Friday, April 24, 2009

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/

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

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!

Monday, April 13, 2009

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!