Never Saw That Coming

As I said in my last post, somehow I managed to qualify for the 1L Moot Court Tournament at school. Thursday night, I had two rounds. I competed against a girl from section A and another classmate from my section. There were 16 people total competing on Thursday night, and the top 8 advanced to Saturdays octo-finals along with the top 8 from Friday night. After about 3 hours of arguing and waiting for results, they finally called all of us into the rotunda to announce the top 8. I figured this would be the moment where I realized that all of this stress was over, which would be a great thing, but that I had been eliminated, which would be kind of disappointing.....but NO....my name got called as one of the top 8 advancing to Saturday.....I was floored.

Then, Friday night rolls around and my best law school friend was scheduled to compete. She called me at about 9:00 and was sooooo excited....needless to say, she advanced to Saturday too. I was so proud of both of us!

Saturday morning came...and so did my nerves. I pulled up to the Alabama Supreme Court building and had more butterflies than I knew what to do with. Those 50,000 steps I had to walk up in order to get into the building didn't help either. I finally made it to the door past the HUGE columns and walked in to see 15 of my classmates all just as nervous and anxious as me. Then, they asked all of the competitors to come into the Supreme Court courtroom for pictures. I had never been in this courtroom before....it's massive. The ceiling is a million feet high....seriously, lol. It was the most intimidating room I had ever been into, but also the coolest at the same time. I LOVED it!!!

My first round of arguments was in the Criminal Appeals courtroom against the top competitor from Friday night. I was sure he would wipe the floor up with me since he was apparently the best from Friday night, and I was the 8th seed from Thursday night. We did our arguments, and they called us back into the room for critiques....which is basically a few minutes for the judges to tell both advocates how bad we suck, lol. The bracket board with the winners is posted downstairs...many many steps from where we were. So, we basically had to sit in that courtroom and hear all of these comments and have no clue which one of us won the round and would be moving on. So, I cheated and sent my friend a text message to see if I lost, lol. Somehow, I managed to convince the judges that they should pick me...crazy, right?? I had made it into the top 8 advocates out of nearly 150 people that started out doing oral arguments. Never ever ever did I think I would make it that far after my first round of oral arguments 2 weeks ago. Top 8?? Seriously?!?!

Then, I had to compete against a girl that I knew was extremely tough....because I went against her on Thursday night. I ended up losing that round to her...and she actually won the whole competition. So, I'm pretty proud of the fact that the only person I lost an argument to is the person who ended up being the top advocate in our 1L class...not bad if I do say so myself. I can honestly say that I never thought I would be typing up a post like this. I just never saw myself making it that far, but I am so excited that I decided to participate in the tournament. It was definitely an experience I'll never forget, and I CANNOT wait to get back in that courtroom....such an amazing experience! Well, Peter Calaway, it's been a wild ride, but unfortunately, our relationship has to end.....FINALLY!! (Peter Calaway was my "client" for this semester, lol)

Here is a picture of me and my best law school buddy before our first rounds :)

Some Good News

After the fiasco I like to call my appellate brief finally left my mind (not really, but it makes me feel better to say that it left my mind), I was able to focus on my oral arguments. I'm not sure if I've explained what oral arguments are before, but just in case I haven't....oral arguments are basically a time where you stand in front of judges and argue your case. Sounds easy, right? NOT!!! Typically, you get to say your name and who you represent before the judges start firing questions at you from outer space. You never know what these questions may be and you may or may not have any clue what the answer is. Luckily, we were able to have a practice round and get feedback from judges and our professors. I had my practice round the Friday before last, and it wasn't terrible....but don't get me wrong, it wasn't great by any means. Then, the next week, which was last week, I had my graded round. I had to go against one of my best friends in school, which was good and bad at the same time for obvious reasons. All in all, I survived. I managed to get some good feedback from my judge and my professor, but honestly, I was just glad that it was over.

I mentioned a few posts ago that the 1L Moot Court Tournament was this month. The way the participants for the tournament are picked is based on oral arguments. Each professor gets to pick their top 3 students and then fight for extra spots. Total, there are 32 students out of nearly 150 that qualify. I really wanted to at least qualify just so I could say that I was selected....but deep down, I did NOT want to has out the whole oral arugment thing again. Not to mention, during the tournament, you have to argue both your side and the opposite side that you basically get 2 days to prepare for. The email was sent out last night to the students selected to participate in the tournament.....and I got one!!! I was super excited to get invited to be in the tournament, but then the reality of the fact that oral arguments are not over started to set in....ugh!! We had a meeting about the tournament today, and let's just say, I'm more nervous now than I have been all semester!! I pretty much don't care if I get eliminated in the very first round. I'm just super honored to have even been selected.....I never thought I would actually get in!

