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.