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)

This year's adventure

Remember this?

Here's the sequel...

Shoulda woulda coulda

A realisation dawned on me yesterday.

I should have gone to Oxford.

Ergo I would have realised I am only average among great minds, rather than going to a good university where I was one of fewer great minds among a greater number of average minds.*

Ergo I could have taken all this academic distress more in my stride and not felt so horrendously disappointed about failing to obtain the distinction that I should have got (and probably would have got had I gone to Oxford) and would have been content with the Pass or low Commendation I am destined for, and could have been happier, rather than feeling like I should have written more concisely so I would have done my knowledge justice so I could have got the elusive Distinction.

Q.E.D.

Now I've come to terms with that, all is well.

The latest installment in the exam saga was ok in comparison to the other two, although my defamation answer was truly shoddy, and I made a significant misstatement of fact in my Occupiers’ Liability question, thus leaving out a crucial chunk of discussion, so that wasn’t so good. But it's done, and Tort was always my worst subject, so as long as I pass I'm actually going to just accept that we were never a match made in heaven.

But tonight I’ll be seeing Jack Sparrow so all is well in the world!

*This is not intended to be in any way disparaging about my University, or the people who study there, it is a rather good University, particularly for my subjects and my friends are all very clever.

Sense of impending doom

So far twice I have sat down at my desk at an exam and felt good because I know all the cases and understand the law and felt like as long as my questions come up, all will be well.

Only to have been proven wrong. Twice.

Tort is tomorrow.

As some of my more regular readers will probably recall, Tort is not good.

It is made slightly worse by the fact that I know all the cases and the structures, which gives me a distinct sense of... yes, you guessed it... impending doom. And general uneasiness. Because so far both exams that were supposed to go well have not. It will be no mean feat if I manage to actually write three complete answers at some point during the exam period!

Good luck to my fellow law-factory produce.

The following takes place between 08:15 and 17:05 on the day of the London Law School Contract Law Exam. Events occur in real time.

08:15 Susie Law School leaves her abode
09:10 Susie arrives at the examination venue
09:15 Susie purchases a bagel, which is not of satisfactory quality as it has too much cheese and not enough sweet pepper
09:30 Susie feels quite confident, she likes contract, she knows it and it should all be ok
10:10 Susie and friends enter examination room (read 'huge aeroplane hangar with 1500 desks)
10:35 'God' (read head of law school type person on a scary PA system) announces that the exam begins
10:36 Susie is excited because the first two questions she wants to do look rather easy.
10:47 Susie debates whether to do the 'Remedies' question or the 'Frustration' question
10:48 Susie selects 'Remedies' and begins to read and highlight with various colours (green for parties, blue for losses, orange for dates and pink for everything else)
10:53 Susie commences her first answer, on 'Offer and Acceptance'
11:43 Susie completes a rather good answer on 'Offer and Acceptance', even though she says so herself, unless she messed up something about acceptance of a unilateral offer but chooses to ignore it
11:44 Susie begins to write about 'Terms and Exemption Clauses'
12:20 Susie is still writing about Terms and hasn't got on to exemption clauses yet
12:23 Susie asks for another answer book and manages to smile at the nice lady who gave her 90% for her mock and feels bad that she is really nowhere near tha
12:25 Susie realises she has not realised that the person in the question is acting 'in course of business' and has to write a whole bunch of stuff again
12:30 Susie finally starts writing about exemption clauses and forgets about Stewart Gill v Horatio Myer, which was such an easy brownie points case
12:45 Susie turns to remedies, slightly panicking that she only has 45 minutes left
12:50 Susie realises, having written half a page on remedies that she has no idea what the question is on about and 40 minutes is not enough to work it out
12:51 Susie crosses out 'Remedies' and turns to 'Frustration'
12:52 Susie starts writing about 'Frustration' having not read the question and having no idea who the parties are and making it up as she goes along.
13:33 Susie stops writing, because she is not adding anything of any value and has NOT applied the law sufficiently and there is no point.
13:34 Susie comforts herself with the thought that she has quoted 44 cases in her Offer and Acceptance answer
14:02 Susie and friends leave the examination hall
15:15 Susie departs the venue on the toy train (as JB calls it)
15:30 Susie decides there is no way in HELL she is getting a distinction
16:04 Susie arrives home
16:15 Susie decides there is no way she is even getting a commendation
16:35 Susie wonders if she will even make a mediocre lawyer since she clearly lacks the ability to write concisely enough
17:05 Susie wonders if she even passed the last question, and whether Strippers-R-Us are hiring.

Please note comments along the lines of "shut up you probably did fine" or "what are you complaining about I'll be happy if i pass" will NOT be published. Yes that refers to YOU Accidental Lawstudent!!! ;-)

1 down, 6 to go

This morning - constitutional and administrative law.

Let me just immediately get it out of the way and tell you it did NOT GO WELL! And before some of the whingier lot attack me for having too high expectations, let me save you the trouble. I worked very hard for this. I knew what the essays were going to be, and I prepared them. I was SO on track for a distinction to attempt to compensate for my dire performance in the coursework.