I compete on Thursday night against a girl from Section A and then a guy from my section. I'm pretty intimidated by the whole situation, but it will be over before I know it, and I know it will be something I'm very glad I decided to do. Sooooo, we'll see how this all turns out :)

Did That Really Just Happen?!?!

My appellate brief, which accounts for 75% of my LRW grade was due tonight by 11:00 p.m. This is the paper that I have been working on the entire semester. Countless hours, Westlaw searches, Bluebook Rule checks, conferences with my professor, and a bunch of other stuff I don't care to mention has gone into this paper. Today, I stayed home from church to put the final touches on my paper...not to mention that I literally worked on my paper ALL day Saturday and did nothing else the entire day. I revised my argument sections until lunch and left home to head up to the library where there are fewer distractions. I edited, revised, double-checked, researched, changed, and fixed more things than I ever thought were possible.

10:00 p.m. hit and I realized it was time to stop worrying with the small stuff and get the brief turned in. Then, I realized that I still had not added page numbers to my table of contents and table of authorites. This seriously took every bit of 30 minutes to go page by page and figure out which cases were cited on what page and how many other times they were cited in my argument, but I did it. Then, I went to the printer to look at the hard copy of the fruits of my labor and realized that the page numbers were not there!! So, back to my computer I went where there is a nice little message that says "save could not be completed due to error"...gee, thanks for the explanation there, laptop. I click ok on the message and attempt to save my brief again only to realize that not only did the page numbers not get saved, but they weren't even on there!! By this time, I'm in utter panic mode. I scrambled to try and get some sort of page numbers on this thing to keep myself from losing all of the formatting points allocated to the brief, and at 10:55, I had to stop myself and just turn it in.

Then, true horror set it. My computer would not pull up TWEN (the website where we turn in our written assignments)......AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I seriously bursted out in tears. At this point, I snatched my flash drive out of my laptop and literally ran to the computers in the library and got my brief submitted at 10:59.....yes, 1 minute before the deadline. Not that big of a deal in most situations, right? Just ask for an extension and handle it.....NOT IN LAW SCHOOL!! We have been reminded for months and even throughout last semester that late assignments do not get accepted, and a late assignent would result in a failing grade...which means you fail the class. We work on the brief for several months, so in theory, it should have been done a week ago, not scrambled together one minute before the deadline. Needless to say, had that 1 minute not been there, I would be laying on the floor still balling my eyes out and begging for mercy from my professor.

Now that I've gotten home, settled down somewhat (not really...my heart rate is still sky high), I am attempting to see the big picture. My brief is turned in. While I'm certain it has quite a few formatting mistakes and incorrect page numbers due to my scramble, it's still turned in. With it turned in, there is surely very little chance that I will actually fail the class....hopefully.

Oh well, now it's time to pick up the pieces and focus on oral arguments, which only count for 10% of my grade, but at this point, every little bit counts....and now that it's almost 12:30 at night, I think I'll try to get some sleep.

April

Well, another month has gone, and a new month is already here....March definitely flew by, and April definitely snuck up on me! Several big events are occuring in my life this month....

First of all, my very first appellate brief is due this month. In fact, it's due Sunday (and I really should be working on it now, but everybody needs a break, right?). Technically, it's not a real brief, but I like to think it is since I've spent way too much time and effort on it for it not to be real. Along with this "real" brief comes oral arguments. This is basically where I take what I have said in my brief and talk about it with the judge/judges....and yes, it's part of my grade. My practice round is this Friday, and I'm soooooooo incredibly nervous about it!!! The judges can pretty much ask me anything they want to, and I'm instantly put on the spot and have to answer a question that I may have never even thought of...fun, huh? Once that's over, I'm pretty sure at least 100 pounds will be lifted off my shoulders :)

The 1L moot court tournament is this month too. There's no guarantee that I'll even get into the tournament, but it sure would be nice to qualify. Word is that about 4 students from each class get in, so the odds aren't in my favor, but hopefully I'll do well enough to get in. Honestly, I could care less if I won the tournament or even made it past the first round. I would just like to be asked to compete....you know, since it makes a student feel like they haven't completely wasted a month of their time, lol.

