To all my fellow Bar Exam takers who will be joining me in hell on Tuesday and Wednesday, good luck!!!
Trial Advocacy
February 6, 2008 by
I’ve been meaning to post about this for quite some time…
At the end of the summer, just before the fall semester, I took “Intensive Trial Advocacy”. It’s an eight-day intensive course–and at my school, you have to take the follow up (“Trial Ad 2″) the next semester. Many schools have similar classes, called “Trial Ad” or “Trial Practice” or somesuch.
It was definitely an intense experience. Essentially, you are cramming a three credit hour course into eight days–eight long days–covering as many aspects of trial practice as possible. It’s mentally exhausting, but it was one of the best experiences I’ve had in law school. First, I learned an incredible amount. Second, I felt more camaraderie with my classmates in Trial Ad than in many of my other law school courses–not to say it wasn’t competitive, it was. But it was also a lot of fun.
The course takes you through skills like direct examination, cross examination, witness prep, opening and closing statements, objections, etc. It is without a doubt the best way to learn the rules of evidence–much better than evidence class! Having to think about the rules of evidence in a practical sense, during prep and during trial, is far more instructive than reading caselaw.
Learning to direct and cross witnesses was valuable as well, and opening statements/closing arguments helped cure some of my public speaking foibles (hopefully). All in all, there was a lot of thinking on your feet–it’s a great way to hone your presentation and public speaking skills, all while actually getting to apply your analytical skills and knowledge of the law. I’ll admit, the motion practice section is a little weak, at least in the intensive session. Intensive really focuses on the trial itself, with many exercises and mini-trials, leading up to the final, which is a full-blown jury trial. In the second course, you get to delve into motion practice a little more, and refine some of the skills from intensive.
If you’re a law student looking to take something in your 2/3L year that will not only be educational, but also a lot of fun, I would *highly* recommend taking a Trial Advocacy course, even if you don’t plan on being a litigator–which I don’t. The skills you’ll pick up in Trial Ad will help you think on your feet better and refine your communication skills. Regardless of what type of law you hope or think you will end up practicing, I think every law student would benefit from this type of practical course.
How Law School Warps Your Brain
November 11, 2007 by
There are some commercials I’ve seen on television a few times (those rare few times I’m watching live TV, mostly games) from Liberty Mutual that disturb me to no end. They show people doing nice things for people… a woman pulls a guy back to the curb and saves him from a car… a postman helps a guy working on his house steady a ladder… some girl picks up trash and puts in a bin… another lady helps some movers life a couch off a truck. The tagline is “When people do the right thing, they call it being responsible. When it’s a home insurance company, they call it Liberty Mutual.”
I immediately think, “Those people aren’t being responsible, they are just being nice. They have no duty to help any of those other people… and in fact, in some of those situations they are exposing themselves to liability by helping in the first place.”
*sigh*
Notes for a Law Lecture
August 28, 2007 by
“There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost universal. Let no young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to the popular belief–resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave.”
Blawg Review #122
August 20, 2007 by
Blawg Review goes back to school with Blawg Review #122. With the school year almost upon us, it’s time for late registration–and you can’t register if you don’t know what courses are being offered. So, without further ado, I present to the Blawg Review Course Catalog.
Your host next week will be the esteemed D. Todd Smith at the Texas Appellate Law Blog. Be sure to visit for the next Blawg Review installment!
Blawg Review has information about next week’s host, and instructions on how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.
Ridiculous Disclaimers
June 20, 2007 by
I’m in California all this week for a conference, which so far has been kind of a bust. It’s a regular annual technology thing, with some training seminars and a lot of vendor exhibitions. Unfortunately, there just haven’t been many things I’ve seen here that I didn’t already know about. The web and the speed of transmission of information has really changed what conferences *should* be, but that’s for another post.
This post is about one of the training seminars. Now, keep in mind that most of the attendees at this conference are technology professionals. They make their living working with technology.
Today, I attended a session, which had typical PowerPoint handouts, but the second slide (after the title) was a huge “WARNING”:
“Materials may not be recorded or copied or used for any for-profit purpose or any other event use without prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted.”
First, the whole point of getting the information in the seminar *is* to use it for-profit: to expand your skills and increase your business. Now, I do realize that this disclaimer is really meant to try to discourage people from stealing the slides for their own presentations, but honestly, is this really necessary? More to the point, does the presenter think it’s _effective_? It won’t stop a real jackass from stealing the content, it doesn’t really provide any legal protection (a simple copyright notice at the bottom would have worked) and it insults the intelligence of the rest of us.
Why I Am a Dork.
March 5, 2007 by
Because every time someone says something about using Thomson & Thomson for a trademark search, I think of Thomson & Thompson.
Un-Conference: LexThink
January 29, 2007 by
Over at LexThink they are undergoing some changes, with an updated logo (that still leaves _a lot_ to be desired, in my never humble opinion) and a new tag line, “the legal unconference company.”
One of the LexThink principals, Dennis Kennedy has a nice roundup of un-conference posts and I wanted to throw in my two cents.
I’ve only had the pleasure of attending one LexThink event, Blawgthink 2005, but it was one of the single best and most productive conferences I’ve been to. There are some different opinions on what an “unconference” is or should be, but I think that LexThink does a tremendous job with their implementation/interpretation.
I think is important to realize that an “unconference” does not mean “unstructured”. Instead, the structure is organic and comes from the desires and goals of the attendees, not a mandated structure from the conference organizers. The result is that you learn far more in an unconference session (generally)–at least I do.
That isn’t to say that every session is a hit. It takes the right presenter to be fluid enough to work well in an environment that isn’t rigid and pre-planned. That’s one of the LexThink strengths–finding the right people. It also takes an open mind and a willingness of the attendees to take charge of their own agenda and not to settle for being spoon fed information. Sometimes, one or the other isn’t there and the result is a lack-luster session.
But surprisingly often, the attendees are excited about having some input and step up, and the presenters are excited about the interest from their audience. The excitement is contagious, a feedback loop of sorts. When everything comes together, the result can be a fantastic, interesting, and *productive* session where more information flows in all directions and learning abounds.
I know I sound a bit like an evangelist, but seriously, give an unconference a try sometime, it’s worth the risk. It won’t cost you anything but time and chances are you’ve wasted plenty of that in traditional conferences already.
Why People Hate Lawyers.
October 5, 2006 by
Vanity licenses plates on Mercedes which read “ONE 3RD”.