So I'm getting my daughter into bed and I get up for a late night snack. I'm warming up a tortilla and watching Sports Center. One taco turns into two and into ...well, you get the point. The next thing I know, I've been watching Sports Center for the last fifteen minutes or so. I turn off the TV and I'm walking down the hall towards my bedroom and the door opens. Katie peeks out the door and says in her best pirate accent, "Pirate D, (we've been reading Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm Pirate D and she's Pirate K...) I'm glad you're coming to bed." I ask why and she drops the accent and says in the sweetest voice you can imagine, "Dad, it's cold in here and your warm. I'm uncomfortable when you're not next to me." Wow! So I kneel down and give her a tight squeeze and then in my best pirate accent I tell her, "Arrrrgh, you better climb in bed before I make you walk the plank!"
She's stolen my heart....
Her name is Pirate K
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
It's been pretty busy...
Sorry I haven't posted. It's been pretty busy. Just a quick run down of what's been going on. Had that property exam that didn't count. Then I started preparing for moot court. Moot court is like pretend appellate work. It was fun. I was best speaker for three out of four rounds. I almost got a perfect score in one round. My partner struggled and we didn't break. If you break, that means you're one of the top 32 teams and you keep on competing. Moot court is something that every law school around the nation does. It was fun, but now the playing is over. It's time to study for finals.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Sample Law School Essay . . .
Facts
OK, where do we start? Student A is having an exam in property. To prepare for the exam he turns to another law student. A 2L. Student says to 2L, "Hey, I've got this exam in property, you had Mather (the professor), do you have anything that might help?" In turn, that person had 16 sample multiple choice problems. Apparently, this 2L had gone to see Mather to look over the exam from last year. That's perfectly "legal." The student then hand copied the questions verbatim. This is not "legal."
The student (not the 2L) realizing she had a great study tool gave them to one friend, that friend gave them to another friend and so on and so forth till a number of students (not sure how many) had a copy of the exam. Long story short, these students has an unfair advantage during the exam even though they themselves had not done anything wrong.
One student who had gotten a hold of this exam went to Mather after the property exam and told her that she/he had studied from a sample exam with the same questions which were on the actual exam.
Taking a Test
Here at school, the way we're taught to attack legal problems is with a method commonly known as IRAC. Issue, rule, analysis, conclusion.
Issue
Students attain a copy of exam we are about to take. They attain it in a way that may or may not have been a violation of the honor code.
Rule (This part is not so simple. Very analogous to the law).
Generally, when a student is taking an exam, they may use whatever resources may be available which many times includes 2L's and 3L's.
If a student realizes when they are taking the exam that the study aid they have attained from another student may have been acquired in a way in violation of the honor code, they should tell their professor.
A student, upon realizing that the exam he or she is taking is the EXACT same test they acquired from a 2L, the student should tell their professor.
Exam is not graded and thrown out.
Analysis
The 2L should not have copied the questions from her previous exam. If the 1L student who attained those questions from the 2L knew they were taken from a previous exam which was unreleased to the class as a whole, that student should have turned them down or immediately spoken to Mather. If the student did not know, they were free to circulate the sample exam as they wished. Any student who received the exam under some sort of suspicion also should have spoken to Mather.
Once a student who had used the sample questions to study realized the answers were the same, they should have immediately gone to Mather (who was proctering the exam) to let her know that the questions on the exam had all ready been circulated among students. No student approached professor Mather during the exam. Someone did however approach her after the exam. I really applaud this person.
Professor Mather, once realizing that the test had been compromised, has several options each of which is not completely fair. First, she may decide to score the exam. This is unfair to the students who didn't have the sample questions in two ways. One group had the answer to the multiple choice portion of the exam and that group in essence had a longer amount of time to work on the essay. This option is probably not best.
Professor Mather may score the exam for those who did not have the sample questions. She may then give those who did have the exam another exam. This is unfair and not wise on a number of levels. First, there is no way to completely know who did and did not have the exam. This would lead to some students who may have had the exam "fly under the radar"so to speak and score very well on the test. Second, the second exam may not be as "fair" as the first exam and subject those who studied with the sample questions, who in reality did not do anything wrong, to be graded on a different scale then those who did not have the exam. This is not the best option.
Professor Mather may choose to not score the exam. This option is unfair to everyone in the class and is what should in fact be done. The students who did not have the sample questions basically wasted their time. Those students denied themselves of sleep and ignored their other classes for nothing. The students who used the sample question studied just as hard, denied themselves of sleep and didn't study for other classes and are also denied their hard work because they had sample questions which they didn't know they weren't allowed to have.
