Dubitante

On May 29, Georgetown lost one of its most revered faculty members: Professor Samuel Dash. While I never had the opportunity to sit in a class with Professor Dash, I know he is considered a legend on campus, and will be missed. Prayers to his friends and family.

My job starts tomorrow with an all-day orientation with the Judge's clerks. I'm a little excited, a bit nervous, but mostly curious. I really have no idea exactly what I will be doing this summer. How much responsibility I will have. What kind of deadlines I'll be operating under. What's expected of me.

And whether or not I can do it.

I've had a handful of "real" jobs in the past, but, with no offense to my former employers intended, none of them were real brainbusters. They had their challenges, mind you, and mistakes I made could have real consequences; but, nothing I have done to date seems quite as "real" as the type of assignments I anticipate being responsible for this summer. But, just like anything else, I'll give it my best shot and hope for the best. That's all I can really do.

In more immediate concerns, I am still far from recovered from last week's surgery. Prior to surgery, I swear they told me: 7 days recovery tops. Now, each time I talk with the doctor, it gets a little longer. 10 days. Really 14 days before you're starting to feel much better. A good three weeks before things are back to normal. It sucks.

I really don't like the idea of starting my job with a fever, unable to talk or eat, and doped up on liquid vicodin. Today was the worst post-surgery day in a while. I was nauseous all day, with a slight fever and a tremendous headache, and basically unable to swallow anything. Apparently, in addition to my surgical wounds, I have contracted some sort of infection in my throat (which I'm assured is "quite typical with this procedure") that my body is attempting to fend off. This immune system battle causes the headache and the fever, which, in turn, cause the dizzyness. The anti-biotics help my fighters, but cause the nausea. Add in the hyrdrocodone, and I probably shouldn't be giving my opinion on any summary judgment motions any time soon.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a bit better.

Only Arnold could come up with a scheme like this. Interestingly billed as a new tax (from a Republican? the horror!), Gov. Schwarzenegger plans to inject a little reform into torts suits in the great golden state. Here's how I understand the proposal (bear with me, I'm still fairly heavily medicated from surgery!):

1) Tortfeasors can only be held liable once for similar conduct. - Depending on how they define or determine "similar," I may be OK with this. Provided, of course, this relaxation of liability is coupled with more stringent mandatory class action laws.

2) The state takes 75% of any punitive damage awards. - Huh? And this is not a taking, how? Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely concept: punitive damages are meant to deter and punish, not reward, so any benefit derived from them should go to society. That's fine, except for the fact that it doesn't work like that. Punitive damages are viewed as an award entitlement to plaintiffs. If the government wants them, the government must pay for them.

3) Plaintiff's attorneys will only be able to calculate their fees based on the 25% actually paid to Plaintiffs. - In other words, P wins $1 million in puntive damages, the state takes $750K, P's attorney gets about $85K (roughly 33% of 25%), and P gets the rest ($165K). And, presumably, P will get taxed on his final award also, leaving him with roughly $100K. The winning plaintiff loses 90% of his award. The attorney loses over $250K in fees. But, the state is able to "tax" the jury award. Twice.

I'm no genius, but this system seems troublesome. If you strip the lawyers' fees to such an extent, you also strip the ability for most people to get their case heard at all (if the lawyer can't make money, he won't take the case). Furthermore, if you strip away 90% of the awards Plaintiffs ultimately reap, fewer plaintiffs will deem it worth the hassle to pursue the case, even if a lawyer was willing to take it. In the end, the deter/punish aspect of punitive damages is destroyed because cases aren't brought and companies aren't held liable.

So, in one fell swoop, Schwarzenegger's little plan does nothing to improve the system, but only leads to increased negligence and less liability. Less suits will be brought, less damages awarded. As such, CA's dream of reaping huge profits from punitive damages ($450 million) will never come true. In fact, the decline of cases being brought will likely result in an overall decline in revenue generated from jury awards through standard taxation...

