The World of Law School

The Last Entry

2011-08-03T12:45:00.006-04:00

This past weekend, I moved to Kissimmee, Florida. Later this month, I will begin my job as an Assistant Public Defender with the Ninth Judicial Circuit. It has yet to be determined if I will be assigned to Kissimmee (Osceola County) or Orlando (Orange County). Keeping my job is also contingent on passing the bar exam. Scores should be released on September 19th.

I am looking forward to this new chapter in my life. The people in the office seem very nice, and I should get a lot of trial experience in a short amount of time. I have not made up my mind if I am going to start another blog. If I do, it will have nothing to do with work. Most of the interesting stories from work, I will be unable to talk about. It is too risky to try and write about my experiences as a criminal trial lawyer while at the same time performing the appropriate edits to protect attorney-client privilege.

So here it is. My last entry for "The World of Law School."

Time flew by. The Florida State University College of Law has been good to me, and the school has given me a wonderful opportunity. The hard work does not stop, of course. There will always be hurdles to clear and obstacles to overcome for me to reach my goals. Law school has been a helpful rung on the ladder. I won't spend time trying to recount all the great memories I have. The high points are recorded in previous entries.

Going to school here reinforced my understanding that willpower is essential to success and a happy life. Florida State Law gave me the chance to study and compete with people possessing a great deal of willpower, intelligence and talent.

In the most recent edition of the magazine of my alma mater, Western Carolina University, I came across one of my favorite quotes of all time. Pat Kaemmerling, a 1971 graduate of WCU and vice chair of the WCU Foundation board of directors said, "See the world while you can. Do some fun, adventurous things before you have a mortgage, a spouse and children. When you have those, you can take two weeks and go to Europe, but you can't spend six months in Paris and get a job selling flowers on the corner."

To a certain degree, I have lived my life like that. I've been a mail carrier in Washington, DC, a car salesman in Las Vegas, and a National Park Service Ranger in Tennessee and Virginia, among other jobs. The single best year of my life (yet, I hope) was as a graduate student back at Western Carolina University. I got to relive my college days, 10 years later. I also spent three good years in law school in Tallahassee. Now, I wake up in the morning to the sound of planes flying into the Orlando airport and, after a few seconds to orient myself, I realize that I am a budding Florida criminal trial lawyer.

What stays with me the most about finishing the bar exam and moving from Tallahassee to the Orlando area is my parents.

Through it all, my parents have been there for me, helping me move back and forth and serving as a safety net while I made the transition from one thing to the next.

But I have gotten older in the three years of law school, and so have they. My mom had some health problems recently, and I could tell when my parents came to Tallahassee to help me move, they were operating at maximum stress capacity. So I see a shift happening between me and them.

My brain has not aged at all in law school. I've been frozen at 23 years old for a long time. In some ways, I could be just as happy working at the movie theater like I did when I was a teenager. But when I look at myself in the mirror, when I see myself in profile on those store security monitors- I know that I cannot pull that off anymore. I have aged physically in the past three years more than at any other time in my life. I see a body and face that I don't quite recognize. It does not match my mental self image. But there it is, reality.

Based on that reality, I know it is time for me to stop bouncing around. Easily fitting into new careers will get harder as I get older. More importantly, at this point in my parents' lives, to keep changing is... selfish.

Law school has given me a great opportunity to really be successful, and I need to take advantage of that. I need to make this work, if not for myself, then for my parents...

Law school ends quickly. A couple of my roommates who went straight into law school after college were a little sad as we packed up the house in Tallahassee. "College is over," one of them sighed.

"You could always be like me and go back to college in your early 30s," I said.

"That would be awesome," he replied.

"It was awesome," I said.

As a I get older, I realize that there is less, not more time to sit and reflect on my experiences. I must get on with trying to survive and thrive in a tough and competitive world.

This new chapter will be exciting, and I look forward to the challenges.

I say thank you to the Florida State University College of Law and to the people I met there. It has been a pleasure, and an experience I will treasure.

Best Wishes,

Nathan Marshburn

The Tampa Experience

2011-07-29T09:06:00.006-04:00

The Hotel

The exam lasted two days- Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The test itself was literally 12 hours long, though of course one had to deal with the logistics of getting to Tampa, checking in at the exam site, and getting set for the exam.

During the four and a half hour drive to Tampa, I saw three of my fellow classmates on the road with me. We waved and smiled at each other, and it was a good feeling to know that I was not in this totally alone.

Initially, I booked a room at a Ramada Inn about six miles from the test site, the Tampa Convention Center. As the dates for the exam drew nearer, though, peer pressure got to me.

A number of my friends raised their eyebrows when they heard where I was staying.

"I wouldn't want to take the risk that my car doesn't start in the morning," they said.

"What if you get into a fender bender on the way? Are you going to stay at the scene of the accident and deal with it? Or are you going to take the bar exam?"

"Dude, spend the money and get a closer hotel where you can just get up in the morning and walk to it. The repercussions of missing the exam are huge. Your job offer is contingent on passing this thing, isn't it?"

Even my parents, when I told them I was staying six miles out from the convention center, expressed concern that I would get caught in Tampa traffic and arrive late.

So I succumbed and booked a room at the Hyatt Regency, just a 10 minute walk to the convention center. Almost all of my friends reserved rooms at hotels this close. These hotels like the Hyatt, the Hilton, and the Sheraton were much more expensive, of course. The extra amenities included with the price amused me.

As I was waiting in line to check in, one of the bellhops directed my attention to a cooler filled with water, oranges, lemons and limes.

"Would you care for some infused water while you wait? It's quite delicious."

And when I reached the check-in desk, the clerk asked, "Would you like a complimentary bottle of champagne to celebrate your stay with us?"

"No thank you," I replied. "I'm here for the bar exam. I won't be doing any drinking."

"At least not until Wednesday night," the clerk said.

"Yes, you're probably right," I responded. Though at that point I did not want to think about Wednesday night.

According to the clerk, about 250 occupants at the hotel were there for the bar exam. I got about four hours of sleep on Monday night. The next morning, beginning at around 6am, about 2,500 of us began to make our way to the convention center...

The Tampa Convention Center

No book bags, eyeglass cases, backpacks, purses, wallets, notes, books, study materials, cellular telephones, beepers, watches, or clocks with audible alarms, calculators, or other electronic devices were allowed in the exam room. Neither were highlighter markers, pencils, pens, headphones, earplugs with wires, diskettes or CDs, hats or baseball caps, foods or liquids.

Security staff searched us with metal detectors. We were allowed to take in one key (either a car key or hotel room key) and some dollar bills for the lunch break.

The 2,500 or so of us filed through the metal detectors into a room the size of two football fields. The exam room was lined with scores of rows of tables. Each table sat two people. Once you came into the room, you could not leave. If you left the room, you would be denied re-entry. Fortunately, there were restrooms and water fountains inside the examination room itself.

Eventually, I found my assigned seat for the 12 hours of testing. A lady far, far away on a stage calmly gave us instructions using a microphone. The room really was an incredible sight. It was an expansive ocean of 2,500 people all quietly concentrating at tables of two each. As the exam began, dozens of proctors circulated throughout the room, carefully watching us.

One test taker a few tables away had the jimmy leg, which caused her shoe to squeak on the floor. Most distracting, however, was the very beautiful woman sitting at the table in front of me. When the test began, she leaned forward. Her shirt raised up from the small of her back. So now, just three or four feet from my face was the top of a turquoise thong with a detailed tattoo situated neatly above it.

But I was able to power through the distractions. I feel like I did the best I could.

Like I said earlier, the bar exam was the most challenging academic experience of my life, and it is taking some time to unwind from it. Since Monday, I have only been able to sleep for three or four hours at a stretch.

A new, exciting change looms this weekend. After three years in Tallahassee, I will move to the Orlando area to start a new job.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Bar Exam

2011-07-29T08:46:00.003-04:00

When I returned to Tallahassee yesterday, just back from taking the Florida bar exam at the Tampa Convention Center, one of the staff at the law school asked me, "How did it go?"

I replied without hesitation, "I do not think that I could have worked harder or prepared more to take that exam. I did the best I could. But it was intense, and it was hard."

...Wow...I am slowly beginning to unwind from the experience. I can only speak for myself, but getting ready for the bar exam and then taking the test in Tampa was the most challenging academic experience of my life. Those who graduated at the very top of my class might say that the pressure of final exams and maintaining the top status at our school was more challenging. But when I graduated from law school back in May, I did not know that such a behemoth task was still in front of me. Sure, I knew it was going to be hard work and a little stressful. It surprised me, though, how stressful the whole experience was and how much hard work was required. Graduation and all the festivities seems somewhat like a different world now- like we had the victory celebration before we went into combat.

I suppose that I will wrap up "The World of Law School" blog in my next three or four entries. It has been over a month since I last posted anything, because I spent almost all of my waking hours studying. I was in my "finals" mode for over a month. It was enough to give a person an ulcer. One of my friends did in fact get a stomach ulcer preparing for this exam. Hopefully, she can relax a little now.

My next entry will describe in more detail the experience in Tampa.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

"Your Juris Doctor Has Been Mailed"

2011-06-26T13:17:00.009-04:00

Earlier this week, the law school sent out an email to the May graduates, congratulating us again on our accomplishment and informing us that our Juris Doctor diplomas had been mailed. The email included a link where we could view our diploma.

For me, seeing that email, viewing my diploma, was actually more gratifying than the graduation ceremony. At the ceremony back on May 7th, we had not received our exam grades. In fact, just the day before the ceremony, I took a final exam for the class of "Complex Civil Litigation." That last exam turned out to be perhaps the most difficult one of my entire law school experience. Afterwards, I joked to my friends that I ended my academic studies at FSU College of Law "not with a bang, but a whimper." So, there remained for me an uneasy feeling about the exams as I went through the graduation ceremony.

Now, though, I know my grades and my GPA. And while it will be September before final class rankings are issued (due to some students from my class finishing their graduation requirements in summer school), I know my degree is there, permanently.

A few days ago, the Admissions and Records Office printed my transcript, and it was nice to see "Juris Doctor Cum Laude" typed at the end...

There is really no time to enjoy it, though. One month from now is the Florida Bar Exam. For almost every job in the legal field, I need two things: My J.D. and admission to the bar.

I am halfway done with the Kaplan PMBR bar prep course. They are doing a great job teaching me what I need to know, but what I did not anticipate was the volume of information in the course and how fast we have to learn it. It really is very much like getting ready for law school final exams- just stretched out over a longer period. In an earlier blog entry, I said that I could not maintain that kind of intensity for such an extended time frame, but it looks like I am going to have to.

This past week, my class took a six hour practice MBE (which is 1/2 of the whole exam). I got 58% of the questions right.

58%.

While it is slightly comforting to know that we were only expected to get about half the questions right, and that the top people in my class were scoring at 65% or 70%, if I score 58% one month from now then I will fail the bar exam.

I have work to do, and new material from the bar prep course is being put to us every day.

So, this past week I saw my diploma and it felt good. But bar preparation, combined with the stress of the job search makes right now the most anxiety-filled time of the whole law school experience, at least for me.

I will keep moving ahead, though, treating this like an adventure and remembering, as my mom told me, "It is a privileged adventure." Not everyone gets to head down these paths. Really, I am lucky to be here.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Day I Played Hooky from Bar Prep

2011-06-18T09:47:00.013-04:00

I decided not to go to my bar prep class this past Thursday.

Instead, I set my alarm clock for 4:30am.

It woke me up at the correct time, and I finally managed to get myself out of bed about 20 minutes later.

I shaved, showered, and put on a suit and tie. Then I hopped in my car and drove to the Tallahassee airport, where I boarded a plane for a one hour flight to Charlotte, North Carolina.

After a brief stop in the Queen City, I got on another flight- this one bound for Denver, Colorado.

My seat was just one away from the emergency exit door. Before takeoff, the flight attendant quickly recited some instructions to my row on how to operate the door, which I did not comprehend at all. But when she asked us if we did understand, I nodded my head along with the frail old woman to my right.

Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, combined with the pressurized air popping in my ears, combined with the knowledge that I was moving at a rapid rate through two times zones, combined with my general fear of flying- but something was making my imagination fire on all cylinders.

When we had been in the air about an hour, the guy sitting to my left, immediately beside the emergency door, got up to use the lavatory. As he returned, he tripped over his carry on bag, and his hand

***
hit one of the levers on the door.

A quiet buzz sounded, and a yellow light on the door turned on. An instant later, the door blew open and the poor guy got sucked out with it. As he flew out, his other hand struck me across my face, breaking the bridge of my nose. I lost consciousness for a few seconds, but not before I began to feel the bolts give way at the base of my chair and hear people begin to scream.

When I came to, so much wind was hitting my face and body. Everything around me was hazy blue. A severe tickling sensation in my stomach got my attention, and I realized I was in free-fall.

Below I could see the large green or brown squares and circles of crop fields, though the wind was so intense it was hard for me to keep my eyes open.

I wanted to get out of the chair. I had to get out of it. So, I unhooked my seat belt, pushed the chair away, stretched out my arms and legs and tried to enjoy the rest of the descent...

Of course, nothing below the asterisks actually happened. The guy did slip, but his hand hit the wall beside the emergency door. My imagination took over after that.

Flying can be both exhilarating and terrifying. Dying in a plane crash is one of my more intense fears (especially a plane crash into the ocean at night). So I had a difficult time controlling some of my thoughts. Enough macabre scenes popped into my head on the plane to fill half a novel.

When we finally touched down in Denver, the day was 77 degrees and beautiful. The land around the city is completely flat- like Kansas or Nebraska and with no trees. In the distance one can see the snowy Rocky Mountains.

My arrival in Denver was not unexpected. A nice young woman, who could in fact be a gatekeeper to my future, picked me up from the airport to take me to lunch as part of a continuous job interview.

We went to "Ted's" restaurant, where I enjoyed a honey baked salmon. The interview was actually my fifth for the position, but the first in-person talk. I had hoped that this interview would only be a formality before they extended an offer to me.

My hopes were deflated, however, when the young woman told me, "Your flight landed a half hour late. We're going to have to make lunch quick, because there is another person to be interviewed coming in at 2:30."

I later learned that there are still several people in the game for this job.

After lunch, we went to a DoubleTree hotel where the young woman and her supervisor, one of the vice presidents of the company, asked me questions for about an hour. I liked both of them and I thought the interview went reasonably well.

Anyway, I did the best I could. I tried for the close and asked for the job that day, but they were noncommittal.

When we concluded, I climbed in a cab and went right back to the Denver airport.

During the cab ride, I received a phone call to set up a job interview with a completely different employer in Orlando. It looks like I'll have to play hooky again one day next week to make the drive down to that warm city...

On March 3rd of this year, I wrote a blog called "Three Directions." These experiences in Denver and then next week in Orlando are that blog entry at a crescendo...

The flights back to Charlotte and then Tallahassee were even more intense on my imagination than the flights going west. When we touched down in Charlotte, the pilot immediately hit the brakes harder than in any flight I've ever been on. I actually slid forward in my seat, with the belt keeping me from falling out. Instantly, I began to think something was in the runway. I will spare you the description of the other images that popped into my mind about what happened next...

It was well after nightfall when my plane took off from Charlotte to Tallahassee. The aircraft was smaller than the others I had flown in that day.

Immediately after takeoff, we rolled to one side and then pitched back to the other side. My stomach leaped violently, and I honestly thought for a few seconds that we were going down. I remembered the story from a few years ago of a small US Airways plane that crashed in Charlotte immediately after takeoff because they had not balanced the luggage correctly. The airline declined to release the cockpit voice recordings of the pilots' screams before they crashed. It was such a sad story, and the pilot was a beautiful young woman with her whole life ahead of her.

I was sitting in the very back of the plane. Only the flight attendant was behind me. When we straightened out, I looked back at her in time to see her tuck her head between her legs and knock on the wall beside her before she corrected her posture.

"Is that normal for us to roll like that right after take off?" I asked.

Of course she answered, "Yes."

But I wonder. I watched her out of the corner of my eye as we landed smoothly in Tallahassee, and she did not "knock on wood."

I am not sure that what they say about your life flashing in front of your eyes right before you die is correct. For two seconds on that takeoff, I really thought I was going to die. And all I felt was the severe jump in my stomach and a terrible, depressing and sinking sensation that existence was at an end. There were no flashes of memory...

But enough of this dark stuff. Can you tell that I am avoiding studying for the bar exam this morning?

My trip on Thursday was a great adventure, and I enjoyed seeing the Rockies and the rush that the flights gave me.

We'll see what happens. Now I have to get my mind ready for the job interview in Orlando. And for answering practice bar questions on Florida Evidence in the ever-present red, yellow, green game. The roller coaster ride continues...

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Time to Buckle Down

2011-06-12T09:04:00.005-04:00

Even though I am keeping up with the Kaplan syllabus for bar review fairly well, the low percentage of answers that I am getting right makes me feel guilty today about how much fun I had this weekend.

Like I said in my blog post on May 28, my new residence can be quite the social scene. Yesterday, we organized a tailgate party for the NCAA baseball super regionals. Florida State is taking on Texas A & M in a best of three games series. The winner goes to the College World Series in Omaha. I spent hours out in the sun yesterday, enjoying grilled burgers and talking to friends before we went inside the stadium to watch our team.

It was after dark when we finally packed up the grill and headed back to the house. So, I was ready to call it a day. I needed to study. But peer pressure can be tough, sometimes. My friends convinced me to go out with them to a club downtown. I think I could have said no to my guy friends, but when there is a jaw-dropping gorgeous woman with big brown eyes sitting on your couch asking you to go out with them, too... Well, I'm just not that strong.

Long story short, I finally collapsed onto my bed around 4 am last night. I'm not sure that I was fun to hang out with at the club, as I mainly just stood against the wall and people watched. But I had a good time. My friends are awesome dancers.

Also this week, my friends convinced me to play a round of golf with them at the Jake Gaither public course in Tallahassee. It was the first time in my life that I have ever set foot on a golf course. The results were better than I hoped, probably due to the golf class I took as an undergraduate years ago. The lessons on how to grip the club and what to be thinking when you hit the ball all came back to me. I met my main goal of not swinging and missing. Even better, I was pretty good out of the sand traps. Becoming good enough to use golf as the background while business gets conducted is the goal of everyone who invited me to play. My friends are already at that level, I think. It was pleasing to see that I am not that far off, either, and I was grateful for their invitation.

However, earlier this week I took a checkpoint quiz for Constitutional Law, and I am only getting 50% of the questions right. After extensive review and watching tutorial videos, I am still only getting 55-60% right. The work keeps getting piled on, too. I only got 64% of the Criminal Law/Procedure questions correct on a quiz yesterday morning, and so I have to do review exercises for that as well.

But I am up and about. It is 9:30 on a Sunday morning. This blog entry only took 20 minutes to write. Now it is time to get started and show some more discipline when it comes to having too much fun.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Red, Yellow, Green Game

2011-06-04T13:33:00.010-04:00

Right now is probably the most stressful time of my entire law school experience.

Really, I've got nothing to complain about. The weather is warm and beautiful, and my health is good. I go for nice jogs around the football stadium and up part of Saint Marks Trail. Tonight, I will probably watch Florida State take on Alabama in the NCAA baseball tournament. My new residence is close enough to walk to the baseball game, and my roommates are all great guys.

But weighing on my mind like a sack of stones is the job search.

Something good will come through eventually. I just graduated with honors from a quality law school. When I pass the bar exam, I will be even more employable.

Recently, I had a series of interviews for a job that I really wanted. The talks seemed to be going well, and things were moving along quickly and positively. But then... silence. And waiting. And more silence.

During the interview process, you get your hopes up and start thinking about what your life will be like if you land that job. As the days after the interviews wear on though, and you hear nothing, you are forced to re-start your thinking. You have to go back a few steps, to where you were weeks before, and begin looking at other options again.

But who knows? Maybe that job will come through. We will see... This is all a great exercise in maintaining a mental and emotional balance. It tests my ability to stay happy within myself, without depending on external factors that I can not control.

The whole thing is quite a roller coaster ride, though.

In an effort to distract my mind from the ups and downs of where life is going after July, I am trying to delve deeply into the bar preparation process. Though getting ready for the bar exam is also quite stressful, I like Kaplan PMBR's system. They use a combination of printed books and on-line resources to get me ready. I am more comfortable using their paper materials, but the on-line tools are neat in that it makes bar prep a sort of game.

At various intervals in the course, I take an on-line quiz to check my progress. The results break down my performance into statistics and colors.

We just finished a section on contracts. Overall for contracts, I am answering 67% of the questions correctly. This is coded yellow, which means moderate review is needed. Getting more specific, I am answering 90% of the questions on contracts consideration correctly. This puts me in the green for that subsection, and no review is needed. However, for contract conditions, I am only answering 40% of the questions correctly. This marks me in the red- extensive review needed. Thus, I have to watch a tutorial video, review the printed material again, and do more exercises exclusively on contract conditions. As we go along, Kaplan's on-line system is creating my own personalized pie chart and bar graph.

The goal is to get every section and subsection into the green. This is much easier said than done. Despite the hours that I am putting in, for the whole course I am answering questions correctly only 65-67% of the time.

So, after I finish this blog entry, I will watch a tutorial video on contract discharge and excuse- another subsection where I am in the red.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

An Upgrade

2011-05-28T22:28:00.006-04:00

When I came to law school, I knew that I was not going to have any income to speak of for the extent of my enrollment. So, the past three years have been an exercise in how to save money. I lived simply and alone in a sparsely furnished apartment. In part to avoid distractions and in part to avoid the expense of cable, I did not bring a television with me to Florida.

This summer, however, the opportunity arose for me to sublease a nice townhouse with three guys who also just graduated. I moved in with them about a week ago.

I like the changes. There is a lot more living space. The ceiling in my bedroom is so high that I can not reach the control cords for the fan. Also, the house is close enough to the law school that I can walk to my Kaplan bar prep classes. In addition to having a dishwasher, a washer and dryer, and a large HD TV with huge speakers and about 500 channels, the townhouse also gets many more visitors than my apartment ever did.

There were a couple of parties that I attended here during law school. This house was one of the more popular places for law school students to gather for Florida State away games on TV.

I won't lie. It was rather nice to come downstairs from my bedroom to do laundry a few days ago and discover four beautiful women sitting on the living room couches, talking and laughing.

Though my new home is certainly more comfortable, it is also considerably more distracting. Making myself study the bar prep material is going to take effort.

I don't watch much television, but a TV with 500 channels can hit my Achilles heel- sports and good movies.

Right now, the ACC baseball tournament is happening. Florida State has made it to the championship game, and I can watch all of the games on the Florida Sports Network. Yesterday, I caught myself avoiding studying by watching Utah vs. New Mexico State in a Mountain West Conference baseball game airing on some obscure channel.

HBO is also a huge temptation. Last week, I was almost late to bar prep class because I became interested in Robert Downey's performance in Sherlock Holmes.

And then there are my friends. Living with outgoing fellow students suddenly means there is much more socializing to do- not that I'm complaining.

One of my roommates is from Miami. He is a huge Heat fan. When their basketball games come on, he cranks up the speakers on the TV and makes the walls shake. I enjoy watching the games with him because he is such a passionate fan. After every Heat victory, his tradition is to open our balcony doors and blast the Pitbull remix of Don Omar's "Danza Kuduro" into the streets.

After the Miami Heat clinched the Eastern Conference championship on Thursday around midnight, he shouted at me, "Nathan! Put on your shoes! We are going out!"

"C'mon, man," I replied. "We've got class at 9am tomorrow."

"This is not an option!" he yelled.

Yes, my living situation has changed substantially from a couple of weeks ago when I came home to a small, rather empty apartment in a very quiet neighborhood. Even now, as I type this blog entry in my bedroom, one of my roommates is booming dance music by some female artist unknown to me. I don't mind. It is a nice change, an upgrade to my quality of life. I think I can maintain enough discipline to get my bar studying done, and everything is fine.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Week 1 Assessment

2011-05-22T23:51:00.006-04:00

After the first week of bar preparation classes with Kaplan PMBR, I realize that my work is cut out for me.

This past Monday through Saturday, we had class from 9am to 3:30pm. Each day was a different subject: Torts, Criminal Law, Contracts, Property, Evidence, and Constitutional Law. The pattern for week 1 was to answer 50 multiple choice questions in the morning, questions that were supposed to be somewhat easier than what we will actually see on the exam. Then in the afternoon, a professor went over the answers using power point slides for almost every question.

Unfortunately, this first week taught me that I am not as ready for the bar exam as I had hoped. I am very glad to be doing this bar prep class. There would probably be no shot at passing that little quiz without it.

It was somewhat disheartening to see how many questions I am getting wrong. For example, in Evidence, a subject I consider to be perhaps my strongest, I missed 27 out of 50 questions. For other subjects such as Property, there were whole swaths of questions in areas that I never studied in law school, such as landlord-tenant agreements and mortgages.

The first week of bar prep also made me appreciative of the subjects I took in law school which are also tested on the bar exam. Because I had Evidence in law school, I do not have as far to go in order to start getting more questions right. For many of those questions that I missed in Evidence, I picked the second best answer. But I had no idea what to do in areas of landlord-tenant agreements and mortgages, because these are doctrines and concepts I am seeing for the very first time. Taking a class in Real Estate Finance would have helped with mortgages, but there are only so many electives in the three year program. I needed to take courses that would make me a better litigator as well, and Real Estate Finance was not on that list.

The encouragement comes when the instructors give us the slides explaining the correct answers. I can study these slides and fix many of my weak areas, though it is easier when the subject is already familiar to me.

To be completely honest, it also helps my morale to see many of my fellow students also struggling. I am not sure that anyone is lighting up every subject at this point.

The Florida Bar Exam is probably one of the three most difficult to pass in the whole country- right up there with California and New York.

Yes, this is going to be more intense than every day life in law school. There is enough work in these materials to make it as intense as studying for final exams, but then I would suffer a burn out after a couple or three weeks.

Bar prep is going to be a marathon: Steady discipline and determination to put in the hours without overdoing it in any particular stretch. The concepts will not be too terribly difficult to learn, I think. It is just that there are so many concepts and doctrines and rules to get into my head in the next two months.

Onward and upward. Tomorrow at 9am (actually today as it is now past midnight), is our first session on "Florida" law in Torts.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Week in Between

2011-05-15T13:49:00.007-04:00

Tomorrow, I start my two-month bar preparation classes with Kaplan PMBR. I suppose that I will keep writing entries here at least through taking the bar exam, as it is also a huge part of the law school experience.

The week in between graduation and the start of bar prep, I got a chance to relax a little before the intense study kicks up again. One of my friends stayed for a few days after watching me graduate. We had a nice visit, dined at some good restaurants, and went to Panama City Beach. It was my first trip to the shore since coming to law school. Specifically, we went to the beach at St. Andrews State Park. It was absolutely gorgeous. I’d seen white sand and turquoise blue water before (Bradenton, Florida in 1996), but the experience in Panama City Beach dazzled my friend. It was the most beautiful beach she had ever seen in her life. She called her mother in south Texas to say, “L’agua esta azul, azul, azul!”

During the trip, I decided that Bay County and Panama City would be a neat place to work. I will keep it in mind when sending my resume to trial attorneys…

But tomorrow, I will be in class from 9am to 3:30pm in Tallahassee. Then it is study, study, study tomorrow evening before rising early to be at class again at 9 am.

Students who have been through bar prep before warned me about the drudgery of what is ahead. We'll see. If bar prep is as intense as getting ready for final exams, then they are right. There is no way that I can sustain that kind of effort for two or three months straight. Exam season, at least for me, is like engaging the afterburners.

Not counting "exam season," however, law school on a daily basis was actually enjoyable. I imagine that the intensity of bar prep will fall somewhere in between the two poles of daily law school life and "exam season." Hopefully, by the end of the day tomorrow- or at least by the end of the week- I'll have a good read of what is required.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Partying with the All-Stars***

2011-05-10T11:38:00.006-04:00

It is over, sort of.

Last Saturday, I dressed up in a fancy gown, hood, hat, and along with approximately 240 of my other classmates, walked across a stage at the Civic Center in the FSU College of Law graduation ceremony. It will still be a few weeks before final grades from this last semester are posted and our degrees are officially conferred. In the words of my mother, though, “It was a great day.” Some of my family and friends were there, and we celebrated afterwards by going out to eat and then to a FSU baseball game.

Of all that went on Saturday at the ceremony, the program bulletin was the most interesting thing to me. It listed all of the graduates, along with various accomplishments we achieved during our three years. The program also provided which students are going to graduate with honors, pending the outcome of this last semester. Those who are in a position to graduate cum laude had an asterisk by their name. Those set to graduate magna cum laude had two asterisks, and those who could finish summa cum laude had three asterisks next to their name.

Out of the entire graduating class, only four students had ***. I know each of the four fairly well. In fact, my last social outing as a law school student was in the company of two of them…

During this past “exam season,” I only took one evening off to have some fun. The occasion was a going away party for one of my friends. He is moving to Miami to take a job with a law firm, and he was also one of the four students with *** by his name in the graduation program.

The party was at his house, and it was one of the most enjoyable that I have experienced in law school. He and his wife own a couple of cats, and I always like it when there are animals around to keep me company. An additional *** student came by, along with a number of other all-star students whom I now know are set to graduate with honors or high honors.

The talent of these students has always amazed me. In addition to being the best scholars in our class, they are excellent gardeners, wood craftsmen, marathon runners, and musicians. They are just good at life, generally. Whereas for myself, I struggle at keeping a clean apartment.

One friend of mine was in fact a professional musician prior to coming to law school. At the party, he and our Miami-bound host entertained us by taking turns singing requests for pop songs from the 80s and 90s. With only one acoustic guitar, they kept us entertained for hours.

Their display of talent showed me another change in technology that was not around when I went to parties as an undergraduate. Using their hand held I-phone, Droid, Blackberry or whatever you call it, they were able to take a request, search for the chord pattern of the song on the Internet, and then play it while looking at the small screen on their device.

My favorite songs were those that the former pro knew by heart. With only the acoustical guitar, he performed amazing ballad-style covers of hits from Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and SirMixaLot.

Not only were the songs very well done, the lyrics were shockingly hilarious.

The other ***student at the party enjoyed the music more than anyone. But at one point, she watched me as I listened and said, “This is going to be a blog entry.” Her comment surprised me, as I did not know that she read my blog.
As the hour became late, she also said what I was beginning to think for myself: “I really need to be studying right now.”

But that night, it was just too much fun. We both stayed much longer- until the two musicians’ voices became tired.

I do not think the indulgence hurt my exam performance, and I am glad I took the time to party with some *** and ** students. It was great to see their talents and personalities in a somewhat different light.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The New Importance of Clothes

2011-04-15T16:29:00.005-04:00

For me, the most disappointing thing about law school is how I'm physically aging. This is one area of life where I believe it is actually mentally healthier to stay in a state of denial, so I won't say much more about it. Still, as I get older I am beginning to see even more the importance of clothes in society.

