The Prodigal Son

In keeping up my law school tradition, here is my bi-annual posting. Let me try and sum up everything that has happened since last October. Go to class, go study, go out on the weekends. Times that by 2 months. Then Finals, which I can't properly describe here, but will try if anyone still actually reads this blog and has any interest in hearing about those few weeks of hell. Next, a gloriously long break, followed by the inevitable feeling that school would have to be resuming some time. And here we are.

The start of a new semester. Grades have come back. People are either elated or in the depths of despair. Scrambling for a summer job. Contemplating the financial merits of 2 1/2 more years of law school vs. dropping out. Adjusting to new teachers and new subjects. And so it goes.

I will try to update this way more often, if anybody actually reads this. And I will have more to say about last semester/finals/etc.

Saturday Night = Torts

This book will be the death of me. We have a take-home midterm due on Monday. I always thought take-home exams would be better than normal exams. More time to complete it = An easier job, right? Oh, how wrong I was. More time to complete it = More procrastination, which in turn = a greater sense of urgency when it's Saturday night and I've only written 5 pages..

...And yet, the saddest part is that the midterm is only 1/3 as long as the Final will be..

So in summation, the moral is, to anyone not in law school/having a midterm right no, cherish your weekends while you can!

Sooo...........

Where to begin! It's been about 2 months since I last updated here, and about 6 weeks since I first started law school. Needless to say, school does not necessarily allow a lot of free time for leisure activities, such as maintaining this blog....but I will try!

First 6 weeks impression: Lots of reading, but not as scary as I had imagined. True, I got called out on the first day of Contracts (Apply some obscure section of the U.C.C. to the following fact pattern:....needless to say, as it was the first day, I failed mightily), but other than that, there haven't been too many traumatic experiences.

More so, it can be summed up by the following sentence that I just read in my Contracts book.
"There are, however, cases in which the doctrine of the enforcement of implied negative covenants has been carried far beyond the present state of the law in England, and beyond what seems to be the weight of the best considered authority here, but taking the law as we find it, it may safely be said that equity will not enforce a negative covenant, express or implied, in a contract which it can not specifically enforce, unless a breach of the negative covenant will cause loss to the promisee distinct from that resulting from the mere failure of the promisor to carry out his affirmative promise."

That was one sentence. There is no logical reason why a sentence such as that should ever, ever exist in the English language. Yet, that is about all I read these days, so if you find that enjoyable, then law school is the right path for you!

Most Useless Classes

Above The Law has a list of the most useless 1L classes Here . Topping the list? Property, Con Law, and Torts. And with 172 comments and counting, you're sure to gain some insight into what to expect when classes start in less than a month!

Law Firm Rankings

For those of you looking to go into BigLaw, AboveTheLaw has leaked the new 2009 Vault rankings for the 50 best Law Firms to work for. Now you know who to get those mass mailings ready for!

Check out the list Here

Buying a Briefcase

Time for a purely aesthetic entry today: Which Briefcase to Buy?

Alright, thanks to a gift from my lovely Mother, I am in a position to buy a fancy schmancy briefcase, presumably for some distant day when I'm actually a practicing attorney. So I started to look at briefcases today and was completely overwhelmed by the sheer number and options provided to the briefcase-buying public. Who would've thought! All I can remember seeing growing up is people who just had a plain black one...oh the good 'ole days.

Anyways, for those of you who work in law firms or know attorneys, etc, what's the general idea?

Shoulder strap or handles only?
Black or Brown?
Soft shell or Hard Box shell?
Buckles or Zippers?
Leather or ....not leather?

Something like this: Here

Or something like this: Here

Stay Away From These States

Interesting study Here that has a list of the areas with the highest per capita percentage of lawyers practicing there. In other words, stay away from D.C. and New York, and start your job search in North Dakota and Arkansas! The list is pretty much what one would expect, considering there are, how many law schools now in NY? It's getting dangerously close to a double digit number. And everyone that doesn't want to work in NYC seems to want to work in D.C. Meanwhile, I can't imagine too many people are clamoring to work in ND, what with it's vast network of high-paying corporate jobs and all....

Does this list make you think twice about future job prospects?

Declining Value

There's an article in the Wall-Street Journal today about the declining value of a college degree. Read the full article Here

The main point of the article is that, for an increasing number of college graduates, earning a Bachelor's degree is not quite the leg-up on the competition that it used to be. This should be readily apparent for any recent graduates that have been attempting to enter the workforce within the past couple of years. Outside of a few fields that are still on the upswing, including engineering and healthcare, more graduates will have a more difficult time finding a job with only a Bachelor's degree.

The article also briefly mentions that even advanced degrees, JD's included, aren't exactly the ticket to a well-paying and secure job that they used to be. "But not all law graduates are so fortunate; many, especially those from less-prestigious schools, have far lower salaries and less job security."

What are prospective students supposed to do? All but shut out of any meaningful careers with just a Bachelor's degree, and facing increasing competition for jobs even with advanced degrees, the outlook isn't exactly rosy....

Free Advice to the Class of '11

I came across this list of advice for incoming students this Fall, from students who have been there before. Most of it seems to make sense, and it never hurts to hear from people who have came before you! I'm sure most of you can get something worthwhile out of the list, so enjoy!


Free Advice Here


One of the best, which I learned the hard way during undergrad and will not make the mistake of repeating again:

Don't get in a habit of eating the free pizza from meetings everytime you see it, unless you want to gain 20 lbs. over the next 3 yrs.

Who's Protecting Their Rights?

I'm very interested in Immigration Law, so this recent article in the NY Times, Here , caught my attention. A certified Spanish-interpreter for the Federal courts brought up the issue that many of the 400 or so immigrants arrested in raids at a meatpacking plant in Iowa had little or no idea why they were actually being arrested or what charges they were actually facing. The government is trying to move along the cases so quickly that the accused don't actually have time to properly consult with interpreters and defense attorneys, but are rather being subjected to quick guilty pleas when they are not even sure what they are pleading guilty to. In a one-week period, over 260 of the immigrants plead guilty and received immediate jail sentences. There is no way that a small team of defense attorneys and interpreters were able to completely assist over 260 people in one week. To me, that is a fundamental failing of our justice system. Right to a fair trial and competent representation? Apparently that does not apply in all cases equally....