Underlining Periods

From September 4, 2010:


The first two weeks of “real” classes have been crazy to say the least, but I am enjoying them.  The reading has not drowned me and I have not been the “it” person yet, but I have learned that I am in a “brave new world.”

From the moment I stepped foot on campus, I heard: “Law students and lawyers are all Type A personalities.”  Driven, organized.  Control freaks, perfectionists.

It is true.  I have not necessarily learned this from my classmates or my legal theory courses, but from my Legal Writing Class.  Did you know that lawyers have a thick book that details–and I mean details–every single little thing about legal citation.  It’s so specific that they tell you not to underline the period with the rest of the case citation.  That little tiny dot at the end… don’t you dare extend that underline an extra millimeter to encompass it.

I know that citation is picky and doing things uniformly is important, but did you know that some abbreviations like “Co.” for “company” has to have a period but “Ass’n” for “association” should never have a period after it?  Eek!

Type A?  Check.

On a different note, this “brave new world” has already (yes, I admit it) infiltrated my daily thought.  They want us to “think like lawyers,” and I have begun to wonder about duty and breach when I watch a car accident on a television show.  Oh dear.  Just wait until I’ve gone through ALL of Torts.

I figure that the best solution is just to laugh at myself (and all the other lawyers) who want to regulate underlining or not underlining periods and analyze television shows with legal jargon running through our brains.

(But really, is that driver liable for negligence?)