...and I have a new problem to deal with: how to get to the airport for my flight home for Christmas! Actually I don't think that is a big concern for me right now. If all else fails I can walk down to Atlantic Avenue LIRR and catch the train to Jamaica and transfer to the AirTrain to JFK. I'm glad the strike hasn't shut down every mode of transportation here. I bet the taxi drivers and everyone with a car and some free time is having a great time. Yesterday, I tried booking a car service for tomorrow and they were mostly booked up already. The ones I could look at online had jacked their prices up to at least double the normal price. I may resort to just calling one of the random people on Craigslist who is offering a ride for a small fee. No reason the cab drivers should reap all the benefits. Mayor Bloomberg gave a very rousing press conference. He was very adamant about this strike being selfish and illegal. He is right. The sad thing about this is that despite this being a very Blue city in a very Blue state, there is not a lot of support behind the TWU. They say stuff like, "The last thing we want to do is hurt the riders." If it were really the last thing, then why did they do it. They also accuse the MTA of bargaining in bad faith, while at the same time claiming the MTA is lying about another set of books and hiding money. Um, hello? Claiming the other side is lying isn't exactly a good faith effort on your part, TWU.
I finished my last final today. It was a take home exam and not a very good thing for me. It was an enjoyable exam with very relevant questions in copyright law, but it was hard to focus, what with all this strike stuff going down. Thanks to the strike, I didn't have to make the trek to Manhattan today--I was able to turn in my exam over the Internet. What a great invention, this "Internet". I'm sure glad it doesn't go on strike.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Saturday, December 17, 2005
It's the most wonderful time of the year...
...and it only gets better when finals are over! I have two down and two to go, but only one that is troubling me: Federal Income Tax. [cue: scary chord] It's been a difficult subject for me to grasp and I feel utterly unprepared for it. To make matters worse, I having a terrible time trying to study for it and the final is first thing on Monday morning. I can come up with all sorts of excuses to avoid studying it, like right now for instance, I felt I really needed to update my blog--in the heat of finals. I set out to get a calculator today for my final since we're not allowed to use our cell phones, palm pilots, laptops, or anything that we already own that can do mathematical computations. That trip ended up being a tour of 5th Ave. in Brooklyn from Park Slope to Bay Ridge and back again. Then, I spent several hours watching the Christmas special of In the Attic starring Rachel Fuller, Mikey Cuthbert, Simon Townshend, and Pete Townshend (including special guest Jerry Hall). That was a blast. Great music, great show. My only complaint is that there wasn't really any Christmas music on their Christmas show.
So, back to talking about school. The first two finals went pretty well. I was somewhat prepared and almost understood what was going on when I read the questions. Tax, however, is a different story. I have no idea what section to apply to the problem. If I can figure that out, then I'll do okay, because I do have some skill at reading code and sort of understanding what is happening. Oh, so far, we have avoided a transit strike, but it looks like it may be happening after all. I'm just glad I'll be done with my finals when they do strike. That certainly alleviates some stress out of my life knowing that when I wake up Monday morning I will be able to go to school on the train and be there for my exam.
I leave to go home for Christmas on Wednesday. I can't wait. I haven't been home since last Christmas (which was a nightmare--not being home, but the trip). Last year, it took me 30 hours to get home because we got stuck in snowed in Cincinnati airport. I wised up this year and although there aren't supposed to be any blizzards; I've taken the precaution of getting a flight that goes without stopping anywhere that isn't less than 2 1/2 hours from home. Yay for getting older and wiser!
Alright, I've got to get back to studying, or I have to start studying....just as soon as I eat dinner, and play guitar, and juggle, and call my girlfriend, and oh who am I kidding?
So, back to talking about school. The first two finals went pretty well. I was somewhat prepared and almost understood what was going on when I read the questions. Tax, however, is a different story. I have no idea what section to apply to the problem. If I can figure that out, then I'll do okay, because I do have some skill at reading code and sort of understanding what is happening. Oh, so far, we have avoided a transit strike, but it looks like it may be happening after all. I'm just glad I'll be done with my finals when they do strike. That certainly alleviates some stress out of my life knowing that when I wake up Monday morning I will be able to go to school on the train and be there for my exam.
I leave to go home for Christmas on Wednesday. I can't wait. I haven't been home since last Christmas (which was a nightmare--not being home, but the trip). Last year, it took me 30 hours to get home because we got stuck in snowed in Cincinnati airport. I wised up this year and although there aren't supposed to be any blizzards; I've taken the precaution of getting a flight that goes without stopping anywhere that isn't less than 2 1/2 hours from home. Yay for getting older and wiser!
