Equal Process? Due Protection?

CPC, CDO, Whatever

2008-08-08T18:05:00.001-05:00

This is just too good to pass up. One of the reasons I stopped this blog is that I have long since moved on from thinking about the idiocy of so many things associated with the University of Miami School of Law. I'm a lawyer now. I'm a dad. I'm a homeowner. I have more important things to occupy my mind.

But this week we received this e-mail that's just priceless. I deleted the e-mail, but fortunately for me, the school posted the full text of it on their web site. This is what it said:

After careful consideration and to better reflect the services and resources we provide to our students and alumni, we are pleased to announce that the Career Planning Center is now called the Career Development Office (CDO). The role of law school career offices throughout the country, including our office, has considerably changed in the last decade. Career offices have expanded their role by giving students and alumni lifelong services that not only help the students and alumni identify and use the appropriate resources to obtain their first jobs but also help them assess and discover their ideal careers. We feel that the new name accurately represents this progressive change and ask you to join us in using the name and sharing it with others in our community. Also, please note our new website address: www.law.miami.edu/cdo.

So let me see if I have this straight? The Career Center, which was completely useless to 90 percent of students while in school, is now expanding so that it can be completely useless to alumni, too? That seems to be the gist of the name change.

By the way, I wonder how long it took to arrive at this new name. Were there consultants involved? How many meetings did they hold to discuss the new name? What were the rejected names? Was there a name-the-center contest? What did the winner receive? Who won?

I ranted about the Career Center plenty of times during my three years in law school. As all students know, it was great for facilitating OCI, which itself was great for about 10-15 percent of each class. If you went directly to law school from college and had never held a real job, the center was great at helping you write your resume. If you wanted to work for free during law school, there was no shortage of jobs. And let's not forget that for the maybe one or two students in each class whose goal was to work in a law school admissions, alumni, or career office, those people had it made. There were times when the majority of job postings on the center's online jobs board were for career center jobs in other law schools. I am not making this up. The center was terrific at cutting and pasting random newsletter and web site job postings - part-time, in-semester job with the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office? Check. Full-time public interest job in Boulder, Colorado? Check. They were also great at posting jobs that were so far beneath law students that working at Subway would have been just as productive. (I don't mean to sound snooty but job postings for legal secretary positions are not helpful to people looking for part-time law jobs).

By the way, it should be said that the actual career counselors were fairly nice and friendly, despite being completely useless in helping you actually get a job. It's not their fault. It's the institution's fault. And the woman assigned to be my counselor couldn't have been more helpful on the rare occasions that I asked her for something. As for finding a job, I did it 100 percent on my own. I left that job after four months and found my next job completely on my own.

The Center's flaws are too numerous to list here. The single largest deficiency is that its mission was to sit around and pray that employers would contact them and post jobs. The useless - and now departed - dean of the school didn't even know the center existed. He was never visible in the community, failed to talk up UM graduates to prospective employers and did nothing to help students land jobs, preferring instead to repeat the same tired cliches about law school teaching you how to think and how to contribute to the community and blah blah blah. The center itself should have been more proactive. Its counselors should be required to actually go out into the community and convince local firms to interview UM graduates.

And don't get me started on the clerkship process. Yes, I know there are people who got clerkships, but for all the work that a certain counselor puts in to the clerkship application process, let's just be kind and say that the results aren't there.

So, with the change, do we dare dream that the school is finally getting it right? Will the career center no longer be the most useless office on campus (ranking slightly above the "help desk" at the bottom of the list)? Let's see if we can parse the wording of the announcement:

After careful consideration and to better reflect the services and resources we provide to our students and alumni, we are pleased to announce that the Career Planning Center is now called the Career Development Office (CDO).

OK, they changed the name. So far, it's not promising. You can call a carrot an orange, but the carrot is still a carrot

The role of law school career offices throughout the country, including our office, has considerably changed in the last decade.

If it's changed over the past decade, why did the University of Miami School of Law need the entire decade to figure out that its career center needed to change, as well? This would seem to be a positive, although somewhat pathetic, admission that the institution realizes how useless its career center is - and has been for the past 10 years.

Career offices have expanded their role by giving students and alumni lifelong services that not only help the students and alumni identify and use the appropriate resources to obtain their first jobs but also help them assess and discover their ideal careers.

This is not promising. Lifelong services? In theory, it would be great if a 45-year-old lawyer who has been practicing for 15-20 years could stop by the center and get actual career advice. But think about this - why would this lawyer actually do that? Why would he seek the advice of a bunch of people who stopped practicing law after about four years so they could work part-time in the career center and who do nothing other than sit around and hope employers contact them to post job openings? Is it because these counselors have excellent access to "the appropriate resources" to "assess and discover their ideal careers"? Twenty years ago, this might have made sense. But, see, we have this new invention, called the Internet. Sick of law firm life after 15-20 years? Sure, you can call the career center, but how about going on line and doing your own research about new careers? Hopefully you'll also talk to friends, family and others WHO CAN ACTUALLY HELP YOU get a job. Let's say you want to go in-house after being a litigator. Talk to people who work in house. Want to switch to public interest law? Do you really need the career center to give you the names of some UM alumni who work in the field? Get your ass down to the local non-profit legal aid center and talk to someone.

We feel that the new name accurately represents this progressive change

What does this even mean? Progressive change? Is there any other kind of change? Would you admit to regressive change? Progressive is a buzz word that means absolutely nothing.

and ask you to join us in using the name and sharing it with others in our community.

Is this a joke? You want me to share with others in "our community" that the Career Planning Center is now the Career Development Office? This last line left me speechless. I guess "our community" means alumni of Miami Law, but this isn't clear. Does it mean all lawyers in South Florida? Next time I see someone I recognize down at the courthouse or out to lunch downtown, I'll be sure to stop by and share this priceless piece of information with him. Yes, that's what I'll do.

out to lunch

2008-01-26T19:16:00.000-05:00

So my new office is downtown, unlike my old firm, which was a standalone building up north. It's nice to have options to get lunch. Unfortunately, one of the restaurants in the little area right by my building (across from the Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, for those who care), is Subway. I'm on a three-year self-ban from Subway, so I have about two and a half years until I can get another six-inch sub.

Another is Dunkin' Donuts, and I don't really like to eat donuts for lunch. The other is called Daily Squeeze, which is good but charges ELEVEN FUCKING DOLLARS FOR A SANDWICH. It wins awards every year from one of the local papers, but I'll be damned if I'm paying that much for a sandwich at a deli. Hey, don't get me wrong, I have good taste in food and I love a sandwich on good bread with nice toppings beyond the usual lettuce and tomato and tasteless cheese. But $11? I don't think so. Once I got a smoothie from that place. They have one kind of smoothie and when you ask what's in it, they just say "everything." I've asked a few different times and get the same answer every time. I'm suspicious, although it's tasty. The problem is that it's $5 and doesn't fill me up.

The other restaurant is a salad place which seemed good a couple of times until I ate there and then became violently ill before taking the Southern District exam.

I realize there are about 25 more places within a 10-minute walk, but I'm just talking about the places adjacent to my building.

**
I know this post is utterly useless. This blog became irrelevant long ago. I have actually been doing a little writing on the side for a friend's web site and I have another blog (just pictures of my beautiful daughter!) so if anyone has any suggestions for what I should write about, let me know...

Nice shoes

2008-01-14T18:47:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed the shoe shine guy in front of the courthouse door in Miami? Does it seem strange the guy is positioned almost directly in front of the door, so that anyone getting their shoes shined is basically saying, "hey, look at me, I'm paying someone to get my shoes shined?" I don't know. I'm not saying this is the most important thought I had all day but it made me wonder. I've probably gotten a shoe shine two or three times in my life, and only at the airport. I should probably do it more often seeing as how I hate shining my shoes and when those guys do it, they look 100 times better than when I do it. For some reason though, I doubt I'd do it if it meant sitting there in front of the courthouse for all the world to see...

And then there were none

2007-12-29T10:49:00.000-05:00

My wife is in a bookclub that formed at the beginning of my second year of law school. It consists of wives of law students. After the second year, two of the husbands graduated. They each had jobs lined up. They took the bar and started practicing. Within six months, both had quit and found new jobs. This year, there were five of us who graduated. Within two months, one quit his job. A month later, another quit and found a new job. A few weeks later, another person left his job. Now, it's my turn. I gave notice at my job yesterday. I found a new job that I'll be starting in about a week. It just wasn't a good fit for me, but I guess a lot of people feel that way about their first job out of law school. If you know my real name and happen to care, look me up on the bar website after next week because I'll change my contact information as soon as I'm no longer on the payroll at my current job.

Here's why I love my law firm

2007-12-25T16:51:00.001-05:00

It's 2:30 p.m. on December 24th. More than half of the attorneys are gone and about 75 percent of the support staff aren't working today. Several hours ago, we got an e-mail that the office will close at 2 p.m. today for those of us who bothered to show up. The reception area is dark. The place is deserted. I can't wait to get home to my wife and baby. I'm getting in the elevator when I hear, from down the hall "hold the elevator." I hold it. In walks a certain partner in the firm.

The following conversation:

Him: Ready for your first Christmas as a family? (he knows about my new baby)
Me: No. I'm Jewish (a fact he knows given that we've discussed my going to Synagogue on the high Holy Days a few months ago)
Him: So? You guys don't get a tree?
Me: No. We don't celebrate Christmas.
Him: So why are you leaving early on Christmas Eve?
Me: [speechless, staring at him, looking for a sign of a smile, some indication that he's joking, and finding no such indication] Um, the office is closed
Him: So? You just said you don't celebrate Christmas
Me: [staring at him in wonder and silent the rest of the way down, then for the walk through the lobby, the walk to the parking garage and the walk to the elevators in the parking garage]

The little princess!

2007-12-01T14:01:00.000-05:00

Thursday November 29, 2007. 7 pounds, 14 ounces. 19 inches long. Beautiful!

some things never change

2007-11-18T21:41:00.000-05:00

So I was wasting time on line the other day and I happened to check the law school career services jobs database. I'm not dissatisfied with my job, but I just wanted to see what was out there. Approximately 90 percent of the jobs are for an organization called Idealist.org, which if you check its web site seems to be a public interest clearinghouse type place. It looks like a Craigslist type of site for non-profits. So maybe some things do change - maybe the career services office has actually gotten worse. At least before I graduated they weren't re-posting jobs from Craigslist...

blah blah blah

2007-11-04T10:51:00.000-05:00

I have little to say but I thought it was time for an update anyway, so here goes:

*I've been handling a startling amount of obscure issues at work that I thought I would never see again after the bar exam. I don't mean I'm handling cases all by myself but issues like random people giving other people mortgages and people not signing documents, those crazy torts like misappropriation, questions about who is the beneficiary of a trust that was executed before this and that and well, whatever. It's stuff I never thought I'd deal with after the bar exam.

*Work so far is fine. Just fine. Some days are excruciatingly boring. Some days aren't. Being the only new lawyer is starting to be a drag because although I'm doing slightly more sophisticated stuff (slightly...meaning not just research and writing) than I was doing two months ago, everything I do still needs to be checked by a partner before it goes out and the partners are busy. Anyway, the job is fine.

*I went to court in Miami-Dade last week. It was only the administrative judge. The other side didn't even show up but I had to go to get the order to transfer. I saw one person from my Sports Law class outside the courtroom. I didn't talk to her. I never talked to her in law school, either. I think I know her name. I saw one guy from the BarBri class who didn't go to UM for law school. He looked quite full of himself - you know the type, barking orders on his cell phone, staring straight ahead ignoring everyone around him.

*I decided against writing a post slamming my idiot LRW professor. It seems smarter just to let things go. Actually I long ago let it go but, well, I wanted the world to know that he's an idiot. Now it just seems like I have better things to do.

*So I'm not sure what I'll do with this blog now. Probably post occasionally when something strikes me.

*Baby is coming: four weeks maximum, but the reality is that she will be making her appearance any time!

yet another reason we're proud to be Hurricanes

2007-10-17T19:46:00.000-05:00

Don't worry, I'm not late to the party. If you go to or went to UM and haven't seen this by now, shame on you. But for anyone who missed it, this is priceless:

funny, sort of

2007-10-16T21:17:00.000-05:00

Here's a funny story, although not so funny at the time for the person it happened to. Remember when bar results were posted and you looked at the web site and it said July results were now posted? And remember how when you clicked through, they weren't there?

Instead, those numbers were the February results. So a guy I know was taking it for the second time in July. So when he clicked on it in the morning, he saw his February results, which obviously was a failing grade.

He was crushed. He was furious. He was devastated. He had a couple of miserable days and nights. Then the letter from the bar came two days later. His girlfriend opened it. It said he passed. He felt great, obviously.

Funny, sort of...

2007-10-12T21:14:00.000-05:00

I almost had a heart attack earlier this week. My boss told me I have to take two more bar exams. Turns out he was talking about the federal bar for the Southern and Northern Districts of Florida and it's nothing like the Florida bar or like any state bar exam. Each has a 50-question multiple choice exam. They give you 500 questions and pick 50 straight from that list of 500. I printed out the study guide, looked at five questions randomly chosen from the 50 I printed and got them all right. That doesn't mean I won't study or that I'll blow it off but it shouldn't be so bad. Strange that the Middle District doesn't have an exam, but apparently you just have to fill out paperwork to get in there. Here's the best part: it's on my birthday! Awesome.

quality of the faculty

2007-10-07T12:02:00.000-05:00

I was thinking recently about what I’d say if someone considering law school asked me about the quality of the faculty at the University of Miami School of Law. Mostly I’d say the faculty were mediocre. To be honest, I have little to compare it to. I went to a small liberal arts college as an undergrad and I know college professors have little in common with law school professors.

But it seems that even most of the good law professors – the ones who made class somewhat interesting while also teaching the law – had some deficiencies that made them unfit to do almost any other job, which is presumably why they became law professors. Remember back in elementary school and junior high when you filled out some survey and the computer spit out potential careers? I can just imagine the criteria for being a law professor: (1) be analytical enough to score in the 99^th percentile on the LSAT so you can get into Harvard (2) be arrogant, smug and cocky, knowing you’re ALWAYS right and you know better than most judges and lawyers and certainly better than any student who dares to disagree with you (3) be unable to relate to students in or outside of class; have zero understanding of why law school can be stressful for students; do all you can not to make their lives miserable – like, say, if you have to cancel class, don’t send out an e-mail in advance; just post a sign on the door because students are always on campus awaiting your class; no students have lives and other things going on and none would benefit from knowing in advance that your class is canceled. (4) Likewise, keeping appointments with students is wholly optional; students hang on your every word so if you have an appointment and don’t show up, it’s no problem at all because no student ever has anything to do other than await your presence. Similarly, grading, which I’m sure is a miserable aspect of your job, can wait as long as you want. Students are never in a rush to get their grades because they don’t need to submit their GPAs to prospective employers – you want to take two months to grade exams? That’s fine! You’re a tenured law professor…Students have absolutely nothing to do other than wait for you; they don’t make plans or have a life. Oh, and be sure never to make eye contact with students even though, um, ya know, you wouldn't have a job if students didn't exist, so walk around campus (on the rare occasions that you actually do so because it's unavoidable; otherwise we know you have a side entrance, side staircase and even a side elevator that allows you to slip in and out of campus totally unnoticed) with your eyes straight ahead. Never, ever acknowledge people just because normal people in polite society who know each other nod to one another or say hello or exchange greetings; be defensive when challenged about your grading of a student's exam; use your class as a platform to preach either your political agenda or your worldview, regardless of how extreme that agenda is or how pessimistic you are about society.

As I said, I have nothing to compare it to because I never attended any other law schools. Two friends of mine, UM law graduates, who visited at other schools said they were stunned at how helpful, friendly and concerned the faculty seemed at those other schools compared with this one. These two friends don't know each other; they told me this separately. They were literally blown away by how accommodating the faculty were at these schools. But that’s hearsay (or anecdotal...whatever) so I can't swear to this. I know I’m not the first person to speculate that academia attracts those who can’t fit in elsewhere in the working world. What do you call it? The idiot savant theory? The Einstein theory?

Ultimately, I was disappointed in the quality of the faculty because I expected a little more than mediocrity. I knew I was attending a second-tier law school. I knew from reading their bios online that these people all went to Harvard and Yale and Princeton and Stanford and Chicago and Berkeley so I knew they were at one point considered among the smartest 1 or 2 percent of people in this country.

I knew that unlike in undergrad, professors wouldn’t seek out students and take an interest in their lives in and outside the classroom. That's fine. But I don't think my expectations were unrealistic; I did not expect to become pals with the faculty. But I think I expected more – specifically, I think the thing I expected the most was that the faculty would treat the students with respect (even just a tiny bit) and open-mindedness. I expected a little more interest in the actual teaching part of their job (even if only a little bit more). I didn't expect the intense disdain that most faculty emit toward students - ignoring them in public (several profs), walking around with their eyes locked in the forward position so as to avoid all eye contact (prof. torts), staring right through you when they see you at the gym (refers to a certain Prof who was a dean a couple of years ago, but NOT to a certain prof/dean often found walking his dog on campus, who is quite friendly). It seems as if so many of them had no concept of who their students are and no interest in finding out. Which is fine, but the disdain and arrogance gets to be too much when you face it ever day.

I should qualify this. There were some exceptions, of course. I came across a few (very few) who seemed like normal human beings with no obvious social deficiencies.

**
The thing about Froomkin's post is that although his reasons for what a prospective faculty member might consider before coming here is important, none of these factors directly impact students (except for Froomkin's No. 4, about students). I have little doubt that they indirectly impact students; if faculty didn't get research support and have other brilliant faculty around then the school wouldn't attract quality faculty.

