Today in Wills & Trusts, we are discussing the class schedule for the rest of the semester when Professor W stops and looks at Jack:
Professor W: “Don’t bite your fingers. I can’t watch that! You can go outside and munch all you want!”
The class engages in a collective gasp. Jack throws his hand down and flushes. Giggling ensues.
In professional responsibility, Professor R and Jack discussed what constitutes legal advice, who can give it, and when it leads to liability:
Jack: “What about jailhouse lawyers?”
Professor R: “Hm…Well they are already in jail, so what the hell?”
In Wills & Trusts we reviewed some of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct:
Professor W: “Well, these are just about as useful to a lawyer practicing in the field as a valentine would be to a surgeon who is operating in the operation room…”
Our first real case for Professional Responsibility is Converse v. Nebraska State Bar Comm’n (In re Converse), 258 Neb. 159 (Neb. 1999).
The case is about a law student who was not admitted to the bar because of his various…uh, indiscretions:
One of the final issues addressed by the Commission in its hearing was that of a T-shirt [the student] produced and marketed on which a nude caricature of [the law school dean] is shown sitting astride what appears to be a large hot dog.
That’s not even the worst of it.
The bulk of the fact section is after the jump:
I think this is what they call closure.
So much happened spring semester. I started the semester in this weird place between college and “adulthood” – buses, cafes, living in a frat house in the UMN student village –shuffling to school through snow and ice…
And then things changed, very quickly.
I moved into my first apartment, got my first car loan, a dog, my first legal-field job…and, and, and…
Where I am right now is closer to how imagined law school during my senior year of college actually.
My career counselor at the law school asked me if I thought the blog will ruin my chances of getting hired at a prestigious law firm. I’m really not worried about it. If ATL can recognize that most of my posts are mundane, then so will most employers.
They’ll probably appreciate the full disclosure and trust I won’t share the dog stories with the clients, or the client’s stories with my readers.
This summer I’m working, petitioning, taking classes, and training the MTC marathon. We’ll see how this goes…
And as promised, an outline of my 1L spring semester is after the jump.
I’ll parrot what I wrote for the fall outline:
This will hopefully provide an overview of the year and make my archives more accessible. The bullet points are linked to posts. This outline is not exhaustive, but hits the highlights of the year.
A lot of you 0Ls have graduated and want to get a head start on law school.1
Not buying the “relax read a novel” advice? Fine.
Here are the top 5 things you can do this summer to prepare for law school:
1. Figure out your purpose
The answer to these questions is extremely important. Law students who have a clearly defined purpose for being in law school are infinitely less anxiety-prone than those who are simply wandering through the halls ala legally blonde.
The guy who doesn’t know why he’s in law school is the same guy who overcompensates in class and alienates his peers – or worse, cries and drinks in his study carrel at night. And yes, there are people who do that…
Law school grades are curved, but the measure of success in law school is how well are you progressing towards your goals – not your neighbor’s goals. And if you’re going to law school simply for money or prestige then you should probably take the GMAT because we really don’t want to read about you on ATL.
Having trouble articulating your purpose? A helpful exercise is to visualize where want to be in 10 years. Where are you working? How do you look? Who is around you? Do you want to work with a lot paper or a lot of people? Court room drama or board room drama? How much free time do you need to be happy?
Then make three lists:
Keep these lists somewhere conspicuous and look them over every day.
2. Upgrade yourself.
I recommend two books.
” by Ann Demarais and Valerie WhiteFind one or two people in your life that you look up to and ask them what personality traits you can improve. Yes, this will be completely awkward, but find someone you trust to give you constructive feedback (professor, boss). The benefit to this is worth more than the 10 minutes of awkward.
Also spend some time thinking how other people view you, and your personality.3
Three quick tips:
3. Find your joy, and figure out your non-negotiables.
If you aren’t a joyous, centered person before you get to law school then you’re in for three miserable years, if you last that long…
Look back to the lists from tip #1, and also think about the behaviors that do/don’t work for you right now. Do you get enough sleep? Do you exercise enough? Is religion important to you? How about family? Shopping?