Alright, I've got to get back to studying, or I have to start studying....just as soon as I eat dinner, and play guitar, and juggle, and call my girlfriend, and oh who am I kidding?
Friday, November 18, 2005
Say all the right things at exactly the wrong moment...
...and your life will never be dull. At least mine never is. Obviously, my blog posts here are not so frequent--that should be a little bit telling about what law school is really like. I have had a somewhat eventful last few weeks. Our journal had the symposium which turned out really well. I've been working on my note, and I've just been getting stressed out in general. I think that I'm more stressed about upcoming finals this year than I was as a 1L and they're not really as important this year.
You live and learn, right. Well, I recently learned. I'm looking for a job for next summer and I applied to two jobs via email last week. The first one wrote back and said thanks for the lovely cover letter, but you didn't attach your resume. DOH! I can't believe that I did that. I quickly attached a resume and sent it back; of course, I haven't heard from them since.
The other one emailed and said to call for an interview. I called and got a very terse, "Call me back in 10 minutes." Ooh, must be a really busy firm. I called back and was told to call tomorrow at noon. Alright! I said I would and then they mumbled something else about sitting down and hung up. Great. Now, I have no idea what the plan is--am I to call them on the phone or call on them at the office (as in visit). I decided to shoot off an email and try and clarify. I said I wasn't sure and would like it if they could let me know if I was to call on the phone or call (visit) the office. They wrote back with a three word email: For an interview. Gee, thanks. That cleared up everything. NOT! Now, I'm feeling even more confused than before and concerned because I have yet to have an interview and I would like to get a job (even if it is, like this one, an unpaid internship). I wrote back one more time and said I that I still don't understand. Probably a dumb move on my part, because they never wrote back, but how was I supposed to know what they meant. I would have felt really dumb showing up at their office in a suit and tie and then getting told that I was supposed to just call on the phone. I talked to a friend with a lot more experience in life and decided to just let this one fade into the past and chalk it up as a learning experience. I'll get em next time, right....? anyone....?
You live and learn, right. Well, I recently learned. I'm looking for a job for next summer and I applied to two jobs via email last week. The first one wrote back and said thanks for the lovely cover letter, but you didn't attach your resume. DOH! I can't believe that I did that. I quickly attached a resume and sent it back; of course, I haven't heard from them since.
The other one emailed and said to call for an interview. I called and got a very terse, "Call me back in 10 minutes." Ooh, must be a really busy firm. I called back and was told to call tomorrow at noon. Alright! I said I would and then they mumbled something else about sitting down and hung up. Great. Now, I have no idea what the plan is--am I to call them on the phone or call on them at the office (as in visit). I decided to shoot off an email and try and clarify. I said I wasn't sure and would like it if they could let me know if I was to call on the phone or call (visit) the office. They wrote back with a three word email: For an interview. Gee, thanks. That cleared up everything. NOT! Now, I'm feeling even more confused than before and concerned because I have yet to have an interview and I would like to get a job (even if it is, like this one, an unpaid internship). I wrote back one more time and said I that I still don't understand. Probably a dumb move on my part, because they never wrote back, but how was I supposed to know what they meant. I would have felt really dumb showing up at their office in a suit and tie and then getting told that I was supposed to just call on the phone. I talked to a friend with a lot more experience in life and decided to just let this one fade into the past and chalk it up as a learning experience. I'll get em next time, right....? anyone....?
Friday, October 14, 2005
I hope someone built an Ark...
...because we've been getting rain in biblical proportions! I don't have exact figures for you, but we have had rain for 8 days in a row now, and somewhere around 10 inches of rain since Wednesday. The weatherman emphasized that it is "inches of rain" and not "inches of snow"--had it been snow, we'd be under something like 72 inches of snow (probably more than that now).
I spoke with a 1L today and it got me reminiscing about the good ol' days, or rather just about this time last year. They have their Elements of Law final on Monday. It's sort of a joke. He convinced there was some good that comes out of it--that they get to see what it is like to take an exam. Good point. Other than that though, it is a joke. Perhaps it is just the clouds of old age obscuring my memory, but I can't recall much of anything I learned in that class. I'm sure there must have been some skill or technique I picked up in it, but danged if I remember.
