Fourth week of law school
Apparently my classmates are getting the hang of it because suddenly a lot more laptops have shown up and people are taking MySpace and Facebook breaks periodically. One girl was ordering pizza and e-mailing her boyfriend to see what toppings he wanted. 
I got my first law school memo back and it had several comments and some deleted sentences! Ack. The teacher said that I did a good job, but that I’m writing too much like a writer and not enough like a lawyer (i.e., transitional sentences where I should just be leading in with the next point because partners don’t have time to read irrelevant words). Sigh… Back to the drawing board.
The reality, as I know from years of working for an appellate brief writer, a telecommunications law expert and now a bunch of corporate guys, is that each lawyer has a different style with sometimes completely opposing grammatical choices. It’s very difficult to keep it all straight, especially when you’re working for conflicting styles at the same time (I have two and my coworker also has two with opposite rules). So my task now, while keeping my attorney’s styles clear in my head, is to follow my teacher’s preferred format and cut, cut, cut. 
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you should know that cutting doesn’t quite flow with my personal style. That said, having been up against the U.S. Supreme Court’s brief word count more than a few times for work, I know how to do it and I’m up for the challenge. 
June 20th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Internet access in the classroom is so evil (says the teacher). When my students are laughing but I haven’t said anything funny I get very suspicious.
On the other hand, it actually came in handy the other day. I alluded to a passage in The Sword in the Stone where the author claims that “turkey hadn’t been invented yet” during the medieval period, and moments later a student had verified that turkey became a part of the English diet in 1530. So there you go.
June 21st, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Laptops were just starting to appear in class when I was in lawschool, but all we could was play free cell and take notes (booooooring).
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:32 pm
And doesn’t every lawyer and think that the way he/she writes is THE way to write?!
June 22nd, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Ohhhh yes!
June 24th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
We didn’t have wi-fi when I was in law school.
The last time I lectured in law school (this spring), everybody was on their laptops - totally IM-ing, I’m sure, and I found it wildly distracting. Lawyers do it, too, in CLE classes. It’s rude.
June 24th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Good luck with the legal writing. I had a hard time of it too, since I was a journalist before starting law school. I found it hard not to write “readable” memos and write like a lawyer. You’ll get the hang of it though
June 26th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Funny how you will notice trends. I’ve noticed lot of people using them for non-note-taking purposes after the first few weeks of class, then they stop during the last couple weeks when they realize how much they have missed! One of my friends had to start taking notes by hand because she couldn’t resist the temptation her laptop provided. I always take notes on my laptop - there is no way I’d have time to do them by hand and then into the computer later, which is supposed to be the best for learning the material. I have found, two years into this game, that I could have not purchased any of the statute books on the book lists because I always just use the on-line version, and cut and paste into my notes as needed. I’m pretty good at keeping away from emails and surfing….but far from perfect!
Have fun!