Are we all happy yet?

I woke up this morning and did 50 PMBR questions before I realized I didn't have to anymore! Just kidding.

Just kidding!

I actually did wake up to thoughts of rule elements, and had a moment of the usual tiredness and grudging attempts to motivate myself though. And then that mood switched to jubilant gratefulness, and then back to a quiet despair. I don't do well post-bar exam, until weeks later and the memories subside. I'm not completely depressed, and VERY glad it's over, but I always feel very blah.

I didn't post yesterday because after the exam, I just wanted to get the hell out of there and I was driving back home for a couple of hours. I stopped briefly at home to upload my answers then went straight back out for a glass of wine. This glass of wine has been on my thoughts for the past 2 months. I had 2, and the bartender gave me a shot, and I was done for. It was weird being amongst people who had no idea what the bar exam was about. And again, I realized that for most of the world, this exam means NOTHING. Nice.

One particularly funny moment comes to mind when this guy asked me my name. I tried to ignore him, but he kind of grabbed my shoulders and turned me to face him. He asked again. I replied, "California is a community property state. All earnings during marriage are presumed to be..." HA! How funny is that? And I kept talking about rules! Every so often, one would spurt out, like a leak.

All right, on to Day 3 analysis. Again, I don't know. I never know. I'm never one of those people who walk out feeling good, and that's just because I really don't know! I'm sure I identified the subjects properly (yay, me) and seemed to have hit the major issues, but some rules were murky and analysis could have been shaky as well. I'm going to discuss what I wrote, and feel free discuss it. If you don't want to know, stop reading now.

Essay 4: Con Law/Crimes. I saw this one and a string of expletives almost came flying out of my mouth. Murder again. Free Speech AGAIN! WTF? WTF? WTF? It is painfully clear that these people are sick and M-E-A-N. But I forged on. I discussed murder, voluntary mansluaghter, involuntary manslaughter, and felony murder. Dismissed all of them, included felony murder because the underlying felony was a misdemeanor. Didn't discuss arson at all. I said that he didn't break the statute because of mistake. This is probably wrong, but I just remember thinking...if the law specifically prohibits only the burning of A, how can he be liable for burning B, unless the law includes intent (like knowingly)? Whatever. I thought he was funny and didn't want him to get in trouble. =) I then went into a full blown speech analysis, where I thought the meat of the points were. Content-specific, protected speech, strict scrutiny, it's illegal. It's like burning the flag. You're allowed to do it.

Essay 5: So gross. P sues S for specific performance. DISCUSS. Maybe P and S should talk it over at a day at the spa...maybe P should take S out for lunch! Have P and S discussed mediation? I mean, really! This could go everywhere! And it did. The bad thing about these problems is that it provides little guidance so you're looking everywhere, under every rock and in every crevice to spot issues. It also wreaks havoc on organization. The good thing is that everyone will be all over the place, so there's not going to be this strict standard you're held to if you fail to do what they've seen over and over again. I went into this with a element by element description of specific performance, the first of which was the validity of the contract. This was where I went into everything -- all the misrep/fraud, statute of frauds, offer/acceptance, consideration, promissory estoppel/detrimental reliance, accord and satisfaction, unclean hands, UCC, merchant (I said P was not, but am realizing it could go either way). My misrep rule was shaky. Something along the lines of, she misrepresented a material fact! And the other person relied on it! But not on purpose! I basically found there was no contract, and thus no remedy, but went on to describe what else was needed for SP if the court found there was a contract.

Essay 6: At first I smiled. And launched into my favorite little paragraph about CA is a CP state. The smile faded. It was weird. I went through it quickly. I had time to spare! I knew something was NOT right. Child support, separate debt, entitled to reimbursement. Education debt, separate, entitled to reimbursement. Law degree, community entitled to some of it applying the 10 year/other spouse gets an education too rule. I threw in a Lucas analysis of the joint checking account and quickly dismissed it doesn't apply because it's not SP funds in there. Goodwill. Always hated it and thought it was funky. I mean, it's not even a tangible thing. What the heck is it? But I put that the whole $3000 is not enforceable because W has a CP interest in it, she didn't agree to it, and the courts would look to other things when valuing it. Then I went into a Pereira/Van Camp analysis. I went with Pereira, but I should have chosen VC. But at least they're both in there. I know people disagree on this last part, but...I had time, so I put it in.

PTB: I love letters. I had nice letterhead. I even italicized the signature at the end. I'm hoping for design points. Oh, the content? I organized it by the three issues. First two were quick and based on the statutes. Last one, I organized it by statute and case precedent. I finished it on time, and was feeling really tired at the end.

And that was it. Note that I didn't discuss any new subjects at all, ever. I honestly didn't think of it, except in the Evidence q on Day 1, where I made the conscious decision not to include it. I udnerstand that people saw those issues yesterday, and I wish I threw them in there too. But hopefully, it was minor and maybe just "bonus" points. They called time, the room burst into applause, and I hit the road.

And by the way? NO CIV PRO. I was muttering rules on my way into the exam room and cramming that thing into my head all summer long. Can't believe it!

But it's aaaaallllll over now... I hope everyone enjoys their first day of freedom. I'm looking forward to hearing about your continued adventures as you try to re-assimilate into the normal world!