Welcome to Daniel's Blog! The Life of a 1L...
Outside of school I enjoy exploring the gorgeous desert and mountains that surround Tucson. I also enjoy showing freinds fromt eh law school all of Tucson's great, locally-owned restaurants; this city has some of the best Mexican food around. I try to spend as much time as possible with local friends and family, as well as with my 3-year-old long-haired dachschun, Hazel.
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Undergraduate: University of Arizona, Political Science, Minors in Economics and Sociology
Law School Activities: American Constitution Society; Business Law Society; Latino Law Students Association; Volunteer Lawyer's Program (Domestic Relations Clinic); Student Advisory Council (Legal Writing Program)
And We’re Back!
This week I returned from what was perhaps the most amazing winter break of my life. The things I did during break, though, weren’t nearly as amazing as the things I didn’t do. For three weeks I didn’t crack open a single casebook, didn’t get up before 10:00am, and didn’t once wake up in the middle of the night after dreaming about whether the U.C.C governs mixed transactions, whether a third-party joinder is proper in federal court, or whether a landowner owes a duty of reasonable care to trespassers.
So what did I do during break? For starters, I finally availed myself of my Netflix subscription and watched all four seasons of Mad Men. I also got to catch up on some much-needed time with my family, who were all too happy to provide me with endless, delicious Mexican food. I also used the Kindle that I got for Christmas to download and read a few excellent novels; it should go without saying that it felt great to read something non-legal for a change.
I also took a couple of brief road trips the area. A fellow 1L and I took a day trip through southeastern Arizona, visiting the towns of Tombstone and Bisbee in Cochise County. These towns were each founded as mining towns in the 1880s. And though the mines are no longer active, the towns have since developed a rich history and culture of their own. In Tombstone – which has retained its “Old West" character - we watched a live re-enactment of the famous “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” and had lunch at the historic Crystal Palace saloon. In Bisbee – which is a charming town with a vibrant art scene - we toured various art shops and found some of the best whole-bean coffee I’ve ever had (Bisbee Coffee Roasters for anyone who’s interested). We also got to check out the massive Copper Queen and Lavender Pit mines that once fueled Arizona’s reputation as a copper state.
After Christmas, I attended a 1L recruitment reception in Phoenix that was hosted by a law firm (Squire Sanders, LLP) there. It was a great opportunity to meet attorneys from the firm, catch up with my peers from UA law, and meet students from other law schools as well.
Now that classes have resumed, I’m slowly - but surely - getting myself back into my normal routine. This semester will involve even more work than last (we have 5 graded courses instead of 3), but fortunately I feel rested, refreshed, and prepared to give it my all again. I’m confident that both hard work and good times lie ahead.
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Posted by: Daniel 04/16/2012 1:17 PM
Two down, one more to go!
It feels great to be nearly done with finals! It seems like the worst is over, and we’re now beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our next and final exam, Contracts, will no doubt be a tough one, but luckily it’s the exam we have the most time to study for - 5 days. Contracts is not easy subject, but it’s extremely helpful to have this much uninterrupted time to prepare for it. The Uniform Commercial Code and I will no doubt put in some quality bonding time this week.
During such a hectic time, it’s nice to have several ways in which to de-stress. The UA’s law library recently partnered with the local chapter of the Delta society to provide therapy dogs for law students during finals. Therapy dogs are on site for two hours every day, and students can sign up to play and pet the dogs during studying or before exams. It was definitely relaxing to play with a cute terrier right before my Torts exam; it’s always nice to interact with animals who will never, ever ask you about scope of liability or affirmative duty of reasonable care.
One of my favorite ways to get my mind off of school is to take a drive through Saguaro National Park. The park is about a half-hour drive west of UA, and includes some of most beautiful desert scenery in Southern Arizona. The park has many trails for hiking and biking, but when I’m busy I like to just take an hour or so to drive through the park while listening to music on my stereo. Driving through the mountains while taking in the scenery and witnessing the amazing sunset is a great way to relax and recharge during this stressful period.
A comforting, parting thought: by the time I post my next blog entry, I will have completed my first semester of law school!
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Posted by: Daniel 04/16/2012 1:17 PM
The Home Stretch
So we’re back from Thanksgiving break! The break is always a great opportunity to spend time with family, stuff your face with food, and get your mind off of school for a little while. Now that we’re back, however, we’re forced to face the brutish reality that is final exams period. I feel rested and ready to buckle down for the next couple of weeks to finish the semester strong.