I think a part of the problem is that, as with many institutions, there are conflicting goals. Kind like the way a pro sports team winning and making profit are dual goals that are accomplished in different ways, imparting knowledge onto students on the one hand and conducting scholarly research while contributing to the legal discourse, are conflicting goals. Can you do both? I don't have a clue. But just as I mentioned above, all these professors were once considered among the best and brightest Americans because they graduated from Ivy League or Ivy-equivalent colleges and law schools. And yet no one ever taught them how to teach or grade or relate to students as human beings (although I think the latter probably shouldn't need to be taught).

**
The other thing I heard over the three years that I was a law student is that relationships with faculty are about what you make of them. I get that. I didn't go out of my way to stop by professors' offices to have intellectual conversations and I didn't spend a lot of time trying to engage them. So in part, my perceptions are my own fault, right? Sure, but I think my experience was fairly typical in the sense that most people I know were like me in their relationships with faculty - occasional time in offices, occasional time talking after class, etc., but not a lot of people went far out of their way to develop relationships. If you're reading this post and you're one of those people who went out of their way, well, then you'll have a different opinion.

**

Major league debut

2007-10-02T19:59:00.000-05:00

I'm making my debut in court tomorrow. It's only a calendar call, which I know is basically standing up there saying you're ready or not ready for the case to be set for trial (obviously I'm not the one trying the case), but I'm still a little anxious. I guess they were smart enough to give me something that there's no way I can screw up for my debut. Good idea...

all grown up

2007-09-29T10:21:00.000-05:00

One of the things that takes getting used to now that I'm back in the full-time working world is that I'm surrounded by adults. Don't get me wrong - this is not an insult to you, the reader. I'm not suggesting I was any more mature than anyone while I was in law school even though I was several years older than most people. I just mean that everyone is so serious at work. And, get this, people actually work all day. For almost two years, I resisted the pull of the Internet during class. Sure, I logged on plenty, but unlike most people, I actually paid attention. But by the last year, especially the final semester, I paid attention maybe half the time. I was online, like every other 3L I know, the other half.

The people I work with all seem nice. They seem relatively friendly. There isn't much Office Space crap going on, or if there is, I don't see it because I sit in my office and do work. (By the way, I noticed that if I crane my neck I actually have a view of the Atlantic Ocean. That's cool. I can also watch the Goodyear Blimp land because its landing spot is outside my window (a few miles away but I can see it clearly). Attorneys work and paralegals do their thing and secretaries do whatever they do. But there is very little actual conversation about anything other than work (except for one guy; there's always one guy in every office who when you see him, you know you're locked into a conversation for 10 minutes). I've never walked into someone's office and seen someone checking ESPN or CNN or myspace or Facebook or IMing. Not once. I'm sure it happens because the IT guy said they don't monitor your usage, although they do block personal e-mail sites for some strange reason, but people in my law firm actually do work.

It's not that I'm surprised at this or that I have a problem with it. It just takes getting used to.

what I thought

2007-09-26T20:31:00.000-05:00

So I wanted to write this a few days ago but, well, I'm a lawyer so I'm really busy. I like saying that. I'm a lawyer. I'm sure the novelty will wear off quickly.

Mostly when I think about passing the bar I feel two things: relief and a sense of accomplishment. I have no reason to think I'll still be a lawyer in five, 10, 20 years, although I might be. But it was a lot of work. As far as an achievement that involved setting goals and attaining them, this is probably the toughest thing I've ever done. I've done other things that mean more and that are more important to who I am (like getting married, having a baby (soon)) but becoming a lawyer was something I specifically set as a goal. Then I spent what seemed like an eternity accomplishing it. There were plenty of times I thought about quitting and wondered whether it was all worth it. Actually I still wonder if it was worth it. But that's not the point. For me at least, it was a lot of work. But I did it. So that's that.

As for the relief, I think about the down side of law school and studying for the bar and am so glad I don't have to deal with that stuff any more. Don't get me wrong - I miss certain things about law school, just as I predicted (I'm way too lazy to find the link but I wrote about this last spring, April or May) -- three-day weekends, wearing shorts every day, taking naps, weekends free, being responsible only to myself (ie. knowing I wouldn't get fired from law school like I could theoretically get fired from my job if I decide to fuck around all day). Basically I miss being a second-semester 3L, not being a law student.

I think of all the things that were so monotonous. Even though studying for the bar was only two and a half months, it felt like two and a half years. Getting up and going to BarBri day after day was excruciating. I remember by the end of June having this feeling of dread that I couldn't shake. Doing practice problems every single day for something like 60 or 70 consecutive days and repeatedly missing too many or missing things that I knew the law but couldn't figure out the convoluted answer choices or knowing with 100 percent certainty that my answer was right and finding out that it was actually the wrong choice, well, that was so demoralizing. I know it's like a right of passage and I'm quite proud of myself for passing it, but I can't really understand why it has to be that way. In any case, that's something I'm relieved about not having to deal with.

The other thing I guess I think, along with the relief, is just about the whole first year and half or so when law school was so intense and so all-consuming and such a part of my identity. All that reading and briefing and sitting there listening to Prof. Contracts mutter about stuff only he could understand and watching Prof. Torts get pissed off at someone who didn't understand the impact rule and listening to Prof. Crim Pro's radical theories about how cops are her mortal enemies and hearing Prof. Con Law tell us that the Supreme Court came out wrong on every single case and then watching Prof. Evidence jump on desks and call everyone by name except me and listening to Prof. Business Associations carry on a two-hour conversation with himself...anyway, I survived all that.

So now I'm a lawyer. Some Guy, Esq.

I know I have at least a few more posts in me (the one I promised about the faculty and the one calling out my idiot LRW prof), so check back occasionally, OK.

Hey, did I mention I'm a lawyer? (I promise, I swear the novelty will wear off soon).

really real

2007-09-21T22:10:00.000-05:00

I got sworn in today. I am a lawyer. Damn, that sounds strange.

passed!

2007-09-17T17:44:00.000-05:00

I passed. I passed the bar exam!

I'm a lawyer. Actually, not yet, but I got all passes and a yes in the last column. Did you pass?

More later. Heading out to celebrate now...

welcome to loserville

2007-09-15T18:15:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so, at work I got a Treo. I've already turned into one of those people. You know the people - they're always on their Treo/Blackberry/Whatever other smartphone. I can't help it. I know they have a system to monitor Internet usage at work so I don't surf too much while I'm supposed to be working. And for some stupid reason you can pretty much access any site at work but not personal e-mail. They say it's for security, so no one will download a virus, but I don't really believe that. But I can check it on my Treo. Actually I bought the Treo and they're supposed to reimburse me. But I'm seriously thinking of not having them reimburse me just so it can be my Treo, not the firm's Treo. Then I can do whatever I want with it, right? Yeah, dork.

four more and it's real

2007-09-13T19:47:00.000-05:00

So the results come out in four days. Come on, don't tell me you haven't at least checked the Supreme Court web site. I have. Actually I have checked every day this week. What a loser.

Yeah, I should just let it go, but I wanted to see if they would go up early. But as a friend noted, it's kind of strange that the only thing they have is the February results. And if you look on the bar examiners site it says February results will be posted April whatever, 2007. Obviously that's outdated. That's fine, but why don't they have something that says "July results will be up Sept. 17"? The only thing I can think of is that they didn't tell the people during the February exam the exact day and time the results would be up. Right? Hopefully that's it and they are still on track to post them by Monday.

So if the results go up in four days, they have to be all graded by now, right? Even though lawyers are the world's best procrastinators I doubt people are up all night on the Sunday beforehand grading their exams. Right? At least I hope not.

I'm almost as anxious about this as I was before the actual exam...

the lunch curse

2007-09-09T16:31:00.000-05:00

I think I'm cursed or something. Not including the little deli in the basement of my office building, there is exactly one restaurant in walking distance. And yes, it's Subway. I thought after graduating from law school that I'd wait at least three years before eating in Subway again, but after four days of work I've already eaten at Subway once. Actually I probably went to Subway a total of a half dozen times during my last year but I grew to despise the place. I'll start bringing my lunch once I figure out my schedule because I'd be fine if I never ate in Subway again (because for anyone reading who didn't go to my law school, Subway is the only restaurant on the law school campus). At least I don't have to smell that horrific odor of "fresh baked bread" every morning...

it's on

2007-09-07T17:41:00.000-05:00

So, I started work. It's fine. It's tough to tell what it will be like. They talked about hours and expectations but I need time to figure it all out. They said to bill every minute of my time on a matter and the partners will later figure out how much can actually be billed to the client. What I wanted to know, but didn't ask, is if what I put down is considered to be the hours I bill (for purposes of meeting my numbers) or is what they send to the client considered to be the hours I bill? Until I hear otherwise I'll assume the former, although I'm guessing it's the latter. We'll see. I'm billing everything for now.

Bar results come out a week from Monday. At work I'm considered an attorney, which is strange to me, since I'm not an attorney. Not yet. I even had a box of business cards waiting on my desk. I just tossed the box into a drawer. Once I pass I'll send one to grandma. But still, even though I'm doing the work of an attorney I don't consider myself a lawyer. Hopefully I'll be one in a week and a half. And I have an office with an actual door and window, which I know is standard for lawyers, but it's the first time I've ever had a job in which I have my own office.

Getting up early the past three days (I started Tuesday but didn't have to be in until 9:30 that day) hasn't been too tough. We'll see if it lasts. I think I miss not having a job, even though my job is fine. I could've used about two or three more weeks of vacation, although if I had those additional two or three weeks I probably would've wanted two or three more weeks...

**
Hey, am I the only one still getting e-mails from Dean V and Hope and other random events on campus? I'm clearly not getting all student e-mails but I'm obviously still on some lists. You'd think they could figure that out.

not much, but a lot

2007-08-30T11:17:00.001-05:00

I have little to say. The excitement and anxiety of starting work in five days has been tempered by a family member's imminent death. I wish I could come up with something poignant about his death, which as of now is hours away, but I'm not in the mood. (Given a choice, what would you choose - a long, slow death or sudden death with no warning? It's an impossible choice). Nothing is good about this situation, but it's definitely allowed me less time to think about the start of the job. It seems selfish and insensitive to even think about my own problems at a time like this, but he's been on the decline for four months, so for some, the end will come as a relief; in any case the end is also a new beginning. Or something like that. So, we wait.

better things to do

2007-08-24T09:50:00.000-05:00

So a couple of nights ago a friend of mine, now a 3L, calls me. He has the same position I had last year in the one non-class related law school activity that I was involved with. He had a fairly straightforward question. I was happy to answer. I answered. That was the end of the conversation. But afterwards when I thought about how much work this activity involved, I thought to myself, "Thank God I'm no longer involved in this, thank God I graduated from law school." I don't want to be reading casebooks and listening to professors drone on and worrying about stupid rules like being required to brief cases or attendance requirements or reading stuff I don't want to be reading. Of course, I realize in three months when I'm working long hours (and reading stuff I don't want to be reading and briefing (or highlighting) cases) and wishing I could come home and take a nap, or missing my three-day weekends, or when I have about 10 minutes total during the day to play around online instead of three hours a day, I might feel differently. For now though, yeah, I'm glad I'm done with law school.

Did I miss something

2007-08-23T10:41:00.000-05:00

So I'm reading Grand Poobah's blog and the comments to this post and apparently he's starting to study for the bar exam again, despite having just taken it and being 85 days away from getting results. Although his rationale sounds logical, I'm floored. Is this a California thing? Something you only do if you went to an unaccredited law school in California? (I think I read something over the summer about him taking the "Baby Bar" which as far as I know is only for those who go to unaccredited California law schools, but I'm not sure. In any case, I mean no disrespect by suggesting he went to an unaccredited school).

Do people from our school start studying too, just in case? Am I missing something? This seems strange. I have no better idea today than I did on July 25 as to whether I passed, but I'll be damned if I'll start studying. If I failed I'll look at my BarBri schedule from the summer and count backward from the date of the February bar, and then start studying again at that time. I think that would be about two weeks before X-mas because I think the bar is at the end of February but I haven't even looked up the date. Why would I? As I wrote several times before, by the day of the exam I knew the law. I knew it. I did. This is fact. If I failed it's because despite having done 2,000 or more questions, I couldn't figure out what the hell the questions and answers were saying.

dumb luck?

2007-08-22T14:38:00.000-05:00

Someone posted a comment asking me how I got my job, because they knew I didn't get it through the school's career center. Unfortunately I don't have much advice or wisdom to offer anyone still looking for a job, but I can tell you what I did.

Early in the second semester I made a list of firms with practice areas I liked in the area I wanted (it's a niche field - almost no firms in this state do this area solely because there isn't enough business) and started cold calling and mailing them. I had three interviews with them. It helped that a partner there was formerly partners with a guy I interned for one summer.

I had interviews at maybe seven or eight places. I had two offers and a third was almost certainly coming had I not accepted the one that I did. The one I didn't accept was a firm that my Lit Skills professor steered me towards because she's close friends with the managing partner. The third was a tiny firm; I liked it but couldn't shake the feeling that the firm was basically the one guy and what if he got hit by a bus or became a judge or got struck by lightning or was in a bad mood one day and decided to fire me. Anyway, I'm happy with my choice.

I chose one over the other for these reasons (not necessarily in this order): (1) my firm has the practice area I most want to do, although it's not as lucrative as other fields so they made it clear to me that although I might be able to do it when cases come in (and they stressed the 'might' part but when I talked to rank-and-file types they explained how you can get yourself assigned to a certain department), I'll also have to do other stuff (2) I liked all the people I met with and (3) I wanted to move to a different part of town and was unwilling to commute 40 miles each way. No. 3 might sound strange to some people depending on where you live, but with a new baby and a job involving billable hours, the last thing I want is to be spending two or more hours a day in the car. That would have a huge (negative, obviously) impact on my quality of life and state of mind.

That's it. I guess my only other suggestion would be to talk to other law students, including employed ones. I saw at least two people get jobs over the summer essentially because friends (fellow graduates) had offers that they turned down or reneged on. Personally I haven't got a clue if my new firm still needs people but once I start I'm sure I'll get a sense of it.

it starts soon

2007-08-21T17:19:00.000-05:00

I start my job two weeks from today. So far I've had a great time not working. I'm sure the fact that I actually have a job is a factor but I'll be honest - I love not having a job. I don't so much love not having a paycheck but I've always liked being out and about in the middle of the day. Before law school my career often had me working odd hours so I could be doing stuff during the day when most people were in the office. It seemed a little bit unconventional, like I was doing something that others couldn't.

For the past couple of days I've been doing errands and stuff around my new place. Today I discovered a few cool things in my neighborhood. Today in my new neighborhood I found a store/restaurant that sells only South African food (owned by a South African woman, not surprisingly). Strange. I bought some meat pies. I've always wanted to go to South Africa, but it's so damn far away. I thought Japan was far - the 12 and a half hour flight from Tokyo to D.C. was brutal but South Africa is even farther. More importantly thought, now I have all this time off, which is why we went to Japan. Soon, I won't have all that time off so going somewhere that takes 24-36 hours just to get there doesn't make much sense.

So the point is that I like doing nothing. I got some forms from my law firm in a fedex package today and just tossed them aside. I'll fill them out before I start, but the last thing I want to do during my final two weeks of freedom is think about working.

Actually, several of my friends have made a similar comment to me about how this is the end of my "freedom" and the grind is starting and it's all downhill from here and blah blah blah now I'm going to be a working stiff and that sucks.

I don't really look at it that way. I see my first day of work as the start of a new chapter in my life. On the one hand, I've been working toward this for a long, long time (three years of law schoool, not to mention the year before law school, at which point I knew I'd be doing to law school, when I worked at a job with one cool person and a bunch of people straight out of the movie Office Space). On the other hand, everything now is new. A new city, new house, new career (assuming I passed the fucking bar exam, but I have to assume I did for now), new stage of life (Superbee was correct-my daughter is on the way-she's arriving on Thanksgiving).

So, yeah, I don't know. I don't look at this job as a prison. I don't see this as something that will last an eternity. I have no idea if I'll be there for a year, three years or 30 years. Although I hope to soon be able to call myself a lawyer, I don't even know if I'll spend the rest of my adult life as a lawyer. How can I know without trying it out for a while? I can't. So it's the beginning of an adventure.

a few pictures of Japan

2007-08-20T16:46:00.002-05:00

Bizarre ritual during baseball game
We saw the Seibu Lions beat the Chiba Lotte Marines, 4-3

Nikko (I don't know who that guy is - it's not me)

Nikko

I was born in this hospital (like you care, right?)

Sake barrels at Meiji Shrine

Imperial Palace in Kyoto

Silver Pavilion in Kyoto

The Japanese don't always get it right when try English

Gold Pavillion in Kyoto

back

2007-08-17T17:15:00.001-05:00

I'm back from Japan and finally on line in my new place. Had a great time in Japan. I barely thought about the bar exam at all. But, unfortunately, it did pop into my head at random times. Oh well. I don't have much else to say, but I'll try to think of something soon.

moving on

2007-07-31T13:54:00.001-05:00

I've never liked moving. Growing up, I moved every couple of years. Moving just sucks.

But I think packing and moving was actually good for me this time. It kept me busy thinking about something other than the bar exam. It's also kind of like a catharsis, a housecleaning, a fresh start. When I get back from Japan in a couple of weeks it will be to a new house in a new city and I will have no reason to think about the bar exam. Granted, I only moved 40 miles from my old place, so the we're in the same metro area, but it may as well be a different planet. (Those who live or have lived here will know what I'm talking about.).

Today I unpacked a box that was full of BarBri books and my massive stack of flashcards. I spent about two minutes flipping through the flashcards and each time I got a new one I knew it cold. I mean I really knew this stuff. And yet I still felt the way I felt after the exam. Anyway, the flashcards went into a hiding place (just in case, unfortunately) and the BarBri books went back in the box so I can ship them back after the trip.

If I blog again in the next couple of days it will be from Japan. And I know I won't be able to think about the bar exam while I'm in Japan because, well, you know, I'll be in Japan and I'll be too busy eating Japanese food and drinking Japanese beer and sake and stuff...

Is this the end?

