Judge's orders: lawyers need vacations

Sitting in front of a federal judge at a recent hearing, I picked up a valuable grain of wisdom. Teams of lawyers on both sides were negotiating a schedule in a class action lawsuit. Someone mentioned that they might need another week to submit the final version of a document because someone in the office took a vacation. It was almost like an apology. Like the attorney dared to take a break from the hectic pace of the legal profession. But the judge didn't blink.

"I'm all in favor of lawyers taking vacations," he announced, and then quickly extended everyone's deadlines.

The judge was right. Lawyers do need breaks. Our work is stressful. If we do not achieve the desired result, a client may lose thousands or even millions of dollars. Or maybe they'll go to prison, or lose the right to see their kids on weekends. As I take on more responsibility as an associate attorney, tackling larger and more complex cases, I understand these high stakes. And I see the value of balancing long hours with a few breaks in between. It doesn't have to be a month-long junket to the other side of the planet.

Over the weekend, I had a fantastic getaway with a couple of guy friends on the Ohio River. We paddled kayaks for 30-plus miles, from Madison, Indiana, to the outskirts of Louisville, camped on a beautiful sand beach, and sipped bourbon as the waves lapped the shoreline. It was a page out of Huck Finn, with a dose of Walt Whitman and a few coal barges mixed in. The trip reminded me that the beauty of the outdoors is often just a few steps from my home here in Louisville. And now I'm back in the saddle early on a Monday morning, the first one in the office, ready to slay the dragon and fight for justice for my clients. But first, a few photos.

Ten Reasons I Love Louisville More Than Ever

It's tough to live somewhere ten years and call it short term. This dawned on me a few months back when I passed the decade mark as a Kentuckian. It's easily the longest amount of time I've lived anywhere — including Vermont, Indiana, Ohio and Oregon — since childhood. And while I've been restless from time to time, the truth is I love Louisville and Kentucky more with each passing year. Cue the drum-roll for my Top Ten List of reasons to dig the River City that have nothing to do with Derby. 

10. The Highlands. Just when I think I’ve checked out every restaurant, pub, and art gallery, something new pops up. I’ve lived in this funky neighborhood for all ten of my Louisville years, and it keeps getting better. My wife and I met friends over the weekend for drinks, and our theme was “places we’ve never been” that are close to our houses. We started at El Camino (see photo below), a hip new taqueria with a surfing vibe. We hit three other new places nearby, and probably could do the same thing again next weekend. Other great neighborhoods: Crescent Hill, Clifton, Germantown, NuLu.

9. Outdoor Rec. I’m an outdoor junkie, whether it’s biking, kayaking, running, or skiing. You might think, after ten years, that I’d have a good handle on all the local hidden gems for outdoor recreation. Not true. In just the last year, I’ve discovered half a dozen new whitewater kayaking surf holes (lower pool, McAlpine Lock and Dam), and a bunch of new cycling and running routes (tip of the hat to the new Big Four Bridge and the new sections of the Ohio River Greenway in Indiana).

8. A Terrific Job. The market for new lawyers is generally terrible, but that’s not the case in Louisville. Most of my colleagues from the Class of 2012 at U of L's Brandeis School of Law are gainfully employed in jobs that we love. I count myself in this group. I love my job as a trial lawyer at Jones Ward PLC, fighting for people who are injured by big corporations. It brings new challenges every day, and I can’t imagine doing anything else. 

7. Urban Living. One of my pet peeves is waiting in lines. Same goes for sitting in traffic. In Louisville, I get the benefits of living in a big city without the hassle of a terrible commute. My drive to work down East Broadway lasts about five minutes. The coffee in my to-go cup barely gets touched. 

6. Great Public Schools. JCPS gets a bad rap for long bus rides, and its Rube Goldberg student enrollment system. I  have no complaints. My kids attend a magnet school a mile from our house, where the test scores are among the best in the nation and kids call teachers by their first names. There are no hall passes, no dress code, and very few discipline problems. 

5. U of L. A few years ago the University of Louisville unveiled a giant billboard along Interstate 65, proclaiming the school as the best college sports town in America. Some people laughed. But not anymore. The school’s sports teams won so many titles in 2013 that national media dubbed it the “Year of the Cardinal.” I grew up in a pro sports town, but I’m now a full convert to the hysteria of March Madness, plus college soccer, football, and baseball. Bring on the ACC in 2015. 

