Damien Munsinger

Back Into It

Summer predictably flew by, and now suddenly the second year is upon us. Unlike first year, there is no “learning how to law school” time, we had assignments before the first class and jumped right into substantive lectures on day one.

It feels great to be back, and not nearly as rusty as I feared. While registering for second year classes (note to future 2Ls - you have to plan your entire year at once, not just by semester) I was a little concerned about how everything could possibly get done. What I was banking on, and what actually seems to be the case, is a massive boost of efficiency. Despite my chronic concerns of ineptitude, it would appear that I’m getting better at this. Perhaps it’s just a deeper familiarity with the logic of legal writing and thinking, plus some Summer experience in the trenches.

One of the fun aspects of this year is leading the student group SABER (Student Advocates for Business and Environmental Responsibility). We’ve had a great turnout to our meetings so far, and are involved with a lot of great projects both at the school and in the Portland business community. On September 26th we’ll be going on our annual tour of a sustainable winery, and wine tastings pair extremely well with learning about sustainable and biodiverse business practices. We’ll have photos up shortly afterward at http://go.lclark.edu/saber, along with some information about our other projects, including a directory of sustainable businesses in the Portland area created in conjunction with a local law firm.

17 September 2009

Summer So Far

For me, being a 1L was like running uphill with my head down, going so hard that almost everything falls away except the continuous forward progress. The lead up to Spring semester finals was the single most intense period of uninterrupted focus and concentration I’ve experienced. Ever.

Summer has been, in a fashion that has become almost typical for me, a random assortment of mostly serendipitous events and opportunities. I prevailed upon one of my favorite professors to let me be his research assistant, I’m co-editing and writing articles for the Oregon State Bar Business Section Newsletter, and doing some work with a civil rights lawyer (and friend) in Portland. It’s been very busy, but not nearly as focussed and relentless as school.

Other friends are scattered around the globe, doing everything from working on Ninth Circuit opinions (amazing) to studying human rights in tropical locals (smart) to getting required classes out of the way early (which we will all be jealous of later). Many have taken impressive legal jobs, one thing I find really striking is just how much presumed ability we are assumed to have after one year of law school. I guess we do.

Next semester is shaping up to be significantly busier than the first year. At, least, it seems that way. I am banking on being significantly more efficient while reading and processing cases as the only foreseeable option to handling it all.

A note to any readers of this blog: I’ve been contacted by a few prospective students wanting to schedule conversations about law school. I am certainly happy to talk with anyone who would like to chat about Lewis and Clark law, tweet me @damientaylor and we’ll set it up!

19 July 2009

1 Done

Such a cliche I know, but this year has passed by so fast it’s a little stunning. I think the amount of head-down, driven and focussed, working through the hard times effort that being a 1L requires made time speed up and act like it’s on fast-forward. The thousands of pages read, the countless hours in the library, the looming deadlines and exams all merge afterward into a single, satisfying, and incredibly dense chunk of time.

It feels great to be on the other side of it. It’s a little like paddling into a big wave, one you’re not sure you’ll be able to make the drop on, undergoing a few harrowing, off-balance seconds when you just might be cast off to be tossed and churned, and making it through the bottom turn and starting to relax and enjoy yourself. We’re all still on the wave, and the possibility of wiping out is still very present, but we’ve basically got it under control.

This Summer, I’ll be doing research for a professor, and hopefully working on some civil rights litigation here in Portland. I’ll make regular posts over the Summer and into the next year of school at least. To all who made it through, congratulations. To those coming in this Fall, well, good luck, just keep at it and you’ll do fine.

I certainly feel different from when I entered school. Gone is the big hair and beard, 35 pounds have been lost to the daily bike ride, I fell in with love a new city and had my heart broken, all while learning more than I ever though possible in the span of a single school year.

