Hilarity from July 2006

This from an awesome law blogger last year.

Celebration?

There is *another* carnival / festival going on on the streets below. And everything that goes along with it. Loud music, road blocks, food vendors, port-a-potties, and random people handing me fliers.

Why do San Franciscans celebrate so damned much??

Spotting Common Law Crimes

spotted: attempted murder, assault, false imprisonment, solicitation of murder, conspiracy to murder, battery, embezzlement.

Outline Or Not?

I'm still outlining. I'm behind. Here is what I have left:

crim law / pro, remedies, civ pro, corps, agency / pship, comm prop, wills / trusts, and PR.

A bit of advice from here:

You really should finish outlining as soon as possible. If you really are not going to finish, I would advise you to just memorize off of Conviser. Figure out the rules and what you need to know and go from there. Skim or skip the rest.

I'm considering not outlining perhaps agency / pship, b/c the lecture handout is very concise and clear. I'm not sure what I should do about the rest. I think I can devote maybe 3 hours a day to outline, and then another 3 to practice / memorize. I dunno. A bit worried.

Hopefully push thru crim law / pro this weekend. We'll see what happens by July 4, when I make my final plan.

Peter Griffin Makes Winning Legal Argument

Another Day Slides Away

About to eat dinner. I wonder what kind of Asian food I shall have today. I could go either something rice-based or noodle-based. Rice-based products requires strict scrutiny unless if fall into one of a list of acceptable categories. As for noodle-based products, it really depends on the forum.

Woke up late today. Read some AGWIAB's July entries. I am realizing how on top of everything she was. Got depressed. Watched some Family Guy clips on Youtube.

Still haven't started the crim outline. Better get going on that. *Stretch*

It Is Here

Simulated MBE Scores - Up!

BAR/BRI OVERALL SCORE
Raw Score: You answered 131 correctly out of 200, which equals 65.5% correct.
National Rank: Your score was higher than 86% of the students taking the exam.

Estates; Leases; Co-tenancies 12 out of 13 (92% correct) Percentile rank: 99% (schweet.)

Conditions; Discharge; Impossibility 2 out of 6 (33% correct) Percentile rank: 15% (boo!)

Turning Point

First essay pass! Okay, so I cheated by copying the rule statements. And also their model outline. But I filled in all the rest of the bullshit all by myself! And all within 45 minutes! Unfortuneately, Barbri seems to have lost my third graded essay. Or maybe someone stole it. I'd like to think I passed that one too b/c I also cheated on that one.

Also, I finished reading PR--and therefore CMR in its entirety. Probably a waste of time, but whatever.

Prof Shafiroff finished up Wills & Trusts today. He gave us some tips on dealing with stress. One of the tips was "thinking about how we're more fortunate than 99.9% of the other people in the world." I'm going to try that later. Then he made us visualize gameday. I had a panick attack when I did that. I think I need to do something to deal with my stress. I've not been sleeping well lately.

Off to pay the rent.

BarWrite Testimonial

[Edit: This post has been removed by its author]

Oakland

I went and visited Oakland today. Sadly I wasn't able to get into the Convention Center b/c it was closed. But here is what I do know:

• the Marriott and the Convention Center is one building, occupying that entire block.
  
• there are *tons* of restaurants near by.
  
• you can see this (second picture) from there.
  
• Bart station right across Broadway.
  
• parking across another street.
  
• on-site Hertz office.
  
• nice, pleasant smelling public restrooms on the first floor.
  
• gift shop and a bar on the second floor.
  

Finished 2/3 of Wills lecture with this guy. Very clear, but not very funny. But I'll take clear over funny.

New Facebook Group

Michael Kaufman Secretly (shh!) Rocks my World even Harder:

He made you laugh, he made you cry, he made you feel slightly uncomfortable, all while teaching you agency and partnership. Forget Charlie Whitebread, in this group (comma) we can all gather to relive the moments of hearing the words usurp and fiduciary pronounced in the strangest possible way. Or remember those times when the word obedience was followed by the reenactment of a panting dog. Join this group if you realize that the true star of BarBri's stable of allstar lecturers is Michael Kaufman. Deep down I think we all really wish he would be our princiPAL.

