Gather Around and You Shall Hear...

Of the cite-checking journey of Amanda the Law Student!

Wait, that doesn't work.

Typing this real fast while I scarf down some mac and cheese before class.  (My dietary habits have really gone straight to hell.)

"What is that?" I hear you saying.  THAT is a cite-checking binder and it is 2 inches thick of paper, and 10 hours of work SO FAR.  Some advice for all you 1Ls planning your future:  When thinking of taking on journal responsibilities, think of all the work you'll have to do, then multiply it by two.  Because "Staff Member of ________" really means "Journal Bitch Who Does the Scut Work."

Cite-checking:
1.  Find all of the sources mentioned in the citations you're checking.  They must be PRINT versions or the scanned PDFs of print versions.  Even in the age of the internet, there can be NO internet sources.
2.  Make copies of all of those sources.  However many copies you will need.
3.  Separate those sources by citation.  Put them in a handy tabbed binder.
4.  Get out your handy dandy highlighter because now you get to find what all of the information in the article you're cite-checking refers to in the sources!  Highlight all of that source material so that your editors know exactly where it came from.  Also don't forget the publication/decision date, author's name, page number, and name of journal/reporter.  Or you will have to go back to step 2 and make more copies.
5.  Editing below and above the line.  Remember my "Journal Bitch" comment above?  Yep!  Now you get to go through and make sure EACH of the author's citation formats are correct.  For over 100 sources!  Because the author is a 60 year old man who can't be BOTHERED to format his own citations.  That's why we have staff members!  Then you edit the actual text, to make sure there are no grammar or plagiarism style mistakes.
6.  Turn in your binder to editorial board members who will inevitably tell you that you didn't do it right.
7.  Wait for next hellish assignment.

It's due tomorrow and I haven't started step 5 yet.

Yep.  Worst.  Decision.  Ever.

Anybody out there have a different/similar journal experience they'd like to share?

Chi-Town, I Love You

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure New York is awesome, and San Francisco is a great place to wear flowers in your hair, but there's nothing like Chicago in the fall during this time of year.  The days are warm because of the sun, but the air is perfect sweater weather.  The scarves come out, and its the perfect time for a brisk walk to go get a bite to eat or a cup of coffee.

The other night, coming home from class I saw the Parks and Recreation trucks out.  What were they doing?  Putting the winter lights up in the trees.  When they're on, they light up my way home, twinkling the whole way.  When it gets colder out and starts to snow, the air literally sparkles as your breath steams in front of you in the air.

There aren't a ton of trees out in the city, but the ones I can see out the window right now are a cheery sort of yellow, and if you walk by Grant Park, it's riotous color.  The sun comes up later these days.  It's perfect to leave your curtains open, and let the sun help you wake up.  It reflects on the twisted metal buildings across the street and hits my pillow at exactly 7:08 am.  Good morning, Chicago.  It's time for another wonderful day.

Walking past the bakery every morning is a delight and a temptation.  Is there anything like the smell of warm, fresh-baked bread at 8 am?  Is there anything like being able to stand on the street corner, waiting for the light to change in the crisp air, drinking in that smell of goodness?  The sky's so blue it's blinding, even in October and the people are actually smiling because their commute won't be uncomfortable for the next few weeks.

The buildings are gorgeous, and there's always something unexpected around the corner.  I have the feeling sometimes that I'm right where I ought to be.

Chicago, I love you.

Even if you will have a distinct odor of hobos and french fries tomorrow.

I'm Really Underqualified for This

I gave advice to a couple 1Ls yesterday.  They were curious about the structure of Professor J's take-home contracts exam and how to prepare for it.  My best advice?  Know major themes and edit that paper for a full 24 hours.  That was found insufficient.  I forgot.  1Ls are an anxious, nervous lot who require more guidance than that.  I know.  I was one once, and I had no one to guide me.  Their mentor is a great guy who really wants to help them navigate the shark-infested waters of the first year of law school.  My mentor ditched me before the school year started.  I figured out law school on my own.  Whether that helped or hurt me, I couldn't tell you.  Especially since I apparently did everything wrong/different.  I don't have any mentees, which is probably good considering the fact that I wouldn't have a lot of time for them, but if I had to give general advice, this is what it would be:

1.  Structure.  Structure your days.  Give yourself a schedule.  Tell yourself that you WILL be in the library by 9 am.  I woke up at 6:45 every morning, went to school and read until my first class at 10:30.  I had class from 10:30 to 12, lunch from 12-1, and then I went back to the library at 1 to finish my reading.  I went to my afternoon classes, and then back to the library for any reading I hadn't gotten to yet.  If I had any legal writing to do, it was done at home after class and a break.  Making sure my days had structure was a great way to make sure everything got done, and that I had free time at night.  By staying on top of my schedule, I could almost always quit working at 8 pm and go to the gym or watch tv.

