Law School Aging/ Law School Humor

Law school is a transitional period for many students. They go from being fun loving kids as undergraduates to adults preparing themselves to take on serious problems in law school. It's amazing how different my classmates can look to my eyes depending on the situation.

One female student I met here recently graduated from college. She's younger than me. But earlier this week her and I were both in the library. She typed away on her laptop as I read. When it was time for me to go, I stood up and told her that I'd see her tomorrow. She stopped typing and looked at me. I'd obviously interrupted her train of thought. "Okay, see you," she said. At that moment, as she peered at me over the top of her glasses, she looked like a woman in her 40s. The next day when I saw her again, she was back to her usual early 20s self. Of course, I didn't mention my observation to her.

Another guy I know is young and very active in intramural sports on campus. He looks like a natural athlete. But this week I saw him come into class, walking fast and carrying his open laptop. He had an intent look on his face, and again he struck me as a man in his late 30s or early 40s. But he is only in his early 20s.

The same is true for a guy who sits close to me in class. I watched him unpack his books and laptop. As he did so, he aged 15 or 20 years. I was looking for grey hair on him. When he finally sat down, he looked normal again.

And though I don't feel like it, I am older than most of the students here. A classmate who rides with me to the grocery store on the weekends was admittedly shocked when I told him that the first Superbowl I can remember is the 49ers versus the Dolphins, or Joe Montana versus Dan Marino. He barely remembers Marino and never saw Montana play. He thought I was only a year or two older than him...

I am most impressed with the intelligence of my professors in law school. I am equally impressed with their sense of humor. The way they phrase things often cracks me up in class- though it would never fly in the general public because they are largely subject matter and insider jokes.

Here are some examples:

1) My torts professor asked us if it would be false imprisonment if the owner of a swimming pool let his pit bull loose around the pool while someone was in it. The general consensus was yes. Before the professor could move on, I piped up:

"Pit bulls get a bad rap. They can be friendly dogs."

With the most serious face, the professor looked around at the class. "I don't want to hear anyone defending pit bulls," he said. "Pit bulls eat babies."

Luckily, I wasn't the only one that burst out in shocked laughter when he said this.

2) My contracts professor had us go through a complicated case where we finally figured out what the court was doing. The plaintiff wanted specific performance of a contract, which the court refused to do. Instead, the court awarded damages to the plaintiff with the provision that if the defendant did not do specific performance, the plaintiff could sue again for more damages.

We spent five or ten minutes sorting this out. I was deep in thought, trying to get my head around the court's logic when the professor said of the court's decision,

"Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you that this is stupid."

The remark caught me so off guard that I burst out laughing.

3) A professor called on a student in class to explain a case. The student gave a grimace, obviously uncomfortable. She began mumbling what the case was about and most people could not hear her.

The professor said, "Miss Smith, speak up so the entire class can hear your mistakes."

The list goes on. Maybe you have to be here for them to be funny, though many of my classmates still sit stone-faced during all of this.

Okay, time to read for torts.

Until next time,

Nathan Marshburn