I do remember what it was like preparing to take the first exam. It was crazy. All those ultra competitive people freaking out about a measly two credit class, and the best part was that we had been told the professors likes to give B's and since she grades on a curve, the best way for her to do that was to give very few A's and very few C's; the result being that 80% of the class falls into the B grade range. I didn't freak out, in fact, I probably would have been better off to be a little more concerned. I was, quite possibly, the most calm person in my section that day. Guess what grade I got--a B. If that offends you, then you know not to take any of my advice. Advice which I share willingly and freely, and you have to remember that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
I passed on some other gems of advice to this 1L that I will now post here for posterity:
I spoke with a 1L today and it got me reminiscing about the good ol' days, or rather just about this time last year. They have their Elements of Law final on Monday. It's sort of a joke. He convinced there was some good that comes out of it--that they get to see what it is like to take an exam. Good point. Other than that though, it is a joke. Perhaps it is just the clouds of old age obscuring my memory, but I can't recall much of anything I learned in that class. I'm sure there must have been some skill or technique I picked up in it, but danged if I remember.
I do remember what it was like preparing to take the first exam. It was crazy. All those ultra competitive people freaking out about a measly two credit class, and the best part was that we had been told the professors likes to give B's and since she grades on a curve, the best way for her to do that was to give very few A's and very few C's; the result being that 80% of the class falls into the B grade range. I didn't freak out, in fact, I probably would have been better off to be a little more concerned. I was, quite possibly, the most calm person in my section that day. Guess what grade I got--a B. If that offends you, then you know not to take any of my advice. Advice which I share willingly and freely, and you have to remember that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
I passed on some other gems of advice to this 1L that I will now post here for posterity:
- Commercial outlines are okay. Don't be all macho and say I can do it myself. Sure you can do it yourself, but why waste all that time and energy when someone has already done it for you.
- Get into a study group. Some people may not think this applies to them. Well, good for them; if they can get a good grade alone, they should. I am of the opinion that there isn't anyone who couldn't benefit from a little group study. Get a small group of 3-6 people and go to it. Guaranteed that someone else will catch something that you didn't and maybe you'll even get into an argument about what the answer to a problem should be, but hey, at least you'll know the material.
- Use old exams. There is no better resource for studying for an exam than to practice with old exams from that professor. You don't have to replicate the whole test taking experience like you did on the LSAT, but go through it and see what you'll be encountering.
- Hit up the 2Ls and 3Ls and see if they have any outlines or tips about the class you're taking.
- It's great that you can use your computer on the exam, but find out what your professor likes. If they've been at the school for a really long time, are very set in their ways, have a collection of pens, and tell you how much they dislike typing as opposed to writing; you may want to consider hand writing your exam. Remember: every point counts (even brownie points)!
- Bring the appropriate food/drink to the exam. You'll be there for four hours. Chances are that it has been a long time since you've sat anywhere in one place for four hours and mentally worked yourself like you are about to. The appropriate snacks could give you that edge you need to be successful. Think about what you drink though. You don't want to have to make a potty break 20 minutes before time is up and you still have one question to go...
- Get to the room early to stake your claim. There's nothing worse that having to sit right next to the door where everyone is signing in and out to go to the bathroom. If you're easily distracted, this will drive you nuts. I prefer to sit near the wall up front (if the doors are in the back) so that my field of vision is limited to the wall and chalkboard. The less I have to see other people and their nervous habits the better.
- Feel free to take a nap during the exam. No one will mind if you don't answer a few questions, in fact, you might even win friends if you "take one for the team" and score lower than everyone else. In any given class, there may be only 2 failing grades and so you may even be able to get people to pay you off to tank it. Really, make sure you get a good nights sleep before the exam. Don't stay up cramming. You're the best judge of your own body chemistry, but it usually helps to be awake during the exam
Good luck, 1Ls on your first little, uh, (practice) exam. The real thing is gonna be a lot more intense.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
The sky is falling...
... or maybe it's just raining. Apparently, there is more rain on the way and that is bad news for people in NH and CT that have been flooded in the last few days. It seems like every time I turn to a news site or channel, there is some new disaster going on in some part of the world. Maybe the sky really is falling.
School is going good. 2L year is not completely different from 1L year, but at least I got to pick my classes (and boy, does that make a huge difference). I actually enjoy all of the classes I'm taking right now, although there are times when I wish that I wasn't taking the tax class. There are parts of it that just go right over my head. For the most part, I am able to follow what is going on and keep up with what she is saying. It doesn't help that we have so many days off this month. That is an important thing to consider for anyone thinking about going to school at Cardozo--the holidays! Last year, all of the Jewish holidays fell towards the end of the week and so we had several 4-day weekends. This year, they are in the middle of the week, so we never go to school for more than three days in a row. They also change the schedule around to make up for the missed classes. For example--in real life, tomorrow is a Wednesday, but at Cardozo, tomorrow is a Friday schedule. Then on Thursday, we have the day off for Yom Kippur. When we come back on Friday (in the real world), Cardozo is on a Thursday schedule. There is really no obvious logic behind what days are scheduled when and even the person who designed the schedule for the month has to refer to a calendar to keep is somewhat straight.
