Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick entry, as I should be writing my big paper right now. It’s been a good week on the whole.  Tuesday morning I got all the classes I wanted My counseling appointment also went well on Tuesday.  My brother also got home safely Wednesday we went to see my grandparents. My grandfather is the same as always. It was great to see my grandmother however as I don’t get as many chances to see her.  She’s still hanging in there, stubborn as ever. My parents bought her a sweatshirt that has my university name + College of Law and then Grandparent so she loved that! We also got a chance to play two games of pinochle before we needed to leave to drive back home so we could pick up my brother’s girlfriend at the airport. My grandmother & I won the first game, while my dad and brother won the second game. Regardless, my grandmother loves to play and especially loves to beat my dad and brother at cards.  My brother’s girlfriend arrived safe and sound and her plane was only about 10 minutes late. Today I’m working on my paper and later we’ll frost sugar cookies and have dinner. All in all, a good Thanksgiving break so far!

Next Semester

The schedule for next semester was finally released this week. So my friends and I have been pouring over it, trying to decide what classes we need to take and which ones we simply want to take. Generally speaking, there’s a long list of classes that need to be taken either to graduate or to pass the bar exam following graduation. Registration will be next week, with 3Ls registering probably registering either Monday or Tuesday and 2Ls registering a day later.  As for me, here’s a picture of the schedule I’d like:

Agency, Evidence, and Secured Transactions are all bar courses. Lawyering Skills is required to graduate so Anti-Trust is my only class that’s not a bar course or required to graduate.  In terms of what those classes are about, I’ve put the course descriptions below. The two that may be hard to get into are Evidence and Anti-Trust. They’re both taught with a very popular professor. It may also be interesting to get into lawyering skills, as lawyering skills is limited to just 16 people (there are other sections of the class available as well, but they are either at really bad times or during one of my other proposed classes).

Agency: A study of the fundamental legal relationships for carrying on activities through other individuals or entities acting in a representative capacity, with particular emphasis on the fiduciary nature of agency relationships. The study of general agency principles is followed by an introduction to various forms of unincorporated business associations, including general partnerships, limited partnerships, and limited liability companies.

Anti-Trust: So titled because "trusts" once were used to destroy business competition, U.S. antitrust laws are intended to ensure that the American market economy functions in a competitive manner and for the benefit of consumers.  This course will analyze the statutes which provide the basis for U.S. competition law as well as a number of administrative agency interpretations which constitute the most important policies of antitrust enforcement.  The substance of the course will encompass horizontal restraints between competitors (price fixing, group boycotts, bid rigging, etc.), vertical restraints involving multiple actors in a chain of distribution, the abuse of monopoly power by single firms, the standards of judicial and administrative review for mergers and acquisitions, and the judicially imposed limitations on private enforcement.  The majority of the course will focus on U.S. law although some international and comparative aspects will be considered.  No prior knowledge of economics is required.

Evidence: Examines the rules controlling the presentation of information offered as evidence at trials. Common law rules, their exceptions, statutory modifications, and problems of proof.

Lawyering Skills: An introduction to the skills and techniques essential to the pretrial phase of a civil or criminal lawsuit. The course involves simulated experiences, with extensive reliance on role-playing and videotaping to provide immediacy of experience and direct feedback. Enrollment limited to 16 students.

Secured Transactions: The law relating to the creation of security interests in personal property, as codified in Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. (Best example of a secured transaction is a car loan or a mortgage – you take out a loan from a bank to buy a car or house & fail to pay back the loan, the bank can take the car or house to sell it and pay back the loan from the proceeds of the sale).

NoJoMo Day 5

*Yawn* I’m definitely tired this weekend for some reason.  Anyway, another boring day on the whole. Got up, did some work on my comparative law paper and did some general studying.  This afternoon, my Badgers started the process of erasing the last two weeks from their memories. Thankfully, Purdue didn’t provide a big problem. However, the Badgers need to fix their special teams unit. It’s definitely had problems this year.

