Tuesday, April 29, 2008

This Could Almost Be A Tort


I always keep water bottles in my car during the day so I don't get robbed by the vending machine. Today, I just let them rolling around in my seat (clear plastic water bottles). When I pick up the bottle later in the day, I notice a burn mark in my leather seat. Now, I'm a non-smoker and haven't had anything that could possibly burn the seat in my car. Turns out that the water bottle magnified the sun (over a course of 3 hours) and burned a 1 inch gash in my seat. This is something that has been widely reported on the internet (see here).

I never would have imagined. From what I've read on the internet so far, several people have come to their car to flaming seats. I really do think I moved the bottle just in time, the burn was rather severe.

Who should I sue? The water company for failure to warn? Should they put a warning on their bottle? As a policy, I hate warnings. I would never forgive myself for being the cause of a warning.

Sick to my stomach

Today was one of those exams where you just want to vomit as soon as you see the first question. I had the same evidence exam that made guyfawkes punch a wall and break his hand last year. I now see why he did it. The exam was plain cruel (and I'm not just talking about the closed book-no outlines or rule book- aspect, nor the face that we had to know federal and state rules).

I couldn't figure out who I wanted to punch after the exam: Aristotle who couldn't keep his mouth shut before the exam, the professor for making the exam, or the jackass who walked out of the exam and said "he took those answers from the exampro book."

Which brings up a good point, should a professor pull questions from a single study aid and not tell the students? Does this put students at an unfair advantage?

Good news is I got my economic stimulus check. Bad news, Boston Legal isn't on this week.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Interesting List

Classes my top tier law school should have offered as warnings about the profession. Available here.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The Shape I'm In

I'm screwed. It's one week to my first exam. I'm thrown into two 1L classes. I first opened a book (because of other commitments all semester) on Monday. I get to learn a whole semester of ConLaw and Evidence (FRE and local rules-no outline or rule book) in a little over a week. I've never pushed it like this, and I'm gambling with a lot. These grades are the most important, I can't kill my GPA right before I apply for a judicial clerkship.

I need to find my happy place.

I cut off the lights. Pulled out my favorite special occasion rum. Made a mojito. Put on the Gipsy Kings. And I'm dreaming about the ocean (White Bay, Jost Van Dyke, BVI)



(yeah, sorry about Kenny, but that's the place)

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Ouch...


I don't think legs are supposed to bend that way.

Students on Tour

I am sitting outside the CSO office. A prospective student and her mother just passed me on tour. The law school's better son just passed me and was glowing about the effectiveness of the CSO office to the student.

I love my law school and I would sell it to anybody looking but to compliment the CSO office borders on the fraudulent. It's a good thing she won't learn the elements of fraud as a defense to contract formation until her second semester when the CSO office has already failed her.

New Book

No one ever taught me to write before I entered law school. How often did we hear growing up that spelling and grammer did not count when we wrote papers? For me, it seemed that none of my teachers, even English teachers, were comfortable with style. They wanted to pass on the quality of the idea and leave issues of grammer, usage, and other niceties to someone down the line. I went to professor after professor for post grade conferences who told me, "Huh, you know a lot more about the material than I could tell from your paper." Finally, second semester, with the help of the best professor at this law school and Bryan A. Garner's books, I started learning to edit my writing. I have come to the conclusion that they should issue Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, Garner's Redbook, and Garner's Legal Writing in Plain English, and the Texas Law Review Manual on Usage and Style to all incoming law students. These books are MUST haves.

The point of this post is that there is a new book on the horizon. I think I may pre-order it like the good little nerd I am. It is a collaboration by Bryan Garner and Antonin Scalia. It is called, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges. Regardless of your feelings on Scalia, the man can flat out write. This one promises to be a must read for all lawyers serious on improving their writing. Here's a review of the writing process from Law.com.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Finals- The Unhealthiest Time of the Year


Studying for ConLaw just rubs this in my face: The Free Exercise Clause reminds me that we have a beautiful student recreation center with broad hours of operation that is free for me to use.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

I'm Surprised This Didn't Become a Mass E-mail Disaster

We received this mass email from a student:

I found a boxed set of DVDs in the Men’s Restroom. I left them in the Record’s Office.

Imagine the possibilities...

Charlton Heston Is Dead...

...so I give you these images in honor of the great Chuck:



Thursday, April 3, 2008

Something Is Wrong Here...

Copy/paste from an e-mail one of the current head Moot Court Board people sent advertising this year's final round of oral arguments:

"What if [state] passed a law that said that only law enforcement officers had a right to keep and own handguns? Would that violate an individual's First Amendment right to keep and bear arms?"

Can you spot the problem?