CP Essays

These went better than I thought. I more rules than I thought I did, even though I still can't tell you what the Lucas case is about, or Van Camp, or that other one. But I just randomly remembered some of the stuff that was talked about this morning.

The model answers were highly stylized. First, they all began with a regurgitation of basic CP law: 1) CA CP principles apply, 2) stuff acquired before, after, or by gift or inheritance is SP, while everything else is CP, and 3) characterization depends on source, actions, and presumptions. And then, the answers went on to talk about each piece of property in terms of source, action, and presumptions. I'm not sure how exactly they classified the issues into these three categories. But it seems to be pretty sound and straight forward. I guess I'll wait for Sakai to explain it to me.

Tomorrow, wills. And maybe a field trip.

Community Property

This is the first Barbri lecture where I didn't really understand anything. Not that the lecturer is bad. It's just I've never had serious exposure to this material. Well that's actually not true. But still all I was doing was filling in the blanks. I had no read idea what he was saying.

Later on, I'm going to outline 2 CP essays. Lollers.

Venting

So mad at my school right now...

More Time A Wastin'

So apparently Charles Whitebread has a Facebook fan group titled "Charlie Whitebread Rocks My World".

Description:
For law students who become giddy at the mere mention of this esteemed law professor's perfect name, develop goosebumps upon hearing the phrase "plain view" repeated in sonorous booming tones, and faint from excitement at the thought of this great man's spontaneous at-the-podium reenactment of woodland creature sodomy. Studying for the bar exam has never been so hot.
. . .
May 30, 2007: Charlie Whitebread has 100 devoted fans.
June 7, 2007: Charlie turns 500. A chipmunk jumps out of a cake.
June 18, 2007: Holy shit, 1000 people are procrastinating as hard as I am.

Also available:

* "Paula Franzese is the Goddess of Real Property Law"
* "If Chemerinsky can memorize his Barbri outline, then dammit so can I!"
* "Bar Exam Lolcats"

Done With Property

This is only the fourth subject I've outlined. So behind. Better start Contracts tonight. But first, a trip to Safeway.

The Wall

Did Essay Workshop 3 today. Same ol same ol. I was really tired so I didn't even outline one of the essays. I just put my head down for 12 minutes.

Sakai told us that if we're hitting "the wall," we should take some time off. One sign that you're hitting the wall, he says, is if you find yourself reading one page of the CMR for 30 minutes. Or, if you start a practice essay or an MBE set, but you give up during the middle. I sort of feel like I should take a bit of time off. Perhaps after I finish outlining the big 6, hopefully before July 4.

I've heard stories about how some people didn't start studying until July 4. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but I think I would feel absolutely unprepared if I started that late. Truth is I didn't learn very much my 1L year, and if I don't put in the time this summer, I just wont know a lot of this stuff.

Did another civ pro graded essay. I hadn't reviewed that subject yet so I don't remember anything. I issue spotted for 15, and then looked at the model outline, and then wrote the essay from that outline. If I take time to write about something, I want it to be the right thing. The question had a lot to do with different kinds of jurisdictions. It was really helpful to abbreviate the word "jurisdiction."

Currently reading Professional Responsibility in CMR--the last subject. Soon I won't be carrying around that book everywhere I go. I eat out a lot so either I have to stop or carry around another book. I'm thinking the PMBR red book, but it's so darned big.

Target.com has shipped the watch I bought.

Tomorrow: Community Property.

MDR Mixed 1-50

Only 60%. Yikes.

Some new law; some nit picky questions. One actually required us to choose to strike a law down under rational basis review. That was the "best" choice. I really need to start getting serious.

Continuing with the property outline...

Graded PT

Did another PT. Missed two major issues. I also sort of ran out of time in the end. I think I should have outlined better and not tried to write so much on the front end. Will send this one in for grading. Frankly I've already lost any trust in the graders. But i wanna see what they say just for giggles.

So. Only 30 days left. At least I've gotten my hands dirty in all 3 parts of the exam. Still much to do. Wish I had an extra month. I suspect an extra month will only be overkill. But it would sure make me feel better.

Tortfeasor Passes the Bar.

Moving Along...

Done with the conlaw outline. Next is real property. Still waaay behind.

