The Shark

bad blogger, good law student

[julie anne]

I've been a bad blogger. There, I said it.

In addition to The Shark, I write - or am supposed to write - for my personal blog on a regular basis, but, like the hefty price tag of my student loans, I had put them out of my mind in favor of reading case books, briefing cases and writing my first Legal Research and Writing memo.

Turns out that what people say about the first year of law school being a major time suck really is true.

Where I've been a bad blogger, however, I've been a "good" law student - I've gone to every class and have read the material - and an OK everything else, i.e. girlfriend, daughter, martial arts student, regular gym goer, regular dish and clothing washer, etc.

And I've done so without a single "FML" Facebook status update.

I've heard some people say that they are able to handle their day-to-day activities without scheduling them. But I honestly think I would not have been able to get through these first months of law school, and keep my sanity and my relationships, without doing so.

I've been finding it helpful to schedule all the "events" I have coming up for the following week - both law school-related and personal - in a personal planner that breaks down the days by the hour. Depending on how much time is needed, I group events in blocks of anywhere from one -and-a-half to three hours.

In pen, I block out my law school classes, my gym schedule and my weekend karate class.

In pencil, I block out the reading that must be done so I can adjust the time accordingly if I need to spend more time on any given subject, and any errands or chores that must be done

You'll notice that I haven't mentioned blogging. And I've done that to, um, illustrate a point. If I don't write something in and just think about doing something, I never get to it.

For some reason, a to-do list seems more daunting when it's floating around in your head, than when it's fixed onto paper. As such, that floaty to-do list never gets done.

Rather than drive me crazy with what could be seen as micro managing my days, the schedule actually gives me some relief when I see that, yes, there is time to sleep, spend time with The Boyfriend, and indulge in a show or movie from Hulu or Netflix.

And, yes, write a blog post.

If you're a 1L, what are you doing to keep your sanity? If you are an older student, or have graduated from law school, what did you do?

'douchebaggy cyber-bullying emails' bring shame to house that records built?

[julie anne]

The legal folks over at Guinness World Records recently received a FAIL Blog-style welcome to the Interwebz -- complete with an old school Rick Roll -- when they sent a strongly-worded letter to the FAIL blog folks demanding the removal of a screengrab critiquing a portion of the Guinness World Records Web site.

According to the email sent by Guinness World Records, its logo is trademarked, and the FAIL Blog must remove all trademarked material or else face the wrath of the Guinness legal department.

The FAIL Blog's response? Why, simply blurring out the logo, of course!

Here's a bit of their response to the email:

"Dear Sir/Madam, Thanks for writing us an email regarding the “Record Breaking Fail”. Unfortunately, douchebaggy cyber-bullying emails will only bring upon you more shame on your house. I am also resisting the urge to write this email in ALL CAPS.

I believe it is the duty of FAIL Blog(TM) to call out organizations when they encourage the public to do such things as 'Break the record' for the 'Most Individuals Killed In A Terrorist Act'. We firmly believe that our publication of your fail is protected under the concepts of fair use, commentary and non-trademark use. Please RTFM and we welcome you to teh interwebs.

Since we at FAIL Blog(TM) don’t have a legal defense department, we have complied with your request to remove the trademarked term and logo from the original image. We have used the “naughty bits filter” on the image to secure your naughty, naughty, trademark assertions. However, we have posted your email so that our audience can see why we had to remove the name of the failer from the image. I hope that this is the outcome you have expected as now NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW THAT GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS LIMITED HAS FAILED."

Read FAIL Blog for the original email from Guinness World Records.

facebook groups: go, join, gripe.

[julie anne ines]

I’m not even in law school yet, and I already know - by benefit of being in a relationship with a law student, and a frequent reader of law school student Twitter streams and blawgs - to expect something of a bitch fest once my law school journey starts this fall.

Please believe me when I say I mean no disrespect to those who frequently air their grievances. As someone who came from a profession that spawned AngryJournalist.com, I understand the need to vent and write strongly-worded, unpunctuated, all-caps forum posts/emails/tweets. But save for Twitter and personal blogs, I could not for the life of me find one law-related website that served as a forum to collect all said grievances into one place for my general amusement.

