Law School on Rachel Joi

JD

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:21:00 +0000

Within a month or two after starting law school, I was at a career services thing, and they spent a minute stressing that the degree we were pursuing is a Juris Doctor, not a Juris Doctorate. Although I understand that some people might be confused, people should know what their own degree is. I was given a pamphlet about a Republican candidate today (the Republican part isn’t important, but still…), and one of the statements in there was about him receiving a Juris Doctorate from Washington University. That just irritated me. Thought I’d mention it, because I’ve seen “Juris Doctorate” on a few attorney websites and all over our Luther class letter.

last day of class!

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:52:00 +0000

Yes, I have finally finished all my law school classes. Now I just have three finals to take, a settlement agreement to write, and twenty-one 1L summary judgment motions to grade for citations. I’ve been playing bass a little more, which has been wonderful. I’m playing for a friend’s church choir this Sunday as part of an ensemble. It should be fun. Carl will be home in two weeks. TWO WEEKS! This is quite exciting. He won’t be staying for as long as we had originally planned, but it will be good to have him home. He’s such a wonderful guy, and I miss him terribly. Um, right now, there are a bunch of dead ants in my bathroom, all over my shower. As in, a couple hundred of dead ants. I sprayed the cracks in my shower with Raid today, and they’ve just been pouring out and dying. It’s quite gross. And a great thing to share, no? Not sure if this is something to mention to my landlord. I think it may be more a circumstance of where I live instead of the house being defective. Also not sure if this is a good thing to mention generally. Anyway, that’s it. Carl will be home in 15 days, and I graduate in 23 days!

almost done with law school!

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:35:00 +0000

I have a grand total of nine classes left. Four tomorrow, three Wednesday, two Thursday. And then I will be done with class for a long time! Three finals, then graduation. And Carl comes home for a couple weeks. Next year, I’ll be working for a law firm in Kansas City, Missouri. I’m not going to say the name because I really don’t want my blog to come up in searches for it. That would just be weird. I’ll be defending asbestos manufacturers though. I’m very excited about it. It’s a really great firm, and I’m looking forward to working with all of them. Recently, I’ve been playing bass more. I really do miss it. Anyone know of an orchestra I could play with next year? There’s a civic orchestra with whom a Kansas appellate judge plays. That would be fun, but I’m a little hesitant to try and play with them. Okay, I’m done.

end of October, beginning of November

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:54:00 +0000

Here’s my schedule for the last few days of October and the first few days of November.

October 30: Carl leaves (for a year) most likely; pick up a speaker at 10:30pm
October 31: Law Review symposium all day; Bluebook relay (I will coach my team to victory); comparative law paper due
November 1: nothing yet
November 2: step-nephew’s baptism in the morning with reception at noon; Ali’s bridal shower at 3pm; church at 5pm
November 3: Law Review paper due
November 4: disability law paper due

I’m worried about those six days. It’ll be fine though. Ha, fun.

searching for a job

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:12:00 +0000

We’ve entered the job-search phase, which is an immensely terrifying thing. I alternate between a sense of optimism and hopelessness. Legal areas that interest me include intellectual property, criminal law, immigration law (refugee/asylum), public international law, and litigation generally. A clerkship would also be lovely. If anyone actually reads this, and anyone has any sort of job opening, let me know. I’m writing three papers this semester (yay!). My topics are: enforcing immigration law using criminal law, specifically aggravated identity theft, where the mens rea requirement is disputed and conveniently massaged to include more immigrants in its scope; whether children with disabilities can sue under sec. 1983 when their rights are violated under the IDEA; and international copyrights (using international treaties and individual national laws) protecting composers and performers of folk songs and contemporarily composed music. Fun, no?

