East Coast Trip

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Wilmington, Delaware waiting to go home tomorrow morning. It has been a good trip but I'm definitely ready to get back to Eugene. I miss my wife and kids, and I miss being in a familiar place. When I leave tomorrow morning I will have been away almost six days, which has been a long time. Here is a brief recap.

Wednesday:
A tough day of travel. Eugene to Salt Lake City to Atlanta to Wilmington, Delaware. Arrived only to find that my luggage hadn't made the trip along with me. That was frustrating. A $60 cab ride to the hotel later, we finally got settled in.

Thursday:
I spent most of the day trying to find my luggage, but I wasn't having much luck because there are only two inbound flights to the Wilmington airport. We had an orientation meeting for the competition, and thankfully Ash and Ryan were able to argue the first round that night.

Friday:
I learned that my luggage finally made it to the hotel sometime during the night, so I actually had some clothes to change into. I argued in both rounds this morning, but we had been selected to argue off-brief, which was the much more difficult argument to make. We did pretty well, but we were also up against some tough competition. On Friday night, Widener Law School had a banquet for us, which was pretty fun. We learned that we weren't among the eight teams that were to advance to the next round, which gave us two days to decide what to do.

Saturday:
I rented a car from perhaps the most incompetent Enterprise office in the country, and we headed north to explore. It is always a bit intimidating to drive in a strange region, and we decided to take off sans maps, so it wasn't really a coincidence when we took a wrong turn and ended up in Philadelphia instead of New York. We had lunch in Philly (I broke my vegetarian eating habits to eat a Philly cheesesteak). We explored around a bit and then got back on the New Jersey Turnpike and headed to New York. We had contemplated taking the train into Manhattan, but I decided to just try to drive and park somewhere. We definitely ran into a lot of traffic heading into the Holland Tunnel, but we finally made it into Manhattan and we parked as soon as we could. After buying a slice of New York pizza, we bought a MetroCard and tried to figure out the subway system. We checked out Times Square and Ground Zero and looked around for several hours before eating dinner at the ESPN Zone to watch some basketball. Later that night we met up with a friend of Ash's who has a place in Chelsea. We hung out with him for awhile (playing Wii) before heading back to the car. We finally made it back to the hotel around 3:30AM.

Sunday:
After the late night/early morning, we all slept in. Ash and I went to the final round of the competition, which was argued in front of the Delaware Supreme Court. It was interesting to see that one of the teams we had argued against in the second round had progressed to the finals. The level of oral advocacy was certainly good, but I wouldn't classify it as outstanding. The questions from the Justices were very challenging, and it was fun to watch. The team from Florida State University School of Law ended up winning. We retired to the hotel to watch the Oregon-Florida basketball game and then went to get some dinner. Now we're back at the hotel and packing up for tomorrow's early morning wake-up call. Our plane leave at 7:15 and then it is back through Atlanta, then on to Seattle and finally back to Eugene.

It has been a good, albeit long, trip. I feel like I've learned a lot about corporate law and I've been able to see some sights I haven't seen before. I'm thankful that my school makes opportunities like this available to law students.

Here are some black and white photos taken on the trip. They aren't the best quality as they were taken on my Treo, but you can get the idea.


Widener University was founded over 25 years before Oregon even achieved statehood!

Ash and Ryan walking toward the Widener School of Law

Philly architecture

The iconic "love" sign in the city of brotherly love.

New York pizza

Ash liked the local cuisine

Ground Zero

Display at Ground Zero. It was a pretty somber scene, even now over five years removed.

Ground Zero

Playing Wii tennis in West Chelsea



Ash waiting for the subway. Sorry Ryan, the pic of you didn't turn out.


Kids dancing for money in the subway station (video below)

Times Square

Times Square

Waiting for the final round to begin in the moot courtroom at Widener University School of Law

Final round in front of the Delaware Supreme Court

How 'bout those Ducks?

Great job by the Oregon Ducks men's basketball team for their run in the NCAA tournament. They made it to the Elite Eight where they were knocked out by defeding-champs Florida. They played Florida tough even though I think Florida was the better team. It was a great season!

