A word to One-Ls

I know this seems like a frighteningly stressful time and you are probably thinking: "Why the hell is everyone talking about outlining for finals? How exactly am I supposed to outline? How am I going to learn all this stuff? What the heck is the rule against perpetuities?" There is a lot you don't know right now that you will somehow learn in the next six weeks, but there is also something else you will not learn until your third year: how good you have it! Yes, I know it looks like us third-year students don't really have to work that hard at school, and the truth is, we don't. We have all pretty much learned how to wing it in class when we have been called on and have not read and how to begin studying for the final a few days before the exam date. Even though it looks like we spend a large amount of our time between classes just hanging out and socializing, the fact is that you don't really get to enjoy law school your third year. Must of us are working about as many hours as we are allowed, and it is not just filing papers at the library like my one-l work study job. We have real cases that cause us to loose sleep and require us to learn what the heck were actually supposed to be doing because law school leaves you woefully unprepared for the real practice of law.

Gone are the days when I could really focus on the subject matter of all my classes, and part of me misses the hermetically sealed life of a One-l. I remember this time two years ago when I struggled through the rule against perpetuities or 12(b)6 motions. I remember the hours spent to working out hypos and practice exams and delving deep into the concepts that were so foreign. I forget now how little I knew and how much energy it took to get all of that new knowledge into my brain. I had time for all of that back then. School was not just something getting in the way of a bar license, but it was, at least for a short time, an intellectually engaging activity.

So if you are heading into your first semester of law school finals, you should keep in mind that when you think back to law school and the law school experience, it is this next six weeks that you will remember. This is the time that movies and books about law school portray and is probably the only time that the stereotype of law school held by your friends and family that aren't there with you will match up pretty close with the reality. It is stressful and intense, but after this semester, it will never be quite the same. And when you are a three-l trying to squeeze in some reading between running to court, you may even miss it.

We have it easy

Compared to lawyers in Pakistan right now, we have it easy. Appointing conservative justices on the Supreme Court is a far cry from firing those who are likely to rule you can no longer be the president. This raises an interesting question that we have been talking about in my Law and the Holocaust class. What is a lawyer to do when you are confronted with an illegal action that you are either charged to carry out or you see taking place in violation of the constitution you have taken an oath to uphold? Musharraf has all the guns (Army) so it may mean risking your own life.

That is one of the things I like about the law. Yes, this appears to be a dangerous but fulfilling profession. If you know me or have read this blog, you know that I once thought I wanted to be a professor and spent two years on grad school researching Nietzschean philosophy. But in the end, it held very little meaning. The law presents real moral, ethical, and philosophical issues almost every day. It is applied philosophy, because underneath all of the obtuse decisions by the supreme court is a client, whether that client is man on death row or the most powerful government in the world. Even my work as an intern at a municipal prosecutor's office comes with considerable power. The possibility of getting an article published on environmental visions of Nietzsche's philosophy pales to getting $50,000 bail set on a guy who was carrying a Glock 9 and violating a protection order.

Basically, I spent a long time looking for a job that I really enjoyed, and I finally found it. Although it is kind of hard to feel right now as I move into the 100th minute of Business Entities Class. I better not speak too negatively about this area of law or I am apt to end up practicing at a transactional law firm. (Many of you know that the law school gods have this power). That aside, there was a line in the movie Braveheart that I have always found inspiring: "you are not really living until you found something worth dying for." I am sure glad I don't have to risk my life to practice law in this country, but that is probably what a bunch of Pakistani lawyers are feeling right now.

Good Reading

I have been following baseball this year. At about the same time that the Mariners went downhill, the Colorado Rockies took off. Not only am I rooting for them because I am from Colorado, but they are really a joy to watch. Without a doubt, the Red Sox are going to be a tough team to beat, but there is a sense of destiny attached to the Rockies season, and who doesn't like an underdog. This is an interesting article on the Rockies and how the coaches have sought out players who were not only good but had exhibited strong moral character. Maybe that is why when I watch the Red Sox, it feels like I am watching a collection of really good players, but when I watch the Rockies, it feels like I am watching a really good team.