The IP classes I'm taking are great. When I was checking out law schools, Cardozo kept coming up as having the #6 ranked intellectual property program in the country. Well, if the quality of the teaching is any indication, then I can believe the program is ranked that high. The professors really know what they're talking about and are enthusiastic about the subject. In the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to attend some wonderful guest lectures/symposiums on IP. To be honest, these great programs help me feel confident about my choice to attend Cardozo. The professors are obviously connected to or are some of the leading players in the field and that inspires confidence in my chances of succeeding in IP. Now if only certain other areas of the school could do the same (ahem, OCS).
I'm supposed to be working on my journal note right now. We are supposed to have 10 pages done by Friday. Luckily I have most of tomorrow and Thursday to work on that. The journal is an interesting experience because it seems obvious to me that some people really don't care about it or what it publishes. The articles that we have been editing may be by leaders in the field, but of the stuff I have worked on, nothing has really shined as a piece of good writing. I'm not trying to say they're terrible. I'm not much of a writer myself, but I believe that most of my writing is coherent and easily understandable to a reader. The papers we've been editing are barely comprehensible in my mind and supposedly, I'm being trained to understand this stuff. No wonder there is such an emphasis on legal writing--they know that the state of writing in law needs to be improved and so they're trying to help us out. In my opinion, there are a lot of improvements they could make in the process at Cardozo if they wanted to be more effective in their legal writing curriculum. I will say that they're trying, but some of it is not working out. They tried to make it so that our writing requirements will be evaluated by a faculty member. We were supposed to get a faculty member to agree to advise us on our paper. This is a great idea because we have such a well written and highly published faculty. The only problem is that they want to be writing and getting published; not advising some measly 2L who has no clue about what is relevant in the legal world. I guess the problem was prevalent enough that they made it so that we don't have an individual faculty advisor anymore for each student, rather, several faculty were assigned to each journal to peruse the notes from that journal and make suggestions after the editorial staff has done so. That's great if you're on law review and have some of the best writers around editing your note, but what if you're on a journal where the editors don't really care about anything besides the extra line on their resume that says "editor." Oh, well.
School is going good. 2L year is not completely different from 1L year, but at least I got to pick my classes (and boy, does that make a huge difference). I actually enjoy all of the classes I'm taking right now, although there are times when I wish that I wasn't taking the tax class. There are parts of it that just go right over my head. For the most part, I am able to follow what is going on and keep up with what she is saying. It doesn't help that we have so many days off this month. That is an important thing to consider for anyone thinking about going to school at Cardozo--the holidays! Last year, all of the Jewish holidays fell towards the end of the week and so we had several 4-day weekends. This year, they are in the middle of the week, so we never go to school for more than three days in a row. They also change the schedule around to make up for the missed classes. For example--in real life, tomorrow is a Wednesday, but at Cardozo, tomorrow is a Friday schedule. Then on Thursday, we have the day off for Yom Kippur. When we come back on Friday (in the real world), Cardozo is on a Thursday schedule. There is really no obvious logic behind what days are scheduled when and even the person who designed the schedule for the month has to refer to a calendar to keep is somewhat straight.
The IP classes I'm taking are great. When I was checking out law schools, Cardozo kept coming up as having the #6 ranked intellectual property program in the country. Well, if the quality of the teaching is any indication, then I can believe the program is ranked that high. The professors really know what they're talking about and are enthusiastic about the subject. In the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to attend some wonderful guest lectures/symposiums on IP. To be honest, these great programs help me feel confident about my choice to attend Cardozo. The professors are obviously connected to or are some of the leading players in the field and that inspires confidence in my chances of succeeding in IP. Now if only certain other areas of the school could do the same (ahem, OCS).
