Law school is finally fun

Ok, well, I was always one of those geeks who never thought law school was that bad to begin with. I mean, I had spent the previous 6 years wiping butts and noses, so going to school with grown-ups was practically a party. But, I digress.

This semester I finally get to work on real cases. Most of my credits are coming from a clinic where I have real clients, investigations and court appearances. I am taking two other classes where I will be working on two other cases (one high profile, one newsworthy) behind the scenes. I'm only taking one traditional, Socratic, sit-in-class, take-a-test type class--crim pro--and since I just spent the last six months in the DA's office, its pretty much a blow-off.

It is awesome to finally be working on real cases that affect real people. It makes it much easier to go to class and do what needs to be done. But I am so darn busy. Because I am now affecting other people, I have to go the extra mile. I can't procrastinate until the end of the semester because I have deadlines rapidly approaching.

So, I apologize for my spotty posting. I'll try to do better.

I kicked the MPRE's ass!

I was finally able to log in to the MPRE website. All that worrying for nothing. Actually, I did so well, that I am left thinking that I spent entirely too much time preparing.

Apparently as penance for my little tirade earlier (that's karma a la Earl), I burned up my blow dryer 2 minutes in to drying my hair so I was forced to go to school looking like a freak. I might have been ok if I hadn't started to dry my hair, but it was left half straight and half curly with no way time to do much of anything with it. See what happens when you throw fits? Bad mojo.

Stupid MPRE

MPRE results are supposed to be out today. Actually, the brilliant folks at MPRE sent me an email telling me they were out last week. Psych! Then they sent an email saying, no wait, they'll really be out after Labor Day.

Ok, it's after Labor Day, where are my freaking results? I can't even get a page to load on the MPRE website. Of course, the email they sent said if I had any problems to call, but the phone message says that they will not give results via phone, fax or email.

The funny thing is, that I had pretty much forgotten about the MPRE. But now that they have reminded me about themselves, and being they typical anal-retentive OCD law student that I am, I want my F'ing results now!

(And, yes, I do realize that I sound like a big fat whiney baby.)

My baby is back!

So, being a complete and total idiot, I blew up my laptop last week. Had to get a new motherboard. Apparently, you cannot just walk into Circuit City and buy a new motherboard for a laptop, so I had to order it and wait and wait and wait for it to come in. In the meantime, DH set me up with a desktop, but it's just not the same. Using a different computer is like sleeping in someone else's bed. Nothing feels right. I am now so trained to use a laptop keyboard that I am downright clunky on a desktop keyboard.

And even though DH transferred my hard drive to the desktop, stuff was just different. My favorites list reorganized itself alphabetically. That made the blogs that I visit all out of order. Call me anal, but I read the blogs in a very specific order. The most important ones (funniest) get top billing and the rest come later, if I have time. So I go looking for Favorable Dicta--is it under the F's for Favorable, the D's for Dicta, heck no--it is way at the bottom under the W's for Will Work for favorable dicta. As you can see, my whole freakin world was upside down (and I haven't even mentioned being computer-less at school. This is my 3L year, I am supposed to be surfing the net in all my classes).

Anyway, it's all better now, new motherboard came in and DH promptly fixed me up. Still needs a little tweaking but at least I have OneNote and the internet, and that's all that really matters.

P.S. It is a very bad idea to use a corded laptop in a recliner. Recliners hate cords--mine has been eaten twice. It is an even worse idea to tape the power cord back together with packing tape until you can purchase a new one. Just don't.

My babies started school today

My now big third grader decided that she didn't even need me to walk her to class--but I insisted so that I could get pics. Don't know if I'll be able to do that again, I'm sure we're heading into the "Mo-oommm, you're so embarassing" years.

My twins started Kindergaten. One was excited and ready for a new adventure. The other just seemed so depressed. It made me sad that she was so sad, but I know it will get better. She did great in pre-K last year and loved school.