4.  Progress, Progress. Kentucky might not be known for left-leaning ideals but Louisville a pretty progressive place. We’re pushing for more bike paths, creating arts districts, reinventing downtown, expanding parks, and preserving our heritage of great architecture, from the Victorians of Old Louisville to the cast-iron facades of Main Street.  Don’t get me wrong, the city could be more progressive. But it’s pretty good right now, and getting better all the time. 

3. Booming Business. The River City has always seemed like an easy place to launch a new venture. In my time here I’ve managed rental property, flipped houses, run a tree removal business, and started a law practice. My wife runs a bed and breakfast, and she recently launched herown self-run business as a clinical social worker. In all these endeavors, we’ve met people who provided us with advice, encouragement, and ideas. The city’s business vibe is friendly and supportive, about as far from cutthroat as you can get. 


2.  Family Friendly. For all the cool grown-up stuff to do here, the bigger draw for me is how easy it is to raise a family. The low cost of living allows us to have a house with plenty of room that’s close to almost everything we want to do. The kids’ basketball and soccer leagues are just a mile or two from home. Same with Cub Scouts, church, indoor soccer, Lakeside Swim Club and other family-friendly venues. 

1. A hometown for the wandering spirit. Louisville, and maybe to a larger extent Kentucky, has a Southern sense of hospitality and charm that is easy to take for granted until you spend time elsewhere. If you are a military brat, a gypsy, or just don’t like where you’re from, chances are Louisville will change your mind about the concept of home. This place, with its amazing people and independent funky spirit will make you want to settle in and stay awhile. And it’s home to bourbon, lots of bourbon. Come on.

Bar exam in 12 days: scary photos, scarier practice tests, and a final push to the end

It's ten o'clock at night and I'm still buckled down in the living room, poring over special venue provisions for civil actions against Kentucky tobacco growers. Earlier today, it was reams of multiple choice questions for a sample MBE test. In twelve more days, I'll sit down with several hundred other students and take the bar. I'm actually starting to feel OK about it. Over the last few weeks, however, I've been through intellectual boot camp: eight to ten hours a day of studying, thousands of pages of facts and rules, seventeen different outlines, countless essays, etc. As one fellow student put it recently,

Agency, Civil Procedure, Commercial Paper, Secured Transactions, Torts, Wills, Trusts, Administrative Law, Conflict of Law, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Domestic Relations, Evidence, Income Tax, Personal Property, Real Property. Anyone feeling overwhelmed?

After law school, at left, and before the bar, at right

You can get a sense of the pressure and stress from the photo at right, depicting me at graduation from law school (confident, happy, full of wisdom) and then just a few days ago when bar prep was in full swing (haggard, frightened, mentally drained). I'm kidding, of course. Sort of. Maybe. From what I gather, most other recent law grads are going through exactly the same process, straddling the line between burnout and freakout. One of the brighter spots is that I've gotten a lot of great advice from friends, law professors, and practicing attorneys. Some of what they've said:

• Accept the fact that this summer will be the worst summer you have experienced in a long time, and perhaps the worst ever. However, the worse your summer, the better the bar exam. If the summer is going really well, the bar probably will not.
• The bar is a rite of passage, and you'll most likely get through it. It doesn't have a lot to do with actually practicing law, and you can perform below average on the bar and still pass. 
• Bar prep tests are designed to scare the hell out of you (this much is certainly true), so that you'll study harder, and do fine on the real deal. 
• Most law students from Louisville pass the Kentucky bar with no problem (our pass rate is typically around 90 percent). The few who fail either didn't study hard, had a major panic attack during the exam, or had major personal problems strike in the days or weeks before the test. 

This will be my last blog post before the bar. I'm already feeling guilty about my tobacco growers and their venue provisions (please, for everyone's sake, sue them in the county where their warehouse is located, or where the grower resides). I have a feeling that the bar exam will turn out fine, but I'm not leaving anything up to chance. Don't cross your fingers for me. I don't want luck. Pushing hard until the end seems to be the only way to do it.

Shift from law school to law job is humbling, hard

Ever heard of the 10,000-hour rule? The idea is that, in order to master a specific skill, you must put in the equivalent of 10,000 hours of practice, or roughly five years of full-time work. The rule is staring me in the face as I begin the steep climb to competence as a rookie lawyer. The members of the Class of 2012  at U of L, myself included, spent the last year as 3Ls, the top dogs in law school. Now we're starting all over at the bottom. Louisville did a great job teaching me the law, but the field is so vast and there are so many things to learn. What's the difference between filling out a summons in state court compared to federal court?  How do you write a claim for loss of consortium? How does Medicare subrogation work?