That is, until I remembered Facebook groups.

In the world of Facebook, as in the world of law school, law students nationwide have formed themselves into communities by drawing on their shared experiences of acquiring nervous ticks, learning from sometimes ineffective instructors, navigating through trial-by-fire, and turning into alcoholics.

The result is a collection of groups whose titles and descriptions alone paint vivid, sometimes-amusing, occasionally scary, pictures of the law school experience.

Law School Haiku

Members: 29

Description: Describe your classes in poetic form! Reconnect with your creative side! Share your feelings for law school in a total of 17 syllables! Example: Marbury and Graves, Spend days in the library —, What sense of humor?

Law Students for Naptime

Members: 49

Description: “C'mon, you know you're tired. You know you'd like to curl up on the couch, throw a blanket over yourself and fall asleep. So give in!”

Dear Law School

Members: 67

Description: “A healthy outlet for your angst against law school. In the tradition of ‘getting it off your chest’, please pen your grievances, plaints, and pleadings addressed to law school, appellate briefs, the reasonably prudent person, etc. Example: Dear Law School, is it too much to ask that an alcohol stipend be included directly in the Stafford loan? Sincerely, Jane. Please note that any attacks on specific individuals or groups will not be tolerated. “

I've Thought About Dropping Out Of Law School At Least Ten Times Today

Members: 6,321

Description: “This is a support group for students who have seriously considered throwing down their highlighters and running screaming from the building at least ten times in the past day (or hour, if you're me). If you've been feeling this way, but yet still keep coming back for more, please join. Invite your friends. And together, BY GOD, we will persevere.”

Dear Law School: High School Called, They Want Their Drama Back.

Members: 8,160

Description: “Quit your bitching and see below.”

You Might Be In Law School If ...

Members: 15,460

Description: “You consider dropping out of law school approximately every hour, but after that first semester you realized you were already in too much debt to be anything other than a lawyer. … You can name without hesitation at least three people who make you want to throw things when you see them raise their hands in class."

advanced advocates tries to get into your social media stable.

[brian lauter]

Chances are you’re all about Facebook; you spend hours a day on gchat; you’ve got more RSS feeds than you can keep up with; and against your better judgment you’ve joined the Twitter hypolution.

Still, there are probably a few hours a day that you don’t spend “connecting with friends,” so maybe you’d like to add to Advanced Advocates to your Web 2.0 portfolio.

According to an item I read yesterday at the Social Media Law Student (“SMLS”) blog, Advanced Advocates is “a new social networking site designed for and open exclusively to law students.”

It’s Facebook for law students.  I guess nobody pointed out to them that law students are allowed to join Facebook or that most law students have taken advantage of this opportunity. I joined anyway, just to check it out.

While I’m not sure that law students really want another way to connect with other law students, Advanced Advocates does have some features that could be useful.

For instance, the site has searchable brief and outline databases. Also, there is a “Clerk Ratings” feature which basically allows users to rate their employers (the name is slightly misleading, as the idea is that users will want to rate legal employers of any kind).

The site also includes a less useful “Bookstore,” feature which would be cool if, instead of just hawking Amazon.com products, it allowed users to sell their used books to other law students a la Half.com.

A one-stop hub for briefs, outlines, student employer reviews, and book sales is actually a pretty good idea. The biggest problem with the site right now, as SMLS points out, is that there are only around 40 users. The site relies on users to upload their briefs and outlines to the databases, which I doubt many will do. No users means empty databases which means no reason to join, which means no new users.

If it wants to get this thing off of the ground, Advanced Advocates might want to start putting together the databases itself. This is one of those “if you build it, they will come” situations.

Right now it looks like my Advanced Advocates profile will be dormant for quite a while, but if at some point you do decide to join, friend me. We can talk about how much we hate the latest Facebook update.

3Ls take advantage of that useless year by parodying the uselessness of law school.

[brian lauter]

We’ve been posting a lot of gloomy employment content lately, most of it about 3Ls getting offers rescinded and having trouble finding jobs. It’s important to remember, however, that being a 3L isn’t all bad.