Earlier this week, a friend who works in the state legislature invited me to lunch up at the Capitol. Real estate lobbyists hosted the meal, and it was open the public. I asked him if how I was dressed was okay- blue jeans and a polo shirt with my shirt tail out. He said it was fine. I took him up on the offer and walked five minutes east on Pensacola Street from the law school to the Capitol.

When I arrived, however, I realized that I would have been much more comfortable in a suit. Everyone else was in professional attire. While I tried to smile at them, they did not smile back at me the way they would have if I had been in a suit. I could almost read their minds: "He's not one of us. This is just some man off the street looking for a free lunch."

I don't hold it against my friend for inviting me at all. He's younger than I am. I now understand that when you're young and you dress down, people don't care as much. He could have pulled off jeans and a loose polo. But not me. Not anymore. This is a threshold I've crossed since coming to law school.

When I'm among people in professional attire, I now need to be in professional attire, too. I am a "man," now. No one calls me "kid" anymore, the way the salesmen out on the car lot in Las Vegas did when I worked with them five years ago. A "man" needs to already be successful and look like he's successful. A "kid" still has success waiting for him in the years ahead. I can't pull off the Gap or Old Navy look in a crowd of professionally dressed people anymore- if I ever could pull it off.

I've noticed this change from comments people have made to me this year, too. One day earlier this semester when I came to school in a suit, a law school administrator looked at me and said, "You don't look like a student. You look like you are already a lawyer, years beyond school."

"I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not," I replied.

This past week, one of the librarians stopped me and told me that she had decided I was a chameleon. "When you are in a suit," she said, "I think that a lawyer has just walked into the library. But today you are not in lawyer clothes. You are in jeans and you look like a different person."

Of course I would like to remain forever young, but this change I am going through has some benefits if I learn how to play it right- especially when I am wearing a suit...

It is officially exam season. I have to hit the books even harder. This will probably be my last entry until after graduation.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Adjusting My Attitude

2011-04-03T15:01:00.007-04:00

Almost every day now, someone asks me what it feels like to "almost be done" with law school.

From my sales experience, I know that I need to come up with a better answer than what I've been saying.

The smile on the face of the person asking me that question inevitably changes to a frown of confusion once I've given my long-winded answer.

My answer, more or less, goes like this:

"Really, it doesn't feel like I'm almost done. It just feels like one more hurdle that I have to clear in this whole process. I still have to take the final exams and pass the final exams. I'll go through the graduation ceremony not 100% sure that I've actually graduated. Then I have to spend about two and a half months getting ready for the bar exam while I wait for my degree to be officially conferred. At the end of July, I'll take the bar exam. Then I have to wait for results, which won't be released until mid or late September. Somewhere along the line, I've got to find a job. Assuming everything goes right in all this, I still won't become a lawyer for another six months from now- as one firm neatly pointed out to me in a recent job interview. So really, it does not feel like I'm almost done."

A poor first year student who innocently asked me the question and then listened to my rant, sheepishly responded, "Well...Good luck with that process," and hustled off.

While all of the above is true, I know my attitude is what counts. After that 1L student hurried away from me, an interview I'd seen with Joe Montana came to mind.

Joe Montana, a former NFL player for the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, is the greatest quarterback whom I personally have ever seen play the game.

This interview that came to mind took place a few days before he was to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. A reporter asked him what it felt like.

I can't remember Montana's exact quote, but it was to the effect that being inducted into the Hall felt like "the end." It felt like the last event before they piled the dirt on his coffin.

The reporter gave him the same look that the 1L and the other students have given me after my response to their questions about what it feels like to almost be done with law school.

By the time of Montana's actual enshrinement speech, however, he had adjusted his attitude. Here is an excerpt of what he said, taken from http://www.profootballhof.com:

"The Hall of Fame is a tremendous, tremendous honor. I had a very difficult time with it in the beginning cause I don’t think I was looking at it in the proper perspective. I saw the Hall of Fame as an ending point. I mentioned to a couple people that in some ways I felt like, wow I'm only 44-years-old, I feel like I’m in my grave, in my coffin, alive, and they’re putting, throwing dirt on me, and I can feel it, and I’m trying to get out. And it wasn’t until this weekend, these past three days, these gentlemen behind me [his fellow inductees], spending the time with them, that I think I really got the true meaning of what this is all about...I‘ve now seen the light, that this is not an ending point, this is a beginning point. This is the beginning of the rest of my life, post-career, with a new team. And take a look at these guys, what a team it is."

While graduating from law school is of course not the same thing as being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, this upcoming graduation ceremony will be the most significant achievement in my own life, thus far.

Yesterday, I went to a house party with some of my fellow law school students. At one point, as we all sat around a TV watching the NCAA Final Four games, I looked at each student and thought about how lucky I am to be here. Four or five years ago, I would have been elated to know that such a scene was in my future. I am surrounded by very intelligent and talented people at FSU Law, people who will go far in society.

Being invited to study with such a group at such an institution, to graduate with them, means that I have an obligation to be positive. I have an obligation to bring hope to people who come into contact with me.

So, it feels nice to "almost be done." The graduation ceremony will be the culmination of a lot of hard work, and a gateway into what I hope will be a bright future. There will always be more hurdles to clear, but I am looking forward to the challenge and the rewards that come from clearing them.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

A Squirrel's Escape, and the Best Ice Cream Ever

2011-03-27T13:42:00.014-04:00

As I carried my laundry back from the washroom at my apartment complex on Friday morning, out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a grey blur darting past me through the grass.

I turned and saw that the blur was in fact a squirrel, running full speed toward a large pine tree.

What was amazing was how fast this creature was moving. I've seen squirrels scurry away from me when I approached them. I've seen them run and hop out of the way of cars on the road, and I've seen them run from each other in the trees.

But this squirrel was not moving like that. Its tail was stiff, and it did not hop at all as it sprinted. Every muscle in its body seemed to be focused on generating speed and in keeping a beeline for that pine tree. It shot through the grass like an efficient, low flying bullet.

I thought, I've never seen a squirrel move like that. I've never seen a squirrel move that fast in my life.

But a second later, I understood why it was moving with such concentrated urgency.

All of a sudden, a magnificent hawk descended from the sky, its wings spread wide and talons outstretched. It came in right behind the squirrel and flew within a couple of inches of the tail.

The squirrel proved to be fast enough, though. It made it to the base of the tree. The hawk had to land short to keep from hitting the tree, but the squirrel hit it going full speed and disappeared around the other side of the trunk.

The hawk stood on the ground for less than two seconds before it flew up to perch on a nearby clothes line pole. It looked around, and then studied me for a few seconds before flying off.

The hawk did not stay still long enough for me to get a good look at its features other than its white and brown underside. It was probably either a red shouldered hawk or a red tail hawk. The squirrel escaped, but I do not know if it later succumbed to a heart attack...

After finishing my laundry, I headed out to the law school for "Admitted Students' Day." Each spring, FSU Law hosts such a day to entice those high quality applicants who have been fortunate enough to gain acceptance as part of the incoming fall class. As a law school ambassador, it was my job to give a tour of the campus facilities and resources. I did my best to convince these prospects that if they are committed to going to law school, then enrolling at FSU would be a good choice.

After the tour ended, I took the students to the law school rotunda where they were serving "Marble Slab" ice cream. I had never tasted Marble Slab ice cream before, and I got in line behind dozens of others who were waiting to be served. I felt sorry for the worker doing all the dipping, but he must have had very strong wrists and hands.

When it was my turn, I ordered vanilla ice cream with a cookie dough topping. The server scooped what I thought was a rather small portion of vanilla, and then literally put it on a cold marble slab in front of him. With two spatula-type instruments, he kneaded the cookie dough into the ice cream.

As I watched him work, I noted that the ice cream itself had more the density of a paste or a dough than the cream I was used to. It did not break up as he worked with it. After a few moments, the server put the ice cream in a paper cup and gave it to me with a spoon.

When I tasted it, I decided immediately that this was the best ice cream I had ever had in my life. The thickness and richness also made the serving much larger than I thought. One cup filled me up. I did not go back for seconds, despite it being the most delicious ice cream I had ever tasted.

This Marble Slab ice cream beat a longstanding record. Previously, the best ice cream I had ever eaten was on a summer day in Wake Forest, North Carolina, when I was about five years old. I was living at my grandmother's house, and all my cousins from that side of the family were there, along with my parents and my brother. I played in the yard with my cousins while the adults all sat around and talked.

The adults also set about making homemade chocolate ice cream, which we were all eager to taste. I remember my dad turning the churn by hand for what seemed like forever.

When it was finally ready, I remember how delicious and cold it tasted. Like the Marble Slab, the texture of that chocolate ice cream was different from any other I've ever had, too.

In later years, we made homemade ice cream again at family gatherings, but it was with an electric churn that did not need to be turned by hand. It was also never quite as good as that first time in Wake Forest.

The Marble Slab ice cream that I had on Friday was better, though. Here is a link to their business:

http://www.marbleslab.com/

After I finished eating it in the law school rotunda, I went to watch Florida State's baseball team take on Wake Forest at Dick Howser stadium. Wake Forest University's campus used to be in that town of the same name where I once lived with my grandmother and ate homemade ice cream for the first time, but the university moved to Winston-Salem some years before I was born.

It was an enjoyable day.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Flub

2011-03-16T09:10:00.003-04:00

Earlier this week, the professor in one of my classes created a neat game to help us understand the practical aspects of some of the broader ideas and themes of the course.

She passed out a sheet with the instructions and problems, and gave us a few minutes to think over our answers. Then she took out a football.

The professor randomly tossed it to one of the students in the class. After he caught it, she told him to answer the first problem on the instruction sheet. After he did so, she told him to throw the ball to another student.

As soon as that first student answered the problem, I knew I was in trouble.

I had completely misunderstood the directions, and my answers were way off from what the professor was looking for. No sooner did I realize this when the football was in the air again, heading right at me.

I didn’t catch it. I ducked out of the way and let the ball land with a hard “BAM!” on the table in front of me. It bounced to the floor.

Everyone in the class went silent and just stared at me. The ball rolled ever so slowly to the middle of the class.

I mumbled something about an incomplete pass or a fumble, but it got no laughs. The professor looked at me with a blank expression.

I stood up, walked to the center of the room, picked up the ball, and returned to my seat.

Everyone was waiting. I stared down at my paper for a moment. Eventually, I said that I had misunderstood the instructions, and read off my totally irrelevant answer.

Everyone was still waiting. But I had nothing, and there wasn’t enough time to think. For the first time in my law school career, I froze.

Crickets chirping.

Finally, the professor offered me the dreaded, “tail tucked between my legs” escape that I had heard offered to other students in other classes a few times before:

“Would you like the assistance of co-counsel?”

I quickly answered, “Yes.”

Law school goal #8: Go the entire three years without embarrassing myself when called on in class/ Always be prepared and never have to ask for “the assistance of co-counsel.”

Result of law school goal #8: Fail.

One of my friends sitting behind me offered to take a “lateral.”

I tossed the ball back to him, nearly knocking over his water bottle in the process.

The rest of the class went on with the game, tossing the ball back and forth and giving the correct answers. Apparently, I was the only one who had misunderstood the directions.

After class ended and I was walking out, the professor gave me a smile of what I took to be pity.

It was a nice start to the day.

Hopefully, I won't have a similar misunderstanding when the professor passes out the instructions on final exam day.

Beware the Ides of March,

Nathan Marshburn

The Last Resume Goals

2011-03-11T14:28:00.003-05:00

The last remaining goals for my law school resume are to make the Dean's List one more time and then, more importantly, graduate with honors. Right now, my GPA puts me in that position, but it is close and I am trying to hold it.

Because of the law school curve system, a grade in the 80s is actually not bad, compared to the rest of the student body. For example, only 3% of the students in a given class may receive a grade of 98 to 100. The professor does not have to give anyone such a grade if he or she so chooses. 5% to 15% of the class may receive a grade from 93 to98, 10% to 25% may receive grades from 86 to 92, and so forth.

Right now, my GPA is 85 point something. While this would have sounded horrible to me in high school or as an undergraduate in college, it actually places me inside the top 25% of my class in law school (There is also an "upper level" GPA that excludes first year courses, but I am not sure this figure is relevant for graduation honors).

An average of 86 or better during a given semester will earn you a spot on the Dean's List. If your overall GPA is higher than 84 when you finish law school, then you graduate Cum Laude.

Grades have been my primary focus during law school. I have not held a job during the school year so that I could spend more time on academics. The Mock Trial Team has been my second highest priority, but I have not done much above the minimum membership requirements for that organization, and I have only competed in the minimum number of required tournaments.

This is not the story for many of my colleagues. Some have families to support or otherwise need the money, and thus do not have the luxury of using only loans to get them through school.

Another group of students elect to work during the school year with the hope of making connections that will lead to a full time job. Landing a career job, after all, is the end game here. There are two basic ways to get a career job: 1) Through outstanding grades and extracurricular accomplishments, or 2) by making a connection with a person who can open a door. A few of my friends took jobs as part time clerks at law firms after becoming frustrated with their grades.

Given the amount of time that I have devoted to classes and studying, I would like my GPA to be higher than 85 point something. But there it is. We will see if it was worth not trying to make connections by working during the school year, or enhancing my resume by putting more effort into the Mock Trial Team.

If I held a job during the school year, my grades would take a big hit. If I had competed in more Mock Trial tournaments or held an office in the organization, my grades would take a hit.

Last year, I had a conversation with the newly elected president of one of the major law school organizations. She also worked as a clerk at a law firm, and had family issues that took up a lot of her time.

I asked her, "How are you going to do all that and still keep decent grades?"

She replied, "My game plan is to land a job before my grades crash."

But the real wonders are the students who have other major time commitments and still make the top grades in school. Some of my friends hold an office on the Law Review, the school's most prestigious student organization, in addition to having a part time job, in addition to being a member of other premier law school organizations. And yet they will graduate Magna Cum Laude or Summa Cum Laude.

What can I say? More power to them. I've done the best I could in law school. It is too expensive to come here and not try hard. If I had law school to do over, I really would not do much differently. At least that is my thinking right now. Perhaps I would make more of an effort to join the Law Review, though I know I would not have enjoyed the work that is required of its members. I also might make more of an effort to publish a paper, though again, this would not have been enjoyable.

In order to graduate from FSU Law, every student has to take a "paper class" and write a paper of publishable quality. The paper is your grade in lieu of a final exam. I worked very hard in my "paper class," and it turned out pretty well. That paper got me one of my highest grades in law school. It was the first law school class that I ever "booked." Writing that darn paper was also the most exhausting experience I've had in law school. It was the first time in my life that I ever wrote something substantial using only a computer. Normally, I hand write everything first and then type it up (a system that would be completely unacceptable in a law firm that utilizes the billable hour model). By the time I finished my final draft, I had stared at a computer screen for so long and hard, bounced back and forth so much between my paper and Westlaw or LexisNexis, that my eyes literally felt like two golf balls bouncing around inside my skull. The dizzying sensation stayed with me for about three days.

So, it was not a close decision about whether or not I would try to write a second paper in law school (as is required of Law Review members).

But some of the best students here actually enroll in all the paper classes they can. They prefer writing papers to taking final exams. Again, more power to them.

Three final exams remain for me. One exam is scheduled for the day before the graduation ceremony. The chances to distinguish myself and tag my resume with law school accolades have almost entirely come and gone, now. I've had successes and failures, but I've given my maximum effort short of making myself miserable.

I hope I can perform well enough on these last exams to hold the line and always be able to put "graduated with honors" out beside my degree.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Three Directions

2011-03-03T19:55:00.006-05:00

I was watching a game on TV one day when Lee Corso, an ESPN college football analyst who played for Florida State said, "Life is about change, and your ability to adapt to it."

In my first semester of law school, I readily made the change to this new environment and to living in my small apartment in Alumni Village. School has always been enjoyable and an easy adjustment for me. But an even bigger change is coming in just a few months- after I graduate and take the bar exam. I am trying to get ready for it. The difficulty is figuring out exactly how I need to change. It can be mentally exhausting. Job openings in this economy are scarce. Interviews are even scarcer. If I get an interview, I need to wow the employer. I need to hit a home run.

My experiences in law school have shown me a few things that I do not want to do. For example, working under the billable hour system is not for me. I will not bother going into details as to why I dislike that system, but unfortunately, this aversion wipes out many avenues of employment. Most law firms utilize the billable hour model.

I've managed to narrow my thinking about the future to three directions, each of which requires a very different mindset. In no particular order of preference, they are:

1) Plaintiff's Civil Litigation Attorney:

I would be good at this.

Much of my focus during law school has been in developing skills as a trial lawyer and a knowledge base in personal injury/wrongful death/workers’ compensation practice.

Personal injury, workers’ comp and wrongful death became primary choices for practice in large part due to my experience as a law clerk with Parks & Crump, LLC in Tallahassee. It is much more satisfying to see the face of the client I represent, to know them as a person, and to fight and win a personal victory for them. I would not be happy working for the other side, billing hours day after day to a faceless client, helping (in the words of Mr. Crump) Goliath defeat David.

In order to succeed in this field, though, I need to take on more "walking around stress" than I have as a student. To be a good advocate, I have to be willing to go into fights for my clients on a daily basis. My clients' cases will always be one of if not the single most important thing in their lives at that given time. My clients will put a lot of hope in me. The partners of the firm, my fellow attorneys, the paralegals, will all have expectations of me. Their livelihood will depend on how I perform. To take on this kind of responsibility and high stakes gamesmanship will require disciplined thinking on my part. I will have to become a somewhat different person than I am now.

To succeed in job interviews for a plaintiff's civil litigation attorney, I need to already be thinking like this. I need to get ready.

2) Criminal Defense Attorney/ Public Defender

I would be good at this.

Back on September 10, 2010, I wrote a blog entry about my pro bono work with the Leon County Public Defender. It was an enjoyable experience.

In order to be a successful criminal defense attorney in private practice, you almost have to put in your time with a Public Defender's Office or State Attorney's Office. Many people make careers there, particularly in the Public Defender's Office. The "walking around stress" would be cut down some, as the state will take care of my salary and the livelihoods of my support staff. Criminal law is more fun than the civil side, too. On the other hand, I would be in court a lot more. Parks & Crump typically goes to trial only about twice per year. As a public defender, though, I will have the daily stress of almost literally holding a person's life in my hands. The words I say to a jury, how I act in front of them and the judge, will decide if my client (guilty or innocent) goes free, goes to prison, or perhaps goes to the lethal injection table. To get ready for this job, I need more independent study of criminal law and procedure. Most of my electives in law school have been to help me prepare as a civil litigator. I never took Criminal Procedure-Adjudication ("From Bail to Jail"); I never took Dean Logan's legendary Criminal Procedure-Police class ("Cops and Robbers"). I also skipped the criminal pre-trial drafting courses that many students interested in this area of law took. Still, I have all the confidence I need to be successful here. More than any other area of law, I think I could quickly become competent here.

But to succeed in these job interviews, I need to already be thinking like a criminal defense attorney. I need to get ready.

3) Sales in the legal field.

I would be good at this.

There is a possible option to not practice law altogether and instead go into a sales career, either with the bar prep company which I now work for as a student, or with the publishing and internet research giants used by law schools and law firms- Wolters Kluwer, LexisNexis or Westlaw.

I already possess many of the fundamental skills necessary for success in sales, though it did not come naturally. By nature, I am an introvert, but my experience in auto sales before coming to law school opened up a new world and a new way of thinking to me. After a few months practice, I finally began to instinctively see a situation and think, "Now what would the good salesman do?"

The mindset needed to be successful in sales is what I already have to a large extent, but it is a 180 degree turn from what I need to be a successful trial lawyer. In sales, it is not good practice to dislike anyone. Anyone. But for a trial lawyer, there are different rules.

For example, earlier this semester, I had to prepare for a Mock Trial tournament. Our case was a criminal one, a murder trial. I was the prosecutor, and my chief assignments were to tear up the defendant (an accused throat slasher) on cross examination and then tear him up again in my closing argument before the jury.

In getting my mind ready, in drafting my cross examination questions and in practicing how I would say them, I was aware that it was affecting my job as a sales rep for my bar prep company. I was not as friendly to people. I did not bother studying them as much to pay attention to their likes and dislikes. I also was surprised when I began forgetting some students' names. In sales, I learned tricks to remember peoples' names. But in getting ready for this trial, the tricks faded in my mind, and so did the names. I was thinking instead about how to get the jury angry with the defendant, about how to make the jury feel moral revulsion over what he had done.

Now that the Mock Trial tournament is over, I am good to go for sales interviews again. But if I start to get ready for other types of interviews, criminal law or civil litigation, I will lose this edge...

All right, that's enough complaining. I am graduating from a top 50 law school in two months. I am in much better shape than most people.

It would just be less tiring to know exactly how I should be training my mind right now. As it is, I worry about being mediocre or indecisive in interviews. But we'll see where I land.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Birmingham and Mock Trial

2011-02-25T16:49:00.004-05:00

Today in Tallahassee, I found pollen on my car for the first time this year. I also turned on the air conditioner in my car for the first time since September or October. During my drive to school, I saw a dogwood tree in full bloom. I am glad that the cold weather is fading away...

And last weekend, I had the privilege of competing in my final Mock Trial tournament. I was part of a team that Florida State Law sent to the Texas Young Lawyer's Association (TYLA) regional competition. This tournament is one of if not the most popular Mock Trial tournaments in the country. It is a national event, with many of the law schools in the country sending a team to their respective regional contest. Our region includes Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. The regional winners go on to Houston in April for the finals.

The Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham served as this year's regional host. The city has a beautiful courthouse where all the teams competed. My team did fairly well. We beat Barry University, the University of Miami, and lost a close contest to the University of Alabama. Our 2-1 record wasn't quite good enough to reach the semifinals, so we were done with the competition on Saturday night.

This gave us the opportunity to see a little of the city. During our trip, we stayed at the Sheraton in downtown Birmingham. On Saturday night, Kid Rock performed right across the street. To my surprise, he has quite a following. Kid Rock groupies filled up the rooms of the hotel, and well before the concert began my hall was littered with beer bottles and empty cigarette boxes. I enjoyed mingling with the fans before I hit the town Saturday night. I was used to their thick southern accents, but to hear guys speaking the southern working class dialect while wearing all black and eyeliner was a bit unique.

When we left the hotel, my teammates and I took a cab to a section of town called "The Five Points." This area had a good feel to it. We discovered a cool little place called The Blue Monkey Lounge tucked at the end of a cobblestone street. My teammates' company, the atmosphere, the music, the drinks, and the women there were fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and all of us, I think, appreciated blowing off some steam. If I am ever in Birmingham again, "The Five Points" is a place to which I would return. Here is a link to the Blue Monkey Lounge website: http://bluemonkeylounge.com/

As far as the competition itself, my only regret is that I did not get a chance to go in more trials. Each time I compete, I feel myself getting stronger, getting better. I was conscious of how good I felt once the trial got going. Sure, I was nervous before and during the competition. That will probably always be there, and sometimes the nerves show through a bit. But I was also aware of my confidence. It is not an overstatement to say that for certain flashes during the trial, I felt invincible.

That feeling, that rush, is the best thing the Mock Trial Team has given me. I have learned and continue to learn a lot about how trials work and what I need to do to win. And, foolishly or not, I now believe that I can beat anyone in a courtroom on a given day... Bring in the top trial lawyers in the country. I'll go head to head with them. Bring in anyone with style and presence: President Obama, Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise from A Few Good Men, I'll take on whomever walks into the courtroom. This is silly boasting, I know, but it is really a great, rare feeling when this kind of rush hits me before or during a trial.

Anyway, my Mock Trial competition days are over, and I am a little sad about that. I think that if there was a 4L year in law school, I would stop focusing so much on my grades and instead compete in as many tournaments as I could. Once you really start learning what to do, Mock Trial can become addictive.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Preparing for the Practice of Law

2011-02-12T15:50:00.004-05:00

My decision to go to law school was a way to hit the reset button on my life. I was not happy with the direction I was going, and I wanted to learn skills that would make me more valuable in society- a trade that would make me more employable.

Prior to law school, the closest I had come to learning a trade was sales. I had also worked for the Post Office, but this simply involved brute manual labor. Working for the Post Office did nothing to prepare me for any sort of other job.

Sales was a fascinating experience, though. I took a job with a car dealership in Las Vegas. Management put me out on the lot, and the veteran salesmen were amused to watch me crash and burn with one customer after another. It was clear to everyone that I had no idea what I was doing. But I was paid totally on commission, so I was only really hurting my own wallet. Management watched me, though. If I got a qualified buyer in and seemed to be making progress, they would send over one of the three or four "closers" who worked there to make sure the deal got done. One closer, a sharp guy named Rod who was originally from Hawaii, would actually kick me under the table if I said something wrong to a customer.

Sales was a complete fog to me at first, but I eventually began to learn some things through failed experience, watching what the veterans did, and reading a very good book on selling.

I continued to work in auto sales after I made the decision to return to school. Ironically, in the five or six months in between my decision to go back to school and the start of classes, I became pretty good at my job. It was probably due in part to the fact that I was more relaxed. I had made my decision. There was no need to push too hard, as I knew I was leaving soon.

Anyway, management began letting me close my own deals. During one of our weekly sales meetings, a manager had me stand up. He told the group that my progress over the past few months had been tremendous, and he wanted me to share the secret of my success with them. I said that I simply found a part of the deal that I believed in. I got excited about it, and I tried to convey that excitement to the customer...

Now, less than three months from graduation from law school, I find myself trying to learn a new trade again. The practice of law will be far different from law school . Law school gives you some fundamental tools, but school is largely a world unto itself. There are also certain similarities between the practice of law and the art of selling, but there is no doubt that I have to get myself into a new mindset. Here are two of the most stark adjustments I am trying to make:

1) Changing the importance of being a nice guy.

In sales, "Make the customer like you" is a cardinal rule if not the most important rule of all. My sales performance improved once I began thinking of the business as "the science of being liked." You never argue with a customer in sales. You may win the argument, but you will lose the sale.

In law, I am not convinced that being a nice guy is important. Sure, you should always be courteous and polite. But your client is not hiring you to be a nice guy. Your client is hiring you to win their legal argument. Particularly in trial law, I think this holds true. Many of the trial lawyers I am meeting strike me as being confident to the point of arrogance. I do not hold this against them. You almost have to be arrogant and stubborn to be successful. Time and again in law school, I have heard that law is an adversarial system, and I've seen a little of how contentious it can get. If I am always being humble, trying to adhere to the science of being liked, then I am probably not serving my client very well.

In sales, ideally you want the whole process to be so smooth and pleasant for everyone involved that the same customer will come back to you again and again and also send you referrals.

But in trial law, you want to inspire fear- or at least hesitation- in the other side. There are some great lines from the movie, The Verdict, starring Paul Newman. Newman plays Frank Galvin, an attorney representing a woman in a coma due to the medical negligence of a Catholic hospital.

At one one point in the movie, another attorney, Mickey, asks him, "Do you know who the attorney for the Archdiocese is? Eddie Concannon."

Galvin replies, "He's a good man."

Mickey: "He's a good man?! He's the F***ing Prince of Darkness! He'll have people in there testifying that they saw this broad Tuesday on a surfboard in Hyannis!"

...Hopefully, in sales no one ever calls you the F***ing Prince of Darkness.

2) Eye wear.

Repetitive motion jobs take their toll on parts of the body. I observed this in the mail carriers I worked with and the health problems that they experienced.

If you're going to be a lawyer, you might as well resign yourself to the toll all the reading off computer screens is going to take on your eyes. Several people I know have had to get glasses or stronger prescriptions since coming to law school. My own vision has slightly worsened- though not to the point where I need glasses (my dominant performance at table tennis over the Christmas break convinced me that I don't need glasses, yet).

Losing my eyesight has always been a big fear. I always thought that people who wore glasses could not see anything beyond a certain range- that it all literally turned to black after 500 yards or so. As my own vision has suffered some wear, though, I am relieved to learn that vision loss does not quite work that way. I can still perceive color from far away.

One day, I was looking down Jefferson Street at a stoplight. It had to be over 500 yards distant. The light looked like a fuzzy prism and had no clear borders. I thought to myself, "Now, three years ago I would have been able to see the circle of that light clearly. It would not be fuzzy."

But I could still see the change from green to yellow to red.

That's good enough, I guess. As long as I can perceive color and light from as far away as I always have, and as long as I can clearly focus on things close to me, I'll take it.

In sales, this was obviously not a problem. I was outside on the car lot most of the time, and got to stretch my eyes, so to speak, by looking at the mountains on the horizon outside of Vegas. Or I could look up at the huge tower of the Stratosphere casino. Planes also came in for a landing right over our dealership. I could see strange white passenger airliners with no markings on them but a red stripe down each side. Rod, the closer from Hawaii, told me that those planes carried the employees of Area 51 back and forth. They landed at a location called JANET at the airport, which stood for "Just another non-existent terminal." Who knows if Rod was telling me the truth.

There are other changes to my mindset worth noting, but this entry has already taken too much time. I need to get back to studying Complex Civil Litigation.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

3L Stress

2011-02-02T16:43:00.009-05:00

Beginning last semester, and increasing this semester, I sense a new kind of stress among some of my fellow students graduating with me in May. The tension is completely related, I believe, to the pressure of finding a job.

Florida State Law has an outstanding career placement record- perhaps better than any of the other ten law schools in this state. We will all land jobs eventually. But the current condition of the economy has hit almost every occupational area hard. The legal field is no exception. Fewer of the big law firms are hiring. It is harder than in years past, I think.

I am feeling the stress a little myself- not so much because I'm worried about finding a job. There is always room for a good lawyer, and I have the tools to become a great trial lawyer. Even if it is September before I get a job, one is coming. The stress, for me, arises from not knowing exactly what the next chapter is, along with hoping I do not rush into a situation where I will be unhappy- while at the same time making sure that I do not pass up a golden opportunity. Also, there is the peer pressure. Many of my friends are in the top 10% of the class. Most of these students do in fact already have jobs lined up. When they ask me where I am going and what I have lined up, I have to say, "I do not know, yet."

Last semester, these same top students were probably feeling a stress similar to what I am feeling now. Last semester, they were applying for judicial clerkships. A judicial clerkship is a prestigious position in which a person works for a specific judge. The judicial clerk reviews pleadings and other documents submitted to the judge for the accuracy of the legal arguments. Clerks also help judges with research and in drafting opinions. In short, clerks work side by side with the judge and do much of the heavy lifting.

For federal judicial clerkships, the top students from the best law schools submit their application materials via OSCAR (The Online System for Clerkship Application and Review). The judges then cherry pick whom they want to interview and hire. One of the best things a new lawyer can have on his or her resume is a federal clerkship. The clerkships typically last one or two years. Large law firms will be more than happy to hire a student fresh out of law school, and then hold the job for that student while he or she works as a judicial clerk for a couple of years.

