Graduation

All I can say is that graduation and all the rest of it seem to have gone off without a hitch, although the last two weeks have really flown by. The family and everyone came out for graduation, and then I had to pack up and move to where I am studying for the bar.

Speaking of which, bar review started today for the July 2007 Bar Exam, and I have a lot to say about that. For any of you who are interested in what starts happening the day after graduation, I'll be blogging about studying for, and taking the July 2007 Bar Exam on another blog started with a few friends of mine, and you are welcome to check it out: Blogging The Bar http://bloggingthebar.blogspot.com

I'll still be around, answering questions about transfer stuff and cheering on those of you who are applying to transfer. As I think of stuff I'll post about it, but for now I'll mostly be over at BTB.

I suppose the biggest shock is that I thought for the longest time (especially when I was a 2L) that with graduation from law school would come this big release and feeling of accomplishment. In reality, you get so wrapped up in the festivities, and then bar review, that the big release never really happened. And of course I don't feel like a "real lawyer" yet because I haven't passed the bar, and the materials for bar review are initially so overwhelming that you feel like you are right back at the bottom of a big ol' mountain, having to climb up again.

But, as I have said before, and I'll say again, welcome to the law (and law school).

Take care one and all, and like I said, this isn't an official retirement...I'll still be knocking around here and there.

Best to all,

DF

My Last Exam

So, tomorrow is my very last exam of law school.

I was seriously thinking about bringing champagne to my final tomorrow and as soon as it is over just popping it right in the middle of the classroom and drinking straight from the bottle. Of course, the proctor probably wouldn't take too kindly to that. And I have to drive home, so that wouldn't be good either.

But is a nice, cheery, thought! At 4:30pm tomorrow, I will have to settle for the mental uncorking of champagne bottles, rather than actually doing it physically.

By the way, if anybody hasn't seen this super-fabulous animated sequence on 803 Hearsay Exceptions, I highly recommend it (and when you are so sick of reading about them, I promise this will be a welcome respite): http://media.putfile.com/hearsay

And the Lightening Strikes

The weather has (finally) been amazing here lately. Warm, but not too warm, sunny, clear skies -- the kind of weather that makes you just want to be outside. Tonight, as it was getting dark, the clouds rolled in and we have been having a spectacular lightening show punctuated by grumbling thunder. I am now curled up in my over-sized leather chair reading about the Parole Evidence Rule and Judicial Notice with the window open, listening to the rain fall and looking up once in awhile when the lightening strikes.

This would actually be really cool if I had a glass of red wine, and if I were reading something more enticing than my Evidence Gilbert's Law Summary!

Only 30 more pages to get through tonight, and then I am packing it in.

And to all a goodnight.

Mystery Meat?

Okay, someone emailed this to the law student listerv, and I just couldn't resist. I think we are all suffering from a bit of finals delirium at the moment (names and places have been changed to protect the innocent):

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Does anyone actually eat the "double salamis" in the student lounge vending machine? I'm all for snapping into a slim jim now and again, but this is taking mystery meat to new heights. Is Double Salami just recycled vending food still lingering around since the origins of the Vending Machine, popped into E9 in the hopes that a starving law student will take a chance on it?

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Reply 1:

Not to worry... John Smith keeps those "double salamis" fresh by partaking in the delicious treat on a regular basis. Usually in the library where the you can smell it from 3 tables away.

Reply 2:
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I had some double salami during break in Copyright last semester. I pretended they were the best tasting cigars EVAR. Then I wiped my oily hands on the door hinges to stop their squeaking.

Where, oh where is my motivation, and the drunk guy who yelled in the library...

With graduation less than one week away, and just one last final to go (Evidence) why is it so difficult to buckle down and study? I feel, in a weird sort of way, that one foot is already out the door, and I am straddling the line between law school and those eensy weensy 11 days before I start bar prep.

Speaking of bar prep, how in the world do people find the motivation to study for the bar after law school? I mean, I am so burned out on this body of knowledge called "the law" that I have been devoting my attention to, that I just want to curl up in a ball and watch endless amounts of TV. Or travel the world with just a backpack and a digital camera. Studying for another couple of months is the absolute last thing I feel like doing right now. Just like studying for my Evidence exam is also probably about the last thing I want to do right now.