This article is just funny, although tragically so: 6 Drunk Elephants electrocute Themselves.

Crime Strikes Again

When I am asked what my record is at trial, I have to admit that I have one 3 trials but lost 3. 50% does not really look that good, but what that figure does not reflect is the thousands of cases where the defendant plead guilty. Now, some of those people might have had a good defense and just plead guilty because they would rather not spend the weekend in jail or they want to spend the weekend in jail so they can get a warm meal. On the other-hand, the majority of people who are charged of crime are guilty of committing those crimes, such that most of what a prosecutor does is process paperwork for for people to plead guilty. That does not mean that there is not a whole lot of give in take in that game. Lots of people have gotten more time than they had hoped, because I just was not going to buy their excuse for why they were shoplifting with their kids (for example.) On the other-hand, a prosecutor's primary duty is to do justice, so I have gone easy on people who were stealing a ham sandwich because they were hungry.

But that was all really just a preamble to tell you that in my life, crime seems to be winning. Less than a week after my car window was smashed in and my law school study guides were stolen, I went to my car and found my car stereo missing. I can only imagine that the next time I will go out to my car and the whole care will be missing. I don't think it was the same people in the stereo theft as the smash and grab. It was a much more sophisticated job. There was no mess. They were able to get in my locked car, easily remove the stereo without any signs of distress or destruction and closed the car back up the way it was. They even re-locked the doors on the way out. No wires were cut and except for the missing stereo, there was no sign that anyone was in my car (one of the keyholes looks a bit pushed in, which may have been the result of shaved keys jammed in the lock.) The irony is that I had parked my car near the rental office because there is more light there, but the officer who came to investigate told me that I had just given them more light to do their work.

From my conversation with him, these kind of crimes are rampant and growing. Trying to see this all in a positive light, higher crime means more cops, which means more prosecutors, which means maybe there will be a job for me when I get out of school. Then I can get a regular paycheck and a new stereo.

Educated Thief

When I took the dogs for a walk on Tuesday morning, I was stopped by a neighbor who had just had his car window smashed in and his sub woofer stolen. I thought, "that sucks" and told him to call the police. As I walked on, I thought: "maybe I should check my car."

There it was with the back rear passenger window smashed out. I couldn't imagine what they would want with my car, but then I remembered the book back I kept in the back seat with law school study guides and notes/outlines passed on to me from other students . It was a smash and grab operation and they probably thought they might get lucky and find a computer or some bank statements, but I imagine there was some disappointment when they looked inside and just found a bunch of business entities notes. I am not too upset about loosing the books. The book on trial techniques that was in the bag may come in handy for the thief in the future. He will probably not get caught for this, but if he is doing drugs and stealing to pay for it, there is a very good chance he will eventually get caught for something (I am not being sexist here, but in my 5 months at the prosecutor's office, I have yet to see a woman in court for a vehicle prowl.)

So $162 dollars later and after a bunch of hassle, my car window is replaced and I have removed all extraneous stuff from my car. If only they knew how much more valuable those books are at law school than at a pawn shop.

Juries will do strange things

I lost a jury trial case last week. When I explain the facts to you you will wonder how it is possible to loose. A man, in a drug induced state, walks into a 91 year old womans house in the middle of the afternoon while she is taking a nap. He claimed at trial that he doesn't remember doing any of this, but after going into her house, he finds her bathroom, takes out his dentures (meth causes people to loose their teeth) and takes a crap on her toilet. When the 91 year old woman wakes up, she finds him passed out on her toilet with his pants around his knees.

How could he not be found guilty of Criminal Trespass? All I can say is that juries do strange things. When talking with them afterwards, they mentioned that we hadn't proved the case "beyond a shadow of a doubt." I guess we didn't discuss reasonable doubt well enough, but I am positive there was not a single mention of "shadow of a doubt" at trial or in the jury instructions. I guess I need to do a better job of explaining reasonable doubt.

I think the jury system is an amazing system of justice and criminal law gives defendants the benefit of the doubt, but sometimes it feels like it just does not work. That is why civil lawyers are so hesitant to take their cases to trial, and it is a good lesson to learn early on in my career.