Last semester, when the window on the OSCAR system opened for applications, I remember a friend posting as her Facebook status, "Let the rejections begin!" Another student commented, "Let the anxiety begin!" Both of these students received well deserved clerkships and will be working for federal judges after graduation. The FSU students who were not selected still have a wealth of options available.

Even if I had the top grades to get a foot in the door with OSCAR, I am not sure that is a job I would enjoy or one in which I would excel. You have to be tremendous at research and legal writing (and legal writing is a completely different animal from writing a blog, believe me). You must have the ability to become competent in different areas of the law in a short amount of time. Much of what we learn in law school is so complicated and related to logical reasoning that I compare it to math proofs or algebraic equations. Working as a judicial clerk, for me, would be like having to sit in a room and quickly solve proofs and equations, one right after the other, all day, every day. Judicial clerks finish their tenure with a wealth of great legal experience, especially in dealing with the arguments on paper.

I would not want to have to go up against a former federal judicial clerk in an appellate brief writing contest.

But standing in front of a six or twelve person jury at a trial- that is a different story. I am more comfortable there, and I have a lot more confidence in my ability to win. Using the law and facts to persuade a jury is much more up my alley than analyzing all sides of the legal arguments for a judge.

Anyway, we will see what happens. I think the immediate future is largely unknown for most students in my class at FSU Law. It is not unnatural for us all to feel some anxiety about that.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Staying Off the Roof

2011-01-27T14:10:00.003-05:00

Brutally cold weather has swept through the northeastern United States over the past few days. The AFC championship game in Pittsburgh was played in single digit temperature, with a wind chill below zero. A picture on the Internet showed a car in New York City completely encased in ice after a water pipe broke. This part of Florida has been cold, too, with temperatures dipping into the 20s at night.

Last week, a professor gave our class one of the best reasons for going to law school that I have heard in a while. He told our class about watching a construction worker walking around on top of a roof near his office. A harness and tether laid on the roof, but the worker was not using them. Perhaps the harness was heavy and uncomfortable. It was a hot day. The professor then began to explain some of the legal consequences if the worker happened to fall and be injured or killed.

"I used to tell people," he said, "that I went to law school so that I did not have to go up on roofs."

I had to smile at the simple honesty of his reasoning. It made me think about one of the reasons that I enrolled in law school.

In the not too distant past, I was employed by the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier in the Washington, DC area. Without getting into too many details, it was not a job that I enjoyed or that I was very good at, though I gained a new respect for the people who do that kind of work.

Working out of the station in northern Virginia, I was required to put in 10 or 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, doing heavy lifting all day long. My weight was 155 lbs. when I started the job. After six months, it was down to 135 lbs. And then there was the cold. Trying to do all that lifting of endless crates of mail in a bone chilling wind, trying to finger through stacks for individual magazines or letters when I could no longer feel my fingers, always being told "Go faster. You have to move faster," was too much. I opted to go back to school.

Last weekend, I saw a picture on the Internet of a mail carrier in Maine, bundled up and trying his best to do the job in the elements. It was more than sympathy I felt for him. I was genuinely empathetic.

So, I suppose I could say one of my reasons for going to law school was so I didn't have to deliver mail in the cold.

Part of my motivation as a lawyer will be to do a good job for working people like the guy in Maine when he comes into my office. I was fortunate to be born with a high enough IQ to get into law school. I was fortunate to be raised in an environment that allowed me to receive the education that I needed to get into law school. When my roof needs to be repaired, or I use the Post Office to send a package somewhere in the dead of winter, I realize that service is being performed by people whose job I would not want and that I probably could not do very well.

I can be a good lawyer, though, and fight a good battle for the mail carrier or construction worker when he or she comes into my office with a legal problem. That is my arena, my sphere.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Places to Study

2011-01-17T21:11:00.002-05:00

At least as far as I can tell, there is no correlation between law school grades and where a person chooses to study. But it is interesting to watch the study habits of my colleagues.

Personally, I like the second floor of the library. There is an open area of nine tables where I usually sit. It is the only section of the library where talking is permitted. Many of the same faces greet me each day when I come into the library and head over to those tables. One of my friends has taken to calling our group "The 2nd Floor Library Club." Last semester, the 3L students who comprise The 2nd Floor Library Club held a potluck at the library during exams. The food was surprisingly good, with home baked cookies and cupcakes. There was also fresh fruit, pretzels, doughnuts, bagels and some nice beverages. I brought a box of "Cheez-Its," which nobody ate.

The atmosphere on the 1st and 3rd floors of the library is decidedly different. You are expected to be completely quiet here. There are far more cubicles than tables on these floors, so that you are boxed in when you sit down. Quite a few of my friends prefer this environment. They usually sit in the exact same cubicle for hours on end, and I can only see the tops of their heads when I walk past the desks.

Still another group of students avoid the library altogether as much as possible. A couple of my friends who are at the very top of my class are rarely seen in the library. I asked one of them why she did not study there. She replied that the library freaks her out. She can feel everyone's stress in there. I cannot argue with her system. She has the GPA to back it up. In truth, most of the married law school students go home to study rather than to the library. Law school takes enough of their time away from being with their spouses.

The law review house, just outside the main classroom building, is probably another popular place for some of our best and brightest to study. I've been inside a couple of times as a visitor. The law review is the most prestigious extracurricular organization at the school. Accordingly, the house is quiet, comfortably furnished, and had a nice aroma both times I was there.

Still, I prefer the space of the 2nd floor of the library. It is much larger than my apartment, for one. Also, I am trying to enjoy the freedom to study at my own pace, to move around and talk to my law school friends, while it lasts. I like being able to take a quick break by looking up from my textbook and asking a friend at the next table about the upcoming Florida State basketball game. Some of the students in law school are real characters and comedians. I appreciate listening to the jokes they make at the second floor tables, too.

In about six months, after we graduate and take the bar exam, these same students will scatter all across the state and the country. The places we study, and perhaps how we study, will become very different.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Drive to Florida

2011-01-08T20:25:00.004-05:00

Classes for the spring semester begin on Monday the 10th. Yesterday, I made the 10 hour drive back from North Carolina to Tallahassee. As I headed down Interstate 95 South, the time alone in my car gave me a chance to think about the Christmas gatherings with my family, and to contemplate the future.

It was nice to see my aunts, uncles and cousins back in NC. Several of them asked me how much longer I had in law school, and were surprised when I replied, "Just one more semester, if everything goes according to plan." My time in school has flown by for both them and myself.

"Wow, so you're pretty much a lawyer now," one of my cousins said.

"Not quite," I answered. "I still have to pass the bar exam after I graduate."

I could not help but notice that a few family members were studying me like never before. The best way that I can describe their look is as if they thought I knew some important secret. The way they looked at me and asked me questions about school reminded me of the privilege and opportunity I was given when I received the acceptance letter from Florida State Law back in the spring of 2008.

Yesterday when I began my drive from NC, the morning was cold, overcast and drizzling. The temperature had not climbed much above the freezing mark. But as I headed south toward Florida, I could see the end of the cloud cover in front of me, growing larger. Though it was only one or two o'clock in the afternoon, the sunlight shining off the cloud edges had the colors of a sunrise. By the time I was in Georgia, the clouds were all gone and it felt warm to stand outside and pump gas into my car.

As I drove, I thought about graduation from law school. Graduation will mean the taking on of responsibility- responsibility for my clients and for my fellow attorneys whose livelihood and welfare of their families is invested in the success of the firm. At Christmas, I looked at my parents and thought about all the responsibilities they had shouldered in their lives. My dad, as the top manager for an entire county of probation officers (and a county containing the largest military base in the world). My mother, for all the disabled and mentally handicapped children she taught over the years. My mother as well for all the meals that she cooked for us as a family and all the rooms in the house that she constantly cleaned.

Each morning, my parents got up before dawn to head to their stress-filled jobs. 25 to 30 years they did this. And now, they are both enjoying well deserved retirements.

Over the break, I caught myself complaining about the hours in front of a computer screen that a lawyer must spend. But I stopped when I thought about my parents and the work of their lives.

It's my turn, now. Soon it will be "The Real World, Part II." This time, I will have a law degree from a great school. As I headed down I-95 to Jacksonville and then I-10 to Tallahassee, it became clear in my mind that not disappointing my parents is the chief motivator in my life. They worked very hard to help me get to this point. I owe it to them to do my very best to become successful- as a trial lawyer or through whatever other doors this degree opens for me.

I hope that I can remember these thoughts and this goal as I make decisions for the future.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Losing Cool Points

2010-12-22T23:37:00.003-05:00

The real world is fast approaching. Only one more semester of law school remains for me, if everything goes according to plan.

One of the things that I will miss most about law school is being around a bunch of bright and witty people in their early and mid 20s. My brain tells me that I am the same age as this group. If I did not know how old I was, I would say that I am 23. The face I see in the mirror is beginning to tell me a different story, though. Almost all of my friends from high school and college are now married with children. Quite a few have found me on Facebook after years without contact. It is startling how different some of them look. I wonder if I appear just as different to them.

A great thing about hanging out with law school students is that they help keep me on track with what is cool. I've never had a feel for that. When I was in high school, I remember playing in a pick up basketball game. One guy in particular trash talked a lot. I sank a shot in his face, and then tried to come up with some cool and original trash talk of my own. I can't remember what I said, but everyone stopped playing and burst into laughter. One of my teammates looked at me and said, "Dude, you just lost mad cool points." I had to laugh, too, as I'd never heard that phrase before.

While I may never be able to recognize on my own what is cool, being around students has helped. If I had never gone back to school, it is doubtful that I ever would have learned that wearing your shirt tail outside of your jeans is cool (if the shirt tail is not too long). I never would have learned that dark jeans are cooler than light jeans (the exact opposite of when I grew up), that my jeans should be so long that they are almost dragging the floor, that Mad Men is a cool TV show (I've watched three or four episodes- I guess I can see why), that Jersey Shore is also a cool TV show (though just why it is cool is more of a puzzle to me), that running in bulky sweat clothes is not as cool as running in sleek spandex type material which will keep you just as warm, that The North Face brand name is cool, that denim collars are not cool, and neither are sweaters that Bill Cosby might wear (at least such sweaters are not cool on me). I also would never have established a Facebook account if I had not gone back to school. Before I set up the account in 2007, I asked a friend which would be better- Facebook or MySpace. He replied, "MySpace is so 2006." There are also dozens of cool videos on YouTube or other websites that I never would have discovered on my own. The list can go on...

Of course, a lot of what is cool now will not be cool five years from now. And when I leave law school, I'll lose touch. It is somewhat of a concern for me, once I begin the practice of law. The school environment has made me happy. I hope I can stay happy once I am sitting behind a desk at a law firm, just me and a computer screen for hours each day. Except for the occasional interruption of a partner or other lawyer coming in to talk to me, I will be alone with my thoughts. There will be no array of law school students to study and observe and with whom I can exchange ideas. I know that I will quickly lose all of my accumulated "cool points."

While I will hate to lose this ability to recognize cool people and things, I have long since become comfortable with the fact that I am usually not cool myself. I think there has been just one night in my whole life when I passed for cool, and I have law school to thank for it. That was the night that the Mock Trial Team called me to say that I'd made the team. I was at Potbelly's club when the team members called my cell phone. Many of those who tried out were enjoying a combined social event there with Florida State's law school and medical school students. Word got around that I had made the team. Girls came up to me as I stood along the wall and asked me to dance with them. Some called me a "Rock Star" and a "Baller." A few gave me looks like I've never seen directed at me before or since that night. For that moment in time, I was cool.

We will see what the future holds. I have no idea where I will be or what I will be doing one year from now. Hopefully, my hard work at Florida State Law will turn into a career where perhaps, just perhaps, I can enjoy a few more nights of passing for cool.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Back to the Future in the Civic Center Parking Lot

2010-12-17T00:27:00.008-05:00

One night a few weeks ago, I left the law school library close to midnight. Walking up Pensacola Street toward the multi-decked garage where my car was located, I passed by the large and now totally empty Leon County Civic Center parking lot. It had rained that night, a warm soaking rain that made the orange glow of the street lamps reflect off the asphalt.

A lone car zoomed up from behind me on Pensacola, and then cut in front of me to zip into the Civic Center parking lot. I recognized it as an old model Toyota Celica.

To my fascination, the driver turned his wheels sharply and slid his car across the lot, nearly going up on two wheels. The driver began doing all sorts of sliding stunts at a high rate of speed. I stopped walking and leaned up against a railing to watch the show. He put his car in reverse, floored the gas pedal, then whipped the car around to speed forward. More than once, I thought the car was going to flip over.

The nighttime stunts in this large, empty lot reminded me immediately of a couple of scenes from Back to the Future, one of the great movies of the 80s and one of the best time travel movies ever made. In one scene from the film, Marty McFly has to get a DeLorean up to 88 mph in an empty mall parking lot to jump back in time and escape terrorists. At the end of the movie, there is another scene where Marty travels back to that same moment and is actually able to watch himself from a distance as the DeLorean races through the mall parking lot.

I felt a little like I was in a movie, leaning up against a railing and watching this car speeding and skidding across the lot. The driver continued his tricks for about two or three minutes before zooming out of the lot and away down Pensacola Street...

While this story has little to do with law school (and not to condone what was probably illegal activity), it was unique to come out of the law library after many hours of study and be entertained by a real life scene reminiscent of one of my favorite childhood movies.

I tried to find a movie clip on the Internet of the two scenes from Back to the Future that I am talking about. Nothing was very good, though. Instead, I found an enthralling clip on YouTube that a guy almost as nerdy as me about the movie has posted. He retraces in his own car the route that the DeLorean took through the actual Twin Pines Mall parking lot- only it is the daytime, cars are everywhere, and he is driving much, much slower. Check it out. Or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51c-lRPokj8

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Exams, Gator Tail and a Cold Front

2010-12-10T14:03:00.002-05:00

My fifth round of law school exams is now behind me. As exam seasons go, this time was less stressful than the other four. Most probably, it was due to experience and that I was pleased with how much I learned in studying for exams. A couple of classes came together for me more clearly over the last three weeks once I started preparing for the exam.

Still, it was a push. I remember one day this week, being in the library at a table and reading my class notes. A very bright friend of mine walked past the table. He is a fellow third year student, and on the law review. He was also in my "section" during the first year, meaning we had all of our first year classes together. You make a special bond with those students. As he walked past my table, he and I exchanged knowing looks. We'd both been through this before, and at that moment we were both in the thicket. We both knew what had to be done to be successful. He returned to his desk, and I looked back down to my notes as we continued our hours and hours of review... Now, I wait for the grades.

Before exams began, though, I took time to enjoy a huge annual event that alternates between Tallahassee and Gainesville- the football game between the Florida State Seminoles and the University of Florida Gators. Well over 80,000 people crowded into Doak Campbell Stadium on November 27th to watch the game.

At the tail gate prior to the game, I had the opportunity to taste gator tail for the first time in my life. This was not alligator meat that someone bought from the grocery store. One of my law school friends has a brother who actually went into the swamp on a fan boat and killed this gator with a bang stick.

They deep fried the meat right at the tail gate. It looked like chicken nuggets, and at first it tasted like chicken nuggets, too. After my fourth bite, though, a sort of gamey flavor covered my tongue- almost like a chemical. I was done. It was neat to try this new food, but I am also glad that they had hamburgers.

The football game itself was enjoyable, too. Florida State routed the Gators for the first time in several years. A large number of Florida State Law students were unhappy about that, though, as they spent their undergraduate years at UF...

A few days later, another new thing happened to me. I was walking back from the Suwannee Room dining hall, up Jefferson Street toward the law school. The sky had been patchy grey with clouds all day. Now it was after dark, but the weather was pleasantly warm enough to be dressed in a t-shirt and shorts. I reached the intersection of Macomb and Jefferson Streets, where the law school is. Cars were parked everywhere. Across from the law school is Leon County Civic Center, where Florida State plays its basketball games. At that moment, the men's team was taking on the #2 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes as part of the ACC/Big 10 challenge.

As I crossed the street to go into the library, a gust of frigid air struck me from out of nowhere. It suddenly became very windy, with tree limbs bending and leaves and twigs flying all over.

I realized that I had just experienced the very front edge of a cold front. This was the night of November 30th. By the next morning, the temperature had dropped drastically. I went for a run that day in ear muffs for the first time this season. On the morning of December 2nd, I had to scrape ice off of my car windows. It is still getting below freezing at night right now...

So, exams are done. I debated going out to celebrate with the first year students. I remember well what a huge relief it was to be done after both my first and second semesters of law school. But I think I will let the first years have this moment to themselves. They have their own "sections" with whom they have bonded, and I would have to work hard to match their energy level tonight, anyway.

So, it is off to North Carolina to celebrate Christmas with the family.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Mock Trial and Moot Court Excellence

2010-11-24T12:18:00.004-05:00

In law school, there are any number of extracurricular organizations that can boost your resume and lead to job offers. At Florida State Law, arguably the most important three are Law Review, the Moot Court Team, and the Mock Trial Team.

But a student can not simply sign up for one or all of these organizations. Law Review has a "write-on" competition where students submit briefs or memorandums and hope to be selected. A student may also submit a paper of quality to the Law Review. If the editorial staff decides to publish the paper, then that student is also extended an invitation to become a member. The Moot Court and Mock Trial Teams each have their own tryout process to choose new members as well.

The FSU Moot Court Team has enjoyed quite a bit of success in recent competitions, and now the FSU Mock Trial Team can add to the trophy case with them. Last weekend, Mock Trial Team members Thomas Philpot, Ryan Hoyle, Eliott Smith, and Matt Minnick won the Earle Zehmer Mock Trial Competition in Tampa. Their success comes on the heels of a finals appearance by another group of four from the Mock Trial Team at the American Bar Association Mock Trial Tournament in Miami. This semester, we also had teams reach the semifinals at the Lone Star Competition in San Antonio and the Buffalo-Niagara Competition in Buffalo, NY.

As for the Moot Court Team, on November 10th I was privileged to see a second Final Four Competition at the Florida Supreme Court. In this competition, the top four new members of the team go against each other in front of the Justices of the Florida Supreme Court.

I remember last year how nervous I felt walking into the chamber, and I was not even the one competing. All the people, the high ceiling, the plush carpet, and the oil canvass paintings lining the walls seemed pretty intimidating. I wrote an entry about that experience back on November 14 of last year. This time around, I was more accustomed to the room and the presence of the justices, but I still felt nervous for my friends who were competing.

They all did great. Tara Klimek, who won the best advocate award earlier this semester at the Wayne Hogan Mock Trial Intramural Competition, also took home the prize for the best advocate here. Tara is the only person during my three years at FSU Law to be selected for the Moot Court Team, the Mock Trial Team, and Law Review. She is a real all-star.

The competition was close. Alexandra Haddad, Jourdan Neal, and Molly Drake gave memorable arguments before the justices. I enjoyed listening to them. Two of my friends (and competitors from last year), Tiffany Roddenberry and Brian Bohm, served as the principal coaches. Tiffany and Brian did a great job of preparing the four students for the experience.

It's nice to be in a place where I am surrounded by so many bright, talented, and friendly people.

*As usual, if I have used your name in this entry and you don't want it returning a hit on the Internet, please let me know and I will remove it.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Tallahassee Little Theater

2010-11-21T14:03:00.005-05:00

Last night, I experienced another pleasant side of Tallahassee. As my friend and fellow mock trial team member, John, told me, many of us in law school have our outside interests to help keep a balance in law school. A significant number of students are marathon runners, for instance. I write a blog. John's hobby is acting, and for fun he participates in community theater.

John invited me to a production of Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution at the Tallahassee Little Theater. I went to see the show last night, and I was very impressed.

The story takes place in London in 1953. Leonard Vole, a financially strapped young man, has been charged with the murder of a wealthy older lady who befriended him. All the evidence is stacked against Leonard, and the only person who can give any support at all to his version of what happened is his "adoring..?" wife, Romaine. So the story and creative plot twists begin.

My friend had a large part in the play, beginning in the second act. He played Mr. Myers, the prosecutor. John did a great job. I recognized some of his antics and mannerisms from mock trial practice or competitions, and on more than one occasion he caused both the audience and myself to burst out in laughter. I spoke with John afterwards to tell him that I liked the performance. As exams are coming up, he was in a hurry to get out of his wig and costume, return home and continue his course outlines.

The theater building itself is quite nice. I did not count how many audience members it will hold, but it is small. There is no "bad seat" in the house, and the ceiling is shaped so that sound carries marvelously. A person on the back row of the audience could hear an articulate whisper from the stage.

Last night was an enjoyable evening. If I stay in Tallahassee long enough, I will certainly visit the Tallahassee Little Theater again. I highly recommend it. Upcoming productions include The Foreigner and Cabaret.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Having Fun

2010-11-12T15:27:00.005-05:00

FSU Law has a great academic reputation, particularly in Florida and the southeastern United States. It is well deserved. As I have said in the past, some of the most intelligent people I have ever met in my life are on the faculty and within the student body here. The students are competitive and work very hard for their success.

I wonder, though, if other law schools also have as much fun as we do...

FSU's arch rival is the University of Florida Gators. There are actually more students here at the law school who earned their bachelors' degrees from UF than from any other school. As such, these student have formed their own organization, the LitiGATORS. In addition to their community service, the LitiGATORS have started the tradition of "Rivalry Week," which culminated yesterday with the second annual powder puff football game and the first annual Mr. FSU Law Pageant last night.

The President of the LitiGATORS, one of the prettiest and nicest girls you will ever meet, decorated the law school lobby last week. She recruited another beautiful and friendly female who graduated from Florida State to help her. Together, they did a wonderful job of transforming the lobby. The railings of two sets of stairs going up three flights were wrapped in the school colors- garnet and gold for FSU and blue and orange for UF. Creative and artful homemade signs displayed slogans and taunts throughout the lobby, and a fancy banner declaring "Rivalry Week" hung high in the air, suspended between the two stair cases. For each day leading up to the game, the girls wore cute little outfits with their school colors.

It really was a good time. At the powder puff football game on the law school green, a student dressed as Chief Osceola rode a white motor scooter that passed for his horse, "Renegade." He threw down a flaming toy spear to get the game started.

A couple of buff guys, one with his entire body painted gold, the other painted garnet, cheered on the teams.

The FSU Cowgirls, a beautiful fixture at real FSU football games, were there yesterday, too. Only these cowgirls were not nearly as pretty. They wore wigs, had considerably more hair on their legs, and also possessed strange shapes on their chests under their shirts.

Last year, the game itself was a blowout in favor of FSU. It was the same story this year, though UF's team had improved considerably. A friend of mine stood along the sidelines with me, cheering on FSU. He told me that he had a bet riding on the point margin by which FSU would win. The bet was a bag of Doritos.

"It's buffalo wing Doritos," he said. "Not the regular nachos. I'm a high roller."

The score eventually got out of hand and we stopped cheering so hard, so as not to rub it in. But to me, the most hilarious part of the game was my friend continuing to pull for the point spread. When FSU finally scored the needed touchdown, there he was, alone and clapping his hands over his head. His voice rang out over the field, "Yeaaaah! Cover that spread!"...

And then last night, we celebrated the Mr. FSU Law Pageant at Clyde and Costello's club in downtown Tallahassee. Six guys participated in the pageant. They were first introduced to the judges in professional attire. Next was a swimsuit competition, and finally a talent contest.

I won't describe everything that went on there, but it was quite a show.

This was the last major law school social before exams. In fact, not many first year law school students attended yesterday. While these 1Ls could probably use the study break, I understand how they must feel. I could not have relaxed enough to enjoy a flag football game or a pageant during my first semester, either. The voice in my head would be yelling at me, "You're risking flunking out of law school to watch a powder puff game and a man pageant?"

Still, it is nice to be at a great school where people also know how to enjoy themselves and have fun.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Gey 5K

2010-11-07T21:24:00.008-05:00

One of the most beloved professors at Florida State College of Law, Steven Gey, had the misfortune of being diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, over three years ago. I have never had a chance to meet Professor Gey, though from what students and professors who know him have said, I understand that he is a renowned scholar on constitutional law and an outstanding teacher as well.

For the third year now since his diagnosis, friends of Professor Gey have organized a 5K run to encourage him and to raise money to find a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease.

When someone is diagnosed with ALS, doctors estimate that he or she has three years to live. Professor Gey, fighter that he is, has outlasted the predictions. Amazingly, he continues to write. As a professor told us today, he has a new computer that can sense the movements in his thigh muscles, enabling him to type.

This morning, I participated in my second Gey 5K run. It started at the FAMU/FSU Department of Engineering in Innovation Park and looped around the National Magnetic Laboratory.

The top runner finished in somewhere under 18 minutes. Overall, I was pleased with my results. My time was 23:20, about 20 seconds faster than my time last year at this same race. Part of my improvement may have been the course. Although I could not tell any difference in the difficulty, other runners said this course was easier. Last year, we started and ended at the law school (in a different part of Tallahassee from Innovation Park). The first half of that run was almost all downhill, while the last half was almost all uphill.

Perhaps the main reason I did a little better, though, is that this year a friend did the 5K with me. She runs marathons, and set a faster pace than I would have attempted if I had been on my own.

I debated whether or not I should try trash talking to her before the race began. Ultimately, I decided to keep my mouth shut-- which was a good thing.

For about three quarters of the race, I kept up with her. We came to a hill toward the end. I made it to the top with her. But then a little wave of nausea hit me. Then a little wave of dizziness hit me and the spring in my legs disappeared. So I hoarsely whispered good bye to her back, and she was gone. She finished the race second among the females and earned some prize money. Luckily, I recovered enough to only be passed by two people in the home stretch.

It was fun to match my stamina against my friend in a race that supports a great cause and a great person. I hope Professor Gey continues his courageous fight, so that perhaps next year I can compete again- either against my own time or against my friend.

For a more detailed blog of the event, see the below link:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Ftroubleafoot.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fgey-2010.html&h=d7591

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Spanakopita, Ouzo and a Bouzouki

2010-10-24T19:00:00.010-04:00

Yesterday, for the third time in my life, I attended a Greek food festival. My first time was at a Greek Orthodox church in Wilmington, North Carolina a few years ago. The other two have been here. Each fall, the Holy Mother of God Greek Orthodox Church in Tallahassee hosts the event. The crowds are enormous and the lines can be very long. It is worth the trip and the wait, though.

I also attended the festival in 2008 during my first year of law school, along with some of the new friends I made. Volunteers served most of the food from underneath tents set up outside the church, but the dessert pastries were inside the building. Along with a new friend, I stood in a line that wrapped around the church and then wove inside like a maze before we made it to the sweet stuff. After buying some cookies, my friend and I pushed open a door to exit the church. We almost knocked down an old man standing on the other side. In typical new 1L fashion, I began to recite to my friend why he would be subject to tort liability, and he in turn responded with the standard defenses.

That night in 2008, I ate Spanakopita, a Greek spinach pie, for the first time in my life. I remember how delicious it was. The dozens of dining tables under the tents were all occupied, so I sat down on a cinder block at the corner of a parking lot with my Spanakopita and a can of Pepsi. The weather was fantastic. I watched the crowd, looked up at the stars, tasted my food and drink, and noted that at that moment, I was very happy...

Yesterday, I went back to this same festival with many of my same friends from 2008. This time, we went at lunch because of the smaller crowds and the ability to get a table. Again, I had Spanakopita to eat. Again, it was delicious. My friends also convinced me to try a shot of Ouzo, a clear but fiery Greek liquor flavored with anise. I felt the drink go all the way down my esophagus and into my stomach. One shot was enough to make the guy sitting beside me feel the effects. I was okay after one drink, though I am sure another would have gone to my head a little.

We listened to a Greek band play traditional music. The string player was exceptionally good. During one song, he left the stage, leaped up on a table in front of us and began playing his guitar/banjo type instrument behind his head. The crowd applauded him with rhythmic clapping and shouts. A friend of mine who is also Greek explained that his instrument was called a bouzouki.

So, yesterday was a good day. I had a great meal and listened to my friends talk about things such as their comically bad haunted house tour in Monticello the night before. It was another happy moment from law school and Tallahassee.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Phonathon

2010-10-16T17:42:00.005-04:00

Each year, the law school conducts a three week campaign to collect donations from our graduates. It is called the Alumni Fund Drive or "Phonathon." The money received goes to support various activities at the law school, from scholarships to bringing in guest speakers.

This year I am participating as a caller. "The Red Room," an ornate chamber in the law school rotunda, has been converted into a phone bank where I sit at tables with other law school students and place calls to our alumni all over the country.

It is fun, especially when I get a big donation. The job is very much like sales. To enjoy it and be good at it, I have to purge my mind of negative thoughts and focus on having a positive attitude. I make myself smile when I am on the phone, and I try to envision that the person I am talking with is right in front of me. Of course, these techniques do not always work, and the job gives me some practice in handling rejection- practice that can be quite mentally healthy if I use it the right way. The biggest challenge for me as a caller is actually getting the person I want to talk to on the line, as opposed to voicemail or a secretary saying he or she is not available. When I get the person, a little thrill goes through me as I know my chances for success just went way up.

This year, Phonathon is a little different in that the administrator from Alumni Affairs who usually runs it is out on maternity leave. One of the deans of the law school, Nancy Benavides, and another employee from Student Affairs, Sarah Lowe, have done superbly in transitioning from their normal duties to conduct this event. They are excellent at keeping the student callers motivated and the positive energy flowing. I have worked directly with Sarah in the past, during The Summer for Undergraduates Program. Her versatility and efficiency has always impressed me. Dean Benavides, too, has shown great skill in performing a type of job that may or may not come naturally to her.

Phonathon will continue for two more weeks. Hopefully, we can reach our donation goals. The cause certainly aids the school. Alumni who give help our school ranking in US News and World Report (the magazine uses the statistic of alumni who give as a gauge of satisfaction with their education). The Alumni Fund Drive also provides students with a chance to talk to our attorneys across Florida and the country. One student and friend of mine making calls with me got asked to send in his resume for a possible summer clerkship. Many good things can come from Phonathon, in addition to funds for the school.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Bar Prep Battles

2010-10-07T16:03:00.003-04:00

Last year I became a student sales representative for Kaplan PMBR- in part to avoid paying the approximate $3000 in tuition for a commercial bar preparation class, and in part to practice the skills I began to learn as a salesman at a car dealership in Las Vegas. After earning enough sales for a free class last year, this year I was asked to become the head student rep at the school.

When I first came to law school, I did not believe in the necessity of a bar preparatory course. I thought one of the primary purposes of law school was to teach me what I needed to know to pass the bar exam. After one semester, though, I learned that this not a goal of law school- at least not the better law schools. The best law schools in the country teach you to think about the ideas behind the law and why law has developed as it has. The "black letter law,"- what the law actually says in a given state- is what the bar exam tests, however.

I once tried to compliment a professor by telling her that I appreciated how much black letter law she taught in her course. Unfortunately, she did not take that as a compliment. Teaching the black letter law is the easy part, she told me. I now understand that many professors consider it beneath them to teach black letter law.