2007-07-29T11:05:00.001-05:00

I really hate when people blog about their blogs, but I rarely do it so I guess it's Ok once in a while.

So, the short answer: No, I still have a few more things to say over the next couple months (including a post I wrote before graduation about the faculty and my long-awaited promise (to myself) to call out my idiot LRW prof by name, which I will wait to do until I am admitted to the bar and then do it very carefully to make sure I haven't libeled him).

Longer answer: I'm not sure.

Now that law school is over and the bar exam is over, I'm not sure what to do with this blog. I've had this blog for two years and had another one for the year before that so I've been blogging for three years. At times over the years we were getting 70-80 hits a day. The blog peaked at about 115 per day during the bar exam. That's a lot, considering there are something like 70 million blogs out there (although in another life I wrote for a newspaper that had a circulation of close to 400,000 and almost 700,000 on Sundays so in comparison, it's sort of relative). It seems to have peaked second semester of second year and then reached new heights during the bar exam studying. And if you were reading, thanks (even if you read because you hated me, like that one guy).

The thing with law school blogs (or "blawgs," as they're called, but I think that's such a stupid word) is that there is a built-in audience. Now the built-in readership is gone - or soon to be gone. I won't blog a single word about my firm (I start in September) because everyone knows that's not a good idea. I'm not a brilliant legal scholar so I won't start blogging about legal issues. There are millions of political blogs out there so I won't do that. Some blogs that were terrific during law school become excruciatingly painful to read when the blogger talks about the minutiae of daily life - even if he's a minor celebrity and probably a future celebrity, too.

I could blog about a huge change that's coming to my life in late November but, well, that's not the kind of thing I really want to publicize day in and day out. I always thought I could be a good baseball blogger but there are so many good baseball blogs out there - and at least a few dozen sports blogs worth reading - that I won't even pretend I can come close (not too long ago I made a living writing about sports but it's tough to be good at it if you're not doing it full time).

For a good blog, you need a niche or a gimmick and I have to find one that isn't being covered. I don't know. I'll definitely post here when I get the bar results. I'll mull over what to do with this blog over the next few days and weeks. If you have any suggestions, I'm open to them (but don't suggest I blog about work; it's not happening).

In the meantime, I'll have only sporadic Internet access the next couple of days as we move and then I'll be out of the country for a couple of weeks so I'm not sure how often, if at all, I'll update.

**
It's been three full days and I'm still kind of on edge, irritable and absent minded. It's strange. Last night was the first time I got a good night's sleep. I guess it will take a little longer to recover than I thought.

tough choices

2007-07-28T10:37:00.000-05:00

A few commenters mentioned selling BarBri books online. So here's a guy trying to sell a complete set of 2006 BarBri books for $290 and the highest bid is $40. That's not enough. BarBri gives you more than that, right? I can't remember how much BarBri gives you back - I think it's $150 but I could be wrong. Here's someone selling their 2005 Conviser on amazon for $40. I don't know.

On ebay people are selling their outlines. Does anyone actually buy them? Who would do that? I guess it doesn't hurt to try and sell them and hope for a buyer? Even the PMBR CDs are selling for $40, which is great, but the high bid is much lower. Is it even worth selling them for $10? Probably not. I think I'll keep the PMBR stuff just in case.

But what if you try to sell it and don't get anything and the BarBri deadline passes and you're stuck with this crap? I don't know. I'll worry about it after I get back from my trip.

post mortem

2007-07-27T09:39:00.000-05:00

A few random thoughts about my experience taking the Florida bar exam, in no particular order of importance or relevance (some written after day one, updated yesterday and today). Hopefully this will be the last, or one of the last, posts about the bar exam because I need to put this thing out of my mind.

1. My 'neighbor' at my table must have erased approximately 90 of the 100 multiple choice questions on Tuesday. The table was shaking nonstop. Why would anyone continuously erase the answer to every question? Don't most people make marks on the exam book, and not the answer sheet before filling in the bubble on the answer sheet? (I don't mean that people shouldn't erase - everyone erases but she literally erased almost every question). Also, she made sure I knew she was a bitch the moment I got to the table on Tuesday morning when I accidentally stepped on her laptop cord as I was trying to get to my seat and she said, 'hey, can you watch out?' I was seriously tempted to offer a smartass remark and ask her if she honestly was so stupid that she thought someone stepping on an electrical cord could possibly cause any harm to the cord, but I resisted. It's an electrical cord. It's designed to be stepped on, unless, maybe someone is wearing pointy high heels or something. But inside, I knew. Guess what? I had my suspicion confirmed when she didn't come back on Wednesday. That means she was taking Florida for a second time because she failed.

2. A lot of people said the big room - 5,000 people in one room - was intimidating and scary. I didn't think it was at all. In fact, I'd much rather be in that kind of room than crammed into one of those stuffy, narrow classrooms at school where every chair creaks and people are right behind you and next to you on every side. Also I think the massive room caused sound to disperse or something because you'd think with 5,000 people in one place there would be non-stop coughing and sniffling and whatnot, but there wasn't. Or it's possible that I was just focused and didn't hear that noise.

3. On Monday afternoon a homeless person wished me good luck on the exam. On Tuesday afternoon (after taking FL) the hotel housekeeper who came into my room to make it up saw me studying and said, 'boy, why you still studyin'? haven't you heard 'study long, study wrong?'" Two other hotel personnel wished me good luck and said I'd do fine - the room service guy and the guy who came to fix my air conditioner

4. The confusion after taking the laptop portion of the exam on Tuesday morning was bizarre and troubling. The old guy collecting disks had no idea if he was supposed to collect exam booklets and those oaths, too. You'd think they would train those people.

5. While no one got to take an actual bag/purse/laptop case in the exam I saw a few people who were allowed to bring in a little pouch with stuff like pens, pencils, erasers, earplugs, etc. Also you'd think they would have some uniformity in terms of what's allowed in. I have heard other states require everyone to have a uniform size plastic ziploc bag and specifically identify what is and isn't allowed. Here, Florida specifically says what is and isn't allowed but I saw people with gum and candy on their desk and that was clearly banned. Not that I'm complaining. I'm just saying -- you'd think they would provide clearer guidelines.

6. Our lunch (sandwiches and salad) was nicer than the one provided for Florida State. I didn't see what the other in-state schools served but FSU had only boxed lunches. Too bad. I guess that's the benefit of going to a private (much lower ranked) school. Despite my post earlier in the week about the lunch I am grateful that our school provided lunch. (and yeah, there was turkey but on both days when I got to the lunch meat the roast beef and ham was almost gone while the turkey was still all there).

7. Speaking of lunch, apparently the Hyatt offered a boxed lunch for you to pick up in between sessions but it was something like $20. Wow. Not that I can really talk when it comes to spending money for this whole thing considering how much I spent on the hotel room, room service two nights, Internet, etc. Again, I'm not complaining - every penny is worth it (especially if I pass, which I will), but this is an extraordinarily expensive endeavor. Of course this all comes on top of the $120,000 we spent on law school and additional $5,000 or so for bar review classes.

8. Flying home was a great idea. It actually sounded kind of fun when people were talking about going out (in Tampa) on Wednesday night and I'm sure it had the potential to be fun but I'm glad I went straight home. I had a few drinks on the way home, naturally. In the airport, actually.

9. I have to find a way to put this entire thing out of my head. There is nothing I can do until results come out. Obviously. I have to convince myself that I passed and move on with my life. I'm sure it will be easier in a few days not to think about it.

10. Is it a major accomplishment to have done what we just did? I think it only is an accomplishment if we passed. Otherwise, not so much.

11. I don't know what was worse - the 2.5 months of studying or the actual two days of the exam. After day one, I thought the former was worse. After day two, I'm not entirely sure. I just don't know. Wow. I'm still kind of in a daze.

12. I think it was kind of nice of Dean V. to be up there and wish everyone good look, circulate around the convention center while everyone was in line, etc. Somehow it seemed a little nice to know that the administration (even if he was the only one) actually cared about what we were going through. (I saw Prof. Evidence at the gym on Thursday and he did that thing he always does when he sees me, that 'hey' mutter, which is fine, but don't you think professors should be aware of and acknowledge the date of the exam? It's not a big thing at all but you know, a little 'hey, aren't you glad it's over' or even 'how'd it go?' (although I hate answering that question) kind of acknowledgment would've been nice.)

13. I'm glad this is over.

14. If I fail, I might not post anything about it. I might shut down this blog for good one day out of the blue (actually Sept. 17).

15. When I came home from the MPRE last August, I was sure that I had failed. Positive. Within a few hours of coming home I sat down in front of my computer and deleted all references that I'd made to having taken the MPRE because I didn't want anyone to know what I had taken it when they saw me re-taking it in the fall. Well, I didn't fail; it wasn't even close (to failing). So I'm hoping this is the same thing, although I won't go and delete all the references to the bar exam.

16. I'm still amazed at how much weight Lawfool lost. It was amazing.

17. One of the things I missed while studying for the bar exam was TV. I don't mean that I missed it, as in, I wished I had seen it. But I mean I missed 99 percent of new TV. I missed a ton of news as it was happening, but by and large I knew what was going on. One thing I allowed myself to keep up with was baseball because I couldn't survive without watching baseball and keeping up on baseball news. But I can't even begin to imagine what it was like to study for the bar exam before the Internet. How, other than reading the newspaper, could you possibly know what was going on in the world?

18. I saw only a few people wearing their Harvard or Yale shirts. I figured there would be more because I heard that people would try that stupid intimidation game. But they didn't. I was a little surprised.

19. I was trying to think of all the things I'm looking forward to doing now that it's over. And for some reason, I can't. I just want my life back in all ways. Other than spending more time with my wife and having more time during which I don't have any obligations, I don't really know what else I want to be doing now that I have all this free time. That's not to say that I don't have any ambitions or goals but I've been so focused on the bar exam that I seem to have temporarily lost sight of things I enjoy doing or want to spend time doing. Eh. It'll come back to me.

20. Is Bar Bri going to send us instructions about sending back the books? Damn, that's probably expensive. I guess it's worth it to get that deposit back. On the other hand, how much could you sell all those books for on amazon? A guy who saw me throw out my (typed) notes said I should save them and sell them on ebay because that's what his friend did last year. Whatever. Maybe I'll check out e-bay. Presumably a hefty chunk of change, considering that the buyer would be saving thousands of dollars.

21. If you've read this far, don't leave yet. I mean don't stop reading this blog. My blogging career isn't entirely over even though the purpose for which I started this blog is over (law school, bar exam). I promise not to turn this into a blog about me, me and my life. I'm not sure what I'll do with it. Anyway, I'll have a post up in a few days in which I think about the future of this blog.

22. I'm really glad this is over. I want my life back. And I'm going to get it back.

23. Have I mentioned how glad I am that this is over?

24. A commenter wrote the other day that California's bar exam results come back in mid-November. I think she was actually serious when she said that if you fail, you have to start studying pretty much right away - give or take a couple of weeks. That sucks. At least if you fail FL you have two months during which you don't have to study. Not that I'm planning to have failed, but that's out of my hands now.

25. Did you, like me, wonder what happens to all the answer sheets after we turned them in? Do they go in someone's trunk who drives them to Tallahassee? Do they travel in an armored car? Are they guarded and secure or do they just get shoved into briefcases and tossed into back seats of people's cars? Who knows? As long as they get to the right place, wherever they're graded, it's fine. Whatever.

26. Do you wish, now that this is over, that FL had the rules of some other states that don't grade your essays if you passed the multi-state? I really don't know if I'd prefer that method or not. I guess it's easy to say that I would've liked that approach but who knows. It is what it is. (Isn't that a stupid cliche?). Actually I don't think I'd like that because in hindsight after the entire thing is over I am fairly confident that I did the best of all on the essays (not that I did well, but ya know what I mean - I mean if you divided the thing into four parts (or just three parts), I'm sure my highest score was on the essay part.

27. I think I would give anyone the advice who is studying for the bar exam to spend a few weeks doing and learning the essays that are all the same, then focus on the ones that are different. In other words, once you have down the obvious essays like negligence and family's four basic issues and K formation, spend your time on the essays that differ, like the few torts essays that aren't negligence, the few family ones that don't talk about the four basic issues.

28. I have to stop thinking about this. I will. I will. Really.

29. I never, ever want to do this again. Ever. Seriously.

Over. Done. Finished. Seriously

2007-07-26T12:36:00.000-05:00

It's over. I'm not sure what to say. The MBE was much, much harder than I thought it would be. Going in, I actually felt prepared given how much I'd done. It didn't seem to help at all. Ok, that's not true. It would have been even worse had I not done 2,000 or so questions. Where were the 25 gimmes? I counted maybe three in the morning and maybe, possibly 10 or so in the afternoon. And that's probably a stretch.

I'll have another post on the bar exam later today or, more likely, tomorrow. Soon I'll stop thinking about it. Even though I was in my own bed last night and had a few drinks in me by the time my plane landed I didn't sleep well at all. I kept thinking about the exam.

Now I have to pack because tomorrow is moving day. Fun. Actually anything is better than the bar exam.

I. Am. So. Glad. It's. Over. Thank. God.

half done

2007-07-24T16:21:00.000-05:00

Wow. Just wow.

Day one is over. I don't know how I feel. Not very good, I guess.

Let's see - the essays had none of the gimmes that everyone expected (people expected at least one negligence or basic family (with just the 4 basic issues, contract formation, something easy from FL Con Law (eminent domain, access to courts, privacy, etc.), etc.).

The multiple choice contained business entities instead of wills. Was it just me or did it seem like twice as many of those as other subjects? Probably just me.

The questions were brutal. This is the thing though - if I failed, I have absolutely no idea how I can do anything differently to prepare for taking it again. The questions were, by and large, as poorly written as those in the BarBri book. Few had fact patterns of more than 4-5 lines, unlike MBE questions, so they didn't make you think that hard.

I guess passing the Florida Bar Exam is all about memorizing the arcane minutiae of Florida distinctions. So maybe I've answered my own question - if God forbid, I did fail, I need to memorize the FL outlines word for word and forget about doing too many practice questions.

Damn. This is awful. I had a workout and now it's time to review some MBE stuff for tomorrow.

**
Hopefully he won't be pissed at me for revealing this but I saw the Lawfool, a former student here who went on to bigger and better things at a bigger and better school after 1L and I almost fell over, as a certain professor whose name rhymes with Potzky might say. Lawfool has lost over 100 pounds! Seriously. I am not exaggerating at all because I asked how much he'd lost although it was fairly obvious by looking at him. Wow. Nice job, buddy. That's a far greater accomplishment than passing the bar exam...

**
The told us that results will be posted on the Supreme Court web site at 2 p.m. on September 17, 2007. Wow. I'll have been at work for two weeks by then. That should be a fun morning at the office. I'll bet I bill tons of hours and have a nice, relaxing lunch with my coworkers. Nah, I won't be nervous at all. Hey, I hear other states don't post results until well into November so I'm not complaining.

b-day

2007-07-23T14:20:00.000-05:00

It's here. I wish I had some profound words, but I don't. I spent a few hours this morning studying Florida at the Stetson law library here in downtown Tampa.

**
I had a roast beef sandwich at some deli where a bunch of lawyers were talking about what kind of evidentiary objections to make at the next table. At another table was a lawyer who told me she felt pity for me when she saw my Conviser.

**
I've seen lots of law students around the hotel and around town, but actually not as many as I thought I would. Maybe they, like me, are holed up in their rooms studying. I'm studying just a little more and that's it. I think tomorrow afternoon and night after I get back and upload my essays I will review the PMBR bluebook last minute tips and some of my notes, but I probably won't open the conviser or handout book.

**
I will pass the bar exam and so will you.

I will pass the bar exam. You will pass the bar exam.

one more day

2007-07-22T18:12:00.000-05:00

I'm in Tampa. I'm in my hotel. I got a ride up here with a friend. I decided to fly home. That will be nice. I'm grumpy. I did some practice problems and scored poorly. I know it was a tough test though and scaled score I probably passed. I should have brought the big Bar Bri Mpq book to do some intro questions just to boost my confidence.

If I fail it won't be because I don't know the material; it will be because the wording of the questions and answer choices trips me up. Whatever. I know the stuff. I have done about 2,000 questions. I will recognize the situation that is taking place in the fact pattern because those stupid PMBR questions always make it slightly more complicated than it needs to be. I will pass the bar exam, be admited to the bar and become a lawyer. So there.

**
Any thoughts, recommendations, suggestions on how early to get there, how much time to leave or other non-obvious tips for bar takers? I don't want to be first in the room and be forced to sit there and stare at my hands for an hour when the doors open at 8. (apparently you're not allowed to talk in the room - that's what the instructions say). I also don't want to be rushed getting in there and worrying that I won't be in my seat until 8:59 a.m. I think if I got in the room at 8:30 or so, those 30 minutes would be the longest 30 minutes of my life. I can't really think of any valid reason to get there early other than the fact that you won't have to worry about being late. But I also don't want to be late. Eh. I don't know.

I read one of the old letters I got from the bar and it said there is video surveillance to make sure you comply with the rules. I can kind of understand why they need to be so strict but I guess there goes the idea that the PMBR teacher suggested about bringing in some snacks or candy or whatever. Can you imagine being escorted out of there by armed bar examiners because you took a bit of a granola bar you'd surreptitiously stashed in your pocket?

One piece of advice I got: if you're typing on Tuesday, don't bring your laptop case because it takes too long to check it. Someone told me about their friend who got into the room right at 9 after waiting forever to check their laptop case. So carry it in your hands or a shopping bag, I guess. I guarantee it will rain and my laptop will get soaked on the 8-minute walk from my hotel to the CC. But I brought some plastic bags, so I'm prepared!

thinking too much about the bar exam

2007-07-21T13:51:00.000-05:00

So I'm reading Deadspin.com yesterday instead of reading yet another essay about the four basic Family Law issues. And I see that the Kansas City T-Bones, an unaffiliated minor league team is holding Lunar Night, in which fans can actually win a deed to a plot of land on the moon.