2.  Stay ahead.  This is the best (and only) advice I received before starting law school.  If you stay a week ahead of your reading, it won't matter if you have to skip it now and then to work on something more important, like the interoffice memo due before Thanksgiving break.  You won't get behind if you plan to stay ahead.  It makes the first week grueling, but after that it makes your life so much easier.

3.  Sleep.  I cannot stress the importance of sleep enough.  Most law students don't get enough sleep and are exhausted all the time.  Look, it's better to skip reading that last case tonight so that you can focus in class and take notes tomorrow.  Chances are pretty good that you won't get called on anyway.  I don't know about you, but I'm so much more productive when I sleep, and those who sleep have a stronger immune system.  Remember, you can't afford to get sick.

4.  Medicate.  Don't be ashamed.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, right?  If I had taken better care of myself and had seen the doctor when I didn't feel good, I probably wouldn't have gotten swine flu, nearly gotten pneumonia, or landed in the emergency room for poisoning my system.  (And that was all first semester!)  Being sick takes time.  If you have a cold, take that daytime cold medicine to get you through the long schoolday and then take the night time medicine so that you get the sleep you so rightly deserve.  And if your body is trying to tell you something, LISTEN.  Seeing a doctor now could save you a whole day of not being able to get out of bed later.

5.  Synthesize.  You're being tested on themes, not individual cases.  There's a reason you're supposed to be pulling the rules out of those cases, not anything else.  You want to know how the law fits together for the exam, not every random thing that came up in class.  I've seen people study some really stupid things that never came up on the exam.  Every moment you study something useless is a moment you could be sleeping.  (Have I mentioned how important I find sleep?)

But the major piece of advice I would give any 1L is "Take a chill pill."  It's school.  You've been doing school your whole life.  It's just a new kind of learning.  You'll do so much better if you relax and look at the big picture.

You Will Curse the Day You Did Not Do.....

Le sigh.  It is going to be a long week.  I need to work on my article, my appellate brief, my cite-checking assignment, and somehow get all my reading done.  And I should probably start outlining.  Eventually.  It's only Monday morning, and I think I'm ready to have a panic attack.  Why?  Because I have already been annoyed multiple times today!  Shall we count together?

1.  The undergrads.  Dear undergraduate students.  I realize that sometimes you, too, have classes in the Lewis building.  Please take the designated elevators for your building though.  They are larger and there's a skybridge to Lewis.  That way, we law students can take our designated elevators and not have to wait for all five hundred of you to go up first.  Also, if you were NOT the first person there, don't cram yourself onto the elevator.   Seriously.  If I beat you to the line of elevators, I will accidentally-on-purpose hit you in the face with my 30 pound backpack when you try to squeeze me out of said elevator.  (I did that this morning.  Violence is sometimes the answer.)  I don't CARE that you're going to be late to class.  Spend less time on your hair in the morning, and take an earlier train.

2.  Sick.  Ugh.  I HATE being sick.  And it's that lovely cold virus that we all have, so I'm constantly sniffling and sneezing and having everyone glare at me for being a plague rat.  And since everyone thinks I'm going to give them a disease, Nyquil is my only friend.  (And what a glorious friend it is too, considering the construction going on outside my window.)

3.  The Construction Outside My Window.  I don't know what you're doing to the road out there, but must you start jackhammering at 5:30 am?  And those metal plates you've been putting down to cover up the holes you're making?  Yeah, cars driving over those all night is a loud, loud thing.

4.  I'm a loser.  The Boy keeps beating me at Scrabble.  I am the Scrabble Queen!!  This is such an embarrassment to the title.

5.  Phantom of the Opera.  Seriously, if I have to hear the song "All I Ask of You" one more time on Pandora, I will END someone.  I love the website with all my heart, but it seems to think I love listening to Sarah Brightman OVER AND OVER AGAIN.  I don't.  At all.  Not even a little bit.

What Do You Mean I Have to Stay Here? The Sun Finally Came Out!

Have you ever noticed how some days everything is easy, and on other days it's like pulling teeth to get things done.  I promised myself I would get five full pages written on my article today, preferably before Evidence at 2:30.  Well, it's 1:00, I've been working for about 2.5 hours, and I've written one page.  ONE PAGE.  I write a sentence, realize it looks wrong/is on the wrong topic/doesn't flow from the previous sentence, and have to erase it.  And once I finally get it written in an appropriate way, I still have to find support for it from one of the many articles/cases in my 10 pound notebook of research.  

I don't think it's a motivation thing.  Sure, I'm not really feeling motivated, but that's usually the case, so it's nothing new.  I just think some days your brain is so fuzzy that you honestly can't accomplish anything.  And it's not my fault.  I had my phone stolen, so I don't have random texts coming in every half hour or so to make me laugh while I work, and LSBFF forgot her keys last night and I had to let her in late.

