Mother-Daughter Fed Team

I haven't talked about my daughter on here for awhile. For those of you that don't know, she is absolutely brilliant and in her second year at MIT in Cambridge, MA, majoring in Math and Computer Science. I hate having her so far away, but I'm so incredibly proud of her and I know she needed to be exactly where she now is.

Anyway, she applied for an internship at the National Security Agency (NSA) and they sent her a huge packet to complete after making it through the first hurdle. She apparently passed that check as well, because they are flying her to Maryland next week for interviews.

This is so cool! And I'm hoping she gets this. It would be an incredible opportunity for her, and basically start her in her career now. What would she do there? Oh just cryptology and other interesting secret stuff! If she got this, she would be in the Department of Defense, and I'm in the Department of Justice- pretty cool.

Now THIS was COOL!

Oh my gosh, I LOVE MY JOB! Today might have been the most cool experience I have had there to date (and considering I have already had and won a trial in federal district court, you have to know this is a good one!). Thursday mornings is the regular misdemeanor calendar and some weeks are busier than others. Today was a very full day with 14 cases. Even though 8 were mine and 6 belong to my cohort, I appeared on all 14 since he was out ill today. It took until noon to get through 13 of them and the judge ordered the motion I was to argue for 2pm.

Most of my job involves a lot of standard stuff- filing charging documents, sending discovery, writing and negotiating plea agreements, making routine court appearances. I don't often get the opportunity to actually do legal research and write motions or briefs. However, there is a new federal defender who is a motion-writing-machine. I'm having to reply to them, and the first one was his motion to suppress evidence obtained during a wildlife checkpoint in a national park, that he claims was unconstitutional.

The few things I have written while here have mostly been standard things that did not require any original research, but I researched and wrote the reply to the defense motion on my own from scratch. Today was the day to argue it in court.

I have never done that before, nor even attended one, so I had no idea what to expect. My boss suggested making a list of the points I wanted to make, along with ones to counter the defense's likely arguments. I did that, and also called a Park Service ranger to be on hand, in case the court wanted to hear from him.

THANK GOODNESS I DID THAT! I had no idea that the judge expected witnesses, and I had not prepared any questions. But once in court, the judge said he did not know how the checkpoints worked, and wanted testimony on that. Ok, no big deal. I called my officer as my witness, took all my notes, and went up there and did a direct exam on him from the seat of my pants (or should I say from the seat of my very short skirt?!?). Anyway, the federal defender crossed, I redirected, he recrossed, and I wrapped up with a few final last questions.

The judge went through an unpublished case that the federal defender handed him (and me). Neither one of us had mentioned it in our arguments. At first I was like NOOOOOOOO, because the case was clearly distinguishable on the facts, and I was kicking myself that I hadn't said that. But, I didn't need to. The judge went through the rules about checkpoints and showed how the one in that case didn't meet the requirements to be constitutional, but the one in my case did.

After going through an analysis, and wrapping up this 75 minute hearing, the judge denied the defense's motion to suppress. YEAH!!! : ) That was SO much fun. Kind of like moot court and criminal trial practice all wrapped into one. I LOVED IT! I wish I got to do that every day.

Anyway, the officer was so impressed by my written response and performance in court, and so appreciative of the effort I put into it. He is going to send copies of my response to a bunch of the other national parks so they can use and/or refer to it if people challenge their checkpoint programs. :) Yes, very, very cool!

So, I argued a motion in federal court, wasn't even sure what to do, had no prepared questions for my witness, but knew my law inside and out and won my case!

Damn, and now I have to go to Wills and Trusts.....

I Think I Blew A Test I Didn't Have to Study For!

The performance exam last night in Legal Process wasn't something that could be studied for because it wasn't testing my knowledge in any particular area of law, but seeing how I respond when given instructions and a set of law and facts. In addition, I have been more than a little distracted by everything that is going on, so it is doubtful I would have studied for it much had I needed to.

On the sample tests we had done at home before, I always read the facts of the case first, but after the professor told us it is better to read the law first, I did that last night. The problem was that there was so much law (and as I found out later, very little facts), so I was overwhelmed from the start trying to organize the law and figure out what was needed, which was hard because I didn't know the facts of the case when I read the law library.

So, I was thrown and feeling very scattered. UGH. I know I didn't do well. The only positive thing I can say about it is that this was NOT the actual bar exam and I can learn from this experience so that I do better in July.

