Roll Call

Dear readers

You will be very pleased to hear this week I have been working very hard and am feeling much better about the lack of reading that took place during Reading Week.

Yesterday I spent five hours with Business Accounts and didn't even realise, because I was enjoying it so much! It is a special moment when your Assets minus Liabilities equals your Capital on a balance sheet.

Anyway, during a period of study I was contemplating my blawg. And I was wondering how many people actually read it.

So, here is your challenge dear reader. If you read this on a regular basis (yes, mum, that includes you!) please post a comment and say hi. As you know you can be anonymous. But I would like to know if I actually have any regular readers, or whether I'm just sitting here writing for the benefit of myself and various computer-generated adverts.

Oh and PS. there is a new blogger on my blogroll - the aptly named Law School Blogger.

Now it might just be me, but I think he looks oretty hot! Provided those are actual photos of him and not his better looking older brother.

A bit of fun waste of time...

thanks to fellow legally blonde...

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night. Lady I live with.

2. What were you doing at 0800? Getting ready to go to school.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Probably facebook...

4. What happened to you in 2006? I went to Law School. Got a Training Contract. Started my blawg. And many other things you need not concern yourselves with.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? "Oh I don't like her either" to my housemate about the annoying lady in Spooks.

6. How many beverages did you have today? Bottle of water. Two cups of tea. Coke and glass of milk (not together).

7. What color is your hairbrush? Brown.

8. What was the last thing you paid for? Cup of tea this evening in the bar I went to. Yes tea in a bar. Get over it. It's very cosmopolitan.

9. Where were you last night? Dancing, then home.

10. What color is your front door? Brown?

11. Where do you keep your change? In my purse. Where else?

12. What’s the weather like today? Pretty crispy sunny autumn day! Although now it is dark, alas.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? Just one? Phish Food. No Raspberry. No chocolate mint, no... yeah you get the picture....

14. What excites you? Many things. Exactly how lame would it be to say Law?

15. Do you want to cut your hair? No, I prefer someone else to do it... but I don't want it any shorter than it is.

16. Are you over the age of 25? Sadly, yes.

17. Do you talk a lot? Of course.

18. Do you watch the O.C.? Yes, but not anymore because they cancelled it... still haven't seen Season 4 though!

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? I know a Stephen. So technically I guess not.

20. Do you make up your own words? Probably. I tend to combine words a lot...

21. Are you a jealous person? Of men? No. Of people with Manolo Blahnik Mary Janes? Yes.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Abigail.

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Katy.

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? My Law School friend I went out with this evening.

25. What does the last text message you received say? "I don't really want to tell you that!!!

26. Do you chew on your straw? No.

27. Do you have curly hair? Not without copious amounts of styling.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? Probably to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. I realise this is making it sound like I drink a lot of tea, I don't actually, it's just been a tea day today.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? Um... nobody I'm friends with...

30. What was the last thing you ate? Garlic Bread.

31. Will you get married in the future? I hope so but it's not a mandatory experience.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? I haven't seen many films recently. Particularly good ones. Probably Dirty Dancing the other weekend.

33. Is there anyone you like right now? I like lots of people, my friends, family... ok ok I realise I am being facetious and this means romantically... not really, there are some things in the pipeline but I'm too busy to care!

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? The dishwasher does the dishes.

35. Are you currently depressed? No. But asking "currently" sounds like it's a common everyday exper

36. Did you cry today? no.

37. Why did you answer and post this? I was bored waiting for CSI: New York to start.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey. Na.

Back in action

So Reading Week passed with little reading taking place. I pursued some Business Accounts related work on Saturday - so much fun, lots of maths involved! :) However I soon realised where I had gone wrong during Reading Week.

Here's the thing. I did actually do a fair bit of work over the week. I did everything I had to do and a bit extra. Not everything I wanted to do, but enough. Yet I was left feeling a smidgeon guilty about my failure to work hard during the week 'off'.

This was clearly because I had decided to do lots of work, then didn't feel like it and spent some of the time I had set aside to work doing other stuff. Of course relaxation is crucial. And I did have various pre-scheduled social engagements taking place. However this was not the problem.
What I should have done was set aside a couple of days when I wasn't going to do any work and spend those days specifically not doing any work. Scheduled chilling-out time so to speak. Then some other days would have been work days and my studying would have been more concentrated. I probably still would have got the exact same amount of work done, but felt less bad about my time spent not doing work.

