Camping: It's more than just (getting good seats for) a game

Ten minutes before tip-off, I receive a familiar text from my dad: "B or T?" This is short-hand for "beak or tail," a reference to the Jayhawk on the basketball court at Allen Fieldhouse. I respond "B," letting my parents know that I am sitting on the "beak side" of the arena and add "first row, just behind the bench."

Rewind a few days. I drag myself out of bed, shut off my alarm, and out the door I go. It's 5:40 a.m. and I'm one of hundreds of students headed to the Fieldhouse, hoping to draw a low number for my camping group. A low number, barring an occasional and oh-so-unfortunate slipup during the proceeding week of camping in the Fieldhouse, will directly translate into great seats for the upcoming game. And that is why we do it. However, camping for basketball provides some unforeseen perks as well.

Neil's Atomic Fireballs is the official law school camping group. In my experience over the past season, it is also the official "friend finder" at KU Law. Coming into law school, you can pretty much count on having one thing in common with other students. However, discussing whether a conveyance to an unborn widow violates the rule against perpetuities can only carry a budding friendship so far. In joining the KU Law basketball camping group, you immediately find yourself discussing Marcus Morris' stat line for the previous game or where your new friend was on the night of April 7, 2008.

Thanks to a full course load of 1L-exclusive classes, it can be pretty difficult for a first-year law student to branch out into the second- and third-year social circles. Through camping, I have developed some very close friendships with students whom I otherwise most likely would not have met. These friends have provided me with advice about law school, invited me to hang out on weekends and screamed themselves hoarse next to me in the Phog.

As a Jayhawk alumnus, and now a KU Law student, I can attest to the power of KU basketball to bring people together. If you are looking for a way to meet some great people and to get some great seats in the best venue in college basketball, look no further than the KU Law camping group. Tortious feoffment will be a conversation topic of the past between you and your new law friends. And the next time someone watching the game asks where you are sitting, you can text back, "beak side, just behind the bench!"

Andy Stein, 1L and Student Ambassador

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Can playing video games land you a law firm job?

Someday, you may be playing video games to compete for jobs. A Dutch law firm is already doing it!

Dutch law firm Houthoff Buruma teamed up with Ranj Serious Games to create "The Game" to help the firm find the most talented students, based on the premise that grades often don't fully reflect the talent and future success of a law student.

Players of "The Game" — graduating law students in the Netherlands — are given a complex legal scenario wherein they must represent a Chinese state-owned company as it plans to take over a Dutch family company. The players are split into teams of up to five people, given 90 minutes to confront problems as they arise and persuade enough shareholders to sell their shares. The fast-paced legal challenge ascertains how lawyers cope with stressful situations, bombarding them with CNN news flashes, video and text chats, film clips, e-mails and more than 100 fictional documents. Once the game ends, the results are displayed, and each team is given the opportunity to justify its solutions.

I believe something along these lines would work wonderfully in an Advanced Legal Research course. What are your thoughts?

W. Blake Wilson, Instructional & Research Services Librarian

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Lawrence: a little big town

I get asked a lot about living in Lawrence.

To me, Lawrence is a little big town. It's small enough to have similarities to my hometown of Hays, Kan. You can get just about anywhere in 15 minutes (unless there's a basketball game). The people are extremely friendly. From my first day at KU Law, I felt welcome and comfortable. Lawrence has that small-town feel, where you tend to "bump into" people you know while out running errands.

For fun, some people go to KU sporting events, especially basketball. But the law school football tailgates draw a crowd in the fall, too. As a 1L class, we had a small section bowling tournament. If you are an outdoorsy type, Clinton Lake is just on the edge of town, and there are plenty of parks, biking and running trails around the lake. In these ways, Lawrence is comfortable and easy to learn about and love just like any small town.

If you are starting to think that Lawrence sounds too small for you, fear not! I also spent the last four years living in Washington, D.C., where there are endless museums, concerts, social events and professional sporting events. There are more things going on each night there than one person can possibly do. And I love the city life. I have always thought of myself as a city girl living in a small town.

Like larger cities, Lawrence is full of things to do beyond KU sporting events and bowling. Downtown venues like Liberty Hall, The Granada and The Bottleneck bring in lots of fun concerts, and KU's Dole Institute hosts speakers and discussions of a political nature. There are art and history museums to peruse if that's more your thing. Or you can just enjoy a day down on Massachusetts Street, where you will find an array of local boutiques, restaurants, coffee shops and bars.

There are always fun events going on through the law school: speakers, fundraisers, and TGITs (Thank Goodness it's Thursday!). Another wonderful thing about Lawrence is its location between Topeka and Kansas City. In about 30 minutes in either direction, you can reach the State Capitol or any of the great things Kansas City has to offer – think shopping malls, an international airport and professional sporting events (gotta love the Royals and the Chiefs).

Overall, Lawrence is small enough to feel safe and comfortable and yet big enough to find a variety of entertainment and events! The hardest part about living in Lawrence and being in law school is finding the time to get out and enjoy it all!

Crystal Cook, 1L and Student Ambassador

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