Bar exam: that's me in eight weeks

Part of me wishes that I could push the fast-forward button and get to the point where I feel at least semi-confident about the areas where I will be practicing. For now, however, practice is not even my biggest worry. Bar prep started a week ago, and the exam itself is looming less than two months away. Listening to the Barbri lectures is like taking a mental stroll back through the first two years of law school. It's mildly interesting to remember all the cases that we read in order to learn tidbits of Contract law and Negotiable Instruments, but for the most part it's a painful process -- four hours a day of lectures so we can remember who gets priority in a fight between two creditors over a secured transaction (the perfected interest, of course), or whether a defendant's rights are violated when police conduct a stop and frisk search without probable cause (no, so long as there is reasonable suspicion of criminal activity). In addition to the lectures, we're supposed to be spending another four or five hours a day reviewing and outlining our subjects. Then there's the four or five hours a day I'm working at the firm that was generous enough to give me a job. How many hours are there in a day again?
Lots of people have given me advice about studying for the bar this summer. They've told me not to worry too much. They've told me to worry a lot. They've told me it's a marathon, and not to get burned out early in the summer. All in all, I've heard way more horror stories than pleasant memories. At least it's comforting to know that Louisville has a high pass rate, especially for students who did well academically in law school. It's also good to know that you only need a score of 75 out of 100 on each essay in order to pass the Kentucky portion of the exam. Then again, there are 12 essays, and only 30 minutes for each. Screw up just one, or fall behind on your timing, and you are in serious trouble. In the end, I imagine that bar prep, and work as a first-year lawyer, will be much like law school: a long and grinding path, with plenty of frustrations along the way but rewards at the end for those who persevere. Final note: I've updated the title of this blog because I am technically no longer a law student, and I've changed my profile accordingly. However, if you are interested in law school at U of L, or in the legal market in Louisville, you can still contact me with questions or thoughts. My email: alex@jonesward.com.

Law School Alternatives to Final Four Madness

Louisville has succumbed to basketball madness this weekend due to the Final Four matchup between U of L and UK in New Orleans. Plenty of law students have made the trip south for the game, and those who are staying here are taking a siesta from final exam preparation. This got me thinking: what are the best ways to pass the time for a Louisville law student outside of spectator sports? Lately, the options seem bountiful. I won't list them all, but if you're thinking about going to law school here in the River City, you can rest assured there will be plenty of diversions. I'm focusing on recreation in this list, since I've written about local nightlife in this post and this one and this one in the past.

1. Join a team. For a small law school, we have a bunch of intramural teams and other athletic clubs. I recently took a spot on the law school's IM soccer squad, cleverly named Brandeisliga. We've also had basketball and football squads (my all-time favorite name: "The Bottom 90 Percent"), and our school's softball team left today for a national law school softball tournament at the University of Virginia.

2. Toss a disc, play some pong. The school hosted a fun Frisbee competition this week on the lawn in front of the law building. Teams of students and professors (including the dean) participated, with the winners getting gift cards. Another perennial favorite if your free time is limited (always the case for law students) is the ping pong table in the law school's basement (see my amazing photo, above, of actual U of L law students playing actual pong).

3. Watch the ponies. The spring meet at Churchill Downs is less than a month away, and the track itself is just a few blocks from the law school.

4. Walk, run, or bike. I've been trying to ride a bike to class lately (I live about five miles from campus) and it's been surprisingly easy. Louisville is not always the friendliest place to be a cyclist, but there are a decent number of bike lanes. This also is the running season for the city, with the Papa John's 10-Miler coming up tomorrow and the city's miniMarathon taking place in late April. Louisville also plays host to the Ironman in August (well beyond my capacity as an athlete, but fun to watch).

5. Parking it. Spring is the best season of the year in our neck of the woods. Redbuds and cherry trees are blooming, and unless you have allergies the city's many parks are a great place to spend time. My favorites: Cherokee Park in the Highlands, Jefferson Memorial Forest in the south end, and Waterfront Park downtown.

Top 10 things to do on spring break if you're a (current or future) Louisville law student

The vagaries of my final semester in law school, and my part-time job as a law clerk, have forced me to be MIA from the blog recently. To make up for the absence, I offer you a list of things to do over spring break if you are a law student (or an applicant) at the Brandeis School of Law.