So clearly, it's all about how you spin it. And in the spirit of this newfound wisdom, I spent Sunday doing absolutely nothing.

Susie Law School v The Library

Staying at home didn't work out well on Monday. After typing up the first part of my research memo, I pretended to do research on the second part and spent most of the morning chatting to Mummy Law School and most of the afternoon talking to a boy. And then I went out for the evening.

I am in principle against studying at home, because home is for relaxing and I don't want to get it confused with work. The TV doesn't really distract me because I don't watch a lot of TV. The internet, however, does. And everything is fine as long as I don't have to do work on something online. Unfortunately my research had to be done online. You can see where it all went wrong...

Yesterday was better and I completed the research on the second part, decided it leave it in peace and think about it for a couple of days, and do some other work. But turns out stuff I needed was at school. So today I went to school. Only to find out that additional stuff I needed was at home! So I came home and have worked for a couple of hours.

Generally speaking, studying isn't going well at the moment but I have finally worked out the problem.

I don't like the library at this year's law school as much as the last one, or at University. Normally I have easily found a good spot to study, and stayed there like a happy little law student.

No such luck this year. The new library is dark and horrible, with stupid low ceilings. I like to be near a window but that doesn't seem to be an option unless I sit in one of those nasty little cubicle things, which just don't work for me. I need space. But you only get space in the middle where there is no natural light.

Ergo I blame the Law School for my lack of motivation and poor (current and hopefully temporary) work ethic! And will be staying home tomorrow. Sans turning on the computer.

Reading week

It's Reading Week. Or what is otherwise known as "week off doing any work and then having a panic at the end when you realise you should have been doing work"

Of course none of my regular readers will be the bit least surprised that I actually plan on studying a lot this week. Today I will mostly be attacking my Legal Research coursework. Obviously I want it to be good but it seems somewhat frustrating to complete a piece of work and work hard at it, only to be assessed as "competent" or "not yet competent". That basically means that a person who got 90% is as good as a person who only got 51%. This does not bode well for my competitive streak!

However, for one day only I am conducting an experiment and staying home, instead of hitting the library - this may be a mistake.

The pros are that I only just got up, and feel rested and refreshed, there is no transport involved (well I am going out this evening but that's a whole different issue), and I will save money on lunch. The major con is that I am a library bunny at heart, and working at home sometimes poses distraction problems.

Best get on with it, wish me luck!

Unintentional Hiatus

Hello children,

I have been very sparse in my posting recently, and I apologise. This has by no means been for any other reason that I haven't managed to think of anything of value to write about.

Unfortunately the case is still the same, and I feel bad about letting you down. I'm still enjoying Law School, as I'm sure you would expect. Although Iam still pretty convinced I will fail interviewing because I just cannot think of the right questions to ask quickly enough.

I started Tax Law over the weekend which was very enjoyable, and I'm quite looking forward to accounts which I will be starting in a couple of weeks. It will all be fine apart from interviewing. Hmpf.

I promise I will try my hardest to think of something fun and law school-related to post about soon. Honest.

What are they actually teaching us?

Here is a little low-down on what I think so far...

Interviewing and advising

I am going to fail this. Ok, hopefully not, but I'm certainly not feeling particularly confident. Basically what happens is that you get a bit of law in advance. Then you go in, meet a "client" for the first time, and interview them and give them advice on a legal problem based on the bit of law.

I have no trouble with the "client rapport" bit. Eye-contact, sympathetic noises, politeness etc. That bit is fine. However - working out the correct questions to ask and giving the right advice is a whole different matter! I so far have managed to get this completely wrong every time, and missed out something important, or downright just got the facts entirely backwards. I don't really see how this will improve, seeing as the problem is different every time so can't exactly prepare that much in advance.

Mock assessments start in October. Watch this space.

Business Law and Practice

I like this so far. Many people don't. Mostly those are the people who don't understand it though I think. Ok, so there is quite of lot of statute which I'm not so keen on, but I have an interest in the subject area, so I am enjoying the course at least until now. I can't wait to get to the juicy bits like share issues and stuff (although possibly I need to wait until the electives to really get into that...)!

