Law school classes aren’t conducted like normal undergraduate classes. In undergrad, the professor lectures and the students take notes. Class participation is not the standard. Law school classes, however, have a much smaller lecture component and much larger class participation component. Professors will call on a student to “recite,” that is, to discuss the case at hand and answer the professor’s probing questions. It can get a little nerve-racking; more so when the professor requests the students stand up for their recitation session.

I managed to last five and a half days of class before getting called on to recite. Today was my first. I had read the case, but I read it last week and was kind of hazy on it. So when I heard the professor call my name, guess what I did.

I completely blanked. The address of the courthouse in which the case took place was on “Ohio St.” someplace in the United States, so when asked where the case was brought, I said Ohio. Wrong answer. Then I tried to correct myself and dug an even deeper hole. Wrong answer. When asked what the first claim brought by the Plaintiff was, I gave the second claim they brought. It was glorious.

But you know, I’m alright with what happened. This is just how things work. You completely fuck up the first time and figure out what to do next time. No one is born knowing how to make it as a law student. It’s a learned behavior. So for the rest of you random first years to find your way to my site, keep that in mind. No one else knows what the hell is going on, either.