Merry, merry, merry Christmas!

I'm almost done! I have one final draft of my Comparative Constitutional Law paper on the ramifications of using Military Tribunals outside of the exigent circumstances of war time, and then, assuming I've passed all of my classes, I'll have earned a J.D.! We only have one graduation ceremony (in May) but I am willing to wait.

I have already submitted my application to take the February Bar and my application to join the Navy JAG Corps; so now it's just an interminable wait. I'm going to try to take the holiday week off to rejoice and see friends and family, but then it's back to the books. As I didn't take Secured Transactions or Commercial Paper, it'll be good to review those subjects in advance of the BarBri classes.

Hope all is well with you!

Ambitions

It's been a while, and if you are a regular reader I apologize! I've been quite busy since I returned from my exciting summer working in DC for a top law enforcement agency. It was wonderful, but I was definitely happy to return to the land of easy commutes and family. I found the summer quite empowering, however, in that I was able to transition to a new place, a new work place, and a new social scene easily. I did have some friends in the area, which certainly helped.

I absolutely loved my experience in DC, and I think it will add infinitely to my future career. It's also opened my eye to many career paths I might not have considered.

I don't graduate until December, but I am thinking ahead to what kind of career I'd like when I am finished. A few of the areas I am definitely exploring include the following:

County Prosecution
Navy JAG
Federal Agency work
Federal Agent work

This is not exhaustive, but it is where I am currently aiming, and where I think my skills could be best used. I am also studying Arabic to maximize my desirability to the Federal government should I go in that direction.

A recession is a tough time to enter the job market, but I have a multi-pronged approach planned. Honestly, as long as I am challenged, getting experience in a courtroom, and working for some governmental entity, I think I will count myself lucky come May!

Moving piece in NY Times

I encourage you all to read this piece, May it Please the Court, by Maira Kalman

http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/may-it-please-the-court/

Third Year Crash

I'm a third-year night student. A normally three year law program will be finished in three and a half years only because I have taken classes every summer.

I have loved my time in law school--I've learned many things and had fantastic opportunities...

But I'm ready for the end now. I'll be done in December, and it can't come soon enough. I'm very relieved that this summer will be spent off-site, and in mostly practical applications. I will only have class once a week--most of my credits will come from my internship. So hopefully that will keep me from burning out.

I guess it happens to us all!

Judge Advocate Generals

You may have heard of the JAG corps, and you may have watched a show or two that pertain to their work.

The Judge Advocate General Corps are the team of military lawyers that represent and advise our troops and our military branches--and they are quite cool :) I will be working with many of them at NCIS in Washington, D.C. this summer, and I'm really looking forward to it. It is an appealing career path, but it does involve some serious travel obligations and commitments.

The reason I mention this is because this Friday, I'll be traveling up to the Catawba Island Club for a JAG Seminar on Saturday. The group of attorneys presenting are in large part members of my law fraternity, Delta Theta Phi. In attendance will be William Suter, Clerk of the United State Supreme Court! A few classmates and I are going the night before with the Executive Director of the fraternity--we're all sharing a room and visiting Mon Ami Winery. Many of the most decorated presenters from the conference go there there the night before, so the Executive Director is going to try to introduce us to them there!

It should be really exciting and they will probably have TONS to say about the recent pirate crisis, with all it's legal and policy implications. Once at an event, one of the attorneys told us a story about a JAG lawyer being asked if they could shoot an insurgent who saw them and who would likely reveal their position to the enemy--but the twist is that the insurgent was a 7 yr old girl. The JAG told them not to, they didn't shoot the girl, and a firefight ensued. So it's really cool to hear the tough ethical issues involved and what the military lawyers have to do!

Update!

So, Jessup is over (we won 3 of our 4 oral arguments, but did not advance because of our brief score). I have my legal intern's license, which is much less impressive than it sounds--it looks like a little paper membership card. I didn't even get a letter with it... just a card in the mail and a receipt for the $25.00 fee. I've applied for one scholarship thus far, one I received last year.

I was offered a position on the Global Business Law Review, which is VERY exciting.

I have an interview with one potential placement through the Washington Center--it'd likely be along the same prosecutorial line as the US Attorney's Office and such. My interview is scheduled for Monday morning, and I'm really excited for the interview itself. Even if I don't get the position, it will be cool to see the operations of the organization.

Anyway, I'll try to update again soon but life is good in my neck of the woods!

Oh, what a semester it will be!

I just thought I'd list some of the big projects in the works for me this semester for those who care:

1) Jessup International Moot Court. We start oral argument practices tomorrow, and it should be quite an adventure. Our competition is the week of Valentine's Day.

