The Defense Rests

I'm dropping out of law school.

So, law school was going along swimmingly. I've been going to potlucks and drinking wine and making friends and studying a bit and even answering questions in class here and there and, you know, learning the law.

But. Friday I got called on and I got the answer wrong. Let me back up by saying that we don't raise our hands to answer questions in law school, we sit in fear waiting for the professor to call our name off a seating chart, following the hateful Socratic Method. So, I got called on and I answered the first part of the question right and the second part of the question right and then I answered the third part of the question right if I were fighting for the prosecution. But, apparently, I was supposed to be fighting for the defense which I apparently missed in the fray.

My professor is wonderful, really, and he immediately made a joke--a joke he uses all the time when us baby lawyers get the answers wrong--and said that he was going to find somebody else to defend him. And everybody laughed like we always do, except this time, haha, NOT SO FUNNY ANYMORE.

Talk me off the ledge, people.

Comments

[janet]

I can't tell if you are kidding or not?

[Nicole]

Don't fret, before you know it, you'll be laughing at someone else in the class! It's all apart of the experience...haha that sounds like something my mother would have said.

[Liz]

How will you know how far you've come at graduation, landing your first job or after winning your first case if you didn't start here? You slipped a little in front of your peers and professor during your first year (not to mention first semester) of law school and NOT in front of a judge and jury. That's what this experience is all about. You had your turn, now get back to laughing at the other students. Good luck going forward.

[Ashlie]

Thats sounds like a very "legally blond" moment to me- Yipes! Hang in there. And don't worry. There will always be someone stupider than you. Many, many someones from the looks of it. Then you can laugh at them.
Good luck!

[Ashley]

Take a deep breath. I am a 3L at FSU College of Law and I can tell you from personal experience that EVERY law student has that moment at least once. It will get easier. I promise. You are not alone. I can also guarantee that 99% of your class was feeling your pain at that moment and praying that they weren't next.

You are a bright woman and I have no doubt that you will do very well in law school. Keep in mind that law school is important and all, but it by no means defines you as a lawyer. The first semester is usually the hardest because you aren't sure if you are briefing/studying/outlining right. The bad news is that you might not be. The good news is that no one else knows either!

Keep your head up. Remember to take some time to yourself. Close the books, have a nice glass of wine, read something other than a casebook and relax.

We are all rooting for you :)

[kayla]

good thing you are a smart cookie.

[kathryn]

haha you are NOT!

[Barquan Johnson]

DON'T DO IT! (i even used grammar correctlyish :] )

[Lauren]

You're the Shit!!! When are you coming down? I will be up there in October!!! I want to see you!

[tashya]

I feel nothing I say can make up for the right answers to the wrong question!! Everyone falls sometimes, but it's those that get up and keep trying. Good luck in lawyer school!!!

[Zandria]

I'm reading "Ivy Briefs" by Martha Kimes right now, and this sounds pretty close to the way she felt when she didn't answer satisfactorily during her first in-class question. :)

[elysa]

how dare they laugh at you. don't they know who you are!