I apologize for the lack of updates recently, but there is simply nothing new to report. My throat is still quite painful from surgery and I am still unable to eat solid foods. The surgeon removed a portion of the back of my palate, and this is by far the most painful element of my recovery. I can't really pinpoint the pain from losing the tonsils, but the soreness in the roof of my mouth is unmistakable.

I begin work with the judge (and clerks) on Tuesday. I'm really hoping I feel a bit better. I called one of the clerks back today and my voice sounded absolutely horrible. Frightening almost. Oh well.

Off to drink some breakfast....

I was released from the hospital yesterday after having some minor surgery (tonsils, palate, etc. to treat sleep apnea). The surgery went fine, but the hospital is run by monkeys. Tuesday, I spent 10 hours in "recovery" staring at a wall before they managed to find me a room to spend the night, despite their constant assurances that "the room will be ready soon." In fact, the only reason I got a room when I did was because I timed an outburst, storming around the recovery area, IV in hand, just as a group of residents/interns was being led around the area. The head doc asked what I was upset about, and, lo and behold, I was moved to my room 15 minutes later. The raspy voiced wheel gets the grease...

And then there was checkout yesterday. The monkeys discharge me at 7:00am in the morning, leaving me with two unfilled prescriptions. Why they didn't fill the scripts themselves or at least leave me with a few days worth of samples is beyond me. But, no big deal, I'll just get them filled at the hospital pharmacy. Or not. The hospital pharmacy doesn't open until 9:30. So, I decide we'll leave and fill them at a CVS on the way home.

Prior to being discharged, I asked for a parking sticker so E. didn't have to pay $15 for the 45 minutes she was there picking me up. My nurse told me she didn't have any permites, and directed me to three other spots where I should be able to get one. Two of the three were unmanned, and the third was too busy to help.

So, we headed out to the parking garage, showed the attendant my bracelet and discharge papers and she refused to let us out. After my protestations and requests that she call the desks where you allegedly could get the sticker and verify that no one was available...she called security on me. So I stormed back inside the hospital. There was still no one at the first two designated parking pass locations, so I head to the third. There's still a line of people, so I head right in the Employees Only door and, in the loudest raspy voice I can muster, demand a parking permit. They comply immediately.

I head back outside, where security is now harassing E. He says something to me as I approach the car and I respond that it's not a good idea for him to talk to me right now. We hand our permit to the gung ho parking attendant, pay the $2, and are on our way. It's now 8:00am.

We find a 24-hour CVS on the way home to fill the prescriptions. But, there is no one manning the pharmacy. Apparently, the pharmacist was supposed to be there at 8, but is "stuck in traffic." The pharmacist finally shows at 8:40, and 20 minutes later, I have my prescriptions. Another 15 minutes, and I'm home.

What could have been a 25 minute relaxing car ride home, had the hospital provided me with filled prescriptions and a parking permits, had turned into a more than 2 hour battle against idiocy and ineptitude, fought by a 26 year old law student, operating on no sleep, doped up on codeine, and incapable of yelling. It was quite the sight.

Thanks to E. for enduring the ride with me. I'm a pretty intense guy to begin with, but throw in a little surgery, a little pain, and a few stupid people, and things tend to really get interesting...

I just turned in my write-on packet. I am done. Officially. Handing it in was less momentous than I had anticipated. The journal offices were plain and unassuming. The guy manning the desk was friendly. There were no security checkpoints, and no fingerprinting or retinal scans. All in all, it was a bit of letdown. But, at least it's over.

The Write-On is finally complete, and with it, my first year of law school. It feels good. And to all the GULC 1Ls wrapping up their own papers, congratulations! We can officially call ourselves "Rising 2Ls!"

Sometime soon I plan to post my final thoughts on the first year. But, for now, it's a day off tomorrow and surgery on Tuesday. Stay tuned...