1. Start spring break early at tonight's Med Mal mixer, a joint event for students of U of L's law, dental, and medical schools. You'll get a chance to meet the people you will be suing (or defending) in a few years. There's free food and drink specials. The fun starts at 7:30 and runs until 11 p.m. at Howl at the Moon, at Fourth Street Live!

St. Patrick's Day parade in the Highlands

2. Attend the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in the Highlands neighborhood on Saturday. The parade takes place in the heart of the area's Irish bar district.

3. Hoist a pint at one of the same Irish bars the following weekend, when another series of St. Patrick's events unfolds in the same area. Not to lose out on a chance to earn some green, some of these bars at holding events all week long. My favorite: O'Shea's on Baxter Avenue.

4. Indulge in Kentucky's hoops obsession by catching a few basketball games. Louisville is the nation's hottest television market for college basketball. Louisville plays tonight, and Kentucky plays Friday. March Madness follows for both teams.

5. Volunteer! The deadline for graduating law students to complete their 30-hour public service requirement is March 26. It's a great way to help people, meet people, and learn a little law.

6. Pay off the balance on your Barbri account by March 15 and take a spin on the company's new AMP bar prep software, which apparently leads to higher scores on simulated MBE tests.

7. Take another look at my list of the Top 10 Things to do on Winter Break in Louisville, including museums, bourbon distilleries and more.

8. Take a lawyer out to lunch. If you are still looking for a summer job, or even if you already have one, it's hard to underestimate the importance of making connections with members of the local bar. I try to have lunch with an attorney at least once a week.

9. Apply for a job. Lately, it seems like the clouds are parting a bit when it comes to local law firms looking for associates. The latest edition of Bar Briefs has a few options, and there have been announcements about personal injury and other law firms looking for new hires. Joining groups such as the Louisville Bar Association or the KJA also can be useful.

10. Stretch your legs. Studying law all day can wreak havoc on your fitness. Sign up for one of the races in this spring's Triple Crown of Running, or take a spin through Cherokee Park. I'm setting my signs a bit higher for the last spring break as a law student: spring skiing in Bozeman, Montana. Got a spring break idea of your own? Post it in the comments field below.

Louisville attorney flies blind, wins jury trial

The trial bar is buzzing in Louisville this afternoon following a story that I'm going to share as an inspirational tale for law students. A local attorney, Randy Ratliff, took a case at the last minute this week after the plaintiff fired his Florida-based lawyers. Law students may remember that Mr. Ratliff spoke at the law school when he was director of the Kentucky Lawyer Assistance Program, a position he held from January 2008 to 2011. Full disclosure: he is Of Counsel in the law office where I will be an associate after graduation.
In the case in question, the general expectation was that the judge would grant a continuance so Mr. Ratliff could get to know the facts, prepare a plan, etc. After all, preparation is the key to a successful trial, right? Well, the judge decided the case would go to trial the same day Mr. Ratliff made his initial appearance. And according to the Kentucky Trial Court Review, which also maintains this Facebook page, the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff this afternoon in the amount of $131,000. The last settlement offer had been for $30,000. Not a bad week of work. Congratulations to Mr. Ratliff and his client.

Photo of the Week: Hiding Out at Ekstrom, Channeling the Wisdom of Frank Haddad, Jr.

Frank E. Haddad, Jr.(1), perhaps Louisville's most legendary criminal defense lawyer, once said that successful trial attorneys need to be concerned about matters, but not worry about them.

"When you worry about matters, you don't last long; you either start drinking, or you get nervous or break down.You've got to develop a constitution not to worry."(2)

I am learning to follow Haddad's wisdom, and I think this is one of law school's greatest gifts so far. I've always been willing to carry a heavy load of responsibilities, but I've never been able to fully master the art of being calm in the storm. This semester, there is no choice. I have five classes, two of which are crashing down on me with assignments, plus a part-time job as a law clerk, rental property to manage, a volunteer coaching gig with my 5-year-old's soccer team, weekly Cub Scouts with my 9-year-old, the Don't Forget Your Awesome Wife thing, blog posts, pay the bills, leaves to rake, etc.
So, this morning, I'm hiding out at Ekstrom, U of L's mega library (and Photo of the Week, above) right next to the law school. I'm skipping class to work on a writing assignment, which makes perfect sense. I haven't missed a class all semester, and by my third year I have enough friends to get daily notes from any class I want with a simple Facebook message. It's a temporary fix, but it'll allow me to come a bit closer to meeting my obligations. I'm concerned, but not worried. Want to share your own strategy for coping with the madness? Post it in the comments field below.

