Thursday, August 13, 2009

Law Word Play

I regret to inform you that "tort" in law is not even a distant relation of rich flourless cakes. According to Black's Law Dictionary, a tort is defined as "A civil wrong other than breach of contract, for which a remedy may be obtained."

Orientation started today, and I felt as though I should take the opportunity to learn about these types of things, so next week when I show up to class and there's no dessert I don't find myself disappointed. I also found out that there's a relatively important section of the law school website that has all of my first day's assignments, and that other people used the same website to find their book list (I just showed up to the bookstore with my class schedule - that worked.) People familiar with law school have told me that this moment would come and that I shouldn't be worried because other first year students are just as lost as I am. They didn't seem as lost as I feel.

I wonder if I brought torte to class if anyone would think that was funny. Law students take great joy in playing off the word "bar" (as in bar exam, bar association, etc.) to go on "bar reviews" once a week. The bar review is actually a class taken in preparation for the bar exam so that law students can become lawyers. "Bar review" is the law school term for visiting a different bar each week with other law students. There have been some hints that some students may take bar review a little too seriously. One of the first handouts in my orientation packet included substance abuse counseling contact information and one of the professors spoke about how unbecoming public drunkenness is for law students. I wasn't planning on coming to law school to get tanked. It would seem to me as though that could be relatively detrimental not only one's reputation, but also their studies. I feel that playing off the word "torts" would be a much healthier alternative for the student population. Then again, flourless chocolate cake doesn't free up social inhibitions with nearly the ease of a martini.

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