During the Badger game, my mom called. She asked me if I was going to see my grandfather at some point this week. Rather dumb question, really but I told her I was. She reminded she hadn’t been down in awhile. She doesn’t want to go down tomorrow after spending the morning with my grandmother.  She said instead she was going to come down during the week one night. She wanted to know if I’d go with her and what nights worked best for me. As a result, she’s planning to come down on Thursday after work and will pick me up. It’ll be nice to see her. I haven’t seen her in a few weeks.

This weekend being the one where we turn the clocks back, some years I’ll stay up and some years I won’t (and thus will enjoy the extra hour of sleep). Given my attack of the yawns, it’s going to be the extra hour of sleep this year. Plus, tomorrow I teach my first Sunday School lesson in my new calling. The extra sleep couldn’t hurt. After church, my first priority will be my Intellectual Property reading. After that I’ll do some more work on my comparative law paper (really it’s still research – the US case I’m using has generated a lot of law reviews, many of which contain information and opinions relevant to my paper topic). USA Network is running an NCIS marathon tomorrow so that’ll provide  good background noise. Tomorrow night, however, I’ll have to decide whether to watch the new show Once Upon a Time or the USA movie that’s premiering at the same time. I’ll probably tivo both of them – that’s the nice thing about Comcast dvr. I can tivo two shows at once, or record one while watching something else entirely.

NoJoMo Day 4 - Yawn

I’m yawning up a storm as I write this. It’s only 9:30 and I’d intended to stay up awhile longer, but given my sudden attack of the yawns, is bed for me after I write this up. Another boring day today on the whole. Spent most of the morning talking and studying with Shannon. My dad picked me up from campus right about 11 and we went to see my grandfather (though not before we picked up McDonalds for him for lunch – he  got his new dentures yesterday after not having any for a few weeks). It was nice to see my dad, especially since I won’t see him when he comes down next Friday. He’s planning to come down with one of my aunts about 9am on Friday. However, I’m studying for bankruptcy with Will next Friday. My dad may have time for me to give him a tour of the law school the following Friday however.

I did some reading for my comparative law paper later on, but also some non-school work stuff. I need to buckle down tomorrow and spend a lot of time on my comparative law paper. I also have to read for Intellectual Property for Monday. Given we have a double class on Monday, I have a LOT of reading to do to be ready for class. We’re finishing up the copyrights section of the class and have to read pages 628-690 and let me tell you – law school reading does not go fast. Aside from school work tomorrow, there’s also the Badger game mid-afternoon and I have to prepare a lesson for my Sunday School class.  Makes me giggle a little to think of how my life is both busy and boring at the same time.

NoJoMo Day 3–Rather Dull Day

Another boring day in the life of a second year law student. I can’t wait to ditch Federal Income Taxation & Bankruptcy. However, Bankruptcy is my last final, so I won’t be able to ditch it until December 12th.  After classes today, I did a little tax studying and a little intellectual property studying.  Thankfully, I left the law school earlier today than I did yesterday. Today I went over to University Health Services to figure out the cost of my prescriptions if I got them filled there (in other words, information gathering for when I’m off my dad’s insurance plan come January 1st). As it turns out, the UHS pharmacy doesn’t have Vyvanse, period. So my parents are going to look into other options. My dad seemed to think he had a few.  I’ll see him tomorrow when he comes down to see my grandfather, so I’m sure we’ll talk about it.

The one other piece of news is that I’m going to apply for a summer associate position with a national law firm. In particular the openings are in San Francisco, California; Palo Alto, California; New York, New York; and Washington, D.C.. It would, of course, mean leaving this area for the summer. However, the positions are paid and this particular firm has a public interest program in conjunction with its summer associate program. Beyond all that, it’s paid! So this weekend I’m going to polish up my resume and apply for the position. I need to see if they also want a writing sample. If they do, I need to poke through the first part of my appellate brief that I wrote last semester. It turned out well and would make a good writing sample. Now that I’ve got more law school time under my belt, doing a little polishing couldn’t hurt. I definitely hope I get one of their positions!

