Choosing a law school is serious business. Quality of education, career prospects, interests of faculty and fellow students all play a role. Having just completed my first assignment for the "Spring" semester, may I humbly suggest that the length of winter break should also play a role in any decision? I realize this may put NU at a disadvantage, with a rather scant fourteen day break, but I am not here to recruit anyone to the institution I call home; I just report on what life is like inside its walls. I am also a bit miffed, to say the least, that it was not Crim or Constitution or Contracts that summoned me back to school exactly two weeks after the remnants of my brain were squeezed dry during my last final of the first semester. The culprit was instead LSSC, with a research plan to contemplate and execute and committees to form and "working rules" to re-establish. For those of us who have spent some time in the real world between undergrad and here – it is all a little too reminiscent of corporate team-building sessions – and that places us all a little too close to "trust falls with Ned from accounting."

Random notes from break (in no particular order):
1. The state of New Jersey owes me a windshield, as while I was traversing that magnificent stretch of parking lot known as the New Jersey Turnpike, an SUV the size of a small house kicked up what I can only assume was a rock of Martian origins directly into my windshield. Not only did this rock cause a crater which will require the windshield’s replacement, but it also obscured my view of the beautiful petrochemical refinery plants along the highway, and that is simply criminal.
2. There is no justifiable reason to show me a Jets game (even in NJ), when the Patriots are playing the Dolphins, their undefeated season is on the line, some records can be broken and the Jets are statistically eliminated from the playoffs until 2012 or so. None. I will not be swayed on this.
3. It’s good to feel human again, even if it’s only for two weeks.

And in case you are wondering what I was doing in New Jersey for a part of my break… let’s just say that married life is full of compromises.

Of course, the converse of that familiar statement is also true: the early worm gets eaten by the bird. Sometimes in life, it is difficult to tell whether you are the bird or the worm, but at other times -- this distinction is perfectly clear.

For example, when, on the hottest day of the year, your right rear tire decides to disintegrate on your way to work in the morning, forcing you to replace it on the side of the highway before the clock even strikes 8:00AM, you are certainly the worm. If you've never had the pleasure of changing a still-smoldering hot, completely destroyed tire while wearing a tie, trust me -- it's not something you should look forward to. Likewise, I would stay away from dead batteries in the dead of winter, while we're on the subject of car-related activities that should be avoided.

In other somewhat work-related news: I got to sit in on a meeting with a couple of Russian prosecutors this past week. In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that since the then-Soviet government branded me an "enemy of the state" at the age of eleven, I've had what I consider a healthy fear of Russian authorities. However, I have nothing negative to report about this experience. The meeting was fascinating as a way to see the birth of a new system of justice. Being able to observe systems all over the world before settling on the details of theirs has allowed the Russians to "cherry pick" ideas and concepts they think work. In the process, they have built a system that is both very similar and very different to our own. For example, while jury trials are available, they only become a right in cases of serious crime (with the possibility of serious punishment). The juries consist of 12 members, but only a simple majority is needed for conviction. The appeals process seems much more stream-lined than our own. Most importantly, their prosecutors not only get government cars, but also government chauffeurs, a revelation which may have gotten them some new applicants from the pool of current assitant US Attorneys.

One other thing I noticed is that four weeks into working for "big brother" it has finally started to feel like a job, and not a break from school, which I admit is a great feeling.

I leave you with an actual quote from an actual decision in an actual case. The judge was explaining the presence of "exigent circumstances" allowing the police to enter a hotel room without a warrant. As you read it, please remember not only that a real judge wrote this in an opinion on a real case, but that a real human being went to jail as a result.

"Moreover, delay risked the life of the person in the room reported to be dead, if there were such a person."