Make a list of non-negotiables. These are the really important things that you will schedule law school around. Do you need 8 hours of sleep? Do you need 45 minutes of stairclimber time to fend off that second chin?
Try to put this list into practice this summer. Hint: if you can’t keep up your non-negotiables schedule during the summer, then it’s not going to work for the school year – revise as needed. The purpose of this is keep you centered, not drive you crazy…
4. Start your file.
Sign up for a Google Plus account to save all of the useful tips you come across online. G+ is a great way to save links for later…like in the fall, when you actually need them…
5. Make some money
Are you just sitting around this summer? Think about getting a job. Law school is expensive and loans do not cover everything.
Hint: if you’re moving for law school then a summer job at Target or Ikea is a good way to get discounts for stuff that you have to buy in a few months anyway…
1 I’ve somehow become a 0L favorite…
2 Law school is a wonderful experience, but not the time to “figure yourself out.” What’s what undergrad was for.
3 And I’m not talking about what they think about your shoes, bag, or car. This isn’t high school…
4 In fact, you will be shocked by how plain law students are. The hotties are getting MBAs. The law school frump is more likely to be prejudiced against attractive people…
Jill’s top 10 moments:
10. Jill vs. Professor P.
Prof P: “Let’s see this is a very hard case… Jill let’s start with you!”
Jill (loudly): “ARGH!”
Prof P: “What was that?”
Jill : “Oh nothing!”
Prof P: “I thought I heard ‘no’, because if that’s so then I could just move on…”
Jill: “Wait, is that an option!?”
Prof P: “I wouldn’t recommend it.”
SSG Instructor: “You guys haven’t had multifactor balancing tests yet right?”
Jill: “Yeah, in legal writing last semester, but that was a disaster too…”
Professor R: “Is this an incentive for the suspect to run? Often the suspect is younger, doesn’t have heavy equipment, and hasn’t been to the doughnut shop as much…”
Jill: “There’s a middle ground! You don’t haveta shoot him! You can taser him, or beat him with a baton!”
7. Should Jill bring a catheter?
Jill: Are there any bathroom breaks during our six hour deliberations? I want to know whether I should pack a catheter …
Professor T: “So you’re eating at Café X and you crunch into a crouton, which you find out is a roach. What do you do?”
Jill: “Sign up for Fear Factor!”
Professor T: “What’s that? I’m so disadvantaged for not watching TV…”
Jill: “Oh, it’s a show where they pay people to eat bugs.”
Professor T: “And can you get paid by Café X?”
Jill: “Sure.”
Professor T: “And why are they going to pay you?”
Jill: “Because they are scared of getting sued.”
Professor T: “And what if you just saw the roach in your salad and didn’t bite into it?”
Jill: “Well, then I bite into it and then sue.”
Professor R: “I want to schedule a makeup class for April 28 at noon. Does anyone have any conflicts with this?”
Jack: “I do! I do! There is some lunch thing with potential employers on that day.”
Jill (loudly): “Don’t worry. You’re not going to get hired anyway!”
4. Sugamomma.
Professor T: “Jill, does your husband have any interest in you?”
Jill: “Besides my sugamomma status?”
Professor T: “Yes a consortium…damages.”
Jill: “But I’m irreplaceable!”
Professor T: “We all are. Well, most of us. Not all of our dogs love us…”
3. Ms. D dropped out… (a long time ago)
Professor L: “Ms. Dennel? Demmel?”
Jill: “Her name was De-mal. Sarah Demal.”
Professor L: “Yes, so Ms. Dememel? Dennel? Oh forget it! I’ll just call you Ms. D!”
(Class laughs)
Professor L: “So Ms. D…”
Jill: “Actually, I’m Jill. Jill Smith.”
Professor L: “Huh? Where’s Ms. Demmel? Is Ms. Demmel, Dannel, Dennel not here today?”
Jill: “Sarah Demal sat in front of me. She actually dropped out the first week of class…”
Professor L: “OH! That explains things! I just had a note here that she wasn’t here the last time I called on her… hm.”
Jill: “…So do you want me to answer?”