1: To read a terrific magazine profile of Haddad, click here.

2: Burton Milward, Jr., Louisville's Legendary Lawyer: Frank E. Haddad Jr. 60, available here. 

Staring at a "lousy" job market: 3Ls at Louisville Law looking at grim employment picture

When I started law school in 2009, I figured my timing was perfect. By the time three years was over, the recession would be a distant memory and I would have my pick of places to begin a shining new career as a lawyer. Today, my prediction is not looking so hot. Popular legal blogs such as Above The Law continue to describe the job market for law graduates as lousy. Heck, even top law review editors at prestigious schools can't find jobs.
Here at U of L, I know of a handful of people with permanent jobs lined up. But there are far more of us who have been turned down by employers, or told that there just isn't room next year, despite the terrific job you did as a clerk. This is hardly surprising, considering how big law firms in town are trimming their ranks by laying off associates, hiring fewer graduates, and down-sizing their summer programs. It's not time to hit the panic button yet, of course. We're still just one month into our final year. In some respects, I think Louisville graduates are in a better position than their peers at higher-ranked schools, where student debt is often in the six figures. In this month's edition of Bar Briefs, for example, LBA president K. Gregory Haynes points out that law school tuition increased 317 percent from 1989 to 2009, making a law degree an increasingly "risky" investment. Haynes also makes good points about the  manipulation of employment numbers by law schools, quoting a recent ABA resolution that discusses the "disconnect between law students' perception of their employment prospects upon completion of their law school education and the reality of what law students will realistically achieve."
Elsewhere in the same publication, our own law school's dean, Jim Chen, makes the case for Louisville Law as a value school where the debt numbers are far more favorable. At the same time, he points out that even at a value school like U of L, many students are leaving school with roughly $75,000 in debt, compared to average starting salaries in the private sector of $69,400. That last figure is not from Chen, but from the school's 2009 employment report, which also indicates that 77 percent of students received job offers before graduation and more than 95 percent were employed within nine months of graduation. Those stats seem overly rosy to me, although I don't believe the school is cooking the numbers. It's simply following the established system. Even so, it's not hard to find critics of law school employment stats. Depending on what you read, law schools "completely misrepresent" the numbers, or there are at least "ongoing questions" about the validity of jobs stats.
One excellent resource, Law School Transparency, puts the median private sector salary for Louisville at $55,000. I actually would be quite happy to find a job at that level, especially considering the low cost of living in Louisville. And while I do not have a job locked down yet, I know that no matter where I land, my long-term prospects will be considerably brighter than they were in my former profession. In journalism, just hanging on to the job you have is a victory.

Good-bye 2L, Hello 3L

It's that time of year. The changing of the guard. For me, one last law school exam stands in the way of becoming a 3L. In a few minutes, I'll sit down at a desk and spend the next three and a half hours writing about the finer points of procedural due process, equal protection, freedom of the press, religion, and other constitutional issues. Then it's on to Kentucky Derby festivities, including a party at our house (see photo of stocked fridge full of beer, at right) after tomorrow's Pegasus Parade. 

Post-exam supplies

After this week, I'll be blogging only infrequently as I turn my attention to a summer clerkship. If you have specific questions about law school at the University of Louisville, or about procedural due process, or about how to find a killer apartment here in the River City, please don't hesitate to send me an email at acdavi07@louisville.edu. I hope you've enjoyed reading 2L at U of L. I am pleased to be faced with the problem of finding a new name for the blog next year. 

Photo of the Week: Unicorn sighted at U of L Law

The harpy's as real as you are, and just as immortal. 

After days and days and days of rain, which have caused widespread flooding throughout Louisville, a fantastic rainbow arched over the city yesterday around dinner time. Most law students were studying, so they didn't catch this even rarer sight: a live unicorn prancing majestically across the lawn in front of the law school's main entrance. That's right, you heard it here: a live unicorn, created by the fine folks in our IT department. The parts about the rainbow and the flooding are true, however. Either way, as I barrel toward my last final exam next week, I can't think of a more deserving image to be this blog's Photo of the Week. Have a great weekend.

