liable

2003-08-14T13:00:00.000-04:00

Huzzah!!

I'm not the first, and I certainly won't be the last, but at least it's done. After *many* hours of MT work and the kind assistance of xrlq and ambimb, liable has a new home. Please update your links to:

http://curiousgirl.org/liable/

2003-08-13T15:53:00.000-04:00

Things...

...are in the works. More info soon.

- the mgmt.

2003-08-12T15:09:00.000-04:00

Last of the books...almost

I picked up three of my last four Legal Writing books today. There's another $80 that I won't be using for Ramen noodles this fall. I also scanned the bookstore's "75% OFF!!" rack, finding a tiny, stuffed, pink-faced attorney doll carrying his own little brown briefcase. I smiled when I saw him, hoping that was a squeeze doll that would make a noise when pressed.

And, oooohh, does he.

"THAT'S AN OUTRAGE!"

"MY CLIENT IS INNOCENT!"

"I'LL SEE YOU IN COURT!"

"PAY UP, YOU DEADBEAT!"

He's apparently one of a series of so-called Pocket Professionals. It's totally obnoxious and stereotypical, and I totally love it.

Having just looked at the Pocket Pros web site, I can't help but wonder about the Hula Girl. Certainly, the hula is a fine Hawaiian tradition, but it's a strange juxtaposition -- lawyer, dentist, doctor, real estate agent, hula girl. Hmmm.

2003-08-08T14:31:00.000-04:00

Law and Order: Artistic Intent

I'm guessing a number of attorneys and law students are fans of the three shows that comprise the Law and Order franchise, perhaps because of their interesting portrayal of legal conflicts. However, the creators of Law and Order: Artistic Intent are fans of a different feather altogether. Personally, I like the Law and Order coloring book best.

Link courtesy of La Di Da

2003-08-07T11:34:00.000-04:00

Books and the law school mafia?

$334 later, I've almost finished purchasing my books for the semester. I've taken care of Torts, Contracts, Civ Pro and Intro to the Law; I'm waiting for a few LRW texts that haven't yet made it to the bookstore. No sign of the snitty bookstore lady (henceforth, "SBL"), so it was a nearly guilt-free purchase.

"C'mere... you're taking this very personal." - Sonny Corleone to Michael Corleone

I did buy one optional book for Civ Pro, but, taking the advice of the 1L bloggers before me, I stayed away from the hornbooks, flash cards and study guides for the time being.

Our student handbook encourages membership in the MWU Student Bar Association. Beyond parties, the $78, three-year membership gets you a 6% discount at our bookstore. I handed over my check this morning so that I'd have the membership card in hand. Heaven forbid I should be without it and meet the SBL in the law book aisles unprepared.

I was expecting Judy, the Dean's Office Assistant, to handwrite my name onto a generic MWU-SBA card. However, the cards were already filled out; she pulled mine from a small, plastic box full of cards, my name neatly typed in. I took from this that while the handbook recommends membership in the MWU-SBA, it's not really all that optional. It's assumed you'll join despite the price tag, the paltry bookstore discount qualifying as the 'offer we can't refuse.' You're a law student. You'd better join the SBA, if you know what's good for you.

And so, I did. But maybe I shouldn't be complaining??

"Fredo, you're my older brother, and I love you. But don't ever take sides, with anyone, against the family again. Ever." -- Michael to Fredo Corleone

2003-08-06T15:32:00.000-04:00

Sublime

. Demeter Fragrances. I found my first bottle of Demeter -- the Chocolate Brownie scent -- at a small gift store not far from my house. Yum. I ordered lotion yesterday. A would-be attorney needs a signature scent, no? But should it be Dirt, Pumpkin Pie or Gin & Tonic? How about Paperback or Pipe Tobacco? Scroll through the list of cologne fragrances and pick one for yourself.
. Stephen Levitt. The NYTimes (free registration required) profiles the creative, if self-deprecating, Chicago U. economist in this week's Magazine.
.Timbuktu Bags. Customize your own messenger bag.
. Marc Jacobs Perfume Solid. I covet the scent, but its out of my price range for smelly stuff. (See above reference to $17.50/bottle Demeter.)
. Suave Aloe Vera shampoo. Lest I sound too high-maintenance, I'm a devotee of this 99 cent shampoo. Wundershampoo.

2003-08-06T14:53:00.000-04:00

Orientate me

I'm curious, so I'm surveying.

TOPIC: Law school orientation

AUDIENCE: The almost-1Ls and any ex-1Ls that would like to share.

QUESTIONS: Does your university have an orientation program for new law students? If so, how long does it last? What kinds of subjects will be covered?

THE LIABLE RESPONSE: The MWU program lasts for two days and takes place the Monday and Tuesday before the first week of classes. I haven't received any information about topics.

Post your answers in the comments, specifying whether you're an ex-1L or a 1L2B; I'll gather and make a full post of the results later.

2003-08-05T19:56:00.000-04:00

A briefer brief

Waddling Thunder creates a briefer brief for Vosburg:

"Idiot Kid 1 kicks IK2. IK2's leg falls off. IK1 liable for all- eggshell skull. Big case."

Sweetness.

2003-08-05T19:44:00.000-04:00

To brief or not to brief

A question to current or former law students about class preparation:
Assuming that I'll take notes regardless, is there a need to create formal briefs for cases mentioned only in footnotes? The first assignment in our Torts casebook (Cases and Materials on Torts, Epstein, 7th) includes 10 pages of material; of those, only three are comprised of text related to Vosburg v. Putney. The rest are lengthy footnotes which mention assorted other cases, including Garratt v. Dailey, but not in much detail.

I want to be as prepared as possible for class, but I have no idea if formal briefs are necessary in these cases. Thoughts? Is this a depends-on-the-professor situation?

2003-08-04T16:01:00.000-04:00

My First Case Brief

Sounds like the name of a children's book for children-who-would-be-attorneys, doesn't it?

Vosburg v. Putney
50 N.W. 403 (Wis. 1891)

FACTS:
12-year old Defendant George Putney kicked 14-year old Plaintiff Andrew Vosburg in the shin while in a classroom in their school in Waukesha, WI on February 1, 1889. Plaintiff did not feel the kick, but felt violent pain shortly after. Experienced severe medical problems in leg, resulting in inability to further use leg and black and blue spots where kick had occurred. Leg had been injured Jan. 1 by “coasting,” but medical witnesses said kick was cause of injury as it led microbes to enter Jan. 1 wound.

Trial verdict was for Plaintiff in the amt of $2800. Appealed and new trial ordered, which awarded $2500 to Plaintiff. Wisconsin Supreme Court (Lyon, J.) reverses and calls for new trial.

ISSUE:
Whether a battery occured (and damages are justified) as the result of an action by Defendant if Defendant did not intend to harm Plaintiff?

HOLDING:
Damages are enforceable if the Defendant intends to engage in an unlawful action, regardless of his or her intent to cause harm as a result of that action. Defendant is liable for all injuries resulting directly from the wrongful act, whether they could or could not have been foreseen by him.

REASONING:
The Defendant did not have an “implied license” to commit the act, so the act was unlawful. Further, if the intended act was unlawful, the intention to commit is must necessarily be unlawful.

2003-08-04T15:55:00.000-04:00

Book-buying extravaganza

I've been heavily investing in our local behemoth bookstore for the last few days, buying stacks of books as if they're going out of style. (And perhaps they will come August 25.) A few that I've purchased and really enjoy:

1. Schott's Original Miscellany by Ben Schott. If you crave information, this is the book for you. A handsome, small thing, Schott's contains scores of lists, charts and graphs on everything from palmistry to presidents, from the "Curious Deaths of Burmese Kings" to an orchestra schematic. It is a joy and has been given a permanent position beside my laptop.

2. Making Journals by Hand by Jason Thompson and The Decorated Page by Gwen Diehn. If you're interested in the process through which artists and laypeople create extraordinary journal-based art, these are two great books to review. Beyond the advice they give for creating book art (wax resist, binding new books, encrustation), they both contain galleries of a small sample of lovely, hand-crafted journals.

3. Calligraphy Alphabets Made Easy by Margaret Shepherd and The Origami Handbook by Rick Beech. The common subcategory here? Keeping anxious, moderately type-A hands busy. As an added bonus, the skills are also useful if you're interested in the book/journal art stuff mentioned above.

4. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. I usually avoid book club selections, but Dave Barry recommended this one on the Today Show and I couldn't resist. It was great. The story is told from the perspective of a 15-year old boy with Ausberger's Syndrome (SP?) who attempts to uncover who killed his next-door neighbor's poodle. It is, as you might imagine, bittersweet, but the voice of Christopher, the narrator, is an incredibly original one.

2003-07-31T17:30:00.000-04:00

Yee gods

Our first week assignments have been posted. First official law school panic attack commencing...NOW.

2003-07-29T14:50:00.000-04:00

Bender sings

Speaking of Futurama, a little relevant ditty sang by Bender as the gang attempts to save the Earth from destruction could be a heartening theme for us would-be chick attorneys. It's the opening theme he's created for the 20th century television sitcom "Single Female Lawyer."

Single Female Lawyer
by Bender

Single Female Lawyer
Fighting for her client
Wearing sexy mini-skirts
And being self-reliant!

Wanna listen? Try # 15.

2003-07-29T14:37:00.000-04:00

Comments

The comments are being screwy, as always, so apologies from liable. Send an e-mail to liable_blog at yahoo dot com if you'd like to comment or say hello. I promise I'll write back!

Law school 'recentlies'

. I picked up my parking pass ($375 for the year) and one of those holds-your-student-id key chains with the MWU emblazoned on it last week.
. My office is tidy, the notebooks are ready and the highlighters have been purchased en masse.
. Today I completed my Big Brother/Big Sister information form, which will serve to match me with an upperclass law student keen, I hope, to proffer advice on my 1L year.
. My tuition bill arrived on Friday bearing a 10 percent (?) increase from last year's costs. Budget woes, ya ken?

Free time, schree time

Gould, a good friend and once-law schooler, warned me yesterday about how busy I'll be when school starts. "Enjoy the free time you have," he said. "You'll be spectacularly busy come August. I hope H is ready."

I have two thoughts on the e-mail. First, I can't imagine there are too many pre-1Ls that aren't keenly waiting for the start of classes and the law school carnival. I must say, however, having a broken appendage and being largely home-bound makes me realize how much I hate being bored. And boy, am I bored. I've been sitting around for 4 weeks now and have scanned television channels incessantly. I've cleaned and cooked. I've organized. I've written, painted, sketched and color penciled in journals, but nothing has made the days go by faster. I am SO ready to be busy again, busy like I was, as H reminds me, in grad school.