The Write-On nears completion. The comment is written. The footnotes are formatted. All that remains is some massive revision and cite double-checking. All in all, I don't think my paper turned out too bad. It certainly is not my best work to date, but it's a respectable effort. Here's hoping Spring grades will come through OK and help offset the importance of the comment...

For now, I am putting the paper to one side. I plan to quickly proofread my personal statements and take the rest of the night off.

Progress continues on the write-on. The writing is giving me more trouble than I had expected. Not sure why, but I seem to be fumbling with my words. I'm confident it'll work itself out in time. The due date (Monday) for this annoyance seems both very far away and frighteningly soon. But Monday will be a good day, regardless, because I'll finally be able to bury the first year for good. (Or, at least until grades are released).

When does football season start?

I managed to clock a full day (9-7, with about two hours of lollygagging dispersed throughout the day) on the Write-on today. I feel as though I finally made some progress and will hopefully have a workable version ready by tomorrow night, leaving me 3 full days to obsess, revise, cite check, and obsess some more.

This competition has really become a thorn in my side and it took a lot of discipline to avoid procrastinating one more day. For me, the more important something is, and the more I remind myself exactly how important something is, the longer I put it off. To combat this tendency, I decided today that journals suck and I don't want to be on one anyway. Here's hoping this technique will help keep me motivated again tomorrow.

The Kings are on tonight and KG has vowed to bring out the big guns (what an idiot). You should watch.

Well, I wasn't quite as productive today as I had hoped I would be. I did, however, manage to accomplish a few things (which is more than can be said for yesterday). My Bluebook exam answers for the Write-On have been thoroughly double-checked and I am as confident as one can be (given the nature of The Bluebook) of their accuracy. I have transcribed them onto the Scantron and can check one thing off my list. I also managed to draft personal statements for the five journals that require them. It took longer than I had expected and I'm certainly glad I got them out of the way. If I hadn't, they would have undoubtedly remained neglected until the 11th hour and amounted to meaningless drivel, unlikely to make a rousing first impression.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the personal statements was the journals which requested them. Of the 10 journals, the five which requested personal statements are commonly thought of as the less "prestigious" (and almost certainly less popular) of the journal choices. Ultimately, I ended up writing a statements professing my desire to join their journal, despite the fact that they will undoubtedly be at the bottom of my preferences. I can hear them now: If you really want to be on this journal, why did you rank it 10th? Liar. You're a frickin' liar.

I've always wanted to write a book about procrastination techniques, but, somehow, I never get around to it. Yesterday was a shining exemplar of non-productivity for me. Here's how it happened (or didn't):

The fiancee gets a raise. (Translated: she's moving up in the world, and one person in the family making progress is enough for one day. So, I'll watch TV.)

I agreed to go with a friend to purchase a new laptop. (Translated: I only have 90 minutes until she is supposed to pick me up, I don't want to get on a roll and have to stop in the middle of something. So, I'll watch TV.)

The fiancee just got home from work. (Translated: Since I started school, I haven't spent enough quality time with her. So, we'll watch TV.)

It's 9pm. (Translated: It's too late to get anything done. Plus, The Inferno finale is going to be on soon. So, I'll watch TV.)

The above techniques worked like a charm and I accomplished absolutely nothing yesterday. Today, the procrastination begins with a decision to review the Bluebook exam to ensure I made no silly mistakes and to write Personal Statements for the four journals that require them. It all has to be done, right? This counts as work, right? I'll start the real paper when I'm done, right?

The fiancee received a sizeable raise today and a hearty CONGRATULATIONS to her are in order!

I wonder: Does this excellent news justify my NOT working on the Write-On for the rest of the day...?

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), ostensibly "ending" school segregation. Articles abound for those interested.

Personally, I can't help but question to what extent the dream of Brown has become a reality and ponder what the case's legacy actually is (or will be). In other words, 50 years later and much remains to be done.

Best news of the night: Denny Crane (William Shatner), TV's best new lawyer, will be returning in the fall on ABC's "Fleet Street" spinoff of the now-defunct "The Practice."