Legal Writing

I don't have much to say about this. It's basically learning to write in a lawyer-like way. Evidently that doesn't mean using lots of latin and complex constructions. It's all about brevity and Plain English. Common sense really. You might imagine most people reaching Law School would have some skill in writing, but apparently that would be an incorrect assessment.

Practical Legal Research

Using hardcopy sources in the library find out the name of the defendant's dog in the case involving a border dispute, taking place somewhere in Nottinghamshire between 1567 and 1701. Hours of fun.

Property Law and Practice

I know what you are thinking. And no, apparently it isn't Land Law. It's a whole different kettle of fish it would seem. The lecturer at least is very good, and when she asked how many people hated land law about 90% of arms went up in the air, including her own. Not mine, incidentally. I am ambivalent towards Land Law. We haven't had a Small Group Session yet so the jury's out. I don't think I will love this, I also don't think I will hate it. I imagine I will happily do the work like a good little law student, and mostly enjoy it. But not as much as BLP or some other subjects though.

Civil and Criminal Litigation

This sounds fun. I am not planning on becoming a litigator, but isn't every young to-be-lawyer's dream ultimately based on picturing themselves in a courtroom, cross-examining the hostile witness and making them break down in floods of tears to confess that, yes, in fact they DID kill their husband/wife/lover/annoying postman?

PCFS

That's Professional Conduct and Financial Services. Seems straightforward enough, there isn't much to it. However, I fear I won't spot the professional conduct issues as they will apparently come up in all the different exams secretly. And if you miss one out in interviewing, you will fail. Ugh.


Still to come

Business accounts and solicitors' accounts. These involve numbers. I like numbers. All is well.

Revenue law. Again, numbers. All good.

Probate and administration of estates. Death doesn't appeal to me but I suppose this is the closest I will come to using Equity and Trusts Law on the LPC so I shouldn't complain.

Advocacy. See "Civil and Criminal Litigation". It's all about courtroom etiquette, and conducting fake trials and stuff. Sounds like great fun!

Drafting. A bit like legal writing but not. It's actually writing specific legal documents. This could go either way. I guess it depends on whether I will be any good at it.

I think that is all. So far so good. I hear people aren't supposed to enjoy the LPC and it's supposed to be boring, but so far I don't think so. I guess we'll see in a few months and see if I was wrong...

Whilst in my professional conduct class last week, I had a rather sobering, and terrifying, thought. I believe I have mused along these same lines earlier but it is becoming more and more real. I am actually going to be a lawyer. The professional conduct class in particular helped hammer this point home, as I really cannot imagine that I would have enough integrity to not accidentally reveal my client's secrets to someone or sleep with them by mistake... perhaps I should have gone for a less pressured career with less responsibility. Like a shelf stacker in Tesco's. Maybe they are still hiring.

Early observations

The LPC is volume-wise very heavy. Apparently more so at the beginning, then the workload eases off. I would have to agree, on first look, that this is certainly the case. I have plenty of preparation to be getting on with already and my first lecture isn't until tomorrow! But I like stuyding and being busy so all is well.

You have to be VERY organised on the LPC. This is mostly because you don't get told anything. All the information you need is in the packs you are given and you are expected to know what to do with it. This is a huge difference to the GDL where everything was spoonfed from Day 1. I don't mind this, I like organising stuff, but I can imagine it could lead to confusion for some people who aren't prepared to take much responsibility for their own timekeeping.

"Constructive feedback" is just another word for "slagging off". For interviewing and advocacy we have to present to the class or to each other and then receive feedback from them. I can't imagine anything worse than standing up in front of other law students and having them tell me what I'm doing wrong. I'm not so keen on criticism per se, but at least when it is coming from a more senior person like a boss or tutor, I feel a bit more like it is justified. Coming from other students it just feels like plain old slagging off. Yuck.

I'm very excited about Accounts and Revenue Law. Perhaps Tax Law is where my future lies!

My last first day

The first day on the LPC is really nothing to get too excited about, but I already knew that from last year. There is a pep-talk about taking responsibility for your own learning and suchlike (some poor girl in the back fainted, it wasn't THAT boring), a tour of the building, and a couple of hours with our personal tutor handing in various forms.

This afternoon I spent two hours going through the timetable, which is quite frankly insane. It isn't the same every week, and there is a whole lot of compulsory independent learning to be done, so I am currently trying to decide on the best way to organise my work... I feel it's more important I try to get on top of what I need to do and when first, before I actually start doing it tomorrow.

