Involuted - adj - Complex, intricate or involved.
This month's Criminal Litigation homework is proving to be involuted, it's all about confessions, illegally obtained evidence and so on.
I'd have thought that Criminal Litigation was right up my street, but I'm afraid to say, the Civil Litigation is much easier to digest. Criminal Litigation, although interesting, is very heavy going, lots of case law jumbled up with PACE and I find that the way information is described in Blackstone's a little too, well... involuted. I have resorted in the past to using the ICSL manual, but my provider frowns upon it and seem to go out of their way to contradict what is stated in the manual, so much for finding an easier way to study:-(
After Criminal Litigation, I have got to tackle the Opinions homework, which I haven't even looked at yet, but by the looks of things time-wise will be a last minute rush job. I was hoping to get some pro bono in next week, but it isn't looking hopeful at the moment and with only one qualifying point under my belt at the moment, I need to find time to do some Inn dining too.
I did have a BVC wobble at the beginning of the week and for a brief time contemplated packing it all in. The sheer volume of work is very depressing and unlike LLB, where precision is the key, BVC work is just a matter of throwing words down onto paper and hoping for the best, because the time restraints don't allow anything better. I reckon that we have about 1000 pages of reading per month and that figure doesn't include any research that we undertake ourselves. That's a lot of reading for a part-time course!
My Legal Research mock has been printed off and hidden out of site, it's abysmal, but I haven't got time to tweak it.
On a brighter note, Bar-Os has come home for a couple of months holiday because I haven't got time to ride at the moment. It's lovely having him home and even the mucking out each morning is ok, it gives me a break from thinking. Because it was mild last night, I left him out in the paddock until 10pm. Some bright spark who was parked up on the side of the lane thought I was a gypsy and played 'join the caravan of love' at full blast as I was leading him back to the stable. Luckily Bar-Os didn't bother too much at the sudden noise. I thought it was quite funny, but Barman was furious, very proud of his aspiring barrister missus is Barman and even more proud of his beautiful, faithful Bar-Os.
6 comments:
BM
Blackstones really isn't user friendly (I have been there) and the ICSL manual is often, frankly, wrong (it has all the Crim proc Rules in force when they are not). If you have access to Westlaw, I would suggest using Archbolds - it's much easier to follow and also being online easy to copy and paste for full plageristic (?) style class prep.
I do hear your pain, so remember your not alone if you do a wobbly, working full time and doing a law degree easy as pie. Working full time and doing the BVC properly - HELL in a handbasket!
Hi LG,
Yes, much to my detriment I have discovered that the ICSL manual is wrong and at some point (ha, ha) will have to re-do my notes from the previous 2 months:-(
Blackstone's - mmm, I have a vision of fussy, little, victorian authors holed up somewhere, writing away by candlelight, completely unaware that their language is now obsolete by some 100 years or so.
We get Archbold too (as well as Blackstone's) and also Keane (modern law of evidence). Because I messed up last months crim homework, I'm afraid of using any other books in case I mess up again, so have stuck to the recommended Blackstone's, but it's a bit too complex for me and I think I'll have to have a re-think.
Oh BM, I hate to think of you wobbling. Unless its while at full gallop on Bar-Os, in which case wobbling is probably quite normal.
I do worry about you and BB doing 1000 pages of reading a month. I must do about 20. Of course I could be about to land flat on my posterior, just as I would if I tried riding Bar-os.
On a bright note though, the security word is - enema
swizz
oh yes Swizz, I wobbles quite a bit, it's an occupational hazard, but nothing a tight pair of jodphurs and a sturdy bra can't cure:-)
20 pages a month eh! You got room for a little un? I promise to be good and I'll even go blonde if it helps:-)
Maid,
If you must wobble, wobble like a weeble, since weebles as we all know, nnever fall down or over!
The workload on the BVC is indeed heavy to the point of tragic and some of it is somewhat unecessary - such as negotiation, which, I believe, is to be dropped in the new version of the course ( I personally found it a total waste of time )- but it will get better!
We haven't started Negotiation yet. I think it probably steps in when we finish Legal Research, or maybe it replaces Conference at some later date?
I'm more than a little concerned about both the Criminal and Civil litigation, we seem to have done so much reading that none of the info really means that much, because we don't have time to go through anything. Last months homework wasn't discussed in class and the promise of the answers to the questions set haven't appeared on the electronic facility, so there's no way of knowing whether I got the answers right or wrong???
God, I'm turning into a moaning old bag, I suppose I'll have to raise some questions about such matters on my next study weekend.
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