Law school doesn't exactly steal your soul, but it is very close thing.
As an example: A few nights ago my friend and I went to a bar because it was a weeknight and the only place where the kitchen was still open at 10:30 at night (we had gotten out of class at 9:00 and were waiting in the hopes that another friend could join us). We're reading the menu at this bar, specifically the burger section, and all of the burgers except for two list the meat and all the extra goodies that come with that particular burger. One of the two that didn't list the meat sounded good, but if I'm going to have a hamburger I want there to be meat on it. So I ask my friend if she thought it was a meatless burger since they hadn't actually listed a meat patty as part of the sandwich composition. She made a remark to the effect that she had been wondering the same thing. Whatever, I end up having the Reuben and she has something else.
Tonight, my friend, another friend, and I went to the same bar (this was the other friend's first time there) and she did the same thing. However, she wanted a burger badly enough that she clarified with the waitress to make sure that the burger was going to come with a meat patty.
So you may be asking yourself, what the heck does this have to do with law school? Before law school I would have assumed the burger came with meat and ordered it without a second thought. Thanks to law school I am now applying canons of statutory interpretation to frigging dinner menus, but at least I'm not alone.
Expressio unius est exclusio alterius--
The express mention of one thing excludes all other. So, because the ingredients such as the onions, the jalapenos and the cheese were mentioned but the meat was not, all three of us came to the conclusion that meat would not be included. Because that is so counter-intuitive to the general nature of hamburger-mongering we were all confused. Then once we identified why we did that we had a good laugh, but law school is consuming.Tune in next time for Law School funnies...