The commercial bar prep course a student takes after graduation from law school is supposed to teach the black letter law. The theory is that if you are smart enough to be in law school, then you are smart enough to learn the black letter law in the two months in between graduation and the administration of the bar exam.

The faculty of Florida State Law even recommends an outside bar prep course- though not one company specifically.

In Florida, there are really only two choices for a bar prep company- Kaplan PMBR or Barbri. Both companies offer a course that begins shortly after graduation in mid May and runs into July right up to the administration of the bar exam.

My experience as head sales rep for Kaplan PMBR thus far has been enjoyable and interesting. Many of the students treat sales like a game, which is fine. But for the regular employees of the companies, this sales business is their livelihood. Kaplan PMBR is part of a conglomerate owned by the Washington Post, and Barbri is a subsidiary of the Thomson Reuters information company. The customer base (law school students) is a captive one. Almost all of the students will eventually realize that they need a bar prep course. The competition for the enrollments of these students has been amusingly intense at times this semester.

It is fun. Trying to close a sale is a nice distraction from legal research, and the atmosphere of selling brings back some fond memories of Las Vegas for me. Law school selling is nothing like the sharks tank of a dealership where I worked out in the desert, though. The salesmen I met out in Vegas were some of the most colorful characters I have ever encountered. Perhaps in a future entry I will describe some of them.

Hopefully, the bar prep battles at Florida State Law bring good results for the students. Competition keeps the price from spiraling way up, though the courses are expensive enough as it is. The competition between Kaplan PMBR and Barbri also insures that the companies will do their best to offer a quality product that gets results.

The bar exam is now on the visible horizon. I filed my conversion application with the Florida Board of Bar Examiners earlier this week.

A bar prep course is a necessary part of the law school experience. So, see me if you want to enroll with a great program! : )

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

No Let Up

2010-09-26T21:37:00.003-04:00

There is a saying about law school that I heard shortly after enrolling at FSU: "The first year, they scare you to death. The second year, they work you to death. The third year, they bore you to death."

I think perhaps that statement should apply to law school students in a good economy, or maybe to the very top students here right now. It does not exactly hold true for me.

The part about the first year is correct. I had no idea how I was doing that initial semester. Then exam grades posted and I had some notion of where I fit into the scheme.

In the second year, you are supposedly "worked to death" because you become more involved in the student organizations you were selected for in your first year, while also trying to find that summer associate job which will hopefully turn into an offer for full time associate upon graduation. By your third year of law school, you are supposed to be just ready to get out.

The problem, at least for me, is that there were not that many jobs to find during my second year due to the economy. I worked hard and became more involved in the Mock Trial Team, but really my class load stayed the same as my first year- which was plenty. The work load has remained at the same level for my third year as well.

What the classroom can teach me about becoming a good lawyer is reduced from my first and second years, but I am much too busy to be "bored to death." Some of my colleagues have said that they are going to enjoy this last year of law school. These friends of mine are smart enough to be able to work part time for firms during the week, take weekend trips, participate in time consuming extracurricular activities like Law Review, and still make great grades.

I have no such talent. I can not "wing it" in any part of law school. Grades take nearly 100% of my effort. As an example, one of my classes this semester is offered only for a pass/fail grade. We also have quizzes as part of that class grade rather than the entire thing riding on the final exam. For the first quiz, I tried to "wing it," and only studied for an hour. When the grades came back last week, mine was about the second lowest in the class.

So, there is work to be done. Right now, I am set to graduate with honors. I will have to keep my nose to the grindstone to have a shot at maintaining that position. Graduating with high honors is out of reach... And then we'll see what the future holds.

The students set for high honors in my class have certainly earned their spots and done much to further the academic reputation of the FSU College of Law. I was amused by the Facebook post of one a few weeks ago: "When class was cancelled my 1L year, I caught up on reading. 2L year? I applied to jobs. 3L year? I redecorate my bathroom...I'll try to remember that I'm a law school student and not a real housewife of Tallahassee." Several others near the top of the class clicked the "like" button for this post.

As for me, I would just like to have my apartment cleaned. I try to clean a little each day, but it is a losing battle.

Law school is enjoyable, though. I cannot deny it. Tonight I ate dinner at the Suwannee Room and watched a little of the Jets and Dolphins football game in Miami on the televisions. One friend from law school is actually at the game right now. Must be even nicer.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Mock Trial Intramural Competition

2010-09-19T21:10:00.005-04:00

This week saw the newest members of the Mock Trial Team go head to head against each other in an intramural competition. The contest is designed as a teaching mechanism to prepare the students for both future tournaments at other schools and for real trials later in their careers.

To get ready, the new members were largely taught by others on the team. Three 3L students and one recent graduate served as the coaches. They put in many hours training the new students on the basics of trial practice. Personally, I sat in on a couple of practices, and I also served as a "jury member" for two rounds of the competition.

The new guys are impressive. We have a good shot at winning some trophies this year, though I have also learned Mock Trial judging is so subjective that there is no way to predict outcomes with certainty.

Intramurals is the same type of competition that I went through last year, but it is much easier being on this side of it. I tried to give helpful feedback. At this stage, I think it is most important to build confidence in our new team members. We should make sure they know the skills to conduct a trial, but they should also believe that they can beat anyone who walks into the room. Attitude and charisma can sway a jury and dominate a trial, at least in my opinion. As Mr. Crump told me when I worked at his firm, "Give the jury popcorn and turn down the lights." A belief in your own abilities is essential to win a trial.

The President of the Mock Trial Team, Christian Cutillo, and the Intramural Chair, Corinne Koeppen, did a fantastic job in organizing the tournament and making sure things ran smoothly. Wayne Hogan, a prominent trial attorney and major benefactor of the law school and the Mock Trial Team, attended the reception and the championship round.

Congratulations to Tara Klimek, an outstanding 2L who won the "Best Advocate" award.

The intramural competition was a lot of fun and an important part of the Mock Trial Team experience. I enjoyed watching all the performances and seeing how hard everyone worked.

Once again, if I have used your name in this blog post and you want me to remove it, just Facebook me.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

20 Hours with the Public Defender

2010-09-10T14:11:00.007-04:00

One of the graduation requirements of the Florida State College of Law is to perform 20 hours of pro bono work. The school awards a certificate if you complete even more hours.

In the week prior to the beginning of classes, I worked for 20 hours at the Leon County Public Defender's office. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed it there. My job was to help the office with initial intake interviews, to talk with jail inmates about the pending charges against them and get their side of the story.

As the supervising attorney told me, dealing with the clients is about 75% of what attorneys in that office do. The intake interviews would give me a good feel for the nature of the job. If I did not like the face to face contact, he said, then perhaps work as a prosecutor would be more appropriate.

The technology to conduct the interviews was impressive- at least to me. I did not have to actually visit the jail. Instead, a small camera set on top of the computer monitor at my desk. I called the jail and identified the inmate with whom I needed to speak. The jail sent the inmate to one of several communication pods, labeled A through M. Each pod was equipped with a camera, monitor and telephone, and I could access any of the pods on my computer. When the inmate came into the pod and picked up the phone, I could see and hear him and he could see and hear me.

After about 20 hours of doing these interviews, I realized again how socially liberal I can be at times. I began to think that our criminal justice system needs serious revamping. Many of these inmates were locked up for felony possession of cocaine: A non-violent, victimless crime. The inmates charged with this crime almost universally admitted that they were addicts and needed help.

I fail to see how just locking these people up is more beneficial than putting them in a rehabilitation program. By allowing them to continue to work and be a part of society, they can support their families and have at least some hope when they wake up in the morning that this day will be better than the last.

I do not pretend to know what the solution to a drug addiction is. You almost certainly need a motivator that is stronger than the addiction. But using extreme fear and shame to get them to quit are not the first angles I would take. Putting someone in prison for a drug addiction is a sledge hammer of a remedy. It is an open question in my mind as to whether that remedy solves more problems than it creates. Imagine spending much of your life in a cement and metal cage/hole because you just can't beat the rush in your brain a white powder gives you when you are on the outside. What a sad, miserable existence.

Even if you go your whole life not being able to conquer that rush, why should the government constantly lash you so harshly for it? I can understand the public safety concerns of a person who is "high" and gets behind the wheel of a vehicle or if someone is under the influence and performing work dangerous to others. But most of these charges were not of that nature...

I also found the inmates themselves to be interesting characters, and I enjoyed listening to their stories and studying their mannerisms. While a few were certainly "rotten apples," it did not make them less intriguing. Talking to them was much more engaging to me than doing research on Westlaw or LexisNexis and billing hours.

If the Public Defender's Office could pay me $70,000- $80,000 per year to work there as an attorney, I would jump at the chance. Unfortunately, their salaries are much lower.

We will see where I end up upon graduation, but I know now that the Public Defender's Office is a place reasonably suited to my personality.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Smell of Palm Trees

2010-08-29T16:29:00.005-04:00

Most of the palm trees in Tallahassee are probably planted here, and do not grow naturally. It seems that oaks covered in Spanish moss are the predominant native trees. This area of Florida is more like a rain forest or swamp as opposed to the open coastal areas where one expects to see palm trees. Still, the palm trees grow well here, and in August they produce clusters of orange fruit that eventually fall to the ground, one by one. The fruit is slightly smaller than a golf ball. At the center is a hard, brown seed about the size of a dime.

One of my first experiences in August 2008 as a new law school student was the scent of the palm tree fruit. When it first hit me, I was discovering what would become a usual stress relieving routine- jogging the two mile loop around Alumni Village apartments. Orange palm tree fruit has a dark, sweet smell. On my run around Alumni Village, I first thought that the smell was coming from a line of shrubbery. It was only a few days later when I picked up one of the fallen balls of fruit that I recognized it as the source.

This August, as what will hopefully be my last year of law school gets underway, the smell of the palm tree fruit is hitting me again when I go for my runs. I have come to identify that scent with late summer Tallahassee, Florida State University, and the beginning of the fall semester. It is a pleasant smell associated with pleasant memories.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Flower Petals of Florida State

2010-08-21T21:03:00.004-04:00

Classes for my third and final year of law school begin in two days. The Suwannee Room, the main dining hall on campus, is open again and I am eating almost all of my meals there. The walk from the law school to the dining hall is about 10 minutes, and it takes me down a section of Jefferson Street lined with a dozen or so sorority houses.

Each year at this time, at least while I have been here, girls trying to join these sororities line up outside the houses wearing cute sun dresses. They perform cheers and chants. Other girls (actual sorority members, I suppose) wearing uniform colored t-shirts guide them quite seriously from house to house to do who-knows-what activities inside.

Personally, I have never been inside a sorority house. These houses were illegal when I was an undergraduate student in North Carolina. The law said something about too many women living alone in one house as constituting a brothel. So, this late August ritual at Florida State is fascinating to me.

This evening, as I walked to dinner, Jefferson Street was empty. Then, almost simultaneously, the doors to the sorority houses opened and dozens and dozens of girls began quietly flowing out of the houses. The had on classy dresses of all colors. Most wore sandals and carried their high heeled shoes in one hand.

The girls must have been forbidden to speak, because not one made a sound. The sidewalks became so thick with these girls that I stepped onto the grass and the road to give them enough room.

It was an amazing sight. I thought of a cherry blossom tree or a Bradford pear in spring as the green leaves overtake the flowers on the branches. A breeze would blow the flower petals off the trees, and it was pretty to watch the petals float to the ground. This was the effect of all of these beautiful girls, floating out of the houses- flower petals floating down to the sidewalks.

A few of the girls smiled at me, as if they could read my mind. It was like something out of a dream, to be the lone guy in this ocean of moving, silent, beautiful women. Even now, as an older guy done with my undergraduate years, the whole spectacle was intoxicating.

It was one of the most beautiful things I have seen here at Florida State. I wonder if the law schools at Harvard or Yale have something that could compare?

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Raising the Bar

2010-08-15T16:12:00.003-04:00

Beginning last week, 55 new first year law school students began the extended orientation program at FSU Law. I was fortunate enough to be hired as a mentor for the group, which is certainly an impressive one. Their average LSAT score should be about two points higher than the next highest class to ever matriculate at the school. Another interesting fact- and a sign of the current economic times- the number of non-Florida residents in this class is low. The out-of-state tuition for the law school is now about $36,000 per year.

The week long program, as described by these students, is pretty intense. The Dean of the law school taught them a miniature property course on finding. They will take a 35 minute exam for the course tomorrow. Two legal writing instructors have introduced them to writing office memos and briefing cases. My fellow mentors have also provided practical advice on outlining, preparing for class and preparing for exams.

I have been impressed with how sharp and serious these students seem to be. I am glad the new 1Ls are here. They should raise the institutional reputation of FSU Law even higher, and I look forward to seeing what they can do.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Summer Summary, Part II

2010-08-07T12:04:00.003-04:00

As further evidence to prospective employers of how I tried to use my time wisely this summer, here are some of my notes from Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law: Personal Injury Protection (P.I.P.) 2009-2010 edition by Russel Lazega. Like in my previous entry, most of the notes that I selected to type are questions to which I do not know the answer.

This book in large part outlines the Florida No-Fault Statute: 627.736. The Table of Contents at the beginning of each chapter provided a good outline of the statute. As this book says, I will have to read this statute again and again to gain competency in dealing with it.

Chapter 1 Introduction to No-Fault and Definitions pgs.1-25.

-p.4 I do not understand the statement that a person is allowed one free accident before being compelled to buy liability coverage.

-p.11 $10,000 coverage for property damage- Is this for your own property or for the 3rd party's that you damaged? Answer p.62. It is liability coverage.

-p.20 PIP is primary coverage in an auto accident. But other health insurance may cover the deductible. Submit claims to both carriers. See p.88.

-p.24 What is the financial responsibility law?

Chapter 2 The No-Fault Act: Required Coverages and Deductibles 627.736(2) & 627.734 pgs.27-64

-p.30 How do you divide the $10K worth of coverage? Answer p.61 and p.103-104.

-p.45 I need to become familiar with Medicare Parts A & B. See p.309.

-p.48 The statute refers to forms of notice approved by the office. What is "the office?" Answer, bottom of p.115? Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services?

-p.63 "Nolle prossed" means "will no further prosecute."

Chapter 3 Limitation of Insured's Right to Recover Special Damages in Tort Claims: Collateral Sources and Property Damage 627.736(3) pgs.65-85

-p.69 Be aware of the use of post trial discovery.

-p.75 I need to research what the 2 year proof of insurance period and the 3 year proof of financial responsibility means.

-p.82 Does a right of subrogation exist against a non-owner of a commercial vehicle?

-p.84 Can you bring up the existence of insurance in a non-medical malpractice negligence case? I think not. It is not relevant. See Sawaya's treatise.

Chapter 4 The No-Fault Act Benefits; When Due, Interest; and Required Coverages 627.736(4) pgs.87-110.

-p.89 Who covers when the insurance company pays under the wrong priority? Arguably, the insurer should pay. See p.316.

-p.91 How do you charge attorney's fees for failure to pay PIP when you work on a contingency basis? Answer is the one-way street provision?

-p.99 What does a PIP log look like?

-p.105 I do not understand the case note. Interest payments are not counted as part of the $10,000 in PIP payments.

-p.108 What is "contempt jurisdiction?"

Chapter 5 Charges for Treatment of Injured Persons 627.736(5) pgs.111-166

-p.120 See www.cms.hhs.gov for the Medicare fee schedule.

-p.121 What is the HCFA form?

-p.137 What is a CMS 1500? Or a UB92 form? See p.162 for some help with form names.

-p.142 Are charges different for medical services after the gap period at the end of 2007? See p.143 and consult Chapt. 440 Fla. Stat.

-p.152 Who provides notice of the insured's rights? The insurer to the provider? When is this done?

-p.155 Policy on why hospital ERs have different billing requirements from medical providers.

-p.161-162 Arbitration is useful for the defense. Non-binding arbitration can have serious consequences once judgment is entered.

-p.162 "One way attorney's fees provision." See p.211. In a judgement against an insurer, the trial court should enter a ruling for attorney's fees.

Chapter 6 Discovery of Facts About an Injured Person; Disputes 627.736(6) pgs.167-188.

-p.169 The statute makes mention of a form approved by the department. What is "the department?"

-p.175 This book does not discuss federal law about physician/patient privilege.

-p.179-180 Is there a difference between a PIP log and a PIP payout log? Answer, probably not. See bottom of p.180.

Chapter 7 Examination of Persons- Independent Medical Examinations and Examinations Under Oath 627.736(7) p.189-208

-p.193 When a policy is renewed, that should change the effective date of the policy, correct? Answer, p.392. Yes. The renewal is like forming a new contract.

-p.205 What is the insurance code? What are the remedies for violating it? See pgs.251-252 for help.

-p.206 The examination under oath requirement is not statutory, so look at the policy provisions carefully.

Chapter 8 Attorney's Fees 627.736(8) pgs.209-229

-p.213 What is an attorney's fees multiplier? See p.217 for details. The trial court decides what the witness fees should be. Make this clear in the contract with your expert witness.

-p.221 What is an "out of the box" PIP suit?

-p.225 What is the effect of a second offer on the ramifications of rejecting the first offer?

-p.226 What is the difference between an offer of judgment and an offer of settlement? What are the pros and cons of utilizing each?

Chapter 9 Preferred Provider Agreements 627.736(9) pgs.231-235

-p.231 I do not understand why an insurer would choose to pay more than required by the statute, or why an insurer would waive or reduce the deductible.

-p.232 I do not understand the 2nd paragraph. PPO plan users can treat wherever they wish, too. And if a PIP claimant uses the network, then the reduced rate will mean more of the 10k to go around, right?

Chapter 10 Pre-Suit Demand Letter 627.736(10) pgs.237-249

-See the chapter outline.

Chapter 11 Insurer's Failure to Pay Claims pgs.251-252.

-Are these provisions part of the insurance code?

Chapter 12 Civil Actions for Insurance Fraud 627.736(12) pgs.253-297.

-p.254 I need more detail on the differences between compensatory and consequential damages. Does compensatory automatically include consequential damages?

-p.255 Are chiropractic and dental services reimbursable under PIP? Answer, p.302. Yes.

-p.255 What is a grand jury report?

-See pgs. 257,258,268 It is only a crime to solicit PIP cases with the intent to defraud. It still may be an ethics violation to solicit legitimate claims.

Chapter 13 Looking to the Future; Possible Increase of the PIP Coverage and Effect of the Repeal and then Re-Adoption of PIP pgs.299-310.

-p.300 How can you choose not to carry PIP coverage?

-p.306 Insurers may reimburse at an amount less than billed. So what happens to the remainder of the bill? Answer, p.308(5). Providers may not attempt to collect from the insured except for amounts not covered due to coinsurance amount or to maximum policy limits.

-p.310 Agreements regarding secure electronic data transfer. This does not apply to submission of documents to the court, right?

Chapter 14 Assignment of Benefits pgs.311-324.

-p.313 Why cannot one assign benefits after suit has been filed for arbitration? See p.314. Re-assignment is a litigation strategy as to who would be the better plaintiff.

-p.322 What is the difference between a written assignment and an equitable assignment?

Chapter 15 Litigation Procedure, Settlement and Appeals p.325-353

-p.331. See p. 338. Ask for attorney's fees in the complaint.

-p.332 Insurers cannot contract to shorten the statute of limitations because Florida statutes are considered part of the insurance contract, right?

-p.337 What does it mean to be issued a 20-day summons? p.339 The summons does not apply to small claims cases.

-p.341 Who is "the department?" The Department of Insurance?

-p.347 Who pays for copies of the IME physicians records? Is it as simple as whomever the requesting party is?

-p.348 What are these terms in the Practitioner's Note?

-p.352 How do you find unpublished circuit court appeals decisions?

Chapter 16 Cancellation of Coverage 627.736(9) pgs.355-378.

-p.361 Class actions have a whole different set of rules.

-p.371 What happens to the replacement policy when the department sides with the insured and orders a reinstatement of the old policy? Just a refund of the premium from the new insurer?

-p.377 What is "the commission?" How is the commission different from "the office" and "the department" mentioned throughout the statute and this book. What are their separate roles and responsibilities?

Chapter 17 Policy Construction and Interpretation pgs.379-395

-p.380 Bad faith actions are not subject to declaratory judgments, right? They are separate COAs and are the fact finder, right?

-p.393 I need more information on Florida's borrowing statute.

Chapter 18 Rehabilitation, Liquidation, and the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association pgs.397-412.

-See the Table of Contents at the beginning of the chapter.

Chapter 19 Crime Victim Compensation pgs.413-417

-p.414 Must there be a conviction before a "crime" has occurred? The form on p.429 does not ask for conviction information that I see.

-p.414 It appears from Chapter 20 that an application for the Crime Victims Compensation Act must be submitted to the Office of the Attorney General, yet the statute says "the department." Who needs to see this application?

Chapter 20 Forms pgs.419-448.

-p.448 What is compounding the consumer price index, as opposed to adjusting it annually?

For this entire book, it is good to go back and read the Practitioner's Notes.

Hopefully, my next entry will be more interesting.

Nathan Marshburn

Summer Summary

2010-08-01T12:10:00.008-04:00

This will be a mundane entry. I am going to use this space to type a few of my notes from Florida Personal Injury Law and Practice with Wrongful Death Actions 2009-2010 Edition by Judge Thomas Sawaya. I already knew some of the material in this treatise from other law school classes. What I am recording here are things I did not know prior to reading Judge Sawaya's book. Many of these notes are simply questions. Most of the questions I need help in answering, though a few I could answer through more research.

Anyway, if a prospective employer stumbles across my blog, this entry will serve to show that, despite not being employed this summer, I tried to make good use of my time to become proficient in personal injury law. In another entry, I will post some notes from Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law: Personal Injury Protection 2009-2010 edition by Russel Lazega.

Chapter 1 Negligence: Basic Concepts and Duty, pgs.1-81.

-Know the difference between negligence per se, prima facie evidence of negligence, and strict liability. Of these, strict liability is the strongest for the plaintiff. If strict liability applies, you do not have to prove proximate causation- only actual causation and damages. I am still not totally clear on the difference between negligence per se and prima facie evidence. I think negligence per se is stronger. It usually comes up when the defendant has violated a statute. It means negligence has occurred, but it is not necessarily actionable negligence. The plaintiff must still prove that 1) the plaintiff belongs to the class that the statute was intended to protect 2) that the plaintiff suffered injury of the type the statute was designed to prevent 3) violation of the statute was the proximate cause of the injury. Prima facie evidence of negligence creates a rebuttable presumption of negligence. An example might be violation of a traffic ordinance. The defendant may still show that no negligence at all occurred, though.

Chapter 2 Standard of Care, pgs.83-130.

-Know the difference between slight negligence, ordinary negligence, gross negligence, and culpable negligence. The slight negligence standard usually applies to common carriers.

-p.122 Be aware of the sudden emergency doctrine.

-Children are responsible for their own torts, though they have their own separate standard of care (keep in mind negligent supervision COA against parents). A child under six is considered to be incapable of negligence.

Chapter 3 Causation pgs.131-200.

-Know the difference between a concurring cause and an intervening cause and the ramifications. Intervening causes can be a complete bar to recovery, and they are often decided as a matter of law at the summary judgment phase.

-p.187 Are motions for directed verdict heard outside the presence of the jury?

-p.196 How free are we as attorneys to argue our own jury instructions in closing argument?

-Be aware of the unavoidable accident doctrine. This can be a complete bar to recovery.

-Be aware of the rescue doctrine. Police and firemen can recover for injuries not reasonably foreseeable in the line of duty. They can also recover for injuries sustained from going above and beyond the call of duty.

Chapter 4 Imputed Negligence pgs. 201-283.

-Generally, you can not impute the negligence of an independent contractor to the employer.

-Are the participants in a partnership, joint venture, or joint enterprise jointly and severally liable? Probably yes. See p.244.

-One spouse is not liable for the torts of the other spouse.

-p.260 See exceptions to the general rule that a parent is not liable for the torts of the child.

-When an employee commits an intentional tort, think about negligent hiring and retention as a COA.

Chapter 5 Defenses p.285-335

-This chapter focuses primarily on comparative negligence. Contributory negligence is dead in Florida.

-Comparative negligence is an affirmative defense that must be pleaded and proven.

-p.299 How can a non-party have summary judgment ruled in its favor? Who is arguing for this non-party?

-p.310 If a negligent vehicle owner's insurance is not enough to cover damages, and the negligent driver's insurance is not enough either, procedurally, how would you go about getting as much as you can from both under comparative negligence?

-p.315 See this page for information on Fabre defendants. I will have to read this information again and again.

-Assumption of the risk is an affirmative defense that results in a jury interrogatory. It often applies to participation in contact sports.

-p.328 What exactly is the competent evidence standard?

Chapter 6 Strict Liability p.337-385

-It is uncertain under Florida law if strict liability should be decided by the court or by the fact finder. Strict liability (or an abnormally dangerous activity) can be designated as such by the legislature.

-Practically speaking, there is almost no difference between an invitee and licensee.

Chapter 7 Joint and Several Liability p.387-429

-This is the most confusing chapter in the treatise. The first sentence says that joint and several liability was abrogated by the legislature in 2006, but the book goes on to talk like it is still in effect. I am not sure if it is in partial effect or not. For example, the book questions whether an active tortfeasor and a defendant held vicariously liable are joint tortfeasors. The book says they are jointly and severally liable. The case it uses to support this rule is from 1998. There is no mention of the 2006 abrogation and its effect. There are many examples of this throughout the chapter. It gives me more questions than answers.

-See p.423 for the difference between res judicata and estoppel by judgment.

-p.416 Can a defendant implead a defunct company?

-p.420 As a plaintiff, why would you ever enter a satisfaction of judgment? What exactly is that and is it required?

-p.428 When a plaintiff proceeds against less than all of the negligent parties, then in a later action sues more, the percentage of fault on the jury verdict form from the first trial has no bearing on the subsequent trial, right? Or is the plaintiff completely barred from subsequent trials via res judicata or estoppel by judgment?

-p.422 What is the election of actions doctrine?

-p.427 How is an offer of judgment different from an offer of settlement? Why would you choose one versus the other?

Chapter 8 Indemnity, Subrogation and Contribution p.431-479.

-p.436 What is the difference between establishing a predicate and establishing an element of a COA?

-p.460 In settling with one of multiple tortfeasors, make sure you reserve the right to proceed against other tortfeasors.

-The right to a trial by jury only extends to actions at law (not equitable remedies).

-p.472 What are the "principles of equity?" Just fairness?

Chapter 9 Sovereign Immunity p.481-583

-In deciding whether sovereign immunity applies, one of the key concepts is whether the government's action was discretionary or operational.

-p.487 As a plaintiff's lawyer, we want the deeper pockets of the governmental entity, but must we plead in the alternative malicious or wanton misconduct to avoid res judicata in an action against the employee?

-p.502 I need more examples of a duty owed to the plaintiff as opposed to the general public.

-p.518 As a plaintiff, you do not have to meet all three of these requirements to sue the police department, do you? Just meeting one should be enough. Satisfying all three is too high a burden.

-p.528 What is a capital improvement?

-p.546 Be aware of special taxing districts.

-p.547 Whether or not a health care provider is a government employee, is this a question for the jury?

-p.553 Why would a state agency purchase liability insurance, and do you need a claims bill to get to this insurance money beyond the cap?

-See p.561 versus p.559. Should you attach the notice letter to the complaint or not?

-The cap is $100,000 for one plaintiff, a max cap of $200,000 total for multiple plaintiffs.

Chapter 10 Premises Liability p.585-649

-Why the injured party was on the premises (trespasser vs. invitee) affects the duty standard.

-The attractive nuisance doctrine only applies to children.

-Firefighters and police are invitees.

-Be aware of the obvious danger doctrine for summary judgment.

Chapter 11 Liability of Those Who Sell or Furnish Alcoholic Beverages p.651-688.

-Liability is limited to commercial vendors (not social hosts). In order for liability to exist, the person must must be habitually addicted to alcohol, and the vendor must have notice (though not written notice). They can also be liable for selling to minors.

-Many of the same ways that intoxication is proved by the state in criminal cases are also useful in civil proceedings.

-Make sure the vendor has liability insurance. Look at the language of the policy for exclusions (CGL).

-A plaintiff intoxicated at the time generally can not recover damages.

Chapter 12 Medical Malpractice p.689-836.

-Two year statute of limitations.

-90 day presuit investigation requirement that does not toll the statute of limitations.

-Be aware of the statute of repose as a complete bar to recovery.

-Just because negligence happens in a hospital doe not automatically mean that it is medical malpractice. A patient falling out of his or her bed may constitute ordinary negligence.

Chapter 13 Products Liability p.837-958.

-Common elements: 1) defect was present in the product 2) defect caused the injuries complained of 3) defect existed at the time the manufacturer, retailer, or supplier parted with possession of the product.

-Be aware of the zone of risk created when the product is parted with. It is not just to the purchaser.

-Negligent failure to warn is a COA.

-p.867 Can a settlement with Shands hospital be kept private?

-p.890 If another manufacturer can be impleaded, whose market share is known, but the manufacturer is insolvent or defunct, is that bad luck for the plaintiff or the defendant? Probably the plaintiff?

-p.896 Elements to establish strict liability.

-p.915 A prima facie case is not enough for summary judgment.

-p.924 Who or what is a "warranty beneficiary" as opposed to the "actual buyer?" See p.926. Other family members?

-Breach of warranty COA: 1) sale of the goods 2) goods must be defective 3) certain notice requirements must be complied with.

-p.918 Elements for breach of implied warranty.

-p.933 Elements for breach of implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.

-p.934 Implied warranty of merchantability.

-p.952 When would a violation of the SOL not appear on the face of the complaint? What exactly is the face of the complaint?

-Note that if the COA is based on a contract breach, the SOL is five years. Wrongful death actions still constitute a 2 year SOL.

-Be aware of the statute of repose.

Chapter 14 Use of Criminal Convictions in Subsequent Civil Proceedings: Statutory Collateral Estoppel Under Florida and Federal Law p.959-1004.

-Basically, a defendant who is found guilty (or perhaps pleads nolo contendere) to a criminal offense is estopped from denying the elements of that offense in a subsequent civil proceeding against him for damages.

Chapter 15 Punitive Damages p.1005-1103.

-p.1065 Does bankruptcy absolve punitive damages? If so, the plaintiff would want evidence of the defendant's financial worth to make sure that at least some money is paid.

-p.1093 What are the elements of the tort of fraudulent inducement?

-p.1030 For the statutory standard for punitive damages.

-Punitive damages may not be recovered against a sovereign.

-More is required for punitive damages bases on vicarious liability.

-p.1087 Punitive damages are available in all civil actions by statute. This is controversial, as it steps on theories of contract law.

-You can not initially plead punitive damages.

Chapters 16-22 Wrongful Death Actions pgs.1105-1233.

-Wrongful death is a COA that derives from statute as opposed to common law.

-SOL is 2 years from the date of death.