I start my clinic orientation tomorrow. I received a packet of orientation materials a week ago, and of course, I have procrasitnated. I just have not been able to get into the back-to-school swing. Now I'm paying for it, because I have been reading all day and I'm still not done. Now I'm going to have to do all of my first day assignments after I get home from orientation. That's what I get for spending the last week lounging around catching up on all those Gilmore Girls episodes that I had TIVO'd.

ix-nae on the uburban-sae

So we were all ready to finalize everything on the new Suburban, but being the law student that I am, I insisted that we reserve the right to have it looked at by the mechanic of our choosing before making it all official. Good thing--the mechanic found a mystery knock in the engine. Said it could be minor, but more likely it would be an expensive repair.

I returned the Suburban and the dealer is having their own guys check it out, but I have informed them that they better be looking at other options for me. In the meantime, I drove a Tahoe from another dealer. It's basically the same vehicle as the Suburban, but with about half the cargo space in the back. We've decided that we could really use the extra cargo space, so I guess we are officially looking at only Suburbans now. (That was so not our original intention. I was always the one bitching about the soccer moms in their super-sized SUV's). Hopefully we can find something before school starts next week. God, I hate car shopping.

We just went looking...

...and brought home a Suburban. The minivan mom-mobile has grown intolerable lately. The last straw was when the air conditioning quit working properly. So we went out today, just to take a look. We were really wanting to move into a smaller sized SUV, but they all felt about the same as the minivan. The girls are getting bigger and we sometimes have an extra kid or two and just needed something with more space. So we ended up with the Granddaddy of SUV's. We can fit 9 people in that sucker and it's gonna cost $100 a pop to fill 'er up. I know its not environmentally responsible, but at least with three kids I can justify the monstrosity. And you know what? I really like it. It's comfy and drives well. Its just gonna take a little while to learn to park.

My favorite new time killer...

Oceangram

It is throwing virtual messages in bottles into the virtual ocean to see who will respond. It feels sort of like the early 90's when chat rooms first starting appearing, and you would just talk to any random stranger on AOL. Anyway, I have become obsessed. I keep throwing random messages out there and responding to the ones that keep popping up. Some are funny, some are stupid and some are just plain sad. At least there I get feedback. Unlike here where I am just writing into the wind and no one ever comments. (Can you detect that whiney note in my blog?)

I'm not a pirate, as a matter of fact I'm a lawyer*

Today was my last day with the D.A.'s office. I am so sad--I loved it there. I really fit in with the people who worked there and I loved what I was doing. They told me that I was their favorite intern. Unfortunately, it's a small office and there is virtually no chance that they will have an opening when I graduate. :(

I have one full week until school starts. I already have a load of reading assignments from two classes, and a paper due on the first day. Looks like the daily grind is already starting back up.

*Ok, this has no relevance to anything, but we were watching Hook with the kids tonight and this line amused me.

The Crack Fairy

I am no longer a trial virgin. Today I got to do my first direct examination during a jury trial. The 1st chair offered it to me yesterday but our supervisor almost took it away from me because he was concerned that it was too much for my first trial. I told them that I really wanted to do it unless they were concerned that I would screw up the whole case. I guess they weren't that worried, because I got to do it. But first, they brought in one of our investigators to explain to me that cops are like scared little girls on the witness stand, and they get really upset if the prosecutors don't protect them from the defense attorneys. Great, now I had to worry about pissing off my supervisor who didn't want me doing this and the officers.

Despite all the worries I did fine. I really wasn't nervous, and everyone (including my overprotective supervisor and defense counsel) said I did great. It helped that the officer that I was examining was terrific. It was his first time to testify, but he never let the defense rattle him (and he tried).

Unfortunately, even with my kick ass performance ;) we lost the case. Turns out that the jury didn't think that walking on the wrong side of the street should be cause for officers to stop a person. (Yes, walking on the wrong side of the street is an offense--you have to walk with traffic, not against it--or is it the other way around?)