Conclusion
Professor Mather did in fact throw out the test. This isn't a hypothetical. It's what happened over the last three days. In reality, it's Professor Mather's fault for being too lazy to write a new exam but there are good arguments for recycling exam questions.
Have you heard of Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? This was lose/lose.
OK, where do we start? Student A is having an exam in property. To prepare for the exam he turns to another law student. A 2L. Student says to 2L, "Hey, I've got this exam in property, you had Mather (the professor), do you have anything that might help?" In turn, that person had 16 sample multiple choice problems. Apparently, this 2L had gone to see Mather to look over the exam from last year. That's perfectly "legal." The student then hand copied the questions verbatim. This is not "legal."
The student (not the 2L) realizing she had a great study tool gave them to one friend, that friend gave them to another friend and so on and so forth till a number of students (not sure how many) had a copy of the exam. Long story short, these students has an unfair advantage during the exam even though they themselves had not done anything wrong.
One student who had gotten a hold of this exam went to Mather after the property exam and told her that she/he had studied from a sample exam with the same questions which were on the actual exam.
Taking a Test
Here at school, the way we're taught to attack legal problems is with a method commonly known as IRAC. Issue, rule, analysis, conclusion.
Issue
Students attain a copy of exam we are about to take. They attain it in a way that may or may not have been a violation of the honor code.
Rule (This part is not so simple. Very analogous to the law).
Generally, when a student is taking an exam, they may use whatever resources may be available which many times includes 2L's and 3L's.
If a student realizes when they are taking the exam that the study aid they have attained from another student may have been acquired in a way in violation of the honor code, they should tell their professor.
A student, upon realizing that the exam he or she is taking is the EXACT same test they acquired from a 2L, the student should tell their professor.
Exam is not graded and thrown out.
Analysis
The 2L should not have copied the questions from her previous exam. If the 1L student who attained those questions from the 2L knew they were taken from a previous exam which was unreleased to the class as a whole, that student should have turned them down or immediately spoken to Mather. If the student did not know, they were free to circulate the sample exam as they wished. Any student who received the exam under some sort of suspicion also should have spoken to Mather.
Once a student who had used the sample questions to study realized the answers were the same, they should have immediately gone to Mather (who was proctering the exam) to let her know that the questions on the exam had all ready been circulated among students. No student approached professor Mather during the exam. Someone did however approach her after the exam. I really applaud this person.
Professor Mather, once realizing that the test had been compromised, has several options each of which is not completely fair. First, she may decide to score the exam. This is unfair to the students who didn't have the sample questions in two ways. One group had the answer to the multiple choice portion of the exam and that group in essence had a longer amount of time to work on the essay. This option is probably not best.
Professor Mather may score the exam for those who did not have the sample questions. She may then give those who did have the exam another exam. This is unfair and not wise on a number of levels. First, there is no way to completely know who did and did not have the exam. This would lead to some students who may have had the exam "fly under the radar"so to speak and score very well on the test. Second, the second exam may not be as "fair" as the first exam and subject those who studied with the sample questions, who in reality did not do anything wrong, to be graded on a different scale then those who did not have the exam. This is not the best option.
Professor Mather may choose to not score the exam. This option is unfair to everyone in the class and is what should in fact be done. The students who did not have the sample questions basically wasted their time. Those students denied themselves of sleep and ignored their other classes for nothing. The students who used the sample question studied just as hard, denied themselves of sleep and didn't study for other classes and are also denied their hard work because they had sample questions which they didn't know they weren't allowed to have.
Conclusion
Professor Mather did in fact throw out the test. This isn't a hypothetical. It's what happened over the last three days. In reality, it's Professor Mather's fault for being too lazy to write a new exam but there are good arguments for recycling exam questions.
Have you heard of Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? This was lose/lose.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
I think I'll be an attorney . . .
I did fairly well on my grades last semester and was invited to join an honors fraternity here at school called Phi Delta Phi. Our induction ceremony was last night. For those of you that know me personally, you'd imagine I had seen the inside of a court room from my traffic tickets. I've seen a traffic court but I had never been in a "court room." You know, the kind you see on TV with the huge bench for the judge and a witness chair to the side, a jury box and tables where counsel sit. Last night our induction ceremony was in the Federal Bankrupcy Court for the Western District. The courtroom was beautiful and the ceremony was great. The spoke to us about the need for honest ethical lawyers. That our profession was one whose foundation is on truth and justice and the only what that the goals of our legal system are fulfilled is when lawyers are also grounded on those foundations. I felt honored and privileged to be taking my first steps towards joining this profession.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Back in class...