Professor L: “No. I didn’t even want to call on you! Forget it!”
(Class laughs)
Professor L: “This is literally sound and fury signifying nothing…THERE! I got a Shakespeare quote in! ”
(later)
Professor L: “Okay, let me turn to…Ms. Chang…oh, she’s not here. She didn’t drop out too right?”
Jack: “Are you looking at my rolly backpack?”
Jill: “Yes. And judging accordingly.”
Jack: “What? I got it for my birthday and I’m so excited about it.”
Jill: “That’s nice.”
Jack: “…I just got sick of carrying so much shit around. I had so many bags and I looked like a homeless person.”
Jill: “You can buy cute bags though. Note my big purse and briefcase. Or, you can try using your locker for books you don’t need.”
Jack: “And I just want my rolly backpack to be socially acceptable!”
Jill: “It never will be.”
Jill’s computer starts speaking during Professor L’s class: “CONGRATULATIONS! YOU’VE WON!” The entire class laughs.
Professor L: “I won’t even try to exercise discipline, because the embarrassment is enough. HOW EMBARRASSING!”
Jill: “Sorry…I had to buy these tickets…and…”
Professor L: “And apparently you’ve won something! I’m sure you’re not the only one who has done such a thing in class, you’re just the only one who has done it with the volume on!”
During accepted students weekend, the 0Ls are divided into four different rooms. The 0Ls sit while different sets of people come and talk at them for 10 minute increments.
Because I love my law school, I volunteered to be the token “glowing 1L.”
This morning me and a 2L spoke to the four rooms of 0Ls about how amazing Minneapolis is.
The gist: “It’s not that cold, actually it is quite awesome, we have lives, seriously! Questions?” Repeat.
Meeting 0Ls is fun. The awkwardness is always amazing. And there’s usually an odd-ball question that makes participating completely worth it.
Little did I know that the wild-card question would be about me:
After we introduced ourselves in the third room one of the 0Ls raised his hand:
0L: “You have a blog, don’t you?”
Me: “Why yes. That would be me.”
0L: “I know. I did my research.”
Well, then.
I sometimes forget that people other than my friends (and other blawgers!) read this blog…
…so to all you lurking UMN 0L’s: hello!
Today, before the start of Crimlaw:
Jack: “Are you looking at my rolly backpack?”
Jill: “Yes. And judging accordingly.”
Jack: “What? I got it for my birthday and I’m so excited about it.”
Jill: “That’s nice.”
Jack: “…I just got sick of carrying so much shit around. I had so many bags and I looked like a homeless person.”
Jill: “You can buy cute bags though. Note my big purse and briefcase. Or, you can try using your locker for books you don’t need.”
Jack: “And I just want my rolly backpack to be socially acceptable!”
Jill: “It never will be.”
Today was the perfect day.
I got up at 5am, folded laundry, and then went to the gym.
Around 7:30 I was at school and read until Civil Procedure. After Civpro I went home, made lunch, and read some mo’.
After property1 I went drove to work and worked until 8:30ish. And of course, there was the usual sing-a-long on the way home. 2
Nothing extraordinary happened today. What made today perfect was how smoothly things went. I had the day planned out in 30 minute increments and finished everything that I wanted to do…
…there were no “WHAT? WHERE DID THE PAST X-number OF HOURS GO?” moments. And in law school, that’s an accomplishment.3 Let’s see if I can repeat this tomorrow.
1 Which has become the longest, most tedious class ever by the way…
2 Song of the night was “Zero” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
3 I’ve had too many of those horrifying “I just lost 3 hours in a time warp” moments. I suspect the missing time goes to BritBrit’s rehab…
We had another “what are the odds” moment in Corporations:
Professor M“Jimmy Smith?”
(Silence…crickets…)
Professor M“No? Not here?” Um…okay. How about Sara Johnson?”
Jill“She’s not here.”
Professor M“Wow. Well, uh. That’s odd. I mean, most of you are here… what about, Jack Thompson?”
Jack“Here.”
Professor M“Haha. Good! Well, I guess it’s bad luck for you….”
