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!