Thursday, December 28, 2006

Still nothing

Because of the Martin Luther King holiday and my next semester schedule with classes only on Mondays and Wednesdays I have an entire month between my last exam and my first class. It seems like when we were 1Ls we got only two weeks off. Why four weeks now? Eh. I'm not complaining. Believe me, I'm not complaining...

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Not much

So I'm playing grownup this week and working every day. I figured it was a good idea to (1) make some money and (2) make a good impression seeing as how I'm gunning for an eventual job offer from this place and (3) although in principle I like the idea of a break and sitting around on my ass, with my wife working and most people I know out of town, I'd be bored senseless if I sat at home all week (and we're going out of town in two weeks for a vacation).

During the semester I worked two days a week and for the most part, was pretty busy all day. They are always telling me how busy they are -- and by the looks of it, they're pretty damn busy -- so they were ecstatic when I told them I'd work all week. So what happens? They're too busy to give me any work to do. OK, that's not entirely true. I've been doing a lot of work, but I haven't been all that busy (which is why I'm updating my blog from the office). Yeah, I guess it's OK though since I still get paid even if don't bill the hours.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

fun over break

I still have until Saturday before my last exam, but in case I was looking for ideas about how to keep busy, the school was kind enough to give me a suggestion. Did you see this item in the latest newsletter?

Students join your Hurricanes in Boise, Idaho on New Year's Eve as they take on the Nevada Wolfpack in the MPC Computers Bowl. All full time registered students are eligible for ONE FREE TICKET to the game and may buy an unlimited amount of additional tickets if needed.

Wow! A free ticket to the MPC Computers Bowl if I happen to be in Boise, Idaho or if I choose to spend New Year's Eve in Boise. Fun! (And does anyone else wonder who in their right mind would pay $55 for a ticket to this game?). And I can buy an unlimited amount of additional tickets! Awesome! Yeah, I don't think I'll be going to Boise for the game...

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Go to law school, be a jerk

No, no, this isn't a post about how I hate all law students and how lawyers are assholes. It's about me!

A couple of weeks ago I was in the library and happened to glance at someone else's laptop as I was walking by. She was sitting down to start the paper she had to write for Con Law II (taught by the same person who is Prof. Employment Discrimination). She was looking up the definition of "strict scrutiny" on wikipedia. My immediate thought: "Damn, I wish I was in her class because I'm smarter than her and we need people at the bottom of the curve. Specifically, people other than me." Yeah, I know, I'm not proud, but that's the kind of thing law school makes you think, even when you're not all that concerned about your grades anymore like you were a year or two ago. Hey, don't tell me you haven't thought the same thing, or something along similar lines at least once because this says I'm not alone in thinking this way.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

what to do?

I have no idea how to study for my Employment Discrimination exam.

I can't say I'm too stressed about it, but you'd think what with this being my sixth time taking law school final exams (four previous semesters plus summer school), I'd know how to study. But this is an open-book exam. It's multiple-choice and/or true/false. And it's about employment discrimination. So I'm reading my outline, outlining my outline, tabbing my outline, but not to memorize my outline because that sounds like something you'd do as an undergraduate. Oh, and I'm also turning in a paper which counts as the essay portion of the exam so I've been working on that. But it's unclear how much the essay counts compared with the objective portion.

You know how people describe law school exams as fair or unfair? Well last time I took an exam by Prof. Employment Discrimination (in his Sub Crim class) it was neither far nor unfair. It was stupid. The questions just made no sense. Fortunately, in that class, if you turned in the paper, all you had to do was pass the objective portion and your grade for the class would be the grade you got on your paper. I did OK because I cited the professor's work as often as possible, but in Employment Discrimination I didn't cite his work because he didn't write on the topic that I chose.

I just want it to be over...

Monday, December 11, 2006

How the Other Half Lives

These two articles are interesting because they show how the other half lives. OK, it's more like the other 1 percent. Sometimes you think that you're in law school, just like tens of thousands of other people around the country, so you'll eventually be a lawyer, just like about a million other people, so you'll be fantastically wealthy some day. Or more likely not. While it would be great to get a $65,000 bonus after a few years of working for a law firm, or a $200,000 hiring bonus (after a Supreme Court clerkship), I don't think I relate much to these types of people. The $65,000 bonus may as well be a $40 million bonus that a CEO gets, or an insanely unrealistic contract signed by a mediocre right-handed pitcher. So sure, that kind of money would be great, but it's just as likely that I'll some day be handed a $65,000 bonus as it is that I'll get a $40 million bonus some day. (Not very likely, in case you're having trouble following my logic). And although I don't yet have a job lined up, ultimately it's OK. I mean that in all seriousness. Although I'd give anything to come back in my next life as a professional baseball player, I'm fine with not inhabiting this legal world. Why? I don't want to bill 2,500 hours a year. Do you?

And speaking of the smarty pants types, wouldn't it be nice to go to Yale Law School, where grading is all pass/fail? Exam time there must be a picnic...

Thursday, December 07, 2006

studying got what?

Did you see that e-mail from our SBA president with the subject line (in all caps) LAW SCHOOL JUST GOT EASIER? Yeah, that was strange. I signed up for that site but I think it's missing something pretty important, like uh, I don't know, an explanation of why I should be using this site.

It seems to have a lot of outlines from classes from this law school that you can download but it doesn't have the only one I need so I'm not downloading anything just for the hell of it. It also lets you upload outlines. So I guess it's an outline sharing service? I don't know. Every year groups sell outlines and outlines go back and forth (usually for free -- I've never charged anyone a dime for any of my outlines and I've received plenty of outlines over the years from other people, all for free). I wonder if anyone really is out there thinking that he wished he could have an outline from a certain class but didn't know how to go about getting one? Are there people who are unwilling or unable to just ask someone in their class? Are there law students who refuse to give up their outlines? I don't know any but I haven't used other people's outlines since my Evidence class a year ago and even then, I only used them as a backup reference. I never relied on anyone else's outline. Why would you?

Anyway, who knows what this site is about. You'd think if you were starting a new web site that you wanted people to use, you'd explain to them somewhere on the front of the web site what exactly the site does and why people should use it.

Yeah sorry, that's all I've got...

Sunday, December 03, 2006

More on jobs

This is a fascinating article from the National Law Journal. It’s interesting because it says a lot about this law school. The gist of the article is that during the hiring season this year, big law firms reached out to law schools that they don’t ordinarily visit for interviews. But was Miami one of the schools that these big firms saw fit to visit while dropping their academic standards for job qualifications? I’ll admit that I didn’t do a direct comparison of firms that interviewed this year compared with last year but I didn’t have the impression that more firms were on campus this year than last year. Did you? And here’s an even better question: Why didn’t they think of the University of Miami? An even better question: Who do you hold accountable? It’s not the students’ job to go out and pound the pavement, touting our law school, is it? Just something to think about...

Friday, December 01, 2006

movin' on up, so to speak

Yesterday at work they gave me the key to the bathroom. (The bathroom is outside the actual office so all the offices on the 24th floor can use it). I wonder if being given a key to the crapper is a precursor to being given a full-time job offer. Or at least a raise?

Speaking of work, what do I get for the middle aged paralegal whose name I drew in the Secret Santa thing? I’ve never been a Secret Santa before. I've never spoken a single word to her and didn’t even know who she was until I asked someone. Apparently she likes cats and jewelry. I have $20 to spend. I don’t think I can pick out jewelry for this woman because I don't know her tastes, so it’ll have to be something cat-related. Oh yeah, and in years past she's gotten a gift card and complained that it was too impersonal. I wonder if a couple sacks of kitty litter would be inappropriate?