-Pain and suffering damages are not available for for the decedent, only the survivors.

-p.1126 How does the dangerous instrumentality doctrine bar a wrongful death claim?

-p.1136 What is the difference between petitioning the court and motioning the court?

-p.1142 How a personal representative of the estate is appointed.

-A COA exists for negligent stillbirth.

-p.1215-16 Apparently, joint and several liability lives on in some wrongful death actions.

-p.1217 Excellent example of the breakdown in damages.

-p.1222 What is the doctrine of recoupment?

-There is no COA for wrongful life, but there is a COA for wrongful birth.

-Wrongful Death actions can also be founded in breach of contract or warranty.

-The court must approve settlements involving minors.

-p.1148 Make sure to comply with the non claim statute (Deals with claims on the estate).

-Stepchildren probably can not recover in a wrongful death action.

-A child unborn at the time of parent's death may recover.

-For parents to recover for pain and suffering for the death of their child, the child must be less than 25 years old (unless there are no other survivors).

-For damages, consider the joint life expectancy of the parent and the child together.

-Illegitimate children of the mother may recover, but not of the father unless the father has recognized a responsibility for the child's support.

-A stillborn fetus may not recover (but keep in mind the COA for negligent stillbirth).

-Blood relatives and adoptive brothers and sisters may recover if they are wholly or partly dependent on the decedent for support or services.

-Recovery for the estate and recovery for survivors are two separate items in a wrongful death action.

-Proceeds recovered by survivors are not subject to creditors' claims.

-p.1204 Be aware of the collateral source rule.

-p.1221 Is there a 4 year SOL for wrongful death actions against state agencies?

-Children can not sue parents and vice versa unless liability insurance is available.

Chapter 23 Survival Actions p.1233-1246

-Personal injury actions can survive the death of the plaintiff, unless the death was caused by the injuries complained of in the action. In that case, the action abates and you must institute a wrongful death action.

-p.1245 All who can be sued on a joint obligation must be sued?

-Be aware of the suggestion of death requirement.

-This chapter also deals with substitution of parties.

Chapter 24 Burden of Proof, Standard of Proof, and Evidentiary Issues pgs.1247-1352.

-p.1248 Are there no directed verdicts in a bench trial? Just dismissals?

-p.1263 Some examples of when the clear and convincing evidence standard applies.

-p.1281 The jury is informed of the presumption of negligence in a rear end collision by the judge. There is a list of rebuttable presumptions on this page.

-p.1284 List of rebuttable presumptions affecting the burden of persuasion.

-p.1287 Definition of circumstantial evidence.

-p.1292 Motion the court to instruct the jury on certain inferences.

-p.1293 You get a jury instruction for establishing res ipsa loquitur.

-p.1343 Offers to settle before a lawsuit commences are admissible.

-p.1346 I do not understand the court's reasoning in the small print on this page. Mary Carter agreements are not allowed, yet via the court's decision it seems there is no way to enforce this. The court actually seems to be encouraging Mary Carter agreements.

-p.1351 What is a sponsor's note?

-The burden of proof is divided into the burden of producing evidence and the burden of persuasion.

-Presumptions are required to be adhered to by the jury, but juries may reject inferences. I need to read the section on inferences and presumptions again. See the procedure, p.1284.

-Traffic citations generally are not admissible, and neither is the officer's testimony establishing that a traffic citation was issued.

-Insurance coverage is not relevant evidence.

Chapter 25 Discovery pgs.1353-1471.

Much of this chapter is a review of things covered in my Florida Civil Practice class and Civil Pre-Trial class.

-p.1362 What does it mean, that a rule is considered remedial?

-p.1379 How do you annex a document?

-p.1394 Can you ask some interrogatories, wait for the answer, and then ask more as long as the total does not exceed 30?

-p.1431 The independent medical examiner does not charge the same rate as an expert witness, right?

-p.1483 When does the court grant a valcin presumption versus an adverse inference?

-p.1483 In an adverse inference, opposing counsel may not argue against the inference?

Chapter 26 Spoliation of Evidence pgs.1473-1484.

-Spoliation of evidence is its own COA, though you cannot file it jointly with another COA against the same defendant in the same matter.

Chapter 27 Client Relations and Fee Agreements pgs.1485-1533.

-p.1519 What is a charging lien?

-p.1529 When do you file a demand for appointment of arbitrators and may either party file it?

-p.1533 What is the lodestar approach?

-27:10 So fees for property damage are the same as personal injury or wrongful death?

-When fee-splitting a contingency fee, the primary gets 75% and the secondary gets 25%.

-p.1528 Standards for the fee.

Chapter 28 The Jury pgs.1535-1555.

-p.1543 What is back striking a juror?

-p.1554 I am not sure how peremptory challenges work with alternate jurors.

-Always poll the jury if they return a verdict against you.

A Thank You to the Armed Services

2010-07-28T00:30:00.003-04:00

In an effort to save money for the remainder of the summer, I have come back to visit North Carolina and my parents until classes begin in the fall.

I spend my days at the Robeson Community College campus library, reading treatises on Florida tort law. Law school is not easy, but the actual practice of law promises to be even more difficult and unforgiving. This is quite the all-consuming world for me, and it takes most of my time and energy. Coming back to my parents' house, though, reminds me of how different the world is for many other people. My parents live very close to Fayetteville and Fort Bragg.

Fort Bragg, the world's largest army base, is home to the Green Berets and the famed 82nd Airborne Division. On a daily basis, planes and helicopters from the base fly over our house, and occasionally in the yard I can hear the low boom of artillery fire.

Just a short drive to the east is Camp Lejeune, the nation's largest Marine Corps base. I used to do work as a civilian on Camp Lejeune, and I remember the large oil paintings in the headquarters of the 2nd Military Expeditionary Force. The paintings depicted the exploits of that unit during the Pacific island-hopping campaign of World War Two.

Many veterans of WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars, and Afghanistan remain in this area after their service is done. Local news outlets report on base activities and base casualties with more detail than the national media. It is sad to read in the paper about a new widow with a small child, or a soldier returning with severe brain damage, or a Marine missing in action in Afghanistan.

Honestly, these are things that I do not contemplate when I am in the middle of a semester in Tallahassee. To be even more honest, I probably will not dwell on it much after I graduate, either, when I am a lawyer out fighting for my clients. It is just too exhausting and depressing.

But I thought here would be a good time to say a simple "Thank You" to the veterans and the active members of the armed services. Because of their sacrifice and determination, I am able to drive from North Carolina to Florida in freedom, to study law at Florida State University, and to work at improving myself in our society. The options available to me in America are non-existent in most other countries of the world. The options are available here because our armed services have fought and continue to fight to preserve them. A blog entry "thank you" is nothing in the way of what our service members deserve, but it is what I can do.

So I say again, Thank You to our veterans and active military members who make our country the greatest on earth. I am appreciative of you and your bravery.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The 10,000 Hour Rule

2010-07-09T00:07:00.006-04:00

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers: The Story of Success, notes what he calls "the 10,000 hour rule" as a necessary part of individual success. Put briefly, the rule is that one must devote 10,000 hours to performing a specific task in order to become proficient at it. Mayor John Marks of Tallahassee mentioned this rule when he spoke to the Summer for Undergraduates students back in May.

Day by day, I am knocking out those 10,000 hours in regard to the practice of Florida personal injury law. I have completed reading Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law: Personal Injury Protection by Russel Lazega, and yesterday I passed the 600 page mark in Judge Sawaya's Florida Personal Injury Law and Practice with Wrongful Death Actions. Only about 900 more pages to go in that volume.

I am pleased with how much I am learning this summer. My torts professor did a good job covering the major areas during my first semester of law school, but these treatises are delving into great detail and providing me with Florida-specific statutes and case law. If my reading rate stays good, I should have time to tackle Ehrhardt's Florida Evidence before school starts back.

It is fair to say that I am learning more on my own than if I was working at a firm this summer- though I would enjoy getting paid.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Time Travel is Painful

2010-07-08T01:04:00.003-04:00

Today, I looked through the latest copy of Western Carolina, the magazine of my alma mater. After reading a couple of articles, I flipped to one of the last pages and scanned down the list of "Class Notes."

My heart hammered hard against the inside of my chest when I saw that one of my old schoolmates had died. I quickly went to my computer and googled his name to try and figure out what happened. Apparently, he was struck by a vehicle while out cycling.

Adam was a Resident Assistant (RA) at Reynolds dormitory when I enrolled as a new freshman back in 1995. That year probably seems like a long time ago to the students in law school with me now. But for me, I can call up the memories just like it was yesterday. 1995 might as well be 2007 in my mind. My body and brain do not feel 15 years older, and if I did not know how old I was, I would swear that I am 23 or younger.

I first met Adam when I walked into the lobby of Reynolds dormitory with my dad to move into my new room. He was one of the very first people I ever met at Western Carolina University. That day, he manned the check-in table with Lanny, the student who would be the RA of my specific hallway. Adam was always very friendly to me in his quiet way. He truly was one of the nicest people I have ever met.

I had not thought about Adam in a few years, but in seeing his name in black and white print in the magazine, in looking at his smiling photo posted on the Internet obituary, the memories came rushing back like an avalanche.

The feelings and emotions went beyond memories and transported me back to the fall semester 1995...

I am standing on the cool green grass of the hill in front of Reynolds dormitory, wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes. The weather is warm and fantastic as the sun sets. Adam and I toss a frisbee back and forth. Two girls come out of the dorm and stop to watch us. I throw the frisbee harder. I run and jump when I catch it, stealing obvious glances at the girls to see if they are impressed. I've seen them both before. One in particular is stunning to me, and I get up the guts to ask what her name is.

"Alexis," she says.

"Alexis. That is a very pretty name," I reply. "I do not know anyone else with that name."

I may be saying something else to her, though I'm not sure what. Her aura is overwhelming, and I sort of lose my bearings. Eventually she gives me a sort of puzzled smile and walks off down the hill.

The other girl, a pretty redhead with milky white skin stays to watch us. I know her, or rather I know her boyfriend. He is a blond haired exchange student from France. I have been told that he is literally a prince, a descendant of a royal family.

But the redhead is interested in us. More precisely, she is interested in Adam. She walks up to him, and they begin talking quietly together. Adam casually continues tossing the frisbee to me, now paying more attention to her than to our game. Before long, he tells me that he's had enough for the day. As sunset turns to dusk, Adam and the redhead walk back inside Reynolds together. I watch them as they slowly go up the steps to the doors. They walk very close to each other...

Another memory...

Adam and I walk down the hallway in Reynolds dormitory toward his room. He is going to let me borrow a book or something- I can't remember what exactly. He opens his door, and I am surprised at how barren his room is. He basically only has a bed and some chester drawers.

This is the guy who tempts the beautiful redhead away from the prince? The prince has money and wears very nice clothes. He must have lots of toys. But here is Adam, with his soft-spoken personality, his modest dorm room, his unpretentious life, and the redhead is interested in him.

I stand with Adam (there is no furniture to sit) and talk with him for a while. He tells me that he wants to teach biology when he graduates...

I think Adam moved off campus after the 1995-96 school year, and I had no more contact with him.

1995 was a formative and very happy year for me, but learning of Adam's death brought back the memories too strongly. I was there. I could smell the fresh coat of paint that August in Reynolds dormitory, I could see Alexis, her smooth silky skin and greenish-grey eyes standing right in front of me, her heart breaking sweetness, smiling so happily. I could feel how young my mind was, not knowing how to react to Alexis or the redhead. I could feel my mind trying to take in this entirely new and magical world in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

It was too much. My chest began to ache with a serious pain.

Adam is gone, now. Part of 1995 is gone, now. Part of that fantastic world is gone, now.

And I do not know how to handle it.

I do not know what happens when you die. I do not know what to do when 1995 is suddenly 15 years ago and everything is changing.

Is that time- are those moments- really gone forever? Is Adam really gone forever?

This existence is so incredibly beautiful and so incredibly horrifying at the same time.

I miss Adam, my old RA.

Impressions from Jury Duty

2010-07-01T00:30:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I sat on a jury for the very first time. The experience was brief. Jury selection took place on a Friday morning, and the trial itself only lasted for half a day during the next week.

The defendant stood charged with driving under the influence and possession of drug paraphernalia. To make the story short, the jury quickly decided "Not Guilty" on both counts.

If I had to bet money, I would say the defendant was guilty of both counts. But you have to be more certain than that under the "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" standard in criminal law. I believed the state trooper's version of the story. The problem was that the trooper's testimony was the only evidence. The trooper simply said that he smelled alcohol coming from the defendant, that his eyes were blood-shot and his face flushed... That was it. The defendant refused to do a breathalyzer test, and he also refused to do the field sobriety tests. As a result of his refusal, under Florida law the defendant is automatically guilty of a misdemeanor and loses his driving privileges for one year.

As for the possession of drug paraphernalia charge, the state failed to produce the paraphernalia. Due to a mix up in schedules, the state trooper was unable to retrieve it from the evidence cage. So, we voted "not guilty" on both counts.

I did learn quite a bit from my jury service, though. First, I was surprised at how simple and short voir dire (the jury selection process) was. At Parks & Crump last summer, I learned that jury selection is the most important part of the trial. As an attorney told me at a convention in San Francisco last year: "You can not win a trial with a bad jury, and you can still lose it with a good one."

If I were an attorney on either side during this case, I would have wanted to ask many more questions of each potential juror, to try and get a feel for their beliefs on drug use, alcohol consumption, and law enforcement. But it seemed to me that the lawyer for each side barely scratched the surface with us. I do not know how either of them could have gotten a good read on me or anyone else. Perhaps they are more astute than I am in this area.

On the other hand, a long and tedious question and answer process in jury selection ran the risk of turning the jury against the lawyer. Sitting in the jury box, I could see how too many questions, how taking so much time would irritate a juror. So, it is a bit of a catch-22 for the lawyer. I also wanted to ask more personal questions, such as whether anyone had ever been charged with DUI and, if so, what there experience was. But again, these questions could have backfired on myself and my client.

Ours was a half day trial. I wonder what jury selection would be like for a two week civil trial with millions of dollars at stake? Or a lengthy murder case? How much longer would the lawyers take to make their selections?

For practice, I also tried to use the lawyers' questions to get a read on each potential juror. As it turned out, once we got back into the deliberation room to decide the case, I was way off on one person in particular.

There was an older man on our jury that, from the selection process, I thought would be solid for the prosecution. He seemed conservative and patient to me. During the trial, he took no notes and rarely looked up at the lawyers.

But in the deliberation room after closing arguments, he changed. He spoke up quickly and staunchly for the defense. It would have been very difficult for the rest of us to move him if we thought the verdict should be guilty.

Coming out of the courthouse after the trial ended, I did not feel very good. I did not enjoy siding against the state trooper, and I felt like a guilty person had gotten off. In truth, though, ours was the proper verdict. The state has to put on more evidence. I also felt like jury selection is going to be more unpredictable than I hoped. For such an important part of the trial, I was disappointed that I did not recognize how the older man was going to go in deliberation. I need more work in this area. It seems like speed-psychology, and I doubt that is something I can learn from books or classes.

On a positive note, I think jury selection will be just as unpredictable for lawyers on the other side. You are always rolling the dice when you put an issue to a jury.

Truthfully, the best training I have ever received for these necessary skills came on a scorching hot car lot in Las Vegas. Perhaps this sounds strange, but I would not mind being back there again this summer doing the same thing. My job as a salesman out in the desert opened up a new and practical way of thinking, and I am trying hard not to forget what I learned. It would be nice to see all of my fellow salesman buddies again and to keep in practice with that trade.

My experience as a car salesman in Las Vegas taught me so much about what motivates customers, what turns customers off, what scares them, what excites them, and what convinces them. It is absolutely essential to understand this about jurors as well in order to be the most effective advocate for my client.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Pressure to Maintain and the "Top Five"

2010-06-24T14:19:00.003-04:00

Earlier this week, the College of Law issued our new grade point averages and class rank. It was the first time in a year that the school has assessed my position, and my class should not be sorted again until the final ranking is issued after graduation next year.

I was very happy upon receiving the new rank. If I could graduate with my current statistics, I would take it without hesitation. All of the past year was spent trying to raise my GPA and class rank to make up for the mild disappointment of the grades from my first semester of law school.

This goal I have now met.

So, I enjoyed my new position for about an afternoon. That night when I laid down to go to sleep, however, I felt a new and different sort of pressure beginning to creep into my brain.

Now, I have to maintain my spot, I thought. I have climbed the ladder consistently every semester of law school. During my final year, I must work to make sure that I do not drop.

But my study habits should not change much next year, and I know that the pressure I am beginning to feel is nothing compared to the pressure those at the very top of my class must experience- those who are the top five or the top ten.

I do not know who is #1 in our class, and I can understand why that person might want to keep it a secret. A huge target gets drawn on your back, and you become the object of curiosity and envy among people used to making As and being at the top of the class for their whole lives. Your peers study your actions more closely, and some, I am sure, are secretly hoping to see what happens if you stumble.

I am friends with a few people who are in the top five- a couple from my class, a couple from the class that matriculated last year, and a couple from the class that just graduated. I also know the person who graduated first in her class from Florida State Law last year. They all handle the stress of being on top with modesty and politeness. It is no problem to admit here that they are much smarter than myself. They have a gear I am not familiar with and had not seen until I came to law school.

The difference between them and me is that they can learn much more in a shorter period of time than I can. They can listen to a detailed lecture once, do a complex reading assignment once, and get more from it and lay it out in a more organized fashion than if I had it repeated to me five times.

Earlier this semester, I had to miss a couple of classes due to a Mock Trial competition, and I asked one of my friends in the top five for her notes from those missed days. When she gave them to me, I just had to laugh at how good they were. The notes provided me with more information and in a better format than if I had been sitting in class myself. I actually showed them to my parents.

These students in the top five are the people who do not need to take courses tested on the bar exam. They will be able to grasp the requisite knowledge in the two month bar prep course after graduation. These are the people who should be judicial clerks, those prestigious jobs where one works for a judge, helping him or her draft opinions on all types of law.

And yet, when these "top five" go to work at huge law firms with the billable hour requirements, the firm gives them all that they want to handle. Even they are stretched and consumed by their work.

It lets me know that I could not survive, let alone be happy, in such an environment.

My angle, as I wrote about in my previous blog entry, is to become very knowledgeable in one particular area of law that involves the courtroom. I feel confident in the courtroom. Given a neutral set of facts to present to the jury, I have not yet met a person that I feel I could not beat in the courtroom, and this includes the top five students, professors, and current lawyers.

I am somewhat less optimistic about beating out my friends in the top five for the highest grade in a class. Still, the pressure of my trying is something with which they must constantly deal, and it is impressive that they can remain so relaxed and friendly with their colleagues.

Hopefully, I can act as graciously as them in trying to preserve my lesser status in the class ranks.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Plan

2010-06-20T13:21:00.004-04:00

This summer is shaping up to be a bit of a double edged sword.

To my surprise, despite earning grades this year that were much better than in my first year of law school, I am unemployed right now.

I was thrown a bit of a curve ball when, due to the economic downturn, the firm I worked with last summer decided not to hire any law clerks at all this season. Last year, I was one of three that they hired. But I can not hold this against them. They gave me perhaps my most important experience during law school, and I am indebted to them for the trips and the meals to which they treated me last summer.

Also, though I have absolutely no regrets about working for the Summer for Undergraduates Program, this hampered me in some capacity for finding work with a firm. The program cut into about five weeks of the summer break, and law firms are more reluctant to bring on someone who is only going to be around two months.

So, I am going to miss the income.

But now for the other side of the sword. I am treating this break as if there was not one, as if I were still taking classes full time. Only now, I am studying books in the area where I think I need the most knowledge- personal injury law.

My experiences this year taught me that I will probably not be happy working at a firm that operates under the billable hour system. Unfortunately, the billable hour system is utilized by firms in most areas of law. Perhaps in a future blog entry I will detail just how that system works.

On January 16th of this year, I wrote a blog entry about how a student can not predict what kind of law he or she will practice. I now have to make that blog entry not true in regards to myself. Personal injury law, the type that I worked with last summer, is the major area where firms do not operate by the billable hour.

So, with this new knowledge of myself, my plan is to become as proficient as possible in personal injury law before graduation. I must make a P.I. firm want to hire me.

This summer, I will teach myself a course in personal injury law, as it is not a subject specifically taught by the law school. This break is a wonderful opportunity to learn. While working at the law firm last summer, there were times when I wished I had hours or even days to study a particular topic before submitting my memo or motion. By the end of the first week, I knew to keep my torts textbook and my civil procedure text and notes with me at my desk. Deadlines imposed by the partners or other lawyers kept me from doing as good a job as I would have liked.

Now is my chance, though. When school resumes in the fall, I will have a full slate of reading assigned to me. When I graduate, I will immediately begin studying for the bar exam. And when I land a job, I am sure it will be full tilt boogey and I will have to learn what I can on the fly and in real situations with real consequences.

But right now, I have time. I will read and take notes on Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law: Personal Injury Protection by Russel Lazega. This is a Florida Practice Series book of about 450 pages in length before the appendix. I have already knocked out about 200 pages of it. After completing that book, I will read Florida Personal Injury Law and Practice with Wrongful Death Actions by Judge Thomas Sawaya. This is a volume of over 1500 pages before the supplemental information. I am unaware of any course currently taught at the law school that would require me to even glance at these texts, yet they should prove extremely valuable in actual practice.

The reading should take up the rest of my summer.

Also, a couple of weeks ago I received a jury summons for the first time in my life. I reported as directed on Friday, and to my surprise after voir dire I was selected to sit on the jury for a criminal case. It will be interesting and useful to watch a trial from the jury box, and then go into the deliberation room and observe how the jury members come to their decision.

As for my blog entries for the rest of the summer- we will see what I write about. I doubt that highlights of my week's readings will prove that enthralling.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Cloud Hopping and Other Encounters with Nature in Tallahassee

2010-06-14T17:19:00.011-04:00

Now that the Summer for Undergrads program has ended and I have some free time, I thought I would write about something different.

A couple of weeks ago, I walked out of my apartment in Alumni Village and spotted a partial rainbow on the eastern horizon. Other people were also standing outside gazing at it. One young toddler of Asian descent was so excited that he did not know what to do with himself. He ran around a swing set shouting "Rainbow! Rainbow!"

A slightly older girl ran up to him, and they both dashed across the lawn as he continued to shout, looking back over his shoulder at it.

I can remember the first time I saw a rainbow. It was in Wilmington, NC and I was three or four years old. I was in the backyard of our apartment and our neighbors were also outside playing in a plastic kiddie pool. The rainbow was not fully formed, but I was still fascinated at how the colors stood out distinctly in the blue sky.

I have only seen a perfect, completely formed rainbow once in my life. That was in Rochester, New York in June 2004. It appeared outside my room in the Strathallan Hotel, and I stepped out onto my balcony to watch it over downtown Rochester. That rainbow was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in nature, and even the local news anchors mentioned it that evening on their 6pm broadcast...

After the Tallahassee rainbow disappeared, I went for a bike ride through Innovation Park. The cloud patterns that caused the rainbow moved in from the western horizon, and I found myself getting soaked with rain. Spying a large oak tree, I ducked under its branches and waited. In a minute, the rain stopped.

The clouds were unique. I could see patches of darkening blue sky where it was not raining, but then also there were grey clouds and lightening where I saw rain pouring.

I decided to play a game of cloud hopping. I took off on my bike for the engineering building, trying to make it there before the next rain cloud passed over my head. The first few drops began to hit my back just as I zipped into a covered entrance of the building. The rain was warm, so it did not bother me much. But I enjoyed playing this game.

The rain stopped again, and I rode my bike out from the engineering building, past the golf course and the small reservoir in the park. Some Canada geese were already flying in to rest for the night.

A colder, steadier downpour caught me before I could get to the next building and its covered entrance. The rain drops beat loudly on the thin plastic awning. But again, it did not last long.

I cloud hopped for about an hour, watching parts of the evening sky light up with electricity. Eventually, the clouds moved off and the rain stopped for good. I coasted back to my apartment on the downhill slopes from Innovation Park to Alumni Village.

...

A few days later, the natural surroundings of Tallahassee gave me another interesting experience.

While on one of my usual night time runs, I felt a tickle on the back of my neck which I thought to be a drop of sweat. When I tried to wipe it away, though, I suddenly discovered that I had palmed some sort of creature about the size of a golf ball.

In the span of half a second, I grabbed it from the back of my neck and tossed it to the ground. I heard its large exoskeleton clatter across the asphalt, but I did not stop my run to see what the thing looked like.

In the half second it was in my hand, I felt a pinch on my palm. I looked at my hand as I continued running, and through the glow of the street lamps I could see a pink mark on my palm where it had bitten or pinched me. Luckily, it did not break the skin and the mark faded quickly.

With this memory fresh in my mind, the next night I was doing laundry when I came back to my apartment to find a massive and fierce looking insect mounted on my door frame about chest high. This is what it looked like.

I had no idea what this creature was, but its face had what looked like fangs, and it appeared to be a predator of some intelligence.

I did not want to get attacked by this thing. For a few moments, I debated what I should do. Then I said to it, " Bug, I don't want any trouble, but you have parked yourself right at the entrance to my home. I have to go in- you understand?"

Holding my empty laundry basket as a shield, I carefully keyed into my apartment and slowly opened the door. The creature did not move, and I shut the door.

After half an hour, it was time for me to go back to the laundry facility to switch my clothes from the washers to the dryers. I hoped the thing would be gone when I opened the door.

I opened the door quickly, and then took a step back. The insect was still there, only now it was raised up and larger. I thought that perhaps I had startled it when I opened the door, and in response it had flared to attack position. This is what it looked like. The photos are pretty close to actual size.

Again, using my laundry basket as a shield, I stepped outside, shut the door, and took a closer look at the insect. It was then that I realized it was molting- breaking through its old shell.

Now is my chance to kill it, I thought.

But I do not enjoy squashing live things, and I only do it when I really have to. I decided to give this fierce but cool looking insect more time. Maybe when I came back from the laundry facility it would have finished molting and be gone.

Unfortunately, it was still there when I came back. Mounted on the back of its old shell, I now saw that the insect had wings. It moved slightly when I came close.

I managed to slip past it again into my apartment. After another half hour wait while my clothes dried, I opened the door again, hoping the bug had flown away.

But it was still there, and it flexed its wings when I opened the door.

Okay, that's it, I thought. This thing has wings and it is responding to my movements. It can fly up and sting me in the face if it wants to.

Using the door for protection, I took a broom and poked at it to get it off my door frame. I felt a tinge of sympathy when it tried to use its old shell for protection. It was not able to fly away, yet. But I poked it again and knocked it off the door frame, along with the shell. I heard it hit the ground.

Well, that's that, I thought, and I finished my laundry. The next day, I did some research at the library and discovered that the insect was actually a harmless cicada.

I felt badly that I had not allowed it to finish molting. Eventually it would have developed into something like this.

But given my experience from my run, I was not taking chances.

It was just bad luck for the cicada. I learned from this, though, and I now know what a molting cicada looks like.

The first image of the cicada is from http://www.earthlife.net/insects/images/hemipter/cicada3.JPG

The last three images in this blog entry come from http://www.insectidentification.org/process-of-molting.asp

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

The End of SUG 2010

2010-06-13T12:33:00.003-04:00

The Summer for Undergraduates Program 2010 has come to a close.

It is for the students themselves to say how successful the program was, but I believe we had a positive and lasting impact. My thanks go out to Dean Daniels for hiring me as a mentor again. Like last year, she did an outstanding job running the program. Also, her office assistant, Sarah Lowe, deserves a lot of credit. Sarah performed much of the behind-the-scenes work to keep the program running smoothly, but the students did not get to know her that well. My fellow mentors worked very hard during the program. No one of us had to carry an undue share of the work load.

As I told students at the closing reception on Thursday night, this is a fun job and an easy job for me. It is fun and easy because the students are the ones who make it so. It is a pleasure to work with bright and positive people who have their whole lives ahead of them. I encouraged the students to stay positive and to stay curious as they progress through their college years and then on into their careers.

A few students asked me what the differences were between their group and the one I mentored last year. Honestly, there is not much difference. I made good friends in each of the last two SUG classes. Both classes are filled with enormous potential.

I'll take a stab at some humor to point out some differences, though. A couple of students in this year's class had a few zingers for me that I did not hear last year- zingers of a sort that are new to me.

On the first day of the program, before he even said "Hello" to me, one student came up and commented, "So I notice you're a bit older." When another SUG participant beside him chided him about this, the student responded to her, "What? He knows he's old. He can look in the mirror."

But I quickly got to know this student and appreciated his humor and perspective. We had some interesting conversations, and he kept me entertained with his sarcastic insights into some of our events.

Another student this year was also a master of sarcasm. As I ate dinner with him and some others one evening, I told them about my experience as a park ranger at Petersburg National Battlefield in Virginia.

"Wow," he said as he continued looking down and eating his food. "That battle must be a really great memory for you."

It took me a couple of seconds to catch on. After a laugh, I went on to explain that I have a great great grandfather who fought for the Confederacy. The student (who is African-American) asked with enthusiasm, "Do you have his picture on your wall?"

But perhaps the best zinger came from a student who meant to do no such thing. The two of us were riding in my car to visit one of the local law firms. He was asking me all sorts of questions about law school when suddenly he threw in, "So, if you don't mind, can I ask how old you are?"

I told him. There was a pause. He shifted uneasily in the passenger seat before asking, "You ever feel like the years are just... passing you by?"

These are just a few isolated moments of humor at my expense. Despite their sharp wit, these same students saw fit to elect me as the outstanding mentor, so I guess my age did not act as too much of a handicap in being a positive influence on them. The students also gave me very nice cards and a gift.

This job was a blast, and I wish it could last all summer.

I also wish the very best to the students of SUG 2010. This program will be a really great memory for me, and I hope for them, too.

Whether they go to law school or not, our aim was to give the students insight into all the options a legal education provides. We also sought to help them shape their individual goals.

To the students, it was a pleasure meeting you all. Good luck to you.

Your favorite (and oldest) mentor,

Nathan Marshburn

A Generous Gift

2010-06-06T12:21:00.004-04:00

The Summer for Undergraduates Program receives most of its funding through a donation from Wayne Hogan, a very successful attorney in Jacksonville and an alumnus of the College of Law. Mr. Hogan is a also a mentor of Attorney Benjamin Crump. Mr. Crump is a founding partner of Parks & Crump, LLC, one of the most successful personal injury firms in Florida.

On Friday, we held a lunch in honor of Mr. Hogan in the rotunda of the law school. During the lunch, Mr. Crump spoke about the influence of Mr. Hogan on himself and on the practice of law in the state of Florida.

Mr. Crump then presented the law school with a generous gift- a donation in the amount of $20,000 for the Summer for Undergraduates Program. Mr. Crump made the donation in honor of Mr. Hogan.

It was a tremendous gesture, and one audibly appreciated by the students in the program. The program has changed the lives of many students over the years, and opened worlds of new opportunities and ideas to them.

