Save Money, drop out now

The Wall Street Journal law blog features an article about the truth of law employment.

It doesn't make money unless you're in the top 1% working for the big firms.

Ready to watch your dream go down in flames? Here, read for yourself.

It's that time of year again

This blog is getting pinged by all kinds of first-year law students googling the mysteries of Quasi in rem actions.

Here it is kiddies:
An in rem lawsuit is one that usually concerns real estate (though it could be personal property). Just plain old in rem means settling the relationship between a piece of property and everybody in the world who might have some sort of interest in that property: ownership, occupancy, etc.

Quasi in rem suits also concern property rights, but the suit has a smaller scope; it means settling the relationship between an individual and a piece of property. It doesn't necessarily affect the rights of others who have rights to the property. Quasi in rem suits sometimes occur when a plaintiff sues against the property owned by a defendant. This happens when the defendant himself is beyond the reach of the court, but the property owned by him is within reach of the court. The property then acts as a stand in for the defendant.

Quasi in rem has special significance to American law because of an effed-up property action, an effed-up quasi in rem action to be precise, brought by a charlatan lawyer, to benefit a real estate crony, at the expense of a poorly educated gold miner back in the mid 1800s. The decision from Pennoyer v. Neff changed the face of American law by taking a giant deviation from English law and introducing the concept of personal jurisdiction.

Consequently American law and 1L take off together. Good luck kiddies.

Oh sure, now they revise the grading curve

I still get academic emails from the law school. Today's missive was from one of the Deans, informing the students that they are changing the grading policies to better reflect an assessment on par with other schools in the area. Read: We aren't grading as harshly as we used to.

Grrr.

Law Students more psycho than Med Students

Ok, really that should say Study finds law students as emotionally wrecked as psych patients.

Not really a big surprise, I should think. What was a surprise was that the Wall Street Journal has a daily Law Blog. Who knew?

okay, here's the link, clik hier

Saying goodbye

I bawled all the way home from my exam Thursday night.

It was a perfect example of how somehow you manage to miss the forest for the trees. I was so focused on stressing about my exams, that I forgot to worry about something else. Well, not worry exactly, but I forgot that I'd have to say some good byes.

I didn't make all that many friends amongst my own classmates but there's a score of really special people a year behind me. I will miss them so much, joking before class, swapping notes, soaking in the bonding glue of shared daily experience. They won't be at commencement, it's a small venue and capacity is tightly monitored.

I made a special point of saying adios to the folks I wasn't sure I'd see again. Exams are over tomorrow. I had the last timed one this afternoon.

Tomorrow I'll change the cartridge for my printer, and then I'll print out the results of my take-home exam. I'll drive to school, making a point to allow for traffic delays so as not to arrive after the registrar's office has closed. Then I'll be done [koff*there's still a matter of a little academic paper*koff]. End of law school. Amen.

Then I have to vacuum the living room. La, la-la-la, Life goes on.

I hate to say it

but that didn't seem too terrible. It seems like maybe I actually learned stuff in class. Of course, I ran out of time, I always do. W o r l d ' s S l o w e s t w r i t e r.

yeah, it literally not just figurativelt takes me that long. Sheesh.

First Last Exam

Is Friday. 2 crappy units for the hardest course I took all semester. Also, the second most useful course I took all semester. Well, I'm hoping it'll be useful. As of yet I've no estate, nor the wherewithal to make substantial gifts. Someday, though. And when that day comes, I hope I remember the pertinent parts of Estate and Gift Taxation.

Omega begins

Tonight (that was earlier, before I went to bed, technically last night by the time you get around to reading this) was the first last class of law school.

Legal drafting was one of the more useful classes I've taken in terms of exam writing. I think it would be a good prequel to law school for At Risk students and those who have been out of academia for longer than 5 years.

So I'm lying here, watching the clouds roll by, watching the green numerals on my alarm clock flicker ever higher as night passes and I do not get sleepier.

yes, this is surreal.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of my last year of school. I had no more idea what to expect than I did on the first day of school two years ago. Today's high points:

- It was super exciting to see all my classmates. It was double super exciting that so many of them were happy to see me too. That rocked.

