Things I learned at law school orientation this week:

[eyesroll]

"Facebook" is a verb. You can conjugate it. "I facebooked my orientation group last night!" Don't ask me what it means.

Just because you think you don't have a first-day Torts assignment, and it was never posted to the class web site, and nobody has any way of knowing whether there actually is an assignment and if so what it is, does not mean you do not have a first-day assignment. Keep checking right up until you get into class. (As of 4:30 Friday, I do not have a first-day Torts assignment.)

My peers are apparently "kids." I did not realize this, even though most are younger than I am. "I live with two kids in a loft." "Oh, really?! How old are they? We have a nearly four-year-old at home!" "Uh...they're my age. Law students."

"Henry Lee" seems to be a good line-waiting earworm, although nobody agrees with me. (Nobody has heard of "Henry Lee" or Nick Cave, and nobody could fathom why anyone would record an entire album about murder.)

That apparently, people who are 22-23 don't realize that "Saved By The Bell" was ever a first-run show. When you tell them you graduated high school the same year the SBTB kids did, you may as well be telling them you would have graduated the same year as that guy from Los Lobos, if he hadn't died tragically in that plane crash.

Precious little about law or law school.

Still...everything seemed to go well. Classes start Monday! :bounce:

[billyskank]

1. Here was me thinking facebook meant

to put ones face in a book. I clearly have much to learn. :)

[eyesroll]

2. It's a Web site (a la myspace) for students...but I didn't know it was a

verb. "Do you facebook?" "Huh?"

[sir_captain]

4. If we want to take the etymology even further

it's a website that was started by a bunch of harvard students and named for the harvard freshman "facebook" that gets mailed out to incoming freshmen the summer before they arrive

[Critters2]

3. I'm doing a Doctor of Ministry online

and I wondered whether I should've done it "on site". Having read this, I think I made the right decision. Still, I have to do a two-week residency next summer, and will probably feel completely out of the loop.

When SBTB was on the first time, I was in graduate school--the first time.

[Kat45]

5. I still referred to my friends as "kids" when I was in my early 30s

Just habit, I guess. I stopped doing it when I was referring to an older friend who was in his forties, and the absurdity of it hit me.

Shit, I better not go back to school: "Saved by the Bell" was first-run AFTER I was out of school! LOL

Have fun with the young'uns. :hi:

[huskerlaw]

6. First of all

Facebook is LAME. And *so* last year. All the cool kids are on MySpace now. The even cooler kids have LiveJournal.

About the torts...you definitely have an assignment. Didn't you get the memo about being able to divine professorial intent? I would guess you'll be reading something about crimes to the person, most likely battery. Be sure to focus on the difference between intentional and unintentional. Does bumping count? What if you get bumped by a kid? Just what IS physical contact? ;)

I just noticed I called them "kids" in my first sentence. The use of the phrase "cool kids" aside, calling your law school roomie a "kid" is a sure sign that you're too immature to be a law student. Do not, under any circumstances, agree to form a study group with that person. It really sucks to have to find new study partners after midterm grades are returned.

What kind of lame-ass 20ish year-olds go to your school? My friends in that age category know more about Saved by the Bell than I do!

As for the law stuff, don't worry...that's next week.

:hi:

[rockymountaindem]

19. Wrong!

Facebook is not last year! All the cool kids have stopped wasting too much time on myspace (which is for people who like to be spied on, evidently) and have gone with the more streamlined facebook. Those other sites are for self-absorbed losers who think people really *do* want to read about *everything* they did the last time they were drunk. Surprise surprise, nobody cares that they threw up three times.

[huskerlaw]

20. Wow, congratulations!

all those overgeneralizations in just three sentences. I'm so impressed. :eyes:

[rockymountaindem]

23. I was being sarcastic

People can do whatever they want. Please don't take offense.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. You will have to take a legal research class.

In that class you'll learn how to find cases. A lot of this research is computerized now, but your law library will still have the West books. Go to the library, find the Southern Reporter collection, and look up 12 So. 2d 305. The book will probably open to that page all by itself. This case is legendary among law students. When you find it you will see why.