Also, I wish to note here that Mr. Crump is in contention for Advocate of the Year at the Nation's Best Advocate Awards Gala. The award goes to an attorney who excels in achievement, innovation, vision, leadership and legal community involvement.

You may join me in voting for him at:

www.NationsBestAdvocates.com.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Politics, a "Not-So-Boring" Man and a Grand View

2010-06-05T13:37:00.005-04:00

The end of this week in the Summer for Undergraduates Program was a flurry of activity.

On Friday, we visited the State Capitol- specifically the Governor's Office and the offices of the Attorney General and the Chief Financial Officer. Politics in Florida is especially interesting right now. It is an election year. Governor Charlie Crist is running for U.S. Senate. Though Governor Crist was elected as a Republican, he has switched to become an independent for his senate run. The Attorney General of Florida, Bill McCollum, is also a Republican and is currently running for governor. Mr. McCollum is one of the state attorneys general who is challenging the new health care law for its constitutionality. Though the AG was not in his office yesterday, we got to take a look at his desk. I remember a unique University of Florida Gator mascot made from legos setting on top.

Alex Sink is the State CFO, and her office is just down the hall from the Attorney General. She is a Democrat and is running for governor against Mr. McCollum.

Coincidentally, I met Ms. Sink and Kendrick Meek (the likely Democratic opponent against Governor Crist in the senate race) at fund raisers last year during my employment with Parks and Crump.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the top priority for many people at the Capitol right now.

The Governor, the CFO and the Attorney General all occupy the first floor of the Capitol Building.

The evening before our visit to their offices, we also went to the Capitol Building. This time, however, it was to the very top floor (22nd) for a networking reception with attorneys and judges in Tallahassee. I did not know until this week that this floor is open to the general public during normal business hours.

The view of Tallahassee from the 22nd floor is grand. I saw the law school far below, along with the football stadium, the hospital, and the roads I frequently drive.

The Capitol Building is the tallest in Tallahassee, and it was neat to look upon downtown and see a rooftop swimming pool in one of the hotels. One of my fellow mentors called his girlfriend at her apartment and got her to come outside and wave to us. She looked like an ant.

While enjoying this view, the students ate gourmet quality food and got to know some of the movers and shakers in the politics and the legal professions of Tallahassee.

On Tuesday of this week, Judge Robert Hinkle of the Northern District of Florida spoke to the students in his courtroom at the Federal Courthouse. Judge Hinkle is one of the most intelligent individuals to address the group, having earned a bachelor's degree from Florida State before attending Harvard law school. He was nominated to become a federal judge by President Bill Clinton in 1996.

One of the students asked how the judge got to be where he is in life. Judge Hinkle described himself as "boring," and said that if he had lived a more colorful life, he probably would not have been selected to be a judge.

But as one of the students commented to me after the session was over, we could all tell that he was being modest. People with those credentials who describe themselves as "boring," the student said, are almost always anything but boring. Indeed, we had to cut off student questions for the judge in order for them to have time for lunch.

As I have said before, the students are really appreciating all the opportunities and connections to which they have been exposed.

YFM,

Nathan Marshburn

Thumbs Up to the Tech Help Desk

2010-06-02T10:44:00.003-04:00

This week, the students in the Summer for Undergraduates Program are performing group presentations to educate the rest of us on various areas of the law. The categories include: Corporate law, criminal law, environmental law, family law, health care law, intellectual property, international/immigration law, labor/employment, personal injury, sports and entertainment, and tax.

The employees in the tech department of the law school have been great in helping the students create funny and amusing videos to accompany their presentations. The students have also been able to go to the tech support staff when they have difficulties with power point presentations or other computer glitches. The student group presenting on criminal law was particularly impressed with the editing job of the tech staff for their video.

People who can solve computer and technology problems have become almost indispensable to the operation of business and educational facilities. They are just as important to the operation of a law office as the lawyers themselves.

So, thanks to the tech department. You guys are making my job much easier.

YFM,

Nathan Marshburn

A Good Tired

2010-05-29T13:00:00.004-04:00

The Summer for Undergraduates Program maintains a full schedule for the sixty students participating here. Thursday night, we all went to Crenshaw Lanes, the campus bowling alley. I enjoyed a couple of games of black light bowling with the students, and then afterwards went over to Landis Hall to help a group with their project/presentation on criminal law.

In very short order, it was morning again and we were all back at the law school. It amused me to see that a number of students had trouble holding their eyes open during the various presentations of the day. I was a little tired myself, and stood up at the back of the room during one session in order to stay awake.

Saturday morning I slept in, and it felt really terrific. This is a good tired. It is a good tired because there is really no stress involved. I enjoy working with the students, playing games with the students, and listening to very accomplished people come and speak to us about what it takes to be successful in the practice of law.

The fatigue I feel here is dimensions away from the type of fatigue I felt when I worked as a mail carrier in Washington, DC.

The fatigue I feel working with this program is something I would be happy to deal with for the rest of my life. I could do this job indefinitely.

Though the students are tired halfway through this program, I think they are happy to be here, too. Yesterday, we went to the Florida Supreme Court again. Only this time, the students themselves got to play the justices and the lawyers arguing before the court. Many took pictures of themselves in the chief justice's chair or at the podium. It should be an experience they will remember for a long time.

YFM,

Nathan Marshburn

Two Fighters for the Underdogs

2010-05-26T10:58:00.003-04:00

This week, two attorneys spoke to the Summer for Undergraduates Program about the practice of law: Tommy Warren and Benjamin Crump. Both have been extremely successful, and they have achieved that success by representing common people, people who can not afford to hire attorneys.

Both of their biographies are written in detail on the Internet, but it was nice to hear in their own words how they got into the practice of law and what inspires them today. Many of the students came up to me afterwards and talked about how Mr. Crump and Mr. Warren have persuaded them to look into public interest law, or at least a type of law that, in the words of Mr. Crump, does not help Goliath to defeat David.

Mr. Crump employed me at his firm last summer, and it was good to see him again. After another year of law school, I am strongly leaning toward working as a plaintiff's personal injury attorney upon graduation. It is the type of law that I understand best at this point, and it also seems to be one of the more rewarding fields, not just financially but emotionally as well. It is more gratifying to win a victory for the human being who, through no fault of her own, now faces serious challenges in just surviving from day to day- as opposed to billing the massive corporation or insurance company in an effort to defeat this person.

Of course, there are arguments to be made that a positive career exists on both sides of this battle. But for Mr. Crump, Mr. Warren, and myself, I think most of the time we want to see the face of the person we represent, to know their story, to know their problems, and to win a personal victory for them.

YFM,

Nathan Marshburn

A Day at the Rez

2010-05-23T13:39:00.003-04:00

Yesterday in the Summer for Undergraduates Program, we all took a charter bus out to the Reservation or "The Rez" for a day of fun and games.

http://fsu.campusrec.com/reservation/

Famous Dave's provided a terrific lunch. The temperature was a scorching 93 degrees, but I loved being outside in it. This kind of weather is my favorite time of the year. I played volleyball, tossed frisbees and a football while others took canoes out on Lake Bradford or climbed a rock wall.

The mentors working with me did a great job of planning games for both indoor and outdoor competition. My team of students, "The Ragin' Nathans," did well in all of the activities. We'll see who got the overall top spot on Monday.

The trip out to the Rez provided a great break from being in a classroom or behind a desk all day. Enjoying the weather, being outside, moving and playing athletic games has become increasingly important to my own personal happiness. I am more active now than when I was a teenager, and I was a little surprised when I woke up this morning to find no soreness in my muscles at all.

Everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves, too, though the heat and the sun had sapped a lot of energy by the time 3pm hit.

Playing outside with the students has been the most fun out of all the interesting activities we have done so far. It is more enjoyable for me than the guest speakers, the law firm visits, and the informational sessions. . . Though honestly, I hope the same is not true for the students themselves.

Perhaps I can get in on some other games on Landis Green with the SUG students before the next three weeks are over.

YFM,

Nathan Marshburn

The Suwannee Room Staff

2010-05-21T11:41:00.003-04:00

Some of the nicest people working at Florida State University are the staff of the Suwannee Room. The Suwannee Room is the largest dining hall on campus, and during the Summer for Undergraduates program it is often open just for us. The food is great, but the people are better.

Yesterday at lunch, one of the managers there overheard the students talking about going out for a birthday party (One of the SUG students turned 21 today). So last night, he had a pink and white birthday cake prepared when the student came in for dinner. We all yelled, "Surprise!" when she came in, and then sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

The students got the staff of the Suwannee Room to pose with them for pictures, and the staff let us hang around and talk with each other after the food lines had closed down and they began cleaning.

I eat almost all of my meals at the Suwannee Room during the school year. The staff is very hard working, yet they also remain friendly despite the huge throngs of students who flow in demanding food.

Today, they are staying open for lunch later than normal to accommodate our students who will be coming out of a practice Law School Admission Test (LSAT). For me, dining at the Suwannee Room has been one of the nicer experiences as a law school student at Florida State.

YFM,

Nathan Marshburn

The Motion in Limine and the Life of a Lawyer

2010-05-19T10:35:00.004-04:00

The Summer for Undergraduates Program 2010 is in high gear. Students who are fortunate enough to participate in this program get a head start on what it takes to be admitted to law school. They also get insight on the lifestyles of lawyers- insight that many students already in law school do not yet have.

A couple of SUG participants have commented that the vocabulary of the legal profession is completely new to them. They asked me how to pronounce a motion in "limine."

It is pronounced "lemon-EE." They asked me this question on day two of the program. However, I did not encounter the term, "motion in limine," until my second semester of law school when I tried out for the Mock Trial team. I did not have a good understanding of what it meant until my second year of law school when I enrolled in Trial Practice class and Evidence.

The SUG students are also receiving knowledge from speakers such as Dean Weidner, the dean of our law school. Dean Weidner cleverly illustrated that the profession of law is a literary profession, but that legal writing is different from other forms of writing. Often scientists or mathematicians can adjust more easily to legal writing than creative writers (or writers of a blog). Legal writing, he said, is an exercise in logic. It is about "making inescapable that which you would want to be inescapable, making illusive that which you want to be illusive." Perhaps the SUG students do not fully grasp that concept, yet, but as a rising 3rd year student, I understand what he means- mostly.

The SUG students are also visiting local law firms. The attorneys are very generous with their time and address the questions of the students in a frank and friendly manner. I myself am again learning things during these law firm visits that I did not know before, such as the various duties of partners in a firm, the methods of the "billable hour," and certain niches of practice of which I had never before heard.

One thing about these blog entries for the SUG Program- I have to write them quickly, in order to get on with my other duties as a mentor. Please excuse any grammatical errors or inarticulate phrases. I will try to clean them up as time permits.

But now, it is time to get ready for the 20 students whom we will be taking to four different law firms today.

YFM,

Nathan Marshburn

The Summer for Undergraduates Program Begins!

2010-05-15T17:20:00.006-04:00

Sunday will see the arrival at Florida State of 60 bright and eager young students interested in law school. The next four weeks will be a tremendous experience for them, as they will get to see what law school and the practice of law is all about.

Over the next month, the students will meet prominent attorneys and judges in Florida, visit the Florida Supreme Court, the Florida Senate and the House. They will also perform an oral argument in front of a panel of judges just like actual appellate lawyers do. They will learn about various careers in the legal field. The law school's legal writing instructors will teach them some of the nuances of drafting a brief, and one of our most entertaining and distinguished faculty members will introduce the students to the basics of law.

There will also be fun activities, such as a weekend trip to "The Rez," a local lake park. We will go bowling and play outside on Landis Green after the day's formal activities are finished.

I am serving as a mentor in the program this year, a job I also performed last year. I hope the students have as much fun as I did last year. This is a great job- to work with intelligent, positive people who have their whole lives ahead of them.

Being a student (or a mentor) in this program is a privilege, an opportunity, and a great time. I look forward to meeting all the new students and introducing them to our law school, one of the best law schools in the country.

YFM,

Nathan Marshburn

Baseball to Relax the Mind

2010-05-15T14:04:00.007-04:00

Despite the end of the semester, I continue to stay just as busy. Next week will see me begin another turn as a mentor with the Summer for Undergraduates Program. To my surprise, I was asked to write blog entries here about the program as part of my job duties.

Lee Corso, a former great of the gridiron at Florida State, said not too long ago, "Life is about change and your ability to adapt to it."

While it is always exciting to meet new people and come into new environments, the change can be a little stressful as well. The house cats at my friends' and family's homes do not always react so well to my visits. The cats sometimes leave little "items" on my bed or on my suitcase to let me know that my new presence in their space is upsetting to them.

The 60 students we have coming in for the Summer for Undergraduates Program will also be wondering about where they have arrived, the people they will meet, and what they will be doing. I can assure them that we will have a lot of fun. If they are anything like the group from last summer, they will make fast friends and learn a lot about themselves and law school. It will a great experience for them, something they will remember for a long time. . .

I also have ways of trying to relax my mind during times of change. In my first year of law school, I was completely focused on classes and took little notice of the outside world. This year, however, I started following the Florida State Seminoles baseball team. I have been surprised at how much I enjoy their games.

As a kid, I was an avid fan of the major leagues. I also played baseball from the time I was a toddler up until high school, when the ball began moving too fast for me to compete.

But the players' strike in the 1990s, the steroid use, and the obscene salaries the players received to play this little game with a round bat and a round ball cooled my enthusiasm for the major leagues as an adult.

The rediscovery of baseball in the college ranks, though, has been like a breath of fresh air to me. I had forgotten how fun a game it is, with the hitting and the fielding, the pop of the leather glove as a ball comes sizzling into the pocket, the squeeze play, the double play, the perfect throw from the outfielder to nail a runner trying to reach home.

I understand baseball more than any other sport, and as such I enjoy watching the games within the game: The interplay between the shortstop and the second baseman to see who will cover the bag if the runner on first tries to steal; how tight the infielders play when there is a runner on third; how aggressive a base runner is against the pitcher's pick off move; whether the batter will swing away on a 3-0 count; all the options a manager has when there is a runner on first and third with one out. The list goes on and on.

Yesterday, I went to see Florida State play North Carolina State, and I will go to watch the same two teams play again tonight.

My uncle is also an avid baseball fan. He was a much better athlete than me growing up, though, and coincidentally played baseball for North Carolina State when he was in college. He will travel to Omaha in June to watch the College World Series.

My uncle sent me an email message earlier this semester, encouraging me to watch as many 'Noles games as I could, as baseball "relaxes your mind."

I had never quite thought of baseball in this way, but he is right. The rhythm of baseball is unlike any other sport. There is a quiet method to playing baseball. Because I understand the game well enough, the rhythm and method lends itself to a predictability and analysis that can be a comforting distraction to the other stresses of life. Watching a baseball game unfold is like watching all the pieces of a puzzle come together in a satisfying way. And you are outside in the warm summer air with all the familiar sounds of the game, the colors of the uniforms and the green grass of the field.

I understand my uncle when he says baseball relaxes your mind. It does provide a pleasant distraction for me. A baseball game would relax me even more, though, if I could stop myself from scanning the crowd for pretty women sitting by themselves. That is one distraction that baseball has yet to overcome in my mind.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Stress

2010-05-11T21:14:00.002-04:00

The three week span from the last day of class, through the "dead week" of no classes or exams while students study and prepare, through the day of the last exam is the most stressful time of the semester for a law school student.

This was my fourth time going through it. A person's reaction to stress varies in expression. I am no exception. Once classes ended this semester, I noticed a strange tickling twitch in my stomach almost every night when I laid down and tried to sleep. During one stretch when I had exams three days in a row, my sleep pattern got completely screwed up. I woke up in the morning at 3am and, unable to get back to sleep, decided to just go on to the library. I was there from 4:30 in the morning studying until my exam started at 8:30am.

In other students, I saw a need for physical comfort. Some guys and girls would suddenly become affectionate couples- if only for these three weeks. I remember a female friend of mine saying last year during exams, "I just need to be held." Another student would go off by herself and cry and then come back normal in time for the exam. Yet another good friend of mine had to seek professional help to get through this semester. He has other things going on in his life, though. I really hope he makes it through law school.

Why these rather extreme reactions? As I have explained before, exams mean more in law school than in undergraduate classes. In most law school classes, your exam grade IS your grade for the class. You receive no other feedback from the rest of the semester. There is a mandatory curve grading system in most classes: The top 5% receive As, the bottom 5% receive Ds and Fs, with the remaining percentages divided between Bs or Cs. We are all aware of what our individual class rank is. Job offers may appear or not based on how well you perform on your exams. Differences of many thousands of dollars in future pay ride on your grades on these exams.

It is a credit to the students of Florida State Law that we do not become cut-throat competitive over exams the way I have heard they do at other law schools. We frequently study in groups and share notes or outlines. I have yet to see a student slicing pages out of a library text as sometimes happens in other places.

While they are no fun, I would much rather deal with the pressure of three exams in a row than trying to complete two mail routes before 9pm in Washington, DC, as I had to do in times past. But that is an analogy unique to my life experience. . .

After two years of law school, I've taken a number of different styles of exams. Some are more fair than others, in my humble opinion. Professors work hard in crafting an exam that challenges students and covers the material taught in the course. The professors here are much smarter than me and have put many more hours into thinking about their exam than I have, but I do have some suggestions that may or may not be useful. While a "fair" exam will probably do nothing to relieve the stress students feel prior to taking an exam, it can help during the test itself and afterwards when we are replaying the questions and answers again and again in our heads.

My number one pet peeve is to encounter an exam that is a typing race. Some of my colleagues are amazingly fast typists, and almost everybody in law school types faster than me. About once per semester, it seems I get an exam designed so that you are not supposed to finish, and the person who can type the fastest and get the most information in a "word vomit" on paper wins and gets the best grade.

One friend who is a very fast typist heard me commenting about this after one exam. She came up to me in the library and asked me to show her how fast I could type. I went to a computer and gave her a demonstration. Her eyes got a little wide after watching me for a minute and she said quietly, "Yeah, that's pretty bad."

During a four hour marathon typing race exam, I managed to get out 8 typed pages, though I could have continued typing for another four hours. One of the highest grades in that class, on the other hand, was an exam of 18 typed pages.

A pet peeve of other students (though not me) is the multiple choice exam. I tend to do better on multiple choice exams, but many students complain about these. When a client comes off the street and presents you with their problems, the students say, you are not going to have multiple choices magically appear before you to select the correct advice to give the client. Some professors in the law school will not give multiple choice exams for this reason, though much of the Florida Bar Exam is in multiple choice format.

The exam software can throw off the fairness of the exam. "Exam 4" is the software we use, and it allows for the professor to have the exam administered in "open" or "closed" format. The closed format shuts down access to any files on your laptop while you take the exam, but open format allows access to these files. Open format gives a great advantage to the students who type and save their notes on their laptop during the semester. They can use the Control F key to locate specific terms instantly in notes that may span well over a hundred pages. A person who hand writes, obviously, does not have this ability. When an exam is open book/note but closed mode on the "Exam 4" software, students who have typed their outlines or notes simply print them off prior to the exam, which levels the playing field with those who hand write. Some professors are unfamiliar with the differences between open and closed mode on "Exam 4."

The most fair exams, in my opinion, are those which present fact patterns like you would receive as a lawyer practicing in the particular subject being tested. The student would then write an essay, identifying the issues and explaining the legal advice that student would give. The exam could be open or closed book/notes, depending on the complexity and amount of material covered during the course. The exam software would be in closed format, with a word limit imposed for those typing or a set number of blue book pages for those hand writing. The test would be one that every student could easily finish in the time allotted. This style of exam would also minimize problems that occur when a student's computer malfunctions- which has happened in several of my exams.

I am sure there are students who would argue that my suggestion is also an unfair exam style. We are in training to be lawyers, after all. And personally, I will defend the multiple choice exam format, though I can see the other side's point.

Part of this blog entry is just me venting some of the ideas and emotions I felt during the stress of exam season. But at the end of the day, all of the students at Florida State Law are in a pretty good position. The style of an exam is a petty thing to bicker about when millions of gallons of oil are beginning to hit the Gulf Coast. There are thousands if not millions of people who would trade places with the students at Florida State Law, who would instantly trade the pressures and stresses of their own lives for the pressure of doing well on school exams. If the format of a law school exam is all I have to complain about in my life, then I should not be complaining at all.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

"The Force is with you, young Skywalker. But you are not a Jedi, yet."

2010-05-05T15:45:00.003-04:00

Exams are done for this spring semester. I have to wait for my grades, but otherwise two years of law school are in the books.

My experience at Florida State Law has prepared me well, and I am now ready to begin work as a lawyer- sort of.

I have complete confidence in my abilities to start tomorrow as a personal injury attorney. Of course, I won't be an expert in the field, but there is not much more that another year of law school will do to help me prepare for that job. One of the courses offered in the spring is "Complex Civil Litigation," and that will be my number one draft pick for classes next year. A class in "Remedies" would also be helpful, but otherwise I just need to get into the fray and learn my way.

I am also ready to dive into work as an insurance defense attorney. This job is often the other side of the battle in personal injury cases. My insurance law class taught me a lot this year, and now it is time for me to apply that knowledge in a practical manner.

These are the only two areas where I can say that I am "good to go," though. As of the end of two years of law school, I am not qualified to do corporation law, nor criminal law, nor wills and estates, nor employment law. I have had absolutely no exposure to family law or tax law.

Many of these subjects are tested on the Florida Bar Exam. So next year, my final year of law school, will be devoted to learning these subjects better.

Law school is fun for me, but I now understand better the phrase: "The first year of law school, they scare you to death. The second year, they work you to death. The third year, they bore you to death." School has never bored me, but I am somewhat anxious to be done for one reason only- I am ready to start making money again.

Filling out FAFSAs (the federal application for financial student aid), going further into debt, and living the economical lifestyle of the cash-strapped student is getting a little old. I'm ready to swing out some, go out a little more and not worry so much about finances. I have heeded well another phrase about law school: "If you live like a lawyer when you are a student, you will live like a student when you become a lawyer."

But I can not complain. Life in Tallahassee is good. The weather is warm, and tonight I will celebrate the end of exams with my friends. I am a happy person, much happier than most people in this world. I have enough experience to know that when you are in a place that makes you happy, you should not be in such a big rush to change it.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

Justice Scalia

2010-04-09T11:35:00.010-04:00

Yesterday, a true giant of the legal community paid a visit to Florida State Law.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spoke to a standing room only audience of law students, professors, and prominent judges and attorneys from Tallahassee.

It was an impressive and memorable event. Though constitutional law is probably right behind business law as being my most challenging subject, I knew enough before I ever came to law school to realize the importance of the figure on stage only forty feet away from me.

It seemed that the hardest thing for Justice Scalia to do yesterday during his appearance was to actually walk across the stage. He moved more stiffly than I expected, and his eyes appeared a little cloudy as he sat in a chair awaiting his introduction to us. He seemed much older than the person I have watched on C-Span, 60 Minutes and YouTube. Age is catching up to him, I thought. But he had me fooled.

As soon as he took his place behind the podium, he became 20 years younger. His eyes lost their hazy opaqueness, and his clear and persuasive voice rang out familiarly over the audience. This was the Justice Scalia I expected, and I could easily match his voice with the opinions and dissents by him that I have read in my property, criminal law, criminal procedure, and constitutional law classes. It was a bit exhilarating to think that at the podium just ahead of me was the embodiment and origin of many ideas and expression that have changed the law of the country.

It also amused me to watch some of my colleagues. They were truly in awe of the man, and their facial expressions and enthusiasm reminded me at times of fans I had seen at rock concerts. But this was not a typical audience interested only in being entertained. The people listening to Justice Scalia already knew him in many ways, even if they had never seen him in person before. The people sitting around me were highly intelligent and trained in the law. I could feel them analyzing Justice Scalia's words in the context of everything they had read by him and by other Supreme Court Justices in argument against his ideas.

Of course, Justice Scalia knew his audience, too, and with almost no preamble launched into a discourse on originalism.

Despite what one might think of Justice Scalia's conservative views, I find it difficult to argue with his legal reasoning. I am not the person to properly advocate for an originalist view of the Constitution, but Justice Scalia largely convinced me yesterday that an originalist interpretation is more protective of freedom, more flexible, and more democratic than seeing the Constitution as a "living document." An originalist, by contrast to the "living document" ideology, views the Constitution as an enduring document, and interprets the language as the original framers would have done.

He insightfully noted that people used to say, "There ought to be a law..." when they found something annoying, such as playing a boom box in a public park. People do not say that anymore, though. Instead, if something deeply offends them, they say, "It's unconstitutional."

Justice Scalia effectively pointed out the danger of this shift, of having the Supreme Court treat the Constitution as a living document, capable of changing with the whims of society. When the Supreme Court rules that a law is unconstitutional, it removes that law from democratic debate. Take the example of abortion. Because the Supreme Court has ruled on the matter, it is now largely outside the sphere of Congress. This is less democratic, Justice Scalia argued. Justice Scalia said the better way to affect change in our society is through Congress. Convince your fellow citizens to persuade Congress to pass a law or repeal a law if an issue is important enough to you. Congress has its finger on the pulse of the people, not the Supreme Court. Congress also has more freedom to repeal a law that has fallen out of favor. When the Supreme Court rules on a matter, this is more permanent. It would take the Court overruling its previous decision or a constitutional amendment to undo its decision. Justice Scalia also brought up a couple of cases where treating the Constitution as a living document cut both ways, against liberals and against conservatives.

Though there are some problems with an originalist view, again, I am not the person to take them on here.

Justice Scalia's admitted purpose in visiting our law school was to get law school students to think about "Originalism" versus "The Living Constitution" and the effects it has and will have on our society for years to come. His visit yesterday was a real treat and an event I will probably remember for the rest of my life. It was not lost on me how fortunate I am to be a student here and to have these opportunities.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

When Fla. Stat. Annotated Becomes Blurry

2010-03-28T14:44:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, the weather was fantastic, with a high near 80 degrees and plenty of sunshine. Yet I still managed to force myself into the law school library to study.

Once there, I went to a relatively empty part of the library and sat down close to a cute girl whom I know. She too had lots of school work to get done.

When I study, I have a habit of looking up frequently, just for the purpose of refocusing my eyes. Usually, I look up from my book and simply stare at a far wall or out a window for a few seconds. I did not realize, though, that every time I looked up on this day I was actually staring at the girl. After about 15 minutes of this, she finally looked back at me with a puzzled expression. It immediately dawned on me what I had been doing.

I apologized to her and explained my trick for refocusing my eyes. I also told her that my eyes must subconsciously go to her, as she is much prettier than a wall or what I can see out the windows of the law school library. She smiled when I told her this.

She also told me the same thing happens to her. The book cases in the library have signs that stick out, identifying various collections. She pointed down one of the aisles.

"You see that sign?" she asked.

I did. It read "Fla. Stat. Annotated," which stands for the annotated version of the Florida Statutes.

"When that sign becomes blurry, I know that I've been reading too long," she said.

We continued studying quietly, though now I made a conscious effort not to look at her when I raised my head from my book.

But after another 20 minutes or so, she suddenly closed her laptop computer and announced, "This is too depressing. I've got to get out of here."

It felt a little like a needle going into my chest, that she would think sitting close to me and studying was "depressing," but I quickly recovered. I could not blame her. The weather was gorgeous outside. I did not want to be studying myself.

After she left, I spent another half-hour in the library. I looked out the windows and saw how bright it was outside. I then looked down the aisle at the tag marked "Fla. Stat. Annotated." I imagined that it was beginning to become blurry, and I took that as my excuse to get outside.

I do not regret the decision. After simply walking around the campus for a while, enjoying the warm day, I went with some friends from the law school to the old intramural fields to hit and field some softball. After an hour or so of that, I watched the second half of a women's lacrosse match between FSU and Miami on the fields. The 'Noles trounced the 'Canes, and I got to watch a beautiful sunset during the match.

The view of Tallahassee from the old intramural fields is surprisingly impressive. To the east, you look all the way down St. Augustine Street. The Executive Building where the governor works is clearly visible, including most of the other tall buildings of the city. The setting sun changes the color of these buildings from how they appear during the day.

To the northwest is Doak Campbell football stadium and the baseball stadium. The sun setting behind both of these structures is also a striking image.

To the south is a picturesque postcard of what "The South" looks like in many places: "Bob's Body Shop", a garage garnet and gold in color, sets across from the fields with a huge Seminole logo on the front wall. Behind the body shop and set against the sky is an old grain silo with "USA" painted in red, white and blue on top.

After the sun went down, I walked over to the baseball stadium to catch the last four innings of FSU's game against Maryland, which the Seminoles won 12-5.

Yesterday was a great day to be outside, and I did enjoy being outside for much of it.

Today, though (and after taking time to write this blog), I must remember why I am in law school and focus on getting some studying done.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

A Thank You to Our Political Leaders

2010-03-22T12:44:00.003-04:00

Last night, the House of Representative passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act.

It appears as though President Obama's health care reform plan is going to become law.

This is a great moment in American History. This Act is the most important piece of domestic legislation to pass Congress in my lifetime. In my humble opinion, our leaders who drafted it and passed it have put forth one of the most courageous efforts in the annals of American politics.

I thank Representative Allen Boyd of the 2nd District of Florida for his vote.

I thank Senator Bill Nelson of Florida for his vote in December and for his efforts in the push.

I thank House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for their tireless efforts against incredible odds to make this change happen.

Most of all, I thank President Barrack Obama. He promised this sort of change in his campaign in 2008. To use his own words from this morning: "This is what change looks like."

This is a victory for all Americans. It is a huge step toward giving affordable health care access to all citizens. Because of this legislation, we may one day soon be able say that no one dies in America because they can not afford health care, and no one goes broke in America just because they get sick.

To the leaders mentioned above, you have certainly earned my support for the next election. Most probably, you have earned my support for the rest of your political careers.

Thank you.

Nathan Marshburn

Seasoned

2010-03-13T14:24:00.005-05:00

I will remember Spring Break 2010 as the week I spent hammering out the rough draft of my upper level writing requirement, over 30 pages worth of text and footnotes. This paper marks the first time in my life that I have composed a work of this length or importance without first writing out my thoughts by hand. I hope my professor likes the result. My eyeballs still feel like they are bouncing around inside my skull from staring at my laptop screen so much this week. It took me three tries over three days before I regained the equilibrium to sit down and type this blog entry.

The students on law review here would have no sympathy for me, I'm sure. They have to write at least two papers, one for the graduation requirement and a different one for the law review. In addition, they are constantly editing the footnotes and text of articles submitted by scholars for publication in our law review. While it is a great honor to be on law review, I do not know if I would be happy having to do that sort of work all the time, even if I did qualify for the job- but more power to them. . .

We had a patch of warm weather earlier this week- finally a taste of spring from the (unusually cold, as the natives tell me) Panhandle winter. The warm air on my short sleeved arms, the sight of flowers in bloom, bees flying around, and the smell of the green plants reminded me of where I was this time two years ago.