On that note, I am returning back to my insane timetable.

Preparations for my first day on the LPC

So, tomorrow it begins. The Legal Practice Course, or what could be dubbed the Largely Pointless Course, if many more experienced legal minds are to be believed.

I have my multiple choice quiz answers, which I am not particularly convinced are correct, but I believe I've made a sufficiently good effort that they will not be showing me the door as soon as I arrive.

I have my multi-coloured forms, bearing my signature, as evidence that I agree to attend/to let them know if I cannot attend/to not look for porn on the Law School computers etc etc. (Somewhat disturbingly I have also agreed to follow the student regulations, but a copy will only be available after I've handed in the form... something fishy here... if only I knew anything about contract law ;)...)

I have my SRA (Solicitors' Regulation Authority) forms, to say I am enrolled as a student member and they are satisfied I am of good character and have not, in the past, been caught doing anything unsavoury. Such as looking for porn on the Law School computers.

I have my stationery all ready, apart from little page tags, which they didn't have in WHSmith, or Ryman, and a new pencil case and everything. I feel like it truly is, first day of school. Albeit this being my last EVER first day of school. Sniff.

I have my little airhostess suitcase ready to bring home yet another pile of law books, to take the spot of the ones from last year that I just about managed to fit under the bed, out of the way.

But most importantly - I have new shoes. They are possibly the most beautiful shoes I have ever seen, but to describe them to you lovely readers could reveal my secret identity. Suffice to say they are -for once- not pink!


Wish me luck!

Normal service resumes in 3...2...1...

I do solemnly declare that I am finally back for good!

After my six-week shenanigans looking around the US of A, I then spent two weeks visiting Mum and Dad Law School, but now I am back.

So here is the update.

I have yet to receive any correspondence from London Law School regarding enrolment day. I wonder if I should be concerned that the Law Firm hasn't paid my fees, or if this is merely another prime example of the inherent poor administration and bureaucracy that the legal world is somewhat notorious for... I have, of course, received the inane and tedious multiple choice test on substantive law to be completed by the first day. And because I am a good little law student, I already picked up the pre-programme reading for Business Law and Practice. However I have yet to actually commence reading it... watch this space!

Many of you will be disappointed to find that I declined the PC's offer of a date. So, alas, there are no amusing anecdotes on that front. Of course I did later wish he had looked like David Boreanaz (or even David Caruso!) as the story of 'how did you guys meet' would have just been too juicy for words!

There is a new blawger on the block, Reggae Barrister who has just started an LLB via external learning... crazy fool some would say, but I say good luck!! And also, I am flattered to have been a small inspiration to a fellow blawger!

To the person who posted a comment which has not been published, I hope you know who you are, the reason I did not publish your comment was because it referred to you knowing me through an alter ego, and since Susie Law School is and will remain anonymous to most people, I have chosen to keep you kind comments to myself. But please keep reading and glad you like it!!

All hail Lucius Malfoy. Yum.

My brush with the law

I'm a nice, law-abiding person. Clearly I have in the past crossed the road on a red light or driven slightly above the speed limit, but I would draw the line at saying that burglary or criminal damage are acceptable pastimes.

However, yesterday, I was stopped and searched by the BTP (British Transport Police for those who do not know). On my way to get the underground into town, I was stopped by a perfectly nice policeman who explained that they were doing "random" searches under the Terrorism Act, looking for suspicious materials such as newspaper cuttings, explosives etc. The reason why "random" is in quotemarks will become glaringly obvious shortly... the sharpest of you will have worked it out already, I'm sure.

So he looks in my bag - the most cursory of searches really, and we have a little chat about the Terrorism Act and he wrote down my details and suchlike. As a good little law student I obviously asked what the information was going to be used for and all the answers I received were satisfactory. I got to keep the little pink (yes, PINK!!!) piece of paper and everything, so this was all very exciting.

I can hear you ask - how likely is a little blonde twenty-something to be involved in terrorism? (If you've watched season 2 of 24 you may think it is actually pretty likely). You may think this incident inspires confidence in the police and is evidence that they are carrying out truly random searches where gender or ethnicity are irrelevant.

After the policeman had given me my little piece of paper, he asked me out on a date.