[huskerlaw]

8. Hahahaha, omg

I teach legal reasearch, but apparently my law school was really tame. I just looked your case up on Westlaw and... :wow:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. See, that's the problem with Westlaw.

Computer entries don't get all dog-eared and tattered like books do, if law students have been looking up the same rather, er, interesting case since 1943.

[huskerlaw]

11. That's true.

I make my students use book and electronic sources. The law firms who hire our grads practically insist that they know how to use print sources since Lexis and Westlaw's pricing is so insane.

I could have gotten up and ran upstairs to the book, but I'm outta here in 12 minutes (and ok, I admit it, I'm lazy! It's Friday!).

[philosophie_en_rose]

15. Westlaw and Lexis are crack dealers.

Addicting law students to "free points" and enormous searches that will easily cost hundreds of dollars after law school.

[Lady President]

16. Oh my...

I'll admit that I went the Lexis route because I don't have many law book at home.

My goodness! Nope, I never read this one in law school. However, I do like to think of myself as possessing a "potentially influential and powerful vagina". (If I just caused this thread to be locked, I am so sorry. It's a legitimate quote.)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Pretty hot for 1943, eh?

I suspect the judge was as much of a perv as the defendant.

[philosophie_en_rose]

9. Law school is a great deal like high school.

I was only 2 years older than most of the other law students (24), but noticed how quickly everyone reverted to high school behavior.

"Facebooking" is only the tip of the iceberg.

Also - email your professor's assistant for the assignment.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Like high school, only way more competitive.

I graduated in 1981, but as far as I can tell, the vibe is still the same. And while we're handing out law school advice -- beware of the students who not only read all the assigned cases, but also the footnotes, and raise their hands to be called on in class all the time. These guys (and they are almost always guys) usually were poli-sci majors in college, and tend to fancy themselves to be constitutional law experts -- at least for awhile, until some professor decides to lay the ol' Socratic Smackdown on them.

We back-benchers called these guys "springbutts," and devised a game called Springbutt Bingo. We made up grids like Bingo cards with the usual suspects' names in the squares, and you'd check off a square each time a springbutt got called on. Of course, once a line was filled, you'd have to yell "Bingo!" It took awhile for the teachers' pets to catch on, by which time they'd figured out that trying to get called on all the time could be dangerous and embarrassing.

Enjoy law school.

[philosophie_en_rose]

14. And expensive!

You're absolutely right, though. There is always "that person" that monopolizes class - because he or she's a sycophant - not because he or she really has anything to say.

[Lady President]

13. Kids vs. Grown-up

Yes, there was definitely a kid vs. grown-up vibe in law school. I went to law school right out of undergrad which made me a "kid". The "grown-ups" had worked real jobs, sometimes owned rather than rented, and even had their own kids. Now, I'm 35 and the former "grown-ups" seem really young and well adjusted. Go figure!

One more thing to learn; the loud, obnoxious people in your orientation? They are all going to be in your section, and they will continue to be obnoxious. (Also, half will end up dropping out and half will end up on law review.)

By the way Saved By The Bell is always a classic!

Best of luck and when in doubt blame the law against perpetuity. :)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. Aauughh! The Rule Against Perpetuities!

The Doctrine of Worthier Title! The Rule in Shelley's Case! Run away, run away!

Sorry. Just had a flashback...

[Paladin]

22. Also Known As "The Rule Against Purple Titties".....

...by certain rude types, back when I was first exposed to it.

Best of luck to the OP in law school. Above all else, remember that law is a self-taught profession. Just briefing cases, showing up for classes, and listening to a professor ask questions of students until they screw up won't prepare you for exams. Get a horn book and some good outlines and work your ass off, OK? Those 3 years will pass like lightning.....

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

21. I'm 23 and I remember SBTB as a first run show.

So does my 18 year old sister.

Bizarre that the law school ones don't.