The Mutually Shared Delusion

As I look back on my old posts here from 9 months ago, I can't help but blush a little. The excitement and optimism about the law and being a lawyer is just dripping from all the writing. It was a time of blissful ignorance and naivete. There was a feeling that everything was at my fingertips and I was seizing the day. Unfortunately, there was no day to be seized. I'm not sure that everyone, even some in the legal community, understand how times have changed. My corporations teacher starts nearly every sentence with "when you are a corporate lawyer." She gives us helpful hints and things to think about when we are in practice and working on putting together "big deals." If it wasn't so sad, it would be funny. No one in that room is going to be a corporate lawyer, working on big deals for multinational clients. At least not for the foreseeable future. They'll be lucky to find volunteer work with the City government this summer.

Despite this inconvenient truth, time marches on at NYLS. Everyone lives in a mutually shared delusion. The faculty and administration pretends they are preparing students for a legal career. The students pretend that they are preparing themselves for that legal career. On my more cynical days, I tend to think the powers that be at NYLS know how dire the situation is, but purposefully coordinate their activities so as to keep it a secret from the vast majority of students, who have not been exposed to the realities of the legal market in 2009. Other days I think they are just as blind as the poor students whose tuition money they take. Perhaps they are in denial of the fact that the school is simply not relevant and has nothing to offer students in this market.

That might seem a bit harsh. But consider this. My class at NYLS has 420 students in it. To finish in the top 10 people in a class that size I think everyone would acknowledge is quite a special accomplishment. Yet, of those ten people (of which I am one, and I know most of the other 9), 1 received a job offer for next summer from a big Manhattan law firm. If the school cannot secure jobs for the top ten people in its class, why does the school exist? It should probably just close up shop. Perhaps this a little unfair because from what I understand even schools like Harvard and Yale are having trouble placing their students this year. However, it is not an unreasonable or unjustified thought.

Maybe things will get better. Maybe they won't. The fact is that the legal profession has imploded and there is absolutely nothing that recent grads or those in law school now can do about it. The fast track to prosperity for those who worked hard and finished at the top of their law school class does not exist anymore. Even if you assume that things will eventually improve, everyone's career has been set back years in terms of money and work experience. Some people just laugh it off, put their blinders down and just keep plugging along. I am jealous of them. However, I wonder how much of that is just for show. I can't imagine there is anyone in my position right now who is not also having a crisis of confidence.

So pardon me if the glow of the first year of law school has worn off. I've been there and done that. I had the Kingsfield-like Contracts teacher. I got an A from him. I learned about mens rea, personal jurisdiction, proximate cause, and adverse possession. I got A's in all those classes too (well except Torts). It was the most exhilarating and rewarding 9 months of my life. When I received those grades, it was the greatest sense of pride and self-accomplishment that I have ever felt. But looking back now however many months later, was it all worth it? Did it really matter as much as I thought it did at the time? Did it matter as much as every single person I went to for advice in my life told me it mattered? The answer is a resounding and unequivocal "no". It's virtually meaningless. I'll have to prove myself again this year all over again and hope that maybe next year some employer with throw me a crumb. Right now, my 1L GPA of 3.75 and $2.25 will buy me a subway ride to Brooklyn.

But hey, I have to get to bed early now. I am required to attend a conference early tomorrow about the emergence of a new duty in corporate law that directors owe shareholders (known as the duty of good faith). I'm told that it will come in handy for me when I am a big corporate lawyer. And the delusional continues....

Just another busy week...[John]

So today I receive my first memo back of the second semester. I am not worried about the grade but rather the effect it will have on the next week and a half. Our second memo is a revised draft of the first, so if I did bad on that, then well...kiss my weekend goodbye.

However, this is not the only thing I need to worry about. From study groups to tutorials, my week is basically shot. And on top of that I was just informed that the law review competition is a 20 page paper with a 212 page packet that we need to refer too. This means that not only is this week shot, but my spring break is essentially non-existent---hopefully I'll have time to make it to CPAC!!

