By: Nicole Flatow

Anyone who’s gone to law school in the past five years or so knows the Internet-fueled distraction of the final exams period when it’s just you, some books and a computer for days at a time. Read outline. Check Facebook. Read outline. Refresh gossip blog. Read outline. Write e-mail to the law school listserv about your pet rock.

Ok, so some people get more batty than others. Or should I say, catty. Above the Law reports that law students at the University of Maryland started sending fake e-mails about pet-sitting after a visiting professor and two students solicited cat-sitters on the student listserv.

One student wrote:

Hey everyone-

I swear this is the last one of these. I’ve got this pet rock, George, that will need taking care of while I’m out of the country for a few months. He’s a 19 lb. granite rock that I pasted a mustache and googly eyes on, and I’m sure he’ll fall in love with whoever is kind enough to take care of him. He’s easy going—don’t worry about leaving him alone for a few hours at a time. My only request is that you fill his water bowl three times a day, and take him outside for fresh air in the morning and before his bed time, which is typically 7:30—I always let him watch Jeopardy with me! Of course, I’ll provide his bed, calcium pills, mustache comb, and extra glue (just in case).

After “Cat Lady” responded with her post about her 17 cats that need a sitter, another student responded as if she were law school dean Phoebe Haddon, saying, “I can understand a come-back e-mail, but if you’re going to risk your academic standing, at least make it funny.”

She ended with the disclaimer:

- this email was made for the express intent of scaring the crap out of the abovementioned individuals, and to show that law students can be funny but you, unfortunately, are not.

Ouch. Apparently we’ve moved beyond the good old bar exam lolcat for entertainment.

Law students: what else is going on over at UM law? Lawyers: what did you do during finals time?