2) Global Business Law Review. Our write-on submissions were due yesterday by 6pm, and I submitted my citation quiz and writing sample just under the wire.  This would be a lot of work, but totally fabulous on the resume, especially next to Jessup. It would also potentially give me great exposure to contemporary issues in international commerce. 

3) Student Bar Association. This is always going in the background; I'm the Speaker of the Senate, which basically means I chair the meetings of our SBA Senate. We're starting up next weekend, and I'm really looking forward to another semester of helping aid the student body. 

4) Internship. Possible internship with the Washington Center this summer. I have already been admitted to the program; now it's just a question of gathering the funding for the tuition and housing. 

5) Legal Intern's License. I am applying for a legal intern's license, which would allow me to do some additional work at work. That seems foolish, you say? But nowhere else will I get such a great opportunity to actually try misdemeanors before a judge in real cases without passing a 3-day long exam. 

6) Scholarships. Tis the season for merit-based scholarships, which means I need to step it up a notch and start applying for as many smaller scholarships as I qualify for.  Last year I won three scholarships, and a significant amount of funding for school! That could really offset summer expenses. 

7) Bar Application. I know, I know; I'm late on this. I have most of it done, and my goal is to get it completed by the end of this semester and totally off my chest. 

This is tasteless, I know...

But really, this is the first and only time I'll do this so explicitly, Internet:

I GOT A 4.0 THIS PAST SEMESTER!!!!

* * * 

I hate to brag. Really. Maybe I'll delete this post later. But I have some things to say about the semester:

I really don't know how it happened. I was terrified; sleepless, actually, right after finals and right before grades came out. 

I was worried my Corporations grade would be too low to exercise my pass/fail option-- you need at least a C to take a 'pass'--which allows the class to be registered as passed, but the grade not to be calculated into your gpa. It protects anyone with a GPA over 2.0, as a C is worth 2.0. As my GPA is over a 3.0, anything short of a B+ will drop it. You only get two pass/fail options over the course of your law school career. I seriously felt HORRIBLE leaving that exam. 

As for property, I felt much more prepared--but it's graded on a standard bell curve with a C being the midpoint, because it's considered a first year course. So even with the most preparation, it was still quite possible that enough other people had done more than I, and edge me out for those rare top spots. 

Further, our school just added minuses. Prior to this summer, we only had A, B+, B, C+, C, D+, D, F.  Now, in their infinite wisdom, they've added A-, B-, C-, D-.  So I'd have expected at least a minus in one of the classes. 

My last course, the externship I did at the US Attorney's office, was a pass/fail based course (which are not counted towards your allowance of 2 pass/fail options) so although it has still not hit the campus intranet, I'm pretty confident that it'll be a pass. 

* * *

I tell you this all for two reasons. Number one: to share my overwhelming disbelief and joy (i.e. bragging). Number two: to illustrate a principle all law students grasp after their first semester. 

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW YOU DID ON YOUR EXAMS.

Your impression of how the exam went has absolutely NO correlation to the grade you will recieve, unless you are both a total optimist and also the smartest and most well prepared person in the school--or a pessimist and you haven't opened the text or attended classes. 

You will walk out of an exam feeling like you screwed up everything; you will remember a key principle you forgot to mention; you will wake up at 3 a.m. thinking "Oh Dear God I never even MENTIONED the requirement of notice in equitable servitudes..." and then over a month later, when you've forgotten what was even on the exam, you will stare dumbfounded at an A you can't possibly deserve.  Or, less happily, you will stride out of an exam thinking "that wasn't so bad, I threw everything I knew on there and I'm positive I spotted all the issues..." and months later stare balefully at the leukwarm C that belies your impressions. 

But hey, I'm really not complaining.

...this semester :) 

Happy 2009!

So rather than resolutions, I'm going to list some professional/academic goals for 2009:

1. Make it to the quarterfinals of our Jessup Super Regional Competition at Chicago-Kent.

2. Make the Dean's List every semester.

3. Go to at least one networking event a month.

4. Get my legal intern's license and begin trying misdemeanor cases.

5. Serve as an intern at a government agency or in the field of international law.

6. Write on to the Global Business Law Review.

7. Get as much experience with legal writing as possible.

8. Get signed up for the bar exam.

9. Choose a bar exam prep course.

10. Implement a game plan for studying for the bar in Jan/Feb 2010 (including saving up, etc.)


...any other ideas? I also plan to post at least once every two weeks for my loyal readers.