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Nov. 6th, 2004 06:14 amkee-rist I'm tired. One thing it seems I can do is bullshit. I nailed the interview yesterday morning. It was a behavioral event interview in front of a panel of 3, and I don't think I could have possibly done better. If I'm not selected for the job, at least I feel I did my best. Then I helped the new guy try and prepare an agency file, the new guy being very experienced but slow and not computer savy. Shortly thereafter I had to do a pre-hearing conference and was unable to prevent our litigator from letting his aggression and bravado lose a judge that had formerly been on our side. Yelling loses an argument, talking over a mad judge seals it. By the time that was over - Ouch - I finally heard from my professor who announced I was doing two sides and two legal issues, so I, for the first time, took unscheduled leave from work for 2.5 hours. It's probably the first time I didn't give weeks of advance notice for leave, and I explained why.
I prepped for all of 2-3 hours, looking up cases and making a pathetic outline. Dood - I was really not prepared. I went to school, and walked in the hall talking to myself to make up my oral argument on the fly. All my outline contained were the core cases. By the time class started there were like 4 of us pacing back and forth muttering. Everyone there had prepped for a week, except for the girl that works for the NRA, who had been in PA campaigning for Bush (interesting story, half of the NRA had to campaign for him at the 'request' (that you can't refuse) of the republican party - she explained that not only did they have to campaign, but they had to do it on their own time despite the fact it was mandatory).
I watched our opponents go first, and they were good. They were a little on the stiff-white-guy side, and our judge's panel was 100% black (as is our professor). I flashed back to total recall, as the tall white guy seemed really calm as they nailed him with two cases he didn't know - until I noticed the trickle of sweat moving down the side of his face. I resisted the urge to shout SHOOT HIM! Then it was my turn at the podium.
No problem - I was able to bullshit through an opening / roadmap before the barrage of questions came. I got hit with a case I didn't know, but the judge slipped and mentioned it was an internet case so I took a huge risk and guessed at the contents - saying that both it and a net case which I did know represented the same thing, and drew it into my argument. I remembered to nail a policy argument, and caught the other judge's eyebrow raise. I was nailing every point and never missed a beat, so I took a risk and threw out a cliche, while apologizing for doing so at the same time. I...was awesome. Well, I did choke a little on the close but that was it. When we got feedback, I was told as much - they both were very impressed with both the sucessful cliche use and the policy argument. I was better than those that had prepped for a week.
Then I went for the second time - as foolishly I had volunteered to do when they asked. I was even less prepared on the 2nd argument, with a pathetic 1 page outline. I got lucky again, the judge's panel decided to try and rattle me. I'm a boxing former crossdresser - it takes a lot to make me scared. They threw out hostile questions, scowled, and never accepted an answer I gave. I nailed the issues and took every answer they wanted and question they posed and bent it to fit my side. I was never flustered - they were impressed but the truth was that had they been a cold panel I could have run out of bullshit in 6 minutes or so. With their abuse, I was able to wrap up with perfect timing. They were stunned, and the most abusive judge told me he was aggravated that I was not shaken by his efforts. I was the highest rated in that group, and the group included two people who were doing moot court competitions.
Perhaps I have more of a knack for law than I give myself credit for.
I prepped for all of 2-3 hours, looking up cases and making a pathetic outline. Dood - I was really not prepared. I went to school, and walked in the hall talking to myself to make up my oral argument on the fly. All my outline contained were the core cases. By the time class started there were like 4 of us pacing back and forth muttering. Everyone there had prepped for a week, except for the girl that works for the NRA, who had been in PA campaigning for Bush (interesting story, half of the NRA had to campaign for him at the 'request' (that you can't refuse) of the republican party - she explained that not only did they have to campaign, but they had to do it on their own time despite the fact it was mandatory).
I watched our opponents go first, and they were good. They were a little on the stiff-white-guy side, and our judge's panel was 100% black (as is our professor). I flashed back to total recall, as the tall white guy seemed really calm as they nailed him with two cases he didn't know - until I noticed the trickle of sweat moving down the side of his face. I resisted the urge to shout SHOOT HIM! Then it was my turn at the podium.
No problem - I was able to bullshit through an opening / roadmap before the barrage of questions came. I got hit with a case I didn't know, but the judge slipped and mentioned it was an internet case so I took a huge risk and guessed at the contents - saying that both it and a net case which I did know represented the same thing, and drew it into my argument. I remembered to nail a policy argument, and caught the other judge's eyebrow raise. I was nailing every point and never missed a beat, so I took a risk and threw out a cliche, while apologizing for doing so at the same time. I...was awesome. Well, I did choke a little on the close but that was it. When we got feedback, I was told as much - they both were very impressed with both the sucessful cliche use and the policy argument. I was better than those that had prepped for a week.
Then I went for the second time - as foolishly I had volunteered to do when they asked. I was even less prepared on the 2nd argument, with a pathetic 1 page outline. I got lucky again, the judge's panel decided to try and rattle me. I'm a boxing former crossdresser - it takes a lot to make me scared. They threw out hostile questions, scowled, and never accepted an answer I gave. I nailed the issues and took every answer they wanted and question they posed and bent it to fit my side. I was never flustered - they were impressed but the truth was that had they been a cold panel I could have run out of bullshit in 6 minutes or so. With their abuse, I was able to wrap up with perfect timing. They were stunned, and the most abusive judge told me he was aggravated that I was not shaken by his efforts. I was the highest rated in that group, and the group included two people who were doing moot court competitions.
Perhaps I have more of a knack for law than I give myself credit for.