Client Interview

As I suspected, the client interview was definitely harder than it looked. The interview was scheduled to be 20 minutes. I had scripted out beforehand the type of questions that I wanted to ask. The problem was that I exhausted all those questions in about 12 minutes. At that point, I had obtained all the information that I thought I needed, but was hesitant to close the interview because I knew that I still had 8 minutes left. The second the interview went off script, I deteriorated very quickly. I could not think of any more questions, and did not know how to fill the space. As a result the interview ended somewhat awkwardly, and left me feeling uncomfortable with my performance. However, immediately after I had finished, I was given a self-assessment form to fill out. The form detailed specifically all of the information I was supposed to extract from the interview. I was happy to see that I had discovered almost all of it, minus one or two smaller details. So, I suppose what I learned from this experience is to be confident in my ability. If I think I have all the relevant facts, I should not be afraid or hesitant to close the interview. My biggest problem this time was being unsure of myself. I am sure that is something that will only improve with experience. In that respect, I think this was a good starting point and I look forward to my next opportunity to try again.

Networking... [John]

So tonight was my first networking event of my law school career and I honestly believe it was a success. I initially didn't know how much I would get out of it and decided to go just because it was a way to get my head out of the books for the night. However, it was a lot more than a social event but a learning experience as well. The networking event was at a law firm that has offices in most major US cities and cities abroad. We got to speak to many of their attorneys along with a few influential CUA alums in the area.

Though no leads for summer employment presented themselves, I definitely learned a lot more about myself and possible career paths. This law firm's DC branch dealt a lot with Intellectual Property law, so it was really worth it for me. I spoke to Patent attorneys and Patent litigators. However, it was fascinating to learn that not all of them had an engineering background. As some people know, I went into college knowing that IP law was the career choice I wanted to pursue; as a result, I looked at multiple engineering schools so I could sit for the patent bar and become a patent lawyer. After multiple visits to these schools, I have realized that it wasn't something for me and that my passion for politics would be the best path to pursue--and that's how I ended up in DC. Anyway, today my life changed...First, I met a patent lawyer that didnt have an engineering degree nor has taken the patent bar. He also informed me that a few of his friends also weren't engineers but qualified for the patent bar by taking the Fundamentals in Engineering Exam.

Second, I also met and learned from patent litigators that they too didn't have engineering degrees nor did they need them to become litigators for patent, trademark or copyright cases. So basically, 2 hours mingling with esteemed attorneys in their field has opened a whole new world of IP law for me.

hahaha and to think, I only went for the free food and booze ;)

Statutory Interpretation

Unlike torts, contracts, and property, criminal law is almost entirely statute-based. There are still many cases to be read. But unlike in the other courses, the cases are not read in order to discern what the law is. Instead, the purpose of the case readings is to provide examples and guidelines for how to interpret criminal statutes. Often times statutes can be quite ambiguous. When lawyers and judges are interpreting statutes, they need to consider the legislative history and the legislative purpose in order to understand what the statute means. For example, in criminal law, in order to be found guilty of a crime, there is almost always the requirement of a mental element (known as mens rea). It is not enough that a person does a criminal act, that person must also have a culpable state of mind at the time of the action (purposefully, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently to name a few). Sometimes statutes are silent as to what the mental requirement is. The usual common law practice is for court to assume that a mens rea requirement is implied in the text of a statute, and can only be nullified by the legislature specifically stating that there is no such requirement. However, interpretation can sometimes lead in another direction. Policy considerations sometimes can counteract common law assumptions. For example, if a law is passed that has clear public policy objectives (for example regulating the sale of prescription drugs), a court might discern that those objectives outweigh the potential harm done to an individual who is found strictly liable for breaking that law (finding a defendant guilty for simply committing the act without any consideration of fault or the reasonableness of their conduct). In these cases, courts will interpret the statute as not having a mens rea requirement unless the legislature specifically requires one. 

I understand that this can be confusing. That is precisely the point. Statutory interpretation is NOT easy and can be downright painful. But my extensive work with it in criminal law is providing me with another skill that every lawyer needs to have. I continue to be impressed at how well-rounded and complete the first year of law school is in teaching students all the required basics of being an effective lawyer.  

Oral Arguments [John]

Our Lawyer Skills class is not going client interviews this year. I dont know why, but we were given a packet instead describing the procedure etc. However, today I had my oral argument for the motion to disqualify memorandum I had to write. It went pretty well. We argued in front of the judge (aka professor) and she shot questions at us. It was pretty intense...A lot more intense than the moot court I was back at the beginning of my first semester. She drilled us on the case law and wanted us to provide the authority for everything we said.

