I was recently among 17 attorneys from my law firm submitted for high honors from the Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll. This list recognizes attorneys who contributed more than 100 hours of free legal work to low-income individuals in 2019. I also became a member of the Texas Pro Bono College related to the same service.
The second semester of my Georgetown tax LL.M. program is marked by a lot of procedural and practical courses. That’s one of the best things about learning from adjunct professors — they tell you how things work in practice and what traps they see other lawyers falling for.
Networking is a skill that I’m constantly trying to become less awkward at, so I made a point of looking-up the chart after class. (Also, if one of the leading SALT practitioners in the country tells you to read something, you do it.)
Here’s what I’m talking about this morning.
1. Magazines! We subscribe to a lot of them.
Many of the magazines, especially Bloomberg Businessweek, are like little works of art. The impressive design allows our magazines to double as temporary table decorations. (Or pretty clutter.)
The Supreme Court issued an extremely disappointing opinion on Monday.
The case is Utah v. Strieff, and the opinion caused all of my former law school friends to collectively lose their damn minds.
My Facebook feed was littered with horrified posts about the court “declaring open season on illegal searches and seizures.”
I read a few articles on the opinion, which seemed so outlandishly wrong that I had to listen to the oral argument and read the opinion myself to verify that this wasn’t being spun.
And sadly, everyone is right – the court basically gave the police an incentive to stop whomever they want, for whatever reason that they want.
My new state embarrassed itself in front of the Supreme Court last week.
Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller attempted to defend Texas’s anti-abortion law to the court, and it was a hot mess.
Audio of the oral arguments for Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt are finally live on the Supreme Court’s website, and it is worth taking a listen.
This is the court’s first abortion case in 9 years and involves a Texas regulation which dramatically reduces abortion access for Texas women.
Slate’s Amicus podcast did a really interesting episode on the case.
The Atlantic’s story on the case is also a pretty comprehensive summary, but it is worth listening to the full audio of the hearing.
I spent the morning at the Uptown Dunn Brothers my nose in my Ableton manual. I ordered Ableton last week, but it ships from from Berlin so I run the demo version on my school laptop.
When I came back to the apartment this afternoon to find a FexEx sticker on the front door of the building. Apparently Ableton arrived! The mailboxes for my apartment are tiny, so tomorrow includes an adventure to find the St. Paul FedEx facility…which might be a disaster…
After the dog walk, I jump in my car and try to head to school, but my neighborhood is gridlocked. There are no left hand turn signals to the highway onramp, and there is a fender-bender at the intersection I need to turn at.
So I cut someone off, bypass my regular on ramp, and decide to go through downtown… except the traffic is at a standstill at the next light as well because there is ANOTHER fender-bender at my left-hand turn lane.
Physical Evidence is my only course. It is 2 ½ hours long, twice a week, and is all presentations from guest speakers.
Our first presenter was an expert on polygraph tests. The theme was that polygraphs don’t work and have no scientific foundation. And apparently polygraph testers purposefully ask embarrassing questions, like “Do you masturbate in front of a mirror?”
And yes, that was the actual example that the expert used. The expert’s theory was that virtually all men have masturbated in front of a mirror. And apparently the one guy who hasn’t is in trouble:
Expert: “If you haven’t then you’ll fail the polygraph test. You want to have masturbated in front of the biggest mirror you could find. And hopefully you feel really crummy about it! So if you haven’t masturbated in front of a mirror you’re screwed!”
The corporate tax exam was a 3 hour typing contest. My goodness.
The semester is almost over. Tomorrow I will take my 24-hour advanced estate planning exam, which is my last final. This is more exciting than a McFlurry in July. Bam-chicka-wow!
I finally cleaned my finals-ridden apartment after my exam and then socialized with RJ and the Bretts.
We eventually end up at Brett #1’s apartment with Gumby and Gander in tow. Gumby is a random 22 year-old that Brett picked up in the bar, and Gander is one of Brett’s neighbors.
Today was a beautiful, sunny day, which made Professional responsibility extra awkward.
Our professor brought in the head of the Minnesota chapter of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.
She gave us the “1 in 4 of you is going to be messed up so please get help” lecture that we got about five times last year.
Our PR class is in a smaller room with tiered seating. The window is in the back of the room.
A University of Minnesota law school classic – Commonwealth v. Pestinikas, a case about a breach of contract that resulted in a murder conviction.
The gist: A couple agreed to care for an elderly man. They took his money, stuck him on an enclosed porch, and let him starve to death.
