May It Please the Court...

Today I represented the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, arguing that the police did not violate the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights. Though it might have been a fictional case, being in a real courtroom today arguing the case was exhilarating.

When I was in high school visiting DC for a law conference, I actually sat in the gallery of the DC Superior Court armed robbery trial. Right as the trial ended, the judge stopped us and told us his story about becoming a lawyer and the importance of lawyers for society. It felt like things were coming full circle as I approached the podium in the very same courthouse and presented my own case.

Though I had done public speaking competitions and debates before, it was nothing like today (though these things definitely did help). It was such a crazy and fun experience presenting my case and being grilled today on case law for 13 minutes by my prof who was a former lawyer, my deans fellow, and another lawyer pretending to be appellate judges.

Though all of us arguing in our round were so pumped up and wanted to do another round of arguments, we were also all glad that our class is finally done. And now I get to go from arguing in the courtroom to cheering on UCLA playing on the basketball court. GO BRUINS!

Big Pond to Little Pond

I may go to one of the biggest law schools in the nation, but it sure doesn't feel like it coming from UCLA.

This past week, we had academic advising sessions where the Dean of Students sat us all down and told us exactly what the graduation requirements were: what classes we had to take, how many units we had to take, etc. He explained that although we might not get our first choices for next semester, most people don't have a problem have a problem getting the classes they want to take. After that, he gave us a guide to classes and a list of professors we could talk to about specific fields of law.

While some people felt overwhelmed with thinking about all this kind of stuff, I thought to myself "wow, I feel so...coddled."

I love love UCLA, but one criticism of the school was usually that people felt like a number rather than a person. Granted, it's a little hard when there's 26,000 undergrads as oppose to 1,600. Instead of having academic advising sessions with the dean, we were lucky if we could get a counselor who could give us the answer we needed. We were even luckier if we got the classes we needed, much less classes we wanted (especially as a political science major).

Fortunately most things worked out for me, and most importantly, "being a number" taught me to be more independent. It's not that there weren't resources for you at UCLA, you just had to look for them and take initiative. So now when I'm being spoonfed counseling over free lunches, I think it makes me appreciate it more but at the same time be less dependant on it.

Our Little Law School Family

In law school, the 1L class is divided into sections. We had four full time sections, and one part time section. Our full time sections had about 90 people in them. Since you take pretty much all your classes with your section, they're usually the people you know best in law school. Sometimes one of your classes will be a "split" where it is half of the section and that's usually nicer.

And finally within that, you have your legal writing & rhetoric class that you stay with all year long. Although ours was on the larger end, these 20 people from your section who are for the most part, the people I know best in my section. Being in a small class really helps getting to know one another (for usually better, and sometimes worse), and you bond by going through one of the most work-intensive-for-least-amount-of-credit classes together. You know all those memos and brief law students are always working on? Yeah, this class.

That would have been easier to explain with a bracket or chart, but yeah, my technological capabilities are lacking. Point is, legal writing & rhetoric class is like your little family because you take all your classes with these people. And while I was extrodinarily happy to turn in my final trial brief, a little part of me was sad because I won't be seeing these people in our little class anymore. Won't have the same dynamic interactions between people anymore. Won't be sharing the same inside jokes anymore. Won't be having any bbq's to celebrate the completion of briefs anymore.

And it's the same as when you finish any little class together. You'll continue to remain friends with some people, but most people are going to be the ones you say hi to in the hallway and nothing else. But that's how it goes and I don't mind. My legal writing & rhetoric class was like the little family that helped me through my first year and it made things a lot more entertaining, and I'm glad for that.

[PS. My poor writing in this entry is not reflective of my writing class. In fact, I think it's so rambling today because my brain is so dead from reading over my draft a milliion times before turning it in.]

The Madness

I am not a spontaneous or impulsive person at all. But yesterday, I actually contemplated spending a few hundred dollars for a plane flight right after my oral arguments on Saturday morning to go to Atlanta for the Final Four and College Championship Game. My friend David had a great deal on tickets and I got Alex to go with him. As much as I wanted to go with them, I realized that 1) I didn't have money to drop like that, and 2) I cannot afford to miss 2 days of class during this part of the semester.

Even if the thought passed, I usually don't even contemplate crazy ideas like this. But I've been swept up by March Madness very quickly. I didn't even really start following college basketball until last year (but before everyone knew UCLA was good so I don't consider myself a bandwagon fan). But I got addicted fast.

