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Law School: Stick a Fork in it!

- Last Final: I completed my last law school yesterday. There was 60 multiple choice questions on my Remedies final and for the last 10 questions, after I completed each one, I kept saying to myself, ?9 more questions left in law school,? ?8 more questions left in law school,? and so on. And then it was over. I mean barring failing any of my last two finals, my law school career is over. I was going to write as the title of this blog ?Mission Accomplished?, but I didn?t want to jinx myself. It seems like yesterday that ?it was all just beginning.?

- Graduation Gear: After my final was over, I whimsically waltzed over to the book store and I picked up my graduation gown, where I learned that not all robes are the same. Apparently, there are particular rules for those receiving doctoral degrees, including law students. And I have to say, the idea that I?m getting a doctoral degree doesn?t get old for me, so I just have to keep writing it (doctoral degree). One reason why law student grads get pumped telling themselves they get a doctoral degree is that never in their career will they be called doctor. Most other non-medial PhDs are called doctors, why not lawyers? If we get called anything, it?s freaking ?esquire?, which historically referred to men of gentle birth, hardly very manly or prestigious. Anyway, here are some of the graduation attire rules, which I at least found interesting:

?Doctoral robes are typically black?the outside shell of the hood to remain black, however. In general, doctoral gowns are similar to the gowns worn by bachelor's graduates, with the addition of three velvet bands on the sleeves and velvet facing running down the front of the gown, tinted with the color designated for the field of study in which the doctorate was earned.? In the case of law, the color is purple. ?The robes have full sleeves, instead of the bell sleeves of the bachelor's gown.? Also, we don?t have mortarboard for hats (which SCU Law graduates have worn in the past, including in the picture), we have the more historically accurate and fluffy six sided hat called a tam. And by the way, the velvet striped sleeves are a real pain to iron.

- Heated Conversation: Yesterday was a pretty sweet day until I got into a bit of a heated conversation on campus. Can you believe that? Last day of school, not a cloud in the sky and I get into a slight argument. There was an anti-Iraq war protest on campus. This is nothing new, but usually they keep that crap away from the law school area, but not yesterday. They were setting up empty pairs of combat boots, with name cards of fallen soldiers prominently displayed on the boots. As I walked by, I asked a person who identified someone as an organizer if he had gotten permission from the families of the fallen soldiers to use the names. He said, of course, in fact they are one of the few organizations that do.

?Well, how do you do that??

?When a service member dies, their families are given a release form to sign by the government, and if they sign it, then their names are released to the public.?

I was waiting for more when I realized nothing more was coming. ?So, you didn?t actually get permission from the families to use these names in this protest??

?Well no.?

?And you don?t see anything wrong with using the names of these soldiers and marines without permission from the families in an overtly political protest??

?But we did get permission.?

ARGH! I found myself getting angry and I realized that there was nothing I could say or do to change that kind of stupid, so I walked away.

- In the Mean Time: I have about a week and a half before graduation and in the mean time I am planning on, in no particular order, to: spend some time with my wife, shed the layer of fat that I?ve grown in the last couple of months, get some sun on my pasty white skin, catch up on some movies, play some video games, and yes, do a little bar prep, though I will begin that in earnest following graduation. Don?t want to get to burnt out. I just finished law school after all.

Full post as published by SoapBox Law on May 06, 2008 (boomark / email).