State Fine Arts is this month. Obviously, I've been a little preoccupied and haven't been able to practice with the kids as much as I normally would, but they are still doing an awesome job. Depending on how well they do at state, we could be starting fundraising for a big trip to Phoenix, Arizona this August....fun!!

Amongst all the other madness coming up this month, next Monday, I have an interview with an attorney about a potential job opportunity. Most first year students spend their summer working as an intern/clerk and do not get paid for their hard work. This opportunity for me would be an actual job and would be paid!! If it all works out, I may even be able to stay on with him after school starts back and still have a job....which would be so awesome! I can't even explain how great it would feel to not have to worry with finding a job every summer during school...so, cross your fingers on that one :)

I guess that's pretty much all of the big things that are going on in April....hopefully my next post will be filled with exciting stuff like "Oral arguments went great!!" "My brief totally rocked!!!" and "I got the job!!"....but you'll just have to wait and see :)

Spring Break!!

Spring Break....I remember the days when those two words actually meant something fun....a beach trip, sleeping late, staying up all night, no homework, no responsibilities....you know, the good ole days?!?! Unfortunately, in law school, they give you a Spring Break and trick you into thinking that it is going to be a fun time, like it used to be....they lied!! I will admit that I have slept much later than I normally do for the past two days, but the rest of the week will be filled with outlines, brief editing, studying, outlines, brief editing, studying, outlines, brief editing...you get the picture :) The dreaded appellate brief is due in about 2 weeks, and I'm at the point where I just don't want to look at it anymore. I want it to be finished and turned in, but I know it's not up to par....ugh! As for my outlines, let's just say I feel like a total slacker in the fact that I'm definitely thinking about supplementing my outlines with those online outlines you can buy from the former smart law students for $10. I know, I know....how lazy could I be?!?!?! Somehow, I'm thinking that $10 will be well spent, lol.

I'm pretty sure I say this every time I post about school, but it really is flying by sooooo fast...a little faster than I was prepared for! I mean, in my mind, it shouldn't even be Valentine's Day yet, much less Spring Break. However, I will admit that I'm glad the time is flying by. If it went by any slower, I'm not sure I would be "enjoying" my law school journey, haha! Anyway, now that I've managed to stay up until 1:00 a.m. (thanks to myself for sleeping in way too late), I think I'll try going to bed again :)

March

Since I did a post on what my life consisted of in February, I figured I would do the same this month........

Obviously, I have school :( I turned in the second draft of my brief last week, and I have a grading conference next week, which is guaranteed to be terrible. Nothing good can come out of my professor taking my beautiful paper and covering it in ugly red ink...it's torture!!

I'm running/walking my first 5k this month. My school is doing a 5k to raise money for the clinics we have that offer free legal services to local people in need. I'll probably be doing alot more walking than running, but hey, it's better than sitting on the couch all morning.....even though I would much rather be sitting on the couch :)

This past weekend was the Barrister's Ball at school. It's pretty much this really fancy dinner where we all get dressed up and spend more than 5 minutes getting ready...unlike for class, haha! Erin Brockovich was the speaker....not Julia Roberts...the actual Erin Brockovich, lol. She was interesting to say the least....she spoke for an entire hour. Even after being in law school for almost two semesters, my attention span still isn't quite that long. However, she is very passionate about what she does, and I can appreciate that.

Somehow, everything doesn't revolve around school....one of my best friends is having a baby, and last week, she found out that it's a GIRL!!!! I am unbelievably excited about little Emmalynn and can't wait to meet her!! Of course, baby shower plans are already up and going. Emmalynn must already love me because she decided to make her due date before school starts back this summer, so I'll get to spend some time with her and she can decide early that I'm her favorite aunt :) I got her the cutest present last week, and I almost posted a picture of it, but I'm giving it to her mommy tomorrow, and I don't want her to see it on here!!

Well, I guess that's just about all that's going on for the next little while. Happy Wednesday :)

Dear LRW, Why Can't We Just Get Along???

Well, draft 2 of my argument is due tonight...and I'm obviously lacking in the motivation department since I'm blogging and not writing my argument. I know I'll be so glad when I can just submit my paper and be done with it. The problem is just getting it going! I'm pretty sure my LRW class just hates me and wants me to be tortured through this whole process...and thus far, the torture has been coming in quite strong! Oh well, I needed a quick break from what is sure to be a long night of writing...hope everyone is enjoying this great weather. Maybe next year, I'll be able to enjoy it too, lol. Back to the ole brief!