As a Followup to my Last Post...

Maybe I should have directed my last post at a few of the people from my class. Today I learned that there's apparently some weird variant of "gunner bingo" going on in my class (although no one's admitted to it yet), and the guy in front of me was tallying up my comments and about along with those of 4 others right in front of me in the middle of class. Being that he was rude enough to do this in plain view, during the break between classes, I asked him if that was in fact what he was doing, which he vehemently denied and then proceeded to tell me "don't touch my stuff". Excuse me, but you're doing this right in front of me during class in plain view. I didn't touch anything on your desk nor did I rifle through any of your paperwork.

This is where we have ourselves a little lesson on manners. First, I understand the need to engage in these types of games for some people. Some do it to relieve stress, some do it to alleviate boredom, and some do it to make money. Whatever your reasons are for playing these games, I'm fine with it, have fun, enjoy yourselves, and go make lots of money. My problem is when people do this right in front of me and it distracts me from class or makes me feel uncomfortable about asking questions or making comments. Wouldn't it be a little disconcerting to you to have someone have your name on a sheet of paper with tally marks next to it every time you said something? If you're going to play these games, at least have the common courtesy to not let the people know that you're doing it by leaving such things out in the open and marking them off in class. Such things have a potential to create a hostile learning environment and are just not necessary. You can take care of the extracirriculars after class.

Also, if you're going to do this out in the open, you have no right to get offended when someone who is involuntarily involved in your game questions you about it. You're using my name in a game you're playing (or maybe a paper you're writing, if that's what you claim to be doing) and as a result, I have a right to question, complain, bitch, gripe, and moan about it if I want to. If he had explained an alternative and valid reason for making tally marks next to my name every time I commented, I'd have gladly listened and even apologized for questioning him in the first place. This does not in any way indicate that he has no right to engage in doing what he's doing. He absolutely does, but I want to know about it and feel I'm justified in asking about it.

This more or less comes down to me wanting to know and feeling I have a right to know about things that I'm a party of, and which people have not made me aware of. I'm not trying to kill your fun here. If you had told me that's what you were doing, I would simply have asked you to do it in between classes where I couldn't see you doing it. I wouldn't have demanded that you stop or even complained about you doing it on the whole. I can take jokes and being poked fun at. It's a part of life and if you feel you need to get your kicks at others' expense, then that's up to you. I won't interfere. I just don't want you creating a hostile learning environment for me and others that you don't particularly like because we elect to participate in class. I have the right to be free of intimidation or hostility and I ask that you respect that right.

A Message from a "Gunner"

Yes, I admit it. I'm the one that everyone of hates. I'm the guy in class that raises his hand when the professor asks questions and does my best to answer them. I'm the guy that asks questions in virtually every class every day. You know what though? I don't particularily care what people think of me in this respect. There are probably about 10 of us in our section that do the same thing I do. People seem to be under the impression that we talk just to hear our own voices, or that we're trying to brown nose the professors, but this could not be further from the truth. I should preface this by saying that this post is not directed toward anyone at my law school. Everyone I've met here doesn't seem to have a problem and we're all rather cordial and friendly to each other. This is directed more toward people on message boards and websites that heckle us for trying our best to learn the material we're given and trying to develop our legal reasoning abilities.

The truth of the matter is that this is how we learn. We learn by asking questions and having dialogue with the professor about the cases to solidify our understanding of what's going on. Furthermore, I find that most of the time that I get called on when I raise my hand, it's because no one else is volunteering the answer. People need to stop whining and moaning that we're taking up class time, if they're not willing to ask and answer questions themselves. It's not our fault if you don't take advantage of the opportunity you have to get involved in class dialogue and maybe for you, that's how you learn better, but for us, we need that dialogue to make sure we're really getting what the professor is saying.

I know the argument is that we're taking up valuable class time, but the reality is that the professors know what they want to cover in a particular day and they will almost always succeed in covering that material. There have been numerous times when professors have cut off discussion and asked us to bring our questions to office hours, which I routinely do. Furthermore, they will always call on students who don't often contribute to class discussions over those of us who routinely do, and I like the fact that they do this. In short, let the professors deal with us "gunners". They know how to control their class and the discussions that take place.

Now one thing that I don't like seeing is the when people turn a law class into a social policy class. We have one particular student who loves to try to turn the conversation to social policy and what is right and wrong morally and ethically. While this conversation is great to have if you're working on a masters or PhD in political science, it has no place in a law school classroom. Empty head/pure heart arguments in court are not going to help you. In fact, those types of arguments can possibly get you an FRCP Rule 11 sanction or your state's equivalent. What I believe is right and wrong is fine and good, and I make my decisions in life based on that, but in court, we have to defer to the precedent set by the court and to the court's rules of law. I can argue for change in the law if I think it's wrong, but I would have to have some logical basis supported by research or it would likely be thrown out as frivolous. Passionate arguments have their place, but the courtroom is not one of them.

Now I'm not saying that people should stop fighting for the causes they believe in. I have causes I believe in and I am going to law school so that I can fight for those causes. What I'm saying is that if you're going to fight for your cause, you have to play by the rules of the system. It doesn't do any good to go into court with a pure heart argument if a judge is only going to decide a case on facts and logic. Inevitably there are judges that vote their conscience purely, but these are and should be in the minority. Most judges, from what I've seen, seem to add their personal spin on things, but can still come up with their decision using logical reasoning. Even if I don't agree with the decision, I can still understand where they're coming from. In short, if you want to argue for your cause, find a way to do it logically and rationally. Do it from an objective perspective rather than a subjective emotional one. It will garner much more weight with the court.

4 Weeks of Law School...

Wow, the workload is really increasing here. I'm getting roughly 14-18 pages per night per class. That roughly equates to about 40 pages of reading per night. For those of you who aren't familiar with reading in law school, that's roughly 4 hours of work in reading alone. That doesn't include the time spent briefing and answering questions at the end of each case.

For the benefit of those of you here who have not yet attended law school. There seems to be this common misconception that you only read and brief cases every day, and that's all you do. I wish it were that simple. All of these casebooks contain notes and questions at the end of every case. You aren't required to answer them, but they make you think like a lawyer and if you don't answer them, you're denying yourself the chance to learn something more valuable than a legal rule, that is the chance to practice legal reasoning.

Another common misconception that people seem to have coming in here is that they should read the cases to get the legal rule and then memorize the rule. While it's true that the legal rule is important and you need to know it, what's more important is the reasoning behind the legal rule and the application of that rule to particular cases. You need to be able to analyze a situation and actually apply a rule and explain why you're applying it the way you are, and what support you have for doing so. Simply knowing the rule will net you a 'C' grade in every class, or so the professors tell me. It's the analysis you apply that bumps your grade from a 'C' to a 'B' or 'A'.

Finally, don't forget not to neglect what's important to you during law school. I started a relationship going into law school and I thank God every day for my wonderful new girlfriend Amanda, who puts up with only seeing me once a week. Not only that, but she puts up with my prattling on about legal opinions and application of the law. She is truly finer than the most valuable gem in the entire world. Her kindness, patience, and understanding go beyond all reason and expectations, and I am very thankful to be with her. When you eat, drink, breathe, and sleep the law, that's all you can really think about and that's all you tend to talk about. Needless to say, this will annoy and drive crazy every person around you who is not in law school. Take time out of your schedule to forget about law for a few hours, or maybe even a whole day from time to time. It's not worth it to do well in law school if you end up killing yourself by heart attack or ending up in a mental hospital because you don't take time out to relax and keep yourself mentally and physically healthy.