Slippery Slope to Hades

I would like to explain a little further about the events of this post - Inspiration. After we had watched an hour or so of cases with very few defendants actually attending and as far as I can recall only one defence solicitor presenting arguments, a very helpful usher explained that there are usually more interesting cases the following day.

My friend and I duly returned the next day to sit in the public gallery and observe again. After watching around 3 or 4 cases with defence solicitors and defendants actually attending, a new case began. The defendant was awaiting a trial date and the hearing was to determine whether to grant bail. The solicitor for the prosecution asked that he not be granted bail, on the basis of his previous convictions......and that the last four times he has been on bail he has either broken bail conditions or been charged with another offence, and is currently in the possession of a suspended sentence for a previous crime.

His defence solicitor stood. Put his case to the bench - Bail was granted. All that I thought as this occurred was 'What a professional'. As we left the Court I discussed what we had just witnessed with my friend. I remarked how impressed I was with what the solicitor had just done, and that I had been further inspired by his actions. My friend however then pointed out something that I had so far not even thought of. Was what we had just witnessed moral? It seemed legal, certainly, but moral? Thinking about it this doesn't seem moral at all.

Morals wasn't what I first thought of. The job was. I can't help but feel that I'm well on my way to losing my soul entirely.

Constantly Overthinking?

During the past week my future housemates and I collected our tenancy agreements from the letting agency. Two of us are law students, and therefore cared more about reading the contract in it's entirety. One sub-clause of the contract stated that signing the contract would show our intention to be bound by the terms of certain Tenancy and Housing Acts. It should be noted here that the letting agency is used to dealing primarily with students and took the rather helpful action of following each sub-clause with a brief summary of what the sub-clause actually meant in plain English.

Upon reading this sub-clause the part of my brain that has been soaking up legal knowledge this past 5 months or so began it's internal musing;
If the summary of the Housing Acts is wrong would that amount to an effective misprepresentation based on a false statement of Law?

It's not whether I was right or wrong in my thinking that bothers me, it is more that I seem to keep anaylsing situations using what I have been learning. I wonder if this will be a practise that I will continue for the length of my stay in the legal field?

Inspiration

Today I did something I've never done before. Strange though it sounds, what with my being a law student, for the first time in my life - I set foot in a courtroom. A friend and I had decided to take a visit to the local Magistrate's Court.

It was good to get a feel for the whole process rather than just reading it out of books. I only have one gripe with the process - that the ushers assumed we were with the group of journalism students who had been sitting in the corner reading the Gaurdian.

Seeing a prosecution solicitor questioning a witness was both interesting, and inspiring. However what truly impressed me was (I may have been mistaken about what happened, but this is what it sounded like at least) when a defence solicitor entered, shuffling papers and pulling out pens. The prosecution solicitor stood "We ask that the case might be withdrawn on the grounds of insufficient evidence.". On being asked by the Magistrate how he felt about the proposal the defence solicitor replied "Of course I have no problem with the decision - and might I apply for costs?". Several hundred pounds granted. It didn't seem too bad a decision, bearing in mind he had been in Court no longer than 3 minutes before he left again.

Enthusiasm II

Following from my first post today, I have since been into town to pick up some more books. I asked my friend the same question I posed on my blog - can one manufacture the desire to succeed?

The reply I recieved was as blunt, yet useful as ever - "I can't afford not to have enthusiasm now, not after all the money I have had to spend on these books.".

Quite.

Enthusiasm

I have recently been reading Legally Blonde in London. The enthusiasm that eminates from her postings is really something to be admired. It has made me wonder if I could create my own enthusiasm. It's not as if I don't like my course (that would be quite a bad idea as I intend to make a career of it), I do, studying law is very interesting. I just feel that I don't have enough 'get-up-and-go'. It sounds like she'd stop at nothing to get a distinction from her law school.

Can you force yourself to act like that - not accept second best and have the need to always be better than your peers? Is it built in or can you condition yourself over time to be that way? I get the feeling that this is what I need to become to succeed.

People lie and act almost constantly, it can't be too hard to act like I actually care about beating everyone else.