Free Fallin' ~ John Mayer

Law school has given me many new experiences since I began it just over a year ago. I've had the opportunities to read cases (countless cases), analyze hypothetical situations in order to give legal advice, and have even acted as an appellate advocate for a fake plaintiff in a fake case before a fake court.

But all of these experiences pale in comparison with the one my legal schooling compelled me to embark upon yesterday. I had to finally break down and buy myself a suit. A real business suit...a law suit you might say (please pardon the joke--it was begging to come out).

Why do I need a suit? Perhaps it's already obvious to you. Short-term, I need it because of Career Day on Friday, where I'm going to meet all the big-wig firms and try to shimmy my way into an articling position. Medium-term, I need it for my Student Legal Services volunteer gig throughout the year for any court appearances I'm going to make while representing SLS patrons. And long-term, of course, I've got to have something nice to wear when I hopefully get a nice job at a nice law firm.

I've got to admit, it is a nice suit--but it was quite expensive. It hurt to buy. But at least I'm set for a while.

A little side note about the song of the week. This is by far, in my humble opinion, the BEST cover of any song ever performed. It's done live by John Mayer and you can find it on iTunes. Even if you're not a John Mayer fan, I highly recommend it.

Antarctica ~ The Weepies

There is a saying among lawyers/law professors/law students: "In your first year of law school, they confuse you to death. In your second year they work you to death. And in your third year they bore you to death."

I cannot fully vouch for the truth of the witticism, yet I can certainly say that during my first year there were times I was confused to death. The other times, I suppose, I was just numb to any new information that was being thrown at me. At this point in time, I have no idea whether in the third year I'll meet my demise through boredom.

But as for being worked to death this year...well, I'm a little afraid that I might prove the statement to be correct.

I knew that classes were going to impose heavy workloads upon me--over 70 pages in just one class, assigned Tuesday and due today, for example (thank goodness for case headnotes)--but it's still a nasty surprise when you can never feel totally relaxed because you haven't read that 84-page case on a failed immigration application.

I've also decided to take the plunge and volunteer for Student Legal Services, which will have me doing a shift every other week where I'll be dispensing legal advice to low-income members of the community. Scary, I know. Hopefully that won't involve too much, but sometimes volunteers are required to go to court or appear before different tribunals on behalf of our "clients". I suppose we'll see how that goes.

This is also the year where we all scramble to try and secure for ourselves articling positions with the firms of our choice. This involves preparing applications and researching firms to see where we want to go and who we want to work with. As for preparing applications, who am I to say what a firm wants to know about me? Will they care that I spent two summers packing wedding cake-tops with bubble-wrap or that I accompanied on the piano a bunch of pre-teens in a production of the musical "A Little Princess"? Will Mr. Big-firm Lawyer want me as an articling student if I let him know I can touch my tongue to my nose, and will it be points against me if he finds out I can't fit my body through a coat-hanger? All very important issues to which I'll need to find solutions.

As for where I want to go, it's very difficult to say what my circumstances will be in two years. Right now, I'm single and unattached and able and willing to go really anywhere as long as I'll get paid. On the other hand, who's to say I'll still be in that situation in two years? That's a long time in young adult years. I'm just going to have to ponder it and make it a matter of prayer. And then, maybe I won't get a choice--maybe I'll only have one job offer and that'll decide for me!

Canal Song (End of Sentence) ~ Iain Archer

Back to school means back to blog. For anyone interested, I had a wonderful summer, hanging out with family, reading books, watching movies, etc. My job was pretty relaxing, too, so all in all I feel very refreshed.

Well, at least I felt very refreshed until I decided to wear a certain pair of shoes to school. Not a good day to attempt fashion in footwear. I had to travel from one end of campus to the other a couple of times, in addition to walking to the bus stop and back and rushing around getting books and such. But other than the protests of my feet, I am not feeling the stress with which I ended last year. A good omen. Give it time, though.

How was my first day, you ask, excepting my poor choice in footwear? My first class began at 8 AM...or would have had the professor decided to attend. He or she did not, so my classmates and I just sat chatting until about 8:30, then going off to do our various "first-day errands". My next class was at 9 AM in the same room so I couldn't venture too far.

After my 9 AM class (the professor showed for this one) I headed over to help make/eat some waffles at the Institute of Religion. Following that it was back to the law building to join the Law Students' Association (to get my locker) and buying coursepacks. I finally had my last class of the day, Personal Property Security Law and almost fell asleep in class for the first time this semester! Not that it's the professor's fault--she's great, and the subject doesn't seem too bad, either. Just a bad time of day, I guess.

And now I sit, blogging away while my textbooks sit calling me. Yes, I already have readings, and although you may call me a keener for starting my homework on the first day, I have premonitions of getting behind in them and then drowning in the course material. So to prevent any water/course-related deaths, I shall begin on my readings now! Peace out until next time. Oh, and here's a picture that shows the kind of job I worked at this summer...

