This is cool.

Whatever else one might have to say about expensive, private, Ivy League law schools, one thing is certain: we attract very cool events and speakers.

My day? Breakfast with the Chief Justice of the New Zealand Supreme Court (she was fantastic - she has a family and was going to law school and looking for jobs in a time when both of those just weren't done, and the latter wasn't done at all by women).

Then a lecture, open to all law students (people were making a big deal about attendance and tickets, but there were plenty of empty seats in the auditorium), given by none other than Anthony Kennedy (Mr. Swing Vote on the Supreme Court, for those of you who live in a hole), who (with the aid of powerpoint!) spoke about the importance of prestige in the judiciary, coexistence between our system and other transnational systems (notably the European Union), the structural design of our Constitution, the historical forces that made our system what it is, and the design and history of the European Union courts. He spoke a lot about transnational law and whether our constitution is up to the challenges it poses. He also pointedly side-stepped questions about abortion (I wanted to boo the girl who had asked one), and justified his opinion in the flag-burning case by outlining his idea of the court as a balancing mechanism, which tempers the instant voice of the people to create a system that most closely reflects American values over time.

Then afternoon brunch with Edward Mortimer, speech-writer for Kofi Annan (also awesome - his references to speeches Annan made sometimes contained an aside of surprise that he would have written/helped write something like that!), and then a debate (hosted by the Federalist Society) on Law and Economics versus Moral Reason between Richard Epstein (who wrote our torts casebook) and Jules Coleman (who teaches here).

Oh, and all this was in between classes and workshops. I'm probably going out tonight to bar review as well. Reading and outlining - what was that again?

Gah-bage

Our professors make fun of each other here (in a nice way), and it's hilarious.

Procedure is a bunch of rituals that are created to impute legitimacy to legal proceedings - and the rest is gah-bage (says my professor, imitating another who is from the Bronx and sounds like it!).

Update

http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/21335

I don't think I can add anything to that, except to say that this really sucks, and life is not fair, and there's not much you have to fall back on when something like this happens. Religion doesn't have answers and planning your own life (and working hard in school and all that) seems so futile when death is just around the corner.

This hasn't exactly become a taboo subject around the school, but no one wants to talk about it much either. I can't blame anyone for that. It's hit our class hard - especially those of us who knew or had classes with him.

Classes are cancelled today...

...and we think someone might have died. I really hope it isn't because someone in our class got too drunk last night and tried to go home by themselves and got mugged and shot. I haven't actually heard of that happening, but... we do live in New Haven.

(I know, I said earlier I loved it and it wasn't scary at all... well, it isn't scary by day, or if you're traveling in groups...)

Law school is hard.

I'm pretty sure everyone is going to be saying "I told you so," but the conclusion is inescapable: law school is hard. Studying and case reading has taken over my life, and we haven't actually have any assignments beyond that. I wouldn't have believed four classes could be this much work. My life outside law school has come to a screeching halt - this weekend I participated in a hike with the Dean along with most of the rest of my class, and I watched a football game, which means that I haven't finished my reading for tomorrow and will be up virtually all night. Also, I think I need a new keyboard for my computer - and computer repairs is definitely the last thing I need to be worrying about right now.

I love it here

Not having grades and class rankings is very cool. Obviously, professors do demand excellence here, and they want your very best work, but competition is virtually zero and the small groups into which we are all divided are a lifesaver (ours continually exchanges advice, class notes, and outlines by email). I've talked to a few students starting at other law schools, who are already in the "must get such-and-such a GPA" mindset, and this makes me grateful that I chose to come here.

I haven't gotten the impression (which several people warned me about this summer when I told them where I was going to law school) that people are arrogant and ultra-liberal. I have yet to run into someone with an irritating sense of entitlement, or anyone talking about their trust fund (even if someone I knew had that kind of money, this is not an atmosphere which encourages bringing that up... ever). And there are plenty of conservative students here - though while I was used to being more liberal than everyone else back home, here I definitely feel that I'm to the right of most people. However, regarding the complaints that I've heard - that conservative students don't get a voice, that the Federalist Society is failing, or that professors are so liberal they alienate some students - I have so far seen no evidence of this. I love my classes and my professors.

The social life here is great, and it's so easy to talk to everyone about anything. I have yet to get drunk at bar review, although apparently I'm one of the few. I think our class is going to be a lot of fun.

Day One

I was neither completely lost, nor absolutely bored in classes today. I only had two (although that was plenty). I attempted to brief the cases, but I have a feeling the practice will soon be abandoned. I got cold-called, without major embarrassment ensuing. And I discovered that everyone was right in warning me that a one-page case can take hours to understand properly. What law student on the first day of class is seriously expected to know what "trespass on the case" means, or how to explain the legal machinations behind complicated early-nineteenth-century-opinion language?