Honigsberg once again tried to convince us today how the law doesn't really matter. What we need is more practice, not more law. Now I'm not sure how seriously I should take all that, but I have subconsciously begun to change my studying to conform to his school of thought. It used to be I would spend a long time doing "research" in the Barbri materials to make sure I got the law right. No more. Now I don't really worry so much about getting the details right in my outlines. I just sort of convince myself that's the right law and go with it. Sometimes if a rule is too hard to remember, I ignore some of the details to make it easier to remember.

In the end, I will know "bar law" on two levels. On the one level, I have a very high level outline of what points I need to hit for essays. On the other, I remember very specific fact situations for the MBEs. In between the two, I don't really know all that much. For some of the subjects - eg, evidence and civpro (and I'm guessing community property), about 70-80% of the subject are in these little rules. I choose to not know these rules.

Purchase

I am going to buy this watch on target.com. It looks kind of soothing. $23.09.

Fabulous!

End of Perfomance Workshop 2. Honigsberg took us thru a series of common and no-so-common performance test formats. It was kinda helpful to have him show us what a set of rogs or jury instructions is supposed to look like, but there is no substitute for actually having sat down and done one of these exercises. Unfortuneately I know I won't get to do a lot of PTs.

The main takeaway is to follow the directions to the letter, b/c apparently that is the number one reason for failing. I think what I might do is to read the task memo over again after reading the library + file. Honigsberg recommends that you take a 5 minute break and clear your head. I don't really need to clear my head. Besides there is a gap between going from having an outline of everything to an outline of what you're going to write. This is also a critical stage of the test: when you actually make up the outline for your ultimate product.

But also I wasn't really time-pressured when I did the first one with the robots. So maybe I should take the break.

Also, I'm still not settled on what to read first, the library or the file. With the robots I read the file first. Seemed to work ok.

A Clock

I'm looking for a clock that I can take the bar with. Suggestions? Preferrably something I can order online...

People Who Failed

More here.

Pep Talk

Sat through performance test workshop 1 today, with this guy. He told lots of stories about how, in the past, examinees would go through all sorts of hardships and still pass. E.g., one woman fell and suffered a concussion on the morning of the third day. Result? Pass. It was basically a pep talk. Waste of time? Probably. Entertaining? Yes for me. Oh and, just as I've been told, he finally admitted to us that No One keeps up with the Paced Program. Well I know this isn't technically true b/c I do know some ppl who *are* actually keeping up. But it's good hear that most people don't.

Did my first simulated performance test today. I'm a writer but I typed this one. I missed some stuff, especially in the "creative" portion of the question where you're supposed to come up with, and then evaluate, various options for your client. One of the model answers did a good job here.

Reading the two model answers, which were actual answers, I realize how much they differed in 1) the law and 2) format. I'm starting to realize that there is NO "correct" law in these problems. What is correct is what most students come up with, and as long as you don't deviate from the masses, you're fine. Also, I see how important headings are. When I read the model answers, I didn't really read it for the law. I just skimmed the headings (which was easy to do b/c both answers had good headings) and looked to see which facts they mentioned under each.

Make'em Liable!

Ahh that Kaufman sure has a unique speaking style. I was kinda freaked out at first but I grew used to it after a while. I appreciate his straight forward outline and not dwelling on every detail as Freer did with civpro and corps.

Received my admissions ticket today from the State Bar. It says:

Only the following items are allowed into the test centers without prior approval and are subject to inspection: analog watches and clocks no measuring andy larger than 4" x 4", back supports, up to two pillows without cases, pens, pencils, erasers, paper clips, rulers, highlighters (for use on questions only), one book stand, one foot stool, one mouse pad, splints, inhalers, crutches, wheelchairs, casts, hearing aids, TENS units, eyeglasses, ear plugs (must not be connected) or plastic material normally associated with the sport of swimming, medicine, feminine hygiene items and wallets.

A few observations:
- you can't bring in water
- casts are allowed, but not eye patches.
- unlimited number of rulers!
- highlighers - for use on questions only - as opposed to what? (insert your own joke here).
- and finally, my reading of this list would include: plastic swimming caps, goggles, and maybe basic snorkeling equipment.

