Wednesday, July 28, 2010

What I Probably Won't Be Doing Next Summer

It's time to stop worrying about getting good grades and start worrying about getting a job. Application season for judicial clerkships starts in September. I am very enthusiastic about the idea of clerking for a judge, but those jobs don't come easily. Clerking for a federal judge is right out--I'll apply, but those are prestigious jobs that attract out-of-state candidates with much better academic credentials than I have. That leaves state judges. According to the information distributed by the career services office, exactly one state judge in central Arkansas is planning to hire a clerk next summer.
The upshot is that I plan to spend a goodly chunk of my August putting together application materials for jobs I will never get. I am trying to gird myself for ten months of similar windmill-tilting. Looking for work in a bad economy requires a healthy appetite for rejection.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Criminal Procedure Post Trial Exam

The Crim Pro exam was an odd duck. Hypothetical situations are the bread and butter of law school tests, but this one didn't go that route. I daresay it was the only test I have taken in the last two years on which all of the essay questions were essentially, "Remember this thing we studied in class? Write down what you know about it." There were also a great many multiple choice questions. In sum, the test seemed to favor whoever memorized the most stuff. I'll stand my memory up against anybody's, so I figure I did fine.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Advanced Torts and Speed-Writing

The Advanced Torts exam was a bruiser. It consisted of a four-page story with a cast of (by my count) sixteen characters, culminating in a mandate to discuss all causes of action, defenses, and remedies available to everyone involved. I don't think it was possible to write an A answer in the time allotted, so it's anyone's guess what the grades will look like.

I say it wasn't possible to cover everything in the three hours allotted, yet a few students turned in their tests and walked out with twenty minutes or more still on the clock. There are a few of these early birds at every exam, and it unnerves me every time. Do these people type 100 WPM? Are they regurgitating all-purpose essays that they memorized for the occasion? Do they just think faster than the rest of us? Don't they check their work? Most importantly, do they get good grades for those instant essays? The possibility that anyone is that much better at law school than I am is simply too horrible to contemplate.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Almost Ready for Finals

Over the last few days I've managed to boil a semester's worth of notes down to seven legal size sheets of paper. If I can learn everything you see here in the next thirty-six hours, exams should be a piece of cake.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Farewell, My Ink-Filled Companion

O red ink cartridge, you gave me three semesters of loyal service, but now you are as empty as an unenforceable promise. I will think of you every time my attention is drawn to an underlined section of a case brief. You came in a multicolor two-pack, so I guess next year's notes will be in green.

Friday, July 9, 2010

For the New Law Student

Since a link to this blog appeared on the school website, I know I've been getting some traffic from new and prospective students. Those readers have probably been disappointed to find that I write mostly to keep my friends and family up to date on what I'm doing, not to explain the ins and outs of law school.
I hate to disappoint, so this post is for you, incoming 1L. I have taken all the long-form, informative posts I never wrote and put them in one big pdf document for you to download and read at your leisure: Unsolicited Advice for New Bowen Students. If people find it useful, I figure I'll write an updated version next summer. Comments are welcome.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Summer Ends in Mid-July

I just wrapped up the last night of Criminal Procedure class. Advanced Torts will meet twice next week, then it's on to exams. Looking at the state of my notes, I think I handled the brutal pace of summer session much better this year than I did last year (which is good, because my grades last summer were weak). Even so, I'll need to spend a good chunk of this weekend on school work if I want to go into dead week with confidence. Guess I won't have time to mow the lawn. Pity.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Summer Session is Nearly Over

I'm trying to use the holiday weekend to belatedly start organizing my notes for summer exams. Have we really covered this much material in six weeks? This accelerated summer schedule is murder. I'm not sure I can get my act together in the three weeks between now and test time.