Elite

UPDATE: JSL entered the elimination round ranked 4th of 8. We lost in a close contest to Chicago-Kent. (Cheers to Kile.) Despite the exit, our students received a great result on their brief. The competition rests on oral advocacy in court but also on a written legal brief. Our brief won 2d place in the entire competition, probably a more impressive result than being in the Final Eight teams. Go team.

Yesterday, JSL's team in the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition continued its historic campaign in our inaugural outing. Our students continued their streak with victories over Chapman (Los Angeles) and Texas Tech (Lubbock).

Today, they suffered their first loss against the University of Georgia's A Team by a margin of .333 points out of an available 100 points. My student on the team said by email, "Oh well, I guess that's payback for knocking out their other team at regional." That's the spirit.

Despite the loss, the JSL team advances by a comfortable margin into the elimination round of Eight. That is, JSL is among the last 8 standing from a field of 178 teams from over 150 ABA law schools. Our three students have risen from the ranks of about 150,000 law students to take their place in some mighty high cotton.

More updates as they proceed.

Cheetah!

This month, my wife and I celebrated a long awaited milestone. With our tax return, we paid off the mini-van we bought before the second little girl was born. For the first time in our adult lives, we are debt free. We are financing a house next month, but, for a few weeks, we are completely unbound.

When I graduated from law school, I owed over $100,000 in student loans. When we got married, we were carrying about $12,000 in credit card debt between us. Straight out of school, of course, we bought two brand-new VW’s, because I was a lawyer and lawyers are supposed to get new cars when they graduate. We then traded one of those in on the mini-van.

We started a rigorous program of budgeting and discipline, guided by the very useful Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace ministries. God has blessed us richly with resources and opportunities. I praise my wife for her budgetary prowess and for teaching me much about the beauty of conservative spending, creative and free entertainment and for being a non-material girl.

Almost five years to the month after we began in earnest, we just finished retiring about $187,000 in principle, not counting payments on two houses in the meantime. That accounts for all the student loans, three cars, four credit cards and a loan from the parents.

Years ago, when we were in the throes of debt service, we fantasized about this moment. We imagined a grand trip to Europe on one month’s debt service. We imagined a gala party for family and friends. We imagined a furniture spending-spree to replace the college couches and hand-me-down stuff on which we still live. Instead, we hugged and kissed, prayed grateful prayers and sat down with our babies for a supper of left-overs, thrilled to be free.

The greatest effect of this rich and extravagant blessing is being able to take a pay cut to practice law for poor people, to bill no more time and to revel in Spring Break, Christmas Break and, lo and behold as I live and breathe, Summer Break.

Rejoice with us friends. Hallelujah.

Sweet indeed!!!!!

While I am all about praising the smart kids and my perennial favorites here's a little love for my neck of the woods:

Go almost greyhound lookin' dog thingy(a.k.a Saluki's)!!!!!!

Them country boys can play.

Sixteen

Sweet.

Go 'Dores.

Priorities

What are you doing here? There are games to watch and scores to check. You need to get your priorities straight. Now get out of here and go cheer on your team.

Fight!!!!

Fight!!!!

Fight!!!!

Perks

I have one of the great jobs in the world. In about an hour, I'm going home, turning on CBS for the rest of the weekend. I will play with two little girls, be sweet to my indulgent wife and will monitor my bracket. I will suffer no guilt from leaving work and will not have to make up billable time.

Vandy will make the Elite Eight.

My Final Four is Florida, UCLA, UNC and Tennessee. UNC will beat Florida for the championship.

Go 'Dores.

Cottage Living

The Bar examination is complete. The sky is blue. The birds are singing. Flowers are blooming. Humanity continues to thrive while I was tucked away in discipline and execution.

My wife has been very gracious to defer all big decisions, moves and interesting activities until after that wretched task. We have been living in a rental house for about eight months with four to go, and she’s been awfully nice about our temporary quarters. Even so, we’ve been suffering from house-fever for weeks, and we have spent almost every weekend in Montgomery exploring and evaluating neighborhoods. One by one, we eliminated them until we came back to our first idea and first love: old houses in the city’s old, historic neighborhoods.














Yesterday, we made an offer on a ninety-year-old cottage in downtown Montgomery in the heart of its historic and revitalizing areas, just blocks from Dexter Avenue Baptist, the First White House of the Confederacy, the State House, the River, lovely Huntingdon College, Alabama State, a score of cool little restaurants and shops, independent cinema, parks, playgrounds and theaters all within a pretty walk of our front porch. Lord willing, we soon will enjoy live oaks, front porches, working transoms, hardwood floors, creaky plaster walls and the ambiance of all good Southern things, instead of cookie-cutter, white-flight, over-priced, escapist, homogenous, pedestrian-hostile subdivisions (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Several of my colleagues have looked askance at us for eschewing the customary destination of most upper-middle-class evangelicals. As I discussed this with a staff member and an associate dean yesterday, they cocked their eyebrows and gave knowing glances at each other.

Dean: “Well, it’ll be interesting to see how long y’all stay down there.”

Staff: “Yeah, I mean, I really like the charm, old money and quaint, cute houses, but it’s just so close to the projects, too.”

JRB: “You’re right, but we kinda like that economic diversity.”

Dean to Staff: “Well, they’re liberals.”