The very best part of the case was during cross of the defendant. The prosecutor couldn't pin him down on where the crack came from, so she finally asked, "So I guess the Crack Fairy came down and put the crack under your grandma's porch?" I think I bit a hole through my lip to try to keep from busting a gut.

The Blind Leading the Blind

We picked a jury for a possession case today. I was pleasantly surprised when the ADA trying the case offered to let me do the direct on one of the officers. The direct shouldn't be a problem, but under local court rules, the att'y doing the direct also has to make all objections to the cross. There is concern that the defense att'y will take advantage of my trial virgin status.

And the best part...the officer has never testified before. This should be great--I've never questioned anyone--he's never testified, we'll make a great pair.

Ok, off to review possible trial objections.

I survived, but my case didn't

So I made it through my first argument. I think I did ok, and gave the defense att'y more of a challenge than he expected from a student. He even conceded two of my points. The judge has taken it under advisement, but I don't think he is going to rule in my favor.

This was an asset forfeiture case. The law allows the state to seize a vehicle used for the illegal transport of alcohol. The defendants were accused of transporting through a dry county. 5 bottles of tequila and two cases of beer. Transporting for personal consumption is ok, but the driver wouldn't admit that the alcohol was his, so the officer seized the car.

So I got the defense to admit that transporting through a dry county is an offense (he went off on some crazy tangent saying there was no offense), and that the defendant admitted (at the scene and in an affidavit) that it was not for personal consumption. I had a good argument (and a good case to back me up) that even if there was another owner listed on the title of the vehicle that he was not a "true" owner of the vehicle and that it could still be seized. The defense didn't even bother to respond to this, but I think the judge was intrigued.

But, the defense argued excessive forfeiture. It was the only argument I didn't have a good response for. A $10K car for the misdemeanor offense of transporting 5 bottles of liquor. And excessiveness is purely within the discretion of the court. The judge ruled for the defense.

Tomorrow I get to be a litigator

Tomorrow I argue a response to a motion for summary judgment. Although I have done a few hearings, this will be my first argument--the first time I have had someone working against me. I am anxious to see how I do.

When I took on this case, neither I nor anybody else thought we stood a chance (which is why it was given to an intern in the first place.) After doing the research and writing the response, I realized that we do have a chance, even if its a slim one. I don't like the case, but I think that I might be able to at least survive summary judgment. It's just gong to take some creative lawyering (i.e. just because someone's name is on the title doesn't mean he is a true owner). I guess we'll see how persuasive I can be.

Feeling a little competition lately

I've been getting competitive vibes from one of the attorneys that I work with. She is only a year out of law school and was the intern darling of the office before she graduated and was hired. I think she feels like I am too close to what she was. The thing is, I don't understand why she cares. She gets her own case load now, and actually gets to do the fun stuff. I'm still just an intern. Every time I turn around she is dredging up some menial task and seems irritated when another att'y gives me actual responsibility (doing the same kinds of things she was as an intern.) I thought it might have just been me being a dork, but today another att'y commented on how irritated she was when we started gathering files so that I could start putting together a trial notebook. This has previously been her territory. But come on--she actually gets to do the trials, why on earth would you get your panties in a wad over putting together a notebook? I like her and we have gotten along well so far, but this is getting irritating.

MPRE *snooze*

I'm having trouble getting motivated to study for the MPRE. I'm off work this week and I have fallen into a great pit of laziness. So far my study has consisted of attending the video prep course and taking two practice exams. I haven't cracked the book. But I did ok on the practice exams. But that leaves me with even less incentive to study. Still I don't want to blow this off. I know two people who failed, and at least one of those really surprised me.

So now I think I'll go take a nap. Then maybe I'll take a look at that book.

