up and down

This week has been one of ups and downs. I felt like an idiot early on, when, while reading my casebook, I was reading the same line over and over without seeming to have comprehended what was going on. Then I would go to class, and although I would see people called on and unable to answer, my own mind felt incapable of comprehending the vastness of legal knowledge. Let me take one area in particular. The difference between nuisance and trespass. At first it is nothing but a blur as I read the various cases that rule one way or the other in relation to nuisance or trespass, and it is these details which I must learn. I have never been much of a detail person, but now I am am required to be so. Trespass is an actual physical invasion of one's land. Nuisance, to the minimum of what I can discover is using one's own land in such a way as to create an interference with how our neighbor enjoys and uses his own land, even when you do not "physically cross the boundary line" Then there are several more "nano" questions you must ask. (1) what is it to cross the boundary. Must we be able to see the object that crosses, a cannonball, or can it be on a molecular level. At what point does the molecular accumulation of objects amass enough substance to create a trespass? (2) lets say you have a nuisance as defined above, is the activity of the defendant, he who is causing the nuisance, of greater social benefit than the damage done to the plaintiff, the one who has been nuisanced.

I don't want to get into to many more "legal" details. I would rather wax existential and pose a different question. What is the relation between the laziness or unwillingness to take the time to pay attention and be considerate to details and the ego? Is not the mind still based in infantile desires focused on generalities and does not focusing on details require a certain sacrificing of the self? This is the opposite of the adage "the devil is in the details" but it seems to me that the devil also easily masks himself in the cloth of generalities which allow yourself to slide through without commitment, without sacrificing the overall view to delve into the specific where one is not sure if one will come to a dead end. This is the opposite of the mountain top. Entering law school means having arrived at the top and instead of staying there going down the mountain in the opposite direction from whence you came, to risk going into the "details" of the forest and learning to live off of the minutia that lies close to the earth, the hidden berries, the bramblebush (the name of this book recommended to our entire class on the first day by a panel of lawyers who spoke to us-what could that metaphor mean, especially since I have arrived at it on my own. I throw out the devil and go to the details and search from my own divinity in mastering the craft of details, legal details. . .

Phew

It really wasn't that bad. No I did not bomb or even come close to embarrassing myself. How could I after I obsessively prepared for class. However, this doesn't mean that I got everything right. As a matter of fact there were several questions that I did not get right, but for the most part I answered clearly and correctly.
This has taught me a few good lessons (1)how to prepare for class. I came so prepared to class that I really did get more out of my reading. If I prepared for class every day as if I would have to speak on the material, I will have no problem in this class or any other (2) it is OK to make a few mistakes so long as you show that you are actively thinking, that if your reasoning is pointed out to be false, you can correct it in the moment (such a correction cannot be found in your notes, in fact your notes will get you in trouble since they are reflections of how far you came with your own reasoning (3) speak up, sit up, pay attention, relax, take it both more and less seriously than you think you should.
I am sure I am not done. He will probably stick with me for another day or two, just to keep the momentum rolling, but it should be easier (not that it really was that hard with the preparations I made.

Mr. Kaman, come on down!

My number is called, its my time to step into the batters box, I am the next contestant in "Federal Rules of Civil Procedure" Whatever metaphors you wish to use, they all describe the nervous excitement I have this morning knowing that it is "my day" in civil procedure, knowing that I will be one of 3 or 4 people who will be called on to answer questions to day, to be led out onto the plank of uncertainty and ambiguity where even attention to detail is not enough without common sense in this archaic exercise developed to teach law students to think like lawyers. I can't say that I am dreading it. I actually can't wait. Already four weeks have passed in anticipation and there were many days where I would have had no problem answering the questions (although there were some days I was glad it wasn't me), but since many of the people who make it to law school are the ones who have thus far in their lives succeeded at school and were those students who always seemed to have something intelligent to say in class, it is hard for us now to just sit by and watch a teacher try to extract an answer out of a student who is walking further out on the plank over the ocean of one-L despair. We want to jump in and show that we have the answer, or at least move the class discussion along, but this is counter-productive to the very purpose of law school: teaching each student how to be good lawyers. This is trade school now. We are not all just getting our general education to the degree to which we put effort into it. We paid a lot of money to receive specific training and each of us stands alone and equal in this desire. So today is my day with Professor R. a day I will probably remember as I look back on my "lawschool years"

