Ground Zero

Do not be misled. Those who hurdled the crucible that is the bar examinations may float on cloud nine, or walk in heaven for those who believe in life after life. But before the ecstasy were sleepless nights starting at first year in law school. With voluminous books and cases. And venomous professors. Law students tumbled, fumbled, mumbled and rambled through their journey to hell.

Shocking. Freshmen are only fresh on day one when professors welcome them to brutality. They are prescribed thick law books differently written from their undergraduate references. Legalese. But that is the easy part. For, they need to read supreme court decisions that apply and construe the law against a given set of facts. No single case illustrates a legal provision. But caseloads. Sometimes, the highest court flips and flops. Or revisits and abandons a doctrine etched in stone. Stare decisis. But they read them incognito in preparation for the dreaded recitation limelight. Or dim light, under the brilliant Renato Galeon.

Embarrassing. Some professors humiliate them in front of everybody. If it is any consolation, no one has time to ridicule ineptitude. Anybody is next in line to roasting. Randomly. The most prepared is not called, the least is culled. Unless saved by the bell, only to agonize more in the next grilling. Stay away from law school, Will. Jada too, had she rolled her eyes in front of a professor, her score would have rolled into zero. Big, fat egg. We can say that. The mother hen is not peevish, just don’t touch them. She defends territory and sovereignty. Basic instinct. Unless the brain is extinct. Not even AVPAA Joan Largo and Dean Jose Glenn Capanas and their army of law professors can resurrect the brain dead.

Humbling. Those with Latin honors who despise error margin suddenly score below 70. Even 50. Unthinkable. Where before they condescend on borderline, suddenly they are out of the line. The answer they thought responsive is most evasive. The problems in written examinations are not what they seem. Fall for the ruse and you bruise. Not your skin, but the ego in between. There are underlying issues harder to detect than hidden wealth. But the unexplained wealth of consistent brilliance of Jani Omamalin and Geremae Mata is now called excellent performance.

Philanderers should learn how words confuse to be anonymous. Plunderers too. The hardest part is reading the obscure mind of the examiners who may not have articulated what they imagined. Even the most fertile minds are blighted. Psychics are fake, they would have topped the bar set higher than the bar cleared by EJ Obiena, who also cleared his name in the bar of public opinion, just as the examinees cleared themselves of the crowned virus. The antigen test was scarier than the ultimate test. Negative had never been that positive.

Equalizing. Pre-law courses do not matter. Whatever major earned in college is a minor detail. Whichever university produced them does not set them apart from each other. Law school is an entirely different ballgame. It is where they fall and fall. They only rise in the end, scarred losing the battle, but never lost sight winning the war.

For some reason, law students are most creative in coping with assault to their peace and dignity. All pray. When all else fail, they look beyond what they see. Others just become prey, to the professors almighty. Richleigh Consulta and Joaquin Niccolo Fernandez prayed hard but became soft prey, but never drank their way out of hay. They’re just drunk. Of their new rank.