- My seat mate from Civil Procedure didn't flunk out after all; he just took a year off. I don't have a single class with him, but I'm glad to see him back at school.

- Two of my favoritest people plonked down next to me in Community Property. I was thinking of dropping that class in lieu of doing some directed research to pick up another credit, but I think I'm not going to do that now. I have until friday to decide.

Just like that - another year done

Time flies when you are busy. I thought I'd have more to say about the process. I never imagined just how much would involve barely keeping my head above water. Perhaps it's a good thing I didn't get into any of the laudatory extracurricular activities like law review or moot court. I'm not sure I'd have kept up.

Friends are graduating on Sunday. I'll miss them.

in Brief

Yet again I have passed all my classes with blazing mediocrity.

At least I haven't flunked out. I was worried about that. This is going to be one boring semester. Remedies, Corporations, Ethics. Bleah. I only have one class I'm really excited about, it treats the the topic of Antitrust as it pertains to intellectual property. The course is taught by a couple of well known adjuncts one of who reminds me a little bit of Steve Jobs.

I'll be working for the dead guys again, making a little on the side, while learning the practicalities of lawyering. Now that I've had both Con law and evidence, my boss will likely make me do appearances by myself. That knocking noise is the sound of my patellas banging into each other.

We'll see what else I can come up with for excitement this semester.

Looking for things to fix in
2006

Law Schools respond to Katrina

Charity doesn't always begin at home. When you go to a Catholic school that takes its mission seriously the pillars of Christianity are at work in the academic arena as well. It took a newspaper article to point out that my school has taken in more New Orleans students than all the other schools in the area COMBINED.

We didn't know that. What we know is that we are fundraising like crazy and the Dean will match what we raise.

We are collecting food and hygiene supplies.

No one here is crowing, "look at us, we're helping", students, staff and administrators all have heads down trying to figure out how best to marshall what resources we have and the most effective way to use them.

A week with the first amendment

I'm back from skipping a week of school to volunteer for an arts foundation which held its annual symposium last week. It was a fabulous exposition, I saw a lot of art (some craptastic, some fabulous), and when not slaving over a computer in a small, dusty trailer, I also vigilantly exercised my first amendment rights to free speech and assembly, some might include religion as well.

Ok, fine. I went to Burning Man.

I go, and always have gone, for the art and freedom of expression. As usual self-expression ranged from subtle to extravagently blatant. Some was simple and personal; a woman biking topless - revealing dimpled scars of breast cancer survival. Some was declaratory; silent, contemptuous commentary on the political status quo. Other expressions were labors whose meaning was left to be determined by the viewer. Some of it was simply active participation without fear of judgment.

On the long drive home, I spent several hours trying to unite the lawyer and the artist, playing with an idea I have about symbols of justice and how it could be rendered conceptually and interactively. Anybody have a flat bed truck they don't need any more? How about 500 gallons of propane? Plasma torch?

Sometimes it takes a monumental shift from the conventional way of doing things for me to appreciate aspects of the dominant paradigm. Maybe it's not unusual or odd to have a festival on public land where clothes are optional, where people can express weird thoughts, spout messages that criticize the government, mock major religions, practice major religions, or even freely practice fringe religions, all without any governmental harassment or imposition. No one monitored my passages, nor took note of who my companions were and what we were doing. Maybe festivals like this happen elsewhere and I am simply unaware of them, but my intuition tells me that people wouldn't come such far distances if there were other, similar events closer to their homes, and therefore this week in the Nevada desert is unique, special.


Next time, a diatribe on the erosion of first amendment rights, even at Burning Man.

Meet the Professors

Last year almost all of my professors were academics who have been teaching for ages. Not such a bad thing, it reminded me of college and eased me back into the academic lifestyle. On the otherhand, I never really got the feeling that any of my professors (outside of professor Contracts)were intimately involved with the practice of their subject.

This year's teaching crowd is wildly different.