I have no illusions that I'll crave laziness and sloth when school starts in a few weeks (less than four, actually) and in limited doses I do a pretty good imiation of a couch potato.* However, I can't imagine being more prepared for the craziness than I am now, being fully rested, well-vitamined and bored out of my mind.

Second, it interests me that Gould would remark that H had better be prepared. I am acquainted with the stresses that law school can place on relationships; Gould and his companion of three years parted company during his 2L year. Our situations are different, though, and H is counting down the days until the semester begins. H wants me out of the house. He wants me to be intellectually challenged, to be busy and to meet people with whom I can share the experience.

"I'm really excited for you to start school," he said. "I can't wait until school starts," he reiterated. "You need a fulfilling project."

Ah, my dear H and his talent for understatement. (And you'll notice he didn't count my current full-time job as a "fulfilling project." For good reason, I say.)

Well, regardless of whether I'm ready or not, the fall semester begins four weeks from yesterday. I'm sure I'll want more free time as the semester chugs on; it's just that I can't stand to have so much right now.

* - Some favorites (in no particular order, except that Futurama and Law & Order trump the others): Law & Order (original, not extra crispy), CSI Miami, CSI (oooh, the science!), Futurama, Insomniac, South Park, Family Guy, Home Movies, The Wire, SITC, and assorted travel, home design and cooking shows. Sounds like I have a bad habit, doesn't it? (And except for that last bunch, kinda sounds like I'm a guy. Not sure what I think about that.)

SITC

YEAH, CHARLOTTE!!! She finally grew up. : )

2003-07-21T15:05:00.000-04:00

Meetin' and greetin'

At 3:03 p.m. I exited the elevator with a fellow pre-1L named Cleary and hobbled my way to the banquet tables. MWU hosted an afternoon coffee meet-and-greet for 1Ls2B last week and, as is the nature of excited pre-1Ls, they had apparently all arrived early of the 3:00 p.m. start time. There were two seating options left for me and my single crutch -- a table with one 1L and a couple of professors and a completely empty table. I opted for the former and introduced myself immediately. The student was nice, the professors were kind, and the entire gala -- if brief -- was fun. The 60 or so students that attended seemed to be a generally nice, smart, funny bunch. There wasn't much to the coffee other than introductions of every professor, staff and would-be student there.

Immediately afterward I headed to the campus bookstore to pick up a book or two. No large purchase, just a couple of books to punctuate the meet-and-greet experience. Alas, while the shelves were flush with Epstien and Farnsworth, the maven in charge of stocking the shelves embarassed me to the point of leaving empty-handed.

"You know school doesn't start for another month, right?!" she asked in an accusatory tone.

"Yes, I know. I just thought I'd get a head start," I said, trying to feign a smile.

"Well, you'll be missing out on the Student Bar Association discount if you buy your books now," she added, apparently intent on keeping me from purchasing anything.

"Yes, ma'am. I know. I was only going to buy one or two."

The crone looked me over.

"School doesn't start for five weeks," she repeated, apparently mistaking my enthusiasm for stupidity.

I began to ignore her at this point as H and I began to ruffle through the used books looking for clean copies. I came away with two Torts tomes, both used and unmarked and a stack of legal-margined pads and notebooks that I've been using since I started grad school. I searched in vain for a MWU LAW t-shirt, as the meager store only stocked bright, thickly woven sweatshirts, unappealing in the 95 degree heat.

"You have to learn not to let these things bother you," H said as I (doubly) steamed in the car. "You're about to start law school, and you'll need a thicker skin."

Good advice, I'm sure.

2003-07-15T13:08:00.000-04:00

Legal citation

In response to a question by ambimb in the comments on a post below, I thought I'd offer a basic run down of the major players in the legal citation game.

Knowledgeable readers: Feel free to correct me in the comments.

There seem to be two major sources for legal citation. First, The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is published by the Harvard Law Review Association and, according to the book's site, "is relied upon by legal scholars and practitioners as the definitive source of rules for citation in legal documents and law journals."

Second, the Association of Legal Writing Directors (i.e., ALWD) publishes its own manual on how case law should be cited in both law review articles and legal documents. The ALWD citation manual is apparently intended to remedy "long overdue changes from the Bluebook." MWU 1Ls are required to purchase a copy of the ALWD manual, but not the Bluebook.

To muddy the waters, many states have their own style manuals, probably set out by their respective supreme courts. New Jersey's, for example, is available online. As JCA recently discovered, California also has its own style manual.

States may also have their own "Blue Books," which have nothing at all to do with legal documentation. These are typically government reference manuals containing information about the state and the governmental offices located within its borders. There is also at least one Yellow Book, which provides contact information for legal practitioners from state to state.

2003-07-14T22:16:00.000-04:00

Thinkin' way too much about Legally Blond 2

For my first crutch-ed foray out of the house in three days, H agreed to accompany me to seeLegally Blond 2. It was awful. The simple, slightly off-beat humor that made Legally Blond so funny (relatively speaking) was seriously lacking in the sequel. While I wouldn't compare LB to Caddyshack -- one of my all-time favorite movies* -- the hack job done in Caddyshack 2 failed similarly to capture the magic of the original.

A sequel failing to live up to the expectations of fans isn't a new story, of course. I had just hoped, however naively, that dear, platinum Elle would have retained some of the enlightenment she attained during her law school experience. Alas, they made her stupid again. I expected the blond jokes to continue, but not to the degree that they overwhelm the little growth that the character achieved in the first movie.

Her Harvard admissions video notwithstanding, Elle succeeded in law school because she learned to work hard while maintaining a strong sense of self. However, she is as ditzy and unaware of the norms of her environment at the beginning of LB2 as she was at the beginning of LB. Further, the moral of LB2 seems to be that while working hard and being kind to outsiders is all well and good, it's good, old-fashioned blackmail and super-inappropriate hairdressing stories that really win the battle in the end.

Hmmph.

Having finished the rant, check out Disputation for a different opinion on the movie.

Law school advice

Kudos to JCA for her great summary/discussion of bloggers' advice to 1Ls2B.

* - So I've got that going for me. Which is nice. *hugs to Bill Murray*

I also have one of these going for me, which is less nice.

2003-07-11T21:55:00.000-04:00

I'm still here

Hi, y'all. I'm back from vacation with fond memories and two fifth metatarsal fractures. Fun! I've been stationed on the couch for two weeks now, but should be around next week for actual blog entries.

In the meantime, some law school ephemera:

1. I will be purchasing 15 books in the coming weeks for my five fall semester classes. LRW is by far the books-required leader with 6 texts. And, while the note accompanying my booklist explains that books with the "optional" notation do not have to be purchased, no books on my list bear this notation.
2. No Bluebook for me. We're apparently ALWD citers/citators/citationists.
3. We purchased most of my school supplies list today. Read 'most' as: "the supplies we could gather as I hopped on crutches from aisle to aisle at our local office supply megatore." I hopped, I should note, as the store manager practiced parking the store's Ride'N'Shop cart.

All for now. A good dose of Reese/Elle from a late-night movie awaits.

2003-06-18T09:44:00.000-04:00

Road trippin'

Using our massive, if completely unorganized music collection as well as a few songs from the iTunes store, I have compiled CDs as a two-volume soundtrack to our upcoming southern pilgrimage. I'll let you draw your own conclusions about where we're headed. The CDs turned out pretty well; I was hoping for an interesting sampling of songs related to the two larger themes -- New Orleans and 'southern music,' either in theme or style. The NOLA CD contains the predictable songs with New Orleans references, a handful of zydeco and a couple of brass jazz numbers. The southern music CD largely consists of classic blues tunes, with a sprinkling of other thematically-related songs thrown in. I'd wanted to add some Al Green and Talking Heads' version of "Take Me to the River" just for the Memphis flare they'd have added, but the CDs were long enough already.

Vol. 1 - NOLA
Blue Bayou - Linda Rondstadt
Goin’ Louisiana - Taj Mahal (?)
Do you know what it means? - Harry Connick, Jr.
When the Saints Come Marchin’ In - Louis Armstrong
Zydeco Le Louisian - Buckwheat Zydeco
Minquen - Lynn August
Summertime - Ella Fitzgerald
Lovin’ in my Baby’s Eyes - Leftover Salmon
At the Jazz Band Ball - Arturo Sandoval
Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffett
New Orleans Beat - Steve Reily
City of New Orleans - Arlo Guthrie
Proud Mary - Tina Turner
Saturday Night Special - Louisiana Playboys

Vol 2. Southern Music [Mostly related to Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Memphis]
La Grange - ZZ Top
Fishin’ - [?]
You Shook Me - B.B. King
Walking in Memphis - Marc Cohn
Whole Lotta Shakin’ - Jerry Lee Lewis
I Gotta Move Out - B.B. King
The Sky is Crying - Stevie Ray Vaughn
Fulsom Prison - Johhny Cash
Mannish Boy - Muddy Waters
Pride and Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughn
Tupelo - John Lee Hooker
Sweet Home Chicago - Robert Johnson
I’ve Been to Memphis - Lyle Lovett

2003-06-18T09:33:00.000-04:00

On Nigella

My attitude toward torte tart Nigella Lawson seems to cycle. There are times that I look forward to snuggling in and watching her 30-minute show on the Style network, which resides on the upper end of our slate of digital-only cable channels. At times, I love her creative use of language, her descriptions of olive oil as "green ribbons" the aroma of cumin as its "musty depth."

However, there are other times when, like another arbiter of good taste*, I realize that she takes everything she says incredibly seriously. She is, for one, completely incapable of describing anything with a single adjective. Food should be "velvety rich" and "sumptuously smooth," but never too "brightly astringent". Flavors are "spring green" and a buttery sauce is done when it brings a "slicked sweetness" to pasta. Toasted nuts aren't toasted, they're "made amber by heat." Food doesn't simply have flavor, she "coaxes it [to exist] with a melding of aromatic, Morocco-esque spices." These aren't her actual phrases, of course, but you get the idea.

I'd like to watch a show that's at least 70 percent "learning to cook something interesting" and only 30 percent "the freakishly egomaniacal characteristics of the host." Is that so hard?

* - In either the May or June issue of Living (I can't recall which), Martha alludes in her editor's note about a forthcoming "provocative" article on how home cooks can make better use of apricots. She literally, honest to God, used the word "provocative." Thus ended my monthly Living purchases.

2003-06-13T09:46:00.000-04:00

School supplies

russel+hazel offers a small, but incredibly well-designed, cache of office/school supplies.

2003-06-13T09:40:00.000-04:00

Could you do it?