Glass of Water ~ Coldplay

I. AM. DONE. I am 1/4 lawyer (if you count 3 years of law school plus 10 months of articling). Exams are complete and I now face 4 months of no law (except for following, I suppose). Perhaps I will now actually have something interesting to talk about on my blog...but probably not.

For now, it is enough that I can just sit down and watch a movie, or read a book for fun, without worrying about those 10 cases I need to read before tomorrow.

Sunshine ~ Matt Costa

Course registration went about as well as it could have--I got all the classes I wanted to take. To be honest, with all that I worried (unneccessarily) about getting certain classes, I had no trouble. On the other hand, other students I talked to later on registration day weren't so lucky. I'm pretty happy though, because the fact that I got all the classes I wanted means it'll be a lot easier for me to do a semester abroad in my third year.

Exams are a-coming, and of course I'm more than just a bit nervous, but I feel like I've done more work this year than in my entire 3 years of undergrad put together, so they can hardly flunk me. I've got to at least pass or else there is no justice in the universe. And it's not the end of the world if I have to take Property Law again (in fact, it might be more enjoyable the second time around, since I would probably actually know what was going on).

Everyone is getting their plans for the summer solidified. Unfortunately, due to the economy (it seems like when anyone has a problem nowadays, they can peg it to the economy) a lot of people in my class at school and who are my age in general are having trouble getting a summer job. I'm lucky enough that I've worked for the government during the summer the past couple of years, so I got priority when they were doing re-hiring. Also, I get an automatic raise for coming back (not to rub it in or anything).

This means that I'll be going back home for the summer. It'll be nice to be with the family again, especially my niece and nephews who are all changing so quickly. It's likely that things won't be too exciting this summer in regards to huge trips or anything like that--but I'm hoping to make a road trip to the west coast at some point (whether it's to Victoria, BC or Seattle, WA depends on how fast I renew my passport!).

Matt Costa, the artist of the week, is one of the many artists to whom I was introduced by one of the roommates I had last year. He has some great acoustic-y music that's nice and cheerful in sound but not always in lyrics. I highly recommend both this song and his album "Unfamiliar Faces" if you like acoustic music with the occasional touch of bluegrass.

Title and Registration ~ Death Cab for Cutie

The semester is rapidly drawing to a close--yet although exams seem to be coming up fast, the days are getting longer. My ability to pay attention in class or while reading long cases is definitely waning. Oh well, I'm almost done. This summer is without a doubt the most highly-anticipated summer I've ever had. I cannot wait for a break.

One of the diseases that inflicts law students, and indeed many post-secondary students in general, at this time of year is registritis. It's when all conversations and thoughts are consumed with what classes to take, when to take them, and how you can somehow sabotage other students' alarm clocks so that they don't wake up in time to be the first to register at 6:00 AM tomorrow. Yes, that's right--registration opens 6:00 AM tomorrow online. The computer system is probably going to crash, and with my luck my Internet won't work, so I'll have last pick of all classes. I guess we'll see how it goes. If I have to take Law of Road Construction because nothing's left, I'll take it.

Wow, this blog was pretty negative. For something a little more upbeat, the band of the week is Death Cab for Cutie--definitely one of my top 5 bands. I discovered them a couple of years ago and am pretty much addicted to them. I have 4 of their albums, and my income tax return (or rather, part of it) is going to be dedicated to rounding off my collection with the rest of their albums and their EPs. Their music is not catchy immediately all of the time--but the more I listen to a given song, the more I love it. It's interesting music with interesting lyrics. I'm sure anyone reading this blog has heard of them, but if you haven't had a chance to check them out in detail, I would suggest checking out their album "Plans" first, then probably "Transatlanticism" (the song of the week, one of my favourite Death Cab songs, is from this album), although "Narrow Stairs" and "The Photo Album" are fabulous, too (those are the 4 that I possess currently).

The Resolution ~ Jack's Mannequin

Well, I have finally reached the peak of my first year in law school--the point which every (sane) student dreads from the very first day: the moot.

What is the moot, you ask? Us lowly first-years prepare an argument for a fake case and argue it before a fake Court of Appeal. Leading up to it, we write a 20-page factum to argue our case in full (the oral argument is essentially the highlights of the factum and a chance for judges to ask questions for clarification). So, although at the beginning of the year I don't think I was too worried about it, as time went on and it loomed closer and closer, I began getting quite nervous.

In my case, nervousness translated into over-preparation.

I spent so much time preparing for the moot (which is only worth 10% of one of my 6 courses) that I got a bit behind in my other classes. Fortunately I've caught up in most of them now.

I went into the counsel chambers off of the moot courtroom and got on a barrister's gown that smelt a bit like someone had been sweating in it. They had a plate of cookies on a table, trying to make us feel at ease. Although I do love cookies, I believed nothing was going to make me feel less nervous for this.

