Law School Road Trip

Law school can be toilsome and enervating at the best of times. I learned quickly to cherish any tidbits of happiness, hat I could muster during law school, no matter how insignificant. One of those rare moments of pleasure was the spring break of my first year of law school. A group of my fellow peers planned a spring break road trip to the great Southwest. This road trip led us to the vast deserts of Arizona and the plateaus of Utah.

The specific moment in the picture attached was an entirely spontaneous decision for us to get out of the car and take a picture of the Welcome to Utah sign at the border between Arizona and Utah. I then had the random idea to have us all spell out the word Utah. It was a great moment of solidarity and fun. This road trip reminded me that I needed to make time for myself, to sometime get away from all the noise, and make sure I have fun.

#RoadTrip #Utah

Top 10 Things I Wish I knew Before Starting Law School

1.    Law school is almost like another culture in itself.
2.    Get to know your upper classmates, not just your section mates.
3.    Most law students tend to be very territorial creature of habits. I could find my friends based on their study spot.
4.    Be wary of the library during final weeks.
5.    Go to your professors’ office hours weekly. If you have no questions, make one up.
6.    The answer to is everything is "It depends." or "Possibly."
7.    Turnip Rule: You can't squeeze blood from a turnip.
8.    What an outline was.
9.    Tell yourself to breathe.
10.  Bar Review is different from a bar prep.

A Summary of What I Learned in 1L Year

Non-Legal Advice for 1Ls

1) Don't walk behind a tail-flicking horse. You can dislocate your retina. - Pat Brady v. R & R Stables, Legal Rhetoric

2) Playboy is classier than Penthouse - Keeton v. Hustler, Civil Procedure

3) The answer to is everything is "It depends." or "Possibly." - first day of classes

4) Sleeping Beauty can bring a tort of battery, and not assault, against Prince Charming for kissing her in her sleep (which is creepy if you think about it, a stranger kissing you while you're asleep). - Second Day of Torts

5) If a cat is given LSD, then the cat becomes CATatonic. – Torts

6) Being grounded usually doesn’t constitute false imprisonment. Apparently parents have some parental immunity. - Torts

7) The abbreviation for association is ass’n. – Torts

8) “Is it duress if someone threatens to chop off the pinky of your baby’s toe?” (The answer is yes.) - Torts

9) Money makes the world go round, so does torts. -Torts

10) Turnip Rule: You can't squeeze blood from a turnip. - Torts

11) You could probably get away with assaulting someone from behind. But battery is whole another story. - Torts

12) Wearing a short dress is not consent to be assaulted. - CREAC Workshop

13) Jack from Jack and The Beanstalk can be held liable for trespass to land, home invasion, murder. - CREAC Workshop

14) When your neighbor tells you that your fermenting hayrick will spontaneously combust, don’t tell that neighbor you’ll chance it.

15) Don’t suffer through law school just to die in as a drunk in a car accident. - Daly v. General Motors Company

1L Law School Rudimentary Prep Guide

Terminology

Barrister – another fancy word for lawyer, used mainly in England but sometimes used here

Barrister Ball – It’s like law school prom but fancier, which you should definitely go.

Bar Review – Going to drinking bars and hanging out with classmates. Do not confuse with Bar Prep.

Bar Prep – This is studying for the actual bar exam. Do not confuse with Bar Review.

Brief – it summarizes a case for easy access. Includes facts, issues, holding, rule of law, reasoning, outcome, and dissent/concurring opinion.

Elements – these are the list of things needed to be convicted/sued for a crime/tort.

IP – Intellectual Property – area of law that includes copyright, patents, trademarks, etc.

J.D. – juris doctor/doctor of jurisprudence – What you are trying to get now. Even though it is a doctorate, you cannot be called Dr. with just this. L

L&L or LAL – Lunch & Learn – bullshit event that makes you bring your own lunch to this panel. Also called brown bag lunch

LL.M. – Master of Laws – the next degree after J.D, postgraduate law degree

Law Review/Journal – the law school publication with legal articles. Do not confuse with Law Revue.

Law Revue – the law school musical play. Do not confuse with Law Review.

Legal practitioners - include justices, judges, law professors, attorneys, lawyers, barristers, counsel (not council), legal advisors, and law students. Legal practitioners LOVE abbreviations. You will never have encountered so many abbreviations in your lifetime.

MPRE – Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination – You will have to take this prior to taking any state bar exam, except Maryland (and I think Alaska but not sure?). It is a 2 hour exam with 60 multiple choice questions. Available 4 times a year. People usually take it 2L or 3L year. It tests how ethical you are. Don’t worry, you can fake being ethical. LOL.

Negligence – the elements are: duty, breach of duty, causation, damages. Don’t Blame Cameron Diaz.