This post is going absolutely nowhere, and is probably devolving into nonsensical complaining, but I am hoping there are others out there who share my law school despondency. Since this is happening, I will share a short funny story with you:

The third day of law school finals a guy walked into this study room of the law school (it isn't really the library, but rather just a huge study room). This young chap proceeded to yell, for all to hear in the very quiet room, "I'm DONE!!! AND IIIII'M DRUNK!!!"

The rest of the room, bemused, then pained, turned back to studying, no doubt everybody just a wee bit jealous that most of their finals are still ahead of them.

Just a Little Over One Week To Go...

It is absolutely hard to believe that I am almost done with law school. I just have two finals left, one in class, and one take-home. Not too horrible, but it has been really hard to focus. I just keep thinking that I am practically done.

Anyway, I better get to studying. And so should the rest of you, especially if you are planning to transfer! Remember -- those second-semester 1L grades still count, even if you did super-well your first semester. You gotta show consistency, and staying power. None of the law schools to which you apply want to see that you came in with a bang, and finished 1L with a whimper.

Stay in there everybody -- summer is almost here!

Stay Strong, Virginia Tech

It could have been any one of our campuses -- it could have been our law schools, our colleges, or our universities. We hope you will be able to lean on each other in your time of need and help each other heal. Our thoughts are with you...

37 Pounds of Unwanted Material

No, I'm not talking about fat. I'm talking about my bar review materials. That's right -- I just received an email from Bar Bri that my bar review materials will weight a total of 37 pounds! And I can't figure out why they are telling us this now, other than to prepare us for the complete and utter hell we will find ourselves in come May, and to warn us to bring a wheelbarrow with us when we actually pick up the materials. Fear not, fellow 3Ls...they come in two sets! The state set (at least my state) weighs 15 pounds, and the multi-state weighs 22 pounds (this is where law students start comparing the weight of their respective states to determine where their state falls on the heaviness, and therefore which level of hell in which they will be stuck).

So, my dear 2Ls, and even those 1Ls who find yourselves here...while you may think law school sucks, and have taken to counting down the precise number of days, hours, minutes, and seconds you have left until that ever-blessed day we call "Graduation"....a whole new level of misery awaits you a mere 11 days* after that holiest of holy days. And the specter rears its head in the form of 37 pounds of paper....and endless hours of being freaked out because you don't want to be "that person" who everyone talks about who failed the bar (and thereby sent your school's USNWR ranking plunging to the depths of its tier because you messed up the bar passage rate percentage).

Welcome to the law, young lawyers-to-be!

*note that this day is variable. Others in my class have as many as 17 days before bar review begins.

No More Registration For Me

Well, the emails keep going out about fall registration, and I keep deleting them. It is so weird that after all this time, I finally do not have to begin my semesterly investigation of which professors to take for what, and what classes I really should have before I graduate. This is it...in one month it will all be over, and I'll be packing up and moving onto studying for the bar.

In some ways, I am so ready to be done, but I still can't help but think, while looking at the fall schedule, "ooo...international litigation is being offered in the fall? Who is teaching it?"

Meanwhile, I get to send it certified checks for hundreds of dollars and invite strangers to conduct extensive background investigations on my short little life. A word of advice to future 3Ls....get your bar crap done early, so you don't get stuck running up against the deadline like me!

Studying Sick

Unfortunately, I am sick sick sick. I caught the flu from some unknown person or place (my most recent airplane ride, perhaps? That person who was precariously absent from Evidence for three days in a row?) and I have an early final exam on Monday. I knew I was really in trouble when I got too nauseous to read, and just the thought of looking at a page of words made me run to the bathroom. But, as my esteemed colleagues tell me, "Pass = JD" at this point. As a second semester 3L just trying to squeek across the finish line, I am seeking solace in the fact that my newly acquired (and hopefully very temporary illness) will subside just long enough for me to complete this early final exam.

I haven't been sick and had to take a final since my first year Civ Pro exam. In that case, I think the illness actually bolstered my studying time because I was bedridden with nothing to do but read and study. It is the nausea that is the killer -- not being able to read destroys any possibility of being productive.

I wonder what kind of anti-nausea medication will work quick...