I'm supposed to be working on my journal note right now. We are supposed to have 10 pages done by Friday. Luckily I have most of tomorrow and Thursday to work on that. The journal is an interesting experience because it seems obvious to me that some people really don't care about it or what it publishes. The articles that we have been editing may be by leaders in the field, but of the stuff I have worked on, nothing has really shined as a piece of good writing. I'm not trying to say they're terrible. I'm not much of a writer myself, but I believe that most of my writing is coherent and easily understandable to a reader. The papers we've been editing are barely comprehensible in my mind and supposedly, I'm being trained to understand this stuff. No wonder there is such an emphasis on legal writing--they know that the state of writing in law needs to be improved and so they're trying to help us out. In my opinion, there are a lot of improvements they could make in the process at Cardozo if they wanted to be more effective in their legal writing curriculum. I will say that they're trying, but some of it is not working out. They tried to make it so that our writing requirements will be evaluated by a faculty member. We were supposed to get a faculty member to agree to advise us on our paper. This is a great idea because we have such a well written and highly published faculty. The only problem is that they want to be writing and getting published; not advising some measly 2L who has no clue about what is relevant in the legal world. I guess the problem was prevalent enough that they made it so that we don't have an individual faculty advisor anymore for each student, rather, several faculty were assigned to each journal to peruse the notes from that journal and make suggestions after the editorial staff has done so. That's great if you're on law review and have some of the best writers around editing your note, but what if you're on a journal where the editors don't really care about anything besides the extra line on their resume that says "editor." Oh, well.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
A sunny September Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting inside...
... but not for long! I'm getting ready to go out and meet some friends and spend some time at a park enjoying a little sunshine and barbecue. The weather is simply beautiful today. Of course, it helps that I have this beautiful tree to look at outside my window rather than the Wash n'Go Laundry building on Hester St.
I have spent my morning trying to figure out what to do with my cell phone company. I got my monthly statement and it's $231! Apparently, I went over on my night and weekends. I haven't called to discuss it with them yet, but I have no intent of paying that much money and if I do, it will be the last payment they receive from me. After doing some quick research, I found that there is a way to get out of my 2 year contract without the early termination fee, even though I'm only 1 year through my contract. Verizon is adding a $.40 service charge starting on Oct. 1 and that is a change in the contract, so they offer to let you out of the contract if you don't agree with it. We'll see what happens there. The only problem is that if I change companies I won't be able to port my number because I still have my non-NYC area code and they won't let you keep it if you open an account with a different address. That's okay though. I'll be more like a local with a 917 area code.
School is going well. Thursday was my first journal deadline for my note. I did some frantic research Tuesday and Wednesday night and was able to come up with the requisite five pages. I am not sure how well this topic will pan out, but at least it is interesting to me and they say that is an important factor. Naturally, my topic has very little to do with actual law. It's more of a writing about another topic and then tying it into law. I won't bore you with the details, but for non law school people, it's a lot more fascinating topic than most people write about. I shared my topic with someone who graded on to law review and you could just see the wistful look of envy when he realized that I was writing on something cool and his topic was a snoozer.
They seem to do a pretty good job of keeping the 2Ls and 3Ls away from the 1Ls. That's probably not completely true, but I rarely see anyone that I know is a 1L. I'd like to get a hold of them and start sharing with them some of my knowledge about the process, but alas, they wouldn't listen anyway. (I'd most like to tell them not to stress about legal writing--especially the first semester stuff since it is only 10-15% of the grade.) They have to find out for themselves. Law school takes a certain kind of person; a person who is mentally deficient in some way. At the end of our first year, a few of my 1L friends sat around a table eating an after study session dinner. I asked them if they had it to do over again, knowing what they know now, whether they would still decide to go to law school. Two of them immediately said an emphatic, "No way!" A third sided with them a little less emphatically. The other two of us couldn't really say for sure. It's sort of an interesting question to think about because I'm not sure I can really answer it yet. I think that I probably would do it again, if only because I'm a bit daft now and then. Let's put it this way: it hasn't been a bad decision, but it hasn't been my best decision (at least not yet).
A nice note: Cardozo was kind enough to extend an invitation to displaced Tulane Law students to attend our school for the time being. I guess nearly two dozen have taken up the offer and a few are in some of my classes. I imagined when I saw that our school had done this, that the students would be paying a reduced tuition or something, but one of the students told me that Cardozo is paying their tuition and their books. They may be paying for more, I didn't hear. That was enough to impress me. Glad to know that there is some good going on in the higher levels of our fair school. (Also, I had some friends point out to me that Yeshiva University made US News' Top 50 schools this year. Way to go....uh.... Maccabees! There's got to be a better mascot....)