Lawyering "Tips of the Day"

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:46:00 +0000

I’m a TA for Lawyering again this year, and my professor wants me to give a “tip of the day” when I’m in class (which is once a week). And because I have not written anything on here for a while, I thought I would share my wisdom with the general public… or no one, as the case may be. Week 1:

right now

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:28:00 +0000

This year is going to be crazy. I’m hoping it will be fun though. I’m doing all sorts of writing things, some trial stuff, and then three classes on top of that. A squirrel just ran up to the sliding glass door. Leibniz was waiting. But then both of them kind of leapt upwards and backwards. Terribly funny. Life is good right now. My house is messy, but I’m happy.

disastrous interview

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:32:00 +0000

I had two interviews today, one of which wasn’t really an interview, and the other of which was a disaster. I started talking and then I started thinking, “Shut up, shut up, for goodness’ sake, Rachel, shut up,” but I kept talking. He asked all sorts of questions that I didn’t know how to answer (e.g., “Why didn’t a law firm hire you last year?”), and he told me that my writing sample is on a topic that make people’s eyes glaze over (Burmese refugees are terribly boring, I guess). He seemed like a great guy, and I would love to work for him, but I don’t think the feeling was mutual. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get a job there.

no more class until August!

Thu, 01 May 2008 21:57:00 +0000

I’m about to collapse into bed. I was up until 4am working on a paper. It was fairly miserable. And then I woke up at 7am so that I could be first in line for Chief Justice Roberts’ Q&A with law students. That’s right, I’m a nerd. If you want to read about CJ Roberts’ visit, check out my legal blog. I’m relieved that classes are over, but I’m not at all excited that finals are coming. That will be the most miserable part. On a brighter note, I have a place to stay in DC now. And things will come together in general, it seems. I can sometimes be a little doubtful or pessimistic, but I’ve become a lot better about stopping that when I recognize it. Ooh, and Mark Schweizer writes “liturgical mysteries,” which are absolutely hilarious. The best place to buy them is from the publisher . I bought the box set and had them all signed. And now I’m reading the third book - The Tenor Wore Tapshoes. I’ve read the first, second, and sixth already, though spread out over the last couple months, of course. I think I’m going to crawl into bed, open up my window now that it’s getting a little cooler and the tornado warning has become a tornado watch, and read for a little bit. Then I’ll sleep and sleep and sleep and it will be so very blissful. I am also reading the Decameron, which is quite fascinating (and sometimes quite gross, explicit, or awkward). I think I’ll need to read Arabian Nights as well, just to round out my old-stories-that-have-spawned-centuries-of-elaboration education. And Chronicles of Narnia, though it doesn’t fit into the same category. I should make a book list.

