Monthly Archive for December, 2007

Part-Time Student, Full-Time… er… student? A Modest Proposal

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 12/20/07
in All In Good Fun
. 2 Comments

This post goes out to my evening classmates who are no longer working during the day (you know who you are). It’s something many of us feel. It’s as much based on concerns for our own academic success as it is jealousy-inspired. It comes from the bottom of my heart…

Jerks.

Can we help you fill out your applications for the full-time division? No, seriously. While you sleep in and spend the day reading casebook and hornbooks and extra resources and briefing cases and outlining, the rest of us deal with meetings and conference calls and hellish commutes.

My modest proposal is a law punishing a part-time student who quits his or her job. The rule would be that if any evening division student quits his job, he should be required to brief every single case for their classmates, edit classmates’ outlines, research scholarship opportunities for classmates with full-time jobs, sit in on law review info sessions, attend ethics seminars, and, most importantly. have drinks and snacks ready for the classmates who brave (barely tolerate) rush hour traffic (damn beltway) each night to get to class.

Am I jealous? Sure. It’s great that my classmates in this position have the freedom to do this, but I can’t. So… I’m jealous.

Do I feel at a distinct academic disadvantage to those that do? Absolutely.

They essentially have 50 more hours per week to dedicate to something other than work. Forget just the time to read cases. What about the time and, more importantly, energy doing all the other personal life stuff the rest of us simply can’t do? I have these shelves that have been waiting to be hung for two months. It’s literally a 15 minute project, yet I just haven’t been able to get to it. Having these things hang out there is a serious stressor to the typical person who attends law school (i.e. Type A, overachiever, conscientious).

So, to those who have quit their jobs and continue to pursue part-time legal education… Bravo.

Now get me a Diet Coke and bag of pretzels for class tonight. Oh by the way, I might be late to class…. because there’s a police car with sirens on the OPPOSITE SIDE of the beltway causing everyone to drive 10 m.p.h. and making my commute to class 90 minutes instead of the usual 60… so make sure you keep it on ice and take good notes.

Book Review: “Jawbreaker”

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 12/19/07
in Book Reviews
. 0 Comments

Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA’s Key Field CommanderHopefully, I’ll be able to get through some personal reading this Christmas break. I did finish the first book on my shelf, Jawbreaker by Gary Berntsen and Ralph Pezzulo. The subtitle is The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA’s Key Field Commander. Reading it today, two years after publication and six years after Tora Bora, I’d title it “Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden: How Bureaucratic Nonsense Let Our Nation’s Number One Enemy Slip Away.”

Let me preface the rest of my post by saying that I never know what to make of these kinds of books. They are written by men far braver and far smarter than I. Though it seems that every quote fits perfectly with the story, makes the author look good, and mistakes are glossed over or they are the kinds of weaknesses one employs in a job interview (e.g. sometimes I push too hard when the people around me aren’t ready for the kind of change we need to get the job done). So, in a way the book seems to gloss over whatever weaknesses (if any) the author - a twenty year CIA veteran and national hero - might have.

That said, the book is awesome. And infuriating. And enlightening.

Continue reading ‘Book Review: “Jawbreaker”’

Law School Musical

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 12/19/07
in Funny and Law School Experience
. 0 Comments

So, I was just going to use this post to test the layout of embedded video in a post. Then I came across this…

Grade Anticipation

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 12/19/07
in Law School Experience
. 2 Comments

Heart beating. Palms sweating. A little light-headed. It seems each day that passes brings another symptom of grade anticipation. I’ve got to stop hitting refresh on the website where grades are posted. I would think that with each day that passes I would grow more at ease with the fact that I can’t do anything to change my grades now. Wrong. With each day that passes and each time I click on “View My Grades” I get a bit more anxious. Anyone else feel that way too? And in case you were wondering…. no my grades have not come in.

Reflecting On My First Semester

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 12/18/07
in Law School Experience
. 0 Comments

This is the first of what I’m sure will be a number of posts reflecting on my first semester of law school. This will only be a random collection of thoughts to get us going.

  1. Going to Law School at night is hard - much harder than I thought. The combination of work and 4 nights per week of classes is exhausting. Add all the reading and studying and writing to that and… well, it makes me tired just writing it. Multiple times in the the past few days since my last exam, I’ve found myself completely and utterly exhausted. Don’t get me wrong, it’s rewarding and I enjoy both my “jobs”. It’s just quite tiring.
  2. Law School is similar to, yet very different from, undergrad. The tendencies of students in undergrad to complain, procrastinate, hook up, drink too much are all quite present in law school. I suppose that’s a universal characteristic of students. What’s not present are professors who tolerate BS answers (at least not that I’ve seen so far).
  3. A tough, fair-minded professor with your best interests at heart is still the best you can hope for. And I’ve been fortunate to have several so far.
  4. Nothing beats finding good friends to walk through school with. Sure, many of the night students are older and more advanced professionally. That doesn’t mean you can do it alone. All in all, my classmates are fantastic. But specifically, a few standout and have also become good friends and study partners.
  5. Part-time law school is tough on a marriage. Don’t let anyone fool you. Anything that takes you away from your spouse is dangerous. I have spent the last few days just getting to know my wife again - spending unhurried time together.

Oblivion Saturday

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 12/17/07
in Law School Experience
. 0 Comments

The affectionate appellation for our end of semester celebration is Oblivion Saturday. We enjoyed an awesome evening out at Brasserie Beck, followed by drinks at The Daily Grill in Georgetown. In a particularly surreal moment, we saw Lance Armstrong at the bar.I must admit that I’m out of practice. Getting home after 2:00 wiped me out the next day. It was absolutely awesome, though. A fitting end to a LONG semester.