Our midterm assignment for Corporations was to draft the argument section of a SEC “no-action” letter.
The assignment was due at noon today. Class is from 10:45am-12:15pm. So, of course, 1/3 of the class skipped.
Professor M: “That shows me not to make an assignment due in the middle of class! I totally could have seen this coming…”
Jill made to to class today:
Professor M: “Why did these regulations come about?”
(Jill had her hand raised.)
Professor M: “Yes? Jill?”
Jill:“Wait, nevermind. I’m pretty sure I’m wrong.”
Professor M: “No, go ahead.”
Jill:“Well, weren’t there a lot of hostile takeovers during that period?”
Professor M: “You are exactly on the button! That’s exactly right! And why did hostile takeovers matter?”
Jill: “Huh? What? I’m sorry I was celebrating.”
Jill is kind of a bitch. This just happened in Crimlaw:
Professor R: “I want to schedule a makeup class for April 28 at noon. Does anyone have any conflicts with this?”
Jack: “I do! I do! There is some lunch thing with potential employers on that day.”
Jill (loudly): “Don’t worry. You’re not going to get hired anyway!”
So the rule here at the law school is that the week some big-honking brief is due, all of our professors are required to pack our schedule. I suspect they love seeing how busted the 1Ls are the morning we turn in the brief.
The brief is due Wednesday at 8am, so of course my Thursday-Friday Corporations class was rescheduled to Tuesday and Wednesday. The case for tomorrow is 30 pages. The Civil Procedure case for tomorrow is 24 pages.
This is why I am so grateful that I managed to get some work done during the weekend. Otherwise I would be that kid snoring in the back row of Corps.1
Tonight I’m editing my brief and then tackling the Corps and property reading.
I brought the best thing ever with me to the library:
Yes. That’s right. 64 oz. It’s glorious, and full of decaffeinated peach tea. No refills needed.
Now its time for work…
1 Jill gets to keep that distinction…
I came home from work yesterday and opened my car trunk to fetch my laptop bag.
I love the trunk of my car. It’s clean and smells amazing because I spilled an entire bottle of febreeze in it…
In my trunk is a big plastic bin where I keep my car-stuff: windshield wiper fluid, sanitary wipes, car brush…etc.
The lid was off the bin and I noticed the label for the first time:
Now, if I had seen this last week I would have sat in the middle of my driveway and laughed. But after reading Termination of Parental Rights1 cases for the past week, I thought, “Oh, that label is a good idea!”
The thinking like a lawyer bit? I think that happened today.
1 Aka, real-life horror stories. Seriously. These cases are a hot mess… the parents are a mix of Amy Winehouse and 50 Cent, minus the record deals.
I forgot to do last week’s recap: Week #7 was dominated by Fee Committee meetings and my spring brief (aka The Awful.) I also went to my first CLE class that week.
Researching and writing by brief was a lot of fun. What made the spring brief awful was how it terrorized my schedule.
The law school administration and professors seemed completely unaware that the 1L spring brief was due: professors piled on work and the school scheduled tons of ‘special lunchtime events.’
One of these events was a Minnesota Supreme Court oral argument. It was so poorly attended that ushers made us move towards the front so that the law school auditorium wouldn’t look as empty.
I’m glad I went – the Justices were hilarious:
Defendant’s Lawyer: “It wasn’t a long time ago when I was in this very same room but up there, watching these poor lawyers getting grilled…”
Justice: “Welcome back!”
Defendant’s Lawyer: “This is an instance where the Plaintiff’s are throwing everything against the wall and seeing what sticks.”
Justice: “But Plaintiffs get to that!”
There were several embarrassing moments for both attorneys:
Justice: “This thing you quote on the first page of your brief…I couldn’t find it anywhere in the record. What are you citing here?”
Plaintiff’s Lawyer: “Oh, well, that’s a post-it note in my kitchen.”
Justice: “What?”
Plaintiff’s Lawyer: “I took a call in my kitchen and I wrote notes down on a post-it note. It’s still in my kitchen.”1
Later, the Justices asked the plaintiff’s lawyer to find something else in the record.