We're back in class today. A good example of how hard it is to think when you're being called on.
Professor: What year was the case decided?
Student: Um . .
Professor: That's ok, I can tell you, 1905. And what year is it?
Student: Um . . .
Professor: This year Miss _____________ (To protect student's identity).
Student: Oh, 2006
Professor: And how many years between the case and the present
Student: Um . . .
Professor: Six minus five is one, zero minus zero is zero, nine minus zero, wait, cross out the two make it a one, carry the one, nine minus ten is one . . .
Student: Um, 106 years?
Professor: No, 101.
Being called on is the worst feeling ever. Your mind just shuts down.
Professor: What year was the case decided?
Student: Um . .
Professor: That's ok, I can tell you, 1905. And what year is it?
Student: Um . . .
Professor: This year Miss _____________ (To protect student's identity).
Student: Oh, 2006
Professor: And how many years between the case and the present
Student: Um . . .
Professor: Six minus five is one, zero minus zero is zero, nine minus zero, wait, cross out the two make it a one, carry the one, nine minus ten is one . . .
Student: Um, 106 years?
Professor: No, 101.
Being called on is the worst feeling ever. Your mind just shuts down.
Friday, March 10, 2006
No Sleep
Coming off of another 20 hour day, I decided to one up myself and last night I just didn't go to sleep. Here's the kicker, I worked from the moment I got home 12:00AM to the moment I left 6:50AM. I only stopped to go to the bathroom and shower. I was working on an appellate brief for the Supreme Court. We like to play pretend here at school. The brief was not only difficult to write, the format was awful. On top of that, going through all the cites and signals took forever and on the 4th read through, I was still finding citation errors. Any time you use precedent from another court opinion, you have to cite it. This tells the reader where to go if they would like to know where you got the information from. This takes forever and is an extremely tedious process.
Overall, I enjoyed the assignment, but after 3 weeks straight of 80-90 hour weeks, I was ready to just be through with it.
Overall, I enjoyed the assignment, but after 3 weeks straight of 80-90 hour weeks, I was ready to just be through with it.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Introductions Please
Some of you don't know my daughter so I thought you might like to meet her. Say hello to Kaitlyn.
The best day in a long time . . .
Yesterday was the best day I've had in a long time. I had the opportunity to hook up with some old friends from undergrad (if you can call LABI undergrad) and talk about old times. We laughed and ate, and remembered our friends from school. It really was a great time. God just hears prayers. He's never early, never late, but he hears us and responds when we need him too. They were a breath of fresh air.
Now it's back to school, back to work. Two more days till my break. I can't wait. Yesterday was a twenty hour day. A TWENTY HOUR DAY. I'm a little tired today but I'll rest when the weekend gets here.
Now it's back to school, back to work. Two more days till my break. I can't wait. Yesterday was a twenty hour day. A TWENTY HOUR DAY. I'm a little tired today but I'll rest when the weekend gets here.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Midterms, A Brief and a Chapter 11
Sorry everybody, I wish I could post more. I had another midterm this past Friday. It was very difficult. I feel like I did ok but you never really know. On top of that, I've been working on an appellate brief for my writing class. It's due this Friday and because of the exams, I'm pretty far behind. On top of that, I've been working on this chapter 11 for my boss. Not working on it yet but working through an old Disclosure Statement and Plan of Reorganization. It's been a very busy. Last week I probably put in 90 hours here at school. I'm glad spring break is coming up next week because I need a break.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Another example...
Here's another example of how lawschool mixes you all up. It's 10:0o PM, I'm dead tired, and I can't go to sleep because I still have work to finish. I'll work till 1:00 AM and then I wont be able to fall asleep. I hate school
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Highlighters
Law school students live and die with highlighters. Highlighting is an art with many different methods. The are two predominant methods, the one color method and the mutlicolor method. The one color method involves highlighting with one color (usually yellow) and making notes in the margins to remind you why you highlighted the particular part. The multicolor method uses five colors and is my method of choice. Each color is significant. My color scheme is as follows:
Yellow - Procedural Issues
Green - Facts of the case
Pink - Plaintiff's arguments
Blue - Defendant's arguments
Orange - The voice of th court
The point of this little blurb about highlighting is that opinions contain mostly the voice of the court and I've already gone through two orange highlighters.
