Special Appreciation

Now that I have made it through the first half of the forging year of law school, there is a lot of thanks owed from me. Right now, I am going to just make one direct thank you to the most important person through this experience. My wife Diana deserves more than my thank you for all that she does. Diana has shown me true unconditional love. When I have come to frustrating spots in the semester, she has never wavered in her support for me. Throughout all my insecurities and feelings of inadequacy, Diana is the first to tell me I can succeed and that she is proud of me. Diana works hard so that we don't have to have the outside stresses of financial woes. Her job isn't always her favorite, but she sticks with it. She shows a level of maturity that I have not seen in my friends wives here at school. I want Diana to know that she can always vent to me and come to me when she is having struggles, I will be there for you like you have been there for me. Diana has put a lot of trust in me and how much I can provide for our family, first when she married me, and recently when she moved 12 hours from home while I try to gain a legal education. Because of the trust she has put in me, I owe her the world. In front of all who read this, I dedicate my next semester to Diana and promise to put in the time and effort to gain my full potential in law school. I make these promises so she can be comforted in her decision to share her life with me. I want Diana and everyone to know how much I love her. She is my motivation through this all and she is amazing. Diana, I Love YOU!

We Govern Ourselves

Back in my carefree days working a campus job with a really good buddy of mine, we had a conversation. This post is an extension of that conversation, and I hope my friend remembers the conversation.
I was very interested in law enforcement before my decision to attend law school. I am very pro law enforcement, but I also recognize when individual officers act wrongly. My friend was concerned about who police's the police. Sometimes it is hard to swallow the fact that the police can go and arrest people for their wrongs, but sometimes cops get away with a lot of bad things.
In law school we are half way through our first year mid-terms. We were preparing for standard exam procedures such as going to the bathroom, getting a drink, and for those who smoke, taking a final smoke break. It shocked us when the person brought in our exam, went through the instructions, and told us she would be back 5 minutes before the end period of the exam. That shocked us. Who would monitor any cheating? Then someone raised their hand and asked, "what if we need to use the bathroom". The following answer shocked us too. We are given a specified amount of time for each exam and we can leave the classroom to go to the bathroom and/or smoke or stretch, etc. We can use our time any way we so choose as long as we don't violate the honor code we signed at the beginning of the year.
WE ARE LITERALLY LEFT TO GOVERN OURSELVES. We are in a professional school now and they expect us to act accordingly. I have never been given such trust and responsibility under similar circumstances (taking exams). Even the LSAT was closely monitored. I just thought my friend would find it interesting on how we are governed and monitored at law school.

That Time Of The Year...

It is the end of the semester and time for mid-terms. Some of you might be thinking, "did her say mid-terms, shouldn't he be saying finals?". It is true that for most undergraduate and graduate programs, it is finals time and time to gear up for new classes next semester. For law students, we carry 15 credit hours the first semester and those classes carry over to the second semester. So this semester we have Torts, Contract, Civil Procedure, Property, and Legal Research and Writing. Since we only have one test a semester, we are having mid-terms in December. Finals for us happen in May. Next semester we add another class of Criminal Law to make it a full 18 credit hours. They can push us as hard as they want, but the only thing we can do is quit or power through. I may have said that before, but it is about to hold true. I am looking forward to having close to a month off from school. It will be nice to do some no brainer activities. I may even catch up on a few posts I have been wanting to make on here.

LAW SCHOOL MUSICAL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8ABhatAfsA

This was shown to be by one of my colleagues. Hope you get a laugh out of it.

The Study of Law Waits For No Holiday

We recently received the long anticipated and infamous speech by our Assistant Dean. We are directed on how to handle our Thanksgiving break since it will drop us right into our finals. The 2L's and 3L's tell you that the dean says you can't even go back for a second helping at the Thanksgiving meal because you should be studying. Because that is the rumor, the dean starts the conversation by saying, "many saying I tell you not to eat over Thanksgiving break, but that's not true". You would think that the conversation would then lead elsewhere, but it doesn't. The dean then says, "however, Thanksgiving is not really a break from school. You need to continue working as if it wasn't a holiday..." . I had to laugh because it started as a denial to a claim, but finished as a confirmation to all the rumors of this holiday speech. A couple of the faculty members have shared that we need to enjoy some of our time off though, so it is good to know it isn't as life and death as the dean always makes it.

Internet and Computer Fun at Law School

I have shared some of my stresses and frustrations as they occur here at school. But let me tell you some of the fun the students have to keep us sane and make the experience fun for all of us. I will do my best to describe these stories because they were fun for us and made us laugh. The fear is that they are moments you had to be there for to fully enjoy. All of these stories generally consist of using the computer and internet, so enjoy!

First, since we have internet access during class, you know most of us do a little surfing while the professor is talking. Don't judge us because you know you would be doing it to if you were sitting in a law class. A friend of mine was having problems with a virus on his computer and on this particular day he couldn't get the internet browser to pull up on his computer. He tapped me on the shoulder and said, "hey, I can't get the internet pull up" and points to his computer, clicks the icon, and looks at me and gives me the look that speaks for itself, "see"? It was all I could do not to bust up laughing in class because as he looks back at his computer screen to see a porn site pulled up on his screen. He was so shocked and surprised, it took him forever to finally get the web browser shut down. It turns out the specific virus he had would change his home page setting every time he opened up the internet. This time it happened to be a nude site right in the middle of Torts.

Next, in my property class, we are in stadium style seating and can see what the people below us are looking at. Two rows in front of me a girl always looks at pictures of puppies, kittens, and other cuddly animals. For the first time the other day, she pulls up a live web cam of a kennel of puppies. A puppy cam if you will. Because of the live action, her computer drew a lot of attention in class. My friend leaned over to me and said, "7...there are 7 puppies in the kennel". As the class period continued along, the number dropped to 4 and then to 2 puppies by the end of the class. We made random jokes about puppy mills (which may seem insensitive) but it helps make property class bearable. And today she was back just looking at photos which is still entertaining for those sitting behind her. Maybe that girl should be a veterinarian instead of a lawyer.

MSN Messenger can be a lifesaver, or, it can be a way of almost getting in trouble in class. It can help because if you are stuck on an answer in class, friends can get the answer to you so you can shoot it back to the professor. When class is boring and it is hard to pay attention, friends can start having smaller conversations on the side. A quick side not here too, the only thing that sometimes gets you through reading one more court case is that the facts (story) behind the case are funny. One day in CivPro, a friend sitting next to me and I started a conversation about some of the funnier facts of a case. A guy was injured at work causing "swan neck deformaties" of the fingers. As part of the individuals claim, he stated that he was no longer desirable to the ladies. We started making jokes about 100 lbs. Cambodian man with swan neck deformaties that loves the ladies! I guess you had to be there, but we almost lost it in class in front of the teacher.

These are just a few of the things that students do on the internet. Who would have thought your future attorney could be so distracted?

A Requested Definition

The name of my blog is a legal term from property. I am using it in sort of a metaphorical manner for the blog.

FEE SIMPLE: an interest in land that, being the broadcast property interest allowed by law, endures until the current holder dies without heirs

FEE SIMPLE ABSOLUTE: an estate of indefinite or potentially infinite duration

Basically it applies to real property (as opposed to personal property) which is given to someone with no strings attached. Believe me, if you are not going into the law, you don't want to study about what type of interest someone has in real property, especially if they have future interests. My professor literally refers to that information as a hazing ritual for first year law students.

I used this term to say, here is my experience from law school, under the cloak of unanimity, to do with as you want. Enjoy it, hate it, share it with others, or never return to the site. It is yours with no strings attached.