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.

Filler in the form of advice

I haven't posted in a while; finals are SUCH fun. But I had the fortune to talk to an intern with the Washington Center program, and while he gave me advice I was able to return the favor. Since I haven't posted here forever--and I bothered to give some thought to the subject--I am going to share with you what I told him.

His first question was whether it was a good idea to go full speed ahead to law school to find out if you'll like it, or soul search first and then enroll. And below is my answer.

* * *

I think it is MUCH better to take time off and determine whether you want to be a lawyer before enrolling in a law school. The life is not for everyone. I hear so many of my classmates say they wish they could return their degree and get their money and time back. I personally love it, and think it is a great career field for me. So it is a GREAT plan to soul search first--get a job in a field you are interested in, try it out. Join the peace corps and read a legal blog or four. Believe it or not, the delay will make you a much more competitive law student. Admissions offices look for students with life experience as well as good grades and scores. That job may just set you apart from the pack.

HOWEVER, if you've enrolled with or without that step, and after a semester you realize that this is not the stuff for you, GET OUT. Sure, it's a slight waste of money, but it is better than the waste of your life (not to mention the five other semesters worth of tuition and living expenses) in a career you hate and may eventually abandon. If your parents will front all of your tuition, or you have a full scholarship, you can recalculate--a law degree is useful in many ways that aren't readily apparent. You can be an Economic Development director, work in academia, do corporate compliance or managerial work, etc--so you really have to do that calculus yourself. But it is a grueling, rigorous experience, and without a level of certitude it can be a bit unbearable. Better to save those years of your life. Don't "throw good money after bad" than to go to law school if you don't really want that JD at the end.

An interesting trend...

You can study for law courses in many ways: practice tests, flash cards, case summaries, etc. One way that is a staple for law students all over is outlining--compiling all of a class into a skeleton of the subject. A good outline serves to help a student digest and process all of the material they've encountered over the semester while they make it, and be a comprehensive guide once they've completed it.

They are essential; everyone writes them.

Except me.

Don't get me wrong, I probably should. I'd probably go from A's and B's to straight A's--getting a high A every once in a while just for show. And I've started a few fantastic outlines that have languished after a few weeks. But it's just not the way I operate.

In cooking, when I decide I want to make something I've never made before, I do not find a recipe I trust. I find about 4 recipes that look similar, maybe jot down a list of the common ingredients and possibly a creative ingredient that particularly intrigues me, and get a handle on the approximate ratios proffered. Then I get to work on creating my interpretation of the thing. The result is always a bit of a surprise, but I think it's also always pretty darn good.

That's how I deal with outlining. I gather together about 3 or 4 outlines (that's plenty, as the outlines typically range from 25-50 pages) and I select the parts from each that seem particularly important. I look for commonalities and disparities. And I compare them with my class notes. Then, I do the only kind of prep that REALLY helps me--I sit down and take an old exam.

That's just the kind of person I am. I hear about something interesting, I consult a few sources for different takes on the subject, and then I just do it. I don't worry about results, I don't put time pressure on myself, I just wait to see what I can come up with.

All the refinement can come later, once I really understand.

GO USA!

A brief update:

I was just notified that I will indeed be an extern this fall for the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, Criminal Division. That means twice a week I'll be spending my days at the snazzy Carl B. Stokes Federal Courthouse.

Wish me luck! What an exciting adventure!