Hows about a little hyper-awareness of your spending habits? Try Obsessive Consumption on for size.

2003-06-11T16:09:00.000-04:00

Are we confused about the First Amendment?

In this week's Chronicle, Stanley Fish attempts to correct college journalists' assumptions about free speech, the First Amendment and university newspapers. The First Amendment, Fish argues, does not guarantee that an individual's comments will be published and does not obligate any particular media outlet to do so. Rather, the First Amendment protects guarantees that an individual has the right to make the political statements of her choosing, ensuring that "she cannot be compelled to an affirmation she does not endorse."

2003-06-11T15:09:00.000-04:00

Online stimulation

Intellectually/aesthetically stimulating somethings to do online as the summer months move along...

1. How about a 4D Rubik's cube? Shuffle and unshuffle at your leisure. Link via Idle Type
2. Some good tunes to keep you company, from NOLA's WWOZ.
3. If you're looking for visual fulfillment, scroll through the solipsistic gazette's archives.
4. Shop for recently-released fiction and non-fiction books by browsing their first chapters, which are offered up by the NYTimes.
5. Explore the Smithsonian's collections by searching its online library database.
6. Dive into the daily Washington Post crossword puzzle. Mini-registration required. The 'Daily Playfour' is particularly fun.
7. Discover Magazine offers a series of articles/games under the Neuroquest moniker intended to educate about certain, usually strange, components of our cognitive makeups.
8. Have you had your Daily Candy?

2003-06-10T17:54:00.000-04:00

Heh?

The official snack of liable. Just 'cause.

EDITED: Apparently the product IDs at CajunGrocer are not static. I was attempting to link to Zapp's "Cajun Crawtator" potato chips (scroll down page) , which are crawfish-flavored. Crawfish flavored.

2003-06-10T14:59:00.000-04:00

Hmm.

What to say, what to say. I've read nothing law school related recently, I've done no preparatory studying. We're planning a vacation in a couple of weeks, the first H and I have taken together in two years. We tread through the days, waiting for the moment we can spring loose from our little midwestern burg and head toward the sunny south. Our vacation will be hot and physically exhausting, but, with any luck, emotionally and mentally refreshing. We've planned cocktail sprees, informational tours, lounging and lots of driving. We'll be away from jobs, in-laws, school fears and, for at least six days, computers. No sand-and-sea encounters, unfortunately, but we'll get fairly close. Certainly closer than living in land-locked _______.

Still two weeks to go until we leave, cramming our gear into our tiny, fuel-efficient car for the drive. Until then, we languish.

2003-06-04T15:40:00.000-04:00

Logging

Giving it a try... (see post below)

<<>>

Wednesday, June 4, 2003

6:51 a.m. - Checked clock. Few more minutes to sleep.
7:03 a.m. - Checked clock. Few more minutes to sleep.
7:12 a.m. - Checked clock. Few more minutes to sleep.
<<[This continues for a while, so we'll skip ahead.]>>
7:26 a.m. - Roll out of bed, cursing clock and longing to stay in cool, dark room under soft, soft sheets.
7:46 a.m. - Check fish. He's still swimming. Drop in newly-purchased, vile-smelling food pellets. Fish swallows food whole, swims frantically, asking for more. (I do not feed more.)
7:48 a.m. - Bowl of Trix on the couch while cruising CNN, The Weather Channel and Style for morning wake-up television. Consider rising costs of random bits of antique dishware as direct result of Rachel Ashwell's assigning them significance: "Of course, they're in my palette."
7:56 a.m. - Dry hair.
8:03 a.m. - Say goodbye to snoozing husband, who sneaks single hand out of sheet-and-comforter cave to signal goodbye.
8:12 a.m. - Arrive at office. Deposit frozen lunch into community freezer, check e-mail, delete offers for "EXCITING TECHNOLOGY NEWS" and free shipping on orders over $150 from business-supply firm.
8:15 a.m. - Pointless staff meeting.
8:20 a.m. - Search for meaningful work.
8:35 a.m. - Pseudo-meaningful work found.
9:41 a.m. - Break from pseudo-meaningful work to get glass of water and eat pineapple chunks. Return to pseudo-meaningful work.
10:37 a.m. - Nice MSL project. Lovely stationary. Should she really be indicted? And why are we making such a big deal out of a single cork incident? I bet it was an honest mistake. Resolve to support Sosa and Cubs, notwithstanding standings.
11:45 a.m. - Dread lunch of tasteless, frozen meal. Call friend to meet at local dive. Friend must run errand, so pick up take-out and accompany her.
1:02 p.m. - Return from lunch. Search for pseudo-meaningful work.
2:13 p.m. - Continue last pseudo-meaningful project can find. Peruse liable links for new content, opt to emulate Sen. Graham (minus interesting meetings, commentary) by logging rudimentary elements of daily schedule.
2:35 p.m. - Complete log. Glad 22 minutes gone. Begin search for pseudo-meaningful work.

<<>>

2003-06-04T12:35:00.000-04:00

Prolific

Perhaps the most prolific journaler ever, Sen. Bob Graham (FL - D) has filled approximately 4,000 3" x 5" "pocket-size, color-coded and spiral-bound" notebooks with the daily recordings of his life, the NY Times (free registration required) reports. NY Times reporter Carl Hulse notes that Graham staffers have expressed concern that the constant logging might be seen as "weird or wacky" by constituents should he mount a campaign for the presidency.

2003-05-30T14:55:00.000-04:00

YUM!

Purses made of books! Purses made of books!

2003-05-30T14:19:00.000-04:00

Damnable blogger

What a pain. My apologies to those having trouble accessing the site.

2003-05-30T14:09:00.000-04:00

Chatting up a 2L2B

H and I saw an acquaintance, Julie, last night at a function hosted by my current employers. She, an ex-graphic designer with the same firm, has just completed her 1L year at MWU and will begin a crimlaw summer associateship next week. Apologizing for the excessive verve that accompanies any discussion I have about law school -- "I'm sorry, Julie. It's just that I'm filled with this mix of terror and elation about school starting and I can't seem to not talk about it!" -- I grilled her on my professorial dance card. She hadn't had any of the professors, but said Prof. Intro bases his class on content very different from the other Intro classes. She also warned me about his exams:

"He likes to use questions that are wholly unrelated to the material he stresses in class."

Eh, par for the course, I imagine. Anything else?

"You don't have to read for Prof. LRW's class."

Good to know. At that point, Julie, who apparently was scholarship-worthy, left us to continue mingling.

I have to admit, I felt mildly nostalgic at the party, which will be my last before I leave the firm to prepare for school. It was a nostalgia less based on my desire to continue my relationship with the firm, than on thoughts of what might have been, of the potential that existed for me to have had a fulfilling experience there. Alas, it was not meant to be. I'll leave with gratitude for the things I've learned, some sadness that I wasn't able to enjoy the brighter parts of firm life and that terror-elation cocktail rumbling in my stomach.

2003-05-30T13:56:00.000-04:00

Flotsam

1. I'm eating an orange that tastes rather watermelon-ish. Weird, but cool.
2. Julie has taken on an compelling project.
3. I want this little, red suitcase.
4. I splurged and bought some of the Clarins Lait tanner today. I'm hoping to avoid orange streakiness, as I avoid what H calls "the baked-potato look" achieved from basking in commercial tanning salons.
5. Biro. Biro on evolution.
6. I've considered starting a collection of assorted handwritten items that the residents of my midwestern burg deposit (presumably accidentally) around town. Keaggy's gotten started on grocery lists.

Techno-courtrooms

The NYTimes (free registration required) reports on the use of technology in courtrooms.

2003-05-23T11:21:00.000-04:00

Class schedule

Well, my fall has been arranged. I ended up with a very bizarre schedule, rather unlike the one I mentioned a few posts ago. I'll be taking Contracts (M,T,W), Torts (W, Th, F), Intro to the Law (M,T, W), Legal Research (M, T, W, Th) and CivPro (T, Th).*

You'll notice that I won't be taking Property. I'm scheduled to take the full six hours of torts in the fall semester; I'll then take the full six hours of property in the spring. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Receiving only one letter grade for six hours of classes seems a bit, shall we say, disproportionate? There is a possible upside: rather than having to take an exam in late May on cases/rules covered as long as nine months before, it will only be based on 3 1/2 months of information. I'll have the advantage of not having to recall months-old information. On the other hand, I'll have an entire year's worth of torts (torts!) crammed into six hours of class each week. Ditto for property in the spring.

Ultimately, of course, my schedule isn't negotiable. Rather negates the need to worry, as there's absolutely nothing I can do about it.

Organizationally, my schedule is somewhat crazed -- definitely not the M,W,F / T, Th schedules of my college days -- but doable. Classes generally range from 9:00 until 3:00, and I won't have class until 10:00 on Thursdays and Fridays. You can't imagine how that thrilled me.

I've also been instructed to update my vaccinations (done), arrange for a parking pass ($$$), PAY [MY] TUITION BILL BEFORE OCTOBER 12!, and consider purchasing a laptop that may (note 'may,' not 'shall') be used for exams in the future. I'll receive my next packet of information in July.

* - This iteration of my schedule is largely, but not entirely, accurate.

2003-05-22T15:24:00.000-04:00

Copycat

Judge Posner discusses the social value of plagiarism. via arts + letters daily

2003-05-21T17:58:00.000-04:00

Yale Law explosion

The NYTimes is reporting that an explosion occured in/near the Yale Law mail room before 5:00 p.m. est Wednesday. For more information, check the NY Times (free registration required) or CNN stories. No injuries have been reported.

2003-05-21T11:44:00.000-04:00

If August can't come too quickly...

Southern Methodist has created a neat simulator to allow 1Ls2B to experience "the first day of law school." You can select a class, read a snippet of a relevant case, read a brief and then, by answering questions on the case, experience the types of questions that might be asked in class.

2003-05-21T09:58:00.000-04:00

Slow news week

Not much law-related news to report from the liable neighborhood. I received a letter from MWU last week outlining a list of summer reading materials, many of which have already been mentioned in other blogs' lists. I headed for the cool comfort of our local public library yesterday and brought home a stack of four books that I'll crack into this weekend. [This thankfully long weekend, I should mention.] The MWU letter -- which was addressed to "MWU First Years" *heart thud* -- also noted that we'll be receiving registration materials later this month, as the registration deadline for fall classes is in early June. That means I'll have a class schedule sometime next week, which will allow me to begin grilling my JD'd acquaintances about my professors. My fingers are crossed for classes no earlier than 9:00. This shouldn't be a problem as, having looked at previous schedules, contracts is typically the first 1L class offered each day, and it never begins earlier than 8:50. Anywho, I'll update when I have news...