Evidence of more of my irrational behavior prompted by college basketball's big tournament:

• Just like everyone else, I will watch basketball from Thursday through Sunday in March, game after game. Teams I never heard of for, and teams I only care about because they're in my bracket. Which brings me to...
• I have become obsessed with my little bracket. Like most people filling out brackets on facebook, I'm not even betting any money. But the competition, sucks me in and I cheer for random teams based on what I picked on a whim.
• My disdain for Florida has grown even larger and more vocal, which has gotten me in trouble with the large Gator contingency in my class.
  
• I will just watch this video to make me happy:

GO BRUINS!

Climate Control

Today was 80 degrees and sunny. Everyone traded in their black wool peacoats (part of the law school winter uniform) for polo shirts, khakis and skirts (the law school spring uniform). It felt like I was right back to UCLA, sitting outside eating lunch and people watching.

While I enjoyed basking in the warm sun today, I remembered why I am glad that I didn't go to school in Southern California, where the weather is like this all year around. It was so hard to motivate myself to go back into the law school building and do work when it was so nice outside. I can see why I didn't spend any time in the library at UCLA (not that as a poli sci major you really need to).

I am convinced that really good weather is not conducive towards the law school lifestyle, at least for me. Being in the library or in your apartment all day reading and writing is already hard enough; it's even worse when it's gorgeous outside. Conversely really bad weather all the time isn't good for my productivity either because it sucks the life out of me. I knew this and thus didn't apply to any schools north of SF or DC. In the end I'm really glad where I ended up because DC, with it's moderate seasons, suits my weather-to-work needs just right.

The odd moral of this story is that when figuring out where you want to go to school, consider the weather and environment. It really makes a difference.

Teamwork Makes Dreamwork

For the current appellant trial brief that we're working on, we have partners. I am so glad that I got to choose my partner and that things have worked out so well. I feel like working with someone has pushed me to work harder because I know someone else's grade is on the line. Unfortunately every year there are horror stories about working in groups and this year is no exception.

I feel like since you pay so much money to go to law school and you worked so hard to get here, you should continue to keep working hard. But hey, if you choose to slack off and get bad grades, that's your own choice that only helps the curve for me. What I really don't understand are the people who slack off when they're paired up with someone else or in a larger group. It's one thing to sabotage your own grade; it's another thing to bring someone down with you.

Writing briefs aren't the most fun or easy thing to do, but they're not impossible. More people than I expected simply couldn't pull together their 7-8 page parts despite all the inclass help that we got. The worst part is that so many of these people slacking on their parts of their briefs leave their partners hanging. I've had friends desperately trying to get a hold of their partners to find out where half of their assignment is.

It's just selfish. Do your work, and if you don't do your work, at least tell your partner what's going on so they can help/salvage their own grade. And hopefully learn from this experience (though I feel like this point in your life, you should have already learned about teamwork) because as a student, you get to be a lot more selfish than when you work in the real world with colleagues and you actually work for clients.

The Wait for '08

In my poli sci classes at UCLA, and even my current Public Law class, we discussed why there aren't revolutions in the United States. A lot of people might quickly respond that we're an apathetic nation. But another large reason is that we have "free and frequent" elections. As bad as things get, I think a lot of people have hope that things will change in the next election. And maybe that's what we're just doing now. Crossing our fingers and hoping that Iran doesn't nuke us before the 2008 election.

It'll be interesting to see how this President will perceived in the history books. I almost feel like things have become so bad and there's been so much media attention with the 24-hour news cycle that we've become desensitized to it. It's just like watching too much violence on television; after a while it just doesn't effect you as much anymore.

The blunders seem to pile up so quickly you forget everything that's happened. Wikipedia's ever reliable entry on Bush notes that he has "received heavy criticism for his handling of the Iraq War, his response to Hurricane Katrina, and to the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, NSA warrantless surveillance, and Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp controversies." Just look at the past month. Who remembers the Scooter Libby verdict when the US Attorney firings soon captured all the headlines?

By the way, these topics provide great fodder for nerdy law school students. One day you're reading about Congress and the President fighting over war powers or the legality of Presidential signing statements, the next day you're learning about them in class. My friend Jessie and I concluded that as long as the government keeps screwing up, it's a good time to be in law school, especially in DC.