The second year, they work you to death

I'm not sure that it really is SO much more work than second semester of 1L, but they do schedule things so that your life has to suck. Period.

Before I harp on the negative, I should say that I am in love with my classes this semester, even Con Law II, which I thought I would hate based on my Con Law I experience. So far all the reading is interesting, class time is interesting, discussions in class are awesome and truly discussions with lots of people providing input. I love it.

What I am not loving is the out of class stuff. SBA is still the bane of my existence. It's taking up too much time becuase our pres is a nimrod. Seriously. Law review. Well, I'm not complaining about it exactly. I just wish that the note deadline was a little more realistic. It's like some sick hazing that the note and OCI are all at the same freaking time. I feel like I am not doing either of them well. Not enough time to put into either of them, and things are getting overlooked. I'm still not sure that I should stick with the topic that got approved. And we got our first copy work this week. sigh. The author was a the cow prof that I hated before... the one who is loosey goosey and detail schmetail-oriented. So far of the 6 footnotes that I have tried to check, um, only 2 have anything to do with anything. 2 are wrong and 2 are something the prof pulled out of its a$$. I'm looking at about 10-15 hours just on that this week. Eek!

Finally, the spouse has been working psycho hours, so I have had significantly less study time than I really need. I think I am going to have to consciously decide to blow off some class assignments over the next few weeks and hunker down on my note and apps. If I can get one thing off my plate, then I think that I will come out alright.

And now for the wind up to Fall OCI and our OCI process

The list of firms coming has been out for a few weeks, and I spent last weekend carefully looking at each firm and yea'ing or nay'ing them. (important interuption, should I be concerned that it smells like something is burning? I'm in the library?) Anyway, I've got a good pile that I want to apply to. And just to make things fun and interesting, there are a couple of firms with offices in London that will take law grads straight out of school.

I've lived overseas slightly longer than a 1/3 of my life and loved it. In fact, my first major live over seas moment was when I was my daughter's age now. I've always thought that raising my daughter for several years overseas would be a good thing. it helps to give a person perspective. And in London, she would have it easy with the language. The only serious drawback is how bloody (practicing, just in case) expensive it is to live there. Still, it won't hurt to apply.

So back to the normal jobs. I was actually surprised by a couple of the firms in my current city. They sound rather progressive and are focused on areas of the law that I salivate over. Happy happy. Joy joy. I also want to do some nalp searches for a couple of specific cities and see what I can find to apply to the old-fashioned way.

I am not looking forward to the time that it takes to interview or even just write cover letters to all of the firms. But I am looking forward to getting a job. Hopefully.

From Kristine's post, it seems like not all schools do OCI the same way? I don't know why this surprises me. At our school, you get a list of employers coming. You make a package for each of them and turn them into the career office on the appointed day. Just for funsies and to make sure they drive you all the way to the looney bin. They give you 4 "preference" stickers. You can attach them to any 4 packages. This is so that firms know you really are serious about them. However, you only get 4. And you've got a bazillion packages. It's kind of obnoxious really. And the most fun interview question is "so why didn't you preference us?" Then you get notified if the firm picked you for an interview and you have to dash to the online scheduler and make your appointment before everyone else or you end up interviewing at 7 am or the last interview of the day. The firms come to school for about 3 weeks. So you might have 4 interviews Wed, none Thurs, one Fri, none next week, and so on. It sounds like at Kristine's school they try to compact it all and get it done before school starts. Would that it

Because it wouldn't be the first week of school without...

My daughter being sick today. Tomorrow is the first day of class, tuesdays are my longest day, and my husband has presentations and important crap all this week and can't help out.

Poor bunny has the stomach flu and did the barf - o - rama thing at the dr.'s today. I love getting chunky barf in my hair and down my shirt into my bra. Squishy is great. Poor thing though. She's positively green. Sigh.

I love the first week of school.

People think I know stuff

It's frightening, isn't it? how one little year of law school starts brother in law asking about his property problem or mom's contract problem or uncle's tort problem. It's also frightening that the school thinks I'm a model "law school mom". Yeah, I participated (as the voice of wisdom *snigger*) in a few 2L panels for the 1l orientation this last week. For the most part, it was a good experience. I do have some strategy for dealing with sick kids etc, but overall, I was a little concerned about the incoming class. They're so freaking quiet, except for their 2 class jerks. Seriously dude, don't ask in front of your whole class how to get yourself "hooked up" with a study group of the top students that were admitted. At least in my world, there are no "top" students once you start law school... not until your law school grades come out. LSAT and GPA mean crap. And some small, tiny, little person seriously is fixated on this? Gimme a break.

