Friday, September 10, 2004

A Week in the Life of a Law Student

Monday:Holiday, no school!! Kinda feel like a fourth grader. No reference intended to my ConLaw class.

Tuesday:
Wow! Everything seems to slow down. Back into the groove.
Work goes very smooth. I get a lot acomplished. I am doing some minor changes to the last project. It's an intranet web application for a local corporation.
Tonight is Texas Pre-trial procedure. The interest level has picked up some. We are covering special appearances. One thing of note is that the burden of proof is on the defendant to show no personal juridiction. This is opposite of the federal rules which put the burden on the plaintiff (civil).
Recitation in this class is alphabetical, and we must stand to recite. Well, if you miss your date, it's five points off the final grade or you recite for the entire time during the next class. The poor sap tonight had done just that. He wasn't ready when his name came up, so he stood up for the whole 90 minutes. I think I would do the same. I need every point I can get. He did a good job,though.

Wednesday:
Work continues to move forward. I got stuck on some silly SQL statement late in the day. Hopefully, I can get it straight tomorrow.
Let's talk ConLaw: I came into the class feeling quite ready. The discussion is foreign affairs. As luck has it, tonight I am one of the few to whom she directs questions. First questino out of the bag, "Mark, tell us about the Curtis-Wright case." I froze. I had spent most of my reading on the Hamdi case. I wanted to get all the intricasies out of each of the 4 opinions. I uttered something I thought would appease the inquisitor, but nope. She moved on to the next person leaving me with that feeling. You know that feeling where you had your chance to shine and the lights went out. Passed over.
We did get to Hamdi, however, and she wasn't done with me. I answered most of the questions I think to her satisfaction. One problem I found was that everything i thought important to the case, was only incidental. The main reason the case is so important escaped me completely.
After that, I just wanted to leave. I was more than willing, glad in fact, to head home when my wife called saying she really needed me to leave early.
So, I told my Eveidence professor I had to miss and left.
Thursday:
Work is just work.
Class tonight is rather different. My professor is out of town, so, we have a video lecture. Tonight's topic - TROs (Temporary Restraining Orders) and Emergency Writs. Interesting subject because now we actually are learning something that we can use and not just theory.
Now I am not the fastest typist in the world. This lady is talking a mile a minute. I can't keep up. I resort to following along in the book, making mental notes of what is important hoping t read it later. Which I do before bed. Seeing me floundering in the note department however, the guy sitting next to me offers his notes to me after class. Who said lawyers were heartless? I'll take my "JumpDrive" to class next Tuesday and retrieve them. Many thanks!
Friday
No class, and the weekend is here. Nothing new to report in the work department,but we did have a little excitement today.
While sitting at my desk I hear the tell tale sounds of tires screeching followed by a loud bang.
Now, my building sits at a fairly busy intersection. Wrecks happen at least twice a month. Usually no one gets hurt, and it breaks up the normal day.
Today, however, Driver A gets spun around because he pulled out in front of another car. I see the other car, and there is not much damage. Driver B seems fine, as does her adolescent passenger. B is running around with papers in her hand, slightly panicked. I guess that is to be expected.
A ,however, is hamming it up. (I don't want to make light of any injuries he really may have) Even when the ambulance shows up there is no sense of urgency in the paramedics. Just watching this unfold, I could hear my insurance rates going up. Thanks, you A.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

The Web
Law Notes