I have spent my morning trying to figure out what to do with my cell phone company. I got my monthly statement and it's $231! Apparently, I went over on my night and weekends. I haven't called to discuss it with them yet, but I have no intent of paying that much money and if I do, it will be the last payment they receive from me. After doing some quick research, I found that there is a way to get out of my 2 year contract without the early termination fee, even though I'm only 1 year through my contract. Verizon is adding a $.40 service charge starting on Oct. 1 and that is a change in the contract, so they offer to let you out of the contract if you don't agree with it. We'll see what happens there. The only problem is that if I change companies I won't be able to port my number because I still have my non-NYC area code and they won't let you keep it if you open an account with a different address. That's okay though. I'll be more like a local with a 917 area code.
School is going well. Thursday was my first journal deadline for my note. I did some frantic research Tuesday and Wednesday night and was able to come up with the requisite five pages. I am not sure how well this topic will pan out, but at least it is interesting to me and they say that is an important factor. Naturally, my topic has very little to do with actual law. It's more of a writing about another topic and then tying it into law. I won't bore you with the details, but for non law school people, it's a lot more fascinating topic than most people write about. I shared my topic with someone who graded on to law review and you could just see the wistful look of envy when he realized that I was writing on something cool and his topic was a snoozer.
They seem to do a pretty good job of keeping the 2Ls and 3Ls away from the 1Ls. That's probably not completely true, but I rarely see anyone that I know is a 1L. I'd like to get a hold of them and start sharing with them some of my knowledge about the process, but alas, they wouldn't listen anyway. (I'd most like to tell them not to stress about legal writing--especially the first semester stuff since it is only 10-15% of the grade.) They have to find out for themselves. Law school takes a certain kind of person; a person who is mentally deficient in some way. At the end of our first year, a few of my 1L friends sat around a table eating an after study session dinner. I asked them if they had it to do over again, knowing what they know now, whether they would still decide to go to law school. Two of them immediately said an emphatic, "No way!" A third sided with them a little less emphatically. The other two of us couldn't really say for sure. It's sort of an interesting question to think about because I'm not sure I can really answer it yet. I think that I probably would do it again, if only because I'm a bit daft now and then. Let's put it this way: it hasn't been a bad decision, but it hasn't been my best decision (at least not yet).
A nice note: Cardozo was kind enough to extend an invitation to displaced Tulane Law students to attend our school for the time being. I guess nearly two dozen have taken up the offer and a few are in some of my classes. I imagined when I saw that our school had done this, that the students would be paying a reduced tuition or something, but one of the students told me that Cardozo is paying their tuition and their books. They may be paying for more, I didn't hear. That was enough to impress me. Glad to know that there is some good going on in the higher levels of our fair school. (Also, I had some friends point out to me that Yeshiva University made US News' Top 50 schools this year. Way to go....uh.... Maccabees! There's got to be a better mascot....)
Thursday, September 08, 2005
And we're back...
Alright, so I took a brief break from this new endeavor. Alright, so it was a six month break. That's okay. The good thing is that I'm back. A lot has changed in the last few months, but perhaps most importantly is that I'm no longer a measly 1L at Cardozo. Now, I'm a measly 2L at Cardozo! Is there a big difference? Ummm, not really. One thing I have noticed is that the professors I have this year tend to call people by their first names rather than the formal Mr. or Ms. Last name that was used by all the 1L professors. It has been nice to come back and have an idea of what is going on and how to get on with all the business that law school has to offer.
Some of the new things to deal with this fall is the fact that we all know where we stand now. Yes, grades came out and labeled us for life as someone who should be interviewed or someone that should be looking for work in a different profession. It's not that bad, but you do kinda get the feeling that the people with all the interviews are looking down on those of us who did not. At least I got on a journal. There are, unfortunately for those people, students who wanted to be on a journal and didn't get on. What's even worse is that I've heard of someone who got kicked out of school for grades, but still managed to get offers from two journals. What a process! Journals are an interesting creature. I haven't done it yet, but it sounds like a lot of work for one credit and a line on your resume. We have to put in three office hours a week and write a note outside of office hours and homework in order to get one credit for the whole year. I'm not bitter.
One of the sad things about some of the journals is that they deal with a specific topic and then selected people to be on the journal that don't even want to work in that area of the law. This seems to be an overwhelming problem and a major fault with the current writing competition/journal selection process. They should have some way to indicate what you actually may be interested in working on during the year. I know that some people have no clue and so they want to be on this clinic and that journal to get an idea of two different areas, but it may be a lot more beneficial to the journals and the people involved to let people who want to pursue a certain area be involved with that journal. I'm just saying....
On a completely different note, I moved out of Manhattan. I gathered up all my courage and ventured out of my mouse house in Little China/Italytown and relocated to "the Slope" in Brooklyn. So far, my quality of life has gone up more than you can imagine and that is even taking into account the 25 minute commute. I think I kinda like it here.
