End of the first week

On Friday the Student Bar Association feted the law school with an End of the First Week barbecue. They fired up the grills while afternoon class was still in session. It was incredibly difficult to wrap my brain around Pennoyer v. Neff while the wonderful aromas of grilling meat wafted around the classroom. I'm sure I'm not the only student whose stomach was growling audibly. We drank beer and wine and had a great late afternoon lunch. The weather was perfect for lingering outside. I got to meet a lot more students who are either not in my section or who sit in a different part of the classroom. I'm trying really hard to meet students that I wouldn't otherwise seek out as friends. More is more.

The dean was at the barbecue as well, so I got to tell him how much I enjoyed the long orientation, and why I thought it was an appropriate approach.

My classes recapped:

CrimLaw. You wouldn't guess that my teacher was a former prosecuter the way she warmly speaks of Criminal Defense lawyers. She definitely has a sense of humor, and while I was warned that hers is a class I don't want to be unprepared for, I think it could be worse. One thing that I think is interesting about this class is that we are using a text book called California Criminal Law. I don't know if Cali has different crim law than the rest of the nation, or because we aren't a national school they think it's more useful to teach local law as most of us will remain here. One thing is certain, I'm not all that clear on what I'm supposed to be getting from Prof Crim Law's lectures. She covers a lot of topics but, the notable nuggets seem to be few and far between at this point.

Civ Pro. Ahh Civil Procedure. Prof Civ Pro is olde schoole. We will not only be addressed by last names, but also standing to speak when called upon. Like all good old schoolers we started with Pennoyer v. Neff. My roommate is a 1L at a different law school in the area and he says they started in a different manner. Compared to Crim Law, this class is a lot more pointed and I have a better sense about what to pay attention to, and what to gloss over. One of my dreams is to become an appellate lawyer at some point in my career, so I think paying particular attention in CivPro is a really good idea.

Torts. All of the 2nd and 3rd year students I spoke with all seem to have an especial place in their hearts for Pro Torts. Yippee, I sure hope so. He likes to give out a lot of supplemental reading. Last week it was an article from the NY Times regarding a pipe company in Tyler, Texas with an egregious OSHA record and what would seem a company mission statement "Crushing the world, starting with our employees first". The point of reading the article was look what happens when you don't have a torts system available. (Texas workmen's compensation laws exempt most companies from negligence suits, scary!)

Contracts. Professor Contracts reminds's me Spookily of Death and Taxes' father. Small wonder they graduated from the same class at the same law school. Never mind that they're both short, white guys. It's the same mannerisms, the same mode of speech. Absolutely frightening. So far, I think Contracts is going to be the class I love to hate. Not only has Professor Ks made it abundantly clear that if you come unprepared, you should be prepared to be shredded, but he seems to have something of a University of Chicago perspective. While I can accept that economics exists, I don't have an economics background and I think that if he wants us to be responsible for economic theory AND Contracts that he should assign some economic theory reading so that the class has some idea of what he's talking about. I can see his value, but so far it would seem that his teaching style is wildly out of step with that of the rest of the school.

Legal Writing. Our professor is having a stand in right now. That would be the director of the program. He's great, he's so positive, even though he proports to be a neurotic NY Jew. I've met neurotic NY Jews, he's woefully out of practice. The one interesting thing is that when he says something is cool, well, it's not. I am nervous about building a rapport with him and then having the regular writing teacher come in. I know that she's supposed to be good, but she's an expectant mother. How the heck do you teach class and cuddle your new born. I don't understand this. She's expecting to be back at work within a week of the birth. I don't like feeling like our class is going to shortchange this baby that critical first time with its mother. Ack!