The People's Seat

Good morning, Dear Readers -

We are more than halfway through with January, thank goodness. January and February are without a doubt the hardest months to get through here in Utah. The weather is cold, the sky is gray, it snows, it rains, it freezes, it slushes, and of course there are the ever-present inversions. At least I have plenty to keep me occupied and my mind off the weather...

I am almost three weeks into my second semester of law school and boy did we hit the ground running. Law school has this funny way of making you feel that, on the first or second day of class, that you've been in the same class for months already - probably because they cover so much in so little time. Although my schedule is heavier and I do have more reading to do, I find my classes more interesting than last semester. Here is my schedule for those of you who are curious:

Monday

10:00 - Structures of the Constitution

11:00 - Advocacy

1:00 - Torts

2:00 Civil Procedure

Tuesday

10:00 - Structures of the Constitution

12:00 - 5th Grade Mentoring

1:00 - Torts

2:00 - Civil Procedure

4:00 - 5:15 - Criminal Law

Wednesday

10:00 - Structures of the Constitution

11:00 - Advocacy

1:00 - Torts

2:00 - Civil Procedure

Thursday

1:00 - Torts

2:00 - Civil Procedure

4:00 - Criminal Law

Friday

9:00 - Lecture Series

As you can tell, the first three days of the week are pretty busy. It's a challenge getting the reading for all of those classes done. But Thursday and Friday aren't bad, so I try to get as much reading done ahead of time as possible. It's worked out fine so far this year. Although sometimes I get so busy and focused on things I need to get done that I forget things. Like going to class. It's only happened once so far, but it got me pretty paranoid. It was a Tuesday - I went to Civ Pro, and then went to the break room to eat my lunch and do some reading before I had to go home and get ready for mutual. Not until the next day did I realize that I had completely missed going to Criminal Law. The thought, "Hey, I need to be in class right now" had not even crossed my mind. I didn't even realize it until the next day. But don't worry. I now pay even closer attention to my calendar and have not missed a day since!

In case you're wondering, here's a brief description of my classes:

Structures of the Constitution (Professor Gedicks): Basically an indepth study of the origins of the Constitution, the principles of it, the court decisions that have interpreted the Constitution, etc. All about the Constitution. Although this class is pretty intense and deep and sometimes it's hard to understand everything we read, I am enjoying it. I've always enjoyed history, and it's a big part of this class.

Advocacy (Professors Camp/Sears): This is basically the second half of my legal research and writing class. Last semester we wrote a memo. This semester we are writing a brief for an Appellate Court. (Cases go to trial first. Afterwards, the parties can appeal to the Appellate Courts and then the Supreme Court). Most of what you see on tv and in movies is what happens in a trial. Trial Courts decide questions of fact; Appellate Courts decide questions of law. So while some trials will be argued in front of a jury, in an Appellate Court, the lawyers argue in front of a panel of judges. After I write my brief (which would normally be submitted to the court for the judge to review), I will have to give an oral argument in front of a panel of 'judges' against one of my classmates. Normally this would terrify me, but I actually think it might be kind of fun.

Torts (Professor Augustine-Adams): Basically we study harm done to people or their property, and the action they can take in civil court. So far we have covered intentional torts - battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and trespass to property. Later we will study negligence, damage, failure to act, products liability, etc. This class is actually really fun. Lots of hypotheticals, lots of laughter, lots of tough questions. And the reading is usually pretty short. Can't complain about that.

Civil Procedure (Professor Tarkington): This class covers the rules of civil court proceedings. The best word to describe it is complicated. There are ton of rules to follow. We study the rules, their history and evolution. I will predict right now that this will be my hardest final. So far I think I'm following well enough. It just takes a lot of concentration and effort to understand the cases and what my professor wants us to learn from them.

Criminal Law (Judge Kimball): Out of all of my classes, this one might be my favorite. I just find it fascinating. The reading is interesting and thought-provoking, and my professor is incredibly experienced and knowledgeable. In addition to teaching our class twice a week, he is a federal district judge for Utah, and is currently the judge of the Elizabeth Smart trial. (He has only talked a bit about the case, and of course, only about what has already been reported in the press. He did tell us that he will be making his decision about whether or not Brian David Mitchell is competent to stand trial within the next couple of weeks.) We've studied the principles of criminal law (ex. must prove guilty 'beyond a reasonable doubt'), the theories of punishment (fascinating), how much and what type of punishment should be given, criminal statues, voluntary and intentional acts...it's just really interesting.

So those are my main classes. If you have any questions about law school for me, just leave a comment and ask! :)

Also, I wanted to weigh in on one thing real quick. Studying the Constitution has given me an interesting perspective on the whole national health care debate. We spent the last week talking about 'sovereignty' - are the states sovereign? Is the national government sovereign? Basically the conclusion is that, under our Constitution, the people are sovereign, and give up part of their sovereignty to the states and the federal government. So what does this have to do with the health care debate? A lot. But the big news this week was Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts. If I knew nothing else about him, this would have made me cheer for him:

Asked in a debate last week if he was willing to sit in Kennedy's seat and block health care reform, Brown replied, "With all due respect, it's not the Kennedys' seat, and it's not the Democrats' seat. It's the people's seat."

Now that guy gets it. Many people in Washington forget that their seats actually belong to the people. I love that he pointed that out. Thank you, Scott Brown. And thank you, Massachusetts.

Stay tuned for my next post, where I will introduce my new, permanent associate blogger! :)