2003-05-16T11:32:00.000-04:00

Friday Five

1. What drinking water do you prefer -- tap, bottle, purifier, etc.?
Among the bottled waters, I think Evian tastes least like plastic,. I don't need to drink bottled, however. I'm not terribly picky as long as the water is very, very clean and very, very cold.

2. What are your favourite flavor of chips?
Without hesitation: Poore Bros. in Dill and Jalepeno flavors. Not too greasy, incredibly crunchy and very flavorful. Having said that, H. recently came across guacamole-flavored and salsa-flavored tortilla chips at our neighborhood grocery store. I've never seen the brand before and don't remember what it was, but they are quite tasty.

3. Of all the things you can cook, what dish do you like the most?
I'm best with desserts, although still a novice. My favorite dishes are the simplest -- warm, chewy brownies or right-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies with pecans. Spoonbread is pretty tasty, too, and I make a mean, Tabasco-infused vegetarian chili.

4. How do you have your eggs?
Scrambled with milk on an english muffin with cheese and Boca breakfast sausage.

5. Who was the last person who cooked you a meal? How did it turn out?
Luckily, since I am not culinarily skilled, my best friend invites H. and I over for dinner with some frequency. She makes simple (albeit kinda unhealthy) dishes -- like the hashbrown casserole below -- but they are scrumptious.

Hashbrown casserole

Ingredients:
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups sour cream
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons dried minced onion flakes
ground black pepper to taste
1 (2 pound) package frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
4 ounces extra sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup crushed cornflakes cereal

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the soup, sour cream, butter, dried onion flakes, and pepper. Stir in the hash browns and 1/2 the cheese. Pour into the prepared baking dish, sprinkle with remaining cheese, and top with crushed cornflakes.
3. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Happy weekend!

2003-05-16T11:22:00.000-04:00

Yum

A laptop carrier worthy of my iBook. Kudos to Acme Made.

Simple JD Reminders

No. 1 - Love your clients, just don't love your clients.

2003-05-15T12:01:00.000-04:00

Just to explain...

Since I've generally worked to keep this blog free of identifying information -- state, name, name of 1L2B-law school, etc. -- I've usually signed comments as either "liable" or "L." This, however, seems rather cold, if helpfully anonymous. However, I'd like something a little more girly, so I'm going to expand my pseudonym from "L" to "elle," which is at least a bit more feminine.

This is not, should anyone wonder, an homage to Reese or her twirly DBA. It's simple phonetics: "Liable" = "L" = "elle."

So, let's consider elle my name, shall we?*

* - My name is not actually Elle.

2003-05-14T09:38:00.000-04:00

Reading

Bookfilter points us to an annotated list of legal novels from the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas. Also available from Tarlton is a list of legal narrative e-texts accessible through the UT site.

Pretty

Suzy's lovely personal site includes samples of her unique handwriting. The font is suprisingly difficult to duplicate: In order to make the lettering appear natural and random, you have to consider the case of each individual letter.

2003-05-09T12:39:00.000-04:00

sketch three

She drove to the farmer's market alone, but happy. It was an unusually hot, humid morning for so early in May, but she'd decided to get out, lest she spend all day without leaving her small apartment. The farmer's market was only a few blocks down the road in the city's downtown center: a straggle of fruit, preserves and flower vendors along one side of a single block. Still, it was the best produce in town -- ripe tomatoes, heaps of peppers and, at one end, a man with an ex-dry wall compound bucket full of long-stem roses (never red).

The morning was bearing toward noon and some of the vendors, more willing to take their leftovers home for canning than sacrifice them in the building heat, were packing their crates and baskets back into the small pickups they had driven onto the sidewalk. The flower man was still at his corner, offering three creamy, ivory roses for $1. She jumped at the chance, for what graduate student could afford to buy a dozen roses for herself, sans special occasion? He carefully wrapped the dripping flowers in newspaper (yesterday's Courier-Star) and handed her the bundle. The girl left without another purchase save the roses, and, once at home, trimmed the stems under running water as she'd been taught. She placed them into a curvy glass vase on her desk, which took up an entire wall of the small living room. They were spectacular -- twelve ivory roses, accidentally fanned into an arrangement that would please a seasoned professional.

For two weeks -- fourteen days -- the cream roses thrived in their vase on the tiny apartment's desk. Having plenty of other things on her mind -- affording the summer's tuition, for one -- she would occasionally forget about the flowers. These moments were the best -- when, then glancing around the room from her spot on the sofa, she would see them, and start, and remember. She would sigh, and stare for a moment, smiling at her $4 roses.

2003-05-08T15:36:00.000-04:00

The music store

After 4 hours of downloading the requisite program updates, I finally made it into the iTunes Music Store last night around 10:00 p.m. I own an iPod and an iBook, so I am pretty well equipped for the iTunes experience. I had fun shopping, purchasing mostly softer songs from the 1970s, including a couple from the Bee-Gees (woo-hoo!). I spent $17.82 on 18 songs, which is nothing compared to what I would have spent to purchase the 15 or so albums on which those songs are contained.

Note to music industry execs: I would not have purchased those 15 albums to get the individual songs, so be glad you're getting my $17.82.

My thoughts? I'll definitely be going back. I don't have the concerns about AAC formatting or copy protection that others have mentioned; the music is solely for use on my iPod, as my car doesn't handle homemade CDs terribly well. Frankly, I'm happy just to have a safe, legal environment in which to purchase cheap songs. And, since my music selections are so old and unpopular that they've all made it onto babyboomer Time/Life compilations, I found almost everything I was looking for. Downloads are incredibly slow, but if you shop first and download later, you can let your Apple do the downloading while you snooze away the night. That said, I have a few helpful hints to pass along to future users:

1. In order to participate in select-first-and-purchase-later shopping, you need to set your iTunes preferences to make purchases via *shopping cart* instead of one-click shopping. One-click purchasing is the default option in iTunes, so you'll need to make this change unless you only plan on buying one song per music store visit. Without the shopping cart, you'll be stuck waiting for an entire song to download (at least 20 minutes on 56K) before you can browse again, as the song sucks up so much bandwith other browsing/surfing is virtually impossible. So, browse first, build your shopping cart second and purchase en masse last.

2. Songs download faster in the morning (7:00 a.m.) than they do in the evening (11:00 - 1:00 p.m.).

3. Turn off your screensaver and any power saving functions you might have. Your 'puter will need the time to download your selections. However, if your computer's modem times out or you forget to turn off your sleep function (as I did last night), you can resume a download later. I'm not sure how well this works if a selection is mid-song when the downloading stops, but it works fine within a list of selections. Connect to the internet and use the iTunes "check for downloaded songs" function. It will continue to download whatever songs you purchased, but hadn't received, during your last store visit.

I suppose that's all. Happy surfing!

2003-05-08T12:26:00.000-04:00

Applet

Make your fish happy with a nice, cozy (albeit rather dark) macquarium.

Make your liable happy with a shiny, happy apple lunch box.

2003-05-06T16:47:00.000-04:00

artfix redux

More sketchbooks.
. Jonathan Keegan
. from the Archives of American Art
. Paul Antonson

2003-05-06T09:41:00.000-04:00

Temporary venting

As per my note, this post has been deleted. Although I would note that things involving the subject of the post actually got *worse* yesterday. Let's say a good, solid chunk of hypocrisy entered into it...

-- the mgmt.

2003-05-05T17:29:00.000-04:00

get yer art fix here

Handicrafts.
There are many incredibly talented gals out there selling their handicrafted wares online. A sample of their sites/shops are linked below.

. tinymonkey cards
. blissen
. cut + paste
. crackers and honey

I ordered one of these magnets today.

Magnets.
Speaking of magnets, marble magnets make a great little craft project, and notmartha explains how. PaperSource offers similar directions for their picture pebbles.

Personal art.
. notkeren's sketchbook link from erica
. collagetown gallery link from reen

2003-05-01T16:20:00.000-04:00

type v. write

In the comments on my "Looking Forward" post (which, incidentally is by far the most commented-on post I've had since I started), greg suggests that a laptop works best for in-class notetaking. While I'll avoid rehashing bloggers' prolific 'laptops in the classroom' discussions, I would note that my memory of typed notes is considerably lower of written notes. I type very quickly -- let's blame a career unintentionally filled with dictation -- and so remember less of what I've typed than I do when I hand-write. Although I plan to transcribe my handwritten notes into my trusty iBook, any basic/rote memorization that I wish to do before exams will involve re-writing my notes again. The slowness of the activity helps me to concentrate and, consequently, remember...

2003-05-01T12:16:00.000-04:00

Law school preview tomes

Disputation has posted a great review of Law School Insider, with which I concur completely. The book is fabulous, particularly since it does, indeed, give the reader an inside perspective on law school and its attendant processes (applying, admissions, testing, job searching, law reviewing, etc.). The book also avoids giving the overly simplistic, trendy advice* that readers must wade through in other books; Law School Insider excels at providing earthy, honest, cleverly-written information about attending law school. On a purely aesthetic note, the book is small, sturdy and thick -- very well proportioned. Kudos to Jeremy Horowitz on all fronts.

I also purchased Getting to Maybe at the MWU bookstore this morning. Although her archives don't seem to be working at the moment, I believe Sue recently posted a review of GOM. And, lest anyone be concerned about my over-preparedness, rest assured that I have slacked plenty in the past and will do so in the future. I enjoy reading immensely, but I *love* books even more -- thus the recent purchases.

* - I scanned Law School Confidential at our neighborhood behemoth bookstore, and one of its central points seemed to be that if you didn't get into HYS, take a year off and try again. In the author's purview, there is apparently little to be gained from attending other, lower-ranked law schools.

2003-04-30T18:22:00.000-04:00

The sixth class

I avoided mentioning in yesterday's post that I actually have to take six classes each semester, not five. During the fall semester, 1Ls at MWU take a class intended to serve as an introduction to the legal field. In the spring, this class is replaced by criminal law. I listed only five classes below because I didn't want to lose anonymity by identifying the class's name, which I assumed would lead googlers right to the school I attend. I'll still avoid giving the name outright, but a quick scan of curricula at other midwestern law schools indicates that six classes (including something like my introductory one) are the norm for first year students. I suppose that does explain, in part, why I was told that large Chicago-Atlanta-Seattle firms enjoy hiring students from our school, who presumably have a "midwestern work ethic." Alternately stated: You certainly won't be offered a job based on your school's reputation, so you'd better be prepared to work.