It was great practice for our appellate argument in front of a panel which will occur later in April. Since the argument is over, I have a little bit of down time before the next memo. Hopefully this will give me more time to catch up on outlining for my other classes.

Client Interviews

Next week I will have my first client interview simulation. We have spent the last two classes going over all the important aspects of a client interview: establishing an attorney/client relationship, understanding the client's goals, ascertaining all the relevant facts, and setting out a work plan going forward. I tend to think it is going to be a lot harder than it looks. The lawyers in the sample interviews we have been shown make it look so easy, but it definitely will be more difficult for a student doing it for the first time. The lawyer really needs to be able to think quickly on his feet and draw all the important information out of the client. But hey, practice makes perfect and this is just a pure learning experience (not a graded assignment). I am interested to see how I do. 

P.S. Property does have some funny words. I think my new favorite word in the English language is "chattel". 

Law School Lingo [John]

So as I sit here and attempt to understand what is going on is Property, I wanted everyone to know that I think the hardest subject to grasp the lingo of is definitely property. This does not mean it is has the hardest concepts--but rather just the terminology. Currently we are discussing Estates. We have gone from the fee simple absolute, to life estates and then to a fee tail which is commonly referred to as a fee simple conditional. The terminology gets even worse with types of estates such as "fee simple determinable" and "fee simple subject to a condition subsequent." And finally we learn words such as "inter vivos" and "life estate pur autre vie."

I totally understand the wide variety of unique terminology...I see it in every class. But when I saw a type of estate called fee simple subject to a condition subsequent, I freaked out. Couldn't we cut this 7 word estate into something mangeable with only 3 words.

Jobs

I know several people who have become frantic about the summer job situation already. No matter how much the career counselors try to explain how meager (to put it kindly) the job market is for 1L's, many students have absurd expectations. While it would be a tremendous asset to gain experience working in the legal field during the summer after the first year, it is by no means as important as first year grades. I have heard stories already this semester of people staying up until 4 o'clock in the morning on school nights writing out 10 cover letters (for positions they have no chance of getting). I think they would be much better served studying criminal law until 12 o'clock and then going to bed. As someone who has gone through the horrific process of trying to find a job after college, I have come to recognize several traps. The most important is that in desperation, it is very easy to become painfully inefficient and waste tons of time. Logging into your school's jobs database and spending 4 hours emailing your resume and personalizing cover letters to 50 jobs that you barely bothered to read the job descriptions for may make you feel a little better inside (because you are "doing something"), but it is a complete waste of time. At this point, I am not positive of the best way to go about finding a summer job, but I know for sure that is not it. John is probably correct in this regard. Most students best chance at getting meaningful employment is through a pre-existing connection or contact. 

I hope to educate myself about the process more in the next few weeks and come up with my own plan for how to tackle the issue (but never at the expense of time needed to study). While it seems to be common sense that it should not be hard to find  a job when you are willing to work for free (as all first year law students SHOULD), in this hyper-competitive job market, who the hell knows. The fact that NYLS does not rank until after second semester in mid May, makes it considerably harder to distinguish yourself from the pack in February, March, and April. What can you put in your cover letter? "I know I am at the top of my class, trust me!"  

This process troubles and stresses me more than any looming 5 hour comprehensive exams. 

Stick to your day job [John]

Its almost February and law students are out in full force looking for summer internships. With the economy in the toilet, the search is even harder--especially if you are looking for a paid internship.

Catholic law has so far been great in assisting us with the search. From their online job bank to there career center, they have been a great help. The unfortunate part is that everyone is using them and it is hard to stick out to companies when everyone is applying to the same jobs from the same job bank. However, being in DC for ungrad has definitely help generate some leads for the summer--and I'm greatly appreciative of everyone that has been willing to help me.

So to all my fellow law students---good luck with the search!

TGIF

The weekend is finally here (although the work never stops). This week has been particularly grueling since we had classes last Sunday. After my first semester, I have learned to appreciate these weekends early in the semester when you can actually relax and take Friday and Saturday night off. That unfortunately will change in about a month. Much less case reading for me this semester. Property is the only class where I am extensively reading cases for every class. Lots of theory-based stuff and essays for Leg/Reg and to a lesser extent Crim Law (which still has some case reading, but not exclusively). My Lawyering and Written/Oral Advocacy classes are overlapping somewhat right now in their content. Whereas last semester I was learning how to think like a lawyer, this semester I am more so learning how to actually be a lawyer. Enjoy the weekend.  