Random search or blatant abuse of power?

I'll let you decide.

Legally Blonde Returns

So I have finally returned.

To the impatient person who asked why I hadn't posted my results, I suggest you read below where I stated I would be away for six weeks looking at the world. As much as I have a soft spot for my lovely readers, I hate to tell you that updating my blawg was not my top priority when the other choice was sightseeing and shopping.

I did get my results, they weren't as good as I would have liked, I only managed a Commendation which I am not happy about but seeing how badly I felt many of my exams went at the time, I suppose I can't really complain. However it is all over now so there is no need to discuss it any further.

I have just finished Harry Potter and cried. Now I must start actually organising my life having been away from it for so long. I will update you on my journey soon enough. Patience children.

San Francisco

I will warn my more legally-minded readers that the next few weeks will be filled with musings of my trip around the States, because it must be documented and this is as good a place as any.

I still have vague memories of dragging myself out of bed at 3.45am to head off to the airport last year for the East Coast trip. This time, it was only a 6.15 wake-up call but I was anticipating a much more tired Susie at the end of the longest day ever, seeing as by the time we got to bed last night, it was 6am the next day in the UK and we had been awake for 24 hours. I should point out at this stage that upon return from New York last year I remained awake for 36 hours, and that longer periods are only to come once I start at The Law Firm so this really wasn’t so bad, but having only had 5 hours of sleep a night the three previous nights, this was somewhat more of an achievement.

Our journey half-way across the globe what mostly uneventful. Sitting on a plane is one of my least favourite activities along with dining on arsenic and bathing with tarantulas, but eleven hours passed surprisingly quickly watching quality cinematographic productions such as The Holiday and Music & Lyrics.

I actually really liked both. Sue me.

Miss B and her friend (who had no choice in the matter) came to collect us from the airport which was very nice. San Francisco welcomed us with a lovely sunny and clear day, and not a hint of the famous fog. Our hotel was rather well-chosen seeing as it is practically on Union Square, bang in the centre of all the shops and even on the same block as Macy’s! This was clearly a sign that it should be the destination of our first shopping trip, for me to purchase some MAC products… I’ve been scrimping along with the tiniest ions of eyeshadow as I knew I would be coming to the land of the free and the home of the cheaper brands!

The same afternoon we sampled the delights of the MUNI by getting two buses to the Golden Gate Bridge and walking half way along it. It was rather impressive and Miss B was correct when she said we would get cold in the wind (she cheated as she had already been to see the bridge earlier).

Views were very nice though.

There is only so much bridge a girl can walk along, thus we proceeded to get another bus back to the centre and after a brief interlude to get changed we headed for a 50s diner across the street – very all-American of us.

On Thursday our first stop was to be the pier to inquire about boats. Having spent the last two months firmly placed in my seat in the library, I was more than happy to do some walking when Miss B suggested it. We walked through North Beach – which was flagged out to us as a good area for bars and suchlike. However, all we managed to spot were rather seedy looking places and strip-joints. Perhaps we were looking in the wrong direction…

We tried to avoid the huge hills – obviously San Francisco is hilly, everyone who has seen a movie taking in the city that has a car chase scene will know this. Obviously people do not drive in such a haphazard manner on a daily basis. This is to our advantage as pedestrians though. Our walk took us down to Fisherman’s Wharf whereupon we were directed to Pier 33 for the Alcatraz boats. It baffles me why there are only odd-numbered piers, as pier 33 was preceded by Pier 31. Numerically bizarre, but distance-wise nice for our little feet.

Unsurprisingly, a few others wanted to go to Alcatraz as well, but we managed to get tickets for later the same afternoon. In the meantime we went in search of culinary genius – although what we actually found (gnocchi, lasagne and a ham and cheese sandwich) was adequate enough.

After lunch we took a stroll around Fisherman’s Wharf and visited the famous sea-lions. Personally I think all they do is make a lot of noise and attract a great deal of touristic interest but it was a sight to be seen. To use up the rest of the afternoon we walked up to check out Ghihardelli’s famous chocolate shop (although decided not to make any purchases to prevent melting) and photographed Lombard Street – the weird zigzaggy windy bit, not just the street in general.