Not so much now.

First question was good, I think, it was exactly the angle on Public Authorities I was hoping for, but it took me too long to answer, so I only had 45 minutes per question for the other two. Unreasonableness was a DISASTER, I got halfway through and realised I had taken slightly the wrong angle, and not answered the exact question posed, and I had no argument whatsoever keeping the whole thing together. So it was an unmitigated disaster.

By the time I got to Separation of Powers I had lost the will to live! it was a very very short essay and I missed out M v the Home Office, which was such a major case, and I can't believe I didn't include it! Again, I think I was far too narrow and didn't really have an argument.

26 sides and half of it was rubbish.

Contract on Wednesday.

13th July...

... it's here. I can't wait. I've just watched the trailer and it's beyond exciting! Re-read the book, finished it last week, so it's all fresh in my memory.

And those of you heathens who have absolutely no idea what I am talking about - HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX!!!

It's out in the cinemas on 13th July and you know what that means?

Lucius Malfoy.

Oh yes.

In my revision haze...

...I failed to notice that the other day I made my 100th post! Excellent!

I would like to thank the Academy and of course all my lovely readers, I wouldn't be here without you. Well I probably would but then it wouldn't be called a Blawg as much as just a diary...

Mwah!

Tort is evil

This is a fact.

Next week's exams are Constitutional and Administrative Law on Monday (three essays, hopefully should be ok, as long as questions I like come up), Contract on Wednesday (ditto) and Tort on Friday.

Tort I am not looking forward to. If the first two go badly, I will be even less keen on it. An Occupiers' Liability question I can manage, Defamation I can hopefully manage, same for Nuisance. Not going to manage extraordinarily well, but manage all the same. But, if one of said topics is an essay I have to resort to my back-up - Clinical Negligence or Employers' Liability.

Me and negligence just don't mix. There is a mutual love-hate relationship going on, and it's not likely to improve if I have to answer a question on it in the exam.

Bah.

I'm currently doing ok with my revision though, you will be happy to hear, and I am firm believer in the "it will get done" philosophy. There is no problem in understanding the law, or knowing the law, it's just those pesky unseen problem questions that get me down! How dare they... ;-)

Travesty

There are no hot men on the Underground? Why is this? I mean my journey to and from Law School is the only part of the day when I see people other than law students, and there are hundreds of commuters getting the Tube every day, yet I never ever see any hot men. It's just not fair.

The Universe is clearly against me on this.

5 days to go...

Yesterday I finished all my revision notes and sheets and diagrams and stuff and now all that is left is committing it all to memory and doing past questions. I started yesterday afternoon and last night was the first night I got home from the library and felt exhausted! I suppose this is what it will be like from now on until I finish...

But I was glad to notice that I knew a lot more than I thought I did and now need to just get on with the detail and the structures.

I haven't sat an exam in several years, and I don't really remember what it's like... I always liked them at University, so I hope it will be the same now, although perhaps not due to the excessive transport pressures (exam venue is not at the Law School and I am at the mercy of several unpredictable and capricious tubelines) and the fact that I really am not sure I will remember how to actually DO exams! He he...

But 5 days and counting before they start so I better get on with learning something about the law!

Facebook

I thought it was about time I wrote about this phenomenon... the inspiration to this came from finding an ex-boyfriend on it today by doing one of those e-maill contact searches. I imagine he is married now and everything but it is still very bizarre.

I have encountered many a person on there whom I never thought would get roped into such a thing, but have also got in touch with many friends whom I never thought I would speak to again. The internet is bizarre - we cannot manage to keep in touch with people in more conventional ways but are quite happy to chat away on each others' walls and suchlike.

A shining example of the horrors of Facebook is the fact that a small rift erupted between some friends of mine, when one of them failed to invite the other to a social event, on the basis that an invite went out on Facebook and the other person is not a member.

Bring back carrier pigeons...

12 days to go...

...until my first exam.

I don't feel even remotely like I will be ready, but I know it'll get done and it'll all be alright on the night... well morning. I've finished all my reading and notes, now I just have to learn it, which I thought wouldn't be too bad but I possibly may have underestimated quite how much detail there is to know.

Life is on hold now until the 11th of June. Heh!

Dear Law School

Why do you feel the need to discourage students at such a vital time as in the middle of revision? Why was there any need to briefly destroy my self-confidence - could you not have waited until July when you could have done it in one go? In future please consider students' feeling, particularly geeky overachievers like me, when releasing coursework marks in the middle of the revision period.

Kind regards

Susie Law School.


Yes, the coursework marks came out yesterday. No mine was not good. In fact it was the lowest mark I have EVER EVER got in ANYTHING academic. This is highly upsetting since I know I can do better and my mock assessments prove it. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things and a distinction is still highly possible, however I am SO ANGRY at myself for doing such a bad job. Hmpf.

It's here!!!

Enough said.