There’s this weird tradition in American law schools that seems particularly out of place in a world of musty casebooks, crippling workloads, and reflexively competitive people. Every year, all across this great nation of ours, future litigators, judges, educators, and businessmen stop studying, put on stage makeup, and pretend like they’re actors in the strange, sometimes scary ritual of legal education we call Law Revue.

Despite my preference for seminars, clinics, and simulation courses, doctrinal courses also can demonstrate their utility when you least expect it and most need it.

You may or may not have noticed, but 2012 was an election year. Here are some of the election-related events and volunteer activities that NYU Law students led and participated in.

As you probably know, there is a curve in law school.

I am in the majority. I am part of the approximately two-thirds of students who are starting law school after a gap in their schoolings. It’s good to be back. School is still the same as I remember: a huge collection of people my age who over-fill auditoriums and clap very loudly. If orientation week was any indication, law school is going to be no different, except there is a lot more free food, and this time around my handwriting is much worse.

Sure, I may get a thrill seeing Will Smith walking the streets of New York City. But that compares nothing to how a law student feels hearing Stephen Breyer or Clarence Thomas speak.

When you begin law school, you are told that your sole purpose is to “learn how to think like a lawyer.” But what does that really mean?

This semester, my class got to watch clips from “A Few Good Men” and “My Cousin Vinny,” much to our delight (we even applauded after the clips were over).

I understand that my life reads like a brochure for the law school; but how can I not take advantage of this embarrassment of riches? We’re lucky to be in a place that keeps us so busy. I’ll sacrifice sleep for that.

Forget what the pundits are saying about that Kagan softball pic. Anyone who has studied the matter knows that it shows Kagan will fit right in on the Supreme Court.

Lawyers are highly educated and incredibly competitive. I’ve discovered that I’m not alone in my love of trivia contests.

I am working hard to finish this post. Why? Because I am going to a taping of The Colbert Report this evening. Am I excited? Does the Rooker-Feldman doctrine prohibit lower federal courts from sitting in direct review of state court decisions??

TV writers love the law. But nothing can really match how much law professors love TV. My first Civil Procedure practice question tested my understanding of personal jurisdiction through a lawsuit between Lost’s Jack Shephard and Charles Widmore.