If I was a normal person with a normal life, I would kind of laugh and say, ha, that's cool, that's funny. Then I wouldn't give it another thought.

Instead, my mind started racing about all the potential issues, including, but probably not limited to:

1. Is the deed validly executed? (Signed by two witnesses, notarized, etc.)
2. What is the recording statute used for land on the moon?
3. Who has jurisdiction to enforce such deeds - where, in other words, do I record the deed, regardless of recording statute?
4. Will the deed specifically describe the plot? Do they use metes and bounds on the moon and have legal descriptions like we have here on Earth (or at least in the U.S.)?
5. Can lunar plots be held in the way Earth parcels are held - JTWROS, T-I-C, T-by-E, etc.?
6. Do they have the same rules up there for easements, reciprocal covenants and equitable servitudes?
7. Although profits don't seem like a big deal on the MBE, you'd think the whole profit a prendre market up there might be intense because of all the natural resources in the ground. Maybe not. Are there natural resources in the ground up there?
8. Has the moon modified the common law Rule Against Perpetuities (because I'm thinking if they don't have it up there, they ought to just keep it that way because really no one needs the damn thing, right?).
9. What about mortgages? Can you even get a mortgage for moon property?

So, being a complete dork and not wanting to go back to Family Law, I did some investigation (actually a Google search). Apparently, there is a space registry that actually sells moon plots. Apparently they are only selling about two percent of the moon's surface, so only about 100 million acres are for sale. I guess that's OK. So, anyway, this is a lot less interesting than I thought. It still doesn't answer the above questions though.

**
Next post: from Tampa. Can't wait. I usually like road trips. This one will not be fun...

here i come, there i go

2007-07-20T12:33:00.000-05:00

I'm fucking delirious. Yesterday I took half a practice test and scored lower than I've scored on any set of problems in the past two weeks. I know I can do this but that's not good for your confidence this late in the game.

I don't have much else to say about the process at this point. I'm still studying. I'm actually trying to ramp it down a little instead of ramping it up. I can't go crazy. I know the material. I really do - well, most of it (not so much when it comes to mortgages or the RAP). And I've done probably 2,000 practice questions, give or take. I haven't counted. I just need to make sure I recognize what's happening on the paper in front of me. It's beyond frustrating when I've gotten a problem wrong, then I read the answer and I know the point of law but I didn't recognize that this point of law is what was happening, or I picked a wrong answer choice. I guess it's much better that this happens then the opposite - getting something wrong because you had the law wrong or didn't have a clue what the law was. Right?

Another annoying thing is when PMBR or BarBri keeps repeating the same question over and over. That happens constantly. I did a few questions from the practice test in the back of the PMBR blue book and saw a lot of repeat questions. Why do they do that? On the one hand, you're hoping that the Bar Exam will also repeat the same question - with maybe a few small variations - so maybe it's good. On the other hand, it would be far more helpful to provide different fact patterns for the same answers. Does that make sense? Or maybe it's just not possible and the only way they can test a certain thing is to use that specific fact pattern.

Damn. I don't know. I want this to be over. Actually, I want it to be here.

i'm not hungry

2007-07-19T12:27:00.000-05:00

So the law school provides a free lunch during both days of the bar for people who went here. I think that's good because the PMBR lady was talking about bringing a sandwich and hiding it in your pocket or driving somewhere for lunch. I'm glad I don't have to worry about that. The last thing I want to worry about is stuffing a sandwich in my pocket and hiding it from the authorities who apparently strip search you on the way in (OK, not quite a strip search but the list of what you can't bring in is long).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. But I started thinking about how our school puts no effort into planning and spends no time thinking through the consequences of its actions and almost never considers the students when it makes plans, so I was wondering what they'll serve. I'm guessing:
(a) a giant pot of five-alarm chili
(b) black beans and rice with a side of greasy fried plantains or
(c) turkey with a side of pasta, maybe with some white bread for those who need more simple carbs.
(update (d) just to make sure we all feel right at home: subway sandwiches!)

Maybe if they serve (a) or (b) people from our school will have the advantage after lunch because everyone else will be so grossed out by the after effects...

evidence

2007-07-18T15:52:00.000-05:00

If you weren't one of the 30 or so people who made it to Prof. Tort's evidence lecture this afternoon (or if you're one of the 15 people who walked out in the middle when you realized it was useless), you didn't miss much. It's undisputed that he's one of the country's pre-eminent experts in evidence. But that doesn't mean he can boil it down to what you need to know for the bar exam. So I've provided you with a summary:

1. It's an unsettled question as to whether you should have sex or abstain the weekend before the bar
2. You should not have a drop of alcohol between now and next Tuesday
3. The confrontation clause is incredibly fucking confusing if you want to get into the finer points and rationale and details

whew, that was fast

2007-07-18T12:51:00.000-05:00

In the first hour of the first day of BarBri back in May, the woman told us that we would be surprised at how quickly this summer would fly by. I thought she was nuts. Staring at two and a half months of this felt like it would take two and a half years. Sure enough, it went by quickly. I almost long for the days of BarBri classes again. The thing is - even if you did a subject one day and didn't really get it and it seemed like it would be a nightmare to master, you felt like you still had time. Plenty of time. Now, not so much.

Obviously I'll keep studying my ass off the next few days but at a certain point you just have to realize that you can't learn that much. There is only really so much material to study. Florida wills is a good example. There are about 100 questions, which I finished about six weeks ago and have done again. There's the lecture notes and the outline (and Conviser which is just the outline in short form). No more. That doesn't mean I know everything about the subject and it is not confidence inspiring. But I can do no more other than keep reading Conviser over and over.

Please let the next six days go by quickly.

not much

2007-07-17T13:05:00.000-05:00

Not much to say. A week from now I'll be in Tampa. Actually exactly a week from when I'm writing this I'll be about 35 percent done with the bar exam. The other day I couldn't sleep because I was taking a practice test in my head. The strange thing is that I don't think I was going over any actual material; I was just doing questions by rote and that kept me from falling into a deep sleep. Strange. It doesn't make any sense. I guess I must have been half asleep and drifting in and out of sleep. Whatever. I think last night I dreamed about learned treatises and the difference between past recollection recorded and present recollection refreshed. Or is it the other way around?

**
I want my life back. I keep thinking about all the things I want to do once this is over. After going out of town for a couple of weeks I still have over two weeks until my job starts. You'd think I would have this long list of things I want to accomplish but mostly the things I want to do are normal things: watch an entire baseball game on TV, cook something for dinner, not have to think I should be studying whenever I'm doing something that's not studying, not worrying about the bar exam, etc.

**
I talked to someone at the PMBR class who starts a job with the local public defender after the bar exam. The job starts July 30. That's four days after the last day of the bar exam. That sucks. I know someone who actually turned down a job with the local PD for that reason - he couldn't bear the thought of having only a four-day break. But I guess you make up for it by getting something like three weeks vacation a year, getting out early on Fridays, working 9:30 to 5 at most, not working weekends, etc. Not that I'd want that salary. Anyway, the worst was last summer when I took the MPRE - there were people who had just taken the bar exam two weeks before. I can't imagine being motivated to get ready for another test just two weeks later even though there's no valid comparison between the MPRE and the real thing.

this is nice, but how about sending my diploma

2007-07-16T14:40:00.001-05:00

Did you get this e-mail today? Wonderful. This is your reward for $100,000 and all that hard work: A free transcript! It's almost embarrassing that they make it sound like a reward. Here's an idea - how about sending me my diploma instead?

Congratulations on the successful completion of your degree. We trust that your experience at the University of Miami was a positive one and will afford you a solid base for your future achievements.

My staff in the Office of the Registrar will gladly continue to serve your records-related needs as an alumnus of the University of Miami. Upon receipt of this email, you are now eligible for a free transcript containing your final grades and degree notation along with honors you received at the time of graduation. Previous requests do not apply.

To request your free transcript, please go to www.miami.edu/myum. Go to “My Academic Records” and choose “Order Transcripts”. Then simply check the box indicating you would like to use your free transcript. Fill out the entire form, including the address to which you would like the transcript sent. You may send your transcript to an address other than your own.

Best wishes in all your future endeavors.

Scott Ingold
Associate Vice President for
Enrollment Management and Registrar

about the bar exam

2007-07-16T12:08:00.001-05:00

Just a few observations and thoughts:

I'm glad the 3-day PMBR is over. I think for some reason I had higher hopes. Whatever. I don't know how they could make it any better. The woman was kind of annyong but I don't think it's her fault.

**
She said to do one more practice test. Or maybe she said to do two. I don't remember. I'm not doing any more. I'm doing questions but not an entire practice test. I am dead to the world after a practice test and it takes me at least a day to recover. I never really thought I'd feel that way. But I'm fine after doing 60-100 questions in a morning and going over them in the afternoon.

**
The PMBR woman also said not to study next Monday. I think that's a little crazy. If anyone tells me that "if you don't know it now, you never will," I'll punch them in the face. That's just stupid. Sure, if you've never done one minute of studying on a subject and then try to cram it in on Monday, you're fucked. But having studied everything at least once, and most Florida topics a lot more than just once, I know that it will be a good chance to refresh my memory. I won't be studying 15 hours that day but since I'm getting to Tampa on Sunday I'll spend most of the day, maybe 9-5 or so, reviewing and studying. I guess I'll be doing much less on Sunday since that's when I'm driving up, but I'll be in my hotel room by 3 so I can definitely do a few hours. It's not like I have anything else to do in Tampa. What are you going to do on the day before?

**
A couple more interesting things she said: three or four questions on the MBE have two answers and you get credit for either. Great. I guess that's good because you have a 50 percent chance but you know when you see those you're going to struggle to figure out the right one and it's going to slow you down.

She said to add 25 points to your score if you happen to do the full test in the back of the PMBR blue book.

**
One thing I keep forgetting, for some reason, is about those 10 questions that don't count. I don't think anyone ever explained this well. Are there five in the morning and five in the afternoon? Does this mean there are actually 210 questions or does this mean there are only 190 graded questions? I guess it doesn't matter much, does it?

**
A lot of people (including me, of course) are worried about the Florida essays and keep talking about how they are worried about the Florida essays. But what about the Florida multiple choice? I'm plenty worried about those, too. I wonder what the rationale is for Florida not telling you what subjects are going to be tested. It sure makes it harder to study for. The essays are just a crapshoot - I could pick three random essays out of the yellow books and score 60-70 points on each. You could pick three random essays for me to do and I'd score about 20 on each. I'm pretty sure that everyone feels this way so there will be a mix of easy and hard.

techno-nothing

2007-07-14T18:08:00.000-05:00

Day one of the review was fine, I guess. On at least four questions I actually had the right answer, but erased it and put down the wrong answer. They say to always trust your first instinct. I guess I should listen to "they," whoever "they" are. And one question, No. 15, had a stupid typo that apparently no one else noticed. It said the jury had to prove something. So of course I didn't pick that; it's not proven BY the jury, it's proven TO they jury. But the word BY was in place of the word TO. I'm sure on the actual exam they wouldn't have had the typo, or if they did, someone would eventually catch it and that question wouldn't count. So anyway, I just have to learn to trust my first instincts. But how do you do that when this stuff is so confusing and it's so easy to read a fact pattern and assume you know what it's about so you pick the answer choice with the key buzzwords, but it's wrong because the answer choice contains an If, Not and Unless.

Damn. I don't know. A week from now I'll be 18 or so hours away from leaving for Tampa. Wow.

**
The dean sent out an e-mail about a lecture by one of our professors on Florida Con Law. The lecture was on Thursday. I received the e-mail on Friday afternoon. That's helpful. I went to the lecture because someone else happened to mention it. As with everything this prof does and says, it could have taken 45 minutes instead of two hours but I think it was useful (I actually like this professor although a lot of people don't; he drones on and on but you know how some professors are incredibly boring and you hate them because they're so boring? Well he's boring but you don't hate him. I'm not sure why. Because he is a good prof I will refrain from commenting on one of the nutty things he was wearing during the lecture (or, more specifically, how he was wearing it and what it had on it.). By the way, there's an evidence lecture next week, just in case you still haven't received the e-mail.

I complained more than once while I was still a student about the e-mail system. (My favorite incident was when they sent out an e-mail to all students saying that outside consultants would be on campus to solicit student opinion about how to improve technology on campus. The consultants were coming on a Wednesday. I received the e-mail about this on a Thursday. It was sent out on Tuesday. Naturally, when I replied to whoever sent it and told them that I would have gone to the meeting to tell them about the e-mail system's flaws, that person just ignored it--that makes me wonder whether it's the technology that is poor here or the people who run it are incompetent--probably a little of both. They are definitely incompetent but the system also is about five years behind the times.).

Anyway, when I complained, they said nothing was wrong. And yet I still only receive a fraction of the all-student e-mails. Whatever. I don't give a shit any more because I'm graduating but if I was an administrator or admissions person at the University of Miami School of Law I would be embarrassed about how poor the technology is here. I have better things to worry about so I won't dwell on it, but it's amazing that this school's technology is so poor that it can't even figure out how to e-mail all the students.

One more point - I haven't been inside a professor's office in at least six months so I'm relying on hearsay but I heard all the profs recently were given new flat screen monitors so each professor now has TWO monitors and you can apparently drag things from one to the other. Why? It sounds like a terrific way to spend technology dollars because professors spend a lot of time doing graphic design and layout, which is the only reason I can think of that anyone would need two monitors. I'm being facetious, of course, about professors doing graphic design.

PMBR, 3-day

2007-07-13T15:48:00.001-05:00

Wow. That PMBR test was brutal. No, that's an understatement. It was impossible. While I was doing the last 100 questions I basically narrowed about 90 percent of them down to either A, B, C or D. Yeah, I know. (In case you're reading this and not studying for the bar there is no E, F, G or H). That sucked. The entire afternoon I couldn't stop telling myself that I was in the process of ruining my life by failing the bar exam. I always have a problem staying focused - random thoughts pop in and out of my brain at the worst times - and I started thinking about what career I could pursue if I didn't pass the bar exam. That's just stupid. I know it's not the real thing, but it was so demoralizing. Driving home I was angry and depressed about the whole thing (although I just graded it and let's just say I'm in the ballpark of the national average so it actually wasn't as terrible as I thought).

Here's the most frustrating part - when this is over next Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. I can honestly say that I did all I could. There was nothing else I could have done. Could I have studied a few more hours a day? On some days, sure. But not really because 14-hour days are wasted on me. I did all I could do. process nothing after a certain point. Maybe I need a prescription for adderal or something if I fail. I had a family crisis earlier in late May and as awful as that was, it has stabilized and I am incredibly lucky that it happened in May and early June as opposed to now, and also lucky that my family completely understood what I was going through and kept telling me to focus on myself rather than the crisis. I'm getting off topic. The point is that maybe I could have added a total of 10-15 additional hours over the 2-3 weeks that the crisis was in full swing. But again, it was the last week of May and the first two weeks of June. And I still studied a full day every day, keeping up with the BarBri paced program and even doing more on my own.

Bottom line is that realistically there wasn't much else I could do. So, yeah, there you have it. I am actually looking forward to the review of the exam tomorrow. I know it's sick but it breaks up the monotony of sitting on my ass all day doing problems and then reviewing them, know what I mean? I wonder if I should do questions on my own after the review? Probably not. Probably do a few hours of FL at night. I can't wait for this to be over. I thought the day I got the results would be the best day but walking out of that exam room might make me even happier.

End of incoherent, ramble. Rest for a little while longer and then do some essays tonight...

PMBR, take 2

2007-07-12T14:39:00.000-05:00

The three-day PMBR class starts tomorrow. So that means 200 questions tomorrow. I guess that's good. Not good as in fun, but good practice for the real thing. This will be the last time I do 200 questions in a day, that's for sure. I hope it goes better than the BarBri practice exam, although I scored a few points above the national average on that.

When we had the six-day PMBR class there were these people who were, let's see, how should I put this politely...as my friend K called them at the time and again earlier this week, "fucking savages." That's a little bit of an extreme characterization for my tastes but they were loud, fat, ugly and stupid. Not all, of course, but there were about a dozen or so Neanderthals that all sat together. Am I too mean? Eh.

There may have been more than a dozen because at one point apparently they were stomping on the floor of the room above me (I was in the live room) because they were protesting the prof's jokes or digressions or what. Incredible.

And once when I was in the video room one of these guys kept flipping off the TV monitor - and get this - he wasn't just giving the finger, as if that's not stupid enough, but he was doing that thing that 10-year-old boys do where they flip you off with both arms, you know, with one arm in the elbow of the other. Hard to describe on the blog but just picture it and you probably know what I mean.

Yeah. These people were annoying. I guess everyone is annoying everyone these days even if you're not too stressed out. Anyway, I'm not sure what law school these people went to but it must have had its own BarBri class because none of them were in the BarBri. I can't wait to see them again...

the characters

2007-07-11T21:06:00.000-05:00

I find myself distracted by the strangest things these days. In the PMBR problems, a large percentage of the characters are named after sports figures. I have such an encyclopedic knowledge of sports and sports history that it's a little distracting. Yeah, whatever. Here is a partial list of ones I can think of off the top of my head and by skimming through the book as I type this (you see a distinct California bias although it's not all California based):

Dykstra and Blackman (Len Dykstra, Wally Backman, mid-80s Mets)
Mantle, Mays and Snider (Hall of Fame baseball players)
Al Javis, owner of the Reno Raiders football team (Raiders owner Al Davis)
Al McGuire, president of a frat at Marquette (Al McGuire - Marquette bball coach)
Kent Stabler, a buyer of land (Ken Stabler - former Raiders QB)
Larry Browning, Kansas City University basketball coach (coach Larry Brown)
Joan Wooden, president of a college that tried to hire away Browning (John Wooden)
Jesus Alou (former baseball player, brother of Felipe and Matty)
Archie Cox, coach of the Whittier College Football team who cut "Dickie Nixon" (Archibald Cox and Richard Nixon)
Jay Johnstone, baseball card dealer (former pitcher Jay Johnstone)
Alan Page, who interviewed for a job with the law firm Mantle, Mays & Snider (Page is a Minnesota Vikings hall of fame defensive lineman and a Minnesota Supreme Court justice)
Y.A. Thrower and O.J. Rusher, bank robbers (Y.A. Tittle and O.J. Simpson, football players)
A battery between Martin and Jackson & Rizzuto was the prosecutor (Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin; Phil Rizzuto...get it "battery"?)

