My friend Lindsey was in town this weekend, and fun ensued. After being lazy the first night, we toured UCLA and the Getty Museum on Friday. We were able to catch the sunset from the Getty, which was incredible. It was cloudy all day, so the light reflected beautifully.

Yesterday we woke up early and went to Disneyland! We picked up Lauren, and met her fiancee Josh, for a day of fun in the park. In 11 hours, we did virtually every ride of merit (Indy, Pirates, and Space Mountain twice). Here are some pictures:

The downside of going to the park was missing the first UT football game, but Disneyland > Football. I said it. Lindsey leaves tomorrow, and I’ll be back to my life of studying. I hope everyone’s weekend was fun (especially those of you celebrating Steph’s birthday…I think Veronica was there, too)!

I miss you.

Ryan

Forgive the horrible pun. I got my new driver’s license in the mail today, and I’m excited to have a picture that doesn’t make me look like a fat kid with a mullet. I also finally have a sideways ID. I think this makes me an adult.

California > Texas

Today’s “Lawyered” lesson is simple. If you ever read a case, you’ll notice that they all begin with (LAST NAME), J. The “J” stands for “Judge”. That may sound self-evident, but you’d be surprised how long it takes some students to realize it’s not their first initial.

I went to a symposium called “Wither the Court” this evening. It was a discussion of the most important Supreme Court cases from the past year, with summaries from four distinguished law professors. They were all great, but one of them really stood out as our “rock star” professor. His name is Eugene Volokh, and he has a great blog called the Volokh Conspiracy. A UCLA Law alum, Volokh clerked for Sandra Day O’Connor before becoming a professor at the law school. He’s written over 50 published law review articles, and is the third most referenced professor of the last fifteen years. Needless to say, I can’t wait to take a First Amendment class from him as a 2 or 3L.

Finally, I received my alumni mentor assignment today! My alum is Ivan Hoffman, an entertainment lawyer with his own practice in LA. He’s been practicing for over 35 years, so it should be a great experience.

For comparison/humor.

WARD, J.

Unconsciousness is a complete defense against a charge of criminal homicide. Getting shot in the abdomen can cause a person to lose consciousness and go into a reflex shock condition for up to half an hour or so. Lawyered.

When you’re competing against everyone else in your class, you can’t really study too much. With that, it’s hard not to feel guilty every time you take an evening off. This weekend I have only spent Saturday afternoon studying, and I’m beginning to feel a little guilty. I’ve already done all of my reading, but I can still brief and study the cases.

Instead, I’ve decided to ground myself a bit by watching more of The West Wing. I’m now into the fourth season, and still loving it. Mary Louise Parker is one of my favorite characters, and I hope they don’t get rid of her anytime soon. I’m interested to see how the show is going to change once Sorkin leaves.

Update:I spent five hours in the law library this afternoon to ease the guilt. My notes are now immaculate.

Quickly, I promised that I would start every entry with a random law fact. Today’s is simple.

A tort is a civil wrong for which a remedy may be attained, usually in the form of damages.

You’ve been lawyered.

I don’t have much time to update, but I just wanted to record my thoughts after day one. My classes were all enjoyable, and not at all intimidating. My professors are all very approachable, and seem to have incredible wit. That said, I feel like a mumbling child among Nobel Laureates. Many have likened the experience of law school to that of learning a new language. In essence, I just began a three-year immursion program in the language of law. At this stage, I understand almost nothing that they tell me.

The cases have all been fascinating, although I’m having trouble keeping up with the reading. I’ve always been a slower reader, but understanding complex legal reasoning takes an incredible amount of time. I’m undoubtedly spending too much time learning the minutia of each case, but I can think of no other way to go about my assignments at this point. Hopefully within the next few weeks I’ll start to develop a clearer understanding of what I should take out of each reading and how to structure my class notes, because at this point they’re just random observations. My old note-taking system does not seem to work, so I have to adjust.

I spent six hours in the library today, outside of class, and got home at 12:20 AM. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get to the library earlier (around 5:00). I only have reading for one class on Friday, so I’m going to take time to go back through all of my notes and search for the rules and connections between the cases we have studied. The farther ahead I can get, the more time I’ll have for outlining later in the semester.

I wish I could write more, but I really have to get some sleep. I’ll update again on Friday.

Ryan

As previously mentioned, today was the first day of orientation, and it was a busy one. We had seminars and tours from 9AM-6:30PM, with more to follow tomorrow. A few unexpected, but cool, things:

• I get a key to the building, so I can come and go whenever I want.
• I get a locker. This is gonna be exactly like junior high.
• I can print 2000 pages/year for free, and as many WestLaw/LexisNexis pages as I want.
• I get points for using the aforementioned services, which I can redeem for prizes! Who needs My Coke Rewards, anyway?