Leavin'...on a jet plane

I'm heading out of town tomorrow, and I wish I could say that I was going to some exotic Spring Break destination like Cancun or Hawaii. To the contrary. I am going to Widener School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware to compete in the Ruby Vale Corporate Law Moot Court Competition. I haven't ever been to Delaware before so it will be good to see that part of the country, but it is hard to be away from my family for six days!

More to follow later...

Vegas Recap

I returned from Vegas on Sunday night and it was a pretty great trip. We didn’t have too much time to do the whole “Vegas” thing, but the competition was a really valuable experience and my partner and I did well. If you don’t remember, I went to Las Vegas as a representative of my law school to compete in the regional National Appellate Advocacy moot court competition. Teams can be made up of either two or three students (most schools seem to send teams of three) and Oregon sent two two-person teams. We’ve been practicing for this for over the past two months. My partner was Matt Lehman, another 2L. There were two issues that we were arguing: one was a Fourth Amendment search/seizure issue and the other was a question of judicial discretion afforded by the Sentencing Reform Act and whether shaming punishments are permissible. I was arguing on the sentencing issue, but the competition requires teams to argue as both petitioner and respondent.

We arrived Thursday and really just dropped off our luggage at the hotel and headed to the federal courthouse. We stayed at the Alexis Park Resort, which sounds much nicer than it really was. Our cable was always turning off, the water pressure was really weak, the AC seemed to have a mind of its own, etc…I think the American Bar Association chose it because it was a non-gaming resort, which is a rarity in Vegas. At the courthouse we attended a team meeting where they explained the competition format and rules. We also found out our brief score, which was a very respectable 83/100 (the highest brief score turned out to be 86). This gave us a good feeling and definitely an advantage heading into the oral argument rounds as our brief was to count as 33% of our total score per round. On Thursday night we faced two women from UC Berkley. They were pretty good but Matt and I felt like we had won. Given this, we were surprised to find out that they had beat us on the oral argument portion. Fortunately our brief score was much higher than theirs and carried us to the win. Friday night our team from U of O went to the Hard Rock for dinner.

On Friday, we had a majority of the day to prepare/relax. We met as a team for a few hours, got some lunch, and headed over to the courthouse. On Friday night we took on UNLV who ostensibly had a “home court advantage.” Fortunately for us, their team wasn’t that great and we beat them with a wide margin of victory that padded our ranking. At the urging of one of our teammates, we hit The Mirage’s buffet that night, and it was pretty good. I’m pretty sure I didn’t eat or drink $25 worth of food or beverages, but it was a good experience.

Saturday morning was round three and we were paired against another 2-0 team. Out of 36 teams, we were ranked third and UCLA was ranked tenth. This was also the last round that our brief score was to count towards our point total. Both Matt and I didn’t feel great about our performances, but we managed to win, which sent us into the semi-finals, where we would be arguing without the advantage of our brief score.

In Round 4 we faced two women from Arizona State University. We were respondent again, and after hearing them argue, we knew we were up for a stiff challenge. Fortunately Matt and I improved on our earlier performances and defeated them, which sent us into the finals.

In the Finals we were facing a team from Hastings Law School. The other team from Oregon had faced this team earlier in the competition and had been beaten pretty soundly, so we knew that we were going to have a tough time. After they won the coin toss, they thankfully selected to argue as petitioner, which allowed Matt and I to argue as respondent for the third time that day! This certainly allowed us to hone our arguments and not make the difficult mental shift from one side of the case to the other. After hearing both of our opponents present their arguments, it was clear that they posed our biggest challenge. Unfortunately for both teams, we only had a two-judge panel, rather than the three judge panels we had received in Rounds 1-4. The two-judge panel meant a lot fewer questions, which in turn forces the advocate to speak in a narrative fashion (monologue) for a long time. Although this seems counterintuitive, most advocates (myself included) prefer to think on their feet and answer questions rather than attempt to just deliver a persuasive speech.