Polite Society

This post is a continuation of my previous post regarding Ahmakillajoos' visit to Columbia. There is an AP article today discussing Iranian anger at Bollinger's (Columbia University president) introductory comments at the speech. He writes:

While Ahmadinejad probably expected at worst a hostile grilling by the audience, Bollinger's sardonic comments reflected a blatant disregard for the tradition of hospitality revered in the Middle East.

Personally, I though Bollinger's comments were great, accurate, appropriate, and reflective of the American spirit of saying things like they are. Why should we display the showy, fake flattery that is being called hospitality but is really a way of masking brutal atrocities and the suppression of political dissent in Iran. It was obvious to anyone who watched that when Ahmakillajoos was asked if he desired the destruction of Israel that his answer was not honest and contradicted previous comments. He didn't actually answer the question even when confronted. One thing I like about American culture is our brazen willingness to confront people and challenge them on their positions. This is something that lands people in jail in Iran. I prefer the tradition of free confrontation to the tradition of hospitality that is nothing but show.

Adolfmadinejad

I just watched the speech by achmyrimjoberdo at Columbia University. The segment where he states there are no homosexuals in Iran is hilarious and I am glad he was laughed at vociferously. I originally thought it was a bad idea to have him come speak, and I still think it is kind of stupid to let him make a propoganda film out of a visit to America, but after seeing that he was publicly humiliated and made to look like an ignorant fool, I think there might be a positive effect to his visit.

But before I say what I think was good about his speech, I should say that this speech was not about the First Amendment. Because this is a legal blog, I should make some attempt to make a legal point. The First Amendment does not say that we have to give a platform for all views. It simply protects someone who expresses views that may be contrary. Almost all of what we consider the fundamental rights are less positive rights than negative restrictions on what the government can do to you as an individual. So his speaking at Columbia has nothing to do with a First Amendment right, except that he was not arrested for what he said.

But what he said was both extreme and dangerous. The best thing that might have come from the speech is that more people will realize what a crazy tyrant Adolfmadinejad really is. He denies the holocaust on the basis of needing academic freedom, he denied well documented torture and killing of homosexuals and women by claiming that homosexuals don't exist in Iran and that woman are beautiful creatures, and that the moderator was insulting him because he asked the simple question of whether he believed Israel should be wiped off the map (which he ha said many times in the past but avoided today by talking about the plight of Palestine.)

Basically, after watching that speech, I have the following question. . .would you rather have America trying to establish order in Iraq or this guy?

Tool for Seattle U. Law Students

I don't know who this person is, but I found a blogger who has created a bunch of tools to import the School's master calendar into your digital life. You can get the calendar as a RSS feed or import it into a Google Calendar. He, or she, welcomes anyone to take advantage of this work, and you can find the post here.

New Word: "Slumper"

I learned a new word last week: a "slumper." From what I can tell, this word is familiar to police officers and first responders and is used as a noun. It refers to a vehicle that is otherwise functioning but is stopped at an intersection with a green light and not moving because the driver has passed out. It can be used in a sentence like this: "I was called to a report of a slumper at the intersection of Main and First," or "I came upon a slumper blocking traffic at a green light."

When I read that, I laughed out loud. And in that particular case, you could say it was a "double slumper," because the passenger was also taking a nap when the officer peered into the window.

Crim Law is Fun

Criminal law is a lot of fun. Before this is taken the wrong way, I am not talking about the horrible things that happen to people by criminals. I am talking about the craft of law practiced in criminal courts as opposed to civil. First, criminal law moves quickly. Civil cases drag on for years and then settle right before the case goes to trial. The state has to bring a defendant to trial withing speedy trial, which means cases don't tend to hang around for years waiting for one side to budge. Secondly, there are a lot of cases. This means that, for better or worse, you are not going to be able to always prepare for everything in every case. You have to fly by the seat of your pants in court. Motions are often done orally without ever filing any paperwork. You have to think quickly and have a good enough grasp on the law that you can make an argument on the fly. That's fun. Civil law is the practice of using the more paper than your opponent in hopes he will run out of money. Finally, the things criminals do is often funny, especially when we are talking about the type of street level crime that I see in misdemeanor court.

