Rosh Hashanah is not a national holiday but in LA it might as well be. All our classes were cancelled on Thursday.

This week we had our first two writing assignments, a research project and a memorandum. The teaching assistant was at great pains to insist that we use actual law library books for the research, and not look it up online (which is exactly the same data)

I did the project online and then double checked my work by using the books: it came out the same. There are advantages of using the books to find cases in certain topic areas, because it encourages you to browse in areas you might not have thought of on your own. But getting the cases themselves is much easier online.

The other problem with the books is that generations of law students before you have had the same assignment and have helpfully circled all the cases you need to complete the assignment. No such passive cheating online.

The memo was to practice writing in a heavily structured "objective memorandum" format. Whether actual law firms use this structure, who knows. I doubt it -- it's tedious to read, the format specifies that you state your conclusion 5 separate times.

Today I availed myself of a professor's office hours for the first time. He teaches criminal law, which to me is the most confusing class, but he told me it'll continue to be confusing and that I shouldn't worry, as I have a good grasp of the material. I do? Half the answers I volunteer in class are incorrect. Ah, he says, but at least you show evidence of thinking. It's the people who have said nothing for 4 weeks that he worries about.

17 Sep 04