Some of the new things to deal with this fall is the fact that we all know where we stand now. Yes, grades came out and labeled us for life as someone who should be interviewed or someone that should be looking for work in a different profession. It's not that bad, but you do kinda get the feeling that the people with all the interviews are looking down on those of us who did not. At least I got on a journal. There are, unfortunately for those people, students who wanted to be on a journal and didn't get on. What's even worse is that I've heard of someone who got kicked out of school for grades, but still managed to get offers from two journals. What a process! Journals are an interesting creature. I haven't done it yet, but it sounds like a lot of work for one credit and a line on your resume. We have to put in three office hours a week and write a note outside of office hours and homework in order to get one credit for the whole year. I'm not bitter.
One of the sad things about some of the journals is that they deal with a specific topic and then selected people to be on the journal that don't even want to work in that area of the law. This seems to be an overwhelming problem and a major fault with the current writing competition/journal selection process. They should have some way to indicate what you actually may be interested in working on during the year. I know that some people have no clue and so they want to be on this clinic and that journal to get an idea of two different areas, but it may be a lot more beneficial to the journals and the people involved to let people who want to pursue a certain area be involved with that journal. I'm just saying....
On a completely different note, I moved out of Manhattan. I gathered up all my courage and ventured out of my mouse house in Little China/Italytown and relocated to "the Slope" in Brooklyn. So far, my quality of life has gone up more than you can imagine and that is even taking into account the 25 minute commute. I think I kinda like it here.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Plop. Plop. Fizz. Fizz. Oh, what a relief it is!
What a relief it is to be done with the first draft of that massive appellate brief! We finished it on Friday afternoon at about 4:45 PM (a good 7 hours before it was due). I cannot begin to describe how good it felt to have that weight off my shoulders. I seriously felt I like floated out of the school and all the way home. The last two days were a lot of work- especially when we started trying to put the two sections of the paper together and make it one coherent work. I did some rough calculations and figured out that I probably spent almost 40 hours working on that paper- that's 40 hours outside of normal class and normal homework assignments. Of course, it was half the grade for the course, so it will probably be worth it. After that, the weekend was almost completely unrelated to law, as I needed a break.
It's snowing tonight. We're having a good ol' fashioned Nor'easter. It's supposed to accumulate somewhere between 6 and 10 inches, but it's really wet snow and doesn't look like very much right now.
Unrelated to law school, but to life in NYC- the other day I took my laundry to the Wash n' Go where I drop it off and have someone else do it. When I came back 8 hours later it wasn't done. That was frustrating. I took my clothes back today and they actually got washed, dryed, and folded this time.
I also had groceries delivered tonight. They were supposed to come between 3pm and 6pm, and, of course, they didn't show up until about 7:45PM. However, I can't really complain because, hey, I had groceries delivered to me!
It's snowing tonight. We're having a good ol' fashioned Nor'easter. It's supposed to accumulate somewhere between 6 and 10 inches, but it's really wet snow and doesn't look like very much right now.
Unrelated to law school, but to life in NYC- the other day I took my laundry to the Wash n' Go where I drop it off and have someone else do it. When I came back 8 hours later it wasn't done. That was frustrating. I took my clothes back today and they actually got washed, dryed, and folded this time.
I also had groceries delivered tonight. They were supposed to come between 3pm and 6pm, and, of course, they didn't show up until about 7:45PM. However, I can't really complain because, hey, I had groceries delivered to me!
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Moot Court Appellate Brief
If you notice the time of these first posts, you'll see that I don't usually make it to bed very early. That is indeed the case. It seems like all year long bed time has been about 2am, that could be because it's midnight in Mountain time and that's what I'm used too or it could just be that I'm in NYC and you everything goes later. I think it's pretty cool how that works out. Everything is later here. The news comes on at 11pm instead of 10pm like at home. As far as I can tell, it's totally appropriate to call people all the way up until at least 11pm and maybe even midnight. It makes for fun nights when you go to something that is over by 9:30 or 10 and then still go out because, in all seriousness, the night is still young.