Exam post-mortem: Random musings about finals

My first written final exam of the semester is over. Taxalicious. For many law students, there is a feeling toward the end of the semester, as you synthesize all of the rules and holdings for a particular course, that you finally understand the material. You see the forest for the trees. For me, I didn't get that feeling until about two days before Monday's final, which is dangerously close (especially because I try to take at least half a day off before exams to relax and charge up my mental batteries). In this final, I can honestly say that my fellow classmates saved my bacon. I usually don't spend much time in study groups, but I was feeling so uneasy about this class that I spent six hours with two different groups of people over the weekend figuring out answers and comparing notes. It was surprisingly effective. It was also surprisingly scary to find out how many tiny errors I had made in my own outline. One of the nice things about Louisville Law is that students are pretty open with each other when it comes to sharing notes, hornbooks, outlines, etc.
The downside of discussing courses with other students is that you (or at least me) inevitably fall into post-exam conversations about what went right and wrong. And then, what felt so right just an hour or two ago, suddenly feels horrible and wrong. You pick apart your answers, and realize the tiny nuances that you missed on that long essay suddenly look like gaping black holes. It's pretty difficult to fail a law school exam, but these nuances also illustrate why it's so difficult to score an A. Most grades fall into a tight range between C minus and A minus. If you're able to notch a 3.0 GPA overall, you're in the top one third of your class. Above a 3.2 and you're close to the top 15 percent. It's actually possible to figure out, with reasonable certainty, where your grades will fall in a particular class using sites like this one. I try not to look in the rear view mirror too much after each final is over. We'll all find out how we did in a few weeks, and then we'll move on. With that in mind, I leave you with yet another goofy music video, this time about Basic Income Tax, made by students at Queen's University.

Louisville back in the Tier 2 club: USNews rankings for 2012 give Brandeis a boost

Louisville Law is in a three-way tie for the 100 spot in the latest US News & World Report rankings of law schools. Check out the list at this link. The 2012 edition of the rankings will no doubt bring a sign of relief to many students, faculty, and administrators along Third Street. Last year we dropped out of the top 100 law schools in the nation, falling into dreaded Tier 3 status. The University of Kentucky is 71 this time around,  down from 64.
But are the changes a big deal for either school? Depending on who you are, they're a huge deal, or maybe they mean nothing at all. The rankings are important to many prospective law students, and they're seen as an indicator of quality for some law firms. However, critics say the rankings are meaningless for students outside the top dozen or so schools. Think about it: if you're applying to a half dozen firms in your hometown, are those firms really going to care if your school dropped a few spots one year, or if you went to #86 compared to #93? The other thing that bugs me about the rankings is that the numbers are based in part on the opinions of faculty and administrators at other schools, which, in turn, is linked closely to scholarship, i.e., how many articles your law professors churn out. This forces law schools to put enormous energy into scholarship, which is fine, but for my tuition money I'd much rather have terrific teachers who are focused on showing me how to become a great lawyer. I could rant for a long time about the rankings, but I won't. Louisville is back in the top 100, and that's a good thing.

Lawyers, lawyers everywhere: local attorneys profiled in new edition of Louisville Magazine

The latest edition of Louisville Magazine takes an in-depth look at  the city's legal market, and therefore is a must-read for the area's current and prospective law students. There's a fun piece about Darryl Isaacs, a U of L grad who is best known as the "Heavy Hitter" on television (and on billboards, at right). On the more serious side, there's a lengthy article about what it's like to be one of the 62 attorneys who work in the local public defender's office. The upside: incredible experience in a very well respected organization handling high-profile cases. The downside: not as much money as you might make in private practice. The article is a good reminder that money isn't everything when it comes to being happy as a lawyer. Some of the brightest students from U of L Law have joined the public defender's office in recent years. It's also a good place to stay for a few years before launching your own private firm. You can check out the entire magazine, page by page, by clicking on this link.

