I'm live blogging from a CLE (continuing legal education) presentation that I am attending this afternoon for extra credit in Evidence.
And here's the thing.
The first speaker was a professor from the law school who gave a presentation of something she wrote that was kind of an interesting topic but was not a great presentation...uh...presentation wise. It was in Word. And she scrolled down through the paper and read huge portions of it. Really. A little bit hard to follow. But, I think with some powerpoints or something it could actually be pretty interesting.
Second speaker was a former FBI Profiler who was VERY interesting...he asked a lot of questions about serial killers, which yours truly answered, because I love to read true crime books and no one else was raising thier hand. So, now I feel like everyone thinks I'm some kind of weird serial killer groupie or something. Also, he showed a lot of pictures of dead bodies and I think some of the lawyers were a little put off their cookies and Diet Coke. Overall (and sadly), dead bodies and Powerpoint were the high point of the afternoon.
Third presentation was a panel of six: Two lawyers who are media consultants on the national news/Court TV/etc., a prosecutor, a big time criminal defense guy, a newspaper reporter, and a judge. Can you say "Everyone's a windbag?" Jesus. A two and a half hour panel where the six panelists only get to talk once each? Well, to be fair, the criminal defense guy talked three times, and the prosecutor talked twice and no one else could get a word in edgewise. And basically the message was "We all think everyone else at this table is wrong and in some cases a total effing moron." Frankly, boring. Too much collective ego to share one small table.
It was worth the points I got in extra credit, but once again I am stunned at how crazy, egomaniacal, and divorced from the "real world" some people can be (they were ALL interesting, a couple were just pretty extreme for a panel discussion) in the face of defending their "side" and refusing to see that there is a middle ground or any merit to ANY other arguments (the word "entrenched" comes to mind...it reminds me of a certain recent election where I've overheard people saying they can't be friends or respect someone who voted differently than them -- I mean, really? Half of this country either way is not worthy of your respect? Huh...must be nice to be so perfect and right and self-righteous.). Suffice it to say that I see all the classic lawyer archetypes represented, as well as what will surely be the end product of the social, mental, emotional, and intellectual evolution of many of my classmates.
