Before I go further, let me make it clear that I've never pulled an all-nighter ever in my life. But law school has definitely brought me to the brink several times.
Here's a timeline of the typical last-minute legal brief, as experienced last night/this morning:
1:30 PM: Get back from APALSA Tahoe ski trip
2:45 PM: Sit down in the library and "begin work" on brief due the next day
5:00 PM: Stop surfing the net and start reading cases for the brief
7:34 PM: Look at how many more cases you have to read; despair.
8:01 PM: Go to dinner
8:32 PM: Eat dinner at Asian Food Ghetto
9:37 PM: Get back to library from dinner/boba run
9:41 PM: Keep reading cases; start typing
10:48 PM: Look at the three paragraphs you've written; despair
11:30 PM: Keep reading cases; ignore the library staff anouncing that the library is closing at midnight
11:53 PM: Look at the three-and-a-half paragraphs you've written; sigh
12:03 AM: Leave the law school; sigh heavily
1:13 AM: Sit down at home and begin paper again
1:48 AM: Keep writing paper; make tea
2:21 AM: Start on sixth paragraph
2:55 AM: Curse at self for not starting paper earlier; keep writing
3:27 AM: Notice that you're starting to write things that don't make sense; struggle to keep eyes open.
3:28 AM: Surrender to fatigue; take a "nap" on your futon
6:31 AM: Wake up; curse; start paper again
6:32 AM: Find that in your half-asleep stupor, you've written "The Country of Algeria is excited to begin training" (perfect capitalization and everything) under the section in which you were supposed to discuss the legal definition of "employee."
6:43 AM - 9:58 AM: Type type type; finish paper
10:02 AM - 10:30 AM: "nap" on top of your bed
10:50 AM: Leave for school
Anyways, those ~20 hours were quite the adventure. As much fun as they were however, I think I'd like to try to avoid doing that ever again. Ever.
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2 comments:
Your blog is so on point. That is so similar to my brief-writing schedule. Oh why do we procrastinate? Blah to legal writing!
:-) Too bad legal writing is what we lawyers will be doing the rest of our careers. Sometimes when I think about that I get depressed, so I just don't think about it.
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