Two years ago, spring was also starting in Cullowhee, NC. I was a graduate student at Western Carolina University, trying to decide what to do with my future. By mid-March I had already made up my mind that I was going to law school in the fall, I just did not know where, yet. Having been accepted to three or four schools, I became comfortable with a choice in my home state of North Carolina.

Then the acceptance to Florida State Law came through. Interestingly enough, I did not learn that I had been accepted via a letter in the mail. Rather, I received a cryptic email from the Student Affairs Office at Florida State Law encouraging me to complete a scholarship application for admitted students. I immediately called the Admissions Office and told the nice lady on the phone about the email. She checked the computer system and confirmed that I had indeed been accepted. The official letter was probably already in the mail, she said. I thanked her very much.

The next phone call was to my parents. I remember standing on the breezeway outside Hunter Library, feeling the warm sunlight on my arms as I made the call. They did not answer, so I left a message saying that I had been accepted to Florida State, and that this school just might knock off my first choice in North Carolina. I wanted them to call me back with their opinion.

That evening, I got back in touch with my parents, and I had a nice conversation with them again while I stood on the breezeway outside the library. It was a good moment, talking to my parents about a significant accomplishment, discussing options that were only great ones.

My parents, much like myself, were anti-debt in their views on where I should attend school. The cost of out-of-state tuition at Florida State Law bothered me and was the only reason I would choose not to go there. To my surprise, without much hesitation both my parents told me to go to Florida State- “but only if you are sure you want to be a lawyer,” they said.

At that time, I was not absolutely sure I wanted to be a lawyer, and I spent the next weeks talking to over 50 people about where I should go to law school. Less debt meant that I was not locking myself into a legal career, and the school in North Carolina had offered me a scholarship package where I could graduate with no debt.

Ultimately, of course, I decided to go to Florida State. I do not regret the decision at all. That spring and summer prior to enrolling, I tried to imagine what it would be like. I looked at maps of Tallahassee and saw Jefferson Street, where the law school is located. I looked at pictures of the students and professors on the web site. I did not have time to make a personal trip to the school, and I actually showed up in Tallahassee only the weekend before classes began.

But I’ve been in Tallahassee ever since. I like it here, and with the warm weather this week it occurred to me that I am now a “seasoned” law school student. Two years ago at this time I was imagining what my life would be like in two years, if I would be enjoying law school and if it would change me significantly. The answer to the first question is yes, I am enjoying law school. As for the second question, law school has changed me somewhat, though not in a major way. At this point I feel like law school is giving me a new and practical body of knowledge to use in this world. It has also given me a new lens with which to view the world- though by no means do I feel like I must wear that lens all the time.

Two years ago I was trying to imagine some of the things I would be doing in law school. Specifically, the answer right now is: Taking the Multi-state Professional Responsibility Exam as part of being admitted to the Florida Bar, and working on a 30 page paper to meet a requirement for graduation. I am a seasoned law school student.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

The Best Moot Court Program in the Country

2010-02-28T17:10:00.008-05:00

Law schools acquire reputations for success in various areas. Overall, it seems that Harvard and Yale take turns holding the top ranking in "U.S. News and World Report." That same magazine ranks the Vermont Law School as having the best environmental law program, and top-law-schools.com says UCLA has perhaps the best entertainment law program.

Rankings are subjective and change based on the weight given to various factors. There is little doubt, however, that Florida State University College of Law has the best Moot Court Program in the country for 2010.

The Moot Court team has gone on a run of amazing success. Many of my friends are winning national championships, and I hope they do not mind me bragging on them here (If they see this blog entry but do not want their name returning a Google hit, they can Facebook me and I'll take it down).

The Moot Court team has won four national competitions in 2010:

Steven Muscatello and Ana Barton won a Religious Freedom Law Competition in Washington, DC, beating Duke Law school in the final round.

Mike Redondo and Andrew Grogan won a National Security Law Competition in Washington, DC, beating Cornell in the final round. James Woolsey, former CIA Director, sat as a judge on the panel for the final round.

This weekend, Jennifer Gutai, Rebecca Swindull and Lauren Davis won a Family Law competition in Albany, NY.

Also this weekend, Tiffany Roddenberry and Yordanka Nedyalkova won a Civil Rights Law Competition in Washington, DC. Yordanka won best oralist, Tiffany got second best oralist and their brief placed second for the Best Brief Award.

Rounding out this weekend, Thomas Philpot and Holly Griffin were finalists at a Constitutional Law competition in Chapel Hill, NC.

Earlier this semester, Emily Whelchel and Patrick Bennett made the semifinals of a Constitutional Law competition in Charleston, SC. They also won the Best Brief Award at this competition.

I venture to say that no other law school in the country can match the success that the FSU Moot Court Team has enjoyed this year. They are a clear #1. The trophy case is overflowing.

I am only an outsider looking in at our program, so I can't say what the secret is for their success besides bright students and hard work. I know that Professor Nat Stern puts in a lot of time to get these students ready for competition, and I've seen the students first hand at the law school library struggling over their briefs and working out their arguments.

Tryouts for the team are in April. Tryouts were a great experience for me last year, though I did not make the team. Obviously, they picked a good group. I encourage all the first year students to give it a go and see if you have what it takes to join the best Moot Court Program in the nation.

Check out the public radio news report on the team at http://www.fsu.com/Radio-News/Florida-State-moot-court-team-sweeping-national-stage

-Nathan Marshburn

The Benefits of Making the Mock Trial Team

2010-02-12T14:49:00.003-05:00

Next week, the FSU College of Law Mock Trial Team will hold its annual tryouts. The Mock Trial Team is one of what I call the "Big Three" extracurricular activities a student may do while in law school. The other two are Law Review and the Moot Court Team. Being asked to join any of these three groups is a big deal and a significant boost to your resume.

Law Review and the Moot Court Team are somewhat more prestigious than the Mock Trial Team, at least at Florida State Law, but I would argue that the Mock Trial Team is the most practical organization to join in terms of helping you develop skills that you will actually use in practice.

While Moot Court prepares you well for appellate law, this is a relatively small niche. Very few lawyers actually end up doing appeals work.

Mock Trial, on the other hand, prepares you to successfully conduct trials, and there are more job opportunities for trial work (litigation) than most areas of law.

I made the Mock Trial Team in January of last year. From my personal experiences, I can say that being on the team has helped me with my confidence in public speaking and in developing my abilities to persuade others in a courtroom setting. I've gotten great practice in questioning witnesses who will not cooperate and give me the answers I expect, and I've improved my ability to recognize when to object to another lawyer's technique or strategy in the courtroom. This experience has given me a leg up over other students who will be put in a trial setting for the first time in their lives only after they have graduated from law school.

The Mock Trial Team also affords you the opportunity to meet established litigators and judges in the legal community. These individuals come to the law school to coach our team and provide instruction to us on what techniques they believe are effective. They also serve as possible references and employers for you.

As a member of the Mock Trial Team, when I graduate I will have the confidence to walk into any litigation firm in Florida, no matter how large, with a copy of my resume and say, "Hello, my name is Nathan Marshburn. I am a graduate of Florida State Law, and I want to work for you."

I hope by the time that I graduate, I will have the ability to listen to anyone on the street about their possible legal case, make a good decision about whether or not to take the case, and then be able to move the case from start to finish in a trial with a successful outcome. This goal is still a work in progress, and in all likelihood I will need substantial real world experience to reach this level of competency. My work with the Mock Trial Team, however, has moved me toward that goal at a much faster rate.

Even if you do not want to practice in a courtroom, the Mock Trial Team eliminates the fear of other litigators. You learn what we are about, what goes on in a courtroom, and what we can and can't do in front of a jury. So, when the other side threatens to go to trial, there is not so much of the unknown involved. You can make a better business decision for your client.

There are few negatives associated with trying out for the Mock Trial Team. Even if you do not make the team (and most students will not), it is a great challenge and public speaking experience. I encourage all law school students to give this organization a shot.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

Orlando and a Mock Trial Competition

2010-01-30T13:42:00.004-05:00

Last week in Orlando, I competed in my first Mock Trial competition against other schools. During the fall semester, I participated in an intramural competition, and last year at this time I had just completed tryouts for the team.

Overall, I was pleased with my performance. Florida State sent two teams to the competition. Out of 20 overall teams, one of Florida State's made the top four. Unfortunately, my team did not make it that far. It was still a great learning and confidence boosting experience.

Congratulations to Alex Weaver, Bradley Bodiford, Kerven Montfort, and Ryan Hoyle for advancing to the semifinals.

I learned a couple of things by watching these guys in action in the semifinal round: Some Mock Trial members absolutely play better than they practice. These guys really stepped up when it was game time and came through in the clutch. Alex Weaver showed me how you "impeach" a witness to perfection. Ryan and Alex's objections were spot-on as well. They caught the other team in numerous errors.

After it was over, we had an afternoon and an evening to enjoy Orlando before we headed back to school. I'd never been to Disney World before, and so we spent the evening walking around "Downtown Disney."

Disney World is not like I imagined it. The place is larger than many towns, and it has its own highway system similar to an interstate with exits. I expected it to be one large theme park with everything crammed together. On the contrary, though, when we first entered the gates, we drove on roads with nothing around us but trees and open grassland. You had to take separate exits to get to the Magic Kingdom, the Epcot Center, Downtown Disney, etc.

Downtown Disney was all we had time to see. I ate a great dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. The inside of the restaurant was like a jungle with moving animals and hundreds if not thousands of green plants. Every 20 minutes or so, the lights dimmed and we had a "thunderstorm" that stirred up all the animals in the restaurant. The Lego store was also impressive with its huge models of sharks, tranformers and other characters. I was never much into Legos as a kid, but it amused me to see everybody else from the team revert to children and begin playing with the Lego blocks outside the store along with toddlers and infants. Finally, one of our team members said, "Okay, time to stop. That Lego had spit on it."

Orlando is a great town from what I saw of it. It is the Florida that I envisioned upon being accepted to Florida State Law- a big sky with sunny humidity. We walked around in shorts and t-shirts at night. Though I have no complaints about Tallahassee, Florida's capital is more like south Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi than Orlando or Tampa or Miami. Tallahassee is the Deep South, with huge magnolia and oak trees covered in Spanish moss. Orlando, on the other hand, is a brightly colored, sunshine-lit playground for kids and adults from all over the country.

I enjoyed Orlando and the competition. It was both a fun and useful trip. Making the Mock Trial team and being able to obtain experiences like this is one of the best things to happen to me since I've come to Florida State Law.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

Woodser

2010-01-24T20:42:00.006-05:00

On Friday night, I hopped aboard a neon-lit bus along with dozens of my law school colleagues. We rode out of Tallahassee onto Interstate 10, heading east, our destination unknown to all but a few. After about 40 minutes, we took a turn south on a country road. Eventually, we arrived at a farm with horses and other pasture animals. A campfire was going, and a friendly German Shepherd greeted us as we jumped off the bus.

I had a little sympathy for the bus driver, as many of us were already feeling quite friendly by the time the bus stopped. The driver had to put up with numerous high-fives, slaps on the back and even a few hugs of thanks from students happy to be there.

It was a grand time.

Both years that I have been in law school, the Student Bar Association has put on a social called "Woodser" during the spring semester. It easily sells out the available spaces. "Party buses" load us up from the law school and haul us out to the middle of nowhere to enjoy beverages, S'mores, and marshmallows around a bonfire. Life really does not get much better than this- at least in my experiences thus far.

It took me a while to learn this lesson. I was too serious and rigid during my undergraduate years. But after graduation from college, time began to speed up. As I quickly got older, I realized that perhaps I had missed out on some things that I should have taken time to enjoy.

Going back to school has given me the opportunity to go back in time in some ways. Law school is serious and I am working very hard to succeed here, but when an opportunity like Woodser comes along, I now grab it.

The rush I experienced at Woodser was the same that I experienced on the first day of classes this semester. Many of the students were not too happy to be back, and I had to smile when some referred to this as a "grind" or "the real world" on their Facebook status. I spent most of the Christmas break here in Tallahassee practicing for a Mock Trial competition. The law school was an empty and lonely place then. But the atmosphere completely changed once the students came back. It charged the air, and I couldn't help but look at the faces in my Business Associations class on that first Monday morning and be happy.

But time continues to move so ridiculously fast. I am constantly aware of it, of how fleeting everything is. Law school is already halfway over, and it has been just a flash. So at Woodser, I took the time to enjoy the beverages and the warmth of the fire. I enjoyed looking up at the stars and picking out the constellations. I enjoyed the uninhibited laughter, jokes and other conversations of these unjaded students. I enjoyed flirting with the beautiful girls around this campfire, literally some of the most beautiful women in the world.

No matter how much money you make or power you acquire, it will be difficult to find more happiness than moments like this. I am lucky to be a student at Florida State Law, to be accepted as belonging around the campfire at Woodser. I am enjoying it while it lasts.

***

I encourage Congress to keep working to pass the health care bill, and I ask for at least some Republican support. Most people are not as fortunate as us who are in law school and can go to socials like Woodser. Many face financial ruin and even death in the very near future because health insurance companies will not accept them for coverage. This is wrong. America must overcome its fear of change and take the steps necessary to give all of us the right to pursue a happy, healthy life. Again, in this country no one should die because they can not afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. The time for change is now.

Nathan Marshburn

"So What Kind of Law Do You Want to Practice?"

2010-01-16T13:59:00.007-05:00

"So what kind of law do you want to practice?" This was the most common question I got from my aunts, uncles and cousins over the holidays during our family gatherings. It is a question almost always asked of me by prospective law students visiting our school.

It was a question that I asked of other law school students when trying to decide what school to attend, and I was surprised when I heard third year students say they did not know. I thought it indicated a lack of focus and purpose on their part.

I used to have an answer for this question. In my personal statement on my law school applications, I believe I expressed an interest in immigration law and labor or employment law. There were solid reasons for my desire to work in these areas, and I was certainly sincere about it when I wrote my personal statement.

Now, though, being half way done with law school, I realize that question, "So what kind of law do you want to practice?" is largely an irrelevant one. I've stopped asking it of my colleagues, and few students in my class ask it of me anymore. The more popular conversation goes: "So, have you landed a job yet? Oh, really? That's great! What kind of law does that firm do?"

Perhaps it is the nature of the economy right now, but students really can't afford to be choosy.

On a personal level, I've discovered that I like just about all areas of the law. But I am not really passionate about any one branch, either. My chief concern is the Florida Bar Exam. That should be the most challenging academic test I ever take. Frankly, I haven't enrolled in classes in immigration law and labor or employment law because those subjects are not tested on the Florida Bar Exam.

Law school is competitive. My strategy is to take subjects that are tested on the bar exam, and mix in subjects that will strengthen me as an all-around litigator. I made the Mock Trial Team last year, and I landed a job last summer with a firm that does a lot of litigation. I take my cues from this that perhaps litigation is what I am best at, but who knows what kind of job I'll end up doing?

In law school, students don't have a "major" or specialization. Depending on the school, you can earn certificates in certain areas of the law, though, to complement your Juris Doctor degree. The Environmental Law program at Florida State is one of the best in the country and probably our most popular certificate program. But I've stayed away from environmental law classes in part because once again, this is a subject not tested on the Florida Bar Exam.

Even with a certificate in environmental law, it is not guaranteed that you will find your best employment opportunities there. Though what I am about to say is arguable, I have heard from professors and students alike that employers really do not care what classes you take in law school, as long as you do well in those classes.

I know a student who graduated last year and landed a job in admiralty law in Tampa. He knew nothing about admiralty law. He asked his employers after getting the job if he should take the course in admiralty law offered at Florida State. The employer did not insist upon it, saying he would learn what he needed to know on the job.

As one of my professors said, if you've taken classes in the area in which get hired, it will just make your first six months on the job easier.

One of my trial advocacy professors told me he was passionate about employment law when he was a student, and focused his studies on becoming proficient in that area. When he graduated from law school though, none of the law firms specializing in employment law offered him a position. Instead, he found a job doing medical malpractice defense and has done that now for over 25 years.

I've met lawyers who have practiced employment law for many years, yet when they were in law school took no classes in this area. They got their jobs through chance and connections.

So, what kind of law do I want to practice? The short answer is, "I do not know," and that answer does not indicate any lack of focus or purpose on my part. I am not worried about it. FSU College of Law opens many doors for its students, and I'll land in good place.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

Academic Careers and Law School

2010-01-09T19:40:00.007-05:00

Law school is half-way finished for me now, though it does not feel like it. This semester will be more academically challenging than the last one, and the Florida Bar Exam awaits me as soon as I earn my degree.

After completing a year and a half of law school, I still think I made the right choice. I am pleased with the number of opportunities which will be available to me.

One career path that is probably off limits to me now, though, is that of law school professor. I never had a particular desire to teach law, but upon enrolling at FSU College of Law, who knew what possibilities might exist for me or what might strike my interest?

After a year and a half, though, I've learned that the job of law school professor is probably one of the most coveted in all of academia. The group of tenured professors here at Florida State Law is easily the brightest collection of individuals I have ever met in my life.

During a brief stint as a newspaper reporter, I had to laugh when one of my news editors made a comment about college professors. "Academia," he said, "is a zoo for the eccentrics who can't make it in the outside world." I was a history major in college. While I loved my professors and they were also some of the smartest people I have ever met, I could see where my editor was coming from. The eccentricities of my history professors made them endearing. They had earned their insulated places in ivory towers, and I would be quite happy if I had the intelligence to join their ranks.

My editor's quote is not true of law school professors, though. One of the reasons that their job is so desired is that, in addition to all the benefits included in being a university professor, they are very well compensated. You can expect to earn a six figure income as a law school professor at a school like Florida State. Law professors are paid better than faculty in other disciplines because law professors could easily leave academia and pick up the same type of salary working for a Fortune 500 company.

Coming into law school, I did not know my potential. Learning what I am capable of is part of the competitive jockeying that goes on throughout law school, but most intensely during your first year. I have hit a ceiling, along with 99% of all other law school students, if I want to teach law.

I think it is fair to say that there is a gap in intelligence between the average law school student like myself and the average person on the street. Hopefully, I do not sound arrogant with that statement. I make it only to say as well that there is probably just as large if not a larger gap between my intelligence and the intelligence of the tenured professors here at the College of Law. In some classes, particularly those dealing with business transactions, they can run circles around me and make me wonder if I deserve to be in this law school. I hope that they are not privately wondering the same thing about me.

To put it even more succinctly- I am not smart enough to be a law school professor, or at least not a law school professor here. There are those in my class who are, though. In fact, an FSU College of Law alumnus is one of the tenured faculty here.

But if you desire to go to law school and eventually teach law, it seems to me there are three things you must do to achieve success:

First, go to the absolutely best law school you can get into, with no exceptions. It is extremely difficult for someone who graduates from FSU College of Law (currently ranked the 52nd best law school in the country) to land a faculty position at one of the Ivy League schools. Most of the professors who teach at FSU earned their degrees from one of the Ivy League schools or other top private law schools in the country.

Second, once you are in law school, make the law review. This is the most prestigious organization in law school, and it will open many doors for you.

Third, publish as much legal writing as you can, both while in law school and after you graduate. When FSU loses one of its law professors, it is usually because that professor has been publishing, made a name for himself or herself in some area of the law, and has been asked to join the faculty of a more prestigious school. Professors from lower-tiered law schools move up to earn teaching positions at FSU this way as well.

This is my take on academic careers and law school. I am certainly not an authority in the area, but I appreciate the opportunity to be around very intelligent people and to learn from them.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

Political Careers and Law School

2009-12-29T16:35:00.004-05:00

Over this Christmas break, I had the chance to watch the debate in the U.S. Senate over health care reform. Many if not most of the senators are also lawyers.

Of the numerous careers for which law school prepares you, the path to political office is one of the most brightly lit by a legal education.

As a student here at Florida State Law, I am struck by just how easy it would be to step into the political arena. I grew up in rural North Carolina surrounded by tobacco fields and small evangelical churches. Though Tallahassee is also a small Southern city, the people I meet at the law school are decidedly different than those with whom I grew up. Of course I will not mention names, but it is fascinating to attend law school with the children of U.S. congressmen and large company CEOs. Their outlook on life and the way they talk about the world is enlightening and useful. I learn a lot from them.

Hopefully, I do not sound like I am putting down people from rural North Carolina or rural America. I went to high school there with students that were much, much smarter than me. One of my best friends from high school attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after missing just one question on the math section of the SAT. Another went to the University of North Carolina as a Morehead scholar, and another to the U.S. Naval Academy. It is just that here at Florida State Law, there are about 700 students. I've never been around this many ambitious and intelligent people- many who already have a leg up in society- with an eye toward making their mark in government and business.

These are people who will run the government and businesses in Florida and perhaps the United States in the years to come. Attending school with them while at the same time learning how the law works in this country is a bit like Dorothy peaking behind the curtain to see how the Wizard actually runs Oz. It is an enormous advantage and opportunity for one wishing to start a career in politics.

You can almost stumble into it. Personally, I was asked last summer if I would be interested in working with a candidate for one of the highest offices in the state. I never would have met the candidate if I had decided not to attend law school and Florida State Law. There are all sorts of opportunities for active roles in campaigns and causes at the law school.

So, law school is a great platform for those wishing to enter politics. . . Actually succeeding at politics is a completely different game, though, and one for which I really do not have much advice and absolutely no experience. I respect politicians, no matter what their affiliation. To put yourself out there for public scrutiny takes great courage. You have to be very smart and calculating in what you say and do. It is an easy thing to be friendly to people, but winning at politics takes far more skills than just being friendly.

For those desiring to enter politics in Florida, I would definitely recommend Florida State Law, but perhaps you should do something else right after graduation from college. Get some "real world" experience, one way or the other. Learn from firsthand observation what everyday people have to do to survive in our society. If you go straight from high school to college to law school to political office or a political staff, then that is a pretty insulated path. There is a lot about the human condition you will miss on that narrow of a path.

But the more you understand about all types of people, not just those who send their lobbyists to you as an elected official, the better leader you will be.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

A New Hope

2009-12-24T11:07:00.004-05:00

This blog is supposed to be about law school.

Today, however, I want to acknowledge the amazing effort of the U.S. Senate to accomplish health care reform.

A bill passed today which, if it becomes law, will represent quite possibly the most important change in domestic policy since I was born. I hope that I am not exaggerating.

Thank you to President Obama, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, to Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Senator Max Baucus of Montana, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, the late Senator Ted Kennedy, and the others of the 60 senators who voted "Yes" today to make this happen.

The bill is not perfect, and the process to get there was messy at times. But the hope and better lives it will bring to Americans far outweighs the flaws.

I was surprised that at least some Republicans did not join in this effort in the Senate. Their objection that it will add debt to the current deficit seems odd to me when the current health care system is literally bankrupting American families every day. People die in this country because they can not afford health care. If that does not motivate you to act-- well then, I'm not sure what to say. Exactly whose interests are you representing?

Health care is an inalienable right. It is not a privilege for the wealthy. This is a moral issue, and it's not even a close one.

But today is a new day. Frankly, I am amazed that we have gotten this far. In my entire life, I have never seen our government working for the people like it is doing right now.

So, to our leaders: Keep pushing! We are almost there!

Hurray for the Senate!

Nathan Marshburn

Racing the Monster

2009-12-05T13:47:00.006-05:00

Though exams during my first year of law school were more stressful than they are this semester, the past couple of weeks have still been hectic enough to make me appreciate the runs I go on around Alumni Village, the university-owned complex where I live.

During the evenings, the Tallahassee Star Metro buses come inside the complex to drop off residents. The buses on the 9:20 pm run and the last run, the 10 pm one, are usually pretty empty. The bus drivers speed around the two-mile loop faster than they should, eager to get back to the station and end their shift.

If I am out doing my jogs at this time of night, I can hear the bus coming. Its engine roars at varying decibels as it negotiates curves and speed bumps. The hiss of its brakes I can hear from almost anywhere in the Village on a calm and still night.

When I hear the bus coming, I pick up the pace of my run. If I am close enough to the finish and the bus is visible behind me, I go into an all-out sprint. The driver probably thinks that I am strange, to see some guy running full throttle down the street in front of him.

But I don't like to be passed by the bus, and for two reasons. The first is that I have a bus to blame, I believe, for getting sick one of the worst times I have ever been sick in my life.

When I lived in Las Vegas, I would go for runs up Paradise Road, which is parallel to "The Strip" or Las Vegas Boulevard. I ran past the Hilton Hotel and Casino, with its huge electronic advertisement for Barry Manilow, past the Sands Convention Center, until I came to the near convergence of The Strip and Paradise Road at the Sahara Casino. If I jogged south on Paradise Road rather than north, I'd take a right on Flamingo Road, and run to the Bellagio and back.

On one such run in Vegas, a huge bus passed me and blasted an incredible amount of exhaust into my face. I felt particles go into my nose and down my throat. When I got back from my run, I could already feel my throat beginning to tighten and hurt. I caught a fever, lost my voice, and it put me out of action for a few days.

That was quite a scary time, to be sick like that. I had no family in Vegas- no family west of Knoxville, Tennessee for that matter- and no one cared about me out there. Except for my landlord and the coworkers at the car dealership where I worked, no one even knew I existed in that city.

So now, when these Star Tallahassee Metro buses pass me, I can smell that same exhaust, and I try to avoid breathing it.

The second reason is less serious. I make it a game to not let the bus pass me, to make me run faster. When I was a kid, I saw a movie called Duel. It was a made for television movie from the 1970s, but it was Steven Spielberg's first major work as a director (even before he did Jaws). It was a well-made film, better than most of the stuff that is in theaters now (You can see the trailer for the movie at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MtAMc4i8OA, or watch the whole thing at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5370479393460637420#).

The film is about a salesman, driving alone across the desert in his small car, when for some reason he is targeted by a homicidal truck driver. The brilliance of the movie is that Spielberg makes the truck itself the character, not the driver. In fact, neither the audience nor the salesman ever sees the driver or learns his identity.

So, when I see the headlights of the bus flying around a curve in Alumni Village, when I hear the angry roar of its engine and the hiss of its brakes, I imagine that I am in a duel with it. Can I make it to the finish line and get off the road before it passes me and blasts exhaust into my face?

It's a neat little distraction from the stress of exams.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

Advice from a Professor

2009-11-28T11:55:00.004-05:00

On the last day of class, one of my professors took the final ten minutes of his class to give us some advice. He is a successful lawyer, a senior partner at a firm with a good reputation in Florida, and he is often in the courtroom. He only teaches at the law school as an adjunct. The professor called this talk, "Things I Wish Someone had Told Me When I was in Law School." This little lecture was among the most valuable I have received in law school. In no particular order, here are some of his tips:

- Do not let winning and losing in the courtroom define who you are.

-You have to be willing to lose. He has personally lost many cases, and it is just part of being a good litigator. Do not believe any lawyer who tells you they have never lost a case. If it is true, then they haven't tried many cases.

- Become active in your local bar association. Get to know the lawyers you litigate against and the judges you appear before. Try not to spend all of your time behind your desk, doing research at the office. Judges and opposing lawyers will be more willing to work with you if they know who you are.

-Save your notes from your law school classes. You may be surprised at how useful these are once you begin practicing.

- Take advantage of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) materials and seminars. The end of law school is not the end of your legal education. Listen to the CLE CDs in your car. He still does this himself, after being in practice many years.

- Casual Fridays. . . Do not do them. You may think you can dress casually on Friday because you don't have anything on your schedule. But you do not control your schedule. An urgent situation will come up where a client needs to see you that day, and then you will have to go home and change. Invest in a professional wardrobe. Look the part of a lawyer, and it will make a difference to your clients and fellow lawyers.

- In dealing with lawyers on the other side during litigation, be courteous and professional. But do not be a wimp. The goal is to win your case while making everyone like you. Sometimes this is not possible, but that should be your goal. Playing hardball 100% of the time is not as productive as being courteous.

- Treat the partners of the law firm just like you would treat a client.

- Always remember that the loyalty of partners is to the other partners in the law firm. Their goal is to make money. What you say to one partner will make it to all of them. Never think that you are "off the clock" with a partner, even if you are on a plane ride or at a social with them.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

Powder Puff Football

2009-11-21T18:10:00.005-05:00

Well, for the first time in my life I was a cheerleader at a football game. Luckily, the resources were not in place to dress me in drag with a wig and a skirt. Instead, my uniform consisted of Adidas running pants, a Florida State t-shirt, a Florida State baseball cap turned around backwards on my head, and a stripe of garnet and gold face paint on each cheek.

On Wednesday of this past week, the women of the law school paired off against each other in a powder puff flag football game on the green just outside the law school rotunda. The teams were the Florida State Seminoles versus the University of Florida Gators. Most of the girls playing the game went to those respective schools for their undergraduate years (there are actually far more students from the University of Florida enrolled at the law school than from any other institution). However, it was a "pledge your allegiance" game, so others, like me, also participated. The coach for the Gators played football for Stanford, and the star quarterback for the 'Noles went to a small Baptist school in Arkansas.

I was surprised at how smoothly everything went. The Seminoles won the game, 25-0. A few girls complained about jammed fingers, but only one received a more serious injury with a busted nose.

What was most impressive was the spirit people showed. Each team had matching uniforms. At the beginning of the game, a student dressed as a Seminole rode out on a stick horse and threw a toy spear into the ground while the Florida State fight song played on speakers. A former president of the university came out and watched the game, sitting in a chair on a porch in a suit and bow-tie. Another professor wore a Florida Gators hat but a t-shirt that read "Charlie Ward for Heisman Trophy."

At the two minute warning before the end of the game, the coaches for Florida State lit up cigars, and when the final whistle sounded, the winning girls got sprayed with the usual championship celebratory beverage.

"The LitiGators," an organization in the law school for students who went to the University of Florida, organized the event with some help from the Student Bar Association. Afterwards, they served food and drinks.

During the game, the cheerleading coach tried to talk me into doing some basket tosses with the others, but I told her that I was not signing a waiver and my feet were not leaving the ground. I can see the headlines now: "Law Student Breaks Neck at Powder Puff Football Game." But I think I did a good job of cheering, anyway. I knew almost all of the players by name, and shouted my encouragement.

After it was over, I sat down with some of my friends on the steps of the law school rotunda. The sun was going down, and I saw a flock of birds off in the distance land on top of the executive building where the Governor of Florida works. The weather felt warm, and I made note that I was wearing a short sleeve t-shirt on November 19th.

"This weather is fantastic, " I said. "Imagine, what if we were in law school in Minnesota right now."

One of my friends replied, "Yes, I know. I am going to live my whole life in Florida."

We sat there for a few minutes more, enjoying being outside and watching the sun reflect off of the glass on the tall buildings of downtown Tallahassee.

It was a fun time with a good crowd, and hopefully the event will continue in future years.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

The Moot Court Final Four Competition

2009-11-14T13:18:00.010-05:00

On Thursday of this week, I had the privilege of attending the "Moot Court Final Four Competition" at the Florida Supreme Court.

