Fifteen Minutes of Trial and the Four Broadway Memo

The W&M 1L class is terrific. The law school has an annual Thanksgiving Basket Competition between the 1L sections. Well, basket is a bit of a misnomer. It’s more of a pile-of-donated-food-in-a-creative-way competition. The previous record was about 4000 cans of food. This year’s 1L class: 7000+ cans of food and some donated cash on the side! (The lobby was very crowded.) I have some great (and very creative) colleagues.

That was the major event at school this week.

A recent, much more minor event took place in Civil Procedure. A class on court rules and procedures would seem to need a lot of time spent on talking about trials. Not so much. We covered trials in 15 minutes and moved right on to preclusion. The part of law that draws the most attention in popular culture is one of its smallest components.

My big project of the week was my final legal memo. For an idea of how much time I’ve spent working on it, I’ve managed to listen to Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Wicked, and The Lion King (Broadway version). And I’ve had some silent work time as well. Happily, it will be done tomorrow morning.

Which is also why I’m going to bed now.

Short Observations

I have twenty-one classes and three finals left of my first semester of law school. (I’ve always enjoyed counting down those sorts of things.) This has felt like the shortest semester of my entire educational experience. I might, however, change my mind about that during finals when my three tests are spread out over two weeks.

My schedule for spring semester was posted the other day. I won’t have any classes before 10:00, which feels incredibly late in the day to get things going. And I thought an 8:30 class was late.

Of course, morning hours are a great time for homework and running, so a 10:00 schedule will be nice in that regard.

Best recent discovery: there is a track about two miles from my apartment. I’m very happy to have a large rubber circle to run on.

Second best recent discovery: the library is deliciously silent on Saturday mornings before it opens (I accidentally left for work half an hour early on Saturday…this is what happens when each day starts at a different time).

Also, the Jamestown Ward loves Muddy Buddies. They made short work of the batch I brought for today’s Linger Longer. Chex + chocolate + peanut butter + powdered sugar = yum.

***

Torts case of the week: thaw causes large chunks of ice to float down river…ice piles up by boat 1, causing it to come loose from post…boat 1 floats away into boat 2, causing boat 2 to come loose…boat 2 drifts into drawbridge, bringing down one of bridge’s towers…boat 1 enters the wreckage and wedges into boat 2, creating a dam…bridge’s second tower falls…banks of river flood for several miles. Petition of Kinsman Transit Co., 338 F.2d 708 (2d Cir. 1964).

It’s like a handy analogy for when life seems to be piling up all around and threatening to engulf you. (No, that’s not what life is like for me right now; I’m just making an observation.)

Scattered

This week I discovered a new joy: running through falling leaves. A long road lined with tall trees (in kaleidoscopic colors) mixed with a little wind makes for an almost magical atmosphere.

I also made the happy discovery that music helps me focus on homework. This was a surprise because in the past I always found music to be a distraction – or at least I convinced myself it would be a distraction and never listened to any while doing homework. But that is not the case with law. When I’m having a hard time concentrating, I turn on some tunes and somehow that works better than silence.

Food also helps.

Cold weather in Williamsburg seems to take a wade-slowly-into-the-pool rather than a jump-in-the-deep-end approach. The temperature has gotten down below 35 degrees once or twice, but then it slides right back up above 60. So maybe it’s more of a dip-a-toe-in-the-water-and-decide-it’s-too-cold-and-come-back-later approach.

My car in the morning. It looks like more leaves in real life.

School news: I forgot to go to class one day. I left Torts with my mind on other things, went to the lobby, and sat down to eat my apple. A bit later it dawned on me that I should have been in Legal Practice for the last fifteen minutes. That was a first for me; I’ve come close to sleeping through a class once or twice, but I haven’t forgotten about class before.

In my defense, the Legal Practice class schedule is constantly changing. Our regular Tuesday and Thursday classes are often cancelled for Library lectures, labs, or individual conferences. And our adjunct class is often cancelled for individual mock client counseling, client interviews, or oral reports.

(No worries: I did make it to the last forty minutes of class, and no problems ensued.)

One of my major homework activities this week was highlighting portions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including rules for summons, personal jurisdiction, subject matter jurisdiction, venue, joinder, impleading… I could keep going. Civil Pro is a somewhat tangled topic.

Scattered leaves, scattered focus, scattered weather, scattered class schedule, scattered homework.

Good thing there's music. And food.

Refuge

This week in Criminal Law we discussed a very difficult topic. My homework for those classes constituted the most unpleasant reading I have ever done.

It wasn’t unpleasant because it was surprising; I understand that there is a great deal of evil in the world, and in a law school setting I expect to encounter some of the most abhorrent things in life. Instead, the unpleasantness came from the nature of the topic and from seeing it up close. Being in close proximity to something repulsive touches your mind and emotions in a way that nebulous and undefined evil does not.

I suppose I’ve had a rather sheltered life. I’ve never been subjected to certain ideas. I’ve never had to deal with the difficulties those ideas raise. Some people might view that kind of life as a weakness. They might see it as silly or naïve or out of touch. But I am so, so grateful for it.

I’m grateful I grew up in a strong family and a good home. I’m grateful I was raised by righteous parents who taught me the Gospel. I’m grateful I’ve been surrounded by good influences and opportunities. Because of those things, I still recognize that good is stronger than evil, and that most people still want what it good.

I'm grateful I don’t have to be afraid of the world, because I know how to find the good in it.

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Quick seasonal report: The trees in Williamsburg are now a bright mix of greens, oranges, reds, yellows, and browns. And thanks to daylight savings time (and our location on the eastern edge of the time zone) the sunset today was at 5:06. I tend to read at nighttime, so maybe that will help me get my homework done earlier…