3Ls have their pick of classes; they’ve already “streamlined” their study techniques; they’ve attained leadership positions in extracurricular activities that allow them to pass grunt work down the ladder; and they often have money from their 2L summer to throw around.

And let’s not forget the biggest perk of 3L year: a whole lot of free time.

The primary product of this extra free time, at least during the spring semester, seems to be law school video parodies, many of which are made available on YouTube.

Today’s YouTube Video of the Day is actually on Vimeo and comes from the kids at NYU Law Revue (lyrics transcribed here).

Please Repeat the Question from Amanda Bakale on Vimeo.

Just can’t wait for more? A week or so ago Bitter Lawyer compiled a list of five law school related YouTube videos.  A few of them are pretty good.

as if you need more ideas: top internet-based finals procrastination strategies.

[brian lauter]

Yesterday I wrote about the scientifically documented rise of internet-based procrastination during finals and its psychological roots.  Since then I’ve conducted a methodologically rigorous “observational study” in an attempt to document this phenomenon.

In honor of the upcoming finals season, I’ve put together a list of the most common forms of internet-based procrastination I witnessed.  If you enjoy long titles, you can call it my 2008 List of Top Internet-Based Finals Procrastination Strategies.

1. Facebook

This one’s pretty obvious, nothing beats studying for finals like reading pithy Facebook status messages complaining about studying for finals.

2. Netflix Queue

This is a relatively new one, at least to me.  I don’t have the Netflix, but my cinemaphilic friends tell me they spend hours browsing new movies and rearranging their Netflix queues, even when they haven’t dared watch a movie in months.

3. Holiday Shopping

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Festivus, chances are you’ve spent a significant amount of time frittering your financial aid money away at online retailers. Sure, you could just go shopping after finals are over, but bricks and mortar is just not as much fun.

4. Blogs

I’m not privy to traffic information on this blog, but I’d bet that it increases substantially during finals. There’s no better way to feel like you’re still part of the outside world than to read commentary on it from other people who never go outside. (Ed. note: He's right!)

5. Downloading Software

Scratch #1.  Nothing says finals like new software.  This year I plan on spending a few hours a week messing around with Digsby, which I hear is “life-changing.”

And last, but not least:

6. Internet Dating

Don’t be confused, this is not internet dating in the sense of going out on dates with people you meet on the internet – its finals, you can’t leave the desk, remember?  The real value of internet dating is that it vests in its users the power to judge thousands of people without leaving the privacy of their homes/law libraries.  To get started (or to have a good laugh), check out lawyersinlove.com.

I know there are many more quality internet-based procrastination methods.  Let me know if you have any additions — I’ll probably be bored with these in no time...

freud's theory of finals procrastination. (it didn't exist, until just now.)

[brian lauter]

As the ramp up to finals begins in earnest this week, most of us can expect our level of internet-based procrastination to sky-rocket.

It is well-documented that procrastination increases as finals approach, and in the computer age, it only makes sense that much of this procrastination will take place on the computer.

During the semester, without horrifying tests and deadlines hanging over our heads, it feels okay to waste a couple of hours on touch football, happy hour, or a movie.  But with finals looming, there’s just no excuse for not being at your desk – even if you’re not really working.

Like most universal problems, this one is Freudian.  And what I mean by that is I think I heard somewhere that Freud said something analogous to it, but completely unrelated.

In the spirit of pop psychologists everywhere, I’ve thrown caution and intellectual honesty to the wind in order to present to you, in brief form:  Freud’s Theory of Finals Procrastination.

twitter is all hype and buzz. shields up!

[brian lauter]

Man, am I sick of hearing about Twitter.  What's more, I don’t know a single person who uses Twitter, and I never use it myself.

The reason I’m sick of it is because around 50% of the law blog items I’ve read in the last week or so have been about Twitter.  Since Twitter is supposedly the wave of the future and law students are going to be practicing law in the future, I thought I’d mention it.

Twitter, for those of you who suck at technology, is “a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.”

Still don’t get it?  Its like if every time you updated your Facebook status, your new status message was changed on Facebook like normal, but also texted to all of your Facebook friends’ phones, emailed to them, and/or added to their RSS feed.

