Psycho Professor

[xoxohthlove]

You people worry way too much about class participation. It means nothing. Most professors don't adjust grades for participation, even if they say they will. Those that do only adjust it a trivial amount.

The only thing you should care about is the exam.

[UMDkid]

To the original poster, what school do you go to?

[txlawstu]

I had a professor exactly like that.  He also required that you open your drinks before class started.  The reason being that he is easily distracted.  If you distract the prof, then you lose time.  I appreciated it because there were few that showed up late and thus the annoyance of people coming in late was gone.  Noone got up to go to the restroom, which was a double annoyance gone.  I don't understand why you need to get up to use the restroom in the middle of a class that only lasts an hour and 15 minutes, or lasts two hours but you get a ten minute break in the middle.  WHY?  Go before class or freaking hold it so that you don't distract everyone else, especially the prof.  If your ill, that's one thing, but there are people that do it every freaking day.

[UWTAX]

To the "real world" argument:  The other day I had a hearing scheduled in some ttt state court.  I f.ucking hate state court.  Federal is so much more 1337.  The DPA on the case was 45 minutes late.  Our case got called on the docket, I went up with my client, and the judge started questioning me.  I had to tell him that to the best of my knowledge, the prosecuting attorney was not yet in court.  She strolled in 45 minutes later, I had to wait an additional 1.5 hours beyond when our case was called, and the judge didn't say a word to the DPA.  Also, about two weeks ago, I was about 2 minutes late to Federal court.  That *&^% scared me.  Those judges can be anal.  This was also a multi-defendant case.  The 8 other attorneys were waiting for me to arrive.  Nobody mentioned anything to me about punctuality.  Finally, last week, a judge was 2 hours late to a case setting hearing.  I know, I know, it's the judge--they can do that *&^% . . .

My point is, even in the real world, people understand that *&^% happens.  Traffic sucks, people oversleep, miss trains/buses, etc.  Sure if you make it a habit of being late, someone is bound to say something EVENTUALLY.

Also, I keep my clients waiting all the time.  Everyone does. 

This prof sounds like an ass on a power trip.  Stop trying to rationalize his nazi-esque behavior.

[LegalMatters]

In my soon-to-be former life, I found myself many a morning and afternoon numbing my butt in courtroom galleries as well as inside judges' chambers for the occasional face-to-face interview. I'll state here there are exceptions to every rule. I've observed local, county, state, and federal proceedings and I learned a couple of unofficial rules about courtroom punctuality: Court never, ever, starts on time and 99 percent of the time, people with attorneys will go first because judges are conscious of what the ticking clock does to a client's pocketbook (a judge even publicly announced as much before a transfer hearing I went to a couple years ago).

Also, most judges are as preoccupied as attorneys with being fully prepared for the docket.

[Buddy Holly]

Why the hell do you have to stand up to brief a case?