I've noticed a few references to things, too:

Wolfie's Liquor Store in Miami Beach (Wolfie's was a famous chain of diners in Miami Beach before it got cool)...i guess this is the only one I can come up with now.

14 days

2007-07-10T10:45:00.001-05:00

The bar exam is two weeks from today. Start studying more? Start studying less? Do the same? I'm thinking option No. 3 - do more or less the same. I've been studying a lot. I could probably squeeze in an extra hour or two of studying a day but then I might go nuts. I don't know. They keep saying it's a marathon, not a sprint. I've never run a marathon. Do you sprint at the end? I think you do but only for the last 500 feet or so, right? Not for the last three miles. Eh. I don't know. I hate running. Unless there's someone chasing me. I work out regularly but I don't jog, although I've always wondered if I could run a marathon. I actually think a triathlon is more my speed although I hate biking so that's probably a bad idea. Ooops, sorry, I got a little sidetracked there...

I'm going to take one of the two Florida practice exams tomorrow. The Florida essays are brutal - I do great on some and on others I am sure I would barely crack the minimum 40 needed to pass.

I did some of the BarBri released questions. I scored slightly higher than on the other ones. Does "released questions" means exactly what it says - that they were actual exam questions once? I assume so but I don't know. The MDR book also has a practice test. I like doing questions when they are "mixed" so you're not doing 15-20 in a row of one subject, then another subject, then another subject. I think it's more useful this way.

I haven't even finished all the questions in the big red PMBR book and I have yet to crack the PMBR bluebook. I'll probably do the 200 mixed questions/practice exam in the back of that bluebook later this week or early next week. Probably next week, I guess, since we have PMBR 3-day this Friday through Sunday. I don't think I'm ever going to do more than 100 at a time. It just makes no sense, unlike what I suggested earlier, to try and do more than 100 at a time. It has the opposite effect of what you might think - it makes my brain more muddled, rather than less. If you want to use the old analogy of the brain as a muscle, it's like me trying to bench 350 every day for a week - I'd be sure to rip a muscle or two and would get nothing accomplished at the end.

I did awful on a set of problems on Sunday so yesterday I did some of the BarBri Intro problems just to make sure I hadn't forgotten everything. I did well on those Intro problems so things aren't as bad as I thought. It's weird because even though I did well they didn't seem easy. I guess this means I know a little?

Two weeks. It's better if you don't think too hard about it (about the fact that it's two weeks away).

the male (mail) man

2007-07-09T13:21:00.000-05:00

Let me tell you a little bit about a problem I'm having with my mailman. It might not interest you but it's probably more interesting than talking about the bar exam.

I'm afraid that my mail man is in love with me. Or at least he has a thing for me. Let me tell you a little bit about my mail man before I tell you why I'm afraid he has a crush on me. My mail man is a short, muscular 40-ish Cuban guy who is, well, how should I put this...he looks like he's straight out of central casting. He's as flaming as they come (disclaimer: this is not an anti-gay post; I'm in no way homophobic or afraid of or against gay people). Anyway, he wears his standard U.S. Postal Service uniform but he's managed to customize it to fit his uh, stereotype. I don't know much about fashion but his shorts are way, way too short. They are not standard issue. In fact, it's like he got them altered so it looks like he's wearing a U.S. Postal Service issued speedo. Or not quite the speedo but you know thos super short, tight shorts that men generally don't wear but 19-year-old girls wear? Well that's what his look like. And he wears the shirt with the top three or four buttons unbuttoned. So it's basically buttoned on only one or two buttons and his entire chest is visible. For all intents and purposes, he's naked. It's not pretty. He looks like the gayest mailman of all mailmen. Which isn't a problem for me but, well, I'm happily married so I'm not interested. As I said, he's straight out of central casting as if they'd ordered up a flamboyant gay mailman.

While studying for the bar exam I'm usually at home during the afternoon studying. I guess he's lonely or bored or something so he occasionally rings the doorbell to give me my mail. He pretends he's asking a question about our magazines because I once had to complain to him and filed a complaint on the web site about how how Sports Illustrated never showed up on time and he did a good job of feigning concern. But that was resolved about six months ago and he still finds the need to ask me about it once or twice a week. Even though he's the one delivering it (almost always on time since we resolved the issue). So that's no big deal, right? That doesn't lead you to think he's in love with me.

But it gets better. Sometimes when I'm home by myself sitting at the kitchen table doing practice questions I have my shirt off. I know, I know, this is probably a little too much information for you but it's my house and no one is around so if I want to study with my shirt off, I will. Look, I promise I'll keep my shirt on during the actual exam. Really. So sometimes when I'm in the middle of studying I answer the door with my shirt off. Why bother putting it on? It's either the mailman or on rare occasions the UPS or FedEx guy. This isn't a sitcom and I don't live in an apartment building full of fellow law students so I never get unannounced visitors at my house.

So a few weeks ago I did what I just described above: opened the door with my shirt off. Not only did the mailman just stare at me for a full thre or four seconds before blinking three or four times and saying in a bizarre sing-song way, "Helloooooooooooooooooo." I didn't think much of it although it literally sounded like the hello you would see a character give if he was playing a gay character on a Saturday Night Live skit or something.

But the other day he rang the doorbell to ask if we were moving out because we filed change of address forms that are supposed to take effect in August. This time he shirt was COMPLETELY UNBUTTONED with no t-shirt on underneath and he had a flower (a daisy? a pansy? I don't know my flowers too well) in his ear. So I'm talking to him and he's staring at my chest and I can't help staring at the flower tucked into his ear. I didn't say a word about it though. After the conversation about the address change, he gently touches me on the arm and starts into this long speech about how the flower makes him feel better about himself and has the added bonus of keeping bugs away.

Um, what? Ok. Sure buddy.

Ok, so maybe he's not in love with me but he's definitely trying to flirt with me. I think I'll keep my shirt by the door and if the doorbell rings while I'm studying, I'll put it on. The last thing I need is a suddenly jealous or vengeful mailman coming after me while studying for the bar.

how quickly we forget

2007-07-05T18:45:00.000-05:00

Superbee has a short memory.

No offense, Superbee.

Nothing else worth posting today. FL practice exam was today. Fine on two of the three essays. Totally missed a key point on essay No. 3 and probably got only half the available credit, but would've passed the essay portion based on my first two essays. Scored my multiple choice. No idea if my score translates to passing or what. We'll see tomorrow. I'm dreading Prof. Peacock. Why do they have the worst professors teach the hardest subjects? I might not stay the whole time but we'll see...

not so advanced

2007-07-04T17:25:00.000-05:00

Are BarBri's advanced problems too hard, too unrepresentative of the actual exam? I've heard people say that. I don't know. It seems to me that you're going to get a handful of those advanced type questions on the real thing but you're not going to get 20-30 questions like that. I understand the logic of doing them - if you can ace the advanced questions you can obviously do the easy ones. But does that mean I shouldn't do the easy ones at all? I don't know. Just keep plugging away.

**
By the way, check out the comment section to yesterday's post. Apparently PMBR has given different answers to the same question (no. 21 in evidence the gray book from the 6-day and no. 179 in the big red book in evidence). If anyone can figure this out, let me know. I might call their office next week (busy tomorrow and Friday with the FL practice exam and review session) and demand an explanation. We're paying too much money for this. How the fuck are we supposed to learn anything if questions have two different answers? Stupid PMBR. Stupid bar exam.

**
I think my head is going to explode. I did some multistate questions this morning and have been doing FL questions all day. I can't concentrate at all. You can only spend so much time going over the same questions again and again. I had a good day on practice essays and was hit or miss on multiple choice. I think I've done just about every multiple choice question in the two yellow books. I'm saving the two practice FL exams for next week or the week after - actually probably one next week and one the following week. I wish they gave us more questions. I never thought I'd say that. And some of the FL answers are weak. Actually most of them are pathetic. They don't go far enough in explaining the answers.

outta there

2007-07-03T17:21:00.000-05:00

I heard some people talking about staying in Tampa after the bar on Wednesday night. I guess everyone is different so I can see why you might want to stay put but I know that I will be grumpy and pissed off (even if I feel confident in how I did) and will want to get the heck out of there, even if it means being stuck in rush hour and getting home at midnight. (The bar is in Tampa).

I changed my reservation so I get in on Sunday and stay three nights. Originally I was going to get there on Monday but it seemed like a good idea not to have to worry about potential car trouble or anything else that would create anxiety or other problems on Monday.

**

I've never hated law school as much as I do right now although technically this isn't law school, this is post-law school, right?

**
I think I'm cracking up. I was in Richter library today for the first time in a long time and when I got back to my seat after a bathroom break my ear plugs were gone. The entire little bag I had in my backpack was gone. I was this close to yelling at this guy who was sitting a few desks down and who was sitting there watching me as I opened all the little pockets on my backpack and looked around the desk and floor to see if they had dropped (in other words anyone could see I was clearly looking for something). I'm not really that type to go randomly accusing a stranger. I have no idea if he stole them. They probably fell out somewhere although I don't know how that's possible because I had them when I sat down to start studying and then they disappeared when I left. Odds are slim that someone actually went up to my stuff and rifled through my bag and took only one thing - a small bag of ear plugs. Who would want someone else's ear plugs? just to fuck around, I suppose. My point is that I'm cracking under the pressure - I think paranoia is the first sign you are becoming delusional.

**
Speaking of cracking I am seriously considering giving up on property. My scores are not getting better. ON the one hand the PMBR questions are pissing me off and I assume the actual bar questions are somewhat easier because I scored well on the practice released questions test from BarBri in that MDR book. On the other hand it's killing me to spend so much time on property. The right answer to this problem is to work even harder to get down property. But maybe I should be focusing on the other subjects instead so those subject scores are significantly higher and can pull me along if I get a low property score. Of course the problem is that just because I start devoting the howevermany minutes a day I now spend on property to other subjects doesn't mean I'd do better in those subjects. Would I really do better if I devoted an extra 10-15 minutes a day to those other subjects? I doubt it. But with three weeks until the big day (THREE WEEKS!) if I did no more property between now and then, it's safe to assume that I'll do shitty in property. Ah. I don't know. There's no good answer really.

**

winning by losing

2007-06-30T11:47:00.001-05:00

You can't really win while studying for the bar exam. When you're not studying, you think you should be studying. When you are studying, you wish you weren't but you do it anyway. When you do practice problems and do poorly, you think you should be doing better. When you somehow do better on a set of problems, you worry that you're peaking too soon or that it was dumb luck that you got a bunch that you knew because you sure as hell aren't in the 90 percent range.

**
The woman who did the Bar Bri practice exam review scared me a little. The exam review was brutal. It was almost worse than the exam. We sat there for eight and a half hours each day going over the exam. It was actually helpful although I can see why some people thought it was a waste of time. I guess it just depends how you learn.

That woman and the fact that it's July made me decide to ramp up my studying. I've already been studying for almost 12 hours a day - with breaks, of course (and that would include the three or four hours of class) - so I need to study more. But I don't know if I will consciously be able to study more than 12 hours a day. I need to stop at least an hour before sleep because I have to get this stuff out of my head or else I won't sleep. I need to work out in the morning. I need to take a few breaks here and there. I think the main thing I will do is be more productive and also not stop studying at 8 p.m. every night, instead taking a break around then for dinner then studying a couple more hours. It would do me no good if I wasn't sleeping and staying up until the wee hours just makes me unproductive and distracted. And the law of diminishing returns doesn't allow me to concentrate on studying for hours and hours on end without breaks. Some people can do it. I can't.

**
After the practice exam review I counted how many problems I still have that I haven't done. I have a ton. At least 1500 PMBR questions still undone. I didn't have an actual study schedule (don't worry - I was still studying a lot even without a schedule; all I did was keep track of when I did what subject so I never went more than 4-5 days without doing a subject, or at least that was the plan, so it wasn't just random bumbling around). But now the Bar Bri classes are coming to a close. So I counted out the number of questions and scheduled nine days in July in which I'm going to sit down for three-hour blocks and do 100 questions at a time. I'll also take the practice Florida exam and the practice PMBR exam during the three-day class. So I'll do a minimum of 50 questions every day that I don't do 100 questions, also three or more essays most days (I usually just practice issue spotting because I write well and my problem isn't transferring my thoughts to paper (laptop, actually) but rather spotting all the issues and getting the material right). So far with the essays I'm all over the board - great on torts, adequate on con law and family, shitty on property and contracts, all over the place on wills and trusts, and a total crapshoot on the others. One of my biggest problems was focusing for so long so that's why I'm trying to get 100 done at a time so many times in July. I might actually not do so many three-hour blocks if it seems like it's doing more harm than good to sit there for so long. But the idea is to train myself to focus for so long and I think considering the exam is on July 24 and July 25 that doing this for 11 days should be enough. Right?

How the fuck do I know what's right? I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I'm literally doing all that I can. I guess I could stop writing in this blog but posts like this take about 8 minutes to write and as I said, I have to take breaks from studying.

oh yeah we're real proud of you

2007-06-28T12:00:00.000-05:00

Didn't you just love that e-mail we received from the new dean yesterday indicating that all grades have finally been turned in and this is MUCH EARLIER THAN THEY ARE USUALLY TURNED IN? Wow. Great job, gang. It only took you seven weeks from the last exam (and up to nine weeks from the first exam) to finally turn in all your grades. The laziness of the professors here is just astounding. So apparently they are less lazy this year than in years past. Yes, I said it: most of the professors here at the University of Miami are lazy. L-A-Z-Y. (I said "most" but not all).

**
Today was the last full day of Bar Bri classes. For some reason it feels a little like the last day of school. But not too much because all it means is that we have that much more time each day to study. Great. I was sure getting sick of those damn lectures. We still have the Florida practice exam next week and then one day going over that, but that's all. Then the 3-day PMBR, which I'm taking and I think most people are taking, but you're pretty much on your own. I don't know if that's good or not.

I will pass the bar exam

2007-06-26T19:24:00.000-05:00

I. Will. Pass. The. Florida. Bar. Exam. (On. My. First. Attempt. Of. Course.).

That's. All.

practice? we talkin 'bout PRACTICE man

2007-06-22T17:24:00.000-05:00

We had the practice exam today. It sucked. I didn't check my scores because we're spending the next two days going over it and anyway they'll give us a breakdown of our scores. And they said that everyone does poorly, not only because it's early in the process (actually it's not that early any more) but also because it's made to be more difficult than the actual test. During the lunch break I ran into a guy who said he got a 105 on the practice test. If you get that score on the bar exam, let's just say that's beyond terrible. But he passed the bar (although I didn't ask his score on the real thing).

The toughest thing for me was concentrating for so long. In the third hour of the morning session my mind was all over the place. Same thing during the final two hours of the afternoon. It's tough to focus in three-hour blocks. At least I finished with plenty of time, although on the actual exam I would go back and go over stuff.

Actually, saying that the concentration part was toughest isn't quite true; the exam was really fucking hard, too. I'm sure there were plenty of questions that had I been able to concentrate I still would've gotten wrong. Anyway, so it goes. One month and two days until it starts. That means one month and three days until it's all over. Good thing because I'm starting to lose it.

(Hey, don't you love the title of this post? Hint: AI)

where did they come from?

2007-06-21T13:04:00.000-05:00

I have to point out something unusual that I've noticed in the law library over the past few days. Lately there has been a massive influx of Asian people on the second floor. If you're reading this blog and you don't go to school here, you might not think this is anything noteworthy. But it is.

See, Miami has a miniscule Asian population. I think there were three Asians in our graduating class (of over 400 people). I can name three. There may have been a few more but I don't know.
You rarely see Asian people around campus. It's a fact. For whatever reason, there is virtually no Asian community here.

Now all of a sudden, you can't walk five feet on the second floor without bumping into an Asian person. It's strange. Where did they come from? What are they doing here? (I couldn't tell what they were studying but none of them are studying law books). Do they know that when there are 12 Asian people on the second floor of the library that makes the second floor of the law library the largest concentration of Asian people in Miami-Dade County? I don't know.

Notice that this is just an observation. I'm not trying to imply anything one way or the other about the Asian folks.

(p.s. If this post bores you, well, it's too bad. I've got nothing and I'm sick of blogging about the bar exam (and I'm also sick of the bar exam, but that's another story.).

BarBri questions vs. PMBR questions

2007-06-19T20:39:00.001-05:00

So I do my best to avoid most discussions about what other people are doing (except on this blog) because the last thing I need is to hear someone else is doing something that sounds better than what I'm doing and then start worrying about whether I need to be doing that. But I have now heard the same thing from a few different people so I'm wondering if there is any truth to it. I have been mostly following BarBri's paced program but I'm not doing as many questions as BarBri tells me to do. And if it ever has me doing all the questions in a topic (like all of CivPro in two days) I don't do it because I want to save questions for later. But the thing that a few people have said is that BarBri's advanced questions are just way too hard and much harder than anything you're likely to see on the MBE. I understand the logic of swinging the weighted bat in the on deck circle so it seems easier when the real thing hits but those advanced questions are killer. A few people have said that the PMBR practice questions make a lot more sense because they're more realistic. I guess now that we have done all six MBE subjects I can go download the actual past bar exams and see for myself. I know the February 2007 one is on Bar Bri's web site and I think they said you can find older ones on their site or the NCBEX site although that might just be for essays. I don't know. Ugh. I'm fucking exhausted. At least classes are winding down but I don't know if that's good or bad. Fuck.

grad(e) me!