Think about the Larry Craig case. That would be fun to bring to trial. The prosecutor should not object to his recent motion to revoke his plea agreement. The prosecutor could set up a model of a public toilet in the classroom and asked Mr. Craig to show his "wide stance" to the jury. The other thing I find ridiculous is that Craig claims in his motion that he was not fully aware of the rights he was waiving. Yes, he did waive his trial rights by mail when he signed the plea agreement and a judge never got to question him about the rights he was waiving. On the other-hand, he is a United States Senator and has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution. If there was ever a person in a position to waive constitutional rights, I think it would be him. From what I can tell, this is a win-win for the prosecutor, and for the Senator, it seems to only continue to make him the subject of nation-wide bathroom humor.

And about him being gay. . .watch this video and tell me what you think:

Two-L 25

You have certainly heard of the "freshman 15," but you have probably not heard of the "two-l 25." With only my third year of law school ahead of me, I have taken a little time out to weigh the past two years. I see all of these one-ls coming in all fit and fresh and, in general, pretty darn healthy looking. They are coming off the summer after college, or a year off working at Starbucks, or volunteering for non-profits so that, well, at least their resume might look a little fatter. Even last year's one-ls look pretty the same as when they came in and seem to have worked off the stress eating from the first year, but those of us who have survived legal writing-two and two full summers of real legal work certainly have a little more to show for our efforts--and much of it around the waist.

Before I get to calling anyone fat, I am basing these observations on my own weight gain and statements made freely to me by others in my class. Second year is probably the busiest and most stressful part of law school. In addition, you have been living off student loans for a year, which means your budget for healthy food has been diminished for two years now. I weigh more now than I ever have before, approximately 25 more pounds than I weighed at the beginning of law school (when, if you remember, I worked all day on my feet in a hot kitchen.) The law is very much a sedentary profession. Even in court, while I might be on my feet, I don't move around too much. And it is a busy profession, which means it feels like you don't have time to sit and eat slowly and healthfully (which may not actually be the case, but that is what it feels like.)

The good news is that your first year in practice looks to be even busier so that there won't even be time to eat, so those 25 pounds come off pretty quickly after getting your bar number. I also seem to have hit a plateau, so if I can get some regular exercise this semester, as I plan, I may actually start moving in the other direction.

Oh my where the time goes. . .

I just realized that school starts this week and I have not blogged in almost a month. I guess I have been too busy to blog, so I will try and summaries a few of the highlights from the past weeks.

At work, probably the biggest highlight was that I did my first jury trial. I always thought I would spend lots of time preparing for my first trial, but this did not happen like that. I learned about a half-hour before it began that my case would be going and another prosecutor asked if I had voir dire prepared. I had time to jot down a few notes, but mostly I had to wing it. It was a lot of fun, especially once I realized I was just having a conversation with the jury. There was a constant underlying fear that I would do something appealable (like call the defendant a liar,) but since there was a not-guilty verdict, any mistakes I made have long since been forgotten. It all went pretty well, except my testifying officer, when I asked him to name the defendant, used the first name of the defendant and the last name of the victim: it was an assault case: a bar fight to be more exact. It was not an easy case to get a guilty verdict. Essentially it came down to deciding who threw the first punch and I believe the jury just kind of threw up their arms and came back not-guilty (the judge said it was clear that the defendant was lying through his teeth on the stand, but why do you think his lawyer wanted a jury and not a bench trial.)

In my own defense for not blogging, I was gone for a whole week in Alaska. Here is a picture of a grizzly bear we saw:



I really liked Alaska. Granted we only saw a very little of it (only a week cruise up the inland passage) but it still maintains such wilderness as I have never experienced, unlike Colorado, Washington, or anywhere else I have been. If we ever run away from it all, it is to Alaska we will go.