The event featured four of my classmates, Tiffany Roddenberry, Thomas Philpot, Brian Bohm and Lauren Davis as they argued a fictitious case on appeal before the Justices of the Florida Supreme Court (I realize that I have just created a Google "hit" on the web for these four students, and I hope they won't mind if they ever read this. If they do, they can Facebook message me and I will take it down).

For those who do not know, Moot Court is a prestigious extra-curricular activity in law schools. After graduation, it is called appellate law. Most people on the street are familiar with trial law- those cases that take place in front of a jury. Moot Court, however, involves the potential next step after the trial has come to a close and the jury has rendered a verdict. Moot Court is the appeal.

For example, what if you lost your case, but you think the judge made an error during the trial? Perhaps he/she kept out evidence that was essential to your case. Perhaps he interpreted the law incorrectly. The recourse is for you to appeal to the next highest court. Appellate law is a small niche in the overall scheme of what lawyers do (often the lawyers handling a case on appeal are not the same ones who argued it during the trial), but it takes highly intelligent people capable of writing well, speaking well, and thinking on their feet. In a regular trial, the lawyer argues before a jury and has to deal with "objections" from the other lawyer. But in appellate law and Moot Court, there is no jury. The lawyer submits a writing or "brief" beforehand to the appeals court, then stands at a podium before the panel of judges or justices and argues the issues in the brief, while at irregular intervals being interrupted by the justices with tough questions. Arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court are done by the country's best appellate lawyers.

The four students who argued before the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday were the top four finishers from last year's Moot Court tryouts at Florida State Law (I tried out for the Moot Court Team myself last year, but only advanced past the first round). As a "reward" for being the top four, they were given the chance to work hard all this semester getting ready for a competition amongst themselves-- to argue before the Florida Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court building is about a five minute walk from the law school in downtown Tallahassee. I went to the chamber of the Florida Supreme Court a couple of times this summer while working with the Summer for Undergraduates Program. When I walked into the large ornate room, full of oil canvas paintings, plush carpet, and a high ceiling on Thursday, I tried to put myself in the shoes of these students. My blood pressure immediately went up and I felt a catch in my throat.

Though I certainly would not have turned down the opportunity to do this competition myself if I had been asked, I cannot say that I envied these students. The courtroom was full with interested onlookers. When the Justices were ready to enter, a man called out in a loud voice, "All rise! Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The Supreme Court of Florida is now in session! All those having business before this Court draw near, give attention and ye shall be heard! God save the United States, the great state of Florida, and this Honorable Court!"

Intense.

The students were spectacular, and the Justices did not go easy on them. The fictitious case involved an arrest of a man at a routine traffic stop, a possible illegal search of his person, and then perhaps a Sixth Amendment violation of the Constitution when his admission to a cell mate was used to impeach him at trial.

The whole thing lasted about an hour. Lauren Davis won as best advocate. She certainly deserved the award, though I personally think the decision was very close.

I appreciate the hard work and the performances of my fellow students. Emily Whelchel and Jennifer Gutai, two of last year's Final Four participants, obviously did a great job of coaching these four. Mr. M. Stephen Turner, a partner at Broad and Cassel, sponsored the event, and he gave a nice speech at the reception afterwards about what an appellate lawyer goes through and what it takes to be a good appellate lawyer.

This is a great event, and the Moot Court Team at Florida State Law is a great organization. I encourage all of this year's 1Ls to put themselves through the fire of the tryouts and see if appellate law is an area where they can excel.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

Turnover

2009-11-08T13:29:00.003-05:00

Things were much harder and more intense for me during my first year of law school than right now, in my second year. I trust that I am still studying right, and hopefully my exam grades from this semester will not be an unhappy surprise.

One of the hardest things for me as a 2L is meeting the new 1L students.

Law school, generally speaking, is probably a little colder for a student than undergraduate school. The students in all three classes seemed to have divided into their own cliques, and you really have to put in some effort if you want to break the ice and meet new people.

What also struck me from the beginning of my 2L year is the the disappearing act of the class that graduated in May 2009. They are simply gone. I don't see any of my friends who graduated out at the law school socials anymore. They are spread to all parts of Florida or the country, and have now begun the work of repaying their student loans.

I do not know anyone from Florida State Law who graduated in say, 2006 or 2007 before I arrived. Right now, I am a constant presence in the law school library. But when I (hopefully) graduate in May 2011, I know that I will quickly be forgotten and the library will become the province of new, different students.

It's a little sad, this abrupt turnover in the law school. I'm sure there are many students who appreciate it, though. I know several 3Ls who are ready to graduate, start working, start families, and couldn't care less about meeting new 1L students. I felt that way during my senior year of college. But now that I've had some experience in the "real world," I appreciate school.

I try to keep most of my blog entries positive, and I also try to give advice now and again. I was invited to a 1L's birthday party this weekend, and met some new students there. So, here are some of my own observations about meeting people.

If you want to meet new people in law school, I'll throw out three rules that I use. Rule number one: Be assertive. Don't be afraid to be the first to speak. Don't just look at the person you want to meet and smile. Rule number two: Once you've made the first assertive move, then back off. Let them respond to you. If they do not seem receptive to talking to you, then let it go. Rule number three: Keep speaking to people. If you don't keep acknowledging the new people you've met, your efforts will dissolve and it will become like they never knew you.

Okay, I know this is just common sense and it is nothing that will sell any "self-help" books. But I find that constantly trying to meet new people, to stay interested in what is new, is a healthy habit to have.

***

Hurray for The House! They have passed the landmark "Affordable Health Care for America Act." Now it is on for a tough fight in the Senate. Write your senators (both of them), tell them your health care stories, and how important it is that they pass this bill.

No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

A Clue That Your Life is Pretty Good

2009-10-29T19:12:00.002-04:00

I was grocery shopping in Wal-Mart a few days ago and walked past a bin of movies that were only $4. I saw the movie The Firm in the bin. I hadn't seen that film since it came out in 1993, when I had no thought of going to law school. I remembered Gene Hackman and Wilford Brimley being pretty good in it. I picked up the DVD case and saw that the movie was directed by Sydney Pollack, one of my favorite actors and film critics, though not necessarily one of my favorite directors. These facts, combined with my desire to watch the film again from the perspective of 16 years later and now that I am in law school, proved too tempting to resist. So I forked over the four dollars.

Gene Hackman, Wilford Brimley, Gary Busey and Jeanne Tripplehorn's performances stood out to me as better than I remembered, though overall the movie was not as good as I thought it was the first time I saw it.

Tom Cruise's character, "Mitch," is graduating in the top 5 in his class from Harvard Law School. His "On Campus Interview" experience is somewhat different than the one students experienced this fall at Florida State and in this economy. The big firms are all begging for him to come join them. He's wined and dined by a firm in Memphis, and the audience hears why Mitch became a lawyer, in contrast to why Gene Hackman's character became one. Hollywood tries to glitz up the life that a lawyer leads (before everything turns sour in the story).

After watching the movie though, I thought, "You know, even before everything went bad, there is not a single character in this movie whose life I would want." On the whole, my life is better than what they portray in this movie. The students, professors and lawyers I've met at Florida State Law in real life are more interesting characters than the lawyers in this movie. The dialogue I hear in law school is wittier and more intelligent than in the movie. And frankly, the women at law school socials are more beautiful than the women at the parties in this movie.

Maybe it's because I'm at Florida State Law. Maybe it's because a lot of life is what you make of it. Anyway, I'd rather wake up in the morning as Nathan Marshburn than as Tom Cruise's "Mitch."

When your life is better than the movies, that's a clue that things are going pretty well for you. I'm trying to appreciate this. Hopefully, it will last.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

The Recession and Law School

2009-10-17T14:32:00.006-04:00

The On Campus Interview (OCI) program for the fall semester is almost complete. Large firms from across the country have come and gone from Florida State to interview the best and the brightest students from our 2nd year class.

As I have explained in previous entries, OCI is for those going after the higher pressure, more financially rewarding jobs in the legal field. Law school is three years long, but most of these firms do their hiring during a student's second year of school. The idea is to bring the student on as a summer associate during the break in between the second and third year of law school. If everything works out during the summer, then the firm makes an offer for regular employment upon the student's graduation.

As a student participating in the OCI process, you submit your resume, transcript, references, and a writing sample electronically to the firm. From the submissions, the firm selects a number of students to be interviewed in person when the firm visits the campus. If the student makes the cut after the on campus interview , he or she then receives a "call back." The firm flies the student to its corporate office to undergo a full day of questions and answers from various attorneys with the firm. After that, the firm may or may not make an offer to the student to be hired as a summer associate.

From my electronic submissions, I was invited to just one on campus interview with a large firm, and that one interview is as far as I got in the process. Perhaps I should feel worried or anxious about this, but I am not. I am gaining confidence and skills as my legal education continues, and I am not afraid to go door to door after graduation until I find a job. It was my best effort during the first year of law school. I held nothing back.

The students for whom I do have some sympathy are the ones at the top of the class. These are the "superhumans" I wrote about in a previous entry. They did their best too, and the economy has made the OCI process almost ridiculously competitive for them this year. Fewer firms came to the school for one thing, and those that did were not handing out many slots. There are about 240 people in my class. Only a handful of these students were consistently invited to OCI interviews this fall. Of these handful, I know of only 2 who have received offers to be a summer associate. I know of multiple students who went to over 15 OCI interviews, then received two or three call backs, but no offers. The process is very time consuming and stressful for them, and it comes when they are as busy as they will ever be with their classes and in organizations such as Law Review, Moot Court and Mock Trial. To see what they are going through and to look at my own chances in competing for 2 out of 240 -- well, I know now that I had pretty much no shot landing a job with OCI this fall. As one friend of mine who did quite a few interviews with OCI said, "Optimism- that's so 2007."

This is not the law school's fault by any means. The Career Placement Office does a great job in reaching out to employers and getting them to come to campus to network with the students. I landed my own terrific legal job this past summer through the Mach Speed Interviews, which the school hosted in February. Money is tight everywhere right now, and the school is doing the best it can with employers who have scaled way back.

This is a great law school. We'll all find jobs eventually, though they may not be as high paying as some of us would have hoped.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

Hope, Motivation and a Word About Patrick Swayze

2009-10-10T14:09:00.008-04:00

As I've said in past entries, the decision to attend law school is turning out to be the best choice of my professional life. I think I am setting myself up for a happier life than if I did not make that choice.

Though some people would disagree, to me law school itself is much easier than any job I've ever held. Learning new things in class from highly intelligent professors and being around young, energetic and smart fellow students will never become mundane for me.

Still, the longer I stay in school and the more the memories of bad jobs I've held fades, it sometimes is difficult to motivate myself to get up and study.

Over the years I've taught myself little tricks to get going when my mood is telling me otherwise. Many of these tricks I've learned by listening to successful people talk about how they go through life.

One such inspiration came recently. Patrick Swayze was a starring actor in probably my favorite romantic movie, Ghost. I once dated a girl whose favorite movie was Dirty Dancing. She could quote the movie verbatim, including Swayze's famous line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." Swayze died in September of this year from pancreatic cancer.

I remember when the media announced that he had contracted the disease. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat, and people usually die within months of diagnosis. It is the same disease that took Professor Randy Pausch, whose inspirational "Last Lecture" is definitely worth viewing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo.

Patrick Swayze also gave a fascinating last interview of sorts with Barbara Walters. You can watch this on YouTube as well. The entire interview is useful, but one phrase in particular struck me. Swayze expressed frustration that the tabloids were predicting when his death would occur, saying things like he only had five weeks to live. "You know," he said, "hope is a very very fragile thing in anyone's life." It was tough on both him and his family to constantly hear when he was going to die.

As I get older, I appreciate ever more just how fragile hope is in this world. At one time in my life, I was game to argue about religion and all sorts of other beliefs with anyone, anywhere. Now, though, I see that if a belief gives people hope, and it does not cause harm to others, then I shouldn't try to tear it down. Life is difficult enough for us all without me trying to stir up angst and debate over things that really might not matter so much in the end.

Even more, now that I am in law school, I see an opportunity to actually manufacture hope for people. Lawyers are powerful figures in our society. As I learned from my experience this summer with Parks & Crump, bad things had happened to our clients, and we were often the only bright ray of hope they had in their lives.

So, I try to think of my future clients when I'm lacking in motivation to study. I need to be as good a lawyer as possible. I need to learn the subjects as well as I can, because people will come to me with their problems, and I will hold important parts of their lives in my hands. I need to be prepared for the fight so that I can say, win or lose, I did my best for them. I did my best to bring hope home for them, and that very often I succeeded.

My own personal hope is do this for my clients while providing comfort and security to my own family. That is why I get out of bed in the morning and go to the law school.

Off to study.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

Running at 1am

2009-10-03T17:28:00.011-04:00

As I wrote in my previous entry, the Mock Trial Team Intramural Competition took up much of my time in the latter half of September. I frequently did not get home from the law school until after midnight. My class studies ground to a halt for about a week and a half.

Going for runs or jogs, however, is an indispensable part of my routine. If I go two or three days without running, I begin to feel like junk. I run two or three miles, five or six days a week. It is invigorating and keeps me feeling healthy.

Toward the end of September, it had been a couple of days since I had been on a run. I got back from the library after Mock Trial practice at midnight, and I needed to exercise. So I went for a two and half mile run around my apartment complex at about 1 am.

As I ran past a patch of woods, out of the corner of my eye I saw something rather large move. I darted to the opposite side of the road and turned to see an owl with wings spread fly up from the ground and land on a limb.

I'm not sure what kind of owl it was. Its underside was white, it had solid black eyes and stood about eight inches to ten inches tall.

I stopped my run and took a few steps closer to study this bird. It's only been a handful of times in my whole life that I've seen an owl in person. The owl did not seem frightened of me at all as I came closer. It turned its head at tremendous angles, as if looking for more prey on the ground. As I continued to stare at it, though, it swiveled its head to lock eyes with me. We stared at each other, unflinching for about 15 seconds before I glanced down and then back at the owl. But it quit the staring contest when I broke first. I left it in peace and continued my run.

Late at night, I can hear the owls often. This was the fourth owl I've spotted since moving to Florida. The other three, I saw all at the same time during a Tallahassee evening, as I noted in my blog entry for June 6th of this year.

I suppose this entry doesn't have much to do with law school, other than to note that law school extracurricular activities may force you to do your regular activities at odd times. In my case, it allowed me to see a unique sight.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

P.S. . . After looking up some information, most likely it was a Barred Owl. The National Audubon Society description of the Barred Owl's call matches exactly what I hear at night. You can see and hear the Barred Owl at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fppKGJD3Y6c&feature=related

The Mock Trial Team Intramural Competition

2009-09-26T13:40:00.006-04:00

I have not done much school work over the past couple of weeks. This weekend, I competed in the law school's Mock Trial Team Intramural Team competition. All the members who made the team last year were paired up and pitted against each other in a four day tournament. We received the fictional case packet with about six days to prepare for the first trial.

It was a battle, at least for me. I enjoyed the competition, and went up against some very smart and very articulate students. Nine teams entered the field, but as the brackets were set up, only four teams advanced after the first round. My trial was the only one where neither of the teams advanced to the semifinals. I like to think that we were both so good that we kept each other's score lower than other teams with different judges. But who knows? I also served as a witness in the semifinals for a team that advanced.

Congratulations to Ryan Hoyle and Cady Huss for winning the tournament. I watched them perform in the finals, and they put on a solid case.

My own trial lasted about two and a half hours. I delivered the opening statement for the defense, and then direct-examined a witness and cross-examined a different witness. The opening statement was the most difficult aspect for me. If I could find a formula to get rid of the butterflies-- or at least make it where they didn't show or didn't affect my performance at all, that would boost my abilities a great deal. Some days I can pull it off, some days I can't. In my tryout last year, I nailed my performance. In my opening statement for this competition, though, the butterflies bubbled up once or twice. I was not nervous at all during my direct or my cross, which I've heard other team members say is the most difficult aspect of the trial for them.

I would have liked to advance in order to get more practice at trials. The experience is invaluable, and it makes quite clear to me what the obstacles are to winning trials and becoming a good trial lawyer. Aside from being cool, articulate and able to convey your message to the jury, you must be knowledgeable of the Rules of Evidence. In the preliminary matters with the judge before the trial actually starts, you wage war with the opposing side on what evidence is going to be admitted at trial, and you have to persuade the judge using the Rules of Evidence.

You must also be listening carefully and thinking quickly about strategy as the trial goes on. You will joust with the witnesses on cross-examination. Making objections to your opponent and handling objections from your opponent properly can steer the course of the trial in the way you want it to go.

Like I said, I now know first hand what I had expected before: A trial is a battle, requiring huge amounts of energy and preparation. And then you can't choke after you've done all that work to bring yourself to the brink of victory in the arena. You must finish and close the deal.

It's a battle. It's hard work. It's nerve-racking. It's fun. . . I look forward to my next opportunity to be in the arena.

Thank you to Trumon Phillips and Nicki Mohr (the President and Intramural Chair of the Mock Trial Team) for all their hard work in giving us new members a great learning experience. Also thanks to my coach, Ty Eppsteiner and my trial partner, Bradley Bodiford, for all their hard work and to Bradley for delivering an awesome closing argument in our trial.

Until Next Time,

Nathan Marshburn

A Fringe Benefit of Being on the Mock Trial Team

2009-09-05T13:58:00.004-04:00

Despite what I wrote in my last entry, this week saw me land my first (and hopefully not my last) On Campus Interview (OCI).

I know exactly why I got in, too. The interviewing partner was a Mock Trial Team member when he attended Florida State Law, and he said that he makes an effort to at least give an interview to members of the Mock Trial Team who apply with his firm when he comes to the campus.

I'm very appreciative for the opportunity. Things went well, and we had a pleasant conversation about the firm and my activities. A lot of qualified people interviewed with that firm yesterday, though. I won't get my hopes up that I made the next step, which we would be a call-back interview. At that stage, the firm flies you to their main office to meet with more attorneys and partners.

The weather is beautiful this weekend in Tallahassee. Miami is coming to town to play us in football on Labor Day. I have a ticket to the game, and I will join my colleagues for the tailgating festivities. I am also looking forward to a slip n' slide house party on Lake Bradford tomorrow. My friends there have a great Weimaraner that is fun to play with.

***

No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

OCI and the Start of Year Two

2009-08-29T12:52:00.004-04:00

The semester is under way, with one week of classes down. The On Campus Interview process (OCI) is in full swing as well, though due to the economy not quite as many employers are gracing the halls of our law school looking for new associates.

Unfortunately, it appears that I will be on the outside looking in for these interviews. While it would be a neat experience to be invited and participate in the hiring process for a huge firm, it does not worry me that those doors are not opening. As I've mentioned in a previous blog, it is unknown as to whether I could survive and be happy in that environment, anyway. The same set of students are being interviewed by all the OCI employers, and these students deserve it. They are the "superhumans" I wrote about in a previous blog. I can see that the process is stressful, even for them. One guy I talked with has already done 16 interviews. Last year, he seemed very laid back and it took me a while to realize how smart he was. Now, however, he is wearing a suit every day, is quite animated and talks with his hands far more than he did last year. I hope he and the others land great jobs and are happy with their success.

I did my best during my first year of law school. I could not have worked harder. I am happy with my position, and I know that Florida State Law is providing me with the skill sets necessary to land a good job, even if it is not through the On Campus Interview Program.

A lesson to pass on to the new 1Ls or to those seeking to go to law school is this: If you want the jobs with the big firms, your first year of law school will be the most important one. It may seem unfair that so much rides on your first round of exams when you are brand new to the environment and process. But that is the way it works. I did significantly better during the spring semester than in the fall last year because I figured out a different way to prepare myself for the exams. If I had performed as well in the fall as I did in the spring, I probably could have gotten into some of the OCI interviews.

Another lesson: Try to make Law Review at your school. Most if not all of the Law Review students are getting into at least some of the OCI interviews. Law Review is the most prestigious extracurricular activity in law school, and it will open a lot of doors for you.

I am not on the Law Review. My pony is the FSU Mock Trial Team. Now that I do not have to worry about surviving in law school, my plan is to focus on becoming a polished litigator or trial lawyer. This is not as broad an area as you might suppose. While most people probably think of "Matlock" or "Perry Mason" or the characters from "Law and Order" when they think of a lawyer, in truth only about 20% of law school students end up practicing in trial law. Many of my law professors have never been inside a courtroom as a lawyer representing another party. I may end up doing something quite different from trial law once I graduate, but that area is where I seem to be strongest compared to the skill sets of my colleagues. I will spend much of the remainder of my law school classes trying to improve in litigation. This work, combined with a non-stop effort to network should make for a successful job search upon graduation.

***

Let your voice be heard. Do not let the loud minority at the town halls drown out the effort for health care reform. We need universal health care, and we need it now.

Nathan Marshburn

A Successful Summer

2009-08-22T13:02:00.009-04:00

Yesterday was my last day of work at Parks & Crump, at least for now. I can not thank Attorney Crump and Attorney Parks enough for the experience, and I could not have asked for a better summer.

For the first month, I had a chance to meet a lot of bright and talented undergraduate students from all over the country who are interested in law school while I worked for the Summer For Undergraduates Program. The job also allowed me to meet various attorneys, judges, and justices in town, as well as more professors from the law school. It was a lot of fun. I remember thinking on Memorial Day how neat it was that I was getting paid to play volleyball with the undergrads at Lake Bradford.

That program ended in mid-June, and I immediately picked up with Parks & Crump, LLC as a paid law clerk. The work was intense. On my second day there, I had to write a Motion to Deny a Motion for Summary Judgment. I drafted complaints, researched questions of law for the partners, drafted Motions for Summary Judgment, drafted questions for depositions, attended and assisted with a deposition, a mediation, and a trial. Most nights, I did not get off work until close to 9 pm. I also had to work during some weekends.

The confidence I gained from this work is extremely valuable, though. And the firm also treated me to numerous lunches and dinners at nice restaurants along with trips to New Orleans and San Francisco.

So, to Parks & Crump, I say thank you so very much. I hope I showed my gratitude through my positive attitude and my work ethic.

Now, class begins for my second year of law school on Monday. Away we go.

Last night, I went to the Student Bar Association Orientation Social at Potbelly's, the club across the street from the law school. Last year at this time, I went to that social not knowing anyone. This time when I walked through the door, I was greeted almost immediately by 20 classmates happy to see me. I also met a few 1Ls, and I could tell from the expressions on their faces that they felt the exact same way that I felt last year. . . Glad and fascinated to be here, but wondering exactly what I had gotten myself into and whether or not I would make it.

It was a great time last night, and if last night is any indication of how this year is going to go for me, then it will easily be one of the happiest years of my life.

Now, time to read Evidence for my 8am class on Monday.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

Points for Starting a Law Firm

2009-08-16T12:20:00.009-04:00

A few months ago, I wrote a blog saying that my desire for a career was to work with a large firm. While I am still open to that and continue to actively pursue it, my experience as a law clerk this summer has also opened my mind to the possibility of starting my own firm at some point.

Counting the two partners, eight attorneys work at my office, Parks & Crump, LLC. My clerkship has been quite special in the exposure that I have received in how such a firm operates and makes money. I want to record here in list fashion some of the things that I have learned in what makes a firm successful. Much of this is common sense, but I think it is still worth writing down.

1) Parks & Crump has become successful by taking cases that no one else wanted. More specifically, they will take civil rights cases involving economically poor minorities. They have also endorsed a number of political causes for minorities in the community. The firm has earned a reputation as a champion for the underdog, and thus Parks & Crump is often the first firm those from a lower socioeconomic status call when they encounter legal trouble. However, the firm still does not take a case it does not think it can win.

2) A phone system that works, and competent personnel to answer the phones is key to keeping the business running.

3) Be conscious of your overhead costs. They can quickly balloon to unmanageable proportions.

4) Be careful with hiring a lot of people, especially early in the firm's existence. Good help is hard to find. And if you find good help, they will want to be paid well in order to stay with you.

5) A good office manager is just as important to your firm's success as a good attorney.

6) If you have an opportunity to develop any sales skills prior to starting your own firm, take it. So much of marketing your firm and having success in the courtroom goes back to basic selling skills.

7) Make the decisions on which cases you take based on business logic and not emotion. Avoid cases you can not win. Your good cases will most likely settle. The cases that could go either way are the ones that go to trial.

8) You have to be fearless. You can not be afraid to go to trial. Trial law is not for the faint-of-heart. Opposing firms will test you. They will try to "paper you to death" with motions in limine and motions for continuances. They will try to run up your costs of working the case. You have to be willing to say, "Bring it on!" As one of the partners told me, there is a streak of craziness that runs through all great trial lawyers, a willingness to roll the dice.

9) That being said, I think you should look to team up with another firm if it looks like a case is going to become expensive. Otherwise, you may run out of the necessary funds to try the case. The other firm will take a lot of the financial reward if you win, but they also absorb a lot of the risk if you lose, and you still establish a reputation as a lawyer who will to go to trial against the big firms.

10) Remember the client. While you must make a business decision about whether or not to take the case, once the decision is made to fight for this client you must dive into it with full gusto. Keep your client informed of what you are doing and show that you care about this outcome for them. Especially for the types of clients who come to Parks & Crump, our work on their case is one of the few rays of hope in their lives. Never forget how important they consider the work you are doing for them. Step into the role of being their champion, and do it with confidence. Give them hope. Life isn't worth living without hope.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn

The Coming Workout

2009-08-08T16:15:00.003-04:00

Classes begin again August 24th, or about two weeks from now. I am looking forward to the start of law school. Though I enjoyed my first year, I will probably enjoy my second year even more.

This is because a lot of the pressure is now off of me. I've got a pretty good GPA and class rank and am in no danger of failing out of law school. My clerkship this summer with Parks & Crump has added to my confidence in my abilities to be a trial lawyer, to find a job, and possibly to open my own practice.

Even if I don't "grade into a job" through the On Campus Interview process, I have the tools to network and market myself. I will demonstrate to a law firm that I can bring value. I will find a job.

This year, my second year of law school, will be about networking and polishing my skills as a trial lawyer. I will work just as hard as I did during my first year-- only in different areas. The Mock Trial Team will receive a lot of my time. Frankly, I plan to spend a lot of time socializing as well with organizations such as The Young Lawyers Division. I feel much more relaxed this year, and I will try to find time for more Student Bar Association functions and perhaps intramural sports.

Still, this year will be a workout. Getting up in front of a group and making a presentation is no easy feat for me. The Mock Trial Team will require this, as well as the ability to think on my feet during a cross examination of a witness. Doing well in such venues demands an enormous amount of preparation and energy. I have to be willing to fail, to flop in front of an audience, suffer embarrassment, and then gather myself and go again. A few years ago I could not have handled this. It wasn't until I moved to Las Vegas and became a car salesman that I began to attain the confidence and the skills that I will use as a trial lawyer. But I seriously doubt it will ever be easy for me. There will always be times when I stumble, no matter how much I practice. It stings to stumble. And this year, it will be one challenge after another in the arena.

But I am the man in the arena, now. More than at any other time in my life, I am running my own life. Perhaps a psychologist would say that I am a self actualizing person. And while I understand that chance or fate or whatever could suddenly come down without warning and slam me with a crippling blow or even death, I think that I've latched on to the best way, the best philosophy to navigate this existence.

This year will be quite a workout, but it is the best way for me to go.

***

Write your Congressman, tell him or her your health care story, and ask them to get behind President Obama's health care plan,

Nathan Marshburn

San Francisco

2009-08-02T14:45:00.005-04:00

I recently returned from a four day trip to San Francisco with the firm. The firm sent some of us to the American Association for Justice Convention. I attended a number of interesting seminars which expanded my knowledge on operating a firm and marketing myself.

The flight to the west coast was spectacular. I had a window seat at 36,000 feet, and our flight plan took us up the southern coast of California. A solid layer of white clouds which resembled cotton candy covered the Pacific Ocean far below for as far as the eye could see. The cloud cover did not break until just before the shoreline. Much of the shoreline was mountainous. One partner of the firm told me to never take a cruise in the Pacific Ocean because clouds like that will obscure the view for most of the trip.

As we closed in on San Francisco and flew lower in altitude, we passed directly over Stanford University. I could tell which school it was by the markings on the athletic fields. I also noted the Bay Bridge, which I first saw on television in 1989 during the World Series earthquake. San Francisco's airport is similar to New York City's LaGuardia in that the runway goes to the edge of the water. As the plane got lower and lower, we were still over water until the last moments when the runway appeared and we touched down.

My first morning there, I went on a 5k run sponsored by one of the city's law firms. The last part of the race was almost all uphill, and it was the first time in years that I had to start walking during a 5k and also the first time in years that I felt a little nauseous during the run. The hills in San Francisco are seriously steep, and the streets do not wind to accommodate the grade. I still managed to finish the race in a sprint, though.

Exploring San Francisco was great as well. The city is surprisingly cold. Highs were only in the 60s, and it seemed colder due to the wind coming in off the ocean or the bay. Fog is common. As it got dark, it would often seem to be raining as I looked at the light from the street lamps. I felt no water drops, though. A taxi driver told me that the warmest weather is usually in September and October where temperatures can go into the 80s. But always after 5pm, he said, the weather drops into the 50s. It is always cold at night in San Francisco. If you go just a few miles inland, the temperature range jumps dramatically, he said.

I took some time to walk through Chinatown and to see Lombard street, the most crooked street in the world. I also biked across the Golden Gate Bridge, which provided a spectacular view of the bay and Alcatraz island. Riding my bike along the Fisherman's Wharf area, I saw about 40 or 50 California Sea Lions resting or arguing with each other on the piers.

One of the partners of the firm treated us to some awesome meals. The Crustacean is a seafood restaurant owned by a Vietnamese family. The restaurant has a special kitchen apart from the main kitchen where only family members are allowed. In this special kitchen, the family members cook some of their famous dishes (the recipes to which are jealously guarded). I also enjoyed some crab cakes at Houston's, and a delicious Chocolate Sunday at Ghiradelli's. Both establishments are on the San Francisco Bay.

So, it was a fun time and I am appreciative of the experience. Still, I feel that my stories of San Francisco are only the run-of-the-mill experiences that any tourist could relate. San Francisco is different from New Orleans (another city the firm visited this summer). In New Orleans, in Las Vegas, in Philadelphia, in Miami, I felt like I could walk down the street and suddenly find myself in a unique adventure. I did not feel this with San Francisco. To really enjoy San Francisco and understand its character, I think one probably needs to have a lot of money and be connected with the appropriate social circles. Despite its liberal reputation, the city felt conservative and private. The clubs, the people, and the beautiful hilly streets all seemed quite tame. The most interesting characters of this city are sealed away from curious visitors like me in ornate Victorian homes. They eat their meals apart from me in those homes or in fine dining restaurants out of reach to me at this point in my life.

But perhaps one day I will come back under different circumstances.

Universal Health Care Now,

Nathan Marshburn