Contractual Panic

Doom, doom I tell you. Contracts final tomorrow and I'm bombing out. I look at practice questions and my mind goes mushy. I see the issues as if through a fog; I vaguely recall lots of talk about assignees, battles of forms, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness and the ever-present constructive condition of prior performance by the other party, but my grasp on these concepts is so tenuous that I can't seem to pull them out of the ether as I need to do in order to cobble together some semblance of a response to the fact pattern.

This is not good.

I look not for sympathy or encouragement, I'm merely venting. 24 hours from now, it won't matter, will it?

UPDATE: I can no longer despair now that I have Mr. Buffalo's Contracts Cheers to power me through my studying and exam taking. Thanks to Energy Spatula at Will Work for Favorable Dicta for the tip! And in case you haven't been acquainted yet, Energy Spatula is a superhero! Who shoots guns! Definitely a welcome addition to the roll de blawgs.

Posted 06:37 PM | Comments (2) | law school

Libel La Law

Here's a fun lawsuit/study break: A website called ProBush.com has a big "traitor list" featuring names and photos of prominent people who are supposedly "traitors" because they've been critical of President Bush. According to the site:

Traitor: If you do not support our President's decisions you are a traitor.

Obviously a lot of deep thought went into that. In fact, so much deep thought went into it that now the site is being sued for libel by former U.S. Sen. James Abourezk whose name and photo were added to the "traitor list" last year. Abourezk is suing for $2 million in damages. Nice. ProBush.com has been kind enough to post its own brief in support of its 12b6 motion to dismiss (PDF), as well as Abourezk's response. The motion was denied.

Speaking of slightly bizarre links having something to do with libel, check out these short "movies" from some law students at UVA. My personal favorite is the first one: We salute you, 1L's long-distance boyfriend who is going to lose your girlfriend to a 3L! According to the website, these movies are connected with something called the "Libel Show,":

The Libel Show is an annual comedy program at UVa Law, now finishing its 96th year, that lampoons our professors and life at the law school through a variety of impersonations, song parodies, and skits.

At GW, we have something similar called the "Law Revue" which is really very well done and always very funny (I'm told; I'm a loser and I missed it this year), but it appears they're going to have to step it up a few notches if they're going to compete w/UVA—technologically, anyway.

Finally, no post about libel would be complete w/out a nod to elle who also started exams yestertoday. Instead of posting to her blog, she's probably studying for her next exam. Hmm, maybe I'll try that...

Posted 07:21 AM | law general law school

Missing Homeownership

One year ago yesterday I sold the cutest little house I'll ever own. It was the cutest, because it just may be the only house I'll ever own, but after all the work I and my parents and sister and friends put into it, it was darned cute. One year later, looking at the pictures, I really miss that house. Damn nostalgia! But it's not just nostalgia. In Urbana, IL, where I used to live, I bought a two-bedroom house in 2000 for $50,000. My monthly mortgage payment was about $420/month. (I also paid $100-$300/month for utilities and whatnot; it varied a lot depending on the weather—poor insulation.) But that mortgage payment was more like a bank deposit because I got it back w/interest when I sold the place. Here, in the middle of D.C., L. and I each pay $850/month for rent alone ($1700/month total), and that's really a pretty great deal for around here. The kicker: We pay twice as much, and not one cent of that money is coming back. When we move out of this place, we'll be lucky to get our deposit back. Renting just blows. And don't even get me started on car parking (which is impossible around here; plan to spend minimum half hour circling the vicinity every time you want to park unless you just get really lucky) and the lack of a yard.

I want my house back.

Posted 06:17 AM | Comments (9) | life generally