And now school starts this week. I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays this week, so tomorrow is going to be just a plain old work day for me--except that I have to do homework. I have successful forgotten about homework until, well, right about now when I am going to start reading. As you can tell, I have chosen to blog instead. That must mean school has started. I am already looking for distractions. This is supposed to be the year they bore you to death.

There is really a lot more that happened in the last month, but sometimes life is just meant to be lived and not recorded.

Invisible Rope Trick

Funny

Non-Legal Observation

Ice-cream trucks are not what they used to be. I remember the ice-cream trucks of my childhood to be true vending vehicles, with a window that opened up in the back and no doors. They were more like small UPS trucks, painted white and covered with pictures of their sweet selections.

The ice-cream truck that passes through our apartment complex is a sad comparison. It is nothing more than an old 80's model Astro Van with the pictures of ice-cream plastered over the outside in a haphazard manner. You can see the empty boxes that used to hold the ice-cream piled up in the back seats and the music, which was always annoying, plays especially slow like the machine that generates those ice-cream truck melodies is not getting enough power.

The kids still flock, but they don't know what they are missing.

Only a Fool

The saying that he who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer is certainly true. It seems like the people least capable of representing themselves are the ones who try and get rid of their public defenders. I that if you are paranoid schizophrenic you might be upset that your lawyer is speaking with other lawyers, but that is exactly why you need an attorney. I don't envy the public defenders. It is really nice not to have clients. As a prosecutor, our clients are the citizens of the city, but they do not call or miss their appointments.

What I read at work nad what I do to forget it

This is one of the funniest, albeit saddest, lines I have read in a police report for work. I have redacted any names but have preserved the text almost entirely:

"she said she was a 24-7 drunk but the crack has helped her get off alcohol. She said crack cocaine is better for her than alcohol because she at least knows who she is waking up with now"

It is a good thing I got away to the mountains for a week of camping. Hundred year old trees, campfires, and naps in the afternoon help restore one's sense of humanity.

Summer Time

I have not had that much to blog about lately. Last time I was just about to head out on my ride along, but it was far less exciting than you might imagine. Mostly I stood around while the officer took witness statements from cases that had happened earlier that day. The only person we arrested was a guy who was waiting at the station when we returned claiming to have outstanding felony warrants. It was true that he had warrants, and he was arrested, but he had his ID out and turned around, putting his arms behind his back before we even walked up. He was a bit entertaining because he had just put down a 12-pack of beer. I did get to see the booking process, and the fact that I was not accidentally shot is a good thing.

Otherwise I have been just going to work and taking care of the home life. I was in court solo for the first time yesterday. It was just contested infraction court. I guess I can count it as a win. The court did uphold the ticket, although he reduced the penalty. Lawyers usually do not go to those hearings, but the kid who was contesting his ticket had subpoenaed the officer so they sent m down to handle it. For the rest of the time I mostly handle the arraignments. I feel pretty comfortable talking in court. I find it easier than teaching. At least you know the judge is listening as opposed to the undergraduates who I used to teach.

That is about it. We have beautiful weather here, so I am trying to spend my free time outside and not at the computer.

ride-along

It has been very crazy since getting back. I have not caught up from being on vacation. The good news is that I am now authorized to speak in court (albeit still supervised for a while.) I have been handling the arraignment calender along with the new prosecutor. For those of you who do not know,that is when you tell a criminal the charge against them and give them a chance to plead guilty or not guilty (which happens most of the time.) It is pretty simple. The part that requires some thinking is if they want to plead guilty and you can present them with an offer, or when you are asking the court to set bail. When I am would get flustered on bail I would just defer to the court.

Well, I am off to watch cops arrest some criminals. I guess I will be arraigning them come monday morning.

wildlife and doctors

I saw this bighorn sheep on my drive out of the mountains. I did not want to leave it was such a beautiful day in the mountains. Now I am in the dermatologists lobby. I used to get annual checkups,but during my wayward twenties I have not been here in seven years. I guess its part of my growing up that I am getting the once over by my dermatologists. I wonder if doctors are more careful with lawyers? my doctor friends definatly have had the fear of malpractice instilled in them. how much could go wrong taking off a mole anyway?