Plaintiff’s Lawyer: “It’s in the Holiday Inn parking garage, your honor. I left my copy of the trial testimony in the car. I guess this is a lesson to the students of what to bring to court!”
Indeed.
The defendant’s attorney was also caught in an embarrassing moment when he was asked what the standard of review and procedural posture for the case was. The attorney artfully dodged the question, but one Justice would not let him get away without answering:
Justice: “Wait, you’re not answering my question. I want to hear you say it. What is the standard of review here?”
There was a Q&A session after the oral argument:
Student: “How do you decide who writes the briefs?”
Justice: “We arm wrestle!”
Female Justice: “And because we are females we always win!”
Female Justice #2: “Actually, we prefer Rock, Paper, Scissors.”2
Even though I could have dropped everything to work on my brief, I’m glad I made time to go to the oral argument and CLE class. My theory is that I’m going to be even busier as an attorney, so I can’t get into the habit of dropping obligations and routines every time life gets busy. I think that’s a bad habit to pick up in law school.
This past week felt like a vacation compared with the packed schedule of Week 7.
I forgot how pleasant and breezy law school is when I finish most of my reading the weekend before classes. Holler. I had no major obligations outside of Wednesday’s 6-hour Fee Committee meeting, so I had plenty of time to, well, sleep. I slept in 14-hour stretches. It was glorious.
Thursday was the day of The Crash, when my chair broke in class. It sent both me and a classmate to the floor. Hilarity ensued.
On Friday, it was apparent that half of the school started Spring Break early. Attendance was so bad in Crimlaw that the professor suspended the Socratic method and just asked for volunteers. I spent most of the class ignoring the rants of the other section and coding for the new layout.
And now I start my 1L spring break. Vöt!
1This is paraphrased but yes, the attorney cited a note in his kitchen. It was so shocking that I wasn’t sure I would write about it…
2 The Justices went on to say that the cases are preassigned at the beginning of each term. If a Justice does not have enough votes then the case goes to whomever feels most strongly about it, based on seniority.
It’s battered women week in Criminal Law.1
Today’s case2 is State v. Leidholm: wife stabs husband with a butcher knife as he sleeps. The wife then claims self defense (battered woman syndrome).
The fact section for Leidholm after the jump.
Even with The Awful looming in the background, I took a few hours to go to my very first CLE class: “Challenging Gender Bias with Positive Role Models in Theater, Society, and Law.”
The class was held at the Guthrie, which is Minneapolis’s local swank theater.
This is the brick book they gave everyone:
Val Jensen moderated the program. Jensen was perched at a podium between a group of actors and a panel of prominent attorneys.
The actors performed excerpts from cases1 and scenes from the play Third. After each performance, Jensen asked the panel to react. The initial comments from the panel were generalizations, but after a few scenes the attorneys began to share personal anecdotes of gender discrimination.
The personal experiences were the most interesting part of the program.
One of the attorneys said that a client attempted to force himself into her hotel room one night. She was an associate at the time and didn’t feel comfortable reporting the incident to her boss. Since becoming a partner, she stresses to her associates that they should report any improper behavior2 by clients. She doesn’t want her associates to experience the same problem she had.
I was surprised that the course was so balanced. It wasn’t a feminist rally.3 One of the attorneys even said that she had to deal with a woman who preyed on the men of the firm.
The excerpts from cases generally focused on the discrimination of women. But the play Third is actually about reverse discrimination:
Third tells the story of professor Laurie Jameson, whose life is thrown into disarray when she accuses a student of plagiarism. In challenging the student, who in turn charges her with reverse discrimination, Laurie is forced to question her feminist ideology, standards and family relationships.
The panel advanced an interesting theory that political correctness can keep women from being promoted: Men choose not to work as closely with women because they fear a sexual harassment problem. It is much safer to work with (and give work to) another male. So the male associate gets the important assignments and advances quicker than the woman.