Chief Justice Roberts visited KU

Thu, 01 May 2008 21:44:00 +0000

Last night, CJ Roberts gave a lecture through the business school. It was fairly disappointing, honestly. He read his talk, and he talked about the Louisiana Purchase. He also spent a long time on the mechanics of the Supreme Court. I understand that the audience was made up of many lay people and that he couldn’t actually talk about many of the things we really wanted to hear about (e.g., Heller), but I guess I expected a little more. Today, however, he had a Q&A session for law students. I got there 1 1/2 hours early, so I was first in line. He actually walked in while I was in line, and he said hi. It was quite the moment. I got to sit in the front row, and the session was just great. People asked all sorts of things, from what he considers when deciding a case to his view on the Constitution (although that question was also asked last night by Adam Davis and received by the audience with resounding applause) to advice for aspiring advocates. I asked the second question. I asked him about the Medellin case. In that one, which came out just over a month ago, he wrote the opinion for five justices (the conservative ones), in which the Court held that an ICJ decision (that a certain treaty required the government to notify the Mexican government of the charging of Mexican nationals) was not binding on the individual states, and so the habeas petitions filed by 51 Mexican nationals were rightfully denied. In the analysis, the majority looked to the text of the treaty, and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, and the US Constitution, and found that ICJ decisions were not self-executing treaties and could not be binding unless the Senate ratified them. My question was whether he would advise countries developing independent judiciaries to include something in their constitutions that would make ICJ decisions binding on the individual parts of the country. He didn’t directly answer this, saying that it was up to the country and he couldn’t advise them one way or the other, but he also said that if the country decides it wants to be bound by a bunch of judges far away, it’s that country’s own perogative. That seems clear enough to me. So then he taught the constitutional law class, which I unfortunately could not attend. I heard it was great. But then, in the afternoon, he and four judges who sit in Kansas (two 10th Circuit judges, a District of Kansas judge, and a Kansas Supreme Court justice) judged the final round of our in-house moot court competition. There were probably 100 students there, a number of professors, a handful of local judges, and lawyers from the firm (Foulston Siefkin) that sponsors the prizes for the in-house competition. The student advocates were excellent. The bench was really hot. The justices usually didn’t let the advocates speak for more than 15 or 20 seconds without interrupting them. The few times they didn’t interrupt, the advocates were kind of thrown off. But everyone did a really great job of advocating, especially under such intimidating circumstances. All of the judges/justices-for-the-moment gushed about how wonderful the advocates were, and Judge Tacha even said they did as well if not better than the final round in the national competition, whose problem we used. I was thrilled for the team that won - Dani and I were rooting for them from the beginning - but I was still a little bummed that it wasn’t the two of us up there. After the competition, there was a reception in the informal commons. Lots of men in suits (and not just federal marshalls) were trying to get close to Roberts, but I managed to get pretty close to him. And then he turned towards me! And he shook my hand and thanked me for my question! It was a very proud moment for me, even if it was just what the situation required. I know CJ Roberts is a conservative judge, and I don’t necessarily agree with his opinions (including the opinion he wrote for Medellin), but he’s brilliant, his credentials are absolutely outstanding, and he’s kind of dreamy. I’ve been joking about swooning. Ah, men with power. That is probably slightly inappropriate for a legal blog, but oh well. It’s been an exciting day and a half. (And today was the last day of classes, which made it even better.)

two weeks until finals

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:25:00 +0000

Two weeks and counting. Seven days of class left. Seven days. I think Joel is going to take care of my cats. And I’ve got my flight to DC. But I’m still working on a place to live. It seems like things are falling into place though. I still have to send in my contract. I’m very excited though.

my immune system

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:13:00 +0000

My immune system hates me, it seems. In the past six weeks, I have had a migraine (or at the very least, a terrible headache) for five days straight, two colds, some random bug that had unpleasant symptoms, and now there’s something wrong with my eye. My left eye hurts like crazy. It now hurts whenever I blink. There’s stuff coming out of it, too. And when I lean my head forward, my left eye feels massively heavy and like it’s going to fall out. It’s bad. Pinkeye? Let’s hope not. My eye is red and swollen now, but I’ve been rubbing it all day. Anyway, I have a couple papers to write and a trial advocacy trial to prepare for. Woohoo. I love my weekends.

I'm back from New York

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:49:00 +0000

The international law conference was great! I met lots of really interesting people. The panels were pretty decent. My best friend also ended up being at the same conference, and we hadn’t established that until Tuesday. Crazy. But it was great to see her. It had been graduation since we last saw each other. And another really good friend from college lives in New York and works as a pastry cook. It was so good to be around people who know me. I guess it was a nice balance of old and new. KU won the NCAA basketball tournament. It was an exciting time. I was in New York for the Final Four, and I hung out at an unofficial KU alumni bar. People were going crazy for Russell Robinson (from New York, NEW YORK!). It was tons of fun. Anyway, life is good, and I’m very thankful to be surrounded by people who love me. Oh, I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but I got a summer job at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services! I’ll be living in Washington, D.C. for the summer. I just need to get through this semester. I just need to get through Friday, really. Our human rights symposium is on Friday. Hooray!

