Graduation

My family is fortunate enough to have two graduates this year. I will be graduating from Law School in May and my step daughter will graduate High School in June. The amount of money spent on these graduation is crazy!!! Who knew.

This week my partner and I discovered/realized that our daughter was frozen/scared about graduating. She stated she doesn't want to grow up and be an adult. I know it's typically behavior but it seemed to take us by surprise b/c it was the child we thought would react so strongly. So, we are trying to encourage her and support her as we deal with the shell shock factor.

Her graduation has me thinking about my own. I have loved going to law school -- I know I am insane. I love the challenging discussion and the debates. I have been throughly intellectually stimulated. I think I am going to really miss the challenge. I am also nervous that I don't know enough to be an attorney. But I guess I must trudge forward. I am sending out my resume and preparing for my exams. The end will be here soon enough.

Women's Issues & Law

The other day in class I never felt the under lying current of law being male dominated until our class discussion revolved around prosecuting domestic violence. The discussion was whether or not we should do it since women often times recant their stories by the time of trial. The men in the room were saying it wasn't worth the expense of trial and since he would likely get off than he is likely to do it again b/c he believes he can.
I was attempted to explain how it would be a deterrent. That the message would get out that the community doesn't tolerant violence in relationships. Men would be afraid of the consequences. I demonstrated how date rapes were hard to prosecute but in communities in which they are prosecuted word gets out and date rapes decrease.
My words fell on deaf ears. My message made no sense to the men in the room and since the class is male dominated the consensus was that prosecutors should not go after the violent actor. I have never felt so frustrated with a class than I did that day. In essence the room full of men would not take the time to prosecute men in domestic violence if they became prosecutors. No wonder we still have women getting beat up in communities.