LAW SCHOOL (#64): I was one of the last applicants accepted to Law School at the University of Florida, but I graduated Tenth in a class of over 100. I was member of The ORDER of the COIF, which was evidently a big deal. Even though I graduated from UF with High Honors, my low GPA at St. Petersburg Junior College was a problem and I was only saved by a high score on my LSAT.
Until the last minute it looked like I would be going to Stetson Law School, which was only 6 blocks from my parents house. I could live at home, but for the same amount of money, I could have an apartment in Gainesville. Guess which was my first choice?
At the time Stetson had a dress code and UF did not have any dress requirements. I took full advantage of the freedom at UF and when weather permitted, my standard attire was cutoff jeans and a Tee shirt.
While dress was casual, classes were not. Everyone was really serious about getting good grades, and when your entire grade depended on one exam it was nerve wracking.
I went home at the end of my first semester, before grades were posted. I was so nervous I had my first asthma attack in years and ended up in the emergency room. My grades turned out to be an A and 3 Bs, better than any of my friends.
Our second semester started on a Tuesday, first class at 9:00 am. When the teacher wasn’t there by 9:15, I told my friends, “See you next week. I’m going to go see my girlfriend in Ft. Walton Beach.” All in all, things went surprisingly well, but I did have to study.
Most of my friends studied at the library, the law school library, not the Library Bar on University Avenue. Again weather permitting, I preferred a comfortable low crook in an old oak tree just behind the law school. I was sad to see that my old oak tree was cut down when the law school expanded.
One tradition that I really liked at Law School was “Booking a class.” American Jurisprudence donated a a law book on the subject that was awarded to the student with the highest score in a course. I had a total of 27 courses and booked three, which my friends considered quite an achievement.
My favorite Book was for Contracts. I was walking down the hall when classes had started again. Professor Ernest Jones approached me said, “You’re Mr. Simmons aren’t you? You Booked my class, I want to shake your hand. I owe you an apology. Your paper was an 85 and the next best was a 64, but I couldn’t just give one A.” He also asked me to tutor the incoming Contracts class, I would be paid.
Wow, I saw one of my friends in the library the night before the Contracts exam and he told me he had been asking older students about Professor Jones. They said he didn’t care about case citations, he just wanted you to give the issue and answer for each question, “Just shot gun it!” Turns out I got all 50 of the issues and 34 of the answers. Guess I’m better at spotting a problem than fixing it.
I funny story about my Book in Estate & Gift Tax. The Professor called on me in class one day and I had absolutely no idea what to say, except “I am sorry Professor. I am not prepared today.” When he asked me why not, I honestly answered, “I intended to study before class, but it was such a pretty day, I decided to walk down to Lake Alice and watched the alligators.” He looked at me and shook his head and replied, “Mr. Simmons, that aggravates me on two levels. First, I expect you to be prepared. Second, I didn’t have a chance to walk down to lake Alice today.” He may have been a little surprised that I Booked his class.
Another honor at law school was to be asked to write for the Law Review. I accepted the invitation, but dropped out when my first article wasn’t published. That was unheard of. Having Law Review on your Resume was important, it didn’t matter so much if you were published.
If I had kept writing I may well have been published, but through Professor Jones I had been offered a chance to clerk for a law firm in Gainesville. I would be paid. I went straight through law school in nine semesters, so I didn’t have a chance to work during summers. I decided to go for the short term benefit of cash, rather than write another article that might not get published.
You may have noticed, money was an issue while I was in law school. My parents paid my tuition and I had The Crandall Memorial Scholarship which paid $200 a month. The rest I earned or borrowed. During my time in law school, Steve Adams (pre Rush Limbaugh) and I lived in the apartment in the Student Ghetto that I described in #14.
My one splurge was my saltwater aquariums. I had a 20 gallon tank at my parents’ house and set up a 30 gallon and a 10 gallon tank in our apartment. I had some beautiful sea anemones and clown fish that I had caught on a spring break trip to key West with TR Ford to visit his parents (best time ever). I sold the sea anemones and clownfish to a pet store in Gainesville when I went on a summer law school program in Mexico City (tomorrow story).
When I came back to Gainesville the aquariums were in bad shape. I did my best to get the tanks running properly and bought some small cheap fish. Steve liked to tease me about the dead fish, “Hey Scott, another one has kicked the bucket!” Or “You’ve got another floater!” I would act like I was throwing the fish away.
When Steve was gone I would take his pillow out of his pillow case, unzip the pillowcase liner (he been in the Navy and was finishing school on the GI Bill so he could afford such extravagances), and deposit the dead fish. Then I would put his pillow back like I found it. Three weeks and eight dead fish later, in the middle of the night, I heard him scream at the top of his lungs, “SIMMMOOONNNSS!”