Other than exams (obviously), the fact that I'll be taking six classes is the element that frightens me most about the looming fall semester. I haven't been enrolled in six classes in a single semester since high school, as my undergraduate university operated on a completely different system. We took, at most, four classes at a time. Grad school operated similarly, as three classes were considered to be a full load in any one semester. [Taking two classes, I might add, works out to be a three-fourths load. I'll leave you, perspicacious readers, to explain the math on that one.] Although my time management skills are reasonably solid, I will certainly have to be more disciplined this year than I have ever been before.

Other asstd. good things

. Manor House is much fun, although I can't help but wonder what the younger servants -- who constantly complain about the amount of work they're asked to do -- were expecting when they agreed to join the project. Perhaps we are a particularly spoiled generation.
. Mom gets something similar to Bloom's Pampering Pack for mother's day.
. I was going to link one more thing, but I forgot what it was. Oh, well.

2003-04-30T17:52:00.000-04:00

Yum

Apple's interpretation of the mp3 player has been reincarnated again. Kudos, boys and girls, for the striking design and increased functionality.

Also, as many news sources are reporting, Apple has jumped into the online music provider fray. Will I pay $.99 for a song that I can legally download? Absolutely... Except that, as the owner of a second-generation iPod, it has been recommended that I purchase new system software, update my iPod system software and download iTunes 4 in order to make use of the music store. Did I mention I'm a 56k user? I'm not on the internet in the evenings enough to justify any faster a connection than that, but it is annoying the two to three times a year that I download substantial programs. I hope no one tries to call at 2:00 a.m.

2003-04-29T19:07:00.000-04:00

One more supply note

I got one of these over the weekend. Yum. Pretty and functional, with an amazingly smooth roller ball tip.

2003-04-29T19:03:00.000-04:00

Looking forward

My feet planted firmly in MWU's corner, I made a list today of the school supplies I'll need to pick up in the next couple of months, i.e., before the money runs out.

1. Five* flexible, clear, 1.5" binders. Although I've usually used notebooks, I'm opting for binders this time around. I assume that I'll be adding retyped notes, outlines and practice essay questions to my stack of documents for each particular class and I'd like to keep them all organized.
2. Firm-backed, legal-margined, yellow-papered, letter-sized, hole-punched legal pads. I'll use these for notetaking in class and then add them to the binder later on. Easier to write in than binders with sizable loops, I like being able to hold the pads on my lap as I write.
3. Hole punch reinforcers. I'm clumsy and anticipate tearing lots of pages.
4. Three-hole punch. Our current hole punch is indisposed at the moment, it's punching columns stuck together with plastic sheets that it was ill-equipped to handle. Note to self: Do not try to hole-punch plastic sheets.
5. Large binder dividers. Ain't nothin' like organization.
6. Round-edged resume paper. I saw this at our local office supply chain last week. It's resume quality paper but has neatly die-cut rounded edges. As I'd like to have my 1L summer resumes prepped and ready before the semester begins, I thought this would be a nice touch.

* Five binders for the following five classes: Contracts, Civ Pro, LRW, Property, Torts.

2003-04-25T14:00:00.000-04:00

Mata Hari, kind of

The self-effacing, but brilliantly-careered Daphne Park is a lady I'd like to meet. Link from Arts + Letters Daily

2003-04-25T12:08:00.000-04:00

Thin envelope

I was dinged at Georgetown. Not surprising, of course, but I still had the tiniest flicker of hope that the admissions committee would see past my LSAT score and examine my UGPA, GGPA, GGPA and work experience. Ah, if only I had taken the LSAT again...

Flurry

The life of liable has been a flurry of activity lately -- long hours at work, assorted brunches (a springtime ritual, I suppose), preparing for the Derby (Baffert, Lukas or Frankel, anyone?), planning a vacation, making financial plans for next year. I could, by the way, sum the latter in a report entitled "I Would Prefer Not to Eat Ramen Every Day During the 03-04 School Year."

My office is completely prepared, my desk well-lit and my reading area comfy. All I lack now is a book list, a class schedule and a shoulder-crushing load of fear.

And now for something completely different

Did anyone watch Helen of Troy last night? I saw the last few minutes and, aside from the terrific violence, was fairly intrigued. The horse was amazing. Very well-crafted CGI, that.

2003-04-25T11:47:00.000-04:00

And you thought law school was humiliating?

At least you're not this poor fellow.

2003-04-16T09:17:00.000-04:00

Break

I'm going to be gone for a few days. Not much to post about school-wise and not feeling terribly chatty. Might be different if it weren't 85+ degrees in here. Ah, the joy of air conditioning. I'm not sure that midwesterners appreciate it fully....

-- the mgmt.

2003-04-11T16:37:00.000-04:00

What's law school worth?

From the Miami Herald...

So much for the free-enterprise system.

A Nova Southeastern University law student had his wrist slapped this week, after he tried to auction off his seat in a popular class.

It turns out there's a thriving ''gray market'' of students trading classes, sometimes for money. But university officials said it was definitely not OK for student Ryan Vescio to send out a mass e-mail to classmates advertising an auction of his seat on eBay.

eBay is an Internet service that helps sellers auction off items and services in exchange for a cut of the price.

Vescio, 23, sent an e-mail to hundreds of fellow law students Tuesday afternoon, inviting them to bid for his seat in Constitutional Law II for the fall semester. [...]

2003-04-11T12:25:00.000-04:00

More cards?

A deadlier card game.

2003-04-11T11:08:00.000-04:00

Friday five, y'all

1. What was the first band you saw in concert?
New Kids on the Block, baby. I saw them twice while I was in junior high. I loved Jonathan. : )

2. Who is your favorite artist/band now?
The Beatles are probably my all-time favorite band, although I don't necessarily listen to them all the time. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I think they are the *best* band of all time. H is educating me on blues greats, so I've been listening to a lot of Steve Ray Vaughn, B.B. King and Muddy Waters lately.

3. What's your favorite song?
There are too many to pick from, and I'm fickle so they change constantly. Some current leading candidates (some of which are faves simply because the weather is warming):
. Here Comes the Sun (the Beatles)
. One Particular Harbor (Jimmy Buffett)
. These Arms of Mine (Otis Redding)
. I'll Fly Away (any good, bluegrass version)
. You're So Vain (Carly Simon)
. Key Largo (Ella Fitzgerald)

4. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?
Cello or 12-string guitar. *Not* violin. *Never* violin.

5. If you could meet any musical icon (past or present), who would it be and why?
H and I have tickets for B.B. King later this month, so let's say him.

2003-04-11T10:46:00.000-04:00

Finally, that perfect date night activity

This amused me to no end. I can't wait to get home today with a big stack o' index cards and some markers.

link courtesy of reen

2003-04-09T17:30:00.000-04:00

Gift me

Looking for that perfect gift for a finnicky attorney or law school student? Look no further.

2003-04-09T14:48:00.000-04:00

Reading material

An assortment of interesting stories from an assortment of interesting sources...

"Sooner the fly to God than he..."
Rabbi Meir Y. Soloveichik explores the Judaic and Christian foundations of hatred and forgiveness. Could you, as a Holocaust survivor, have forgiven your Nazi captor?
link from Arts + Letters Daily

"We aim to change this."
Gary Bauer, William Bennett, Jeb Bush, Steve Forbes, Dick Cheney and Dan Quayle discuss the Project for the New American Century.
link from Arts + Letters Daily

Chesslaw's summer reading suggestions
link from Alice

What did you do on your spring break?
This kid went to war. Oh, wait. No, he didn't.
link from Obscure Store

"...it's up to each of us to answer the big questions for ourselves."
Personally, I enjoy Car Talk. But I wouldn't call them with tricky moral questions.

2003-04-09T14:24:00.000-04:00

Getting my $$$ in order

The coordinated graduate school/financial aid office/law school effort to correct my status at MWU has paid off, at least for the federal government. I accepted my student aid package today, consisting of a mix of subsidized and unsubsidized federal loans. Adding to my existing debt was certainly not the greatest fun, but is undeniably better than accepting the student aid package and then begging private institutions for money to make up the difference between institutional aid and the actual cost. As a side note, even considering the scholarships I was offered, it is substantially less expensive to attend MWU. And, hopefully I'll be able to find gainful employment during my 2L and 3L years that will reduce the amount I need to borrow.

Also, I managed to fix yesterday's post, so that's up again. No more wondering exactly what it was that I had 'done'...

2003-04-09T14:22:00.000-04:00

Rankings

Alice penned a great post a few days ago about the new USNWR rankings. I agree completely with her discussion of conducting thick research into your potential schools in order to make an informed decision, rather than simply relying on any set of rankings for which the data and methods used to compile them are suspect. I also agree with Alice that the USNWR rankings -- for better or worse -- do matter for law students, just as they matter for undergraduate and graduate students of other ilks.

Law school deans are understandably annoyed that the rankings are given such attention when they provide only unidimensional insight into any particular institution. However, law school applicants would be naive to ignore them when others in the environment -- from potential applicants to NYC biglaw recruiters -- pay them heed. Perhaps the day will come when *everyone* in the legal community decides that law school rankings are bunk. But until then, I think applicants are smart to keep the rankings in mind when making their decisions. Don't rely on them as the sole estimate of how much you're likely to get out of attending one school or the other, but do consider them one component of a broader program of institutional research.

Disclaimer: The following paragraphs have been written by a post-graduate student who has yet to begin her first year of law school. Evaluate the advice/opinions accordingly.

2003-04-08T17:38:00.000-04:00

Hmm.

I edited the post below for its numerous mistypes, but something went weirdly wrong, probably involving font size changes. Oh, well.

2003-04-08T14:20:00.000-04:00

It is done.

[edited for readability. assorted apologies.]

I'll receive no scholarship money from school No. 6. As did many other schools this year (or so I would imagine), they gave away too much money too early. So, barring some GULC miracle involving boxes of free money, it'll be my sweet little midwestern law school.

I'm also continually updating the tally board as other pre-laws make their final choices. A hearty congrats to those who have. New topic: our respective deans' summer reading lists. *Discuss.*

2003-04-08T14:02:00.000-04:00

Flotsam

I just returned from microwaving my heat-n-eat lunch in our office's breakroom. As I dropped the cello-topped package in the microwave for its six-minute heating, one of the four employees eating lunch together was offering an anecdote involving his spouse and the can of 'Bean and Bacon' soup that the spouse had requested for dinner the night before. I scooted out of the room in order to get a beverage, and then returned a few minutes later to pick up my lunch. As I walk in the room, I hear the story-telling employee say this:

"Well, we ate the soup at 8:00."