Speaking to a jury is harrowing, humbling

The professor in our Trial Practice class says she still gets nervous before a trial. But with enough preparation, she says the nerves usually calm just before she walks into the courtroom. Not so for me this morning when I walked into the courtroom at the law school to deliver a seven-minute opening statement to a jury of fellow students. We each had to prepare an opening statement for a mock trial, and deliver it just as we would in a real courtroom. This should have been an easy assignment for me. I'm the guy who emceed pep rallies in high school, the guy who took debate classes, who starred in class plays, and who coached little league teams. This was tougher. Way tougher. It's enough just to memorize a seven-minute speech. But then you must make it convincing, thoroughly organized, and conversational. Oh, and you need to walk around a room while delivering it. You can't speak too fast. You can't speak too slow. No shuffling, no "Umms," and no shaky hands. And it can't be argumentative. And you can't screw up any of the hundreds of facts that might be involved. Lucky for us, there was no actual defendant facing a murder charge.
In the end, I think I did pretty well. I worked on the damn thing all night and all morning, delivering it to mirrors, walls, and numerous other inanimate objects. Most law students don't become trial lawyers. I still don't know what type of law I will practice, but I highly encourage any prospective or current law student to take advantage of the opportunities you will get to hone your public speaking skills while in school. Here at U of L Law, we have a very solid mock trial program. Even if you don't participate in it, all 1Ls get a chance to take part in an oral advocacy competition in the spring. It's a harrowing experience, but you'll be better for it. And for a slice of a pretty good opening statement -- also seven minutes -- check out this one from Judge Sotomayor in her Senate confirmation hearing.

My Con Law textbook takes a tour of Louisville

Anybody can take an online tour of the University of Louisville. And of course you can check out the city itself using sites like this one. But if you're thinking about spending the next three years at the U of L Brandeis School of Law, you haven't seen the real deal until you've hung out with my Constitutional Law textbook for a day. So I created a video to tell the story. Hard to believe the school puts up with this stuff. Somebody pinch me.

Magazine: U of L Law ranks #3 in nation for value

The latest edition of preLaw magazine includes a ranking of the "best value law schools" in the nation and the University of Louisville placed third overall. Not too shabby, right? I could describe the rankings process, the other schools involved, etc., but this article does the job pretty well.  Most of the other schools in the Top 20 (see image at right) were located in the Midwest and the Southeast. UK was 14th.

Law school meeting tackles gay suicide, bullying

College campuses across the nation are holding events in response to the recent string of suicides and bullying incidents involving students who are LGBT. Here at U of L, more than 100 students attended a vigil at the Red Barn, and the university's president, James Ramsey, sent out an email yesterday praising the event and encouraging people to review the school's diversity policy. All of this is fine and good, but it doesn't guarantee that something similar won't happen here. The key, at least in my opinion, is to maintain an atmosphere where this type of activity won't happen. That's easier said than done. Louisville does a pretty good job of that, at least compared to the rest of the state and the region. We have a local ordinance that addresses sexual discrimination and gay rights, and an active group called the Fairness Campaign that backs it up.
The law school also does a good job of promoting equality and tolerance. I have attended events at the school about transgender issues, military recruiting, and other gender- and sex-related topics. Additionally, this afternoon, the law school will host a "conversation" about LGBT suicide, with the goal of "raising awareness, facilitating safety, and identifying any action that may be taken." It will be held at 5:30 p.m. in Room 75, and is sponsored by career services, student life, the diversity committee, Lambda Law Caucus, Louisville Youth Group and the school's Office for LGBT Services.

Photo of the Week: fall colors at Cave Hill

One of my favorite spots in Louisville, 162-year-old Cave Hill Cemetery, is the setting for the latest Photo of the Week. Actually, it's a slide show that I created with iMovie this morning while I should have been studying for Con Law. I don't feel guilty. Fall is arguably Kentucky's best season, with the possible exception of the weeks surrounding the Derby each spring. Got your own favorite place to check out fall colors? Post it in the comment field below.

Lawlapalooza: battle of the bands is tonight

The annual Lawlapalooza charity event will be held tonight at Phoenix Hill Tavern, at the corner of Broadway and Baxter Avenue. The event, according to the school's Web site, is the "Louisville legal community's annual battle of the bands, staged since 2005, to benefit the Judge Ellen B. Ewing Foundation. The fund provides up to $4,000 in summer fellowship funding for a University of Louisville law student to work in the areas of family law, domestic violence and spouse abuse, and HIV/AIDS." 

The Subconscionables

I attended last year's Lawlapalooza, in which a band of law students scored a sweet victory over a group of attorneys (probably the only time that will happen). Dean Jim Chen also did an amazing flying leap onto the dance floor that was vaguely reminiscent of the music video from Jump by Eddie Van Halen (memo to self: you're getting really old). At any rate, the fun starts at 6:30, lasts well into the night, and includes performances by bands with names such as 100% Legal, the Subconscionables, and the Fiduciaries. If that doesn't sound awesome, you need to sign up for awesome lessons.