Professor Patents has a day job, and it ain't teaching. He's been a patent litigator for almost 20 years and continues to practice AND teach at the same time. Most inspiring words during course overview?: Your exam will be take home, open note, open book. I give you a week, the exam itself will take 6 hours.

Professor Evidence is a Federal Magistrate for the Northern District of Kullyfonya. Sadly, we will be examined on California law for the 2007 bar, and in this class will learn primarily Federal law. One of my classmates has already made appearances before her, while clerking for the Federal DA's office.
Most inspiring words during course overview?: The focus of this class is on practical information. (Read: I don't believe in Socratic method.)

Professor Con Law comes with extremely complimentary remarks from the folks who had him last year. Con Law is tricky to teach, there are no hard and fast answers. He brings a lot of humor and enthusiasm into the classroom. He's also quite observant and noticed that I couldn't really hear me, and will be using the mic for future lectures. YAY! Looking forward to this!

I have one more class but today we got a note saying that our first meeting is cancelled. Guess I'll find out about her later.

Overall I'm very impressed with the professors that I will be learning from this year. My impression of the practice of law is that more and more it is a trade, not a profession. Consequently, it makes perfect sense for the professors to treat the subject matter with practical concerns while still encouraging us to think about matters of public policy and critical thinking.

Gasp, I'm a C student!

For the first time in my life I've made nothing but Cs so far.

This is devastating to me. I didn't expect this to be easy, I did expect to be a rockstar. In my mind this is the equivalent of utter failure. I'm ineligible for law review and have been DQ'd for everything else by which I might possbly distinguish myself solely on the basis of grades.

Apparently at my school, if the grades are not there, no other opportunities for making good will be presented.

Did I mention devastated?

Crim Pro is done

and I realized 7 hours later that nary a mention of amendment fourteen was made by me. DOH! Guess I won't be getting one of those coveted As.

1 exam down, 3 to go

Contracts, the hardest in many ways, is done.

Tomorrow is Criminal Procedure. This is the subject you non-lawyers actually know something about. These are your constitutional criminal rights, your right to an attorney, your right not to be unfairly interrogated, your right not to testify against yourself, double jeopardy. The movie, Double Jeopardy, is crap. Don't rely on that. You have fewer rights than you think. The presumption that you are innocent doesn't exist in a meaningful way. The law does NOT presume you are innocent the way that you might.

Never volunteer anything to the police. Don't carry contraband in your car.

Justice Scalia wrote the last opinion on Double J, think about what that probably means.

Juvie

I just got out of juvenile hall. Wow -- intense.

A classmate has been volunteering there every week or so. She'd been pestering me for a while to come with her, and this week, since I only have four exams to study for, I finally went. I can feel good about blowing my own life off provided I'm helping someone else, especially if someone else is actually needy.

Institutional America is really something. After entering the building, if I hadn't known better I'd have thought I was in an old folks home, because of the scent of urine and ammonia wafting through the air. That was confusing.

The visiting area is on the third floor. Girls who have been on good behavior are allowed to participate in social activities. Tonight there were 20 good girls. The organizers brought snacks and materials with which the kids could make mother's day cards. We volunteers sat with them and chatted while they used markers, crayons, stickers and stick on jewels to decorate blank cards. I was boggled by the artistic talent several girls exhibited. While creating their cards I heard heartbreaking tales of child abuse, laments of girls missing their babies, how one girl's mother is in the hospital with cancer, stories of mothers with criminal procedings of their own. More than a few cards contained apologies, "Mommy, I'm sorry I got locked up." One girl wants to write a book about her life. She's upset about being in J-hall because she is used to writing every day, while she's in there she can't.

Moot Court Update II

okay, this rocks.

I didn't just win my appeal, I won best oral argument for my topic.

Whee!

Moot Court Update

I'm a lot happier with my win as of today. I had assumed that I received a default win because case counsel had given my opponent an unwinnable arguement. That is, I assumed that Respondent on my topic would necessarily have to win. Not so, I talked to several people in my group of respondents who lost the argument. I have no idea how they managed that, but manage that they did.

Whee! I now feel a lot happier about winning, since I could have lost. I actually did something good!