Gavels and Gears

So, it has been just over two months since I started prepping for law school. In two months I have already gotten a lot accomplished. As I discussed previously, I have gotten through GTM and Delaney’s. Since then, I have been steadily progressing through real law school materials. Like I indicated before, I have been focusing primarily on Examples and Explanations series supplements. To date I have read all of torts, half of contracts and about 2/3 of property.

Reading about torts was really neat. It was interesting to learn about how people solve everyday conflict (like a car accident) using the legal system. Everything was pretty easy to follow, even the more abstract doctrines like proximate cause.

Once I finished with torts my curiosity got the best of me and I actually tried my hand at a torts exam. My attempt was extremely informal, but it was a good exercise, nonetheless. I was surprised at how easily I could spot issues. It was like the facts just made them jump out at me. I would just be reading along and would think ‘hey that looks like a respondeat superior issue’ or ‘what? was that negligence per se?’

The torts exam exercise enforced a belief that I already developed from reading Delaney and GTM – That the difficult part of law school exams is not spotting issues. On the torts exam the hard part for me was writing a lawyerly analysis in a concise way while arguing both sides and “interweaving” the facts. I also have a weakness at identifying which issues to emphasize and which issues to just address and move on. Those above weaknesses are why I think practice with hypos is so important. The practice will help me to build the skill of producing a lawyerly argument.

Anyway, back to my progress update. I read half of contracts before moving onto property. I only read half of contracts because I don’t feel like I will have enough time for everything. Rather than just running out of time and stopping with my prep where I stop, I decided to cut out some of contracts. Contracts is a two semester course at OSU. So, I am hoping that what I covered in my contracts reading will get me through first semester.

My contracts reading, like torts, was pretty interesting. Seeing all the different ways that agreements can be formed and not formed was cool. I had no idea that there was so much to it.

I found the concept of consideration particularly interesting. The gist of consideration, for those who are unaware, is that a promisee must give something in return for a promise. There’s more to it than that, but that is the general idea.

While I was reading about consideration and things related to it, I kept thinking ‘geeez this crap is just legal justification that judges have created to allow them to do whatever the hell they want.’ These thoughts, at first, worried me a little bit. Then, as I considered them more I realized that the issues that gave me the thoughts are really just sources of ambiguity. Ambiguities are a good thing because that is where points can be scored on an exam — if they are properly exploited, of course.

I am currently reading about property. I have read the first part of the E&E on personal property and am now on estates and interests in real property. At this particular moment I am working through, the dreaded, rule against perpetuities. My thoughts? It’s hyped up. I don’t feel like the rule itself is that difficult. Now, what you need to know prior to applying the rule, that is difficult. There are all these weird terms of art that must be mastered so that an estate can be analyzed to the point where application of the rule against perpetuities can be applied.

My understanding of all those weird terms described above is not all that strong right now. But, I’m not worried because, like I have said previously, I’m not concerned with absorbing all the nuances of the law right now. I just want the basics. Imagine my law school experience being analogous to building a building. Currently, I am constructing the foundation and the steel I-beam superstructure. When I am in school I will go back to the basement and systematically install the walls, windows, fixtures, HVAC, plumbing, ect., from the ground up. With property I will come back later and use class reading and outlining to fill in all the details around the structure of basic understanding that I am building now.

For a practical example, consider the rule against perpetuities. I know now that it basically prevents an estate from being “in limbo” for too long. This is a conceptual anchor point that I can build future knowledge around. This anchor point, along with other conceptual anchor points I learn, will help me to construct the superstructure of my property building. Then once I get to law school I can put the details into the structure precisely where they need to go. This will also, most importantly, help me to focus my attention on what is truly important. My focused attention will be critical to ensure that I do not waste time on unimportant knowledge.

Well, that’s all the progress so far. I hope all this reading helps once I get to school. If it doesn’t, at least I will be able to say I tried to be prepared.