“It’s a Small World After All”

Well that certainly didn’t go as planned 

First round of the TYLA regionals ran from 6pm-9pm tonight. I wasn’t prepared last night but thought I was where I needed to be by today. Co-Counsel and I represented NCCU Law, facing off as the Prosecution against a pair of 3Ls from Emory Law on Defense. And there’s just no other way for me to describe it…

…they completely kicked our ass

Evidence we expected them to oppose, they let in without objection.  Stuff we just knew was coming in, they managed to get excluded. My normally-10-minute cross-examination of the Defendant was pared down to 5min because of all the evidence that didn’t come in

The only thing keeping it out of “unmitigated disaster” territory — just in merely “disaster” range — was that my opening statement was on-point and Co-Counsel’s closing was flawless.  But beyond that I was totally thrown off my game and the two of us got beaten like rented mules.

None of that has anything at all to do with the post title of course  The main point for tonight’s entry is a reminder of how surprisingly small the world can be sometimes.

After the competition was over, the guys and I went to a small restaurant on the same block as our hotel for some soul food.1 No sooner do I walk in the door of the restaurant than I hear my name being called from a few feet away. I turn to the right and see one of my college roommates from my N.C. State years

Now I’ve only been to Charlotte twice in the past year, and the last time I was in the downtown part of the city was over a decade ago with QuietStorm. And yet somehow, out of the 8,760 hours in a given year, on the one weekend I’m downtown, in a city of almost a million people, I ended up being at the same restaurant at the same time as one of my closest college friends.

It’s a small world out there folks! Keep that in mind when you’re interacting with your law school colleagues who you just might bump into in a random restaurant a few years from now — and remember, don’t burn your bridges

1. A place called Mert’s Restaurant — some of the best western NC barbecue, mashed potatoes, green beans, and cornbread I’ve had [↩]

Tags: 2L, Co-Counsel, Emory Law, NC State, NCCU Law, QuietStorm, Trial Team, TYLA