I've now finished five full weeks of law school, so I consider myself fully qualified to make some observations about it.

Ian's post today about "that guy" was actually what inspired me to blog today. As I noted in the comments, That Guy is really fond of going to law school, and as much as you wanted to punch him in undergrad, it's ten times worse in law school and there are a lot more of him. The great thing is that the profs have as little patience with That Guy as the other students do. There's a That Guy in my section, and after a week of classes, you could already see the eyes rolling when his hand went up (when he bothered to raise his hand, that is). More than one prof's cut him off mid-sentence, occasionally less than politely. They kind of have to, because one of the major differences between law school and undergrad is that in law school, we teach each other as much as the profs teach us. Listening to a fellow student verbally work through a hypothetical problem is the way in which we learn to spot issues and make distinctions ourselves, and every minute that That Guy luxuriates in the sound of his own voice is one more minute that we're not learning important stuff. Even when That Guy has a valid point to make (which, of course, does happen - he may be That Guy, but he's not an idiot), nobody listens to him because he's That Guy. So if you ever go to law school, don't be That Guy. Shut up and listen to everyone else, and if you want to make a point or ask a question, feel free. You'll know you're That Guy if you feel the air in the room tense up every time you look like you want to say something.

Law school is hard. Law school is not nearly as hard as everybody says it is, though. I put in a lot of hours at the library and a few less at home (when each of your casebooks weighs ten pounds, you try not to take them home very often), but I still find myself with plenty of free time. Maybe this is just because I'm still not used to not having a job while attending school, but it's nice, and unexpected. I will say, however, that my free time tends to be less productive than it used to be (not that it was all that productive to begin with). Law school is mentally exhausting, and life in Ithaca is physically exhausting (too many damn hills - Meredith P was right in high school), so when I get home all I feel like doing is putting on my pajamas and curling up with the cats.

Law school has a way of taking over your life, even when you do your best to leave your work at school and make your apartment a sanctuary. True story: I always read something non-law-related at night right before going to bed. The first week of school, I was re-reading the first Harry Potter, and when I got to the part where Harry has his first Potions class and Professor Snape was barking questions at him, I thought "Hey! That's the Socratic method!" I also find myself idly turning over cases in my head, trying to figure out what would have been different if the plaintiff had known the defendant before taking a trip on his boat, or if the defendant had failed to perform the work he was contracted to do rather than performing it badly. I think this is what's known as "thinking like a lawyer." Either that or "being a bloody obsessive."

I got snagged on my way home today by a guy who's filming a DVD for people interested in going to law or business school. He interviewed me about my reasons for choosing Cornell, my impressions of law school in general, and my advice to prospective students. At the end of the interview, he asked "What surprised you about law school when you got here?"

Now, I've been accused, often and fairly, of planning way too far ahead. I did a lot of research about law school before I got here, and so far I haven't run into a whole lot that I hadn't already heard about. I wasn't blindsided by the Socratic method, the amount of reading, the insanity of the 2L job search, or anything like that. I had to think for a minute about what I would say, and I ended up saying something about how everyone here was really serious and definitely not here to party, but to learn and to work. That's not really what surprised me, though... anyone with half a brain knows that law school isn't a hotbed of kegger action.

So I thought about it on the way home, and I think I figured out what surprised me most about law school. Those of you who have talked to me about it (or read my blog, infrequently updated as it is) know I like it here. Of course, there are days when I don't feel like dragging myself out of my nice warm bed and caffeinating myself so I can be reasonably awake in class. Sometimes I feel like going insane if I have to write one more damn case brief for Contracts, or listen to That Guy go on about the legislative intent behind a federal statute for one more minute.

But absolutely nothing that I read, heard, or saw before coming to law school prepared me for how much fun it would be.