Types of Law Students (Levels)

So it becomse apparent midway through the semester, probably sooner the different kinds of law students.

There are 4 levels of students, and within each level are specific types of individuals.

There are:
The upper group that pretty much has a grasp on the material at least what is presented in class. This is an interesting mixtures of assholes and cool people. The widest variety of individuals reside in this class and in the kinda have it group.

The kinda have it group, that hold on to what they know, but really milk it for what it is worth. In all honesty it is hard to tell between these first two groups. There are certain classes of people that make this line blurry, but fear not, an explanation is forth coming in subsequent posts.

The kinda don't have it, these are the people that would be in the kinda have it group, but seem to act more like an undergrad. They come in hung over, and always have a story about the night before, and complain about being way far behind in their reading.

Then there is the don't have it group. This is the group that has people dropping out and always have that frantic, confused, pissed off look in their face.

Remember these are perceptions. Not actually based on knowledge. It could be the pissed off people are mad because everyone else is so stupid, or the kinda don't have it people get drunk because they are bored because they know everything already. Granted this is not too terribly likely, but most certianly this is a concern.

I fall somewhere between the Upper level, and the kinda have it group. Some days are better than others. I know I am not totally lost in most of my classes. I can follow what is going on. I can ask good questions in class. This is good.

I will go into more detail about the personalities within each group a bit later. They are quite fasinating like much of law school is.

Ah the First Cool Front, and a moment of reflection

So the first cool front of the year has blown in. Temps from 100 degrees not three weeks ago as of right now is about 49. There is something about the north wind that charges the soul. The sky is never as blue than on days like today. I also know that the semester is beginning its rapid decline, and soon my freedom will be limited between book covers. These are the days I miss College Station the most.

Thinking back this has been an eventful semester.
From the Aggies being worse than everybody thought,
to a Hurricane that everybody had to evacuate from,
to the Astros winning the pennant.

At least the last two are events that don't usually happen to this part of Texas. Better yet, these senarios happened about 3 weeks apart from each other, so they were like mile stones directing me farther into the semester.

By the time I looked up there were only about 3-4 weeks of classes left. Are you kidding?! I just started! There is a background noise of hysteria that was always there, but is now beginning to grow into a dull roar.

People are beginning to not show up for class because they think they will have to recite, and professors will go through 4 people on the list just to get to one who is present.

Every day is more surreal than the next.
This weekend I shall have one more solid weekend in College Station, but after that it will be whatever happiness i can grab in a 4 hour time span betweens studyin.

It is getting crazy

Hazing...

Dear John Roberts,
You are about to get your ass so whipped by the current supremes it is just mind-boggling.

I've heard that they make you adminster justice with your pants off, and you have to pop 2 viagra before each hearing. There will be no half mast for you Chief Justice Roberts!

Then, you must lie in a coffin and watch 6 straight hours of the Ginsberg sex tape that has been circling the internet.

If you aren't dead at this point they will make you do a sixty second keg stand and prank call George W. to ask if his refridgerator is still running.

Also, on top of all that you have to take a nose dive from the bench to land between the supple cleavage of Anna Nicole Smith.

Once all this is accomplished you will learn the secret handshake, and upon your completetion of sitting in the Lincon Memorial on Abe's lap, naked, on acid, reciting the Restatement of Contracts, you will be finally initiated into the Supreme Court.

You will meet the ghost of John Marshall, and actually get to kiss the rotting corpse of Oliver Holmes, amazingly enough his white mustache is still there!

So congratualtions Chief Justice Roberts, you deserve it!

Sincerly,
Bootstraps

I'm a 1000 Miles From Nowhere

And there is no place I'd rather be....

It becomes apparent midway through your 1st semester of law school that you will never be the same.

At first when you hear you will change you don't believe it. Even in the first few weeks you hold to the fact that you wont change. You still go out, get smashed like an undergrad, and have many friends that are willing to do the same right along with you.

Then day by day these things begin to slip.

The first thing to go is your concept of the weekend. In college it was Wed.-Sun. Now you just pray you get at least one night completely free. Getting lit up is usually a luxuary you can't afford because of the atrocious hangover that you weather all the next day. However, make no mistake that you still get wasted, but now you just know that you shouldn't. It will only take a day for you to realize why 1 out of 5 lawyers have an alcohol problem.

The next is your hoard of friends. Your relationship will change a bit like it or not. Lie to yourself if you want to, but it does. Your friends are not on the same page as you. You look at things differently. They can slam 5 beers faster than you can drink 1 and you are more drunk than they are after it. Believe me this is a good thing that they don't think like you. It is like drinking from a mountian stream after crossing the desert when nobody asks you for 24-hours what a Reasonable Person would do. Old friends are refreshing

The next step is your slip into Nowhere. Work is piling on from the Law School gods, what you thought you had a handle on at the beginning of the semester is slipping from your mind, the price of gas is 3 bucks a gallon, and finals are now in the somewhat distant horizon. You begin to doubt what you are doing is the right way to study. You find yourself lost in thought most of the time while walking around doing things. You can't fall asleep very well because you are again lost in thought. Conversations on the phone with your usual people becomes distant because half the time you are wishing you were reading torts and not chatting on the phone.

However, at least for me, I enjoy it. You have to take things day by day and week by week. Everyday will present itself with a unique challenge and it is up to you how to handle it. Everyday is an opportunity to do better, and everyday is another opportunity to do worse. If you let yourself drown without a fight, there will be no re-surfacing, but if you thrash hard enough, you may not lose sight of the daylight and emerge once again.

Almost losing to Baylor? I mean are you kidding?

So there I was, sitting in my recliner in my athletic shorts when Texas A&M enters Kyle Field on saturday at 11:30. I had just cleared my afternoon schedule so I could devote my attention to the Aggies. Little did I know at the time I could have saved myself the commercial breaks and headed down to the high school stadium to watch some pee-wee football. The Aggies were atrocioius on offensive, and sub-par on defense. The defense did do well in holding the Bears down to just a few points, but that may have been because the Bears don't know how to find the end-zone. I'm not knocking Baylor they played a great game. There defense was all over the place, and their quaterback did fairly well.

How is Texas A&M going to compete with the big boys if we cant whip the step sister of the Big12?

I'm afraid it may be a long season. BUT I've been wrong before.

A good litmus test will be this weekend of the road against Colorado

Whatever, Im still mad.