Last year almost all of my professors were academics who have been teaching for ages. Not such a bad thing, it reminded me of college and eased me back into the academic lifestyle. On the otherhand, I never really got the feeling that any of my professors (outside of professor Contracts)were intimately involved with the practice of their subject.
This year's teaching crowd is wildly different.
Professor Patents has a day job, and it ain't teaching. He's been a patent litigator for almost 20 years and continues to practice AND teach at the same time. Most inspiring words during course overview?: Your exam will be take home, open note, open book. I give you a week, the exam itself will take 6 hours.
Professor Evidence is a Federal Magistrate for the Northern District of Kullyfonya. Sadly, we will be examined on California law for the 2007 bar, and in this class will learn primarily Federal law. One of my classmates has already made appearances before her, while clerking for the Federal DA's office.
Most inspiring words during course overview?: The focus of this class is on practical information. (Read: I don't believe in Socratic method.)
Professor Con Law comes with extremely complimentary remarks from the folks who had him last year. Con Law is tricky to teach, there are no hard and fast answers. He brings a lot of humor and enthusiasm into the classroom. He's also quite observant and noticed that I couldn't really hear me, and will be using the mic for future lectures. YAY! Looking forward to this!
I have one more class but today we got a note saying that our first meeting is cancelled. Guess I'll find out about her later.
Overall I'm very impressed with the professors that I will be learning from this year. My impression of the practice of law is that more and more it is a trade, not a profession. Consequently, it makes perfect sense for the professors to treat the subject matter with practical concerns while still encouraging us to think about matters of public policy and critical thinking.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
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2 comments:
For evidence, you will find that the Federal Rules of Evidence and the California Evidence Code are remarkably similar. I believe the CA legislature adopted the FRE wholesale, in a manner very similar to their adoption of the UCC.
Dude...I have been taken from the safe haven of law school where I earned top grades and am now knee deep in transactional work (me: I thought they told me I would be doing your litigation work, mentor: oh, they tell all the people they like that so they'll accept. You'll be doing transactional work) where I am currently being lectured by my own bleeding paralegal on what a freaking grant deed looks like. Don't put down learning your own state's law, man. It will save you a future of your secretary and paralegal looking at you like a bruised turnip that fell off the back of the idiot bus.
-monkey
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