I was gone for seven minutes, and he was still talking about the can of soup. Seven minutes. About a can of soup. It is for reasons like this that I don't regret eating lunch at my desk.

[maybe more/better posts later, and thanks for the well wishes! i am much improved.]

2003-04-04T11:01:00.000-05:00

Pollen

I've gone from allergic reaction to full-blown illness, so I'll be taking a couple days off. Good luck to the pre-laws who are in the midst of making their final decisions.

- mgmt.

2003-04-02T15:35:00.000-05:00

Random crap, okay? (Not that I'm asking for permission.) Okay?

The air outside is uncharacteristically hot and stagnant, and yet warm air still pumps from the radiators in our little state-controlled building. My shoes are too tight, I'm bored at my job and there's too much $@#& windblown pollen in the air. *cough*

It's hot + I'm bothered = blech. [Granted, on a scale of miserable living conditions mine would only qualify as "barely inconvenient," but it's enough to push me into a little funk.]

I'm now going to entertain myself with a post o' fluff.

1. The world is full of stupid people. To wit: "We live in a reign of error." (link from arts + letters daily)
2. I want one of these with my name and "Midwestern Law" typed neatly across the bottom of each page, but can't justify the cost ($45). Still, the thought makes me feel so...studious.
3. If it actually lasts 10 days, this would be *great,* but it doesn't seem to be available in our little midwestern burg quite yet.
4. Americans are not overly litigious. We're just overly stupid. (link by obscure store)
5. The official *liable* dress. The official *liable* shoes. (Just don't wear them together.)
6. Why are tropical flora so in this year?
7. I wish I would have taken the LSAT twice and applied to Emory, UVA (where I was admitted, but chose not to attend as a grad student) or Vandy.
8. Have your daily whirl.
9. I'll probably order no. 2 next week.
10. (cont. from no. 8) or fauna?
11. The official *liable* floral bouquet.

As the above post might suggest (and as previous ones certainly have), I like stuff. I don't own too much of it, I don't aspire to own too much of it, but I am fascinated by it. Maybe it's the appeal of the new new thing, but I find something very intriguing about simple, yet innovative, items -- whether it be clothing, electronics, beauty aids, etc. There. That should justify my materialism.

I'm done now.

2003-04-01T17:07:00.000-05:00

Not yet a law student

I guess blogger's working again. Makes my comments from yesterday rather prescient.

I called the financial aid office about the missing money. As it turns out, my previous enrollment at MWU as a graduate student [I have 1.75 graduate degrees] has muddied my registration file. They gave me federal aid accounting for the cost of graduate level tuition, which is significantly cheaper than the 18 hours that will be required of me next fall.

Unfortunately, the financial aid officer [Colleen, maybe?] was not terribly helpful.

"You'll need to work this out with the law school and the graduate school," she said.

I paused. "Okay. Can you suggest who I might start with?"

"Try someone in the law school," she suggested. "Oh, and make sure you get back to me once it's all figured out."

Once I've figured it out? I'm not even on campus. Don't the various offices at MWU -- particularly the law schol and the main financial aid office -- communicate in some way regarding students' files? Evidently not.

Anyway, Bonnie quickly figured out the problem. Longish story slightly shorter, my deposit has not yet been entered into the system, so the financial aid office works on the only enrollment/admissions information that they have.

"You graduate students!" said the friendly law school admissions staffer with a laugh. "You're just always messing things up!"

2003-03-31T16:47:00.000-05:00

Going solo

I'm thinking about leaving blogspot for a moveable type or blogspot*pro set-up -- something without ads that I can visually customize. I'm open to purchasing hosting space and then using mt to organize the actual blogging, but I'm more than a little indimiated by the mt installation instructions. I'm more interested in arranging the *look* of the blog than the administration of it, but either way I want a national web hosting service -- I'm not keen on our regional service providers. If all else fails, I could just skip the software, rent some server space and code the blog myself, although I'm afraid that an organizationally-onerous system might diminish my desire to post.

I should note that I'm a mac user, in case that matters. Also, I wouldn't need e-mail addresses, e-commerce options or over 50 mb of space.

Any suggestions?

2003-03-31T16:17:00.000-05:00

We feel your pain

To the googler who found liable by searching for 'what+to+do+if+waitlisted+for+law+school', the pre-law blawg community feels for you. Good luck in your decision-making process!

- liable

2003-03-31T16:00:00.000-05:00

Revise

One load to our community donation center and six piles of trash later, we have cleaned out our garage and office. Among other things, we sifted through boxes of 1980s receipts belonging to my mom-in-law, green glass drinking goblets, pounds of papers relating to H's graduate work, at least 15 yearbooks and diploma-holding portfolios and two boxes full of neatly-organized spray paint cans. I'll spare details of the dust, leaves and tiny, scurrying critters that also punctuated the exercise. Having moved an enormous L-shaped desk out of our small home and moved a smaller, dark wood model into its own corner of the office, I now have a tidy study space ready for the fall. Organizing the desk -- pencil cup, cute sticky pads, spiral paper clips -- was a truly Martha moment. I love (and crave) organization. Sadly, H wouldn't let me buy one of these, which I think would have made the day *really* special in a slighly obsessive-compulsive kinda way.

Mail call

I received a tee from school no. 2 in the mail this weekend. That was a mood booster. Still no action on my GULC application (online status listed as "complete") and no word on because-someone-else-declined scholarships from MWU or school no. 6. I checked my online status at MWU and it does list a financial aid offer, though, comprised of a federal, unsubsidized direct loan that doesn't amount to the maximum that I can borrow.

Why do financial aid officers think that someone's 2002 adjusted gross income is somehow indicative of their income for the 2003-04 school year? A note to financial aid officers: We don't get to work our first year of law school, so you can ignore last year's AGI. I suppose they believe that H and I planned ahead and actually *saved* money amounting to our expected family contribution, but alas, we did not. Too busy preparing in other ways. Read: Responsibly addressing existing debt. For examples of irresponsible, but surprisingly effective, ways to manage your nasty Prada habit, read here.

Still, I knew I wouldn't receive need-based aid and since I completed the FAFSA in January, I wondered why I hadn't heard from them about an offer. So, it's good to know. Now I suppose I'll wait until I get the official letter and then hound the aid office to increase my student loan amount so that we can afford Lawry's for the ramen noodles we'll no doubt be eating next year. But ya know what? I won't be sitting at this desk, staring at this screen, bored out of my mind. Wahoo!

GULC decision shortcut

For any of you who happened to apply to GULC and are waiting for your decision (or, at this point in the process, your rejection), there's a pseudo-shortcut. Once your online status check moves from "complete" to "decision," try to log into the GULC admitted students site. If you can log on, you're undoubtedly in. If you can't log on,you probably aren't in, although I'm not sure how long it would take to update this system once the status check system is updated.

Correction

JCA's great oral argument was in her moot court seminar, not LRW. At MWU, the oral takes place during the second half of the LRW class, which is why I got confused. I should also say good luck to the rest of the 1Ls out there who are currently undertaking/prepping for their oral arguments. Best wishes!

2003-03-28T11:23:00.000-05:00

Yeah!

A hearty congratulations to JCA, who performed spectacularly during Thursday's LWR oral argument. We knew you'd do well!

: )

2003-03-27T15:48:00.000-05:00

Poor excuse for social commentary

I know the song is really awful, by the way. I was in a mood. Feel free to make fun.

Mail call

Nothing in the mail today. No snappy t-shirts or last-minute scholarship offers.

Are you bored at work?

Why, yes. I am.

2003-03-27T09:38:00.000-05:00

"[Law school applications] Nowadays"

(Sung to the tune of "Nowadays" from Chicago, with apologies to Bob Fosse)

It's tough isn't it
hard isn't it
bad isn't it
grim isn't it
dark isn't it
Nowadays

There's applicants everywhere
High LSATs everywhere
Good grades everywhere
(A recession everywhere)
Pre-laws everywhere
Nowadays

You'd better like the school you're attending
(You can't attend the school you'd like)
Just hope you can give your money
To a school that's not only online

And that's tough isn't it
hard isn't it
bad isn't it
grim isn't it
dark isn't it
But nothing stays...

In fifty years or so
It's gonna change, you know
But, oh, it's hellish
Nowadays

2003-03-26T09:59:00.000-05:00

T-shirt mania

I had read a pr board note yesterday from a student who got a t-shirt in the mail from one of the safety schools to which I had applied. No t-shirt from them for me, at least not yet, but I did get a t-shirt yesterday from one of my other safety schools. I had actually sent e-mails Monday declining scholarships and admissions offers from these and two other safety schools, but I suppose the tee was already in the mail. It was a neat surprise. To me, the law school logo flotsam (t-shirts, pens, etc.) are one of the high points of applying to law school. (This from the girl who has visited the MWU bookstore three times looking for a "MWU College of Law" decal for her car. Alas, there are none to be found.)

One note on the pr boards: they are not for faint of heart regional school applicants. Although applicants who discuss regional school admissions offers tend to get supportive, congratulatory e-mails, the bulk of the discussions (as I have alluded to before) involve students who are deciding between top 14 schools with maybe a tier two thrown in for the heck of it. The pr boards are the place where accepting a scholarship from UVA or Cornell, relatively speaking, grazes the bottom of the barrel.

I spoke to the friend of a friend yesterday about MWU. (Let's call him Joe.) Joe made a very convincing argument about its assets, particularly the academic credentials of its faculty, many of whom are ivy leaguers. (Irony, much, that a regional school is acceptable largely by virtue of the fact that its faculty are from better institutions?) He is clearly very fond of the school, if not in part because he is an adjunct.

"I wouldn't involve myself with the school if I didn't love it," Joe said. "I certainly don't do the work for the money."

Joe was also much more optimistic about the graduates' employment possibilities, if a little naive about the need to take out loans to pay for school.

"You should stay away from loans, and I'm sure you can pay for school with cash if you're careful."

While I appreciated the advice, what a joke! Such an unrealistic idea, if not only because tuition has increased eight-fold since Joe was in school. H and I have been preparing ourselves over the last year to get our finances in better shape for school, but we are still a young couple, recently married on the low end of the pay scale totem poles. Its simply not realistic for us to even imagine that we can plunk down $5,000 a semester in cash for tuition. Maybe after a good summer of clerking (should that opportunity present itself), but certainly not now.

Anywho, despite the unrealistic financial advice, it was a great talk. Good reviews of the school's faculty, administrators and intellectual atmosphere. I'm feeling better...

