In Which I, Surprisingly, Defend Law School Professors

Well, maybe not defend, per se. But at least in law school they tell you exactly what they want. "I want you to research IIED, and pass in a research trail next week" (yeah, IIED. All the cool kid law students know what that means... What does that make you? Answer: smart enough to not enroll in law school. Congratulations.) My point is: when they give you an assignment, they pretty much give you alll of the relevant information. That's good because you kind of know what angle to take, and how the research should go. That's very useful.

Now let me describe a conversation I had with the principal partner yesterday (see how I insinuate how important I am? I'm not just dealing with any lawyer, I'm dealing with the principal partner. Look at me, Ma!).

Her: I want you to research which commonwealth (capital 'C'?) jurisdictions recognize same sex common-law partnerships

Me a while later: Here you go. It looks like New Zealand and Australia are the most progressive, with Canada following.

Her: Well, what about property division? They're splitting up.

Me: Oh, I guess I can go look that up.

Me a while later: Ok, it looks like blah blah blah...

Her: Well, what about child support? One partner has 2 kids.

Me: Huh. Ok, that's another piece of the puzzle. I'll check it out.

Me a while later: Well, it looks like blah blah blah...

Her: Well, the kids are actually her grandkids, so does that make a difference?

Me: Huh. Well. Is there anything else?

Her: Yeah, they're almost at 2 years. I'm pretty sure there's a time limit for dividing property and such.

Me: Ok (walk out).

Me a while later: It looks like our client is going to be paying a lot of money for a while.


It's just that all of this information would have been really relevant this morning (yesterday morning, actually, since that's when I started). But like a good TV show, each piece had to fall into place at just the right time. I could almost hear the mood music when she was about to give me another piece of info.

Oh well. I guess this is what life is like when you're wearing a tie. Yeah, I wear a tie to work becuase I like to look professional. AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE TO. What's wrong with me?