P.S.  23-13 Steelers (although I will be rooting hard for God's team). 

P.P.S. Congratulations, Michael Steele. You have an unenviable task. Let's get to work!  

It is a great day! [John]

Our New RNC Chairman!!!!

It is a great day for the GOP and its an even better day for America. Chairman Michael Steele is exactly what our party needs. He is an amazing communicator that can get out there an carry the message of the Republican movement.

It is also a great day since my memorandum was turned in. The next step is to argue my position (opposition to the motion to disqualify) in front of a judge (my teacher). I am given 5 minutes to argue my case and then my opponent gets 5 minutes. Even though it isnt really graded, it will be great practice for the appellate arguments in front of real judges we have in April.

Gotto love eminent domain [John]

So a few weeks ago we discussed the Kelo decision in property class. I dont know why we jumped immediately to that, but we did. Anyway, as we all know, it was one of the most blatant judicial activism moves in the 21st century. After reading O'Connor's scathing dissent, there is no doubt in my mind that they incorrectly ruled. Now, years later, the Kelo house is still a bulldozed lot and the City of New London has not began the economic development that they claimed was "absolutely necessary" for the future of the city.

And the papers never end... [John]

So for the last two weeks, I have been working on this memorandum in opposition to a motion to disqualify counsel. It is due Friday, but I am at the point where I just want to pull all my hair out.

Anyway, today I had my first meeting in regards to Law Review. At CUA Law, we have four journals: Law Review, CommLaw Conspectus, Journal of Contemporary Health, and Journal of Law, Philosophy and Culture. To get on one of these journals, we have to enter a writing competition that occurs over Spring Break. Though I'm not too excited that I will be in the library for the whole break, I am looking forwards to this opportunity to write for one of the journals. It's a closed packet competition, which means all the material we need for the paper is in the packet (so no outside research!)

Still Want to be a Lawyer?

I just came across this story on the Drudge Report. 

I am taking a class called Lawyering this semester that teaches students how to actually work as a lawyer. The first subject we are learning about is the client interview. Every student is going to have a simulated interview, one-on-one with a "client" (played by a professional actor). I am very much looking forward to it, and it should be a very enlightening experience. It is so easy for law students to get bogged down in reading cases and thinking conceptually and philosophically about the law (and that is important), but they forget that the law is essentially a people business. Cultivating relationships with clients and potential clients is probably the most important part of a lawyer's job. And in the case of the poor lawyer in the story above, the clients may sometimes even supply the fertilizer. =)  

Beating Bad Precedent

Well, the one very useful thing about reading a million cases in law school is that you definitely learn how to construct your own legal arguments. One of the more useful learning experiences is seeing how judges justify their decisions in cases that reverse precedent. I mention this because John said in his last post that he was writing a memo for a position that seemed to run contrary to the case law. From what I have seen so far, there are two ways to handle a situation like that. First, you distinguish the hell out of your case from the "bad cases". Sometimes this can be very difficult, and in case reading you can see brilliant judges straining to distinguish their case from "bad" precedent. "Well in that case, the defendant threw a tomato at the comedian, but in this case defendant threw a banana." Not overly persuasive is it? However, I have read cases where judges have made distinctions that are not much less ridiculous. The other way to do it is to embrace the bad cases and somehow construct an argument that makes it seem like your position is completely consistent with these cases. This is obviously extremely difficult to do. The great Benjamin Cardozo routinely employed this strategy in his decisions. Although, as my contracts teacher would say last semester, all Cardozo opinions should come with a disclaimer: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. 

I don't know about John, but I find it more interesting and a more worth while learning experience to argue for positions that appear to run contrary to all the case precedent.  I like having the odds stacked against me. I don't know... maybe I'm just a masochist. 

