law school: day 4

I've been through three and a half days of formal instruction at law school now. Not including last week's three day tutorial and orientation, that means I've had roughly 13 hours of class instruction, accompanied by about 270 pages of mandatory reading. Wait...really? 270 pages? 13 hours? It feels as though I've been a student here forever, but it also feels like we haven't done much reading at all. Sure, I've spent a lot of time poring over dry (and sometimes moist) law texts, but we've barely begun to scratch the surface of anything at all.


Law school is way more interesting and exciting than I thought it would be. Having a group of very talented minds to feed off of (don't get any zombie ideas) is invigorating in a way that I haven't really experienced since my English classes with Dr. Steve Walker or Dr. John Talbot. Those two professors, beyond any others I experienced firsthand during my undergraduate studies, knew some secret to unlocking the potential of students (or at least, of me). It seems as though either most law professors at BYU know the same secret, or the students here are somehow already unlocked. Like I said, it's an invigorating experience, and it means that I don't have to try to enjoy my reading and class time, I just do.


Am I particularly interested in Tort law or Contract law? No, not really; but learning about how laws and judicial rulings have shaped the landscape of the law is utterly fascinating to me. The nuance of legal writing is cool. Attacking judicial decisions from every angle to piece together potential arguments requires a depth and breadth of open-mindedness that I hadn't really considered. It's seriously cool, and I love it.