Don't Mess With the Judge

So I managed to gracefully exit my family law job and am back to working only two days a week in the DA's office. This week had crazy dockets because the judge was out last week and all of the attorney's will be gone next week. I did three pleas on Wednesday, and fortunately was not the one to do the five count plea on a co-actor in a murder case. The judge decided that he was going to stack all five counts on this guy, rather than let them run concurrently as per the plea agreement. You could instantly see the defense attorney start to sweat. He started to argue with the judge, and the judge pretty quickly put him in his place. In the end it came down to a minute procedural issue having to do with the order in which the individual counts were entered, and in this case, it was not done in such a way that the judge could stack.

In other news, I filed my first court document today that I prepared 100% by myself. It is a response to a motion for summary judgment, and I am really looking forward to arguing it in a couple of weeks.

They're all F'ing crazy

I swear each day there is a defendant crazier than the last. Our crazy defendant of the day set a house on fire with seven kids inside. With gasoline. On purpose. Knowing that the kids were there and that three of them were his own grandkids. The house burned to the ground within ten minutes and its a miracle that none of the kids were hurt.

The Tink and Super Soda

That is what my soon-to-be-five-year olds have claimed as their superhero names. Super Soda squirts bad tasting root beer at the bad guys. Not sure what The Tink does. Big sis has dubbed herself Princess Stephanie who has the power to make new powers. I love it when their imaginations run wild--they're far more creative than I have ever been.

Evil Eye

Sat in on a murder trial today. The entire time the defendant was staring at me. At first I just thought I was being narcissistic--or crazy--but a few more glances and I was sure that he was giving me the evil eye. I mentioned this during the break, and the other attorneys confirmed that he is performing what one called "the blinkey-blinkey defense". Every few minutes he rapidly blinks his eyes for a minute or so, and then he goes into a catatonic stare. It's his way of trying to convince the jury he's crazy. I just happened to be in the direct line of the stare today. Creepy.

I need to grow some cojones

I quit my job at the family law firm. There were some ethical situations that I was just not comfortable with. Of course, I could not use that as my excuse for quitting--this is a small town and I will likely have to deal with them again--so I told them that I wanted to put more time in the DA's office since I got my student bar card and I was getting to do hearings and other fun stuff. They were fine with that--but this morning I got a dort of dis-engagement letter, stating that since I was leaving "to work for the DA's office full-time" could I please put up my position on my school's job boards.

First, I never exactly said I was working for the DA's office full-time--and I'm not. Now I feel like I really told a lie. But, in this case, I guess a small lie is better than the truth. More importantly, I don't know what to do about posting on my school's job boards. I don't really want to foist the ethical dilemmas that I had to deal with on to one of my classmates.

Now the real reason I need to grow a pair is because of the other attorney who offices in that firm--we'll call him Slimey. He came in about a week ago and asked for my cell # in case he had some research projects. After I gave it to him he said, "yeah, its nice that you guys get free Lexis access, it really helps me out to have a student do my research". I was sort of shocked at the time, and didn't respond, but figured I'd deal with it if he ever asked me to do anything.

Soooo, the day I quit the firm, Slimey comes in and tells me about this new case he has picked up (he doesn't know yet that I have quit), and then manages to squeze in what he needs me to find out and where to find it--on Lexis. Again, I am dumbstruck, and truly don't know how to respond--especially since I have quit the firm and he doesn't know yet. So I just say ok, and he leaves.

So, of course I haven't done any of his research. I don't feel comfortable using my school account for this sleazeball--oh yeah, and I'm pretty sure there's an agreement in place that says I can't do that. I have got to deal with this guy head on and get rid of him, or he is going to haunt me. (He has already called 8 times in a 6 hour period because he forgot the alarm code at the office and I had my phone off.) I am usually pretty forward with dealing people--but I have always dreaded the sleazy salesman type--which is what this guy is. But if I am going to be a litigator, I am going to have to start dealing with sleazy lawyers, a little more forcefully than I have with Slimey. Uggghhh. I just want to be done with this whole bad situation.