Thank god its over... [John]

Thank god this weekend has come to an end. It was one of the busiest weekends of my law school career and I definitely don't want to live though it again. It started off with the Inter-school trial competition where I was helping my friend as a witness for the defense. I received the part last minute since his other witness dropped out so I didn't have too much time to prepare. But Saturday went very well. From 8am to 5pm, we were in "court" where I was a witness for about 20 minutes in each trial. It was an amazing experience--my team did great! It really made me excited for Moot Court which is coming up very soon.

For the rest of the weekend, I was writing a Memorandum in Opposition to a Motion to Disqualify Counsel. This document was completely different then anything else I have written in law school. Instead of being objective like last semester's memorandums, it was purely persuasive. In college, I loved persuasive writing. But while writing this paper, it definitely was alot harder when all the case law was against my position. I kept wanting to put in cases both in opposition and support of my position (like in my previous papers). Finally, I got back in the groove and wrote what I think was a pretty convincing memorandum.

So basically I have been doing work since 3pm on Friday to 8pm on Sunday...never leaving my room except for the trial competition. I'm exhausted...time to go to bed :(

2nd Semester Classes

I will not be taking Con Law until next year. It is a two semester course at NYL that will span both semesters of the second year. Con Law was one of the subjects that was covered in Law Preview, which is meant to review all the traditional first year classes. I am not certain what a majority of law schools around the country do, but I would tend to think that NYL is more the exception than the rule in terms of the placement of Con Law in the curriculum. Con Law is a class that I have been looking forward to since I knew that I was going to attend law school. I am very interested to read about John's experiences with it this semester. For instance, I have long wondered how politically drive a class in Con Law would inevitably become. At NYL, for example, the professor who teaches Con Law is the former president of the ACLU. Given her background and obvious agenda, how could the class not become overtly political? Although its hard to imagine a former president of the (gulp) ACLU doing so, I would assume that in order for the class to work and to foster a learning environment, she would have to be fair and impartial. Although when it comes to Academia, nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to far left professors and their attempts to indoctrinate their students. We shall see.  

Is this Law School or Undergrad all over again? [John]

Its been two weeks since I started the second semester. And I definitely have to agree with Eugene that last semester was a lot more conventional and blackletter law. So far, this semester is much more philosophical. From the Theories of Punishment in Criminal Law to the Theories of the State of Nature, natural law and positive law in Constitutional Law, it feels like I am back in undergrad instead of being in law school. But I definitely understand its importance of these theories in the development of our legal system.

Especially in Constitutional Law--it was definitely an advantage for our class the my teacher decided to begin the discussion of Con Law with Locke and Hobbs theories of the state of nature. Most other sections began with Marbury v. Madison without ever studying or actually understanding the historical underpinnings of that decision. My teacher spent a full week (4 classes) on State of Nature, the Bank Debate and the theory of sovereignty, Chrisholm v. Georgia and many different speeches that the federalist and anti-federalist have wrote before and after the ratification of the Constitution. That class is a lot of work with at least 8 hours of reading per night (reading the dense assignments twice like he recommends) for 4 days per week, but I'm definitely enjoying it immensely!

Good to be Back

The first semester is in the books. Contracts, Torts, and Civil Procedure are history. Now it is on to Property and Criminal Law. At least for me, second semester appears to be slightly less "conventional", and by that I mean less of the type of core first year courses that everyone knows. Aside from the previously mentioned Property and Crim Law, I am also taking Lawyering, Written & Oral Advocacy, and Legislation & Regulation. From what I understand, both Lawyering and Leg/Reg are relatively new courses at NYLS and the professors are still in the process of fine tuning them. We shall see. First semester was a very memorable experience, but it feels good to be starting over. Everything is once again new and exciting. I can already tell that Criminal Law is something very different from Torts/Contracts/Property. It seems much more philosophical (that can be a good thing and a bad thing). Reading 40 pages a night on the musings of various philosophers on "what is punishment" and "why do we punish" can be both intellectually stimulating, yet at the same time extremely tedious. I'll be very interested to see where the class goes. Let's get started!  

And we are back!! [John]

So after a long hiatus , Eugene and I have decided we would get back to blogging. I apologize to all of our readers that our postings stopped after a few months--the law school workload was getting very burdensome and it was getting very difficult to make time to do anything, let alone, to write a post.

But now, after mastering the first semester, we decided to try one more time. There are plenty of things going on such as moot court, law review and of course, looking for that summer internship. So definitely stay tuned for what looks like will be an exciting semester!!