Bluebook relays

As a 1L, I have become very familiar with the Bluebook. The Bluebook is a law school student’s best and worst friend. It’s quick to help you out when you have a citation question, but it will also confuse the heck out of you if you don’t know how to use it properly (sometimes even if you DO use it properly).

Each October around Halloween, the first year law students participate in the Bluebook Relays. Lawrence law firm Barber Emerson sponsors the Relays, and as part of your first year Lawyering class, you are required to participate. There are 2 prizes up for grabs – the cash prize to the ultimate winners (and citation masters) and the spirit award, which is given to the Lawyering class with the most spirit.

I really enjoyed the whole process of the 21st Annual Bluebook Relays. Since it is so close to Halloween, all of the participants get dressed up in costume. It takes place in the informal commons in the basement of Green Hall, and it is a great way to bond with your fellow law students. It gives each class the opportunity to work as a team toward a common goal.

This year, my Lawyering class, Team Keller, tied for first place in spirit with Team Westerbeke. We will get our team name, Keller’s Yellers, engraved on a shiny trophy adorned with a cheerleader and proudly displayed in the informal commons trophy case. The cash prize and bragging rights at this year’s Bluebook Relays went to Team Buller. Though their scores, costumes, and cash prize will likely be forgotten, their citation wizardry will live on for years to come.

Laura Hill, 1L

Tips on winterizing your car to avoid those holiday travel mishaps

Thanksgiving break is coming up and I know that many of you will be driving home to enjoy the festivities. By this time of year, many areas are already covered in snow or will be soon enough. Now is the time to think about winterizing your car.

DMV.org, the unofficial guide to the DMV has some fantastic pointers!

Engine Oil

During the winter months, temperatures can dip well below freezing. This can cause your oil to thicken up. It is recommended that you switch to thinner oil (less viscous). If you run 10W-30 in the summer, for example, try 5W-30.

Engine Coolant

Yeah engine coolant does keep your engine from overheating which you might think, “It’s winter! No worries!” Yeah, kind of. Really your engine coolant is there to maintain an optimal temperature for your car while it protects your car against corrosion. And you know that salt they put down on the road? Guess what it does to your car. So check your owner’s manual and make sure that you have the proper winter ratio (usually 60% coolant, 40% water). Also, use the coolant with ethylene glycol. If your car were Popeye, ethylene glycol would be spinach.

Battery

Ever notice that everyone’s car dies during the first cold snap? Ever wonder why? Well it’s because the amount of charge your battery can carry is greatly reduced when it’s cold out. The charge it holds at 70 degrees is not the same at 30 degrees. So before the cold hits, make sure your battery fluid is topped off (use distilled water since you don’t want minerals in there). And check the charge! Anything below 12.0V should be replaced. Any auto parts store will be happy to check the charge for free!

Snow tires

In Kansas, this really isn’t much of an issue since we don’t have constant snow on the ground. But if you are headed to, say, Boulder, CO for your vacation time, you might want to consider changing your tires. And regardless of the type of tires you have on your vehicle, make sure they are inflated properly! Remember that air contracts in cold weather and expands in hot.

Windshield

Just go ahead and replace your wiper blades and put a clear coat on your windshield. This will make it easier to keep your windshield clean. You also might want to replace your wiper fluid with something that contain anti-freeze. But be careful as some hard-core fluids can damage your paint.

Emergency kit

If you were to do only one thing, this is the one you should do. Make yourself an emergency kit!

  • Flares
  • Blankets
  • Boots
  • Radio
  • Flashlight
  • Energy bars
  • Water
  • First aid kit
  • Candles and matches
  • Collapsing shovel

Also make sure your cell phone is fully charged before you head out!

So you have just over a week to get all of this done before Thanksgiving break! Go to it!

W. Blake Wilson
Instructional & Research Services Librarian

Thankful for the journey

The beautiful changing leaves around campus are the best reminder to me that much of the fall semester has come and gone. Finals are quickly approaching and it seems that my classmates and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. When people ask if I am excited to be almost finished, my response is that I feel like I have barely started.

Law school is a bit of a time vacuum. When you find yourself juggling classes, extra curricular activities, a part-time job and the other general aspects of life, it is hard to realize that days continue to come and go. But yet, here I am. It is November of my third year and Thanksgiving (and finals) is upon us. This time of the semester is typically full of anxiety and stress, but this time I find myself simply being thankful for the experience.

