I’m studying for my Business Associations final next Tuesday. We’ve covered four general areas:
1. Agency
2. Partnership
3. Corporations
4. Securities
My outline for 1 – 3 is 27 pages long; it’s 40 pages long for Securities, but I haven’t cut that down yet.
Fun fun fun fun fun fun.
Today is my last day of class for this semester. I’m actually sitting in it right now. It’s Evidence and we’re talking about the admissibility of scientific evidence.
I can’t wait for exams to be over in a week and a half. Studying for them will be fine, but I’m burnt out on reading for classes. In law school you rarely feel overwhelmed by the amount of work you’re required to do – at least after you get into a rhythm. What you don’t realize is that you’re constantly studying or thinking about studying. The reading assignments are relentless.
I’ve been fortunate to not have writing assignments this semester. This is a polar opposite from how I felt about midterms and exams in undergrad (I majored in Economics). Back then I loved courses that required me to write papers instead of taking exams. I preferred to have time to think through the papers and felt that writing them gave me a deeper understanding of both the principles I was applying and the topic the paper was based on.
Legal writing is different. It’s a chore. It’s mechanical. It’s dull. However, it is clear. If I had to write an term paper for an Econ class today, it would be better organized and make clearer points (I hope). At least, those would be goals of mine.
All of my exams this semester are in-class and two or three hours long. Most are a mix of essay, short answer, and multiple choice. Professors do this because they want to provide a mock-Bar Exam experience.
I don’t care much about the format. Multiple choice are easily my least favorite because they are the easiest to mess-up. Professors can dupe you easily, which is annoying. The pro for MC is that it requires the test taker to know exactly what they are looking for. Precision is good, however difficult to obtain under test-taking conditions. An essay on the other hand allows a little more leeway for the writer and places the burden of precision on the professor, who must grade precisely and consistently.
Anyway, I can’t wait for the semester to be over. I’ll be halfway through law school. At times, it has seemed to pass slowly, but overall it has been a fast year-and-a-half.
A Con Law based refresher for myself.
Commerce Clause – express power to Congress to enact legislation that affects interstate commerce.
Dormant Commerce Clause – prohibits states form enacting laws that impede interstate commerce.
We’re talking about whether laptops should be banned in class. We read this article.
A few of the problems laptops (and their users) cause are that they are a distraction to other students, students watch porn, and professors don’t have students full attention.
I’ve been reading news during this discussion.
Update: I’ll be taking my Copyright final on my laptop. That will be the first time I’ve ever taken an exam on a computer and not in a blue book
“Spousing unit” is the term consistently being used in Evidence class right now to refer to one’s spouse.
I do not have a spousing unit.
My 2L year is looming as the remainder of my summer plays out and without a class to study for I’m finding myself to be flat out bored. I can only read the same news stories so many times before I want to fore-go all information intake. My new apartment does not have TV or Internet yet, which basically leaves me with such old-school and repetitive activities as reading a book or sweeping the wood floor a third time.
Moving is always interesting. Different translates into good, even when it’s just different. My new apartment has wood floors, which I really like. But I know I’ve walked into an apartment before and thought that I would really like wall-to-wall carpet. I don’t have a dishwasher or a washer and dryer. Instead of interpreting these as downsides, I tell myself washing dishes will be a bonding experience and going to the laundromat will give me time to escape my studies for an hour or two (until winter of course when I’ll find myself preferring to wear my boxers inside-out for the third time to save myself a trip in the cold).
I truly like my new apartment and while the moving is nearly complete, we have no furniture. Top of the furniture-to-be-acquired list is a couch and a table of the dining room sorts. When these two items are installed the living room and dining room will be magically transformed from storage areas to distinct living spaces.
I’m looking forward to the school year. Having 1L over with is a tremendous relief. Moving into a more suitable living environment will greatly increase my day-to-day routine. And when I do have Cable and Internet and a couch to use them from I’ll be the happiest guy alive – at least until it’s time to move again and I decide that I need a dishwasher and carpet to be happy.
Happy Fair Use Day, which was apparently today or yesterday. It’s tough keeping track while living a day ahead of what I’m used to. (Link)
This is §107 of the U.S. Copyright Act, which provides a for exception to an author’s exclusive rights that come with copyright. Fair Use is generally what allows you to reproduce limited amounts of an author’s work for “purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research” without infringing on an his copyright.
Be careful, though. If you use the “heart” of the author’s work (E.g. – A passage from a book that is so compelling as to be the only reason to buy the book.) then you could be found to be infringing.