Wow.

So I got my first legal writing memo back today. I was expecting the lowest grade possible (it's graded out of 5), but it turns out I did above the median!! By several points. That's incredible!! I have no idea what the highest score was, but I did much better than I thought. By a lot. I guess this shows how completely arbitrary the whole thing is especially since the comments on the paper were very bad. Watch: now I'll get a horrible grade on the next one. And it's due in oh, a couple of days. It's completely ridiculous. Oh AND a take-home midterm that we just found out about TODAY is due on Monday. I'm not going to get out at all this weekend. :( It's not even a weekend - it's just a normal work day but without classes. Boo.

That said, fall has definitely hit New City. Yay! I absolultely love fall. I don't remember it being this blustery in my last city though. I wonder if that's a New City thing. I hope not because the wind child is going to be ridiculous come winter. Speaking of which, there are only a 6 weeks or so left of class!! that's so scary!!! but that's also good in that the first semester is almost over. i can't wait! I was aiming for an A minus average; now I'm just hoping for straight Bs. Is that enough to get an OK job? I just hope it's all worth it in the end.

Can Law School Induce Bi-Polar disorder?

Cause I think I need some Lithium real fast. As is quite frequently the case, when things seem to be going well life takes a big, sweet turn for the worse. Thursdays and Fridays (well, until 2pm on Fridays) are my most UNCTUOUS days because I have Crim. Law with Professor Scary. I just don't understand anything in that class, no matter how hard I try. Everyone says I shouldn't worry, because our Prof talks about theory way more than we need to be responsible for on the exam, but I really think my mind just doesn't work near anything crim related. My other classes are 234233423 times easier than crim. I already know crim will be my worst grade and have announced it to the class. Some of my sectionmates laughed, but I could see in many of their eyes that they think the same. I guess it makes me less curmudgeonly and more endearing since I'm not a threat. In FACT I'm doing them a service by bringing down the curve. yay.

So I was flying high on Wednesday b/c I felt really productive in 3 class, but man - I don't think I've ever felt so low as I did after class today. Talking to the TA made me feel slightly better and I feel so lucky that he's so willing to help. However, it won't be helpful unless I know what questions to even ASK him but I'm still at the i-don't-know-what-i-don't-know stage. I hate that I'm using outside commercial aides for this class simply b/c I feel like I need to teach it to myself, but I don't know what else to do. I just don't even know how to approach it.

Can I also say that I HATE that all I talk about is law school? I used to be an interesting person, I swear.

On Citations.

So my legal writing Prof. assigned us an online citations exercise that had 45 problems we needed to figure out. Everyone in my section was complaining about how long and tedious it was, so I decided to hunker down and attempt at least the first couple problems today. I LOVED IT! Not sure if that's a normal reaction, but my classmates made me think it would be hell on earth. I can honestly say these exercises were the most enjoyable part of law school so far. I got to FINALLY familiarize myself with the citations manual and realized that citations aren't the worst thing in the world. I know I don't have a chance in hell in making one of the top journals next year, but if I did I think I'd at least partially enjoy the citations portion of the work. I can't believe I worked on this for 5 hours straight! yay!!

In other news: midterms are coming up. I'm actually excited about this because I'll actually see what my Profs are expecting (esp. good for Torts Prof since he's a visiting Prof this year). I'm just starting to outline Torts and Civ Pro (hoping Ks will happen this weekend). No midterm in Crim, though! That's the class I feel the most lost in (since the Prof LOVES theory), but 2Ls and 3Ls keep saying I should just study the black letter law. This makes sense to me. Just mark-up the MPC really well and contrast it with whatever made-up statutes he gives me on the exam.

Anyway, I'm still liking the idea of law school and I'm so happy that I'm actually learning. Now I just have to see if I can actually apply all of this info (and if I've actually picked up all the minute details). The sad thing is, I know that no matter how much I study there will always be people who know the material better. I guess I just have to learn not to worry about this and embrace whatever I get. I hate that these classes are curved against only my section-mates! I guess that's the curse of having a small section.

Ok, more legal writing stuff to do (open memo has officially begun and this is the stuff I really want to learn well).

Good luck, everyone!

Gulp.

I just turned in my first graded legal memo (our last memo wasn't graded and we just got back a lot of comments - mostly unhelpful). On one hand I'm overwhelmingly relieved b/c I don't have to fight with it anymore. On the other I hate knowing that it was so bad but there was just nothing more I could do. I'm so confused and I've spoken with the Prof and the TA about a billion times with no clarification. I know confusion is good because that's how I'll learn - by mistake - but this is incredible frustrating since it's 25% of my final grade. Apparently everyone starts with bad grades but gets better. BUT, if my "bad grad" is substantially worse than all the other "bad grades" I'll end up with a C b/c there is no curve in this stupid class. ARGH. The thing is I really want to do well in legal writing, not because of the grade, but because I know I'll need to use it a lot of I go into the area of law I'm thinking about. So I'm frustrated that a poor grade will keep me from pursuing some positions (interviewer: um this job requires really good writing skills - yours are shit, goodbye) and also that I seem to be running laps around the dung heap. I genuinely hope I get better at this, but I feel like the bar is raising with each assignment and I don't even have a good handle on the last "easy" assignment.

Now that I've been up all night, I have to go to three classes today and prepare for Crim tomorrow where I've done no reading b/c of the stupid memo. How am I going to make it through this day, let alone week?

Legal Writing.

My legal writing class makes me want to stab myself in the eye. I know it's an important class to have as most law firms make you do research during the summers. But learning how to write again is so frustrating. I guess it's true that a legal memo is all rule-driven, but some of the comments my prof gave back to me on my first assignment are ridiculous. She'll ask me to do things that I feel that I've clearly already done. I guess that's presumptuous of me. She'll just say that it's a common mistake for new learners of legal writing, but sometimes I think it's just about how much she likes you. Very high school -- like everything else in law school.

My new goal is to get a firm job for next summer before 1st semester grades come out. It's the only strategy I have of getting a good name on my resume. If I wait until 2L summer to work at a firm job my chances will probably be diminished by my soon-to-be very average gpa. My only hope is being hired early and thus the law firm will only have my undergraduate school and record to peruse. a;lskdjf;aslkdjf;aslkjdf;alskjdf;alskjdf