2007-06-15T16:24:00.000-05:00

Still no sign of Prof. Admin Law's grades. I know he's an adjunct so he's busy but it's been almost six weeks now since the exam. It was a relatively small class - maybe 40 people- so he doesn't have that many essays to grade. I took it pass fail so all I want to know is that I passed, obviously.

We should be allowed to re-evaluate professors after grades are turned in. Or maybe someone should keep a tally and publish the date professors turn in their grades. Actually that's a great idea. Too bad I won't give a shit any more after I get my last two grades so it won't be me who does this. Someone could compile them by polling students and publish it on line or in the student newspaper. Maybe (though I doubt it) that would shame these lazy slackers (yes, I said lazy) into getting their grading done.

I know, I know, grading is no fun but this is ridiculous. It's YOUR JOB or at least your PART-TIME JOB THAT YOU AGREED TO TAKE ON, knowing full well that grades would have to be turned in eventually.

sit

2007-06-14T17:58:00.000-05:00

So a friend of mine who took and passed the bar last year said it's important, as it gets closer, to practice sitting in one place and doing problems for three-hour blocks of time. I'm not so sure about this. Don't get me wrong - I'm doing practice problems every day, I'll take the 6-hour Bar-Bri multi-state and Florida practice exam and the PMBR one during the three-day course (I think PMBR's first day is just a practice exam, right?) so I'm spending plenty of time sitting on my ass doing nothing but focusing on the exam (or at least trying to concentrate).

But do I really need to train myself to sit still for three consecutive hours? I don't know. Is that even something you can train yourself to do?

Before I took my first ever law school final exam the idea of sitting still and taking a test for three or four (or sometimes as many as five) hours seemed so daunting as to be impossible. But once I started taking exams, the hours just flew by and I had plenty of other things to worry so the actual part where I had to sit there and shut up for 3-5 hours wasn't a problem. The three hours of a law school exam goes by so quickly. I guess it's a little different on the bar exam because you can't drink water (and apparently getting up to take a leak is a big deal because you have to sign out and they follow you into the bathroom and the bathroom is really far away), but does that mean I should practice going three straight hours without a sip of water or using the bathroom? I don't know. It seems like I have enough to worry about, right?

it never ends

2007-06-07T13:40:00.000-05:00

I'm liking these three hour Bar-Bri lectures (instead of four and a half hour lectures). This week wasn't so bad, at least after evidence ended on Tuesday. Evidence for some reason is very confusing to me. Next week looks awful with torts for two days, then almost four full days of property (until 2:30 on Saturday!). I actually like torts but property is going to be as bad as contracts.

**
Do you know what's driving me crazy? The guy on the PMBR criminal and property CD lectures who pronounces the word "modern" as if it has an I before the N. He keeps talking about the difference between common law and MODERIN law. Not modern, but moderIn. He adds an extra syllable in there. Jesus. It's annoying.

**
So much for that stupid policy of posting grades only on Fridays. A guy I know said he got a grade posted yesterday and another today. I still have only one grade, and it's for the two-credit class that didn't have an exam. Nice.

nothing

2007-06-01T17:26:00.001-05:00

Not much to report. Chemerinsky's all-day lecture was great. That doesn't mean I'll ace Con Law though but the man is absolutely brilliant. He did his entire lecture without notes (I know he does the same lecture often but he didn't so much as have a piece of paper in front of him; that's not normal).

**
My real life is getting in the way of bar studying.

good idea or bad?

2007-05-27T18:46:00.001-05:00

I'm seriously thinking about switching all my reading just to the Conviser. In criminal law, criminal procedure and contracts the profs said all we need to know is in the Conviser. I don't retain much from just reading and those legal-sized pages are unbearable, especially in subjects I've never done like wills and trusts. I don't know. So far two people have told me they don't read at all. So I've started making flash cards while I read but if I do that for the regular sized outlines I'll have way too many cards. I think one of the worst things you can do for the Bar is learn too much. So I will try just reading the Conviser for the next few subjects at least, at least until someone can convince me it's not such a good idea...

still going

2007-05-25T15:00:00.000-05:00

At least the lectures are still interesting. That Whitebread guy (that's actually his name, seriously) who lectured on criminal law was as entertaining as the contracts guy. Terrific. So it holds my attention for three or four hours. Then I go home and do the practice problems and get depressed all over again. They say 65 percent is good enough to pass but I'm not even really scoring that high in the practice problems. And so far I've been sticking to the BarBri schedule so I've only done practice problems in one subject - contracts, which admittedly is harder than other subjects, but the point is that so soon after learning contracts I should be on top of it. What a fun memorial day weekend this will be.

**
Hey, what the fuck is the deal with this stupid new policy of not releasing grades except on Fridays? This is the dumbest idea I've heard in a long time. Supposedly the goal is to reduce student stress but that's preposterous. Actually I don't care too much but I do care a little because I want to know I graduated (I know I did fine, but I still want to see it become official) and know my final GPA.

And believe me, I have better things to worry about - and I am, in fact, worrying about those other things (the bar, obviously).

Still, whoever came up with the idea that grades would only be released on Fridays is an idiot. And whoever came up with the idea to tell students that the reason for doing this is to reduce student stress is stupider than the person who came up with the idea in the first place. There is no possible rational reason that if a professor turns in his grades on, say, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday that the grades can't be released on the following business day. The only possible reason is laziness on the part of the registrar's office. Or incompetence.

What do you think? I don't think anything

2007-05-22T16:52:00.000-05:00

So instead of complaining about Bar-Bri and the misery of studying for the bar exam, here are some random observations from the past couple of days:

Epstein, the Bar-Bar contracts lecturer, is fantastic. I mean that sincerely. Each of the three-hour lectures over the past two days just flew by. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean I'm more or less likely to remember anything he said (except the thing about the armadillos in the back of the greyhound bus with the yellow neckerchiefs as constituting seller's delivery on a shipping contract) in 10 weeks but he has made the first two days of Bar-Bri much less painful than I expected.

**
I overheard this exchange this morning before the lecture started:

Guy: I don't have a job, I'm looking in this city, that city, [blah blah blah]. How about you, what are you going to do?
Girl: Nothing.
Guy: What?
Girl: Yeah, I'm taking the year off to travel and do charity work.

What the fuck?

**
I have no idea how to develop a study schedule for myself. I plan to do every single thing Bar-Bri tells me to do and hopefully on the day they tell me to do it. I don't think I need to write out the specific times I plan to study, eat and sleep. The guy said something about making goals for yourself for each day. What does that mean? I was thinking of trying to review 1-2 other subjects each day besides the three assigned by Bar-Bri (one subject to be read, one to do questions for and a different one being lectured on) because my biggest concern is forgetting one subject at the expense of another. I also don't plan to be studying past 8 or 9 p.m., at least not until the last three weeks or so. But most people I know who passed said if you more or less treat it as a 9-5 job (more like 9-7, 8 or 9) (again, at least until the last few weeks) you're doing enough. I know if I do every assigned question I'll have done somewhere around 2,100 questions (including PMBR questions). As they say, quality is much more important than quantity, right?

**
I've gone to the live lecture every day. I'm a little sick of getting there early just to get a seat in there, so I guess I might see about the broadcast version. I actually like having a live person talking to me rather than watching someone on screen but it can't be all that much better, can it? I guess I'll only know when I try the non-live room.

**
So the other day during a break from the PMBR criminal lecture, this woman sitting next to me expressed her confusion about one of the problems. Basically in the problem this guy who thought someone owed him $200 knocked on the door, then went inside because the guy wasn't home. He took the guy's TV outside and set it on fire. The answer was that this was larceny, not burglary. Actually I'm not sure I got this one right when I first tried it but once we learned the difference between burglary and larceny, it made sense (no intent to commit any other crime when he entered). Anyway, the difference between the crimes is not my point.

What surprised me was that this woman next to me couldn't understand why it was any crime. She assumed that because the guy thought he was owed $200 that it was OK - and not a crime at all - to break in and take the TV outside and burn it. Uh, since when do you have the option to just invent a remedy for yourself if you believe your property has been taken? (You don't...I'm not sure you need three years of law school to realize that the American legal system doesn't allow you to take the law into your own hands). Then a day or two later I was talking to this woman again and it turns out she's taking the bar for the third time. Ouch.

the end of the beginning

2007-05-19T10:19:00.001-05:00

So the rest of PMBR sucked. I don't mean sucked, as in, I wish I hadn't taken it. I mean it was just miserable. I guess it's not so terrible that I learned a lot about what I don't know. I'm sure that I'll remember a few of the things I learned, like elements of arson and the difference between larceny and robbery. But this whole thing is still just terrifying, despite the assurances the PMBR lecturers keep giving and despite the Bar-Bri survival guide, which seems to lay things out pretty clearly as far as a study plan. And it doesn't help to be told stuff like that mortgages make up the largest portion of the property section. Obviously I'm not complaining that I was told this; I'm glad I was told this, but just because I know it doesn't make me feel better about it...although obviously I know to study it now. But there are tons of things like that.

(By the way, I was surprised at how many people I know who weren't taking the six-day PMBR class...wouldn't you want to give yourself every advantage? I was talking to a couple of those people and it was funny how they were rationalizing not taking it...not that I'm saying I will score higher but I'd probably jump off a bridge if I failed just because I didn't take the extra six day class).

I still can't figure out why the bar exam is so different than law school. The exam and the studying process for it is almost the exact opposite of law school exams and the way you studied. It seems like you wouldn't need three years of law school to take the bar exam. Sure, some of the lingo might be unfamiliar, but that's going to be the case for a lot of people (like me) who never took subjects like family law and will have to learn them from scratch over the coming weeks. So what's the point?

I appreciated the comments I got from people the other day. I go back and forth minute-by-minute being confident that I'll get all this stuff down and then thinking it's just too overwhelming. I know enough not to listen to what most other people are doing, especially (sorry, if you're reading this, but I doubt you are) the people in my PMBR class who went to those fourth-tier law schools. Speaking of those people, I know that I still have to study my ass off and that I'm guaranteed nothing just because the passage rate from this school was 86 percent last year (and is consistently in the low 80s) whereas from those other schools it's in the 70s and 60s. But having said that, I thought it was funny how the PMBR lecturer yesterday made a comment about how 86 percent of people from here pass and all those non-UM students started muttering or laughing or whatever, knowing full well that because they went to that school, their passage rate is much lower. I'm not sure there is a point to this rambling aside - although, again, I don't think I'm naturally smarter than those people. But it just seems like in some ways, you're starting at a disadvantage if from day one you're told that only two out of three people who went to your school will pass. Maybe not. I don't know. Sorry this is rambling.

And so it begins

2007-05-15T15:04:00.000-05:00

So day one of PMBR was pretty awful. Actually if today was all there was, I'd be in great shape. We did criminal today (law and procedure!). I got tons wrong on the practice test. I did terrible. But I really didn't let it bother me. I didn't even grade my practice exam because everyone told me you just get discouraged and people all around me were graduating and saying they got 15, 17, 19 or so right (out of 50). But I wasn't all that discouraged. The lecture was helpful. It was all just lists of elements of crimes, acronyms and blackletter law to look for. No bullshit, like in law school classes. I learned a few things and I took notes that I'll be studying over the next two months. But then when I think that I have five more multistate subjects, then about 25,000 state subjects (actually I'm told that we're lucky because Florida only has 13 (I think) while some states have as many as 20, but I don't feel so lucky about that...), well, uh, I'm a little less optimistic about my chances. I still can't comprehend how I am supposed to learn so many subjects, then keep them all in my head. I have absolutely no idea.

And what a letdown after the weekend (graduation, parties, etc.). Wow. This is gonna be the best summer EVER!

**
Graduation was a great time, but what was the deal with that elderly woman mispronouncing everyone's name? That wasn't funny at all. I know she's 84 or so years old and I heard she recently lost a member of her family but it stopped being amusing after she butchered the first 10 or so names (for example, a guy named Michael was called "Michelle" and a guy named Colin was called "Coleena"). She got my name right but when I watched the webcast I noticed she paused before reading my name for several seconds, which was longer than she paused before anyone else's name. Strange. Anyway, despite that, I really enjoyed it and am surprised that I did because I was kind of neutral about the whole thing leading up to it.

On graduation

2007-05-11T12:54:00.000-05:00

As graduation approaches, I am thinking about the last two times I graduated. I went to a lot of different schools growing up and somehow I missed having all those quasi-graduations that some people have - graduation from kindergarten, from junior high, etc. So I've only graduated from high school and from college.

Graduating from high school was great because I couldn't wait to move on to college. It seemed like a monumental occasion; I was leaving home! Not that my home life was miserable or sad or anything less than idyllic but as an 18-year-old I was ready to see what else was out there. And I spent only my senior year at this particular high school so there weren't many significant memories, either good or bad, that I was leaving behind. On the other hand, it never occurred to me that I wouldn't graduate from high school; I literally never contemplated the possibility. So for that reason, it didn't seem like so much of an accomplishment as it felt like a turning point and a milestone.

Graduating from college was bittersweet. I loved my four years of college. To this day (12 years after graduating) my closest friends are people with whom I went to college, not people from high school. So scattering and leaving friends was tough. And it was difficult because although I thought leaving high school meant entering the real world, I quickly found out that going to a small liberal arts college in the midwest was like living in a oasis; it was not the real world. Now, suddenly, I was really entering the real world. I had no idea what I was going to do (see above: I went to a liberal arts college and got a degree that they told me qualified me to do anything but in reality qualified me to do nothing.) Actually, I had tons of ideas but no real clue how it would turn out. I had a job for the summer but nothing else was out there after the summer. I knew I wouldn't stay in the city where I was working for the summer but had no idea where I'd go. I knew I was young and had my whole life ahead of me. I was ready to graduate, or so I thought, and just like when I left high school, see what else was out there in the world.

Now that I'm graduating from law school, I also have an uncertain future. I have a job lined up as an attorney. I'll be moving but only about 30 miles from here, so we'll be in the same general community but 30 miles away from here may as well be a world away. And I'll be working long hours - longer than I worked in my previous working life - but probably not as long as I worked during the first three semesters of law school when I worked like a dog. And I have no idea if I'll like being a lawyer. There have been many times over the past three years when I've told myself I don't want to be a lawyer; at other times I've said that I do. Now I definitely want to be a lawyer but I can't and won't promise I'll be one in 10, 15, or 20 years.

Mostly graduating from law school feels like it's a significant accomplishment more than a turning point (although as I wrote the other day, there are things I'll miss about being a student). I never doubted for a second that I would graduate from high school and although college was stressful at times, college graduation was never in doubt. But I had doubts even before I entered law school that I would graduate and the first year didn't give me confidence that I'd survive the entire three years and manage to actually graduate. But now it's here (actually it's on Sunday). I have a cap and gown and a medal and an invitation to the reception and tickets for the graduation and, well, I don't know what could stop me from graduating.

Of course the fact that graduation is just step one, and step two involves 12 weeks of studying which apparently will be just as bad or almost as bad as being a 1L tempers the excitement of graduation a little, or at least makes it short-lived excitement.

funny

2007-05-10T13:39:00.000-05:00

Have you seen this? Someone sent it to me in an e-mail. I assume it's been making the rounds. Some are funny. I think it would've been really funny when we were 1Ls. Anyway, here you go.

1. You consider dropping out of law school approximately every 3 hrs,
but after that first semester you realized you're already in too much debt
to be anything other than a lawyer.
2. You can't remember if you decided to come to law school b/c you
wanted to help people and make a diff in the world or b/c you hate yourself.
3. You aspire to one day own Blackacre.
4. The drama in your life now rivals that of high school.
5. You can name w/out hesitation at least 3 people who make you want to
throw things when you see them raise their hands in class.
6. You think IRAC and CREAC are just code for saying the same thing
over and over.
7. You are truly and deeply unnerved by the thought of some of your
classmates becoming attorneys.
8. You wonder if that one professor who always seems angry and
irritable and treats students' minds as his personal playground is actually a
sociopath or just didn't get enough hugs as a child.
9. You know and understand the complicated epistemological and
metaphysical differences between coffee and red bull.
10. You think whoever came up with the Socratic method should have his
face lit on fire and then beaten out with a rake.
11. When someone is expressing their frustration or anger bout
something that is in any way related to the law, you can't be sympathetic b/c
you're too busy figuring out in your head if they have a cause of action.
12. You're pretty sure the reasonable prudent man is a friendless tool
who still lives with his mother.

Done

2007-05-08T18:38:00.000-05:00

Done. I'm not a law student any longer. I guess I haven't yet graduated but I'm done. Copyright exam was fine. (surprisingly I was drained afterwards but I think it's more being drained and worn out from law school in general as opposed to from the copyright exam in particular). Compulsory licenses? What the fuck? Yeah.

Anyway, it's over. It seems strange. Calling myself a law student was part of my identity for so long. And I knew I was going to be starting law school in August 2004 as early as February of 2003. Now I'm not in law school anymore. Work still seems so far away (I start Sept. 4 which apparently is exactly seven days before I find out if I passed the bar exam...that's one good thing about this state: they grade the bar exam really fast compared with other states) what with the bar exam and all. So now I do a bunch of stuff that's been piling up, then graduate on Sunday, then start PMBR on Tuesday.

go faster, damn you

2007-05-07T16:06:00.000-05:00

Can there be a mechanism to speed up life? This time tomorrow, I'll be done with law school.

Forever.

I'm ready to take my Copyright final exam now. I think taking it pass/fail was a stupid idea, not because I'm afraid I'll get a C- (which at this school is equal to an F if you take it pass/fail; where's the logic in that -- if you're not taking it pass/fail a C- gets you sufficient credit but if you are taking it pass/fail a C- means you don't get any credit) but because I think I'll do much better than a C.

I don't know how to study to a C so I've been studying as if it's a normal exam for a normal grade. I was afraid if I half-assed it I'd fail. Whatever. I won't fail. Anyway I've had about enough. The exam is 1 p.m. Tuesday. I wish it was at least in the morning so I wouldn't have to stare at my notes and force myself to reread them for 3 hours before it starts.

