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!!

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 ;)

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.

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.

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!

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!)

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 :(

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!

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!!

Eugene is right: The is no consideration

but he still can collect. Let me explain...

There is definitely no consideration, but there are ways to enforce a promise without consideration.

The answer is promissory estoppel. There are three elements that make up promissory estoppel:

1. a promise that likens to induce action or forbearance
2. Reliance
3. injustice will occur if it is not enforced

The promise that Mrs. Melmouth told Queensberry that she would be him in a year. This induced Queensberry to not collect from Mr. Melmouth and he actually relied on the promise to his detriment (he did not receive the money that was rightfully owed to him.) Like Eugene mentioned, there was nothing stopping him from getting the money from Mr. Melmouth; EXCEPT for the promise by Mrs. Melmouth. The last element is injustice; If the promise is not enforced then injustice will occur. This element is debatable without a further examination of the facts. However, it seems that if Mrs. Melmouth doesn't live up to her promise then Queensbury won't be able to collect his money--hence injustice.

So yes...there definitely isnt any consideration. But there are other means of enforcing a promise such a promissory estoppel. Eugene...you will learn that in the next few weeks...

However, the more important issue is whether promissory estoppel should even exist. As a strict constitutionalist and moreso a conservative who believes in individual responsibility, I feel that the theory of promissory estoppel has been grossly expanded to the point it has ruined the law of contracts. The liberal idea that you don't need the traditional elements of a contract to enforce a promise/offer anymore is ludicrous. It has burdened the legal system with frivolous lawsuits and has made innocent parties liable for situations that don't fit the mold of traditional contract formation.

Don't get me wrong--there are many instances where promissory estoppel is important and necessary, but in the modern legal environment, promissory estoppel has been liberally applied to fit every possible situation out there. This slippery slope is the end of contracts as we know it.

Second Memorandum Due!

So ever since I received my 1st memorandum back (as a mentioned a few blog posts ago) I have been working feverishly to improve the document so I could turn it in tomorrow as the second memorandum. After countless hours including omitted points, revising bluebook citations, and adding 6 new cases with new rules and principles, I have developed a paper I feel pretty confident in.

I am definitely getting the hang of writing a memorandum. It is an objective piece that is suppose to provide both sides of the argument concerning a potential clients case. It is read by a partner or associate in the law firm and they make a decision in regards to what to do with the case. The writing is completely different then anything I have done before so I'm really happy that I'm getting the hang of it pretty quickly. Our last memorandum is due later in the semester and it is an open memorandum where I will need to conduct WestLaw research for relevant cases that help support and oppose my conclusion.

But in the meantime, I have a Nexis Lexis research class, WestLaw research class and an ethics class to attend to in the next few days. Its going to be a long week, but will come out of it learning crucial tools for legal research.

We are all in it together...

I wanted to take some time and reflect on the law school community. Many of us have heard the horror stories about the cut-throat environment that is seen throughout law schools nationwide. We have heard of those competitive students who actually hide books or even rip pages out so that others in their section cannot use them.

Even though this cut throat environment has dissipated almost completely in U.S. law schools, I was told that a few of these types linger in every 1L class. Fortunately, I have not experienced one of these people yet. Everyone as CUA is so nice and helpful...its kinda funny how different my experience has been compared to all the horror stories I have been told. In fact, I am very grateful for such a community-type environment where everyone is willing to help--it makes the day just a little be easier.

That's Law School...

Law school is different. Very different from undergrad. Most of us didn't get lower than a B in college... In law school, my teacher told us that 50% of us will get lower than a B-. This is because of the law school curve.

Our first evidence of this was our first paper. The average for the class was a 71 and the median was a 69. She forewarned us that our grades would be that low since we are learning a new skill. Secondly, this paper was only 10% of that grade because she expected our grades to be that low.

My score was higher than the average score but I was still pretty depressed. However, when i actually looked at her comments on my paper, I felt alot better. She literally must have taken more than an hour commenting on each and every one of the papers she needed to grade. The commenta were detailed, comprehensive and definitely beneficial to my understanding of the assignment. It left me with very little questions and I am ready to move on to my next paper. Additionally, she also scheduled mandatory conferences with us to go over our papers individually. Honestly, a few weeks ago I hated this process of going into a paper dark without any guidance, but know I am understanding what they were trying to do. I am also very impressed that my teacher would take the time to comment in that much detail and to provide me with 20 minutes to meet with her one-on-one.

Our second paper is an extension of the first by adding just a few more cases to the analysis. So after seeing where I made mistakes (which definitely were very minor ones I can correct in 30 mins) I definitely feel like I can get a very good grade on my second paper.