it's good to be home

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 01:09:00 +0000

I haven’t been gone for days, but it feels so good to be home. I spent 17.5 hours away from home today, 15 of which were spent at the law school, and 17 of which were spent doing law-related and law-school-related things. My head hurts. Not like it did when I was seriously in pain a couple weeks ago. It is just very difficult to articulate any thoughts right now. I am pleased to say that Dani and I have finished our moot court brief (more than 12 hours before it’s due!), and we’ll be printing it off tomorrow morning. We’ll celebrate with mimosas. Mmm. And then I’ll clean my house, get copies made of my key, do laundry, pack for spring break, and maybe think about law school things some more. Oh, and I’ll get all the stuff for the Easter egg hunt together. That shouldn’t be so bad. I’m going to put pebbles in some of the eggs, maybe mini action figures in others, and then the traditional stuff like candy and cereal (is my family the only one that got cereal like Froot Loops and Lucky Charms in their Easter eggs?). I may fill an egg with pennies. It will be awesome. And now for my random musings: I did a pretty bad parking job this morning, and it made me wish that I could blame it on the tuba section picking up my car and moving it. I still wish the basses had started a war with the tubas. That would have been great. I got an interview with an organization I’ve been really interested in for years! My (phone) interview is next week, though, which is when we’ll be in the Twin Cities for this service trip, so I’m hoping my friends behave when I’m being interviewed and they’re all in the car. Creepy guys bug me. At times I feel like I am going to implode. Or explode. I guess maybe I feel like a neutron star, sucking mass in and getting denser and denser and then spewing it all away. Isn’t that the process for a neutron star? Astronomy was four years ago, which seems like light years away (haha). I kind of like having a vanity blog. But then I feel kind of selfish. And annoyed with myself for using “I” so much. Oh well. It’s my blog. Don’t read it if you don’t want to. I’m exhausted.

sooo busy

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:50:00 +0000

It’s kind of an inside joke. I am, however, very busy. I have a paper due tomorrow that will determine my future (I’m being only slightly dramatic), a midterm on Tuesday, a paper due on Thursday that will essentially be one-half of my grade (another paper will be the other half, I think), and a really big paper due on Friday. I’m busy, but for some reason, I’m not panicking. I’m just slowly getting things done. It’s wonderful. I steam-cleaned my carpet, couch, and chairs yesterday. I think I may mop my floors today. Or clean my kitchen. We’ll see. I’m looking forward to the 22nd very much. Spring break starts this Friday (the 14th), and I’m going to the Twin Cities with LCM. I may have already mentioned that. But someone very special will be back on the 20th, and I’ll be back on the 22nd, and we get a whole week before he goes away again until June or July. I watched Pride and Prejudice last night. I like that story so much. There was a time when I read it in a day and couldn’t stop talking like Jane Austen wrote for another few days. I should get back to writing. And not writing in my blog.

massive headache

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:46:00 +0000

I’ve had a terrible headache for the last 24 hours. It’s terrible. My mom was convinced I have the flu, but no, I don’t. Maybe it’s just stress. I have a lot of papers and things due in the next two weeks. But two weeks from today, I’ll be driving up to the Twin Cities with LCM. Hooray! I just need to make it to 3:00pm on March 14th. Fun times. I’m also really looking forward to getting back from the Twin Cities on the 22nd. I’ll get to spend an entire week with someone pretty wonderful.

why I'm lazy

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:23:00 +0000

I woke up at 10 this morning. Granted, I went to bed close to 2 (girls’ night last night), but I slept later than I intended. And I haven’t really accomplished anything since then. I guess that’s okay. I do have an entire weekend, sort of. I need more than a weekend though. Moot court stuff is coming up pretty quickly, and the packet for law review comes out on Monday, so I’m going to be stressing over those things and all the prep work that’s been going into classes this semester. But today, I’ve been lazy.

sure

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:21:00 +0000

Today ended up being a pretty good day. I was more productive than I usually am, though that isn’t saying much. I’ve been reading the Economist instead of reading for my secured transactions class. It’s better that way. Sometimes I feel like a really ineffective leader. I like to say that I have good leadership skills, but maybe I’m just fooling myself. However, maybe my insecurity is just insecurity and not really a mark of how I am as a leader.