2003-03-25T09:18:00.000-05:00

No news

Rather a slow weekend and week for law school info. Unless some last minute scholarship money turns up at school no. 6, I'm in for the long haul at MWU. I learned yesterday that my GULC app is complete, so I'll be getting that rejection letter in the mail any day now. Leave it to me to apply to law school in the midst of an economic recession and application boom. I'll be having a meeting later this week with a friend of a friend who is an adjunct at MWU Law. He wants to give me the "Why You Should Attend MWU" speech. I guess a little recruiting is better than no recruiting, but at this point MWU seems inevitable, so I'm not sure it's really worth either of our time. I spoke to H, who also knows him, about this.

"Oh, but it's worth your peace of mind," he said with a knowing look.

Whatever.

2003-03-21T11:56:00.000-05:00

Friday five

1. If you had the chance to meet someone you've never met, from the past or present, who would it be?
Buddha and Christ, I think. I'd ask for counseling sessions, both to help me deal with my angst and be more compassionate and to strategize about helping others better learn to chill. Oh, and maybe Jim Valvano. I'd give him a stack of tournament brackets from the last decade and just let him knock himself out filling them in...

2. If you had to live in a different century, past or future, which would it be?
I'm not one to glamourize a lack of indoor plumbing and the absence of warehouse superstores, so I'll stay right where I am, thank you. I could stand for life to be slightly less complex, but I suppose that's the price we pay for technological innovation.

3. If you had to move anywhere else on Earth, where would it be?
Here, here or maybe here. Simple tastes, geographically. I do like trees.

4. If you had to be a fictional character, who would it be?
I can't think of a specific character, but I would want to be someone with substantially more bravery than I have. I'm generally a scaredy-cat, too timid to try new things for fear that I should make a fool of myself -- academic pursuits excepted. I'd be some sort of 17th or 18th century heroine with a strong sense of purpose and a willingness to take risks ... but no burning at the stake or other martyrdom-type situations.

5. If you had to live with having someone else's face as your own for the rest of your life, whose would it be?
I'm pretty self-critical, but I wouldn't want no one else's mug but my own. Hmmph.

(courtesy of the friday five)

2003-03-20T17:02:00.000-05:00

List Three

(The strange accumulation of items in my car that I noticed today as I stuffed groceries into my trunk.)

1. Two blue racquetballs
2. One item of 1996 presidential campaign memorabilia
3. Smallish sheet of plate glass
4. Road atlas (large)
5. Hand-knitted, striped scarf
6. Assortment of plastic and paper bags
7. Beige box containing CDs, among which are Chicago, the Chieftains, George Thoroughgood, Kylie Minogue and Lyle Lovett.
8. One green, metal tool box (empty)

Mood: Surprisingly chipper given yesterday's funk. I'm becoming happily resigned to my fate...

2003-03-19T09:40:00.000-05:00

Update

I'm in at school no. 6, out at school no. 7. It's my first rejection, although that's not surprising given that it's also (by far) the highest ranked school from which I have heard. The rest were generally auto-admits. Actually, according to the LSAC guestimator, I should have had a 90 percent chance of admission at this one, but I suppose the boom in admissions, my out-of-state residency and the fact that I applied relatively late in the process suppressed my chances.

So, unless no. 6 comes through with a large chunk of change in April, I'm guessing MWU will be the final selection. I still don't feel good about this. I've always been one to follow my gut instinct -- even to a grad school that wasn't my first choice but that I now miss terribly. MWU could fit that bill, and I did enjoy the few graduate level classes that I have taken there. But just something doesn't feel right in this case. It's not doubt as to whether I should attend law school, as a friend (and '00 grad) recently asked me. It's about going to MWU -- *this* school in *that* state.

Gads. I am *so* sick of myself right now. I swear, people, I'm usually much less annoyingly whiny than this. Durn law school admissions process.

(what do these numbers mean?)

2003-03-17T17:43:00.000-05:00

The slippery slope

Having worked in the legislative environment, I can vouch that legislators and lobbyists alike love to make use of the "slippery slope" argument. Is some senator's proposed regulation too strict? Claim that it might lead to the regulation of *everything* in your relevant arena -- it's a slippery slope, you know. The prolific Eugene Volokh offers a defense of slippery slope logic in the latest issue of Legal Affairs. (link from arts + letters daily)

2003-03-17T12:36:00.000-05:00

Comments

Since the old comments system was perpetually on the fritz, I've had to redo it. Unfortunately, this has meant losing all the previous comments, including those from the last week on the regional schools debate. I offer my apologies (and thanks) to those who took the time to leave them.

- the mgmt.

2003-03-17T12:25:00.000-05:00

I did it.

No tears of joy or relief, but I placed the MWU deposit in the mail this morning. Minutes ago, actually. The deadline is a few days away, but I've still not heard from schools. no. 6 or 7 and the automated GULC system seems to believe that my application is incomplete. (It was an online application and my LSAC report was sent weeks ago!) I'm guessing that there's only a slim chance of getting a positive admission letter from any of these schools within the next 10 days, so I hedged my bets and turned in my Intent to Enroll form. By the way, for any new (or absent-minded) readers, MWU stands for unnamed Mid-Western University.

Thanks to all of you who commented on my previous post, and thanks to jd2b for the link (and consequent spike in traffic). However, I would like to clarify that for many of us considering regional schools, there is no "If you don't like the school, just go somewhere else" option. Many law school applicants "choose" to attend regional schools because they are our best, if not our favorite, options; we then have to learn to be comfortable with our decisions. Not all of us can "trade up" for a better law school if we are uncomfortable with this option. We do not struggle with decisions between Harvard and Michigan. We struggle to decide between regional university no. 1 (what's their placement rate again?) and regional university no. 2 (do they even have a law review?), neither of which may place well outside their immediate geographic area. (What if I struggle with law school only to procure a position that pays less than I'm making now?!)

Our decisions may not even be based on admissions offers -- it may relate to a spouse's employment, already-existing graduate school loans, only having the resources to take the LSAT one time, having no familial support system to help shoulder the costs of relocating and choosing not to fill out the application section relating to how you've "overcome financial burdens." I don't offer these thoughts as excuses or to suggest that I won't receive a great education at MWU. I'm simply scared -- terrified, really -- that I will not be able to perform adequately enough to overcome any bias that might exists about giving kids from regional schools a try.

2003-03-14T10:07:00.000-05:00

Slim pickins...

No news on the admissions/application front. My snail mail has all but dried up, although I'm getting 2-3 e-mails a day with offers to visit certain schools, reminders to complete financial aid forms and "Here's why I chose X university" notes from current students. I'm stuck in admissions purgatory, waiting for judgements from three schools while a completed Intent to Enroll form and accompanying deposit for MWU sit in a sealed, stamped envelope on my desk. What to do, what to do...

No regional students?

I have noticed lately that in the world of the TPR boards, the law school survival guides and, perhaps to a lesser extent, the law school blawgs, a tendency for the perspective of students from the Top 15 (or at least Top 50) schools to be overrepresented. MWU is a solid (*crosses fingers*) member of the second tier, as are most of the other schools to which I have applied. Given the fact that schools in the bottom 3 tiers vastly outnumber those in the first one, it seems surprising to me that there are so few resources for students attending schools of this ilk. We make up, in fact, the vast majority of law school students. But resources such as this guide occasionally go so far as to suggest that students who are admitted only to a regional school should work for a year, retake the LSAT if necessary and send in a new crop of applications during the next cycle. In other words, if Cornell snubbed you but State U says "come on over," ignore the call and hold out for a better option: Nothing good can come from attending a regional state university.

I'm sure some students have taken the author's advice and done just that. For whatever reason -- their desire to go NYCBIGLAW, their Ivy-only attitude, their unwillingness to "settle" (tongue in cheek, people) -- waiting one more year to attend law school is a better option than attending a regional university. Perhaps the vast majority of people who buy law school survival guides are those who manage to garner acceptance to Harvard, Michigan, Texas or Vanderbilt. Maybe that's where the market for those types of books is. Still, I can't help but wonder if this sends the wrong signal to the rest of us -- the majority of us -- who attend solid regional schools that may not be nationally recognized but still manage to put skilled, well-educated attorneys who succeed in passing the bar. I know this is a personal issue for me -- wanting desperately to *want* to attend MWU. It's such an enormous investment in time and money that is seems crucial to attend a school in which you believe. But I think one of the central reasons that I'm not yet convinced that MWU is the place for me is that there are so few people -- blawgers, authors, whathaveyou -- suggesting that regional schools are solid academic choices that, if a student works diligently, can lead to fulfilling, I'm-paid-enough-to-make-my-loan-payment-and-maybe-a-little-extra type positions...

2003-03-11T11:16:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday...

... to Justice Scalia.

2003-03-11T11:11:00.000-05:00

Sniff

My allergies are horrible right now, so this won't be a long post, but I did want to provide an update following this weekend's open house.

It was a generally positive experience. As I've griped about before, I'd give MWU a "C" in terms of its ability to recruit students. Their primary tactic in terms of recruitment this weekend seemed to be scaring students with the amount of debt they're likely to accrue and the fact that starting positions are likely to pay $35K - $45K (at least for these types of regional institutions). They might as well have screamed "We're cheap, so give us those deposits!"

However, the facilities, faculty and staff does MWU proud. The law college building is small but nice and friendly, and the library is midwestern-luxe.* The staff that spoke with us were particularly kind, especially the law librarians, who repeatedly stressed their desire to serve students in whatever capacity possible. The career services unit seems very earnest and determined to increase opportunities for students, and the professor that conducted a mock class on the $80/$800 cow was a riot (given our fear that he would call on us). I'll rank MWU a "B+" in terms of the warmth and collegiality that seemed to exude from the place.

Having taken H with me to the event, I asked his opinion as we left the building.

"I think you're going to have a ball," he said.

I'm still waiting on letters from schools no. 6, 7 and 8. Two of those applications are under review, one is listed online as not yet being complete. It could likely be beyond April 1 (MWU's deposit deadline day) before I hear from them. I'm considering mailing my check to MWU this week...

* - a bit arts-and-craftsy but without the FLWright-ish bulkiness, with a strong nod to the landscape context.

2003-03-06T15:13:00.000-05:00

In the news

Ix-nay on the jury service for juror no. 142 (and his secret service escorts) says the NYTimes. (free registration required.)

A committee in the Illinois House of Representatives has opted to ix-nay the death penalty. Reports Salon: "... But that does not mean passage is likely."