Plus, the Kings won.

The Read On is complete, and the Write On can finally begin.

I still need to re-read some of the materials, brief some cases, and formulate some semblance of an outline (both of the key materials and of my argument), but I consider such activities to be an aspect of the writing portion, as opposed to the voluminous preparatory reading I've been entrenched in since Friday.

Somewhere along the way, a few good arguments popped into my head, and I now think I have a pretty good idea of where I am going with my Comment. Of course, actually getting my thoughts onto paper, in a coherent form, is another matter entirely.

Wish I could say more, but the Honor Code gods are watching, poised to strike me down for any indiscretion. Per the rules, I'm not allowed to discuss the topic or the substance of the competition (and necessarily, my argument) with anyone. Not even the fiancee.

Perhaps when it's all over, I'll post more about the substance. But, probably not. By then, I figure the last thing I'll want to do is discuss the topic some more...

For now, however, my progress must cease: The Kings are poised to play what could be their final game of the season.

Comcast has come and gone. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, I already have the full range of skills employed by cable techs. Last night, I checked the stats on my connection and noticed a lot of "noise" on my line. While I didn't know exactly what that meant, I figured it might be caused by a bad cable. So I changed the cable and the connection came back up. I didn't cancel my repair appointment, figuring there must be something more to it than that (and I still think there is...). But, when I told the tech I had changed the cable, he said that was all he was going to do and, if it's up and running now, there's nothing else he can do.

So, that's that. Until the next time it goes down at precisely the wrong moment.

Up early on a Sunday to await the Comcast repairperson. My internet service has been sporadic at best of late and they have promised to "fix" it today. I'm not holding my breath. Comcast Internet has been one of the single most disappointing aspects of my move to the DC area.

Any Internet provider who gets taken completely offline by a Windows virus (Mydoom) that was announced on every single newscast across the country, and that Windows Update and/or Norton AntiVirus managed to prevent from attacking my computers, with absolutely no action on my part, needs more help than I can give. The problem is, I'm told the DSL options out here aren't much better. In sunny California, my hi-speed internet was never down. And the streets were paved with gold.

In other news, the Read On continues and I'm trying to take advantage of my early rising to finish up the rest of the packet (about 60 pages left). Then, I plan to reread and brief (very brief briefs) the cases I intend to focus on. Then, I will sift through the rest of the material again, rereading my margin notes and highlights and come up with some sort of "outline" for source materials so helpful quotes and supportive (or contradictory) citations will be at my fingertips. This source outline is critical for my style of writing, which tends to be: start writing, see what happens.

To close out the day, before settling down to a night of rewinding and pausing my TV just because I can (the Tivo arrived), I hope to construct a general outline for my paper. Of course, I will promptly abandon said outline when I start to write tomorrow, but it's still worthwhile to create one.

...and the Read On continues. It definitely ain't Harry Potter, but it could be worse. I managed to tackle the accompanying Blue Book test this afternoon. As psychotic as it may sound, I rather enjoyed it. Like a good old fashioned scavenger hunt.

In other news, my Tivo should arrive today. G-d bless us, everyone.

CORRECTION: ...our Tivo should arrive today.

Play time is over, the Write-On has begun. I printed out the materials on campus yesterday (all 400+ pages of them) and am planning to begin sifting through it all today. Fun stuff. I can truly think of nothing I would rather be doing right now except for, oh, about a thousand different things! Oh well, it will be over soon.

I'm hoping the sheer size of the reader will turn some people off or prevent them from giving it the attention it requires (last year, I'm told the reader was only about 250 pages or so; and the Moot Court packet this year was roughly half the size, yet still seemed to cause about a 50% attrition rate, though I'd be surprised to see that many casualties here). Time will tell, I guess. In the meantime, all I can do is give it my best shot.

BTW, does anyone know exactly where the $10K they collect in Write-On fees goes? Just curious...

