Well, that about wraps up my first official day of classes in law school (I don’t have Monday classes). I’m definitely in for a ride. I spent the weekend figuring out systems of organization, trying out different study spaces, and reading the assignments we discuss this week. The time was well spent. I was able to participate and follow along nicely. I’ll have to keep it up. 🙂

I do have to admit that I have a sweet class schedule, to say nothing about the classes or the professors which I don’t really know yet. No classes on Monday, classes from 2:35pm until 5:40pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Classes from 10:50am until 4pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. Maybe this is karma smiling on me after all those 8am, Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes during undergrad. I hope this continues next semester as well.

I need to remember to come up with a better story about why I left a sweet, cushy job at Y! for law school. Because I wanted to go to law school to learn something new seems to leave people slack jawed. Same with what I want to do with a law degree. My pat answer is “be a lawyer.” Or at least I’ve used that a few times to silent audiences.
I put my foot in my mouth today when I said I’d spent half my life in California. I’ve only spent 14 years here, not the 18 it would take to make it half my life. Saying I’m originally from the midwest but spent nearly half my life in California brings up age too often. Now my professor thinks I’m the young genius or an old liar. He asked where I was from. My formative life has been spent here in California, so I feel like I’m from here now. I’m a Californian.

Talk about tough. Becoming a lawyer in Japan has been harder than getting into one of the T15 (top 15) law schools in the US. They’re now changing their system to be less selective and not fail 97% of those who take the test.

Japan expecting flood of new lawyers – AP via Y! News

“Japan has roughly 22,000 lawyers – one for every 5,790 people, compared with one for every 268 in the U.S. Under the old bar exam, to be scrapped in 2011, fewer than 1,500 people are allowed to pass every year. In the United States, with about twice Japan’s population, the number is closer to 75,000.”

Wow, there are a lot of lawyers in the U.S. Hard to believe, but I hadn’t seen any actual reports regarding the number of lawyers in the US. I can believe it, considering how litigious we are. Is it a good thing? I’m not sure. I’ll need to think that over some more.

Ok, so now that two days have passed, I am starting to form an opinion that isn’t summarized by excited or nervous.

I did well with my first brief assignment. I did miss a few key points and I was too detailed and included some dicta (points made by a judge which are irrelevant to the decision at hand) in my analysis portion, but I was feeling pretty good because I knew what was going on in the cases and could contribute to the class discussion. I had thought I might feel in over my head but don’t feel that way after today.

I feel like a moron after filling out a short questionnaire for my LARAW (legal analysis, research, and writing) prof. It had scratch outs and sloppy handwriting. It shows how much I’m used to writing by hand.

My classmates are fairly well accomplished. In my small group (30), there are a handful of folks who spent a few years as teachers, a few who had worked for non-profits, several engineers, and even one Ph.D. We were told that the median age for full-time students is 23, but it seems higher, more like 26 or so because only a few are coming straight from undergrad. But then again, we were told that our class ranges from 19 years old to 51. Maybe they stacked other groups with the young uns. We’re all still wondering who the 19 y/o is.

Tomorrow, the journey begins. Orientation starts at 1pm, and I’ll be thrown full bore into law school. I’m very excited and thrilled that I’m given the opportunity to pursue a further education. Truthfully, I’m also a little nervous.