Barrister's Ball

After my long absence, I looked at my draft folder and saw that I had started a post on the Barrister's Ball. Even though it's been MONTHS since this happened, I decided to finish it up anyway. Here it is. . .


So at the beginning of February, we all got a save the date email for Barrister's Ball. That was happening IN February. Wait, what? Where were the details? The place? The extras? No one knew. And when we asked the people in charge, they could only say "we aren't allowed to say more until we finish signing the contract." Wait, It's in a few weeks, the contract isn't signed yet? Yikes! We all pretty much agreed that this Ball was going to suck and I know many people who decided not to go because of this. Fiancé and I still wanted to go but we really didn't have high expectations. The year before, the Barrister's Ball was so much fun and it was so well organized that the tickets went on sale months before the actual ball. We couldn't see how they could top it, even with the best organization.

We were wrong. We were so, so, so, wrong. It was a Casino Royale theme and it was an absolute blast. We all got to play all the gambling games we wanted and with our "winnings" we got to enter into a raffle depending on how much we made. The drinks were incredible and there were multiple bars all around so there were no lines. Plus the food was actually VERY good this year. Last years was boring and I wasn't very impressed. There were multiple photo opportunities and a live band and dancing. All in all, it was very well done.

However, I did learn for the first time how much the Barrister's Ball actually costs the student body and I am pretty horrified about it. It costs over 50,000 dollars each year! Now maybe I'm crazy but that seems ridiculous for a bunch of students who continuously complain about the high cost of tuition. I mean, sure, some of that is paid by our 50 dollar tickets but not that much of it. The rest comes out of the Student Body budget which comes from our tuition dollars. Yikes!

I will of course go next year because 1) it'll be my last year and 2) my refusal to go wouldn't lower the amount paid in any way. I just think it's a bit excessive.

As to the after-party . . . well the least said the better. It did involve walking barefoot, a strip club and an uber so obviously ... we had a great time. The next day wasn't quite as fun but we survived.

Oops - I did it again

I fell off the face of the earth again. In my defense, this last semester was pretty miserable and when it finally ended, I had two days to fly back to Washington State for my sisters wedding. Totally worth it but totally exhausting.

Not all that much has changed since I last wrote a blog post. I am still a law student but now I can call myself a rising 3L. ONLY ONE MORE YEAR!!! I did pretty much screw up my grades this last semester. Well, in my own special snowflake way. I didn't go below the curve (Thank you Jesus!) but I basically hit the curve for the first time. Sigh. I'd like to say it wasn't my fault or blame it on all my writing courses but honestly, I just didn't have much motivation to study. The class I did the worst in, should have been one of the easier classes but I allowed myself to get behind in the reading and then skipped the maximum allowed days of absences so I wouldn't be cold called on when I hadn't done the reading. I did catch back up of course but I didn't do a whole lot more than that. I cruised and it showed in my grades. My own fault.

I am working at a law firm this summer so I hope to God I get some actual experience under my belt because I feel completely out of my depth. I really like the firm and it's pretty much all Elder Law so I want to soak up as much information as I can. They aren't looking to add more associates so I unfortunately cannot turn this summer job into a permanent one but I'm just so excited to be working in Elder Law that I don't care. Plus I actually get paid this summer. WHEEEE.

Watching all the just graduated 3L's studying for the bar has really made me want to cherish my last year of law school. The bar prep company says that it's 8-10 hours a day, six days a week but everyone I've talked to says that is a lie. They've been studying 7 days a week, no breaks for over a month now and it just doesn't sound fun. Worth it because at the end, you get to practice law. But no fun all the same.

This coming up Fall semester will be interesting. I was accepted into the Elder Law clinic so I will only be taking half the classes but of course, will be working part time instead. I am trying to get as much experience as I can before I graduate and I'm excited about this clinic. I will be working with low income elders and will actually be practicing law!!!!! (Under the supervision of an attorney of course) How awesome is that?

All in all, life is going okay. Some bumps, some bruises but I'm still standing.

Can't complain.

Thank the Florida Sun

So the first week of school in August, I got my hair cut to my shoulders. Yesterday, I had to cut almost seven inches to get it back to my shoulders.

My hair grew SEVEN inches in six months.

What the heck Florida?

Proof I am too old for this

One night. I only pulled one all nighter. I stayed up all Thursday night, turned in my work on Friday morning and took a two hour nap. Then I got back to work and caught up on my reading. YAY! I'm caught up! Whooo. Now to move onto next week right?

No. I went to bed on Friday night, woke up for two hours and then went back to sleep. I slept until 6pm on Saturday.

Well surely I would stay up all night and get some work in right? Nope. I fell back asleep with my laptop on my lap around 11pm and slept until noon on Sunday. Now I'm behind again.

This is so not fair. It's not like I was chronically sleep deprived before I pulled the all-nighter!

I'm too old for this

I'm pulling an all-nighter and it's making me cranky. In the last two weeks, I've had four (thankfully short) papers due as well as an engagement letter, sample agreement contract, an ad, pro bono and fee policies. Add an internship project due at 8 am and there was no other way to get this all done.

Thank god the will and memo that was due in the morning was pushed off until next week!

Casebook rainbow

I still follow the multicolor highlighting method. If it works, why fix it?

Besides, it's pretty. :)

Just in case you're curious:

Green are the facts

Pink is law and reasoning

Blue is the question or issue in the case 

Yellow is the holding or conclusion

Purple is concurrance or policy 

Orange is dissent

I also write in the margins a lot. Especially on confusing cases or those with antiquated language. 

Highlighting helps keep me from passively reading and the different colors keeps me from just highlighting everything (another way to read passively.) A nice side benefit, if I get called on, I can usually find the answer faster than the people frantically trying to search their case brief. My first semester, I still typed it all up in my class notes outline but now I try to keep each case under 3-4 sentences. At this point, that's all I need for finals but that sure wasn't the case when I first started. 

SaveSave

HEART ATTACK

Generally, I have no problem with my computer's battery dying while I'm at school so I never bring my charger with me. Yesterday, I really should have brought my charger. About seven minutes before my last class let out, I got the notification that I should shut my computer or it would go into sleep mode soon. Okay, no problem. I shut it and finished my notes by hand. I went home and charged my laptop. Only instead of turning on like normal, it wouldn't let me sign on! I googled (on my phone) the problem and was told to force a shutoff and try again. So I did. Nope. Wouldn't work. Finally had to do a repair start and it let me in but even then, it wasn't working right. I couldn't access any of my documents or even safari. I thought it was due to how I had to start up so shut down correctly this time and tried again. That didn't work either. Finally, after numerous google searches and one or two tears, it just randomly corrected itself and got back to acting properly. I checked my files and other than losing some of today's notes and such, I'm good to go.

I have no idea what the problem was but I was/am freaking out! This computer holds my life in it's hands. Even though it is only the third week of classes, I have pages and pages of notes. I also have my internship work on there which is irreplaceable. I do back up regularly but for me, that is about once a week. A weeks worth of work would still be TERRIBLE.

It's been hours and I'm still shaking.