Week 26 3/26/03

Well, it’s about time for an update! I would say that I’ve been delinquent, but actually I’ve been sitting in this chair studying for the last 4 weeks straight. They got an IV drip going so I didn’t have to eat.

I reached Spring Break alive somehow. Very sadly I only have one week off. It won’t be nearly enough to recover.

So, I have to go all the way back to the beginning of February! Jeez. I’ll start with the Career Fair. Cedar and I drove down to Portland to stay with Jon Baldivieso, a high school friend of ours. I went to the Career fair while Cedar and Jon skied on Mt. Hood. (See those pictures here.) The fair was pretty fun (got to wear the Matrix suit!), though there weren’t any organizations there that really struck my fancy. I talked to people at the Fremont Association and American Rivers, oh and the Federal Agriculture Agency.

I’m still looking for a summer externship. Most of the judges I applied to didn’t want me for one reason or another. I have yet to hear from a couple though. I applied to a job at the ACLU in Seattle with the Drug Policy Reform Project. I love the ACLU so I think the job would be great. It’s a part time job that even pays! My weakness is that I don’t have experience in Drug Reform Policy, but we’ll see. I also applied to the UW Attorney General’s office. They do a whole host of different kinds of law, but I’m hoping to work on some intellectual property stuff. I should hear back from them soon. This week I’m also going to contact a couple people I know about any opportunities they know of. The whole job thing is just such a pain in the ass.

Well the contract competition went fine. Kim, Brian and Kim (yup, two Kims) and I negotiated a pretty good contract. I found I enjoyed contract drafting quite a bit.

During the week of February 17th Aviva and I competed in an online negotiation competition. We did two rounds of negotiations. The first round was almost a week long. The second round was 24 hours. We were pleased with the negotiations. I was kicking myself for signing up for that competition because I had a Torts paper due right afterward. But it turned out to be fun. Aviva and I placed 10th out of 22 teams. The negotiations happened in this virtual “work space.” We could post documents and messages. It was pretty effective, especially if you are too far away from someone to meet face to face.

After I turned in my Tort paper I gave myself a present and bought boots at Nordstrom’s with my leftover gift certificate (from my suit). I’ve gotten lots of compliments on them. Boots are fun!

The next week I, along with some other law students, went down to the State capitol (Olympia) to testify before the Senate Budget committee. We were testifying against a bill that allowed the University’s Board of Regents to set tuition. The history of this controversy is that last year the legislature granted the Board of Regents tuition setting authority for the first time on a trial basis (historically the legislature sets tuition). Well, the Regents promptly raised tuition by 50%. Needless to say my class was infuriated: we were told about the tuition increase only after we’d sent in our checks and declined other schools’ offers. So we’ve been trying to convince the legislature that it’s a bad idea to give the Regents tuition setting ability. At the very least we’re trying to get their authority limited (e.g. no more than 10% increases). I can’t tell you how mad this whole thing makes me. They pulled a very classic bait and switch on us, and it stinks. That’s a risk with public schools I guess.

That was about when the crazy studying began. On Monday the 3rd our BLS paper (40% of our grade) was due. This paper was actually pretty interesting. The situation was this: a woman and man had gotten married at a “new age” church by a fellow church member (that was allowed by the church rules). They hadn’t filed the requisite papers after getting married. The woman was our client and we had to advise her on whether she was actually legally married or not. She wanted to marry someone new and she didn’t want to file for a divorce if she didn’t have to. There is no common law marriage in Washington. Anyway, the problem was interesting and fun to write about.

And then I studied nonstop for 3 weeks. I literally scheduled almost every waking hour. I outlined mostly, but I also took some practice tests. I was definitely the busiest I’ve ever been. I would have had a nervous break down if I 1) hadn’t had a vacation now 2) wasn’t pretty sure that the other quarters would not be this busy. As I said in my last entry, next quarter I only have 4 classes (Property, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law and BLS).

On St. Patty’s day I took my Contracts exam. 90% of my grade. The odd thing was that it covered only half the material (the second half). I think it went pretty well, but because it is based on a curve, I just can’t tell. Then on the 19th I took my Civ Pro final. Another 90%. That also went just fine. And then, finally, I wrote my Torts Final take home exam paper. (40% of my grade) and turned it in on Friday, the 21st. That paper was also pretty fun (though not as fun as the marriage paper). Two weeks before, my Torts class had gone to see a case argued before the Washington Appeals Court (Division One). Our final paper was to write the opinion (the ruling) in that case. It is much easier to write as a judge than as a lawyer. Judges get to decide however they want then find the reasoning and precedent to support it. It was great!

So now I’m working on my 20 item to do list. (All the things I put off while I was chained to my desk). Sadly it has not been very relaxing. I’m happy to be getting things done, but I’d really like to be reading, watching TV, hiking, etc.

One fun thing I’m working on is starting a clicker training program at the shelter where I volunteer. There are some really great things you can do with clicker training to make the animal’s lives better and to make them less crazy and more manageable.

So, those are the happenings! I’m still enjoying law school, but I would like a break. As you know, doing anything nonstop gets tiring. At least the flowers are blooming! The weather has been getting warm, the spring rain smells good and there are daffodils, tulips, cherry trees, magnolias, etc. I’ve been exercising some (I was too busy even to exercise for a while there, but not now!). I’m thinking (again) of doing a short triathlon this summer. Cedar and I are going swimming today. I’m such a bad swimmer, it will be good to get better.

Stay tuned for more nonstop law school action!

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