Outline – a study guide you create for final exams that outline and summarize all the cases and concepts you learned in a class subject.

RAP - Rule Against Perpetuities - The common law rule against perpetuities forbids instruments (contracts, wills, and so forth) from tying up property for too long a time beyond the lives of people living at the time the instrument was written.

SBA - Student Bar Association – It is the student government for law school. They run and fund most of the students’ things.

SJ.D – Doctor of Juridical Science – the ultimate and last level of legal studies, you could be technically called a Dr. once you have this. It is an extra 3 to 5 years. A lot of people surprisingly don’t know what this is in the States though. It is more prestigious out of state.

Turnip rule – you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip. Symbolically, you can’t get money from just the average employee (turnip). You have to sue the big guns, aka the company, in order to get the money.

Top 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting Law School

1.    Law school is almost like another culture in itself.

2.    Get to know your upper classmates, not just your section mates.

3.    Most law students tend to be very territorial creature of habits. I could find my friends based on their study spot.

4.    Be wary of the library during final weeks.

5.    Go to your professors’ office hours weekly. If you have no questions, make one up.

6.    The answer to is everything is "It depends." or "Possibly."

7.    Turnip Rule: You can't squeeze blood from a turnip.

8.    What an outline was.

9.    Tell yourself to breathe.

10.  Bar Review is different from a bar prep.

Websites

Quimbee.com – case briefs and outlines for law school. But you have to pay for it now, which sucks

OutlineDepot.com – can look up past outlines for your professors

Dictionary.law.com – for legal terms you don’t know

Ncbex.org/exams/mpre – site to register for the MPRE and practice MPRE exam

Casebriefs.com – free site for case briefs and outlines for law school.

LexisNexis Advance – expensive search tool program that your law school should provide a subscription for with your tuition. It is has every legal thing you think of: briefs, transcripts, rules, statues, cases, etc.

Westlaw Next – expensive search tool program that your law school should provide a subscription for with your tuition. It is has every legal thing you think of: briefs, transcripts, rules, statues, cases, etc.

Oyez.org – supreme court case decisions

www.law.cornell.edu – free site that has statues, laws, regulations, CFRs, and major cases

Your law school website – should have past exams from your professors and past outlines from students who took the class previously.

Important Cases that is taught in every law school practically and will probably be in the beginning

Contracts

Hawkins v. McGee – a.k.a. Hairy Hand – leading case about damages for breach of contract. A doctor screws up a skin graft surgery on a young boy’s hand. Few days later, the boy’s hand becomes really hairy, like really hairy. Boy’s father gets pissed and says the hand looks worse than before. How much is the doctor liable for?

Civil Procedure

Piper Aircraft v. Reyno – the standard case about forum non conveniens

Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins – very important and difficult apparently. It’s about choice of law and which law to use when the state                  law and federal law differs. I can help you with this case once you reach it since I am knowledgeable about it.

International Shoe Co. v. Washington – case about minimum contacts for jurisdiction

Torts

Palsgraf v. Long Island - Poor Mrs. Palsgraf was injured by a falling set of scales, the result of a box of fireworks that fell onto the railroad tracks and exploded. The box fell only after a passenger, who was being shoved into a crowded train car by a guard, dropped them. Judge Benjamin Cardozo's opinion created the "foreseeability" test for negligence, recognizing that a chain of actions had to be cut off somewhere. Cardozo chose "foreseeability."

Summers v. Tice - Three men go hunting: two behind and one in front, forming a triangle. The two behind see a quail. They shoot. The man in front gets hit with bird shot. Which of the two men behind is at fault? Either or both, said the California Supreme Court. If the plaintiff can't figure out which defendant specifically caused his injury, then as long as he can show that both defendants were negligent, the plaintiff can recover against each of them or both of them, and it's up to the defendants to sort out their own liability between them.

Breunig v. American Family Insurance Co. – so you may not go over this case since it is not a standard case but if you do, let me know. This is the one with the crazy lady who thought she was Batman or driving the Batmobile. The main point is that not all types of insanity are a defense to negligence.

Garratt v. Dailey – This case is whether a young child can have intent. A 5-year-old boy pulls a chair out from under an old lady just as she's about to sit down. Naturally, she's injured. Did he act intentionally? Yes, said the Supreme Court of Washington in this important 1955 decision establishing that acting with "substantial certainty" of resultant harm is enough to show intent.

United States v. Carroll Towing Co. - Judge Learned Hand first applied a simple cost-benefit analysis (the "Hand Formula") to this case about a bunch of barges that brook free from their moorings, hitting another barge and sinking it. The Second Circuit found Carroll Towing, which had secured the mooring lines, had not met its standard of care because the cost of potential damage, multiplied by the probability of damage, was greater than the expense to take adequate precautions (Benefit < Cost x Probability). Cost-benefit analysis is one the foundations of the Law and Economics school of thought.