*Yawn*

This is what happens if you keep tearing pages out of your Barbri In-Class Workbook. There goes the resale value on that book.

Freer finished up corps today. He rolled up his sleeves toward the end. I think if it went any longer he was going to take his belt off. He ended with a whirlwind tour of federal securities fraud. It was a fun subject for me in law school, but at this point, it's just another tort with a bunch of elements.

Tried outline some today but I couldn't do much. For some reason I just can't seem to catch up. I'm feeling burned out. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Movie

So I noticed someone put up the trailer to the CA bar exam movie on youtube. I already saw it. If you havent you should watch it when it's all over with...

Poll Results

Are here.

I have not fallen behind, and I intend to keep up all summer. 16 votes
I have fallen behind, but will try to catch up. 32 votes
I have not fallen behind, but expect to later on during the summer. 25 votes
I have fallen behind, but it doesn't bother me. 20 votes
I do all the assignments but don't read the CMR. 18 votes
I am not worried at all about keeping up with the program. 13 votes
This is a question of fact and should be decided by the jury. 9 votes
The program is extreme and outrageous and has caused me severe mental distress. 25 votes

The first four choices were supposed to be exclusive but you could have voted for all four if you wanted to. Anyhow here it is.

Mmm...Money

From law.com:

As could be expected, in-house attorneys are not hurting for cash. The average base salary during the last fiscal year, the survey found, was $188,616, with a yearly bonus of $49,011. This fiscal year, the average Bay Area corporate counsel hopes to receive a $52,707 bonus.

Also from law.com:

Salaries for full professors vary widely and remain undisclosed by most private schools. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean annual salary in 2006 for law teachers was $94,290. The median associate law professor salary, according to www.Salary.com, is $101,558. Salaries for full professors at the most elite law schools can range from $250,000 to $300,000 annually[.]

From wsj.com:

Supreme Court law clerks that join law firms are now receiving signing bonuses of up to $250,000. On top of their $160,000 starting salaries, that has them making roughly double what their former bosses earn. (Chief Justice Roberts earns $212,000 a year; the other eight each make $203,000.)

Civ Pro Day

A full day. Our lecturer was this guy. Like a previous lecturer, he graduated from UCLA and associated at GDC. He had a really good radio voice. Sort of like a sports commentator. Once, in response to his own question on the handout he said, "no can do." And then he followed up with "I can't go for that." I thought that was funny but most of the other students just groaned.

The man will be back tomorrow for corporations.

Got my graded essay back. Still fail. But I passed two of the four letters. How did I do it? By totally missing two points of law and misreading the question. The question said it was a pure notice jurisdiction and I analyzed the question under race-notice. Not one comment from the grader about it.

I wonder if the real thing will be graded so loosely on the accuracy of law. I mean, if the graders don't really care about the statement of the rule, then what the heck are we doing trying to memorize them? But if we're not memorizing the rules, there is really nothing we can do to prepare...

Dinfest

I don't eat breakfast but I eat a meal right before bed. I call it dinfest. Recently it's been ham and cheese hot pockets which are getting kinda gross.

Tomorrow is a long day. I'm brining a sandwich.

Finished outlining evidence; my head is spinning from all the little this and thats in the FRE. On top of it, the CEC were different in just about every hard area. Thought the use of prior convictions for impeachment was complicated under FRE? CEC is different (something about moral turpitude). Thought the HS exceptions were hard to remember? CEC differs on basically e v e r y exception. It's like...learning the FRE, and then trying to learn torts by how it deviates. Well, it's different. Totally different. And I still don't know what exactly Prop 8 says. It's mentioned throught CMR, but no where does it actually say, here is what it is. Hopefully things will get better for the next Barbri class. Hopefully I won't be in that class.

Pre-Dinner Report

Continued with evidence outline. Currently marching thru the HS exceptions. This is only the second subject I've outlined. Worried I won't get through it all. But will def'ly outline the big 6 b/c this process helps with MBEs too.

Started laundry. Will have clean sheets for bed today. Will sleep on bed finally.

Made several connections on LinkedIn.

Some sort of African American festival going on near my apartment. There is a stage with loud music. Went down and got an awesome large hotdog for lunch. Walked around.

Watched several music videos on Youtube.

Be back after dinner.

