Thursday, October 29, 2009

How NOT To Do Lawschool

Lesson of the day: check your syllabus. And don't be a failure.

So, all weekend I was amazed at how little homework I had. This should have been my first indication that I was completely missing something.

I was sitting in my third class on Monday afternoon when I suddenly had this really really bad feeling. Like the feeling you get when you suddenly realize you locked your keys in the car or that you forgot to pay your credit card bill on time, or when you dump bleach into a load of colored laundry.

So I checked the assignment listed in the syllabus for my next class. Right there in big bold letters it said "Motion for Summary Judgment Due at 5pm on October 26th." Wait. When is the 26th? SHIT? IT'S TODAY?!?!? AS IN, DUE IN TWO HOURS? MAJOR FAIL.

My heart started to pound in my chest. My palms got sweaty. I was facing a nervous breakdown. I had no idea what I was going to do. Although I am past caring about doing well in class, I still feel totally horrible looking like a slacker in front of my professors. Even though I am only hurting myself in failing to complete assignments, I somehow always feel like I am letting my professors down. Lame isn't it?

I didn't happen to hear what my Trusts & Estates professor said for the rest of the class period. I was too busy having a nervous breakdown about my Motion for Summary Judgment- or lack thereof. By the end of class period, I figured out what I would say to explain the situation to my professor and rehearsed it in my head several times. When I walked into my next class, I approached the professor and explained it to him. I was prepared for the worst.

He simply laughed and said "Can you have it to me by our next class?"

I was shocked first, then reliefed. Then reality set in.

That, people, is how I ended up writing a Motion for Summary Judgment, from start to finish, in just TWO DAYS. Do real attorneys even ever have to do that? For two days my head was a walking storage tank of case law and material facts. I couldn't turn it off. I even woke up in the middle of the night thinking about my arguments. In order to complete the assignment in time, I had to skip all my classes, ban myself from the internet and give my child sharp pointy objects to keep him distracted.

Don't be like me. Read the syllabus.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you ever read the Namby Pamby's blog? Yes, lawyers do things like that.

Andrea said...

I never understood professors who were assholes about extensions on assignments. In the real world, we can always get extensions. It's good your professor was nice about it!

At the last insurance defense firm I worked for, one of the partners was notorious for giving last minute assignments, particularly because he would keep things on his desk too long without actually looking at them. It's 4:50, associate's packing up, ready to go have dinner... oh, uh, associate, this is due tomorrow at noon, I need you to do this. "This" would be some lengthy memorandum that required the associate to stay up all night working. That is definite fail.

Paragon2Pieces said...

glad everything turned out well in the end :)

Izzie said...

Good save, now I'll be triple checking my assignments for all of my classes!

J said...

I'm pretty sure attorneys do that sort of thing in like minutes and not days.... lol! At least the professor was cool about it.

LEO said...

That is the worst feeling ever when you realize you missed a deadline!

It must feel good now to have that done though!