I've spent the past two days slowly unwinding from the Finals marathon. This semester, like last semester, I've been feeling slightly ill in the aftermath. Nothing major, just some aches and pains and a general sense of restlessness. I think my body, as much as my mind, was in need of a break.

The good news is that during the past two nights, for the first time in weeks, I was able to get to sleep without the help of a cup of Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Extra Tea or Valerian Root Extract (by far, the smelliest herbal supplement I have ever encountered!). If anyone is having trouble sleeping, I wholeheartedly endorse either product. They saved me from insomnia-induced madness many a night.

In another day or so, I think I will be completely back to "normal." Today, I even managed to go at least 45 minutes without thinking about school. That's progress. There's no rest for the weary, however, as my e-mail kindly reminded me this morning. The Write-On starts tomorrow. I couldn't be more happy. Seriously.

For those of you still in the thick of it, best of luck, it will all be over soon...

Check the last one off the list! I am done with my first year of law school. Hooray for me! Today's final in Professional Responsibility consisted of hypos and questions (the profs are really stuck in this hypo/question rut!). It was a whole lot of frosting and not a lot of cake, so I really hope my BSing skills were up to the task.

Out to dinner with the fiancee and some friends tonight to celebrate and then, nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just me and my couch and the remote control. I may buy a mini-fridge to place near the couch to maximize my laziness. For two days, anyway. And then the Write-On...

One sidenote: Within an hour of the end of our last exam, Prof Torts (from first semester) sent the entire section an e-mail congratulating us on finishing our 1st year. It was nice. He's a good guy.

I plan to post a summation of my thoughts about the first year at some point. But, I think I require a little "distance" before I can effectively do so.

The worst thing a law student can do for his/her sanity is to run GPA scenarios. After the Property debacle, I spent a good chunk of Friday night trying to guess my grades and tallying the possible GPAs. There is no comfort in such an activity. I vowed to not do it again. I managed to hold out until this morning. As I sat looking at my Ethics notes, wondering if I'll be able to tap into the long-lost touchy-feeliness, which this Prof seems to require, and questioning whether I'd be able to dust off the formidable BSing skills acquired during undergrad, I decided to take a break and run some more scenarios. I even whipped up a quick spreadsheet to automate the torture. I began to bleed from the ears.

There is no such thing as complacency during the 1st year of law school. For anyone. If you did really well in the first semester, the pressure to maintain is incredible and the grades necessary to do so nearly impossible. If you did pretty well (above the curve), the pressures are pretty much the same, with the added desire to do a bit better with the hopes of bumping yourself up to the next ranking bracket. If you were right at the curve, there's still no relief from the pressure, given the irrepressible desire to separate yourself from the rest of the pack. Finally, if you underperformed, you simply must do well in order to salvage the GPA and any hope of a successful life (as a group, law students are fatalists). It simply doesn't matter where your 1st semester grades landed, the situation is equally bad for all.

For my sanity's sake, however, there can be no more GPA scenarios. It's beyond my control and I don't need any extra fuel for my neuroses. 31 hours to go...

The Numbers, a movie box office site I visit from time to time, is predicting that "New York Minute," the Olsen twins new film, will not approach the level of success the twins have enjoyed in the home video market. Why you ask? Apparently, because much of their home video fanbase consists of lecherous old men who would be unlikely to show up in public for an Olsen twins film. The site suggests you try a google search for "Olsen Twins Countdown" and note the 3000+ sites you find counting down the minutes until the girls reach the age of majority. I have no idea if this theory about the potential success of their film holds any water, but the google search was fairly disturbing...

LRW...check.
Civ Pro...check.
Crim...check.
Property...check.
Up next: Professional Responsibility on Monday.

Property is behind me. That's good. Ross and Rachel ended up together. That's good. My performance on today's exam? Not so good. I'm not sure what I could have done different or exactly what went wrong, but something seemed to go off track... Oh well. I have no regrets, I gave it my best shot and simply felt that, on the whole, it was a difficult test. Hopefully, enough of the class had similar experiences, and the curve will be kind enough to salvage me a decent grade (at this point, I'll take anything that doesn't require me to take that dreadful course again). If not, life goes on. It's one grade of many. I've never been very accurate in predicting my law school grades. Here's hoping my inaccuracy continues.