2003-03-05T17:12:00.000-05:00

A conversation [with internal dialogue]

He beckoned.
"Come into my office a minute."
I followed him behind the paneled oak door and took a seat. He rolled behind his desk.
"So, what's your status? Any news?"
[Wow. He's engaging me in conversation. In his office. I am important!]
"Nothing since being turned down for a scholarship. I'm still waiting to hear from [schools no. 6, 7 and 8]. I have an open house at MWU this weekend, though, and I'm hoping it will be a positive experience."
[It better be, or else ... I might buy fewer law school t-shirts next year when I'm attending MWU anyway. Sheesh.]
"Open house? I'm not familiar with that."
[You don't know about law college open houses? How is this possible?]
"They give potential students a tour, talk to us about financial aid and pretend to grill us in Socratic style. It's on Saturday. H. and I are going."
[Yeah, I'm taking my husband to an open house. I thought I could use the support and the unbiased perspective.]
"Oh, good. So, you're still considering MWU even though they aren't going to give you a scholarship? I thought for sure you'd opt for one of the other schools."
[*pause* The safety schools with the scholarship offers, or the almost-ivy that probably won't admit me? I'm not sure they'd take kindly to me showing up for classes once I get that thin-enveloped rejection letter...]
"Nope. Still planning on MWU. It's significantly less expensive and H. really enjoys his job. The market for [his job] is apparently worsening, and he's not confident of finding a comparable one in some of the other cities."
[Am I talking too loudly? Can people in the other offices hear me? They don't know about law school yet.]
"Ah." Long pause. "Well, keep me apprised."
[Will do, as long as you continually affirm the prudence of my decisions.]
"Will do."

2003-03-04T16:31:00.000-05:00

Eureka

I remember not knowing how to read. I remember staring at a page of newsprint paper lined with strange symbols that – I knew – meant something. I just didn’t know how the system of words operated.

My mother says that I was three when I learned to read; of course, she her memory is always favorable to me – “Honey, remember when you were class president?” – if not necessarily accurate. I probably learned to read at 4, just before I entered kindergarten. I learned to read because she read to me at night before I went to sleep. She would sit on the edge of the bed, holding a Little House on the Prairie book in her hand. She read stories about big woods, full attics, winter blizzards and trips by wagon and horse. She would hold the book at a strange angle that allowed her to see the text and me to see the pictures; they were there, in black and white on the rough newsprint stock, surrounded by line after line of – something?

I don’t remember the instant it made sense – the eureka moment – when those black lines and circles became somethingmore. (What a glorious thing, to read.) However, I do remember the moment algebra made sense. I took the class in the seventh grade in an old building full of smells more grown up than my classmates and me. The teacher, a man with glasses and graying hair, wrote simple equations on the board: 7 - x = 1 or 8 – x = 5. He was generally disliked by the students, or at least the ones I knew, and the eighth graders would scare us with stories about his meanness.

I remember looking at the green chalkboard and its equations, when I realized that x was simply standing in for some other number. It was a substitute, a representative of a digit that we had to find. (Ah! Puzzles to solve!) That was beautiful – the grasping of something that seemed completing unobtainable until the moment that it wasn’t unobtainable anymore. It just was.

I remember aching for my younger sibling a few years later when he struggled with the same subject. His teachers had given up on him two or three classes ago – still in the “Math” years – and he had never caught up. I was away at college when he left school. I always wished he’d had that “eureka” moment and feared what might have happened to me that the light never switched on...

2003-03-03T17:19:00.000-05:00

Higher marks for MWU

I spoke today with a guy pal who, it turns out, is a much better cheerleader for MWU than the caller I spoke with last week. He says the atmosphere is collegial and the profs are supportive, especially of students who put in the work. As for marketability, he recognized the fact that, as a regional university, MWU graduates have an easier time finding employment in the midwest; however, he expressed confidence that top-ranked students have more nationally-tuned opportunities. While there is a conservative trend among the students, the academic atmosphere is generally open, he said. His advice: "Get involved. Go to parties. Try everything." I'm getting very exicted about the upcoming open house...

Reference books, etc.

I'd like to solicit suggestions from law students about reference-type books that might be useful come August. I'm going to hold off on study guide purchases until I figure out what will help me after school starts, but would like to make an early purchase of any style guides, dictionaries, law school "survival guides," etc. that folks have found to be particularly helpful. For example, while I wouldn't mind having the latest unabridged version of Black's, won't a smaller pocket legal dictionary be easier to tote around?

Identify your picks using the comments. I'll compile your (muchly-appreciated) responses into a full post later...

2003-03-03T14:17:00.000-05:00

simplyshe is greatfun

I think this collection is the greatest. I bought the "Notes-to-Go" product this weekend, which is a notebook of perforated small noteslips with fun, girly sayings. My favorites: "Imagine a world where you actually liked the people you worked with" and "You're not bitter, you're cynically hopeful." And, it's pink, which I adore in a legallyblond kind of way...

(And yes, I know it's not a true portrayal of life at law school.)

update: there's more of it.

2003-03-03T14:02:00.000-05:00

"Contrary to the saying, 'data' is not the plural of 'anecdote.'"

In 1993 Justice Breyer directed federal judges to act as "gatekeepers" regarding the validity of scientific testimony. In light of this instruction, Robert Park has identified the "Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science."

Cheating for fun and profit

Worried Mom checks with the NYTimes Ethicist: It is wrong for my 11 year-old to sell homework assignments to his classmates, right? (free registration required)

2003-02-28T15:15:00.000-05:00

Just for phun

Num yums for spring

. kate spade no.1 and no. 2
. bloom pampering essentials
. benefit dandelion
. philosophy kiss me red
. little thinkers

[ disclaimer: i own none of these products and am offering no testament as to their value or quality. i am a simple gal (if slightly high-maintenance) preparing to enter school and I can't afford any of them, but if i was overflowing with cash i'd probably pick them up. ]

: )

2003-02-28T14:00:00.000-05:00

Spring fever

Transplanted southerner that I am, I managed to make it until Feb. 28 before the snow-weariness kicked in. In honor of my burgeoning spring fever, I offer poetry...

Boat drinks

Boys in the band ordered boat drinks
Visitors scored on the home rink
Everything seems to be wrong

Lately, newspaper mentioned cheap air fare
I gotta to fly to Saint Somewhere
I'm close to bodily harm

Twenty degrees and the hockey game's on
Nobody cares they are way too far gone
Screamin' "boat drinks", something to keep 'em all warm [....]

Recovering

Coincidentally, I received a call from a MWU 3L last night making the rounds of potential enrollees. I gave an account of yesterday's experiences and asked if the administration and faculty are more supportive of students who opt to attend their university. It took a couple of iterations before he understood what I was asking him -- which did not win MWU any bonus points -- and informed me that they were. When I asked about marketability and summer associateships, he explained that two friends of his had managed to find summer work, one as a part-time employee at a local (and rather nasty) personal injury firm and another working in the relevant state roads department. These were the prized summer associateships?! Ugh.

To be fair, the rest of our conversation was more pleasant. He has apparently been satisfied with his experiences at MWU. I wouldn't say he gave a ringing endorsement -- more of an even-handed appraisal -- but I appreciated nonethless that he had taken the time to call. (Or, at the very least, that UNL bothered to ask him to do it.)

Balanced my books for the month earlier this morning and put aside the cash for the MWU deposit. I'm waiting to hear from schools No. 6, 7 and 8 before I send in the check, but I assume its inevitable at this point.

2003-02-27T16:14:00.000-05:00

Crappity crap crap

No scholarship from MWU. I'm "just below the cutoff."

I just e-mailed this to friends a moment ago:

One more thought on the scholarship crappiness. The e-mail I received about the scholarships was polite, but ended with "Best of luck with your admissions decisions." Gawd. He could at least have ended the e-mail with "We hope that you will still consider attending MWU" or some such thing. I realize that I may not have the most amazing LSAT score, but my UGPA is *great* and my LSAT score is still points above their 75th percentile. I realize that I'm not as qualified as those who are getting the scholarship money, but I'm still an above-average applicant for them. It would be nice to at least hear that they *want* me to attend despite the lack of scholarship money. I understand their budget situation. But they might do a little more in reassuring non-scholarship recipients that they are still wanted on campus.

Sheesh.

2003-02-26T14:29:00.000-05:00

Admissions offers by e-mail?

I receieved an e-mail letting me know that I'm in at school No. 5. Formal letter should arrive soon. It was a safety school that took an *incredibly* long time to process my application.

Any thoughts on the best ways to decline admissions/scholarship offers?

2003-02-26T12:18:00.000-05:00

E-mail, please

Comments are on the fritz right now, so if you'd like to add your name/admissions stats to the update board send an e-mail to liable_blog at yahoo dot com. If you've already used a comment to update your status but your name does not appear on the admissions update board, you might want to send an e-mail, as well.

2003-02-25T13:04:00.000-05:00

And we all shine on...(or we don't)

I'm fully aware that I'm not going to win any awards for having demonstrated grace during my stint as a pre-law. Having said that, come on you admissions assistants, associates and committees! Get those decisions out in a timely fashion... (see below for notable exceptions)

Yesterday

I received a letter from school # 6 informing me that I had neglected to complete an entire page of my application, including the work history, scholastic honors and "No, I haven't killed anyone" sections.

Excuse me?

Perhaps the reason you never received a copy of it from me is because I completed the application online, through LSAC in fact. To mess the situation further, the application deadline for said school is Saturday, March 1. There's no way this is going to arrive in time. Of course, given that the letter was dated Feb. 14th (!!), postmarked Feb. 20th (!!) and received Feb. 24th (!!), I can't think that I'm the only one to blame for this. I prepped the new pages this morning and will priority mail the packet tomorrow; I'll also give a call to the admissions office this afternoon to let them know I acted as quickly as I could to complete my application. I'd really hoped to get a decision from them next week. (see above). Crud.

Itemize

A "detailed" list of the 8 schools to which I have applied:

No. 1 - [MWU] Public, second-tier midwestern university. Accepted. Classified as "our state's primary university and the one I'll probably attend."
No. 2 - Private, second-tier southeastern university. Accepted. Classified as "safety school with a free application with nicer weather"
No. 3 - Second-tier Texas university. Accepted. Classified as "safety school with a free application."
No. 4 - Private, third-tier northerly-midwestern university. Accepted. Classified as "safety school with a free application."
No. 5 - Private, second-tier midwestern university. Decision pending. Also classified as "safety school with a free application."
No. 6 - Southern, first/second-tier public university. Application not complete (!). Classified as "school from which I received a grad degree."
No. 7 - Public, first-tier midwestern university. Decision pending. Classified as "school in a neat town with a great reputation and high non-resident tuition."
No. 8 - [GULC] Private, first-tier DC university. Decision pending. Classified as "school that probably won't accept me, but that I'm glad I applied to."