There’s been a fairly heated debate (dramatically dubbed, “The Twitter Wars”) in the legal blogosphere about the importance of incorporating Twitter into one’s law practice.  David Giacalone over at f/k/a fired a warning shot across the Twitter bow last week, essentially arguing that Twitter is a waste of time, a trend, and a distraction.

Giacalone’s missive apparently angered Kevin O’Keefe at Lex Blog, who immediately posted a reply which essentially called Giacalone ignorant and prejudiced and argued that Twitter was “adding a lot to many lawyers’ lives.”  The argument for Twitter, according to Mr. O’Keefe, is that Twitter helps lawyers market themselves, obtain answers to questions, and enjoy the practice of law.

two cents plust 8% inflation: advice for the 0L and the summer associate.

[brian lauter]

You know what they say about advice: It always comes in lists of 10 and only your grandmother pays attention to it.

But, I ran across two fairly helpful advice items this week that I thought I’d share.

The first item, from Corporette, lists 10 things you should do before you leave your summer job. I found 9 out of 10 of them helpful. I know a lot of people stopped working last week, but the item also offers advice on what to do after you’re done. Check it out.

The second item, from the Res Ipsa Blog, offers incoming law students 10 tips for law school success. I’d say 8 out of 10 are helpful. Not bad. Note: One of the comments suggests checking out Ms. JD’s law school myth busting. Beware, nearly all of the myths they “bust” are true.

So there’s some unsolicited law school advice for you. A little shorter and less original than Ann Landers, but I don’t get paid by the word.

the psychology of class schedule selection.

[justin gosling]

I thought everyone registered for their fall schedule a while ago, but it looks like Berkeley Law kids have their second round of class selection today. In honor of selecting a class schedule I've compiled a list of possible schedules, and what each one says about that particular student. While I realize that some classes fill quickly and it's not always possible to cash in on your ideal schedule, everyone enters the registration fray with a schedule in mind. Schedule breakdowns go a little like this:

The Front-Week Load (FWL): The FWL is a dedicated student that has an eye on their weekend plans. They don't want a pesky one hour Friday seminar to come in the way of their kayaking trip; Friday must be free for travel to the nearest patch of wilderness. The FWL focuses mainly on extracurricular (and granola) activities.

The Back-Week Load (BWL): The BWL is a lot like the FWL, except their goals are 180 degrees apart. Where the FWL focuses on travel, the BWL is a massive party animal. While it may seem counter-intuitive to pack all your classes in the end of the school week, and possibly impact drinking on Friday, the BWL knows that they have a full weekend of drinking ahead of them and need Monday (and maybe Tuesday) to recover from the unavoidable debauchery.

The Free Evenings: Mr./Ms. Free Evening takes whatever smattering of morning and midday classes available so that they are able to spend their evenings free from the law school world. While you might think that free evenings translate to free evenings of fun and adventure, it's more likely that they are just matching their schedule with small screen entertainment. Yep, this is your reality TV junkie that will not miss American Idol, What Not To Wear, or one of the several hundred Law & Order spin offs under any circumstances.

The Early Morning Only: The Early Morning Only schedule is your gunner. Their one dying wish is to schedule classes even earlier in the morning so that deadbeat (read: normal) law school students won't bring down the level of conversation. The Early Morning Only student didn't drink a triple vanilla soy latte to gloss over every possible outcome in a rule against perpetuity hypo—they want rigor and nuance.

The "Time Between Classes:" The "Time Between Classes" schedule is the dark horse of the potential law school schedules. This student might be the smartest around because they don't pack classes back-to-back. This allows them time to prepare for the upcoming lecture, which means they won't be caught off guard in Socratic purgatory.

The Whatever My Love For Environmental/Tax/Immigration/Etc. Law Will Allow: Ahh, the dedicated student. This student is so focused on their one concentration of the legal world that they really don't care when a course is offered. While their dedication to one area of law is admirable, the potential for a chaotic schedule to take its toll at the end of the semester is huge. Beware of this student around the middle of October.

The Night Owl:  One word: lazy.