Alcatraz was truly fantastic. The boat took about ten minutes to cross over to the island, where we climbed a good 15 minutes to reach the prison building, where we spent 45 minutes walking around guided by former guards and prisoners – an award-winning audio tour apparently, and I must say it was very impressive. I’m a big fan of audio tours, you never get to know as much otherwise. We learned about the big escape attempt where several people caused a shootout and held some guards hostage for three days, and the time three guys climbed up the air vents and made it onto a raft waiting outside, never to be seen again. Some believe they made it to South America.

Way home was by street-car (quite fun, especially as it was free) and dinner in Chinatown. Although we aren’t convinced that we found the absolute centre as everything appeared to close at 10 which for a significant metropolis I found to be rather early…

On Friday we decided to use our hooves again to walk up to Alamo Square – that’s where the pretty Victorian houses are that you see in pictures of San Francsico. We walked up Fulton Street which we thought seemed suitably harmless, and indeed it was very quiet and residential. Little did we know that in the previous few days there had been three shootings in the area and we had inadvertently walked across the scene of a gangfight. It all looked very nice and normal to us though!

Alamo Square was very pretty but very high up. So obviously the views were rather spectacular and we should have calves of steel by the end of our ‘leisurely stroll’ up the hill. We continued on to the Height which is apparently where the hippy movement started. Height Street houses several rather random shops with a distinct scent of insence, purveying tie-dye t-shirts and other hippie-related paraphernalia. We found it all very colourful and lovely and fun, and rather random. I even got some crackling candy and mad libs for our roadtrip.

We continued to Golden Gate Park and had a look around the Botanical Gardens (we saw a pink house – shotgun!) which was quite uneventful but pleasant. After getting a bus back to Fisherman’s Wharf we lunched in an Irish Pub and stocked up on chocolate (see above). Homeward-bound, we got the cable car which was so much fun, even though we were sitting inside and didn’t get as much of a view as we had thought. But we certainly got a good feel of the hills of San Francisco which are everywhere. It’s quite amazing as you can be walking down a perfectly flat street and turn a corner and be encountered with a perpendicular incline or a practical abyss. People even park their cars sideways to avoid runaways (and presumably save their poor handbrakes which are likely to fulfil a heavy daily duty).

We did some shopping in A&F – it smells so good… I didn’t buy anything this time but certainly eyed up a few things. It is definitely worth it seeing as everything costs the same in dollars as it costs in London in pounds. God bless the exchange rate (well I don’t believe in God but still very happy with it!).

Generally San Francisco was very nice, and we enjoyed ourselves. The three days we were there were very nice weatherwise and we didn’t see any of the famous fog surrounding the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course on the day we left to drive the Coastal Highway the weather turned cloudy but that is another story…

For someone coming from London though, where homeless people are par for the course, I definitely noticed the abundance of vagrants and suchlike – they are EVERYWHERE! I mean they are everywhere in London too but there seemed to be so many more of them and so much more visible. And more of them seemed downright crazy. Homeless people in London tend to be curled up in alleyways and things, whereas in San Francisco they stand at street corners and scream at people, which can be quite scary.

We left on Saturday to get the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) to the airport and pick up our car. There is no need to go into it in great detail since it was rather uneventful…

And so it ends...

First year of Law School.

Finished. Complete. Done. Over.

EU Exam today a mere two hours, which felt positively short in comparison to the previous six. It was starting to feel like Groundhog Day. Everyday I would get up, go to the library, and study more. And everytime an exam was complete, there was another one waiting.

Not today.

What an anti-climax. It doesn't feel like it's over. I'm exhausted. Ready to go to sleep for five days.

However, alas, I must now go and make myself look all pretty for the Law School Ball tonight.

I'll get back to you when it actually has hit home that I have finished my exams. Now it just feels like any other day. But then this was how it was always going to be. I think the best thing to do now is to go and party my little socks off and it might feel more like it! ;-)

BREAKING NEWS: Three-hour crimewave sweeps over Southeast London

LONDON - 8th June 2007

Today, between 10.35 and 1.35 Hall S5 of the ExCeL centre in London's Docklands gripped by a three-hour crime wave.

Two people were brutally murdered in the street by a male reported to be intoxicated, identified only as "John". Incenced by taunts by the first victim about his infertility, he proceeded to kick the first victim to death. The victim's pregnant wife, shocked by the events unfolding before her, attempted to stop the incident by throwing stones at the attacker, however this merely led to him stabbing her in the stomach with the keys he was carrying on his person. The first victim died en route to the hospital, his wife subsequently succumbed to her injuries after refusing treatment due to her distressed state following the tragedy.