Apparently, she was banging on the door to our apartment for a solid fifteen minutes last night before I got out of bed to let her in.  Why?  Because I was asleep, and when I heard the very rhythmic, very loud knocking, I assumed (in my sleepy brain) that LSBFF was decorating the living room and hammering things into the walls.  I was so pissed at her for deciding to decorate in the middle of the night.  Eventually, the thought made its way to my brain that it was insane to decorate in the middle of the night and LSBFF is not insane.  So I got up and let her in.  Of course, in my sleepy state, I wasn't thinking very clearly, so I didn't actually pick up my glasses so that I could see who I was letting into the apartment.  Fortunately, it was my roomie and not a serial killer.  WIN.

Now back to attempting to summarize the justifications of textualism.

Everybody Limbo!

Had a quick conversation with a friend today about how hard it is sometimes to be one of the young folks in law school.  When it comes to legal education, you can go one of two routes:  (1) You can take some time off and make sure this is really what you want, or (2) you can go straight to law school from college so that you don't have time to talk yourself out of it.  Like the majority of law students, I came to the legal world straight out of undergrad, with nary a year to spare, and I'm starting to feel like I'm living in limbo.

There are only 581 days left of this harrowing experience known as law school, but it stretches out before me like an Indiana highway:  Flat, long, and with corn blocking my vision on both sides.  My current goal for coping is to wear blinders like a spooked horse and concentrate on the short term goals immediately before me and try not to notice neither the life that is (hopefully) waiting for me nor the present fun that other people are having.  I'm living in the in-between, where all that matters is this moment, and the short-sightedness is starting to make me antsy.

"In the Divine Comedy, Dante depicts Limbo as the first circle of Hell, located beyond the river Acheron but before the judgment seat of Minos. The virtuous pagans of classical history and mythology inhabit a brightly lit and beautiful—but somber—castle which is seemingly a medieval version of Elysium. They include Hector, Julius Caesar, and Virgil."*

In order for Dante to travel deeper into Hell, he has to wait in Limbo for Virgil to come along and show him around.

If I'm in limbo now, I don't know what that means for the future.

Or if I want my own personal Virgil to show up.

I'm fine without traveling to the ninth circle, but thanks so much!


__________
*Thanks Wikipedia! 

 

I Can Go The Distance. (And So Can You!)

Oh man.  This has been one of those weeks.  On Monday, my body was sure it was Thursday, and it's been confused about why the weekend hasn't started ever since.  Today my goal was just to stay awake and I nearly failed.  Twice.  And since I'm not really in the mood to wax poetic, I gift you with a List.

How To Keep Going Even Though You Want Desperately to Say "Screw It"

1.  Just do it.  Sorry for the Nike endorsement, but seriously quit whining about your sad life and just get it done.  If you're reading and falling asleep (like yours truly) start taking notes in the margins.  If you're trying to write and it's like pulling teeth because you can't figure out what to say (also like yours truly) just start throwing words on a page and make it pretty later.  Seriously.  Don't stop what you're doing just because you're tired or frustrated.  If you stop now, you'll just have to do it later.  Not.  Worth.  It.

2.  Posture.  Have you REALLY thought about your posture?  Slumping in your chair is going to make you sleepier.  If you find your lids closing against  your will, readjust yourself.  Pick your butt slightly out of your chair, stretch your arms way over your head, and take a deep breath while sitting back down.  Make sure that as you make contact with the chair, your shoulders are set back and not rounded.  Open your eyes as wide as you can, just briefly, and breathe deeply into your diaphragm.  Let the oxygen get to your brain, and have your body send your mind a message that denotes your alertness.

3.  Bribery.  Look, I'm not proud of it, but we all get to the point where we've already had a really long day and there's a lot left.  On those days, I bribe myself.  I tell myself, "Two more hours and you can stop on the way home for a library book."  Or, "if you just finish this, you can get Thai takeout on the way home."  There's nothing better for making me get things done than telling myself I can have something I really want.  And it works every time.*

4.  Take a Break.  You can only look at words on a page or a screen for so long before they start to blur together.  Arrange short breaks for yourself on intervals of an hour or so.  My favorites?  If I'm in the library or the student lounge, I like to give myself ten minutes on gchat with a friend every hour.  It gives me something to look forward to when I'm working in solitude, plus it's pretty easy to get back to work.  If I'm at home, I like to pick a favorite song on Itunes and dance in my room.  It gets the blood pumping again, and I get to be goofy for just a few minutes.  Having that extra energy from shaking my sillies out works wonders.

5.  Disney Music.  Yes, I know it's cheesy, but when half the songs are about doing the best you can and being awesome, how can it NOT be great inspiration for when you're feeling a little low?  Sometimes I feel like law school is just one big production of Mulan.**

That's about it.  What do you do when you have to keep going, no matter how much your brain/body is begging you to stop?

_______________________
*I have to admit, sometimes my bribe is as simple as "If you get this done, you can go home.  That's usually enough to get me to do my work.

**Not really.  But it probably is trying to make a man out of me and allow me to bring honor to my family.  Or something.