Thought it was time for a law school update.

So my program is divided into Modules:  11 days per module, 30 modules a year.  I am now on Module 14.  Next week is midterm.  Half.  Way.  Through.  The first year.

Here are my thoughts at the .5 point (or the .125 point for the whole program – let’s don’t use that number).

–Still love it.  I love the challenge, I love the learning, I love the system, I love the history.

–It’s harder than I thought.  It’s not that it’s too difficult to understand; it’s that there are so many exceptions to the exceptions to the exceptions that I have to have memorized in order to cross the barrier that is the Bar Exam.  The writing is so fine and exact – every word means something.  I have always been able to express myself through the written word, but it’s precisely because I have at my disposal an ABUNDANCE of words and expressions and grammatical gyrations.  In legal writing it is the opposite – the fewer words the better (counter-intuitive I know).

–The biggest challenge is not the time management; it’s the information management.  You know all those volumes of law books you always see on TV and lawyer commercials?  Those are cases – rulings from which other rulings are made.  They’re relevant.  In real life, as a practicing attorney, you would access those cases and research what is applicable to your case.  In law school life, you have to know enough of that information to pass the Test.  Which information?  Ahh…good question.  Good luck with that.

–I LOVE my classmates.  We are a gnarly bunch.  We are mostly over 40, we have families and jobs and mortgages.  We live all over the world.  We are overachievers, smart, driven, and confident.  We are solely a cyberspace community, although I have a potential real-life, in-person study weekend coming up in June.   We use Skype, Facebook, cellphones, texting, email.  These are my people.

–I’m halfway through my first year.  The first year of 4.  In this program I have to pass what is called the Baby Bar, in California.  That is scheduled for June of 2012.  I’m already stressed over it.  Nothing like a little year-long, chronic pressure.  I’m of the belief that a little stress is good – it’s what keeps up from being eaten by predators.  Long-term, chronic stress?  Not so much.  But I’m managing, and it just adds more of a challenge to the whole affair.

That’s my update.  I have to mention that I’ve gotten my first phone call for legal advice.  I had to chuckle, and I said what I could, which mostly consisted of me saying that I wasn’t qualified to say or do anything, but it was still a milestone, and it gave me a little internal rush.

Just a pic of the fam

On an unrelated note, check out the blogs of my fabulous fam:  Amy and Glenda are in Thailand, and are keeping a travel blog:  http://www.twinsinthailand.wordpress.com, and Jesse and Sam are on a TransAmerica bike ride and are at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com, search Jesse Jordan.

Next blog, with any luck, will be my recap of Bonnaroo.  I’m volunteering, and I’m going in on Tuesday.  Iron and Wine.  All I’m sayin.

Thanks for reading!