I'm taking the rest of the night off before diving into the Model Rules tomorrow. The end (of the first year) is almost in sight...

How my day has progressed thus far: 15 minutes of studying, 30 minutes of wasting time, repeat. During the "wasting time" portion, I decided the following:

When it comes to preparing for exams, I am neither fast nor slow, but shamefully half-fast... (read aloud for maximum effect)

And so it continues...

I've been studying property pretty much non-stop all day. I took a stab at a past exam this morning (before I'd reviewed anything). Ugly. The good news is there's still plenty of time before the exam, and I've got an infinitely better grasp on things right now than I did 12 hours ago, so there's hope. The problem is that studying this stuff makes me want to go to the middle of the Library atrium, lie on the floor, curl up into the fetal position, and ask everyone who passes to kick me. Seriously.

This morning's momentary diversion, courtesy of Kanye West (on Twista's "Slow Jamz"):

"...She's got a light-skinned friend, look like Michael Jackson
Got a dark-skinned friend, look like Michael Jackson..."

It's the little things that keep me going...and on we trudge. Servitudes, here I come.

LRW.....check.
Civ Pro.....check.
Crim.....check.
Up next: Property on Friday.

While I won't discuss the details of today's exam. Rest assured it contained some hypothetical fact patterns and questions relating to them about the intricacies of Criminal Procedure. It lasted three hours.

Many thanks to JCA over at Sua Sponte for this week's "waves" of positivity. They are both much needed and greatly appreciated...

In the midst of frenzied studying for tomorrow's crim exam, I took a break to check yesterday's mail. There I found a postcard from my sister (vacationing in Hawaii, poor thing). It's amazing how the little things in life can relieve some of the stress and brighten the dreariest of moods. It reads:

B & E:

Aloha - I made it safely to Kauai yesterday. Today I hiked about 6 miles and now am sitting down to lunch. I'm having a chili dog. Then I will be going snorkeling. Tomorrow I scuba dive. You guys should come here, it's nice.

Love,
S

PS $2.30/gal for gas!!!

This was just what I needed...

The Law School Curve: my nemesis, my best friend. It's a thing of beauty. The puppetmaster of law school, pulling the strings of every ambitious student.

Law students must be constantly aware of the omnipresence and power of The Curve. And such awareness necessarily affects our interpersonal relations. Here's how The Curve governs my life.

Average semi-anonymous classmates: I'm not sharing anything with you; no outlines, no notes, no brilliant observations or fabulous flowcharts. Nothing. (except class notes, maybe...if you ask)

Large study group (and a handful of select friends outside my study group) (8-10 people total): You get anything I inherit (outlines, flowcharts, etc.); In addition, you are eligible for class notes upon request and pieces of my own personal study aids if you ask or on a quid pro quo basis.

The smaller study group within the study group (3 people): you have access to most anything, and you don't even have to ask. If it's useful, I'll give it to you. However, I may not send my final, final study aid (the super-condensed one-page issue spotter), unless you ask.

The carte blanche study partner (one person): you have access to everything I have. If I think it will help, I'll send it to you. Including, the most useful exam aid: the one-page outline... (Note: people from other schools and/or sections have these same privileges, too. So, if you fit that category and need something, just ask).

That's how The Curve works in my life. It may seem harsh to those unfamiliar with law school competition, but it's how it has to be for me. Mind you, there's no animosity involved (and it goes without saying, I would never do anything to hurt another's chances), it's simply a matter of self-preservation...

jewishbuddha dot org recently shed some light on the striking similaritiy between a 77-year-old concurrence by Brandeis and the words of a great Jedi Master. At this time in the finals parade, this observation somehow made me feel as though my time in law school will be well spent. Check it out here.