It is reported that potentially over 1000 law students advised the offender to rely on intoxication, self-defence, provocation and dimished responsibility as defences, should he be charged.

In scandalous events elsewhere, three stars of a TV reality show, analogous to the X-factor were also found in a number of compromising situations, attempting to steal various objects
varying from airline tickets to a fellow star's guitar.

A lady walking her dog wreaked havoc at a local pub by going on a rampage resulting in criminal damage, burglary, aggravated burglary, robbery and blackmail. The landlord of the pub said "I am truly shocked. In all my years running a fictional public house in law exams have I seen such audacity."


------------

Yes you got it. Today was Criminal Law. It's not my favourite but it was ok. EU left on Monday but that isn't even like a proper exam - it's only two hours!

If I had my way...

...every day would be equity day.

Well every exam would be an equity exam.

I love equity. It's my favourite topic.

Contract is my second favourite and it was a disaster so if that was anything to go by, I would be unpleasantly surprised today. But it was just lovely. The first time that I've finished and exam knowing that I put in every single case and every single principle that I wanted to, and used all the facts of the question and didn't feel like I was rushing majorly. A little bit but not hugely.

Whether the writing was of sufficient quality is a whole different matter but I'm actually satisfied with that for once.

I did almost nearly strangle a person sitting nearby my desk who was talking the whole time before the exam and started again as soon as it finished, and was talking to a girl they presumably knew but she could not get a word in edgeways. LEARN SOME SOCIAL SKILLS!!

Please.

I must admit though, I am very juvenile because it made me laugh that Aslan wanted to set up a trust for his beaver.

It was all kinds of fun for a couple of minutes.

I need to go now and get myself one of those life-thingies.

So Land Law

Is mostly good.

That is all there is to be said about it.

I think I got a few things a bit wrong (mainly severance of co-ownership, I should have been more definite but I only found the 'trick' by reading the statute in great detail) but I actually finished a paper and got all the points down on paper that I wanted to.

And based on what I've heard there were several people very disappointed with the choice of questions.

So all is well.

Equity on Wednesday, it's my favourite topic on the course, so I hope I can perform to my required standard!

London Law School v Susie Law School [2007] HC

Facts: The defendant [D] was a student at the Claimant's [C] educational institution [London Law School, 'The Law School']. D wished to study in the London Law School Library ['The Library'] on Sunday 27th May 2007 and Monday 28th May 2007. Counsel for C submitted that they did not want D to perform to her usual high standard and thus due to no sensible reason whatsoever it was necessary to close the Library on Monday 28th May 2007 in the middle of the examination period, despite the fact that this would cause significant hardship to not only D but several other students at the Law School. It was also submitted that closure of the Library on 27th May 2007 was due to 'essential building maintenance'. C sought a revision freezing order to prevent D studying on the above dates.

Counsel for the defence conceded that the Sunday closure was acceptable due to the reasons given above regarding maintenance but contested the closure on Monday 28th May 2007. In an affidavit to the court, D stated that she considers her residence to be restricted to relaxing, and due to rarely working at her residence, she finds it difficult to focus on studying therein. D works particularly well in a library-environment, and at home her concentration levels suffer significantly. Defence counsel submitted that the closure of the Library on the given dates would have a disastrous effect on D's revision plan and subsequently the maximum grades she was likely to obtain in the forthcoming examinations in Land Law, Equity and Trusts Law, Criminal Law and European Union Law. The freezing order on D's revision would be unreasonable, particularly in light of the £8000 annual tuition fee which would be more than sufficient to cover any costs of staffing on the above date.

Held: The court accepted the Claimant's argument and a revision freezing order was granted in the interim to freeze D's revision for the above dates.

Applying the test from Derby & Co v Weldon the court held that (1) Susie had revision to do within the jurisdiction [GDL Exams], (2) there was a good arguable case that if Susie is unable to do revision, her exams will not go very well and (3) keeping the Library open on Bank Holiday Monday would involve a real risk that some revision would actually get done.

The defendant has appealed to the Court of Appeal (Civil Division).

Susie Law School (Law Student)