15 May 2009

Events on Campus

Life on campus affords so many opportunities to learn from and interact with a wide array of lawyers, judges, and legal scholars that attending all the available events would barely leave any time for class. For those that just can’t say no to an interesting lecture or distinguished panel, it can almost become a problem. Last week, on a break between classes, I found myself in the LRC just in time to catch a panel comprised of Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul J. De Muniz, Oregon Court of Appeals Judge Darleen Ortega, and Washington County Circuit Court Judge Marco Hernandez. A pretty surprising group to come upon when all I expected was to grab a salad and check my email. The judges spoke about the essential functioning of their respective courtrooms and how they interrelate, the function of lawyers within their courtrooms, and what they look for in a clerk (a topic that has been on the minds of many a 1L since the second semester began). Many thanks to the Latino Law Society for organizing and hosting this fantastic event. For those who missed it, the podcast is available here.

Earlier in the week, the 2009 Distinguished IP Visitor, Judge Pierre N. Leval of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, gave a lecture entitled “Did Campbell Fix Fair Use?” I have not yet had the opportunity to take an IP (intellectual property) class, but find the topic fascinating. So, following class on Tuesday, I and many other students, along with faculty members and practicing attorneys from the Portland area filled a lecture hall to hear from Judge Leval. Starting with the 1710 Statute of Anne and making it all the way to Google Image Search, Judge Leval’s lecture centered around Justice Souter’s opinion in the 1994 landmark fair use case Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music. Even without an IP background, the exploration of fair use expressed in terms of the essential goals of copyright (balancing the author’s prerogative and ability to profit with the public’s interest in freely available and usable information) was quite accessible and engrossing. For anyone even remotely interested, I strongly recommend the podcast available here.

Events of this caliber take place on campus with surprising frequency, and these are just two that I managed to catch in between classes, researching, and studying. While most of us have schedules that are oversubscribed already, events like these provide an extremely complementary and toothsome addition to our classes.

17 February 2009

Last Day of Classes

Last Wednesday was our final day of class for the semester, and it saw us out in fitting style. With Legal Analysis and Writing completed, the only class set to meet that day was Torts, from 10 am - 12 pm. I thought we were in for a short day, the final stop in a week that was a farewell tour of first semester classes. We filed in nonchalantly, tossing remarks back and forth about how quickly the semester had progressed, and discussing our various levels of anxiety at the upcoming finals season.

Class began simply enough, with Professor Gómez-Arostegui addressing questions emailed by students prior to our final session. Quickly, though, the mood changed, an intensity arose, as seemingly everyone in the room became extremely focussed and aware, yet still relaxed. I couldn’t help but notice a marked difference in the class’s behavior from the semester’s launch, where we were mostly working hard at staying abreast of the concepts coming at us, devoting our energies to understanding rather than synthesis. Now, this final class had the sense of competent individuals at practice, being taken through a workout that was challenging, but well within our abilities. It was exhilarating to feel that as a class, we now had the ability to play with this stuff a little bit, improv and bounce ideas back and forth. We were, dare I say, getting good at this.

At about the two-hour mark (our scheduled finishing time), Professor Gómez was kind enough to provide us pizza for lunch, which was quickly distributed (we could probably write the definitive theorem on optimal in-classroom pizza distribution at this point). Sated, we returned to our seats to continue our review.

The coda to our semester turned out to be an intense, engaged, and impassioned immersion in all things Tort. Running through hypos, testing esoteric and alternative theories, with Professor Gómez conducting, even injuring his had (twice) while rapidly gesturing and sketching diagrams on the board. Through two more hours, it was a rather relentless and fast-paced exercise, an engaging and engrossing test of our knowledge and skills gained throughout the semester. We emerged from the resolution of the last question, surprised at the endurance of our concentration, with Professor Gómez hoarse after four hours of energetic review. A round of applause erupted from the entire class, and our semester’s classes were complete.

PS - Radio Silence
For the past 48 hours, I’ve not received a single Lewis and Clark related email. The normal email chatter with classmates, professors, and study group members has just - stopped. Is it finals? I don’t think I’ve done anything this weekend to warrant spontaneous and complete unpopularity. I can’t help but have a new appreciation for the cinematic trope just before the climactic scene that it’s quiet… too quiet.

8 December 2008

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