Judicial Notice in CA - Unconstitutional.

I'm beginning to outline the subjects we've covered. In evidence, one of the CA distinctions is that when a court takes judicial notice of a fact in criminal trials, this creates a conclusive presumption of that fact. Now I'm sure I came across a conlaw MBE that said this is unconstitutional under the 6th amendment. Someone ought to litigate this matter.

Decorating

I spend a bit of time today arranging my "furniture." THings are starting to come together. I've found lots of things like my stapler, and scissors. Unfortuneately one of the wheels on my bed frame seems to be lost. So I'm just going to put the box spring on the floor. Also my printer refuse to turn on :(. Looks like I'm going to spend my technology stipend on a printer. Maybe this is good, b/c my old printer really sucks up the cash b/c I have to feed it a black cartridge once every couple of months and it's like $20 per. The other thing is I got all my lamps turned on now so I don't have to rely on the apartment fixture lightings. Before this, I had to studying in one of three areas in the apartment where there is light. One of them is the bathroom.

In terms of bar study, I reviewed all my wrong answers on the simulated MBE. I would say about 1/3 was my reading mistake due to tiredness / stress, 1/3 was due to my lack of knowledge, and the remaining 1/3 is due to what I consider unfair questions. I especially liked the one where you had to draw a map. I laughed at my drawing in the exam booklet where I was trying to understand what the hell the problem was talking about. My drawing did not look like the drawing in the answer.

Next few weeks there will be no assigned MBEs. This'll give me a chance to catch up on all the essays I skipped.

A Tort Flashcard

I thought this was kinda tricky.

If P wanted one doctor to do an operation, but another doctor stepped in later w/o P's consent, this would be battery.

However, if there was some emergency (eg the first doctor had another more pressing operation), P cannot sue for what another reasonable person would have consented to.

Barbri LA

MBE Simulacion

131.

Breakdown (Subject - # Wrong):
Property - 7
Conlaw - 9
Crim - 10
Evidence - 13
Torts - 14
Ks - 15

Hmm, looks like I miscounted for one subject b/c those only add up to 68.
I'm not going the review session for the next two days so I'll have a two day vacation. Not sure how I'm going to spend it yet.
Kinda tired right now...

Nice Vid

Here.

Found on http://www.calbarexam.com/.

Furniture...

Is here! Finally. I was beginning to think I was being scammed by the movers.

Now I can finally print out my expense form.

Crim AD 1-66

A bit over 50%. The criminal questions are slowly reminding me of my criminal class in law school. All the things we'd talked about. Crim law was my first and worst grade in law school. I never took Crim Pro, and it is still really confusing to me. All I remember and little fact patterns. Eg, before D is charged, an informant can solicit information out of D. Not interrogation if D doesn't know informant is a cop. After D is charged, an informant cannot do this. Now, the man is trying to prosecute the government's case and D has right to counsel, but only for the crime charged! I can do the MBE's, but I have no idea what to write for a Crim Pro essay.

Remedies lecture today. This was the lecturer. He was really boring but I kept giggling b/c of all the dirty jokes Epstein made about him. His voice sounds kinda like Norm McDonald, which is not the best voice to take notes from.

Tomorrow is a no-lecture day. But the day after is the big MBE simulation day. Thinking about doing 100 MBE's makes me want to throw up. I can't even get my mind around 200. But it's gotta be done. I'm going to shoot for between 50-60%, hopefully finishing on time. Boy I'm nervous just thinking about it. I hate tests.

Ks AD 1-66

About 50%. These are pretty hard. Reviewing, some of them were b/c of my lack of knowledge, others due to confusion of the facts. But few were just bad questions.

Eg. In one question, the answer could have been justified either as a "bargained for exchange" or "promissory estoppel." Both are technically correct. The explanation says, "C is not a good answer b/c there is no need to rely on promissory estoppel when and enforceable agreement is present." I would be able to swallow this, except that a few questions before that, there was an answer that required you to select BOTH these grounds.

In the very next question, X was building Y's house and Z agreed with X that Z will pay for the completion of the house. The question goes: if X didn't finish the house and Y sues X, which of the following would be an effective defense? Well, you had to know that this question was not asking about the original K b/t X and Y, but the K b/t X and Z, naming Y a third-party beneficiary. An explanation would be nice.

