2L Year: They work you to death

I moved back on August 22 as a 2L. I was supposed to have a room that faced the inside of our apartment complex, but for some reason they moved our apartment and I'm in the one above where I was last year. So, I'm looking out toward the ocean again. :) The view isn't quite as good this year because there are more tree limbs in my way, but still a much prettier view than what I was supposed to have.

My roommates are wonderful this year. I'm living with Joan again (the one from NYC), and we moved in with Tracy and Erin, who are both from the Los Angeles area. We went shopping at Target Wednesday night and we all got matching boots :)

(and yes, we all wore matching shirts when we went that Joan's mom sent us. Her dad works for the Staten Island Yankees, the farm team for the NY Yankees ... they sent us shirts and baseball hats. Except for Joan. She didn't get one, so that's why she doesn't match us!)





I went to Kyle's first inter-squad scrimmage last Saturday, and yesterday he had his first "real" scrimmage against Chapman in Orange County, so I drove down there to watch him. They did really well, and they didn't keep score but he thinks they won because they scored more touchdowns. This picture is of Kyle's field. It's really pretty with the mountains in the background.

My Law School Confidential book warned: 1L year they scare you to death; 2L year they work you to death. Well, I've already been much busier this year. But I wouldn't trade that to go back to being a 1L because, even though I'm busy, I get to do things that are more interesting and I get to leave campus!

I've been driving all over Los Angeles County this semester because I'm in a mediation clinic. The clinic sends us out to county courts to serve as mediators and try to help people settle their disputes. I have to get 24 mediations done this semester to get credit for the class, and so far I've done 4. I'm trying to do mine pretty fast - at least before school gets really busy. Thursday was the first day that I got to actually mediate on my own instead of observing someone else. I got 2 settlements, and I even got to help draft part of the agreement in one mediation. They asked me to talk at the beginning of the court session about what mediation is and what the benefits of mediating are as opposed to going in front of the judge for a decision, so it was also the first time I got to speak in front of the court.

For those of you who don't know what mediation is, I basically take 2 parties who are in court and sit down with them and help them talk. The court lets us talk to the parties to see if they can settle the dispute before going before the judge - which saves a lot of time for the judge and the parties avoid going into court, where even if you think you have a really strong case, you never know how the judge will rule. If they don't agree they are free to go back into court and have the judge decide the case, but if they do I write up an agreement for them and they sign it and leave and I help the plantiff dismiss the case.

I'm also in the Trial Advocacy class this semester. The professor is the one I had for Criminal Law last year, and I started volunteering early in his class because I knew he was the best professor to take Trial Advocacy with. So I sort of became his go-to person to call on during Criminal Law, and people thought it was funny how much he called on me. My friends joke that he asked me to give my "reasonable doubt story" several times last year, and he never asked most of the class for theirs at all. We had to make up stories that would explain what reasonable doubt means so that it would make more sense to jurors. Well, on the second day of class in Trial Advocacy he called on me and asked me to tell everyone a reasonable doubt story ... so I guess not a lot has changed, but I'm very lucky to be in his class. He is by far the best here, and he hand picks his class of 20 students. We will have try-outs for the Trial Team in October.

On a scarier note, we found a scorpion in our shower the other day. My roommate, Erin, found it while she was actually showering and when campus safety came they laughed because it was a "baby." I don't really care what size the scorpion is ... it's still a scorpion!

I have my first Law Review subcheck due Wednesday. Every law school publishes journals, and Law Review is the big deal journal at every school. As a 2L, we are given a chunk of pages out of an article that someone submits to be published. We go through the pages and look for grammar, spelling, or usage problems. We have to find every source the person references, and we read those to make sure they actually support the statement that they are connected to in the article. Then we go through and check all formatting and citations to make sure they conform with the Bluebook, which is our citation manual. And finally, before we turn it in we put on a lot of attachments and we run a check on all statutes and cases to see if there is any "subsequent history," which will tell us if anything has happened with it recently that we should know about (such as a case being overturned). Law Review is a lot of work, but at least we get our own special table in the library so I never have to compete for space with 1Ls!

So far I have had 3 interviews with Nashville firms. I'm hoping that I will get a callback interview with some of them - most likely they would fly me back to Nashville for a longer, more in-depth interview. I'm in the process of setting up 2 more interviews (hopefully) that will be by video conferencing. Pepperdine's Career Development Office will set that up for us if we're interviewing long-distance.

I booked a photographer for the wedding this week. Her name is Courtney Helton and she's wonderful. She will be taking the engagement pictures, wedding pictures, and bridal portraits. Her assistant will make the video at the ceremony. My next project is to choose a baker and a cake that I like! I'm also looking into chocolate fountains, and putting together a list of some craft projects that I'm going to work on with my roommates when we get a chance - or whenever we just want a break from school.

There are several fires in the area right now, but none that are too close to me. There's one that is sort of close to where Kyle is, and they get daily reports on the air quality so they know if they're supposed to practice outside or not. They've gotten that one pretty much contained, and they think it was started by an arsonist. The fire that I saw from Malibu Pier the other day has moved closer to campus. I can see the smoke from the bottom of campus now, and it looks like the only thing between us and the fire is Malibu Canyon. But those things are really hard to say because the fires are so large you kind of lose depth-perception.

Finally, I think I've convinced Dad to come to California if the Dodgers go to the world series, which will be a lot of fun! They have a new section at Dodger Stadium that's pretty famous around campus because it has all you can eat and drink after you buy the ticket!