On another note, how the heck do you sustain concentration for two days of the bar exam? Yesterday I had my admin law final, then met with a group for about three hours in the late afternoon to go over copyright. By about 8 p.m. my brain was mush and all I'd done was take one three-hour exam and study for another. How do you take the equivalent of four final exams in 32 hours (two 3-hour exams each day)? I have no idea. None.

I guess I can start getting stressed about that a week from tomorrow when PMBR starts.

the good with the bad

2007-05-04T15:46:00.000-05:00

So any reader of this blog knows what I won't miss about law school once I graduate, pass the bar and move back into the real world. I've blogged about what I don't like ad nauseum.

But I was thinking lately that there are a few things I'll miss. Here's a list in no particular order of what I'll miss when my three-year hiatus from reality comes to an end and I rejoin the working world.

1. Wearing shorts every day
Yeah. Better than wearing a suit (or even business casual).

2. Taking naps whenever I want
I loved having the option of taking short naps in the middle of the day.

3. Answering only to myself
You have class and some group obligations but you can put in as much or little effort as you want, unlike when you work for someone else and your paycheck depends on it.

4. The Wellness Center on campus
Or, more specifically, having time and the opportunity (because it was right on campus) to work out every day.

5. How everything changes every four months.
With each semester, then the summer, your entire routine changed. I liked this because you weren't stuck doing the same thing day after day, month after month, year after year. And if you found you were stuck in a rut, you knew it would all change in a couple of months.

6. Summer, winter and spring breaks
Duh, self-explanatory

7. The vague and rare sense that my future as an attorney is wide open.
Many things interested me. Lots of others didn't. Most lawyers say they had no idea back in law school that they would end up doing X or Y or Z and now they love doing it. So I find the uncertain and hopeful future to be something exciting. Not that I was all starry eyed about my prospects, but I'm just saying that occasionally I felt like I had a whole world out there available to me and that seemed exciting.

8. Free Westlaw and Lexis access
OK, it wasn't free given how much we paid in tuition but that stuff is expensive so you'd better have a damn good reason for looking up some random issue once you're working.

9. Unlimited printing
So despite the uproar last fall about printing limits, I ended up with unlimited printing because of a campus group I belonged to. I didn't abuse the system. Seriously. But damned if I didn't print out stuff that I wouldn't have printed had it not been free.

Listening to the bar

2007-05-02T15:02:00.000-05:00

So I'm still studying for finals but I'm already thinking about the bar studying.

I finally got around to opening the package from PMBR and it contains two massive books, a huge pile of index cards and a box of CDs. By my count, that's 35 hours of lectures on 30 different CDs. Am I supposed to listen to this stuff? Maybe I need to put it on my iPod so I can listen to it while I work out? I don't really have a commute to school (10-15 minutes each way) so I'm not sure when I'll have time to listen to the CDs. It seems excessive - and almost counter-productive - if I have to sit around listening to the CDs; I can't pay attention that way. I assume the CDs replicate the lectures but who knows? I guess I'll find out whether they really need to be listened to in a few weeks once the fun begins...

Still need a job? Here's some great news!

2007-05-01T14:12:00.000-05:00

Hey, are you graduating in 12 days and still looking for a job? Have no fear, for the Career Placement Center at this school is looking out for you! Here's the latest job they think you're qualified for as a graduate of this school (based on the fact that it's posted on the password-protected jobs database available only to students and alumni of this school):

Busy Brickell Ave mediation practice requires full time scheduling secretary; excellent computer/phone skills a must; bi-lingual helpful, but not required; non-smoker; litigation experience required; you will be working directly with and for owner of business and will be assisting in all aspects of the administration and scheduling of his day-to-day practice; must make an excellent appearance, be able to multi-task, respond efficiently to instruction, and communicate well with other professionals and para-professionals in law firm environments; salary and benefits commensurate with experience. Respond to xxxxxxx with resume and availability for interview.

But wait, here's the best part:

Salary Range:

20,000 - 29,999

What is wrong with these people? Does anyone pay attention to the jobs that get posted? Do they really expect graduates of this law school to become secretaries? What's next? Busy law firm seeks janitor; must be highly motivated, able to multi-task and able to communicate well with others.

is commercial law funny?

2007-04-29T17:08:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I last looked at Prof. Contract's web site but I checked it out thanks to a commenter a couple of days ago. I think Prof. Contracts has gone off the deep end. You tell me, what is the deal with this comic strip about plaid coat man and the UCC filing officer? Is this funny to anyone? One of those so-bad-it's-funny deals? I don't know Prof. Contracts too well but I know him a little and know enough to know he's completely devoid of a sense of humor so I'm wondering if this is the kind of thing that strikes him as funny. If it is, that might explain a lot. Or maybe I'm just ignorant because I never took commercial law.

**
I need for the next nine days to go by quickly. All I have left is two exams, one on Sunday and one on Tuesday. Actually I have this takehome exam for ADR Policy but that's almost done.
It's a little difficult to motivate myself to spend everyday between now and Sunday studying but because the exams are so close together it's not too tough to get motivated. I'm going to study this week.

banned!

2007-04-27T13:51:00.000-05:00

So did you see the e-mail from campus police informing us that this grad student pictured above (not a law student, repeat: not a law student) has been issued a trespass warning, meaning she is not allowed on campus? I wonder what you have to do to get banned from campus? I guess it has to be serious but not serious enough to warrant other misdemeanor or felony charges? The picture looked like familiar, like I've seen here before. I Googled her and it says she is (or was) a student in the geography department. I didn't even know we had a geography department. Yeah. Strange. I have nothing else to say or write or blog about.

News: dean quits; students go on about their lives

2007-04-26T12:31:00.000-05:00

We received this e-mail today from the dean. He's stepping down as dean. The only thing that makes this remotely interesting to me is his desire to spend time with students once he steps down and becomes a professor again. It implies that he likes spending time with students. If that's true, why have I seen him a total of four times around campus since orientation three years ago (not including the time I made an appointment to talk to him?

Today I announced to the faculty that the 2007-2008 academic year will be my final one as dean. These past eight years have been the most challenging and rewarding of my professional life. We have hired very talented young faculty, expanded clinical programs for our students, significantly increased student scholarships, and almost doubled the Law School 's endowment. I am grateful to my faculty colleagues for their shared dedication to the quality of the education we provide our students. I want to thank the staff for all that you do to assure the success of our students. I firmly believe that the University of Miami has one of the most talented and socially committed student bodies in the country. We have a wonderfully supportive alumni community who have demonstrated their faith in the School's educational mission by their generous support of the Capital Campaign. It has been a privilege to serve as your dean. I am looking forward to my final year as dean, to rejoining the faculty as a professor, and to being back in the classroom with our students.

no class

2007-04-25T16:27:00.000-05:00

I had my last law school class ever today. It's strange to think that I'll never again do something so that was such a constant in my life for what seemed like so long. I might go back to the law school, but no more law school classes. Of course, it's not like anything is really over since I still have two finals and a paper (oh, and the bar exam, but we'll worry about that later) before graduation, but it does seem like an accomplishment if for no other reason than that I vividly remember my first full week of classes and how far off this point seemed. And now it's here. And I'm done.

I can't say I have unhappy memories of law school classes, but they aren't necessarily fond memories either. Some professors made class interesting and worthwhile. Most were up and down - they just taught the law and sometimes it was interesting while other times it was dull. One prof (Prof. State/Local Govt) spent the majority of the semester raving about his personal paranoid delusions and how much he despised the students - and everyone other than himself - because we were morally, intellectually and emotionally inferior to him . One (Prof. Crim Pro) turned every class into the opportunity to deliver a political manifesto so far on the left of the spectrum that even I was appalled. One (Prof. Contracts) rambled about whatever came to mind and left it to us to learn the subject, which as it turned out, wasn't all that complicated after all. One (nameless) was incapable of teaching without actually reading from the casebook - as if he didn't know the material, which was strange. Another (Prof. ADR Policy) literally made every class a pleasure to go to. One (Prof. Evidence) was so hyperactive that it stressed me out, but somehow also made me study hard. One (Prof. Con Law II and Prof. BA) lectured non-stop for the entire two hours and could've been talking to a room full of cats; his lectures were the same. One (Prof. Con Law), who I think was a good professor and a very good person, criticized the justice who wrote every opinion and thought almost every opinion was wrong. Another (Prof. Torts) liked to yell at students and his voice cracked when he yelled. One prof (you know who) put on race-goggles for every case. Another (Prof. Civ Pro) turned the color of a tomato one day, then kept teaching as if nothing happened. One (nameless, but no longer employed here) was a miserable, wretched person who hated his students (unlike Prof. State/Local, who despised us but also despised everyone).

hooray, we're No. 5!

2007-04-19T11:09:00.000-05:00

So we had the fifth-highest bar passage rate on the February exam. Yeah, that's not good. At least we beat Florida Coastal. If the for-profit law school ever beats us, well, that would be embarrassing. The Dean said a couple of interesting things: First, FIU apparently strongly discourages some people (ie. those who won't pass) from taking the bar exam. Second, our rate, while lower than other schools, was higher than it had been in years (for the February exam). Whatever. I'm already terrified about the bar exam and I'm planning to devote every waking moment (more or less, with a few breaks) from May 15 through July 25 to it. But it's not so much because I want better statistics for this school - it's about me. I want to pass. I know when I pass it says something good about this law school, but that can't be my major concern, contrary to what the Dean said at that meeting.

From the Herald:

Florida International University's most recent crop of law school graduates had the state's highest percentage of first-time examinees passing the bar.
Of the group of 18 students who graduated in December 2006, all but one student passed the bar -- a 94 percent passing rate.
That's a higher percentage of passing first-time bar examinees than those of Florida's nine other accredited law schools.
''This is only our second cycle and the fourth bar exam taken by our students, so this is a special honor,'' said Leonard Strickman, the dean of FIU's College of Law.
FIU's College of Law, which opened in 2002, is the country's newest accredited law school.
The exam was administered in late February in Orlando, according to a news release just issued by the bar examiner' board.
Next on the list: Florida State University, with an 88.2 percent pass rate (30 out of 34 students), and the University of Florida, with an 83.3 percent pass rate (130 out of 156 students).
Rounding out the list of pass rates are Stetson (82.1 percent), University of Miami (76.9 percent), St. Thomas (74.2 percent), Florida Coastal (70.1 percent), Barry (69.2 percent), Florida A&M (52.4 percent) and Nova Southeastern (48 percent).
The 74.2 percent figure is a big improvement for St. Thomas' law school, which last year had a 35.5 percent pass rate for the February exam.

move the law school downtown?

2007-04-18T09:09:00.000-05:00

Hey, what did you think about the dean's idea to move the law school downtown? I saw a letter from the dean on the printer. I assume it was sent out in an e-mail but who knows. I also saw it in the Herald (last item). It sounds like it's a long, long term project so it's not like it would affect me or anyone who is a current student. Apparently the reason is that the new city comprehensive plan might end up killing the law school's planned expansion. Or something like that.

But it's interesting to think about what law school would be like if it was downtown. Downtown would be close to the courthouse so students would be more likely to do internships or clinicals. Otherwise I can't think of a single benefit. Traffic downtown is horrible (ok, it's terrible here, too, but EVERYONE commutes to downtown; not everyone commutes to Coral Gables). Downtown isn't just ugly; it's one of the most ugly downtown major cities in the country. Something about going to school among the palm trees is, well, I don't know how to quantify it but I'm sure I would've been less attracted to this school if it was housed in an office building downtown. You wouldn't have the Wellness Center or any of the other benefits of being on campus. Parking would be just as bad - presumably if they built a law school downtown they'd build a parking area, but considering how poorly they manage parking on campus that's no sure thing. What else? It just wouldn't feel like being in a campus environment.

On the other hand, law students are here to learn the law so I guess they can learn it anywhere, right? I don't know. I just don't think it's a very good idea because other than being able to say
the law school is downtown near lawyer's offices and the courthouse, there are few benefits. But I bet if they started over, they could get the bathrooms right...

not much

2007-04-17T08:28:00.000-05:00

I was thinking about how I only have eight more classes left in all of law school (not including bar review classes, of course). I remember my first ever law school class. It was Civ Pro. It was on Friday at the end of a dizzying week of orientation, first assignments, an LRW class and I had no idea what to expect. I just knew that this was really it. This was the start of law schoool. I remember being terrified that I would be called on, then being relieved to learn that because there was not yet any seating chart the prof would go in alphabetical order. So this poor woman whose last name starts with an A was called on. But it wasn't bad at all, neither for her nor for anyone else. I remember being impressed with how well she did. Of course I don't remember anything she actually said and looking back now, considering she was talking about the first case we ever read for law school, it's unlikely she said anything brilliant. But that's not the point. I remember thinking it was such a BIG DEAL to get called on in class. It was HUGE in those early days. You were scared to not be prepared to say something intelligent, to show that not only had you done the reading, but that you could put it in context with the other cases. At least I was. Yeah. Times have changed, although now I think we're about to come full circle because - at least if you're going to be litigating like I am - if you get called on, so to speak (by a judge, by a partner in your firm, etc.) you'd better be prepared to say something smart, right?

learning vs doing

2007-04-08T16:50:00.000-05:00

I think one of the many reasons I'm sick of law school is that I'm anxious to try and apply what I've learned in the real world. I'm sick of all the learning. OK, that's not entirely true and spare me the platitudes about how I should be learning all my life, not just when I'm in school. I know that. I don't think I know everything. I don't think I'll ever know anything. I like learning stuff and I am confident that I will always be learning new things.

But I've spent the past three years getting ready to be a lawyer. Now I want to try being a lawyer. By no means did my three years in law school convince me that being a lawyer is the only profession I will have until I retire. I didn't discover a love of the law but neither did I learn to despise it. I'm just not sure if I learned what I was supposed to learn. Law school supposedly taught me how to think. Did I successfully learn the right way to think? I don't know. I won't know until I can actually practice law. I want to use some of what I've learned, whether that's the caselaw or blackletter law or more likely, the way of thinking that lawyers must use.

I remember kind of feeling this way way back during my first semester of law school. We spent what seemed like forever learning stuff but having no way to apply it. Then finals came. And while they were pretty miserable, it wasn't as bad as I thought. In fact, finals in later semesters were much worse because as a 1L, it was almost, sort of, a little bit exciting to be able to apply what you learned. I remember the five hour torts final, which was our first one. It was brutal. And that's putting it lightly. But afterwards I remember feeling slightly euphoric because I had all that knowledge in my brain and although I didn't know whether I got a C+ or an A+ I knew I did OK because I put down a shit load of stuff on the page.

But the novelty of exams as an actual method of testing what you know has long since worn off. I want to use what I learned in the real world. Here's hoping I actually learned something I can use, even if it's just a way of thinking...

ungrateful asshole

2007-04-03T17:58:00.000-05:00

So there's this person in my Copyright class. I don't think I've ever had a conversation with he or she in all of law school. Ok, it's a she. She was also in my Evidence class. I found her to be really annoying based on the questions she asked. No big deal. That kind of thing happens - we all occasionally think someone is annoying for whatever reason. (I'm sure some people even find me to be annoying! (shocking, I know!) (although it wouldn't be based on annoying questions because I rarely talk in class.)

I don't think I spent a single second outside of Evidence class (this was a year and a half ago) thinking about her. Until one day last year when I was standing on the side of an aisle in the theater waiting for a speech to start. For no particular reason I just randomly turned around to look into the seats and she was glaring at me (I was standing against the wall; she was looking right at me, not behind me or elsewhere) giving me this look that said "I hate that guy. I fucking hate him." Strange. Still, so what? So nothing. I wondered why, but still thought nothing of it for more than about five minutes. No big deal, I thought. She doesn't like me. I don't care in the slightest.

Then the next time I saw her other than in passing was at the beginning of this semester in Copyright. She didn't ask anywhere near as many annoying questions as in Evidence. I still didn't give her much thought other than to think "oh, that's the annoying girl from Evidence."

Until recently when the professor announced that this person had her laptop stolen, so could people please e-mail her their notes. First I smiled to myself and thought, 'no fucking way, she's annoying so why would I give her my notes?' But for some reason, I thought that even though I've still never had an actual conversation with her and she probably hates me for reasons unknown to me, I'd send her my notes. So I did. I've never had my laptop stolen but I've had it crash and it's a pain in the ass. Although I wouldn't necessarily expect anyone to help me if that happened, I would sure appreciate it. So I did what I thought was a nice thing, you know, kinda like the whole golden rule.

And what did I get in response? Nothing. Not a thank you, not even an acknowledgment e-mail or in person, nothing. Nothing. Nada. Seriously.

Now I hope she is practicing law in the same area as I because if I ever face her in litigation, I will destroy and crush her (and her client). I promise.

barrister's

2007-04-01T15:04:00.000-05:00

So I went to barrister's last night. It was fine, I guess. The chicken was worse than inedible. Whatever. It looked like about 98 percent of the people were there for the open bar. I didn't get wasted. Many people did.

I don't know why, but for some reason I was surprised to see professors and deans there. Only one of the two profs who I despise (well, there are three counting one who's no longer employed here) was there. I wonder how often people get drunk and say stupid things to the profs or deans?

**
The best thing to happen to me all weekend was when I discovered that the Publix near my house now sells Leine's Sunset Wheat, the best thing to come out of Wisconsin since uh, since, um, yeah It's true! Now if only they'd start carrying Honey Weiss...

Success!

2007-03-29T18:42:00.000-05:00

I got a job. Really. A full-time job with a salary. I'll actually be a lawyer and someone will pay me to do lawyer stuff. (assuming, of course, that I pass the bar). I start Sept. 4.

If you know me I'll be happy to tell you where I'm working.

If you don't, I'll just tell you it's a mid-size firm in this state. It's a bad idea to blog about work, as some friends of mine have learned.

wtf?