Well, it’s off to get ready for bed for me. I actually need to get up when my alarm goes off at 7:15 tomorrow morning – I can’t hit the snooze button multiple times. I’m meeting Shannon at the law school and we’re going to work on Federal Income Taxation & Intellectual Property from 8-11.

NoJoMo Day 2–What a Long Day

I spent nearly 10 hours today actually at the law school, the most I’ve spent there in awhile. Between studying with Will, classes, and prepping for tomorrow’s classes, there wasn’t much “down” time. I started studying with Will about 8 this morning and didn’t leave the law school until about 5:40ish. After which I went grocery shopping, which I hadn’t done in awhile. I’d planned on coming home and doing some reading for my comparative law paper but it just didn’t happen.

The insane part of the semester has begun, so I see many more days like this in my future. Tomorrow I’ve got class til 1:15. I need to head over to University Health Services to get a prescription filled. Given that I’m going to be working on Fed Tax & Intellectual Property with Shannon Friday morning, I won’t bother trying to do Monday’s massive amount of Intellectual Property reading. It’s large enough that normally I’d just take it home with me after classes on Thursday (since I don’t have any Friday classes this semester). But I don’t want to take it home Thursday afternoon only to bring it back Friday morning.  I also may or may not see my dad on Friday. He’s planning to come down and see my grandfather, but I may miss him because he may end up coming down while I’m studying with Shannon.

This weekend I need to make some serious progress on my research for my comparative law paper due December 2nd. It’s comparing gun rights in the United States to those in the UK, using the Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller that was decided a few years back. For my Tax and Bankruptcy classes I’ve started trying to figure out what topics I know well, which ones I can use but not legally define for the exam, and which topics I thought I knew but really don’t. Thus far for Tax & Bankruptcy, there aren’t many topics in the first category, there are more than I expected in the second category (a good thing!), and still a fair number in the last category (though less than I was expecting!). I’m also going to do some work on my Constitutional Law & Intellectual Property outlines. For those two, it’s less about understanding particular subject areas and more reviewing everything we’ve covered. We’ve covered a LOT of material in both classes, but it’s much more straightforward than either Tax or Bankruptcy.  My goal is to have at least a little downtime over Thanksgiving break, but that’s only going to be possible if my paper is mostly written (polished though is another story) and I’m well on my way to having coherent outlines for my other four classes.

NoJoMo Day 1–No Promises

I've decided on a whim to try NoJoMo this year. However, given the sheer volume of work to be done between now and the end of the month, I make no promises as to whether or not I actually manage the full month. My first of four final exams is December 6th and I have a 20-25 page paper for Comparative Law due December 2nd. Thanksgiving will also make things interesting, as it promises to be a busy Thanksgiving holiday. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but both of my brothers will be home for Thanksgiving, in addition to Stephen's girlfriend, Christina. I'm also hoping to see a friend from high school that I haven't seen in several years.

Today was a fairly quiet day as classes go. As I've said before, tax and bankruptcy can't end soon enough for me. In Constitutional Law we're talking about Free Speech. It's a very interesting area of case law. I agree with the vast majority of constitutional protections for speech, but there are a few areas where I wouldn't be as protective as the court has been in recent years. Tomorrow I'm studying bankruptcy with Will before my Intellectual Property class. We're going to start going over some terms & concepts. Friday morning I'm working on my tax & intellectual property outlines with Shannon.

Even with the huge increase in workload over my undergraduate days, I'm enjoying law school far more than I ever did my undergraduate classes. And that includes the couple of political science classes I really liked. I've certainly never felt more at home in a school setting than I do now. I'm not sure if it's the smaller class sizes or the "we're all in this together" feeling, but I've also made more and better friends than I did as an undergraduate.