The panel reiterated that women are “sometimes their own worst enemies.” Females tend give harsher criticisms of female supervisors. There was also an interesting discussion of whether women consciously align themselves with the gender expectations within a firm.4
Typically gender stereotypes are in favor of women being more effeminate. One of the partners shared advice she was given about litigating in Kentucky:
“I was litigating in Kentucky and was told ‘you’d better wear a skirt.’ I, of course found this very offensive because I don’t like to wear skirts! I didn’t wear a skirt, and lost the case…”
This kicked off a portion of the program dedicated to stereotypes. The panel had a lot of good quotes:
Jan Conlin: “Often we reach out to gather just enough information to confirm our biases and move on from there.”
Annamarie Daley: “As lawyers we are out to get information, and we should bring that drive to everyday life.”
The class was very informative and a good way to meet lawyers. Before I started law school, a 3L told me to attend CLE classes.
I thought the 3L was a crank, but now I realize that lawyers who would normally not talk to 1L’s are perfectly willing to chat when forced into the same “class.”
It was amusing how the audience of lawyers resembled law students during special lectures: a blackberry solitaire game here, the discrete reading of briefs there. But thankfully the panel was interesting enough that most people paid attention.5
My first CLE experience was well worth postponing The Awful off for two hours. I just hope every CLE is this interesting.6
1 I think it was mostly trial testimony.
2 By behavior, I think the context is “sexual advances.”
3 Yes, I was expecting that.
4 One of the attorneys said, “litigation can someones be like junior high locker room.” This is definitely true for law school…
5 People paid attention despite the fact that there was no interaction with the audience, but I think there was some discussion through the webcast. At one point Jensen asked a question that was submitted online.
6 I suspect normal CLE courses are taught in classrooms by Ben Stein impersonators.
Civil Procedure was funny today. I suspect it has something to do with Professor V realizing that our massive memo was due this morning.
We continued our Personal Jurisdiction discussion with Helicopteros1:
Professor V: “The Supreme Court says, somewhat unhelpfully, that “whatever the standard is, it’s not met.”
Professor V’s trickery:
Professor V: “Would there be specific jurisdiction in Texas for a Third Party Complaint?”
Jill: “Well your note told us to look at the Rosenberg case…”
Professor V: “Was that helpful or misleading?”
Jill: “Well I thought it was helpful but maybe I was misled!”
The Plaintiffs argued2 that cashing a check from Texas could serve as a basis for personal jurisdiction:
Professor V: “It’s surprising that the lawyers argued this with a straight face. It’s a bit of a stretch. And an argument like this tends to undermine your entire case…”
Professor V: “So if you receive a check for $10,000 from North Carolina, you’re not going to say, “Ooo, North Carolina.I don’t know if I want to cash this. I might be subject to personal jurisdiction there!”
C’mon just hit me:
Professor V: “The only other case we have about general jurisdiction is the All-State case where the insurance company claimed that there wasn’t jurisdiction. But with a name like All-State you’re asking for it! It’s like saying “C’mon! Just hit me!”
3,000? Really?
Professor V: “And then we have this law review article3 where the professor suggested that he looked at 3,000 general jurisdiction cases…and he somehow got tenure anyway…”
1 Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408 (1984).
2 among other things. This was the weakest argument.
3 34 Seton Hall L.Rev 807 (Westlaw: 34 SHLR 807)
Jack shared his thought process with the class:
Professor V: “Let’s suppose California didn’t let non-residents sue within the state. What would happen on appeal?”
Jack: “I don’t know.”
Professor V: “Well, what about other classes that you’ve taken? Can you think of anything you learned last semester?”
Jack: “Let me think. Not contracts. Um… I have no idea. Seriously! I have no idea! Not contracts right? Um. No seriously, let me think. Um…What classes did I take?”
Professor V: “Well, we are dealing with multiple states…”
(silence, chuckles)
Jack: “Oh wait, Conlaw?”
Yes. Conlaw.
Then Jill had a 10 minute question. Professor V looks up at the clock and says:
Professor V: “I don’t know whether you were trying to run out the clock but you did.”
Here are some pictures of My Legal Space this weekend.
I went to the East Lake public library for the first time this weekend. It looks like a baby-version of the Pelli Library, and the parking is free.
I left after about an hour because the middle schoolers obviously had unlimited weekend minutes…