The cases that are hardest to understand are the ones where one of the parties did something incredibly stupid. For example, in Batsakis v. Demotsis (1949), Mrs. Demotsis agreed to pay $2000 for a loan of 500,000 drachmas (worth about $25)
‘Q. ….. who suggested the figure of $2,000.00?
A. That was how he asked me from the beginning. He said he will give me five hundred thousand drachmas provided I signed that I would pay him $2,000.00 American money.’
I had to look the case up on Westlaw because I couldn’t believe someone agreed to pay back 80 times the amount they borrowed.
It also looked like Mrs. Demotsis signed a letter stating she received $2000, when she really only borrowed $25.
I must have read it wrong. The case must be in old-speak. No one does that. I must be missing something…
And so I check Westlaw and learn that Mrs. Demotsis actually agreed to pay $2000 for $25 loan. And she also signed a letter stating she received $2000, when she …well, didn’t.
So I learned three things:
The library became annoying around 8am so I walked to my ConLaw class (which starts at 9am.)
There was already someone in the room when I arrived, so I felt less like “that kid who arrives an hour early” and more like, “one of those kids who arrive an hour early.”
Since I was in the wrong room yesterday, I asked the student, “This the correct room for Con Law right?”
How To Succeed in Law School was extremely helpful. I learned how to brief cases and accepted that Socratic method means that the teacher always wins (sort of like a Casino).
I’ll reread the book (and Getting to Maybe) in Minnesota. Both books make feel that I won’t be as blind-sided by the experience. I’m excited.
Oh, and Law School Discussion is hilarious. There was a post about whether blogging in law school is a good idea. Most people didn’t think so: the argument is that you’re likely to say something stupid and make people think you’re a douchebag.
There’s always a percentage of the class that hates the nicest person in the room. I am not suggesting that I’m that “nicest guy” – but I doubt blogging is going to make me a pariah or offend any future employers.
I’m sure there are plenty of other ways to do that – just not here.
No controversies on this blog.
I got into Gamma Eta Gamma. Vöt!
I also finished reading Scott Turow’s One L, which is about Turow’s first year at Harvard Law School.
I don’t believe that my first year is going to be as bad as his – I have more of a take names attitude towards law school. If I thought it was going to be easy I probably wouldn’t be doing it.
After reading “One L” I realized that there was something fishy at my law school’s open house: the student ambassadors seemed to deliberately downplay the workload and stress of law school.
The word “collegiate” was thrown around.
One girl even said she stopped studying at 8pm.
I see how “Hi, we are going to torture you, ruin your health, and have you cowering under your study carrel” isn’t a hot way to attract students. But hm, is it as easy as they claim or was that just a way to lure students into the school?
Minnesota certainly wasn’t as aggressive as some schools, like Drake, but I guess I will find out if things were sugarcoated (or not) in the fall.
Next on the law school reading list: Getting to Maybe.
I got a box from my future law school today – they sent me a mug!
They also sent me a “moving to Minneapolis” magazine and printed copies of much of the stuff they’ve emailed me already.
Still no solid financial aid numbers though. The official letter for that is “sent out in late July and due back at the office August 1st.”
Hmmf.
I need to order a UMN Law shirt. DePaul sent me one in my acceptance packet and I keep wearing it because, well, it’s a free shirt.
But it’s completely awkward running into strangers at the UMiami law library and explaining that, 1) I’m not going to law school at UMiami, 2) I’m not going to DePaul, even though I’m wearing the shirt, and 3) I’m going to go to UMinnesota Law.
Yes. Random and awkward.
I’m reading “Getting to Maybe” right now, and twiddling my thumbs.
I’ve moved around a lot (countries, states, and social circles) and blog “to keep in touch” with former friends/acquaintances that care to look me up.
The vast majority of people who read my blog are people who I no longer have daily contact with, but who know who I am.
I plan on keeping my general “what I did today” blog throughout law school, but I’m wondering if that’s such a keen idea for this blog. I couldn’t have great categories like “professor son of a bitch.”
So! I got the financial aid and housing information from the school. I actually had it in my inbox while I was bitching about not having it yet. Sorry.
The financial aid side of things is still “wait and see.” More waiting than seeing obviously.
The housing information is a little more hopeful. I’m speaking to another first year who I may end up rooming with.
I also applied to Gamma Eta Gamma, a legal fraternity which offers housing for $300 a month. Holler.
The thought hadn’t occurred to me.
It seemed like a silly question and I still don’t understand it. I couldn’t be successful at a career if I didn’t have the nerve to go through the training.
Am I going to walk into law school and find the casebooks quick and thrilling as a James Patterson novel? Am I going to draft amazing essays with ease, know the answer every time the professor calls on me, and be in bed by 10pm every night that I’m not at the clubhouse?