Lovely, lovely

I just had a lovely lunch with two alums who work at one of my top 3 firms in town. It was awesome. I love it when the school sets stuff like this up because it is such a relaxing atmosphere, and I feel relaxed like I can be myself. The food was great. The conversation better. And they were both really candid about their jobs. Hurrah. I love it when i do something "extra" and it is totally worth my while.

Update: Zuska asked for more details, and instead of burying it in the comments, I thought that I would put it up here:

they were both litigators and newly christened partners. One of them works under a partner who is reputed to be the best litigator in town. For whatever that is worth. I asked them both about family lifestyles and if it is possible with litigation. The woman, who has one child, an 11 month old, said that it is hectic sometimes and the hours can be long, but she does a lot of it at home in the evenings when her daughter is asleep. The man, who has a 3 and a 6 year old, felt the same--it's demanding, but exciting. It is hard to plan for long term big things, like europe vacation etc, but they both enjoyed what they did so much that it didn't seem to bother them all that much.

I thought that it was interesting and significant that both of their spouses have more of a 8-5 job gig. And it seems like that really give the partners more peace of mind.

Notably, they said the people with permanent smiles on their faces at their firm are the trusts and estates people. They envy the real relationship that develops with T&E attys and their clients. They said that some clients seem to look at them as family advisors. In litigation they felt that you really don't get to know the client as well because they aren't in a "get to know you" mood. They have a problem, 99.9% of the time dramatically affecting their wallet and they want it fixed, yesterday.

One last comment they had was that litigation can be tough because you never have win/win situations. it's you win or you lose. period. and that can be heartbreaking and hard to pull through.

Sick Sick Sick

We're all freaking sick. Argh. My Sister in Law is getting married tonight, so I've got to make nice with people I don't know. All the while there is a snot revolution going on in my head. Sigh. So it is.

I finished my first order at the court this week and was given another order to start. A summary judgment motion with oodles and gobs of facts from both sides to poor through. I still think clerking is the coolest.

On a side note, I watched a hearing before a different judge yesterday... the poor plaintiffs. They thought they had it in the bag because the judge let it go on and on for about 2.5 hours... of which the defendant's counsel spoke only for 15 minutes (thank heavens for that too!). In any case, then the judge goes on and on about how Defendant's are being obnoxious and too strict and not cooperative... blah blah blah. Then in the last 30 seconds he says that unfortunately though, he has no authority over the matter (it was an admininstrative agency) so Plaintiffs lose. Ouch. They never saw it coming. But I give myself some kudos because the whole hearing I kept thinkjing... can this judge override the agency? I don't think so because the Plaintiffs aren't attackign the actual statute the agency is enforcing... just the result of the statute as it applies to them.

Sigh. Good times.

I know what I am doing this summer!

Hooray. I knew that I was doing the whole summerschoolgetenoughcreditstoqualifyforinstatetuition thing, but the jury was still out on whether part of my credits would be from an externship with a judge. Well the jury has rendered a happy verdict with my number one choice. Hooray. I've been to this judge's courtroom a couple of times for school outtings as it were. The judge seems to be pretty progressive procedurally. I think I will really enjoy it. And in some demented kind of way, I am stoked that I will be writing so much. Nothing like doing lots of writing to get really fine-tuned in a particular style. (Yes you can remember this when I complain about it later).

I don't think I can talk about anything else related to this, but I just wanted to share my bliss.