Oh and, I hate the long-winded questions that go on and on with irrelevant information. In that same question, there was an entire paragraph about how Z had a terrible nephew w/a gambling problem who sqaundered the partnership's money. Relevance? None.

I'm Going to Memorize This Speech for the Crim Pro Essays

Great.

Haha.

So on the crim essay. One of the calls asks whether a co-conspirator's confession is admissible at trial. Neither defendants testify. All proper objections are made. Discuss.

The model answer talked about Voluntariness, Miranda, and the Right to Confront Witnesses.

My answer? Hearsay, Vicarious Admissions, and Statements Against Interest.

I should have known this was a Crim Pro essay b/c we just took Crim Pro. But isn't my answer also technically relevant?

Lack of Content

Not much else today.

Did the Crim IQ's. Almost 70%. But again I was too slow. Perhaps it's because my apartment is too warm and I'm doing all these MBE's in bed. I dunno.

This is worth reading. And this is worth reading again.

Oh and, this is good for a quick giggle.

Remedies

I never took Remedies in school. Reading the CMR section on that subject, I'm glad I didn't. First of all, there is like nothing in that outline that is not covered somewhere in another subject. And second, there are no rules to apply. All it is is: in situation 12, you have A, B, and C as possible remedies, and situation 13, you have A, but B is not generally possible, and C if A is not adequate. Now I haven't taken the class, so maybe I don't really understand how interesting the subject really is. But trying to read the outline is like trying to read a phone book. After going thru the entire section, I basically came away with nothing.

I'm considering a new strategy to synthesize materials...I should get that figured out soon. I hate it when I talk to ppl and they recite law to me. Sometimes I know vaguely what they're talking about; but I really panic when they recite seomthing that I've never read before. Then, to gain the moral edge, I make up some stuff to throw back in their faces. "Right...and of course this brings up the issue of prescriptive subordination." Something like that. Then I walk away.

I just realized I've been sometimes doing the wrong problems in the Drill book. The drill questions 1-17 are in the front. For some subjects, I did the released questions in the back. Doh.

Contracts IQ: ~60%.

End of the Big Six

Prof Whitebread is hilarious. To get our attention, he kept on referring to us as "San Franciscans," or "Californians," or "Notetakers." Loved his stories about when he was in criminal practice. I died when he talked about his bar-taking experience and then hopped up and down like a rabbit.

He and Schechter are the two funniest lecturers. Epstein had his moments with his self-deprecating Jewish Texan thing. Chemerinsky was unfunny. Whitebread is funny b/c of the force of his personality. If another person were to deliver his stories, they would not have the same effect on the audience. Schecter on the other hand has good material. His delivery is good, but that is not why he is funny. So. Whitebread is like Robin Williams, and Schechter is like Chris Rock. Epstein is like Jeff Foxworthy, and Chemerinsky reminds me of this guy.

F!

Issues: F!
Rule: F!
Application: F!
Organization: F!
Overall: F!

Me: Eff!

Miscellania

Contracts lectures: finished.

Did Contracts drills 1-17 (actually, 18): 65%.

Cancelled hotel reservation near San Mateo test center. This is something I meant to do before I left. I'm actually taking the exam in Oakland.

Mailed off a bunch of bills; took possession of a box send by the parents.

Still no furniture.

Looking ahead on our "paced" program schedule. June 10:

Review: Crimes
Assignment:
MPQ - IQ - Crimes 37-74, review.
MPQ - AD - Crimes 1-56, review.
Review: Contracts
Assignment:
MPQ - AD - Contracts 1-56, review.

Are they effing serious?

Conlaw MPQ AD 1-66

I did'em all. Good news. I am barely above 60%. But the bad news, I was too slow on these by about 2 seconds per question. It didn't feel like I got 60% right. I was guessing on just about every one. Also, I put a little dot by the ones I was sure of. Turns out I got most of those wrong. I'll review these tomorrow. Statistically, I think I'm in about the same shape w/conlaw as I am with evidence. But for some reason I feel a lot better about Evidence, even though I can't tell you any of the rules there either. I only recognize fact patterns.

