Sunday, March 6, 2011

Moot Court and Appellate Briefs

Yesterday I acted as a bailiff for the moot court competitions semi-final round. I had been curious about the program, as someone like me tends to enjoy public speaking (I know, right?) and finds it 1000x more appealing than being on a journal. Rumors say that you should do one or the other if you want a shiny resume, but I just think it would be kind of fun. I did theater in high school and missed out on debate, although I did enter some public speaking contests. The downside of all of this is our school has made moot court and journals only 1 credit, which for the amount of work you do is criticized to be overly low. I had heard some upperclassmen talk about moot court and their tone was pretty negative (although I have a sneaking suspicion that none of them actually did moot court). I asked a team yesterday if they wouldn't mind answering a few questions about the workload and it's basically what I suspected. You do as much (or as little) work as you WANT to do. And it's one less final to take that semester. Seems pretty awesome to me, and I enjoyed what I saw. Apart from the judges, anyway. They were super intense and scary. They ask you really tough questions just like the Supreme Court would and try to catch you off guard.

The writing doesn't seem to be more than the stupid brief I'm working on right now, so I'm thinking I may look into it.

As for the appellate brief, I am not a big fan. I should be working on it right now. I had convinced myself I was going to spend all weekend on it and then Abigail got sick. Sick kid does not equal productive weekend. We have had so little sleep and frankly my mood totally sucks.

However, I am going to put some good effort into it right now and I have an appointment with my professor on Tuesday. After that I will have another meeting with him the following Tuesday and then it's due that Friday. Why should I stress? After that is done it will be Spring Break, and we are going to Vegas! (I will be outlining while we are there, but I figure that's a good thing. There is only so much gambling/eating/doing stuff money to go around.)

After that, only a month or so before exams! It's happening so fast, much faster than I thought it would. I'm sure with the weather warming up it's going to be tough to get work done, but hopefully I can stay on task and get this year done.

Oh, and by the way, here is the insanity I am dealing with. Co-hosting a friend's baby shower at the end of this month. Appellate brief. Volunteer clinics. CLASSES. Finals. Throwing a bachelorette party for a friend. Bridesmaid in the wedding for the same friend. Sometimes I think that actual classes are just incidental. It'd be so much nicer if I could just stay home and outline!

1 comment:

  1. I'm considering moot court too! I'm not really a fan of public speaking...which is why I think moot court would be good for me. And journal work sounds boring.

    And I can't believe how busy you are! I mean, I feel like I have tons to do, but I don't have nearly as much as you. Planning a baby shower and a bachelorette party on top of everything else? Super woman!

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