Luckily, our three exams are scheduled widely apart from one another, so we have plenty of days to study for each class individually. For example, our last day of classes is this Wednesday, December 1st, and we have our Civil Procedure exam the following Monday, December 5th, our Torts exam on Friday, December 9th, and our Contracts exam on Thursday, December 15th. This gives 1Ls an opportunity to unwind a bit after each exam and prepare adequately for the next one.
Another item to check off the to-do list this week is job applications for summer jobs! 1L’s at all law schools aren’t allowed to contact employers until December 1st, which is the date that many employers begin to accept (and expect) applications. This may sound like a nightmare of a task to juggle along with finals, but fortunately the Career & Professional Development Office has been working with 1Ls all throughout November to get us ready for job applications. They’ve held numerous workshops and have met with us individually to show us how to find summer jobs and internships, polish our resumes and cover letters, and teach us interview skills. They even set up mock interviews for us with local attorneys; I got to interview with an attorney from a local criminal law firm, which was a great opportunity to experience my first legal interview.
At this point, I have my list of employers with early deadlines finalized, and my cover letter, resume, references, and writing sample (my office memo from my legal writing class) are all set to go. I’ll just hit “send” on Wednesday morning and switch gears to full-blown finals studying. Wish me luck!
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Posted by: Daniel 04/16/2012 1:17 PM
Seeing The Big Picture
While I try to avoid cliches, I’ve learned that nothing describes more aptly the law school learning experience than a jigsaw puzzle. It works like this: throughout the semester, you’re handed a few pieces of a huge puzzle each week in the form of cases. When school started in August, we were handed just a few pieces - a few cases - that made very little, if any sense. Without context, it was hard to know what you’re looking at – kind of like getting a green jigsaw piece that appears to form part of a tree in the landscape the puzzle is supposed make, but you’re not really sure. We would brief the cases with a vague idea of why it was important and would hope that adding some context later would help it make more sense.
At this point in the semester, the puzzle has finally taken shape. We’ve put enough pieces together to get a pretty good idea of what the finished landscape is supposed to look like. With only a couple of weeks remaining in the semester, we only have a few remaining jigsaw pieces left to fit in. We can now look at that case we read back in August or September and see how it fits in with the cases around it; Pennoyer v. Neff makes a heck of a lot more sense when you can see how it fits within concept of personal jurisdiction. In theory, the finished puzzle is what your outline is supposed to look like. You’ve finally fit all the pieces where they’re supposed to go, and you can now begin study the full picture in your outline. The idea is that, once you know and understand the finished landscape, you can tell your professor all about it on the final exam.
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Posted by: Daniel 04/16/2012 1:17 PM
No-Fun November
November is a busy time for both law students and law students to-be. It was only one year ago that I found myself preparing my own law school applications - proofreading my personal statement for the hundredth time, wondering what my professors might have written on my letters of recommendation, standing in line at the registrar’s office to request my transcripts, and trying to study for both finals and the LSAT (I took it after October, probably not the best idea). I came straight into law school, and I now find myself proofreading my office memo for Legal Writing, reading through dozens of cases on Westlaw for Legal Research, and trying to finish my outlines in preparation for exams in Civil Procedure, Contracts, and Torts. Oh, and I have to polish my legal resume and cover letters to begin applying for summer jobs next month!
Don’t let all the law school craziness scare you, though. Despite all the work, law school has been a blast. Arizona Law is a very intimate and strong community; our small class size and low student-to-faculty ratio allows us to spend a lot of time together and get to know one another, which has been a tremendous experience.
Life as a 1L at Arizona Law often revolves around your small section of 28-30 students - a "home base" of sorts - with whom you share all your classes. The small section is split into halves for your Legal Writing and Legal Research courses, allowing for an even more intimate setting in those courses. Throughout the year, students have many opportunities to have fun together outside of school, be it through football tailgates, bar reviews, or barbecues and dinners with your small section (which your small-section professors attend and often host).
Tonight, our Legal Writing instructor (who is also the head of the school’s Legal Writing Program) is hosting our class for dinner at her home. These are the kind of events that foster such a strong community at the school. Even outside of the small section, there’s hardly a student in the 1L class who I don’t already know. The school’s strong community dynamic allows me to look forward to going to school every day, and makes studying things like collateral estoppel and the Uniform Commercial Code much more palatable!
Posted by: Daniel 04/16/2012 1:17 PM