Negligence – the elements are: duty, breach of duty, causation, damages. Don’t Blame Cameron Diaz.

Turnip rule – you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip. Symbolically, you can’t get money from just the average employee (turnip). You have to sue the big guns, aka the company, in order to get the money.

My Torts professor loved Judge Cardozo and Judge Learned Hand, so you may hear these names frequently in Torts.

Property

RAP - Rule Against Perpetuities - The common law rule against perpetuities forbids instruments (contracts, wills, and so forth) from tying up property for too long a time beyond the lives of people living at the time the instrument was written.

White v. Samsun Electronics America, Inc. – You remember that lady who showed the letters on the board from Wheel of Fortune? She sued Samsung for an ad they made using her likeness and it was an intellectual property case.

Bar Review vs Bar Prep

I have been many firsts in my family: the first to be an American citizen, the first to attend and graduate from a university in America, the first to move to a different state, and the first to obtain a juris doctorate. Being the first of so many events, I grew up to be very self-dependent and self-sufficient, more inclined to figure things out by myself with minimal assistance.

So it was natural for me to learn and experience novel things through trial and error or through independent research. Law school was no different from any other challenge that I have faced. I didn’t have any family members or neighbors who went to law school to tell me what it was going to be like. Everything I knew about law school, I learned through internet searches, books, and advice blogs. But the one thing they all seem to fail to mention is bar review.

Naturally, I read about the bar exam before I applied to law schools and knew the basic about the bar and its purpose. I knew it is a difficult exam that requires months of studying. But that was about it.

Fast forward to the first week of law school. In the first floor lobby, there’s a common area where student organizations table to promote an event or make announcements. It’s a central hub of information. One table was advertising for bar review. I approach the table looking at their sign and trying to find more information. One of the students asked me if I was interested in attending. I responded yes, definitely. How much are tickets, I inquired. She responded, it’s just three dollars and you show this wristband at the door when you get there. I asked her can even 1Ls attend this. She replied, yea anyone who purchased a wristband and bring your driver’s license too.

At this point, I’m thinking wow what an amazing school and what an opportunity. They start preparing you for the bar from day one. That is unbelievable. I ask the student one more question, “What do I need to bring with me in addition to my license?” She gave me a flash of a confused look but responded, “Just yourself and your license.”

Shortly after, I go home to get ready for the bar review. Even though she said we wouldn’t need anything, I thought I should be prepared in case they didn’t have enough materials or something. So not knowing what to bring, I pack all of my class supplies. I pack pencils, pens, a notepad, highlighters, my laptop, my laptop charger, my phone, my phone charger (just in case), and all of my textbooks. If you ever seen a law school text, one of those things weigh like a sack of flour. I brought all seven. Once I ensured everything was packed, I took the metro to Dupont Circle to find the location. Again, I had just moved to the city and was completely naïve to the area. I stop in front of the location, The Sign of the Whale. For a few moments, I just stand there, outside, by myself, wondering if I’m at the right address.

From inside the building I’m supposed to go in for this study session, I hear loud music pouring out, the smell of alcohol, and noisy conversation with lots of people, more than I expected. I rationalized that there might be a second floor with soundproof walls and that’s where everyone is. Seeing how I’m already there and the address matched, I go in and try to see where I was supposed to go. I walk around, not seeing any other rooms or stairs until I see two people I vaguely recognized from my classes drinking beer.

It wasn’t until that moment that I remembered there was another type of bar. Leave it to the Asian student to focus solely on studying and exams. I approach my fellow peers to join them. They look at my bags and books and papers and asked me if I had just gotten out of class or something. I responded, yeaaaa, let’s just go with that.

So I leave you with two important lessons I learned my first week:

        Bar review is different from bar prep; and

    It never hurts to ask clarifying questions and to ask for help.

My 1L Year at Law School

Ever since I watched an Animal Planet documentary where a veterinarian was performing surgery, my ambition of being a doctor of any type was quickly quashed. Fortunately, I was not in hiatus for long. In third grade, my energy and focus then shifted towards a juris doctor degree. My parents told me I have always been like that; I’ll spend some time on a decision and once it’s made, I see it to the end. My decision to attend law school was no exception.