Week 4

This is the week where my brain overflowed, where the combined stress of starting law school, moving to a new city, owing a puppy and living with my girlfriend who is also a one-l caused a break down. Don't worry, I wasn't crying in class or snorting coke late at night or beating the puppy, but rather at several points reached such utter frustration that I wanted to walk away and never come back. I lost sight of what I wanted to do here. How could this happen. What follows is a short explanation written in outline form, just like everything else in law:
1. Too much information without the right folders to put it in: I had no previous notions for how I should be organizing the information that I am receiving. All of the cases and subjects blurred together and I didn't know what compartment to put them in in my mind. Mens rea is criminal, but intent is torts, but intent is one of the possible elements of mens rea and all crimes are torts, but not all torts are crimes and when does an assault become a battery anyway?
2. Books, outlines, and citations: Lets just say that the way law books are structured is unlike any other book I have looked at. Cases followed by notes broken down into numbers and letters containing sections of other cases and speak to the same issue or mention the same issue, or refute that issue, and there is nothing in the book to tell you what is more important than the next. I have seen teachers rush through a case with the most cursory discussion and spend the rest of the class discussing a case in the footnotes. I see where learning the law is a combination of many different sources and it makes me wonder why Derrida wasn't a lawyer, but it has the same disorienting effect I spoke about in the previous point.

Time for a funny story, hidden here in the middle of the text. I have been going along in Civil Procedure, more intimidated than I probably will admit, waiting for my turn to be called on and wondering why all of the reading assignments seem to end in the middle of cases. The answer didn't become clear until this week, when, as the teacher became dangerously close to calling my name as he moves alphabetically through the roster, he asks a student to comment on Sorema and discuss the procedural implications. Sorema, I don't remember that case. I read Leatherman last night. Frantically searching through case book. Did I miss something? Did I read the wrong section. Sorema isn't here, wait a second, the students behind me were talking about a case I hadn't heard of this morning in the hall. Wait a second, could it be? I turn around and look at another students book. Fourth Edition. I look at mine. Third Edition. Fuck, Fuck. Wrong Book. I ordered it from Amazon.com before the semester based on the information the law school sent out. I got it for cheap because the cover had been put on upside down. I was proud of that find, but what the fuck, I have to get a new one, another $100 bucks down the drain, as I sweat and hope my name isn't called. And it isn't, and I get the new book, and I calm down, and realize. . .

well, this may not be the smoothest start to my career as a lawyer, but I want to be here. Take a deep breath, get out your highlighting and lets work through this case one more time and see where we can get it to fit in our mind.

mental release

Details

Being in law school requires an attention to detail not required in many other areas of life. When speaking, reading, or writing "legally" each word carries weight and must be understood on its own if communication is to take place. No more lazy language, no more getting by with "that's enough to understand what I mean." Well that is not enough any more, now I must learn to slow down and take each word separately and then together, to make sure I understand each word on its own and in the context it is being used.

This reminds me of learning German which took a long time, a lot of practice, and many mistakes. But the point of the comparison I want to make right now is that when I first moved to Germany, I was limited in what I could express and communicate. My collective knowledge, previously stored in English, could not be expressed, so even if I knew I wanted to buy that sausage at the deli, I couldn't because I didn't have the language to express this desire. So as I learn the language of the law to say what I want to say. Without the proper language I will either sound like a bumbling fool at the deli counter, or say the wrong thing and get some weird geletanized loaf with floating pig parts rather than the sausage I wanted.

A Mexican friend of mine who has lived in the United States for 20 years tells all of the new immigrants that he knows two pieces of advise: learn English as quickly as you can and don't drive. Well I think I will take his advise in learning the law: learn the language of law as quickly as you can and don't do anything that can get you in trouble with the law!

I uploaded an etching of M.C. Esher as an example of focus on detail, and even though the details are mind-boggling when you dive in and try to following them, I find a sense of calm, of wonder, and of mental release

Supreme Court Justices

What an interesting time to be in law school. In the first two weeks, there are two openings on the bench of the supreme court. This is an issue that I feel wholly unqualified to discuss compared to the many other materials available, but how does this seem to effect me and what is the perspective of the beginning law student?

The outcome of these appointments are likely to set the tone of the courts for much of the duration of my career. Are the courts going to change positions on many of the key issues that are highly disputed cultural issues like abortion, prayer in schools, terrorism? How do I maintain my own beliefs while at the same time respect the system of law to which I will become a laborer. How am I connected to John Roberts now? Are we colleges in a sense, but does not the justice system encompass all citizens as an extending of our interrelated society bonds?

thoughts at the end of a long day of studying!

Very First Post

Having survived my first two weeks of law school shouldn't go to my head and make me think I am now an authority on anything. As a matter of fact, it has shown me more than anything that I know almost nothing about law, and probably not much more about life.

And with this said, I would like to share this journey into "thinking like a lawyer" as my prof.s say with this blog and with you, whowever you are. I am as new to blogging as I am to lawyering, but armed with a new computer, a high-speed wireless connection, and the beginnings of a career based largely on the written word, I embark on this journey.

Welcome self. Welcome