Best Year Ever: Outline of 1L Spring Semester

I think this is what they call closure.

So much happened spring semester. I started the semester in this weird place between college and “adulthood” – buses, cafes, living in a frat house in the UMN student village –shuffling to school through snow and ice…

And then things changed, very quickly.

I moved into my first apartment, got my first car loan, a dog, my first legal-field job…and, and, and…

Where I am right now is closer to how imagined law school during my senior year of college actually.

My career counselor at the law school asked me if I thought No634 will ruin my chances of getting hired at a prestigious law firm. I’m really not worried about it. If ATL can recognize that most of my posts are mundane, then so will most employers.

They’ll probably appreciate the full disclosure and trust I won’t share the dog stories with the clients, or the client’s stories with my readers.

This summer I’m working, petitioning, taking classes, and training the MTC marathon. We’ll see how this goes…

And as promised, an outline of my 1L spring semester is after the jump.

I’ll parrot what I wrote for the fall outline:

This will hopefully provide an overview of the year and make my archives more accessible. The bullet points are linked to posts. This outline is not exhaustive, but hits the highlights of the year.

Winter: Miami, Bemidji, and back to Minneapolis.
And yes, the rumors about the cold came true.

We had one day where it was -31, then -40…but everything after that was warm!

Week 1: the first week of classes

• Our chance is now: the (re)start of civil procedure.
• Kicked off the semester in the gorgeous library
• Corporations kicks off on an “Adult” note…
• Crimlaw starts with the muddle

Week 2: fees and & skates

• There’s a lot of poop in property.
• Woops! I guess that’s not my wallet.
• Some of us are still behind.
• Dear students: please don’t drop out!
• Property is full of fail, and hilarity.
• Just when we thought poop was relegated to property: the news story that shocked us all!
• The wrong bus, the pitbull, and the bat.
• My favorite pre-law advice.
• Elvis comes to Civpro

Weeks 3 & 4 the awkward continues

• Jack gets confused in Civpro
• Oh, you’re probably used to it!
  

  Professor M: “Is it… Lay Smith?”

  Leigh:“It’s pronounced Lee.”

  Professor M:“Oh, I really got that one wrong. I bet you’re used to it though!”

• Don’t judge. I like my espresso.
• The bike groper was caught! It only took 9 victims…
• Jill gets cheeky
• 10 hour meetings make Marge a little cranky:
  

  Marge: “Oh the weather is nice is it? Enjoy the rest of the weekend while we sit here and die.”

• Notes on a bad first date. Oh the horror.
  

  400-pound-man: “I got home and the Antique Roadshow was on, so of course I watched it until 6am!”

• Ew, I guess you shouldn’t leave perishables in the study carrel over break.
• Slushy times: Jansen vs. the ice

  

• Jack becomes jaded, Crimlaw becomes ridiculous.
• …and even more crime!
• Not another bat!
• Busted in Corps
• In my infinite grace: I break my glasses the day before my job interview!
• Gamma at Punch Pizza

Week 5: disease, fees, and fart machines.

• Randomness at Purple Onion (with video here)
• Neighbors from hell are worse than robots?
• Jill keeps it real
  

  SSG Instructor: “You guys haven’t had multifactor balancing tests yet right?”

  Jill: “Yeah, in legal writing last semester, but that was a disaster too…”

• The law librarians are hilarious.
• Woah, Crimlaw just got explicit.
• Did Professor P just say that?
• Got sick
• A security incident in the library…well, sort of.

Week 6: One big, snowy hot mess.

• Snot isn’t professional? Pfft.
• Property: where magic words matter.
• How John saved statutory interpretation!
• Oh Crimlaw…what the hey.
• Snowmageddon hits Minneapolis! (We got like a foot of snow)
• Ignore the trash heap, that’s just me in the library.
• My car gets STUCK in a snow wall! What the hey.
• So a law student walks into a liquor store…

Weeks #7 & 8: Order in the Court!

• Jack has no idea…what so ever.
• Personal Jurisdiction fail
• The Awful: legal briefs were due so all of the professors decided to have makeup classes on that day!

  

• Professor M breaks down the basics of Corporate Law
• My first CLE course
• Professor M takes on Delaware
• Um, I need a 3d?
• Doorbell shopping
• The hungry junkie. Delicious torts…
• I lose my patience with Crimlaw
• The day it rained snowballs.
• Overwhelmed by freshness
• Final deliberations for the fees comittee
• The crash: Our chair fell apart in the middle of class!
  

  So I’m in Corporations, reading¹ a slide about the Business Judgment Rule. My classmate sitting next to me starts to lean back in his chair and we hear a snap:

  

• How about Hannah?
• The banana-bearing monkey
• Lessons in Class: Boxed wine & Pitbull beer
• The Minnesota Supreme Court comes to  UMN Law…and hilarity ensued

Week #9: Oooh, that’s what they meant by IRAC!

• Started off the week at Popeye’s
• What not to do with a pen.
• Overconfidence leads to incarceration
• Thinking like a lawyer! (Finally)
• Meeting Mr. Highwater
• Splenda: I don’t have a problem.

Weeks 10 & 11: Big Fun!

• The pot problem at Ikea
• 64 ounces of awesome.
• Apparently, Jill is not a man.
• The Awful is over! (Spring legal briefs)
• Ladies: just don’t do it,
  

  Professor L: You do not, at least in Minnesota, come dressed inappropriately to Federal Court. And I’ve seen women present arguments with blouses that are too low cut and it’s just a disaster. Because the judges are sitting high up and…ugh… just don’t do it.

• Professor P says, “But, the moans are coming from the walls!“
• Jill is harsh.
• I think I acclimated
• CHER! Lots, and lots of Cher…
• ADR Surprise
• My first oral argument!
• Erie: Professor V just couldn’t…
• UCK: Billy’s learned hand.
• Sorry, Jill was celebrating.
• CLE fail.

Week 12: the gates open.

• Jack needs to chill with the caffeine…
• Hollister needs to pull his pants up.
• May it please the court:
  
• Jack’s here: Only in Professor M’s class!
• Hey, I said I like my espresso. Judge free zone!

Week 13: Changes and Drama

• Perfect day
• Unsplendid…
• Jill judges.
• “Oh, so you’re the one with the blog!”
• Meet Alfalfa

Week 14 & 15: Surprises: Busy week! I got a new apartment, new dog, and got shot. There were also riots and a school shooting threat… what is going on with Minnesota?

• Finding an apartment: the receptionist
• Exam advice...sort of.
• Finding a dog: Tula or Harley?
• Professor M describes the ideal alumnus.
• Harley & Me, and our random road trip
• A weekend of putting together furniture
• I got shot (and got to see people reading it on ATL…awkward)

  

• Professor P knows.
• Overwritten
• The angry neighbor
• Riots in the (old) neighborhood…eek
• The threat
• My dog ate my outline
• Friday started in an interrogation room
• Studied property in the  ER with Swine Flu victims

Week 16: Yellow Love & The Creep

• Oh, hell no. Dog gets worse.
• Don’t hit on me at Wal-Mart. Just don’t.
• Don’t hit on me after stalking me on the street.
• The sleep button
• What Meth Molly thinks of my dog

Finals.

• Why I’m speeding to Wal-Mart on the eve of my final.
• Crimlaw final aka, the typing contest.
• Kalibah Halibah?
• Get my stitches taken out and consider a malpractice lawsuit.
• Corporate law, puke, and flying lessons
• An Apology to the cheeky 3rd grader
• Harley vs. BeeBee
• End of 1l year: the deal