Yesterday was my very first day of law school ever. I've always liked the first day of school. Oh sure, it usually has been the harbinger of massive amounts of work to follow (in fact in law school we already had homework assigned before classes began) but there's nothing like the ambient cleanliness of a fresh beginning. Everything's possible, it's full of mystery, and nothing is tainted by the inevitable stress and demoralization that will certainly follow...
Law school is fairly regimented, with certain things happening certain years. First year students ("1L's") are assigned to a section (at BU the first year class is divided into sections of about 90 students) and take their assigned curriculum together. Classes are usually on a selection of subjects that will eventually appear on the Bar. It isn't until the second year that students get more choice in electives and take classes with people from other sections or other years (some law schools actually do seem to allow some choice in the first year, but from what I understand, this general system seems pretty standard across most law schools.)
My schedule this semester includes Criminal Law, Civ(il) Pro(cedure), Contracts, and Torts. Next semester instead of Torts and Criminal Law I will take Property and Con(stitutional) Law.
I also have a writing seminar that will last all year. That should be an interesting class with respect to my blog. Blogging I'm sure will help me in the sense that the more I write, the more confident I am in my general writing ability, gaining that instinctive confidence that the right words will come to me and I will be able to successfully manipulate them into my message. On the other hand, my writing will have different purposes and audiences. Whereas here I strive for artful expositions or narratives, in that class I will write precise explanations or persuasions. Humor will need to give way to clarity (of course, it probably wouldn't hurt if I incorporated some clarity here...) I'm curious how this course will affect the Great Change. Blogging has helped me find my voice and I certainly hope that the legal writing training won't cause me to lose it. I hope it will instead make me multilingual - able to speak in a variety of ways depending on the audience.
Yesterday two of the classes met (Civ Pro and Contracts). I enjoyed them and the subject matter didn't seem too daunting. Today I will have my first Criminal Law class, and tomorrow will be the first on Torts. (Writing starts next week so my blogging should remain unscathed for a little while longer.) So far I like the professors that I've met. Someone in orientation said about the faculty at BU, "The students like the professors, and the professors like the students." At this point that seems to be the case and will surely help the experience immeasurably. It's hard enough already without there being a competitive wariness between students and teachers, and it's comforting to have teachers who understand and care about the Great Changes their students are going through.
This entry has a forged time stamp as well. It was written on the morning of 8/26, around the time the cable internet at home decided to become nonfunctional. So I saved it to a file and I've just gotten myself on the wireless network at school to post it, now being 8/27.