I was very nervous coming into Green Hall two and a half years ago not only because I had never attended public school, but also because I was accustomed to close communities and small class sizes. The KU campus was something more daunting than I had ever experienced. It did not take long, however, to realize that I felt comfortable and at home.

KU Law splits its 1L class into small sections of approximately 20 students to provide the entering students with a core group of support and a constant supply of familiar faces. Instantly I found friends and confidants in this group of classmates. The faculty and staff are helpful and encouraging along every step of the way. This has made all the difference in my law school experience.

KU Law has helped shaped my thoughts, my perspectives and my goals for my career. I have learned from the academic curriculum but also from the diversity of the student body. KU provided an environment to gain an education that far surpasses the classroom. I am fortunate for how I have grown intellectually but more important as a person. With only one semester left, I am thankful for the journey.

Kristen Koenen, 3L

Do you use your library?

While traveling through the blogosphere, I came across Ask Reddit. Ask Reddit is a place where one can post thought-provoking, inspired questions. As cool as Ask Reddit is, one question was posted that really got to me.

Do you use your library?

Here are some sample answers:

    • You could work a minimum wage job and live in a small apartment and with access to a local library still have a cultured and pretty well educated life.
    • I would live at the library if they would let me.
    • I consider libraries to be one of the greatest creations of humanity.
    • I love books. If I’m not reading something good, I feel lost in this world.
    • Thank you, Benjamin Franklin.

So I ask you the same question: Do you use your library?

W. Blake Wilson, Instructional & Research Services Librarian

Legal Career Options Day

Last night the Office of Career Services hosted its 8th Annual Legal Career Options Day from 5-7 pm in the Ballroom of the Kansas Union.

Each year, this high energy networking event exposes our students to a wide variety of employment opportunities available to law students and graduates.

The Kansas Bar Association, the Johnson County Bar Association, and the Wichita Bar Association generously provided financial support and were on hand to promote collegiality and the important part lawyers play in giving back to the community.

The 90 attorneys and more than 120 students that attended the event discussed career paths and job-hunting strategies, as well as specific internships and full-time employment opportunities with the over 60 represented legal employers.

Attorneys from all walks of the legal profession were present, including those in private practice with both small, medium-sized and large law firms; local, state and federal government agencies; businesses; public interest organizations and the judiciary.

Through conversations with these attorneys, our students learned more about the diversity of the juris doctor degree. Following an hour long “meet and greet,” students and attorneys mingled during a catered reception.

The Office of Career Services would like to thank the attorneys who attended Legal Career Options Day, the three bar association sponsors, and our students for representing KU Law so well.

A photo gallery from last year’s event can be viewed here, and we’ll update the page with 2010 pics in the next few days!

Todd Rogers, Assistant Dean for Career Services

Second year at Jimmy Green Hall

As I reach the midpoint of the semester, I have found the second year of law school to be busy yet enjoyable. Now that I feel like the pace of the semester is beginning to slow, I have had a chance to realize how much I miss the summer. I am sad to see that summer has ended because I had a good time gaining experience working in Wichita. I enjoyed putting some of what I learned the first year to use, dealing with real client problems, and, of course, the weekly competition of lawyer league softball.

With the end of summer, the lawyer softball league season came to a close with the playoffs and a banquet at the always convivial Larry Bud’s Sports Bar & Grill. As my team surged toward a last place finish in the league, I didn’t have much of a chance to recognize the joy of playing a sport, however badly, as a way to relax away from the practice and study of law. Only now do I realize how precious those moments were when 45-year-olds tore muscles and broke bones trying to relive their glory days.

Although the second year has been more enjoyable than I thought that it would be, as the weeks began to pass I realized that I had a hole in my heart–a hole the size of a men’s slow pitch softball. Naturally, I, like thousands more on KU’s campus, have tried to blunt the pain caused by the absence of glory in one sport this time of year by turning to basketball. Every week, I meet up with fellow law students to recreate the festive nature of lawyer league softball.

So far, the games have been a success. There are guys who haven’t played since junior high, like me, a couple who played in college, some former collegiate female stars, and even a former WNBA player. Despite the dimly lit, too-small court and the old and injured knees, the joy of reliving those glory days serves as a nice break from studying.

James Carter, 2L