But strangely, as soon as my teacher let us into the courtroom itself, I felt much more calm. When I got up to make my argument, I felt not nearly as nervous as I thought I would. I got asked questions that I actually knew the answer to (or at least for which I could make up a plausible answer). It was actually the teeniest bit fun. Perhaps this is all due to my years of musical performances growing up, but when I got up to the podium, I was in the zone.

Even so, I was supremely relieved when it was done. It's a huge weight off of my shoulders. And now I know I can do the court thing (I wasn't so sure before).

In other news--wait. I don't really have any other news. I guess I need to get a life. I'll endeavour to write about something not law-related next week.

Freedom Blade ~ This Will Destroy You

There is a stereotype out there--probably well-founded in general--that university students are well-informed about current events. Unfortunately, I am definitely an exception to that stereotype. I seem to have a general understanding about the big issues out there, but if you were to ask me to explain the recession, or the war in Afghanistan, or pretty much anything to do with politics, I will only be able to say "Yeah, that's pretty crazy, eh?" or "Well, things have to get worse before they get better" or something that attempts to cover my lack of knowledge.

This year I decided to try and remedy my un-informedness by signing up for the top stories of the day with www.cbc.ca. This worked for a week or so, and now I only look at the stories if they're sensational (like a murder trial) or are something to do with animals doing funny things. So, I think I may be a hopeless case. I guess I just get too much "real world" in my reading of case after case for school.

Today my school had a small-firm recruitment fair. We also had the Chief Crown Prosecutor of the province come and give us a little spiel about jobs with the Department of Justice. I'm only a first-year, so I don't really have to worry about finding a job for the summer (especially since the place I've worked at the past two summers--unrelated to law--has hired me back), and I'm not going to be looking for an articling position until next year, it still scares me. I mean, I'm actually going to have to put effort in, sending my application to dozens of law firms in the hopes that one of them will have mercy and hire me. I'm really looking forward to the actual working and all of that, as I'm enjoying what I'm learning, but I don't want to go through all of the rejections and uncertainty.

I guess I'll just decide to be optimistic for now and believe that it'll be a cake walk when it comes down to it. I can't do anything about it right now anyways.

Glittering Blackness ~ Explosions in the Sky

I should actually be really careful as to what I write on my blog--particularly about local car wash owners--if I want to avoid being sued for defamation (lowering someone in the estimation of the community, NOT defecation--you'd be surprised how many times people have had them confused when I mention defamation). That's because the case I'm working on for my moot court project is a case of a guy accusing an Edmonton car wash owner with soliciting prostutition (sorry, I guess this blog is now PG-rated), when he was just talking to some people on the street. Frank, the car wash owner, sued Rick, the blogger, for his words. Let this be a warning to all bloggers out there: before making criminal allegations, check the truth of your assumptions. I plan to do so.

A note on the musical artist of the week (Explosions in the Sky). They are of the genre of post-rock, which if you've never heard of, you should definitely check into. It's basically instrumental music using the types of ensembles you'd hear in a rock band, but not quite rock. I don't really know how to explain--Wikipedia would help you out (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_rock). I like music that helps me think, and post-rock, at least the practitioners of it that I've been exposed to (Explosions in the Sky, This Will Destroy You, etc.) does that better than any other genre out there. The song this week, "Glittering Blackness" took me a while to appreciate. It's one of Explosions' earliest pieces, but it grew on me. If you're going to look into any of their songs, 2 musts are "Your Hand in Mine", and "First Breath After the Coma"--although I would seriously suggest you should just get all of their music. I'll try and find a way to post a YouTube video of a performance of one of those.

Liebestraum No. 3 in A-flat ~ Franz Liszt

All right, let's be honest. I'm not famous, rich, or important in any way. Thus, I realize from the outset that it's likely that absolutely no one will read this blog. But that's okay.

So, for anyone who somehow stumbles across this blog, I shall proffer you a brief introduction. I am a lowly first-year law student. My days are filled with reading case after long case by the Supreme Court of Canada in Constitutional Law, while my nights are blessed with nightmares about my Contracts class (literally--last night I definitely had one).

Do I have a life outside of school? Not per se. But, I'm quite involved with my church, which provides me with a welcome dose of perspective. I also have many interests other than reading about trusts and negligence.

My three favourite parts of mortality are undoubtedly (and not necessarily in this order) music, family, and books. In fact, I've decided to title my blogs (as I am hopeless at thinking of titles) after the piece of music to which I am listening as I write it. I love pretty much any genre of music you throw at me, but my two favourites are alternative and classical.

My family is wonderful--I have 4 brothers, a sister, 2 parents, 3 nephews, a niece, and various siblings-in-law to go along with them. I have so much fun when I'm with them, especially on holidays and vacations when I can (temporarily) forget about school. To the left is a picture that shows part of my family while we were on a trip to New York City (behind us is Ground Zero).

Books have been a passion of mine since I learned to read. I love everything from the history of Russia to pure fluff. I have two huge bookshelves full of books.

Well, that's pretty much the essence of my existence. I hope to update with the details of my sojourn through life approximately weekly.

--Sarah