They Knew we Would Want to Kill Ourselves, so they Gave Us a Break

There's a magical thing in law school -- it's called Placement Break. I mean really, I don't know if it's just BYU that does this or if it happens across the board, but it's actually one of my favorite things of all time.

What they do, is they get you about six weeks into school, you know, when you're feeling all shades of helpless, exhausted, and idiotic, and then they give you a week off. It's like drinking from the fountain of living waters. And you think that maybe I'm exaggerating, and maybe I am a little, but guys, you don't even know.

I haven't been ignoring this blog for the last six weeks because I just got bored of it. It's not even because law school is kicking my trash. It's because law school combined with life is kicking my trash. They talk to us all the time about balance, about doing school but still having a life and so that's what I've been trying to do. It turns out that there's where the challenge actually lies. Wanting to have weekends and still pull good grades? Wanting to go to birthday parties and still understand what's happening in the cases? Wanting to see the sun occasionally and still create an outline? That's the struggle people.

Although the real struggle may actually be that I think my sense of humor is failing. Not failing in the fact that it's leaving, failing in the fact that it's becoming so lawyerized that it's just not even funny anymore. Now I make jokes about torts versus tortes. (One's a pastry in case you didn't know. The other one is a class that I may or may not fail, we'll see in a couple months.) Now, when I read a case about a house being built on unstable soil and it falls apart, someone will say something about a foolish man building his house upon a rock and I laugh for days. (Although, in all fairness, that isn't a lawyer joke that I'm laughing at. That's a Mormon joke compiled with a lawyer joke. It's doubly not funny.)

But then they give me a week to recuperate. I have a week to breathe, research, read cases, write memos, update my resume, apply for internships, create outlines, draft cover letters.....

You know, I'm not actually sure if this is a week off.

I think they've lawyered me.

(But guys, fall is here! Colors and joy! Pumpkins and apple cider! It's all I love!)

You Tortfeasor

There’s no excuse for my behavior. I mean, it’s completely unacceptable. It’s been over a month. Ages. A lifetime to some small animals and insects. I’m ashamed.

But a lot has happened!

I mean guys, I’ve officially started law school now. I mean, officially. It’s real. There’s not really a whole lot of going back (I mean, even if I wanted to the loan funds have been disbursed so, it’s kind of a done deal…)

The good news is, so far I’m loving it! Orientation was last week (which I wasn’t going to initially count as school starting, but there was homework, so it counted. Anything with homework counts) and it was a little long, with an absolute flood of information, but it was good.

I met some of my classmates, not all of them (although I definitely have met more than I remember the faces of) and they seem pretty great. I mean, at this point it looks like they’re pretty much all geniuses and I’m not actually sure what I’m doing here, but maybe I’ll figure that out in time.

So the classes I’ve been assigned for my first semester are as follows:

Legal Writing and Research

Torts

Contracts

Property Law

Lecture Series

Professional Development

Professional Skills

Which sounds like a lot (or at least it did to me), but the last three are only once a week, so it’s not too bad. And the lecture series (which I’m pretty certain will be my favorite class) doesn’t even have homework. I literally go and sit and listen to people talk about various law professions for an hour. Which is absolutely perfect, because I have no clue what I would like to do with my life yet. I’m really hoping that I figure that out in three years or so.

I have learned so much so far though. I mean, I only remember about 1/3 of it currently (and that might be a bit of a generous estimation) but it’s all fascinating. Of course, some of what I’ve learned is what a whole slew of people already knew before coming into school (for instance, a tort is just a wrong, and a tortfeasor is someone who commits a wrong. Did you know that? I didn’t. I’m totally using ‘tortfeasor’ as my next new insult though.), but I’ll catch up.

I think that so far (based off of, you know, one days’ worth of information) Contracts will be my favorite class, which was a bit surprising because I was totally pegging Legal Writing and Research for that, but who knows? Maybe I’ll flip flop it later on. I think I’m allowed to do that right? I sure hope so.

I know this is random and crazy and short and chaotic, but that’s kind of how I feel about my life in general right now. Don’t worry, as I learn more, I’m sure they’ll get worse. Huzzah!

I’m only three years from being able to lawyer someone!