Thursday, April 22, 2004
I'm a Judge!
Last night I participated in the First Year Ames Moot Court Competition here at Harvard as a judge. Last year, as a 1L, I was forced to undergo this excrutiating ordeal myself, and this was my chance to cause the excrutiation.
I heard oral arguments on the same case I argued last year, and as I was reviewing the parties' briefs beforehand, a strange notion came over me. I recall that last year as I was arguing I was sure that my side was right. My partner and I asked the other side if truly they thought they were right. They said yes. But they were wrong. This year, I couldn't help but think that the students arguing on the same side as I did last year did a better job, especially with their briefs. As I was making comments, I found far more ways to rip apart the arguments that I would have opposed last year. Even though this year, I'm supposed to be an impartial judge.
And if that's not enough, tonight I made a fool of myself with the Scales of Justice singing "Appointed Forever" at the Public Interest Auction--one of the biggest events of the year. I put on a judge's robe, hammed it up, and sang about how I can do whatever I want to do--I'm always right! I cringe when I think of what Professor Hay--the school's "dramatic professor"--is going to say in tomorrow's Evidence class.
I heard oral arguments on the same case I argued last year, and as I was reviewing the parties' briefs beforehand, a strange notion came over me. I recall that last year as I was arguing I was sure that my side was right. My partner and I asked the other side if truly they thought they were right. They said yes. But they were wrong. This year, I couldn't help but think that the students arguing on the same side as I did last year did a better job, especially with their briefs. As I was making comments, I found far more ways to rip apart the arguments that I would have opposed last year. Even though this year, I'm supposed to be an impartial judge.
And if that's not enough, tonight I made a fool of myself with the Scales of Justice singing "Appointed Forever" at the Public Interest Auction--one of the biggest events of the year. I put on a judge's robe, hammed it up, and sang about how I can do whatever I want to do--I'm always right! I cringe when I think of what Professor Hay--the school's "dramatic professor"--is going to say in tomorrow's Evidence class.
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