I've spent the last few nights attempting to work on my appellate brief rough draft for moot court that all 1L Legal writing students have to do. You have to work with a partner to produce an amazing paper. They give you a packet of information and pretty much say, go and do it. We got a little instruction, but most of it is figuring out what you think you should do. It's not very much like what a real life appellate scenario would be like because in real life the prosecution would get the defense brief before they submit theirs. Here, we have to turn them in at the same time, so we (as prosecution) don't know specifically what the defense will argue. I guess it's all part of the process of being able to magically accomplish super human tasks, but I'm just not there yet. This paper takes a lot of time and focus away from other classes. All of our professors can't wait for us to turn it in so that we start reading for class again. They feel like we are all zombies and no one is participating because we are wore out and our thoughts are elsewhere. That's so true. We've had one professor actually start taking roll because people haven't been showing up- of course that could have more to do with the professor than the brief, but who's to say?
My attention span seems to get shorter and shorter. I am able to work for about 5 minutes at a time and then I spend about 30 minutes doing something else like playing guitar or surfing the net or anything else I can possibly think of to keep from working on the paper. It's so tedious. I guess I don't do tedious very well. It's funny though, because I caught an error in our info packet and it could possibly change the case (more likely not because it's just a typo). That's always a good thing to be able to remind yourself that you have some skills applicable to the trade.
The most important thing about law school is to figure out how to balance everything: your priorities, your work, your social life, your health, etc. If you can figure that out, you'll be a huge success. Don't let it be a deterrent to you, but also don't sit there reading this saying, "Oh, I can handle it." You'd be surprised. Maybe you can handle it, but it definitely won't be as easy as you expect. Sure, there will be moments where it seems easy, but there will also be moments where the pressure is exerting all it can on your poor, overworked little brain. Just hang in there and keep going. Think of it as a rite of passage.
I've spent the last few nights attempting to work on my appellate brief rough draft for moot court that all 1L Legal writing students have to do. You have to work with a partner to produce an amazing paper. They give you a packet of information and pretty much say, go and do it. We got a little instruction, but most of it is figuring out what you think you should do. It's not very much like what a real life appellate scenario would be like because in real life the prosecution would get the defense brief before they submit theirs. Here, we have to turn them in at the same time, so we (as prosecution) don't know specifically what the defense will argue. I guess it's all part of the process of being able to magically accomplish super human tasks, but I'm just not there yet. This paper takes a lot of time and focus away from other classes. All of our professors can't wait for us to turn it in so that we start reading for class again. They feel like we are all zombies and no one is participating because we are wore out and our thoughts are elsewhere. That's so true. We've had one professor actually start taking roll because people haven't been showing up- of course that could have more to do with the professor than the brief, but who's to say?
My attention span seems to get shorter and shorter. I am able to work for about 5 minutes at a time and then I spend about 30 minutes doing something else like playing guitar or surfing the net or anything else I can possibly think of to keep from working on the paper. It's so tedious. I guess I don't do tedious very well. It's funny though, because I caught an error in our info packet and it could possibly change the case (more likely not because it's just a typo). That's always a good thing to be able to remind yourself that you have some skills applicable to the trade.
The most important thing about law school is to figure out how to balance everything: your priorities, your work, your social life, your health, etc. If you can figure that out, you'll be a huge success. Don't let it be a deterrent to you, but also don't sit there reading this saying, "Oh, I can handle it." You'd be surprised. Maybe you can handle it, but it definitely won't be as easy as you expect. Sure, there will be moments where it seems easy, but there will also be moments where the pressure is exerting all it can on your poor, overworked little brain. Just hang in there and keep going. Think of it as a rite of passage.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Ta-da.
Here I am. Finally making my entrance into the blog scene. Yes, I'm a bit late I know, but better late than never.
I intend for this to be a place to do a little blogging about law school. Yes, this another law school blog, but not just any law school.... this is going to start out about being a 1L at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Cardozo is the law school portion of Yeshiva University in New York City.
Obviously (as you learn in law school you should never use that word), this is my first year of law school. It is also the first time that I have lived in New York City. I'm from the West and this is a whole different world for me. Everything seems like something right out of the movies, or at least off of a tv show.
Well, that's good enough to get us started. I've been in school for almost six months now and have got a little bit of perspective on this whole thing. If anyone reading this has any questions about what it's like going to Cardozo, feel free to ask.
I intend for this to be a place to do a little blogging about law school. Yes, this another law school blog, but not just any law school.... this is going to start out about being a 1L at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Cardozo is the law school portion of Yeshiva University in New York City.
Obviously (as you learn in law school you should never use that word), this is my first year of law school. It is also the first time that I have lived in New York City. I'm from the West and this is a whole different world for me. Everything seems like something right out of the movies, or at least off of a tv show.
Well, that's good enough to get us started. I've been in school for almost six months now and have got a little bit of perspective on this whole thing. If anyone reading this has any questions about what it's like going to Cardozo, feel free to ask.
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