I did okay on the first conlaw essay, but bad on the second. Apparently, the fundamental rights covered by Equal Protection covers First Amendment rights. Is that right? First I heard of this.

Professor Epstein made a funny today. He has this crazy mnemonic about an aardvark holding a taco and playing rap. If you say it right, the first letter of each word in the phrase is supposed to be a major element in contract law. It was ridiculous and I didn't try to memorize it. At about an hour into the lecture, Epstein goes, "Remember, aardvark from texas ... urr ... whatever."

On the way home today I wandered into The Big Mall for the very first time. From the outside, the mall just look boring office buildings. But actually "office" on the street is just a front that leads into the mall, which is huge on the inside. The mall runs for 3 entire blocks. And what do I find inside? That's right: more Asian restaurants.

New York Firms Leading the Way Again?

Rumor has it that NY firms may be raising salaries again. Looks like I took the wrong state bar.

Oh and I got my last grade back. T'is a good one.

Oh Shit!

...says Prof Epstein. "This contract is within the Statute of Frauds!" I'm not sure what he was talking about but this comment woke me up from my slumber in the AM session this morning. He seems like a nice guy.

I've been doing bad on the conlaw MBE's. I'm getting in the low 50's in terms of percentages. But at least I'm pretty fast on these. I'll read the first paragraph and say, wow I don't know this rule, and just make a guess.

Con law just doesn't make any sense. All it is is just word association to me (which is what happens when you try to learn a subject by doing multiple choice questions). Eg, "right to travel" goes with "residency requirement." "Voting rights" are "fundamental," which means regulation must be "compelling" and "necessary." Tire laws always create an "undue burden on interstate commerce," but fishing laws are usually "necessary to accomplish an important government goal." Oh and apparently, an oath to not "violently overthrow the government" is fine, but an oath to not "advocate" such an overthrow violates the First Amendment.

Sure.

USA!

Rather than bore you with my pathetic MBE performances over the weekend, I just want to bring your attention to this. Apparently an American is the record holder now. And he lives in the Bay Area!

Speaking of food, I notice that I've been eating a lot of rice recently. This probably has to do with the types of restaurants in my area. Right outside my apartment is: Panda Express, some dinky Chinese restaurant, and a sushi restaurant. Within 3 block of me, there are several other Asian restaurants, all serving their unique brand of rice. Rice is nice but it can't be healthy to eat it too much. So for the past few days I deliberately avoided rice. The result: domino's pizza, fried chicken (church's popeye's *&* KFC), and Taco Bell. I may die soon.

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I just did a simulated essay for property (the graded one). I looked at the Sakai materials but their "attack plan" didn't really make sense to me. Anyhow my answer was all over the place b/c I don't know what the heck I'm doing. I missed major issues and the ones I did get I got the law all wrong and it basically made me feel crappy. But I'm going to turn it in anyways to see what kinda score they'll give. I know they purposely give low scores. The question is, how low will they go?

Next week is as packed as ever. But at least we don't have full-day lectures until Friday, when Prof Whitebread gets here. I like half days because it lets me go eat lunch at different restaurants in the neighborhood. Eating lunch at St. Mary's is depressing.

They've also set up this snack bar that charges you exorbitant amounts for simple food items. A cup of coffee? $1.50. Ziplock bag of 7-8 grapes? $2.00. Well actually I don't know how much they cost b/c I don't drink coffee and I don't like to eat grapes during the day. But the hot water is free.

Tomorrow, another 50 Property MBE's. The AD's.

Property MPQ IQ

I did all of them. Got ~60% right. Still slow. With Property questions, sometimes you need to write some stuff down. Also I always read all 4 choices.

I should have reviewed the Q's today. But I'll do it tomorrow. Once again Barbri has packed the weekend full of work. Property AD questions + review, and Conlaw IQ's. And several essays, one of them will be graded. And I have to read the Contracts & Sales CMR. I don't know how I'll get it all done. I don't think I've ever been this busy even during 1L.

The property lecture ended unceremoniously with water rights. I should have paid attention b/c one of the IQ questions had to do with water rights. The lecturer got more and more giddy toward the end. In the last hour, she actually used the words "Miller Time." Maybe it was Miller time for her. We still had homework to do.

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