Yellow - Procedural Issues
Green - Facts of the case
Pink - Plaintiff's arguments
Blue - Defendant's arguments
Orange - The voice of th court
The point of this little blurb about highlighting is that opinions contain mostly the voice of the court and I've already gone through two orange highlighters.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
More time....
I thought I'd have more time for fishing, or writing on my blog, or eating or sleeping. Law school had other plans. School started at a pretty fast pace. I've also been doing some "real" lawyer work for an attorney here in town. It feels great when I ask people where they're headed and they shrug, "Library, you?" and I get to say, "To the court house to file a complaint."
On Friday my worst nightmare came true. Well sort of. We have to go back to Wed. to understand what happened. So we're in con law (constitutional law) and we're pressing through the material. Class ends without us getting through all the material. So I'm preparing for Fridays class on Thursday and it's probably one of the best opinions I've ever read (McCulluch v. Maryland, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the opinion). I read it and reread it. Get to class on Friday and professor Airens says "Mr. Perez," I raise my hand because I'm prepared, ready to jump in the ring with the bull right? "What's the court's holding in Baker v. Carr?" Split second of silence and the whole class together begins to frantically flip the pages in our book. Airens was asking about a case from Wednesday's class that we hadn't gotten to. I had read the opinion but only once. I didn't have a brief ready. He crushed me, question after question, silence upon silence. No cocounsel (cocounsel is when a professor calls on the person next to you if you can't get the answer), no help. I was alone. I made it through about 40 minutes of questions but it was brutal. Everyone congratulated me after class for getting through it. Thanked me for being the sacrificial lamb. You see, no one had prepared for Baker v. Carr, like me they had just gone on with the reading. I was pretty much humiliated.
On Friday my worst nightmare came true. Well sort of. We have to go back to Wed. to understand what happened. So we're in con law (constitutional law) and we're pressing through the material. Class ends without us getting through all the material. So I'm preparing for Fridays class on Thursday and it's probably one of the best opinions I've ever read (McCulluch v. Maryland, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the opinion). I read it and reread it. Get to class on Friday and professor Airens says "Mr. Perez," I raise my hand because I'm prepared, ready to jump in the ring with the bull right? "What's the court's holding in Baker v. Carr?" Split second of silence and the whole class together begins to frantically flip the pages in our book. Airens was asking about a case from Wednesday's class that we hadn't gotten to. I had read the opinion but only once. I didn't have a brief ready. He crushed me, question after question, silence upon silence. No cocounsel (cocounsel is when a professor calls on the person next to you if you can't get the answer), no help. I was alone. I made it through about 40 minutes of questions but it was brutal. Everyone congratulated me after class for getting through it. Thanked me for being the sacrificial lamb. You see, no one had prepared for Baker v. Carr, like me they had just gone on with the reading. I was pretty much humiliated.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Back from the break...
Well, I'm back in San Antonio, back to work, back to school. The break was great, just what I needed. I got some much needed rest, spent a lot of time with my family and good deal of time fishing (my new pastime). Grades are in. Well, not all of them but most. One grade, Civ Pro, is still out. I'm not posting my grades here because some of my friends from school read my blog and if they want to know my grades, they can ante up and ask me. If you'd like to know how I did, just send an email and I get back to you as soon as I can.
The line up this semester includes Property, Contracts and Torts from last semester and two new courses, Criminal Law (I'm paying attention Jonathan), and Constitutional Law. Reamey, pronounced RAY-ME, is an older man with short clean cut hair and big ears. Very Ross Perot. He dresses sharp and so far has displayed some quick humor. Con Law is taught by Dean Airens, he's supposed to be just as hard as Teeter but meaner. Ha! Didn't know that was possible. Actually, Teeter's my favorite. I'll be in that class at 12:30 so we'll see. I'll be updating more this semester. I think I have a much better feel as to how to manage my time so hopefully I'll be more productive and have time to fish once or twice.
The line up this semester includes Property, Contracts and Torts from last semester and two new courses, Criminal Law (I'm paying attention Jonathan), and Constitutional Law. Reamey, pronounced RAY-ME, is an older man with short clean cut hair and big ears. Very Ross Perot. He dresses sharp and so far has displayed some quick humor. Con Law is taught by Dean Airens, he's supposed to be just as hard as Teeter but meaner. Ha! Didn't know that was possible. Actually, Teeter's my favorite. I'll be in that class at 12:30 so we'll see. I'll be updating more this semester. I think I have a much better feel as to how to manage my time so hopefully I'll be more productive and have time to fish once or twice.
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