What I’ve discovered is that the pat answer I was given in law school, “You just don’t know the law,” was patently untrue. What I did not understand was how to apply each element of the law to a hypothetical that, to me, seemed convoluted and surreal.
However, what I have also learned is that it is only by answering thousands of questions that one begins to understand how the questions, themselves, are developed and what the “triggers” are. For instance, if one intends to commit larceny, and then decides against it, and if one takes an affirmative step towards “taking” and carrying away the property of another, even a momentary taking qualifies for the crime, if the taking was intentional. My instinct was telling me otherwise; surely a moment in which one pockets a watch and then puts it down can’t constitute a crime. Ah, but it can!
My fellow bar examinee who shared the library with me is absent, thus, I have claimed squatter’s rights over his prime real estate since mine was claimed by rightful (e.g. licensed) attorneys in the library.
These attorneys walk by bemused by the paper on the floor and my numerous books randomly arranged on the table.
"Are you studying for the bar exam?"
"Yes. . ."
"Good luck," they smile as if to encourage me to go on. (They've heard my sighs and watch me scatter paper on the floor in utter glee!)
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