Okay, so those things aren’t that cool, but it’s the little things that count.

Fall 2008 Reading Materials

Some not-so-good things:

• I had to buy two new books and three course packets. Two of the course packets (Torts Vol. 1 & 2) are over 1000 pages of cases, and I have to learn all of it by December.
• That last one is pretty much all I’m thinking about right now.

Still, I’m genuinely excited for the next few weeks. We are all starting out completely and hopelessly lost. The transformation that takes place over the first few weeks, once you begin to see the grand picture, sounds intellectually riveting.

I realized that I never talked about my classes, so I’ll conclude by posting my 1L fall schedule. I’m just thankful that I don’t have to take five classes, like my HLS friend Renee.

Stalk away, dear readers.

Tomorrow morning, at 9 AM, I will walk into UCLA School of Law as a student for the first time. I have two days of orientation before classes begin on Wednesday. I’ll check back in before the first day of classes with some observations.

Also, for those of you who didn’t know, you can now access my site at www.ryanaward.com. You can also access my blog separately if you don’t like the borders at the top of my page. If you click “rss” under “meta” on the right-hand menu, it will add a bookmark that automatically checks for new updates.

I finished reading everything in Law School Confidential about the first year experience. I’m now semi-prepared for my first week of classes. I know their trick to briefing cases, and the general studying schedule for the semester. I hope to finish reading Getting to Maybe before Wednesday, which outlines strategies for doing well on law school exams.

What I’m really focusing on, however, is watching as much television as possible before orientation starts on Monday. I’ve been making my way through Angel season 5, as well as The West Wing season 3. Angel continues to be the most unpredictably great show I’ve watched in a while, and I’m sad that I have fewer than ten episodes left. The West Wing, on the other hand, has been incredible. I’m a sucker for all things political, and the cast is stellar. The writing is VERY Aaron Sorkin, but I’ve seen so much of his material that I’ve grown pretty immune to the preachy dialogue.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures from my sister’s trip to LA. My favorite part was visiting the $1.2 ba-ba-billion Getty Museum.  It sits on a 750 acre hill in Brentwood overlooking downtown LA and the Pacific Ocean, and it’s amazing.

This is the blog post in which my website quickly becomes TMZ.com.

Taylor, Andy, and I have been busy making our way around LA for the past few days. This afternoon we saw the setup for Tropic Thunder’s premiere in Westwood Village, so we made sure we were back home in time to catch a glimpse of Black, Stiller, and Downey Jr.

We headed down to the Village at 6:05 because the stars were supposed to start arriving at 6:00. The streets were all blocked off, and you couldn’t see anything because they erected barriers to hide the protesters.
Oh yeah, there were protesters.

Protesters before the premiere

They were upset over the use of the word “retarded” and thought the film was making fun of people with intellectual disabilities. I can’t comment on this without seeing the film, but my understanding is that Ben Stiller was simply mocking Hollywood’s irrational obsession with rewarding actors who take on those roles.

More protesters

The Red Carpet

In hopes of getting a better view we walked around to the back side of the red carpet. We quickly realized that we could easily see through the barrier behind the TV cameras, which was completely empty. We found the best location, behind AP and VH1, and began our celebra-sightings.

Vegetation is for voyeurism!

I have no idea who this is.

At first the celebrities came SLOWLY. I guess the early comers are people who really want to talk to all of the cameras and get their image out there. Our first was Steve Coogan, the brilliant British comedian whose show Saxondale I recently watched. The area around us was still relatively empty, so I got the best pictures of him (which weren’t great at all, because my camera’s zoom is horrible).

Mr. Steve Coogan

Next up was a member of the Apatow clan, Jay Baruchel. I will always love him for his turn in Almost Famous, so it made me happy to see him making the rounds.

You had me at Almost Famous.

Co-writer, and awesome-hat-wearer, Justin Theroux was next.

He's the guy from Inland Empire. No? Mulholland Drive? Okay, Sex and the City...

Bill Hader, of SNL fame, quickly followed, but by this time most of the attention had shifted to Jack Black. He was wearing a lightening blazer and had a different crazy expression for every question that reporters asked him.

Bill Hader of SNL and Superbad!

Hahahaha

Blurry Black

Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor followed, and everyone seemed to ask him about the protesters. This meant that he wasn’t able to goof around with reporters and fans, at least not until Matthew McConaghey showed up. Either they’re good friends, or they hadn’t met, because Ben kept going over and talking with him.

HEYLOOKIT'SBENSTILLER!