I just looked at my calendar and it just seems so weird that there are only 4 weeks of classes left after this week. Of course, I know I will then be studying for finals, and then the bar, but it is hard to imagine what life will be like "on the other side". How will I possibly find things to do when I'm not reading and studying every evening and weekend? The thought of having a life again seems quite foreign.

Changes

This is hard. I struggle because part of me feels like this is no one's business. But the other part of me knows that people make it their business when they talk and assume things. I don't wish to be the subject of gossip, so I suppose I'd rather put it out there myself.

I didn't spend the last week having a spring break. Instead, in order to protect myself and my son from a threat that I considered very serious, I filed for divorce and moved out. There. I said it.

If you feel that you need more information about my situation, please come and talk to me privately. I would rather that than have people talk about this behind my back.

All I ask is that you show a little compassion to someone who is feeling hurt and emotional. It's hard enough to prepare for finals and study for the bar, but to do so in the midst of all of this feels nearly unbearable right now.

A Break? Really?

I suppose this is the beginning of my spring break, though it hardly feels like it. I'm behind in stuff at work after taking off time to study for my midterm, so I'm going to work for at least a few hours tomorrow to try to catch up.

Then, of course, next week, I don't have classes, but I still have work. Hardly feels like a week off if I still have to get up at 5am. At least I don't have to attend my 4 classes, but what does that really boil down to- 12 more free hours, maybe 15 if you add in commuting? Doing the reading for those classes that I didn't do this week will take up most of that. If anything is left, I MUST work on my outlines. My Remedies one is current, since we just had the midterm (though I did notice a few things I want to fix), but I have not updated my Evidence and Wills & Trusts outlines since December. I am such a slacker!

Yeah, so, it's not really a break. Just a time to do more work. :(

Clock Fairy

Last night, I fell asleep on the couch and apparently moved to the bed sometime. This morning I woke up around 4:30am. As I often do when I wake up early, I stayed in bed, somehow hoping I would fall back asleep. After about an hour and realizing that was not going to happen, I got up and checked my email. When I glanced down at the clock on the bottom of my screen, I noticed it said 6:30! I then remembered Daylight Savings started this morning- I think this is the first time I've ever forgotten to change all the clocks before going to bed. I then went around the house, moving all of them forward an hour.

I spent the day yesterday studying for my Remedies midterm which is on Tuesday afternoon. I'll be doing the same thing today and tomorrow too. It's weird to think that this is my last midterm. After this exam, there will be just 4 finals left to take in my law school experience. Two months from today they will all be over. Makes me nervous to think about. So much to do! I'm going to have to use my spring break to do some serious preparation.

Nothing too exciting going on at work. I still love it, but nothing new or different there lately. The only trial in my future now appears to be the jury trial starting April 1. (There's something else I will need to work on over spring break!) All the other cases I had on my calendar have either signed plea agreements or indicated that they will.

Remedies is calling me, so I suppose I should get back to the studying. You know how exciting specific performance, injunctions, restitution and punitive damages can be......

Am I Really That Close to the End?

It's March. Classes end in April. My last final is May 6. It doesn't seem possible that I'm so close to being done. Of course, things aren't really over until August 1. And even then, not really until I actually pass the bar. But this will be the first step in being done.

Nothing new in my classes really. I do have a midterm in Remedies next Tuesday. Ugh. I last updated my outline 3 weeks ago, so I need to do that today. I don't have any other tests until the finals though. Remedies is April 28, Evidence is April 30, Wills & Trusts is May 2, and Legal Process is May 6.

I had a meeting with my LP professor yesterday. Our final in there is a 3 hour "performance exam" (one of the 3 types of tests given on the bar exam). We have done 2 of them so far for that class, and will do one more in a couple weeks. There is no possible way to study for that sort of thing because they just give you a set of facts, a library of law, and a set of instructions. Your job is to draft whatever kind of document they tell you to within the 3 hour period using only what they give you. So really, after my W&T final I can relax a bit (at least until the bar studying begins).

I'm still loving my internship. It actually makes me sad to think about leaving in 2 months. I want to find out if there is anything I can come back and do from August to November when I get my bar results. Hopefully they will want me, as I can't imagine sitting around doing nothing for three months.

It's weird to be so close to the end. I know it is coming, yet in some ways, it is hard to believe because sometimes I thought it would never end. And there's such conflicting emotions. There is comfort in difficult things, because at least I know what to expect. Not a whole lot of comfort in the unknown. I know there are people I will miss too. But with things moving at a whirlwind pace around me, it is not like I even have extra time to spend with them before it's all done. Weird, sad, frustrating, yet hopeful because I'm excited about the future and what it will bring.