Thursday, June 23, 2011

Sh*t my law professors say

Over the semester, I was quick to jot down little "isms" that my professors said in class.  My intention was to type them all up as a memento of my first year of law school.  I thought it would also be fun to share them with the blogosphere.  Some of the quotes won't make sense unless you endured six months with these professors, but some are funny on their own.  They are divided by class for easy reading.  Enjoy.

Property
On sharing a mug with a classmate:  "I don't have cooties.  You have cooties...(under his breath) This is really stupid."

On Newt Gingrich and the Doles sharing property:  "Gingrich is going to make a great president."  "Why shouldn't Gingrich get 1/3 and Elizabeth Dole get 2/3?  She's more rational anyway.  Historically."

On a classmate refusing to give his hypothetical wife any property after divorce:  "That may be that you're kind of a volatile-type personality."

On my criminal law professor hitting my contracts professor over property:  "Neither of them have arms that would be considered deadly weapons."

On landlord-tenant relationships:  "This is a little confusing...maybe simple."

On electricity as property:  "We, our bodies, work on electricity.  Our brain's like fire!"

On buying landlocked property:  "If you buy landlocked land, people are going to laugh at you."

On beaches in New York:  "It's not a very nice beach because it's in Queens, New York, and the water is cold and the people are mean."

On homeowner's associations:  "If someone wants to have chickens and collect their own eggs, or they just like the noise, you may want to be careful."

On just about anything:  "Yeah, no, you're exactly right, right?"

Criminal Law
On forcible rape:  "Is it forcible, or are they just a little kinky?"

On Charlie Sheen:  "He is quite persuasive."  "Charlie Sheen can't make you burn in hell, but supposedly God can."

On Stephen Morse:  "Mainly I put up the picture so you could see his mustache.  It's awesome."

Classmate on retributive justice:  "If someone tried to kill me, I would probably kill them."

On attempted murder:  "Maybe I just wanted to scare the bejeezis out of you.  Is that a word?"

On the res ipsa loquiter test of attempt:  "I remember this because we were on a basketball team when I was a student and we were all under 5'6".  We called ourselves 'Res Ipsa Loquiter' because it was pretty clear that we all sucked."

On attempt:  "You stink as a criminal."

On attempting to kill someone with a water gun:  "Dammit, why won't it kill you?!"

On conspiracy to rob Taco Bell:  "We want to inflict damage on Taco Bell in exchange for all the damage it has inflicted on us."

On conspiracy:  "It begins with a C.  I don't mean to be a wise-ass.  I'm sorry."

On a classmate's case analysis:  "What might be a more common sense answer to the case?  I'm sorry I didn't mean 'sense.'"

On a cocaine hypothetical:  "Students are usually very reluctant to talk with me about where I can get my cocaine."

Contracts
On our class not learning about fraud in torts:  "That strikes me as reasonably awkward."

On Masterson v. Sine:  "That's immensely stupid."

On being frustrated about selling his house:  "If I'm feisty, I apologize in advance."

On Ruttenberg:  "Does it strike you as lame?"

On troubles with a car dealership:  "I bought a different kind of car because they t'd me off."

On working in big city law firms:  "In my course of dealing with other lawyers, there are lots of lawyers who are just lame."

On defendants ignoring specific performance:  "No, go away, I want to play golf or whatever."

On being evaluated by a fellow professor:  "I'm not designed to be a performer, I guess."

On drafting specific contractual provisions:  "That's, like, really tedious or whatever."

On purposely creating ambiguous contracts:  "Now you're going to decide I'm evil or whatever."

On St. Patrick's Day:  "Two questions with one answer.  It's like a McDonald's Shamrock shake.  It's half off."

On forfeiture:  "Courts find that distasteful, distressful or whatever."

On a 1L's perception of law school:  "Tell me how all the pieces move, and then I will be a lawyer."

On explaining substantial performance:  "You're looking at me like I'm a martian or whatever."

On drafting a prenuptial agreement:  "I would think that has to be awkward."

On swearing he saw a raised hand:  "I'm hallucinating."

On ESPN opinion:  "Let me show you what is patently, unquestionably wrong."

On explaining why the ESPN opinion is wrong:  "I'm getting lots of, like, quizzical looks or whatever."

On asking if we understand a 1920s case:  "I'm not trying to be cute or whatever."

On being a lawyer:  "If you don't want to get bitten, get out of the water."

On the belief that it's okay not to like the law:  "Like Mom making you come in when you're a tike or whatever."

On the college campus becoming smoke-free:  "It's like we're a totalitarian state.  It bothers me."

On understanding that there is no duty to mitigate damages:  "We are at the peak, the summit, the matterhorn.  I do not want to move an iota in our understanding, or else we'll fall off a cliff."

On why he cites everything:  "You don't need to type this.  This is just to show you I'm not making this up."

On the possibility that Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton made money by mistake:  "An observation came to mind that shouldn't be shared or whatever, so we'll just leave it at that."

On the MedicAlert company trying to screw him:  "That still frosts my whiskers."

On mistake versus frustration of purpose:  "Now we're all frustrated with my discussion...Oh, man, you're not even going to laugh at that?"

On mortgages:  "It's also a mortgage in aircrafts if I do recall.  I am 92% certain."

On the difference between an obligor and an obligee:  "And I guess the problem is I'm somewhat dyslexic, which makes this really bad for all involved."

On assignments:  "What do I mean by that?  Well, I don't know."

On cases involving electricity: "They don't want anyone to get zapped or whatever."

On transfers versus mergers:  "Maybe that sounds too glib or whatever."

On third party beneficiary risks:  "Might be foolish.  Might not.  Depends on if he's a good gambler or not."

On third party beneficiary hypothetical:  "Let's say I have lots of money, unfortunately a hypothetical."


On wanting to write a challenging exam:  "Maybe you think I'm foolish or whatever."

On writing the exam:  "Maybe I'll be so enamored by the exam that I'll tell you all about it, and I'll have to strike it and start all over again."


On ending classes a week early:  "Maybe I'll just end class then.  I can't do that.  I'll get fired if I do that."

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