Fire Season, Fall Break, and Midterms

It's been a long time since I've written on here, and a lot has happened, so I'll cover some of the highlights quickly. Over the past few weeks we've started having a lot of fire drills, and one day someone's car just randomly burst into flames in the parking lot. It's "fire season" here now, so it's gotten REALLY hot the last few days - and those of us who live on campus spend a lot more time in the library at night because it's air conditioned. 

My contracts professor really can't stand supplemental materials, and he says that we shouldn't buy anything to help understand the course - and of course it's the most confusing class we have. But one day a guy in class answered a question that no one else could get, and the professor said, "I'm glad to see your commercial outlines have been helping you." It was really the first time a professor had embarrassed a student on purpose. 

I survived my first memo writing assignment for Legal Research and Writing. We had one week to write a closed memo. It's "closed" because we weren't allowed to use any research outside of the cases we were given. Basically, we worked at the law firm of Perrin, Saxer, and Gash, and we were given a case that was brought to the firm by a client. The relevant research (and some that wasn't relevant) was given to us and we had to read through the research and determine whether the client had a cause of action, etc. 

My torts professor, Dean Cupp, invited us over for a pizza party at his house, which is gorgeous. He lives up above campus, and the picture below is the view from his deck!

The canyon is right beside his house and you can see Malibu below. 

Also, my Legal Research and Writing professor, who is also my faculty mentor, took all of her mentors to Neptune's Net, a seafood place here in Malibu. It was awesome. 

On Monday I had my torts midterm, the first one so far. Next week I have Contracts and Civil Procedure midterms. That means I've been spending a lot of time pulling my outlines together for every class. Outlining for Civil Procedure is particularly hard - there is just so much information and there are several ways it could be put together. Luckily, we get to use books and notes for that exam, so I can make a really detailed outline and then tab sections so I can find them quickly during the test. I've started studying in the library a lot more than in my room, because I can get a lot more done in there without distractions - and ear plugs are my new best friend.I wear them between classes, during midterms, and sometimes when I'm studying in my room. 

I'm looking into working for Asylum, a program that Pepperdine has, and the program trains law students and lets us represent people who are seeking asylum in the United States - most of the time the request is because of religious persecution in their own country, and if they are sent back they may be facing death. I don't think I can do much in it until next semester, but it sounds like a great opportunity. 

This week we have fall break, which means we don't have class on Friday. I have an ABA conference in Orange County on Friday and Saturday, so I'll be doing that and outlining this weekend.