Delirious

Why am I still awake? I slept 4 hours last night, going to sleep at 3:30 and waking up at 7:30. Comparative con law was a blur, since I hadn't read and was really in danger of falling asleep constantly. Con law was not much better, although the prof was more engaging and made us laugh a few times. Then I had lunch with J; then read some more articles for the research project and handed the articles to Professor S's assistant. Then I barely had 20 minutes to skim 20 pages of reading for Local Government Law, and it was off to class again!

Today was the last class of Comparative Local Government Law this semester, for which I feel a little sad. I am very fond of Professor F. and really fascinated by his work, though I really don't feel like I have the hang of it yet. Not having taken the main class he usually teaches, Local Government Law, I feel like there are so many conceptual things I don't get. The class right now is weirdly theoretical and yet our discussions mainly focus on the practical aspects, with me feeling like I have no handle on either very well.

Everyone in the class is choosing a city to focus on for the next 5 months, and we will be researching and then writing a paper and presenting it to the class in the spring. My city is Nanjing. I'm not sure why I chose that exactly. I wanted to choose a medium-sized city in the south of China (so the temperature is not too low in the winter) that is not too well-known, and I wanted one that I haven't been to. I am planning to visit in the winter and to do field research, not that I know what THAT means either.

So after getting the offer from the firm that I interviewed with on Friday, I can now enter the process of next week so much more relaxed. I am lining up other interviews, and plan to fly to Chicago in the latter part of the week and then spend the weekend with ABS, which should be fun. I am also contacting a bunch of friends who live in New York so we can hang out when I'm in town.

Reading "Persons and Masks of the Law" by John Noonan tonight - in preparation for my meeting with Professor M, who recommended the book. The book is about how the legal system too often focuses on rules rather than persons, at the expense of the person and of justice. It looks at three cases and talks about them in-depth, giving the background and the history and showing how in each, the person has been sacrificed in preference for the rules.

I really like the book so far, but am not sure how to continue the discussion once that book is written and that idea is advanced. What to do to put the person at the center of the legal system rather than rules? Is it possible and is it desirable?

I have now come into contact with so many different ways of approaching legal questions, and so many different fields (though there are still so many more that I haven't yet learned about). With the possible exception of pure doctrinal stuff and pure law and (classical) econ, I find almost every single one of them fascinating. The problem in the next stage is to pick a field - and to write something worthwhile. I guess I can think of it as my last struggle against the certainties of the firm life. "Rage - Rage against the dying of the light"...?