpractice to get the rule against perpetuities wrong because noone knows it anyway.

Get out while you can.

Advice for those about to enter law school:

Don't beleive the hype. Its not so hard, don't get caught up in the self promoting dramatics of most law students. Just about noone flunks out. Law students just like to hype up how hard it is so they seem ever so wonderful for having endured it, exactly the same dynamic as any other hazing ritual, such as marine boot camp.

It takes many more hours of real study than undergrad, but its still way less work than an actual full time job. Unless you count all the time you spend bitching and complaining with your study group or hanging around the library socializing, then you rack up a lot of hours. Night students with jobs and families avoid those time wasters and seem to do well enough.

All it really takes is being able to read and write, thats all you need to be able to do, read, understand, and analyze, and write with clarity.

English majors do well because they already know that its not about being "right," its about having a rational, defensible position and putting it forward and defending it clearly. If you are hung up on being "right," you will be emotionally devastated when you trot out your "right" answer and the professor destroys it.

Remember that just because they are judges does not make them "right," and remember when briefing cases to understand both sides of the argument, for and against, and not just the one the court agreed with, and you will be a star.

Using canned briefs is asking to get drilled by the professor. Look at it this way, if you were a professor wouldn't you think it was fun to get the fake book and prepare devastating refutations of the canned briefs, just so you can enjoy the stricken look on the student's face and have another opportunity to use that stupid line from The Paper Chase about calling your mother? (What were those books called, "Gilberts?")

If you have time, go find the case in the reporter and read the un-edited version, they usually make much more sense then the edited version in the casebook. Having more facts at hand will impress the prof, but he or she will still refute you, so don't ever feel invincible. I sometimes think casebook editors purposely cut out important information just to make it easier for the professor to cut you down, he or she knows more than you that way.

Its not that you are learning to "think like a lawyer," its learning to think at all, and do so logically and clearly. I say that to try to demystify it.