live, from administrative law!

I'm in Admin Law class right now. It's really dull. I thought it would be cool to offer some live blogging but I don't think that would be cool at all. The professor is very earnest about his admin law. One guy laughs at about half of the things the prof says. No one knows why he's laughing. A guy in back just said "fuck" a little too loudly. Two people who sit in the row in front of me are silent today; last week they talked to each other a lot during class -- loudly. One regular reader of this blog who is in this class is not here today. Lucky guy. In fact, the room is a little more than half full. I'm taking this class pass/fail, which is good.

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I went to this symposium on Saturday that was like a time warp linking to my first year of law school. I'd like to say these were fond memories, but that's not true at all. Prof. Crim Pro was leading the panel. Prof. Property was uh, showing off his Ph.D. in history, Prof. Elective was there and Prof. Contracts showed up wearing a track suit (everyone else was wearing a real suit - the kind that is generally accompanied by a tie). And in what I'm guessing is probably not a coincidence, he showed up at the exact time they started serving lunch.

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I'm about 95 percent sure I'm not going to see Al Gore speak on Wednesday but I have a ticket so if you know me and you want the ticket, let me know and it's yours. If I knew Gore was bringing his Oscar and I could hold it or something (and get my picture taken with it, like people do with the Stanley Cup?) I'd probably go but I think he's doing the same presentation he did in the movie, which I've seen. Besides, I'm going to see Clinton the next day and that's enough for me.

Funny

Remember Civ Pro Dean's Fellow? She sure knew her Civ Pro. Well, she has a blog, in case you hadn't noticed the blogroll to the right of the screen. Check this out. She's funny.

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I think Prof. ADR Policy is David Sedaris. I'm convinced they are the same person. It's like being in class with a comedian. Prof. ADR Policy is leaving for another law school after this semester, a fact of which he has repeatedly made us aware, so I don't know if he's always been this way or he just doesn't give a shit, but his class is the most entertaining class I've had. Also, he possesses a superpower because he knows what you're thinking based on your facial expressions. Crazy.

still alive!

It's tempting to lie and say that I've been too busy to blog, but that would be a stretch. This is the least busy I've ever been with school -- I do the reading and go to the classes but that's it. I don't feel very engaged. And that's fine with me. I'm ready to be done with law school, which is fortunate since graduation is less than three months away. I'll miss only the lifestyle of a student -- as opposed to the 8-to-6 (or much longer, but you get the idea) lifestyle of a lawyer. I like going home in the middle of the day to take naps. I like having three-day weekends every week. I like doing as much or little work as I want, depending on what kind of mood I'm in. Yeah.

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By the way, did you see the e-mail two days ago announcing that all professors (meaning, I assume, Prof. Con Law II (who was also my Prof BA) finally turned in his grades? That was two months after the last day of finals and more than two months after his last exam was given. Allegedly he got excused for personal reasons but I'm skeptical. Now don't get me wrong; I don't know the guy so maybe he really had some personal tragedy. But here's the thing: life goes on. Unless it doesn't, obviously. What I mean is that if he hadn't been spotted around campus regularly during this supposed "personal problem" well, maybe it would be excusable because he'd be so messed up by the problem that he couldn't work. But he could work. Do you think that - unless the problem is so bad you take a leave of absence - that you could just turn in work a month late in a law firm just because you have a personal problem? Um, no. People deal with personal problems and they continue to work. Then when work is over, they go deal with the problems. Again, for a real tragedy or major illness or something if you really couldn't physically or mentally do the work, then OK, you don't physically or mentally do the work and others pick up the slack. But by all accounts, this prof was here. And just not grading.

Despite that article in the student newspaper - and an SBA resolution condemning the grading policy! (yeah, I'm sure that'll spur 'em into action) - this is a huge black mark on this school. Professors are beyond lazy when they take more than two months to turn in their grades. Look, I have no doubt grading is labor intensive, but there is literally no excuse for taking this long. None (again, unless you're incapacitated by a crippling personal crisis).

all that learnin'

The other day I was thinking about the bar exam and how I don’t remember a single thing I learned in my first year of law school and how that's not good but that I'm not going to worry about that now even though my wife's cousin said I should start studying for the bar an hour a day after spring break.

Anyway, a day or so later, I was doing something at work where the parol evidence rule and statute of frauds came up. I’m not claiming to be a legal scholar or a genius but in the context of what I was doing, these concepts made perfect sense and seemed almost self-evident.

So why did they seem so foreign and difficult to grasp back then? Maybe because everything is so new? I’m hesitant to blame Professor Contracts although he was masterful at making everything as confusing and unwieldy as possible.

I don’t know. Maybe this isn't a great revelation. I just think it’s interesting that what seemed so overwhelmingly complicated two years ago now makes sense on an intuitive level. I guess that means that I’ve actually learned something over the last 2 ½ years…