I’d like to post a non-aggressive response to one of my commenters from last week. I’m sorry if my posts seem to be ongoing and endless rants, especially if those rants are particularly depressing or “fatalistic.” The fact of the matter is this: I dislike law school so far. I don’t think this is in any way a remarkable or groundbreaking insight. In fact, I think perhaps the majority of people who attend law school hate 1L year, which does not reflect on their success or quality of life later on down the road as lawyers. Maybe I take it a little far sometimes. My only excuse: poetic (or narrative) license. It’s easy to insert a little drama here and there, especially once the ball gets rolling in writing these posts and one steps back and thinks about how ridiculous and upsetting the whole law school regime is. In fact, if you do enjoy law school as a 1L, we have a term for you: gunner. Or, if not a gunner, just one of those people who enjoys talking about the law so much you find time to talk about it at lunch, during breaks between classes, while watching sports or drinking on the weekends, before my morning coffee, etc.

In short, these are the people who enjoy the law so much that they often ruin my day by trying to talk about it all the time. We have a name for these people here in the University of Chicago’s class of 2012: “The Intellectual Table.” There is literally a table of students that gather in our lounge area every day to discuss and read the law while most others are chatting about their weekends or just generally hanging out. On the opposite side of the cerebral spectrum within our class, there is another group. This group enjoys thinking about pretty much everything else other than the law — things such as the most recent episode of “Jersey Shore” (also ruining my day), late-night outings in Chicago, etc. We also have a name for these people in our class: “The Frat.”

I know, it is kind of sad that our class has formed this silly cliques and, as a side note, I am a proud abstainer from the quiet and yet ever-present “rivalry.” But, I feel it’s just bound to happen in a class so small where everyone knows everyone else. Certainly, there are probably more cliques out there that I am neglecting (it’s actually very sad), but, to me, these are the most prominent … or perhaps the groups who are each other’s most exact opposites. I imagine them like the Jets and Sharks in “West Side Story.” Not hardened street thugs. But, rather, singing and dancing law students — prancing around one another in some kind of faux-knife fight, except instead of knives, the only weapons we have are … well, nothing. I guess “The Intellectual Table” has their books and “The Frat” has maybe their gym weights or something. Furthermore, I can’t think of any star-crossed lovers or anything within each of these groups (a Maria and Tony) … I might be able to, but I’d rather spend my morning working on this awful memo or reading for tomorrow’s classes.

In any case, the point is: nobody enjoys 1L year, unless you’re part of “The Intellectual Table” (let’s call them the Sharks … for no particular reason). If you are, please don’t ruin my day and talk about law school unless it is absolutely necessary … even then, watch out. Point #2: law school is like “West Side Story”??? I dunno, I’m still working on that hypothesis.

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