2007-03-28T16:37:00.000-05:00

This e-mail from the dean is incredible. Is it possible that the faculty actually wants to talk with the students? I guess since we're not registering for anything for next semester we can't complain but I'm sorely tempted to ask this lady why this has never been done before. It could have been helpful, although I somehow doubt it. Faculty lunches to talk about registration?

Am I too cynical if I suspect that the reason the school is doing this this week is because the ABA is here looking into re-accreditation? Just like the painting and sandblasting and cleaning and gardening was in full swing the past two weeks, this stinks of pandering. That's not to say these things won't be helpful to people who actually attend...

(And is anyone surprised that Professor Contract's office hours are being held on the bricks? Yeah.)

Dear Students,

As I announced on Monday, the Course Schedules for Summer, 2007 and Fall, 2007 are now available for review. They can be picked up in the Student Lounge Today. They are also available online at

Many faculty members have agreed to hold extra office hours in the next week to assist you in course selection. I am attaching a list of Faculty and their office hours for your convenience. We will publish an updated list as we hear of additional availability. If you have a question about the faculty and their areas of background or expertise, I encourage you to visit their web pages at

We have also scheduled lunch meetings for Monday, April 2 and Tuesday, April 3, 12:30-2pm in the Student Lounge where faculty members will be available to discuss the course schedule and perspectives on course selection.

Finally, we have scheduled an Online Chat for Wednesday, April 4 from 5:00pm-6:30pm. For information on joining the CHAT, please visit the Dean of Students Website at: Please remember that the Dean of Students office is also available for individual appointments throughout the next week.

Faculty Office Hours:

Wednesday, March 28:

5:45 – 8:00p.m. Abraham

Thursday, March 29:

9:30 – 11:30a.m. Bradley

10:00 – 12:00p.m. Vladeck

12:30 – 2:30p.m. Robinson

1:00 – 2:00p.m. Fenton

2:00 – 4:00p.m. Iglesias

4:00 – 5:00p.m. Valdes

4:00 – 6:00p.m. Hill

5:45 – 8:00p.m. Abraham

Friday, March 30:

8:00 – 10:00a.m. T. Anderson

10:00 – 11:00a.m. Widen (at the bricks)

10:30 – 12:30p.m. Casebeer

2:00 – 3:00p.m. Coombs

2:00 – 4:00 Vladeck

Monday, April 2:

10:00 – 11:00a.m. Froomkin

10:00 – 12:00p.m. Gudridge

10:00 – 12:00p.m. Calli

11:00 – 12:00p.m. Schnably

12:00 – 2:00p.m. Massey

1:00 – 3:00p.m. S. Wise

3:00 – 3:30p.m. Coker

3:30 – 5:30p.m. Freshman

4:00 – 5:00p.m. Lynch

Tuesday. April 3:

9:30am – 10:30a.m. Froomkin

10:00 – 11:00a.m. Diamond

11:00 – 12:00p.m. Schnably

12:00 – 2:00p.m. Langbein

1:00 – 3:00p.m. Alfieri

2:00 – 2:30p.m. Coker

2:00 – 4:00p.m. Barnes

3:30 – 5:30p.m. R. Rosen

4:00 – 5:00p.m. Coombs

Wednesday, April 4:

10:00 – 11:00a.m. Widen (at the bricks)

2:00 – 5:00p.m. Fajer

3:00 – 5:00p.m. Winick

4:00 – 5:00p.m. Coombs

Thursday, April 5:

9:00 – 11:00a.m. Doyle

1:00 – 2:00p.m. Fenton

4:00 – 5:00p.m. Valdes

4:00 – 5:00p.m. Drew

5:45 – 8:00p.m. Abraham

Friday, April 6:

10:00 – 11:00a.m. Widen (at the bricks)

10:30 – 12:30p.m. Casebeer

4:00 – 5:00p.m. Drew

yada yada yada

2007-03-26T14:10:00.000-05:00

Hey, have you noticed how much easier it is to park this semester than in past semesters? I don’t always get here first thing in the morning like I used to do and I’ve still never had to take the shuttle. I wonder why…

Did you see the e-mail about an online chat with the faculty for 1Ls and 2Ls so they can ask questions about registration? Extended office hours by professors? Huh? Since when? Why didn’t they have this for my class in any of the past five semesters we registered for?

Why is it that not a single professor in this law school is capable of setting up the laptop projector or DVD/VCR player? Any time a laptop projector or DVD/VCR is shown it takes an army of people from the AV center to set it up. It’s amazing that the technology at this school is so primitive.

I signed up for PMBR in addition to Bar-Bri. The six-day PMBR class starts May 14. Graduation is May 13. Awesome. I can’t wait for this summer!

I got talked into going to Barrister’s. Well, my wife got talked into it, which means I’ll be there.

What's the difference between spam and a job posting?

2007-03-19T12:00:00.000-05:00

So did you catch this job posting on our school's web site a week or two ago? Does anything seem a little out of the ordinary?

Seeking an Attorney of record, with 4-6 years of Attorney experience. To work in the Traffic and Boating Citations Industry in the State of Florida. Experience in this field is not required; however you will be responsible to learn while on the job. While attending Traffic Court, where you will receive a vast knowledge of civil traffic / Boating Citations as well as, Criminal Citations. This will be a learning curve in which you will learn very quickly the various ‘Statutes’ and how to defend on cases as they come into this business. If hired for this Position you would be responsible for twelve – twenty Counties in the State of Florida. Looking for an Attorney with a flair for creativity and legal expertise. At least 4 years post JD, their own Business, or currently working for Attorneys. All Attorneys interested are encouraged to apply. You will be able to comprehend this Industry receiving a quick introduction, through attending Traffic Court. This learning curve should not take longer than 8 weeks (while still working.)

First of all, it was written by someone who is functionally illiterate. Or in third grade. The bizarre use of capitalization and quotes (I know not all lawyers are experts at punctuation and grammar but when you want someone to learn 'Statutes' as opposed to Statutes, I'm suspicious) is the first red flag for me. It also reads as though a child write it (At least 4 years post JD, their own Business, or currently working for Attorneys. What does this sentence even mean? Seriously. While attending Traffic Court, where you will receive a vast knowledge of civil traffic / Boating Citations as well as, Criminal Citations. What's wrong with this sentence? It's missing a clause somewhere.) It says it's for a company called Metro Marketing Group, but when you look it up on line, it seems to be a company with offices in New Jersey and Hong Kong that has nothing whatsoever to do with the "Traffic and Boating Citations Industry" and in fact has a web site that touts its ability to "assist, recommend and participate in the product development, product sourcing, supply chain development and marketing plan development to bring product and ideas to market."

So here's my best guess: someone at the Career Placement Center is incapable of discerning the difference between an actual job announcement and spam. Awesome. What's next? A posting for a barrister position with a Nigerian investment bank?

At least that listing is better than the next one for a clinical professor at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. Yes, pharmacy. OK, granted, it says you should have a J.D., but are these people serious?

open the book

2007-03-16T10:26:00.000-05:00

I haven't read anything in my Admin Law book since the second week of classes. Do you think this will be a problem about six weeks from now? I'm taking the class pass/fail and the exam is open book but I'm actually worried that I might fail. If I'm not mistaken I think anything below a C is considered failing, right? I think the secret will be to leave my laptop at home for the next class because I'm now incapable of paying attention to an professor when I have a laptop in front of me. It's like a sickness. And it's worse in Admin because the class is almost three hours long. This is a relatively new thing for me; it's developed over the past year and a half. As a 1L I never went online during class. Ok, almost never -- I did in Public Interest, but even then, I felt guilty about it. (By the way, I think that's one of the reasons being a 1L is so stressful - it requires so much mental energy). As a 2L I went online but only in the less important classes. Never in Evidence, that's for damn sure. Now I can barely focus on the professor for more than five consecutive minutes.

**
I keep going on job interviews but not getting jobs. At least none of the places have officially sent a rejection but they also haven't given any offers either. More interviews lined up for next week, so that's good.

this and that

2007-03-08T19:37:00.000-05:00

It's spring break. So that's nice. No more spring breaks after this year. Ever.

**
Yeah, law students: catty. The problem, though, is that you can't necessarily make the link from anonymous nasty postings about this woman and her lack of job offers. Maybe she just doesn't interview well? Also, wouldn't you think that the people doing the Google searches can tell the difference between someone's myspace page and anonymous postings about a person, but not by that person?

**
I got nothing else for you. After spring break there are six weeks left in the semester. Six weeks left in law school. Yeah. I'm going to be busy - so far I have plans to go to at least five baseball games, maybe more - but I guess I should eventually do some work.

**
Did anyone else get that e-mail from the CPC today about the upcoming meeting in April about clerkships? Um, yeah. Right. I'll be telling people about how useful it is to go to her meeting. Without the meeting, you won't get a clerkship! Well, actually, you won't get a clerkship even if you don't go to the meeting!

Is this a joke? Is he f--ing kidding?

2007-03-03T13:19:00.000-05:00

Dear Students:

I am writing to let you know that the Board of Trustees has set Law School tuition for next year at $34,136 (a 5.5% increase). Fees will be $516 (not including the health insurance fee for those who do not opt out).

As a private law school, we depend far more heavily on tuition than do public universities, which receive considerable state support. We face the same sharply rising costs that most private law schools around the country are dealing with. The increases in our costs exceed the tuition increase we are announcing for the coming year. Our tuition for next year will remain somewhat below that of most other comparable private law schools around the country.

We are making every effort to ensure that we spend your tuition dollars wisely and efficiently. Equally important, I am working hard to increase the scholarship resources available to our students, including not only incoming students but also rising second- and third-year students. With the support of a highly professional Financial Aid Office, along with a dedicated alumni body and other generous friends of the Law School, We are committed to ensuring that all our students have the resources to finance their legal education.

While I regret the necessity of any increase in tuition, I have no doubt that the value of a UM education more than justifies the tuition costs our students incur. There is no better preparation for the practice of law -- a fascinating, important, and honorable profession that plays a critical role in the welfare of our society -- than the legal education you receive here at the University of Miami.

With best wishes for a successful semester,

Dennis O. Lynch
Dean

Is anyone home?

2007-03-01T09:56:00.000-05:00

So what's the deal with this e-mail we got from the Career Placement Center about Supreme Court summer internships that said "FYI-great opportunity!"? I know it was for 1Ls and 2Ls so it's not like I was considering applying (since I'm a 3L), but do the people at the CPC have a grasp on reality?

These are some of the qualifications. You tell me if law students should be applying for these jobs:

Successful completion of at least one year of college education.

Team-oriented, to work in printing and e-publishing. Web data formatting, data conversion, and customer service skills a plus. Shift flexibility.

Detail oriented with an interest in Accounting or Budget and Human Resources (benefits); clerical and computer skills appreciated.

Hands-on experience and interest in computer applications, particularly hardware/software set-up and installation.

Do the people at the CPC suggest we try to fool potential employers about our work experience. I can just imagine the interview for a full-time job or a clerkship or something:

Interviewer: "Wow, I see on your resume that you worked at the Supreme Court last summer. That must have been a great experience. Tell me about that"

Law Student: "I installed software. Once I removed a virus from Justice Ginsburg's laptop."

Interviewer: "Oh. Well, you'd be perfect if we needed an IT guy. But we're trying to hire a lawyer.

live, from administrative law!

2007-02-26T18:23:00.000-05:00

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.

**
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.

**
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

2007-02-24T17:23:00.000-05:00

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.

**
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!

2007-02-16T12:56:00.000-05:00

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.

**
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'

2007-02-07T13:27:00.000-05:00

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…

Does size matter?

2007-01-31T09:19:00.000-05:00

So someone asked me what I thought about Above the Law’s recent postings that first-year associates in New York big firms are making $160,000 plus $30,000 annual bonuses. When you add in benefits and maybe paying for parking and health insurance and whatever other perks basically you’re making $200,000 a year in your first year out of law school.

Wow. That’s a lot of money (cost of living in New York notwithstanding) but the way I see it, it’s not like the people in these jobs are beating the system. When a firm is paying you $200,000 a year, they’re getting $200,000 a year’s worth of work out of you. It’s not like being an assistant coach in the NBA and working six-hour days but being paid several hundred thousand dollars a year…that’s an easy gig. Just like I have some friends here who have jobs lined up at Miami big firms and are starting at about $120,000, well, those people are going to sweat for every penny they earn.

What I’ve started to wonder about is the breakdown of these salaries as compared with smaller and mid-size firm salaries. (Looks like Above the Law is also wondering how hard these people work with a highly unscientific poll). I honestly have no clue how much the 10 lawyers at my firm make and I don’t know if they’ll make me a job offer so I don’t know if I’ll ever find out. I’m sure that they make less than lawyers do at big firms. Probably a lot less. I’m confident that if I did get an offer, my first-year salary would be far lower than $120,000, but I don’t know if it would be $55,000, $80K or what. (I do know that these lawyers aren’t struggling; one drives a Porsche Cayenne, one partner lives on one of those gated islands off South Beach and has a cabin in Aspen).

So you’d think that they work a lot less hard, right? I’m not so sure about this. At this office, they work from about 9:30 until at least 7-7:30. I guess two or three times a week they take hour or hour-and-a-half lunches, but the days are still long. By no means are these people punching a clock from 9-5. It’s not uncommon for them to have dinner meetings or after work work-related events. And they often take work home on weekends. I also have no idea how many hours they're supposed to bill because no one has ever told me. But generally, it seems like the 1900-2100 is standard when I hear about firms down here that talk about their expectations for billables. I don't know how it works in the real world but based on 50 weeks a year, 2000 billables means you have to bill 40 hours a week. I don't know the Big Firm ratio of hours worked to hours billed, but 2000, while a lot, probably doesn't translate into 70-80 hour weeks; it's probably more like 50-60 hour work weeks. I could be way off base on this; I know I can usually bill about seven hours during the nine hours I'm at work; presumably I would eventually become more efficient at it. (Oh, and here are some other blogs about how many hours associates bill. I think, as with all polls, we have to take this stuff with a grain of salt.)

How does this differ from being at a big firm? Once when I went out to lunch with a bunch of the lawyers they were talking about how they’d hate to work at one of the big firms. For the most part, the stuff they talked about not liking is that with a large organization and so many layers of red tape, they would have much less control over their work and their lives. They also talked about their friends at big firms working long days, but other than one of the young lawyers (two years out of law school) who claims her friend works until 11 p.m. almost every single night – which I think is probably a huge exaggeration – no one could really specify what “long hours” really means and how it differs from the 60- or so hour work weeks they put in at this small firm.

On the one hand, a guy I worked with once over the summer at a government job used to work at one of the mega firms here and he said the majority of the time – about 75 percent of the days – he worked 9-6. He claims this was common at his firm and other big firms. He worked at a Really Big Firm. My sense is that the lawyers at my firm put in almost as many hours as those at big firms and probably get paid significantly less. It seems like they chose the small firm environment because they want more control over their lives – specifically their work. As far as I know, this firm has no committees to decide what you can or can’t do.

I guess it comes down to control, or at least the illusion of having some control over your lives, because I can’t think of any other reason why you’d want to work at a small firm for the same number of hours you’d work at a big firm, but for less salary.

Administrative Law

2007-01-29T12:43:00.000-05:00

The three hour admin law class is going to be as excruciating as I anticipated.

And, as the professor said during the first class, "Just like we used to say in the military, you volunteered for this" so he's not going easy on us just because the class is three hours long. I know, I know, I did volunteer. That doesn't mean it's interesting. I thought taking this would be more beneficial to me than Family Law at the same time because although family is on the bar, I'm more likely to work in or with an administrative agency than I am to practice anything related to family law.

During the first class I considered gouging out my eyes just for fun, but decided against it. Maybe next time I'll take up cutting? Or give myself a tattoo?

Although I don't agree with his politics, he seems like a decent professor, so I don't think it's his fault that the class is so boring.

And although he mentioned that his wife is who everyone thinks she is, he failed to mention her latest disgraceful shennanigans that are embarrassing even by Miami standards. Yeah. Wow.

Yawn, yet another celebrity sighting

2007-01-27T10:30:00.000-05:00

I was thinking about how the Super Bowl is in town next week. For some people in my neighborhood, where my house is one of the only English-speaking houses on the block, I'm guessing they have no idea that the eyes of hundreds of millions of people will be on Miami this week. When stuff like this happens, it really hits home how the Miami you see in TV or the Miami you visit is nothing like the Miami you live in. At least not the one that I live in - I know plenty of law students live in South Beach and live a much different life than me. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not saying that I'm disappointed or surprised by this; it's just something I'm observing. I mean I knew when I moved here that I wouldn't be rubbing shoulders with celebrities at the supermarket or bumping into those people during the course of a regular day.

So anyway, one of the things you quickly get used to about going to this school is the celebrity sightings. I'm not saying that celebrities are everywhere, but so many famous athletes went here that it's just par for the course. Even famous athletes who didn't go here like to hang out here -- just ask A-Rod, who is on the Board of Trustees.

Still, today for some reason I was a little thrown off by my celebrity sighting because the guy I saw isn't just famous -- he's a terrifying, and yet oddly compelling figure, although not necessarily in a good way.

I was walking across the intramural fields on my way to the gym and came upon a group of large African-American men unloading a truck full of boxes, sound equipment, drinks and uh, a bunch of other stuff. One of them looked vaguely familiar but as I walked past him I couldn't quite place him. Then on the way back, the event they were preparing for was all set up and I realized I just had a brush with one of the strangest and yet scariest alumni of this institution: The man I saw was Ray Lewis, alternately known as God's Linebacker and uh, well, let's see, how should we put this delicately...the man who stood by and um, obstructed justice while his posse may or may not have murdered a couple of people. Just as quickly, Lewis "rehabilitated" his image by winning a Super Bowl and MVP a year later and decided that the media and public was at fault for making such a big deal of the double murder.

Yeah, so that's my celebrity sighting for the day.