They didn’t tell us who won the round until later that night at an Awards Ceremony. Hastings ended up winning by just a few points and so they are on to Nationals in Chicago. One of the judges had us dead even, while the other gave a slight edge to Hastings. I’m sure if our brief score had counted we would have won. The Awards Ceremony proved fruitful for a few other reasons. Out of the 36 teams who were there, they award small cash prizes for the five best briefs. Matt and I won $100 for being the fifth best brief in the competition. The competition also honors the ten best oral advocates. They take the two best individual scores from the first four rounds to arrive at the average. Fortunately I had received a 94 and a 91 in two previous rounds and so I was honored as fifth best oral advocate out of the 80 or 90 so law students who were there.

Saturday night we knew we were done with the competition so we wanted to get out and experience Vegas. We had dinner at Caesar’s Palace and then made our way to the Venetian, Bellagio, Treasure Island, Paris, and New York New York. Unfortunately there were also about 40,000 other NASCAR fans who wanted to “experience Vegas” too. They were all in town for the NASCAR Las Vegas 400. While it made for good people-watching, it didn’t make it very easy to get around anywhere. The crowds, when mixed with a good splash of exhaustion from a long, mentally-challenging day, rendered a recipe for an early evening. I was probably back in our hotel by 1:00AM, which thanks to the earlier daylight savings time, was really 2:00AM. I had to wake up by 7:00 to pack and head to the airport.

Despite all this, it was a great time and a great experience. I definitely feel more capable as an advocate and I was able to bond with some of my classmates at a level that wouldn’t have happened without this competition. I’m glad to be finished with the Tuesday/Thursday practices, but I certainly won’t look back with any hint of regret on these few paragraphs in the story of my life.

Only in Eugene

File these two under "Only in Eugene"

1. I went to my favorite bakery the other morning to get a scone. They always offer the marionberry scone, but they also have a rotating "special." I almost always go for the special because I really like the variety. On this particular morning, the little sign describing the type of scone said "Goji Berry." I feel like I've got a decent handle on the different berries typically used in baking, but I had never heard of the Goji Berry. When I asked the baker what it was, she said, "The Goji Berry is from Nepal and it is just packed with antioxidants. It's really huge on the health food circuit right now." So, I had a Goji Berry scone and it was OK. Here's some more info on the Goji Berry (also known as Wolfberry!).

2. I was driving behind this guy today and when the light turned red I had to ask him to take a picture of his bike trailer. Only in Eugene do you see a guy pulling a trailer FULL OF LUMBER. This is taking eco-sensitivity to the extreme. I asked the rider if he had made the trailer himself, and he told me that he purchased it from Bikes at Work and that the trailer was capable of hauling a half ton of lumber!





Only in Eugene do you get unique experiences like these!

Reflections...

It occurs to me that there are very few instances in life where you can think to yourself, “I’m about to experience something that I probably will never forget.” Some of the situations that would likely fall into this category is the feeling you have just before your wedding or as you are driving to the hospital to welcome a child into your family.

Now, that being said, I’m not getting married tomorrow or having a child, but I do think that it will be hard to forget the experience tomorrow will bring. As some of you know, I’ve been practicing hard for the National Appellate Advocacy Competition. I was fortunate enough to win the intraschool competition, and as a result I’m traveling to Las Vegas next week to compete against other law schools. But tomorrow I’m going to Salem to have a practice round in front of several Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court. Our volunteer coach is a staff attorney with the Oregon Court of Appeals and he asked if we could use the Oregon Supreme Court’s courtroom for our final “formal” practice rounds. We will be arguing in front of Justices Rives Kistler, Martha Walters, and Virginia Lindner. I’m arguing a Sentencing Reform Act issue for the petitioner, a college student who was sentenced with a condition requiring him to pass out flyers bearing his picture and a description of his offense. We argue that such a “scarlet letter” condition does not comport with the judicial discretion afforded sentencing judges under the Sentencing Reform Act.

Who knows if I’ll ever get to argue a “real” case in front of the Oregon Supreme Court, but tomorrow will give me a good taste of what it might be like. And it certainly won’t be something I’ll forget anytime soon.

An open letter...

Dear Jeff,
Thank you for getting tickets for my wife and I to go watch The Fray on July 26. We are very excited.
John and Missi