The lovely Christine Taylor

McConaughey and Stiller

From here, the stars started flooding in. The press went nuts, so we weren’t able to get many clear pictures. Robert Downey Jr. made the press rounds, but most of the celebrities walked down the other side of the red carpet (with their backs to us) where I couldn’t photograph them. The list included (prepare to be jealous): Ed Helms, Rashida Jones, Jon Voight, Nick Nolte, Amy Adams, John Krasinski (!), Tobey Maguire, and Jason Bateman (!!!).

RDJr

Mr. Father of Brangelina

OMFG!!!!

That's ridiculous.

Everything was happening so quickly, and before we knew it the press was screaming “TOM! KATIE!” My first real-life impressions of TomKat were unsurpising. Katie Holmes is as classy and beautiful in person, and Tom Cruise is, well, short. He didn’t give any interviews, so I don’t have a clear picture of him. However, he spent the whole time on the red carpet taking pictures with fans, so I can accept that.

Save Katie!

Stay classy, Joey Potter.

After the movie started, we headed to CPK for some dinner. We got some last shots of the theatre, and the press-hungry protesters gathered outside.

Tropic Thunder, Tropic Blunder!

The Mann Village Theatre

It was an exciting evening, and evidently one that’s not uncommon in Westwood. This theatre is the second most popular location for movie premieres, with a different one every week. Here’s hoping the future ones will have fewer bush barriers which will result in better pictures for all.

The End.

I’ve read a few books on the law school experience so far, and thought I would warn you all about the likely content of this blog over the next nine months.

• I hope to begin each blog post with something I learned in class. It may be a definition, or it may simply be the facts of a case we’re studying, but I want to share some of the more interesting information with you all.

• Law school is a very insular place. I’ll be surrounded by the same small group in every class, every day of the year. Add an insane amount of stress and competition, and people start to overreact. There are always stories of horrible things happening inside the law school that just don’t make sense to outsiders. Use the comments feature to keep me grounded, and remind me when I’m being irrational.

• Expect a lot of short updates, in between study sessions or right before I go to bed. I can’t promise that I’ll always update the main page, so just randomly check the Life section. I’m aiming for at least three updates a week, but gauge the frequency after a week or two of classes.

• It’s not uncommon for law students to start drinking excessively. I actually don’t plan to drink much, but if that ends up happening I’ll definitely be discussing it. I really want to chronicle what my experience was like as honestly as possible.

• Everyone tells me that after a few weeks I’ll start “speaking lawyer”. I’ll be using a lot of new words and phrases that shouldn’t be difficult to remember. So far I only know a few of them:
  1L: First Year Law Student
  Civ Pro: Civil Procedure
  Con Law: Constitutional Law
  Crim Law: Criminal Law
  HLS: Harvard Law School (Most of the books I’ve read focus on Harvard, and my friend Renee is going to be a 1L, so I’ll probably be sharing some stories throughout the year)
  Law review: I’ll go more into this later, but it’s basically a law journal that only the best students are invited to join. At Harvard, at least, discussion of who might make law review is the gossip of choice among study groups.

That’s all I can think of at the moment, but there are no set guidelines for this. I’ll need everyone’s help in remembering to update, so be sure to comment. I get an email every time someone does, and that’s a great reminder.

Ryan

One week later, and what have I learned?

For one, UCLA’s campus is much prettier than I remembered it. Maybe it’s just the familiarity kicking in, but I’m noticing new and beautiful things every day. I’m also trying to enjoy the campus now, while I have the time. I’ve spent large portions of the last two days laying out in the grass, reading. I finally finished A Confederacy of Dunces, and now I’m deep in preparation-mode with Law School Confidential.

Speaking of law school, I finally got a chance to peak inside the law library today, and it was incredible. I had seen the first floor from afar, but that doesn’t hold a candle to the other three stories. The top floor of the main tower is a reading room for law students only, boasting 360 degree views of the Westwood and Bel Air neighborhoods surrounding the campus. I was able to sneak some pictures, so I’ll include those later in the update.

I spent this morning watching the 1973 film The Paper Chase, about a 1L (first year law student) at Harvard. It’s very similar to the book One L, which is much more rewarding if you have the time. Still, as a basic introduction to how horrible law school used to be, the film’s worth checking out. That level of abuse is all but gone from the modern law school, but I’m told it still accurately reflects the amount of pressure and doubt that face all entering law students.

Taylor and her boyfriend Andy are coming tomorrow, which means I’ll finally have an excuse to leave Westwood and explore LA some more! That means more exciting stories and pictures for you, dear reader.

In the meantime, here are a few highlights from LA: Week One.