Directed Verdicts in Negligence Cases

A directed verdict is where the judge renders a verdict, usually for the defendant, instead of handing the case to the jury because he feels that no reasonable jury could decide in the plaintiff's favor. The last few cases in Torts, a directed verdict was rendered.

I was kind of confused by the decision for the judge to direct a verdict especially in a case where a blind employee bumped into a 75 year old man, which resulted severe injuries when he hit the floor. The old man sued the blind employee for negligence because he did not have his walking cane with him at the time of the incident. However, expert testimony exclaimed that it is common and usual for a blind individual to not use his cane when walking around at his place of employment; therefore he acted with reasonable care.

I agreed, but believed that it should go to the jury to weigh the facts and reasonably render on the side of the defendant. However, the judge rendered a directed verdict of the defendant without handing the case to the jury. Puzzled, I asked the professor to explain. Of course he didn't answer me directly (professors never do) but instead he posed another hypothetical about a malpractice case where the doctor was actually not liable for negligence. He then asked me whether a reasonable jury could conclude that the doctor is not liable for negligence when the plaintiff is in the courtroom bandaged up. The jury would have been swayed by their emotions rather than rendering a reasonable judgment. It made sense when he explained it that way: juries are not always the best to render a decision. (also this was a matter of law and not a matter of fact since there was insufficient evidence that he knowingly or should have known that he was breaching his duty of care...anyway...)

In the blind man case, he did not breach his duty by walking without a cane. It was unfortunate that someone got hurt, but legally, he was within his right to walk without the cane in an area that is most familiar with him. A jury might have felt sorry for the old man if given the case, but that wouldn't have been the correct judgment based on the matter of law since the plaintiff is unable to establish a prima facie case.

Are you serious?

So we officially started Negligence in torts class today. And let me tell you, this pleading negligence stuff is really bothering me. I'm not saying all negligence cases are frivolous; in fact, many are very important and have made the world a much safer place.

But there are many negligence cases, especially against companies that have caused endless litigation that has resulted in owner manuals to be as thick as phonebooks. The American citizen, through negligence litigation, has not only disregarded personal responsibility but has created a society were you blame everyone except for yourself.

We have read cases where products have been misused, individuals trespassing on private property, and reasonable precautions are not enough; all of which the defendant has been liable for negligence. Granted, most of the cases in which these things occurred, the court has ruled correctly and said that the company wasn't liable. However, this is not the case in every situation.

Thankfully, the defense has a tool called contributory negligence (which now, i think is being called comparative negligence). This is an affirmative defense used by the defendant to show that plaintiff was more or equally negligent than that of the defendant's negligence. It is the best tool I feel (or at least that I have learned about) to stop frivolous cases where plaintiff's don't own up to their mistakes but rather try to blame big business.

Just another day at law school

It was just one of those days I didn't want to get out of bed. But thankfully, I did and made it to class on time. Class went as usual; we discussed the removal process in Civ Pro and went into the last shot theory in Contracts.

However, I did have my first club meeting this evening: The Intellectual Property Law Students Association. This organization is devoted to preparing students for the IP arena by bringing speakers, companies, and of course network opportunities to the CUA community. Everyone seemed very nice and very enthusiastic about IP law; so naturally I fit in. It was great to see how many people were interested in IP law especially those that were not pursuing a career in patent law like myself. I was also excited to hear more details about the IP Moot Court especially since I learned the national competition is in Boston each year!!

Outlining [John]

My first practice exam is tomorrow. However, my teacher informed us that he will not even be looking at them, but instead will give us a sheet with his grading criteria. Regardless, I am definitely preparing as it was the real thing. I have began compiling our notes, tutorials into an outline.

I will definitely, blog on my exam experience tomorrow. For now, I am going to back to studying so I can watch the convention tonight!

Study Groups [John]

So the study groups officially have began...

As 1L by Scott Turow suggests, study groups are essential to the law school experience and it is very important to find a good group. So far, I have only one study group for my Torts class. The group is comprised of, what I feel, some of the best minds in my class. Today, we spent most of our time outlining the topics that were covered in our first tutorial. I felt that we did a great job filling in the blanks with exceptions and clarifications of the rules and principles. We will be meeting every week for the next 12 weeks to review and outline the topics that we discussed in class.

Also, this Friday I have my first practice exam. Generally, the only grade you receive in a law class is the final exam. This stands true for all my classes except for my legal writing class--I have about 3 grades in that class. However, unlike in the past, more and more law professors are providing in-class and/or proctored practice exams that will not be graded but will be looked at and the professor will provide suggestions. I think this is an excellent addition to my doctrinal classes because it helps us gauge how much we have learned and also provides insight into what the professor expects on our final exams.