I was far from the ideal student and had no indication that I would adapt to the perplexing culture that is law school. I received a B.S. in psychology with a Spanish minor instead of history, political science, or English; I never interned for the prosecutor’s office or government agency (in fact, never had an actual job); I’ve always attended public schools; I never worn heels, pumps, or a suit. I spent my time tutoring, volunteering, and swimming, read manga until nineteen, never read Wall Street or the New York Times before twenty, and was not endowed with affluent parents. The list continues, but my point has been established. While there are those who may fit the description above, this was my initial impression of an average law student. I have discovered during law school that my impression was not far off from the truth. The few outliers I met were even more radical than I could have imagined. Or they were foreigners. The few friends I made, god bless them, are able to tolerate me and are daily sources of inspiration.

Wearing my blue shirt with a geeky math joke on it, shredded denim jeans, Converse high tops, and my blazing red-tipped hair, I braced myself for my first day of law school. The following year, I discovered my hair was the highlight of many clandestine discussions among my peers. Going into my first class, I had no expectations because I could not even begin to fathom what was going to occur. All I could do and did was pack my brown bag, ready my school supplies, and charge my laptop. In a class of eighty plus students, about seventy percent of the class all pulled out Apple Macs. One by one, the bitten apple logo lit up and chimed as if though in a musical symphony. It was an intriguing spectacle to behold. Unlike Cher from Clueless, I knew a little better than to bring a tiny notepad, but barely. And no, I have yet to purchase a neon orange Mac or a bright pink suit. I carried on swimmingly with my sleek, black Toshiba laptop.

I heard and learned more than just the legalese in classes but also the jargon in our law school culture. I began to hear war stories about the fate-determining OCI, the dark dungeon that is OCPD, and the Herculean task of write-on. I quickly caught on that the legal profession is far too important to spell out words, so abbreviations dominate the profession. In the lobby, where student organizations promote and advertise their events, I encountered this strange phenomenon called “Bar Review.” Now, being diligent on my path to achieving a JD, I had researched what it took to become an esteemed esquire, a venerated barrister, an admired attorney of the legal profession and had heard of the state bar. However, I have never heard of bar review, and I was no native to the area. I thought it was marvelous that they began our arduous training after school and so early in the game. Of course, I immediately signed up without inquiring.

After classes, I packed my laptop, charger, books, an energy drink, pens and papers, all into my backpack, hobbling to Dupont Circle like Atlas. But alas, I noticed something amiss as soon as I arrived at the door. I heard rowdy noises, bright lights emitting from the windows, people of all ages, and the familiar aroma of beer and desperation. Discombobulated as usual, I thought nothing more except maybe it was being held upstairs in a quieter room. I enter meekly and awkwardly, trying not to capture the attention of the merrymakers and sought out for like-minded people within the tumultuous storm of drunks, scoundrels, and barmaids. It took me fifteen minutes in the bar when the little light bulb lit up over my head. An epiphany washed over me when I realized there was no quieter room, there was no one with books or pencils, and there was no study group. Defeated, humiliated, but mostly amused, I sat down at the bar and ordered a large, cold one while I contemplated the universe, politics, and John Lennon with the locals.

Since then, I have grown wiser (not really) and warier about unfamiliar terms. If I learn nothing else from law school, at least I will have learned to ask questions and read the fine print first.

I continued my shenanigans through law school and intend for them to continue in the future. I signed up to write for law revue instead of participating in law review. During write-on, I traipsed in the Navajo Nation performing pro bono legal services, claiming that I slept in teepees and hunted buffalos to any naïve fool who made the mistake of believing me. I floundered fabulously during the Mock Trial Spring Qualifying Tournament and dressed up as a skeleton for Halloween in class to attract the attention of the professor-who-must-not-be-named. For Valentine’s Day, I brewed up hot chocolate and sweets for my peers to do battle against the ferocious, raging, ½-inch “Snow-pocalypse” and orchestrated class superlatives for the end-of-the-year festival.

All the tomfooleries and various whatnots allow me to remain the person I have always been. In fact, these shenanigans contribute to my personal successes and maintain whatever little sanity I have left. (To be candid, I never believed I had much sanity in the first place.) This is what diversity is. It’s more than the fact that I am an Asian American female. This is what separates me from the rest. One of my mentors advised me to not let law school changed me. At first, I did not realize the depth and veracity of her advice. I thought I have always been the same and have no plans of changing. But inadvertently, law school has a way of getting in your skin and mind and soul. I found my barely existent tolerance for ignorant, biased cretins ever lower; I have far less patience than I am accustomed to; my reasoning have become more straightforward and less innovative; I find less pleasure in life in general; and I found it difficult to relate to the layman with my issues. All these activities and events my peers scoff at as a waste of time allows me to stay focused and gives me something other than law school. I have had a prosperous internship every semester in law school. The summer of my 2L year, I received three paid internship offers and two unpaid ones. I will probably be able to secure a career sooner than my counterparts, one that I will change the world and leave my mark on history.