None of the questions were surprising. I think Law and Mommyhood had it about right when she said that the answer to all of the questions at these kinds of panels is "whatever works for you." I honestly don't think that I used any of the info or tips the 2Ls gave us last year, but I did have piece of mind after the panels. Just knowing that everyone does it differently and still survives was a nice security blanket.

I order the book that they forgot to tell us about from Barristerbooks.com. I'm the rep for them at my school, so I was able to use my rewards points that I earned to offset the cost of the book admirably well and have super fast shipping. So hopefully I will have it by Wednesday.

I'm about half way through my real estate transfer homework for the week, and so far it is really interesting. It's got my brain turning around why people use buyer's brokers at all. It would be tons cheaper for everyone in the long run if buyers just used an attorney. But that's a whole other topic.

Your lack of planning, unfortunately, is my emergency

Frustration with the administration once again. We've had our class book lists for about 2-3 weeks now. Which is why i was able to purchase all but one class's books online. The last book was no where to be found. So fine, I will buy it at the bookstore, but they don't have it yet. Lovely. Then I realized, wait just a sec, how can my class really have only one book that is only $25? Impossible. And of course I was right. I just saw the reading list for next week and shock of all shocks, there is an actual $100-ish case book for the class after all. And no, the bookstore did not order it all.

So I discover this at 5 something Friday night before the first week of class and am now scrambling to find it online. And I have, but the soonest I can get it is likely next Friday. Sigh. I hate stuff like this. it drives me batty.

Just call me June... Cleaver that is

I can't believe I just vacuumed my house while wearing heels. Wonders never cease.

So is half.com a rip off for selling text books?

I thought it seemed pretty great until I sold a couple of case books. Both were requested to have expidited shipping (how do I turn this option off?). So I sent off a torts book and the shipping cost me $10.80. What?? Half.com only reimburses $5.40 for expedited hard binding books. So this seems like not so good of a deal. Am I missing something? How does everyone else sell their books?

Joey's travel adventure, part I

The French have a great phrase they use when somthing is tiring, a bother, or just generally icky and they don't want to deal with it: "je n'ai pas le courage." That is how I feel about re-living my travels from last week and weekend.

Overall, I am really happy that I went on my mini vacation. All by my self (which was glorious), I went to a small harbor town in Maryland to visit a rather pregnant best friend of mine. I've known her nearly forever. She's on her own, recently returned from overseas duty (military girl) and in an old family house. The house is wonderful, on the water etc, but rather dated and in want of a serious scrub.

So I start my adventure on Thursday morning at o'dark butt-early. Imagine my chagrin upon arrival at the airport to see a major line in security and everything backed up. I asked around about what was going on and people looked at me like i was pathetically uninformed. Well, sorry but when I have to wake up in the a.m. and the little hand is still pointing at "4", I don't usually take time to sip a cup of tea in front of the telly. In any case, it soon became clear that whatever the reason, I had to chug my water and put my lotions in my checked bag. Fine. No biggie. I'd rather not blow up.

Fast forward 35 minutes, where I am starting to sweat it, hoping that I will make my plane. Security announces over the PA that no chapstick or lipstick will be permitted either. Um, OK. The security dudes apparently can't believe that women would not automatically think of lipsticks and chapsticks when told no LIQUIDS or GELS. So here's the problem. I've got 30 minutes of line ahead of me and at least that long behind me. My flight is in 45 minutes. Clearly getting out of line to take my makeup sachet back to my checked bag (which would no longer have been there anyway) is not an option. I sighed and said a sad farewell to my sachet of clinique lipsticks... that would be $15+ a stick times many sticks (I love lipstick). So as I get to an end in the switchback line, I ask a lady not in the line to put the sachet into the garbage. Whereupon, this wonderful angelic saintly woman asks why i am throwing something so pretty away. i explain the no lipstick thing and she asks ifI buy good lipstick. I said yes and she said "me too, and I would cry if I had to throw them all away." In short order she has my address and promises to send it to me. Hooray! I finally get through secutiry and get to the plane and get on. We leave with about half the seats empty. They are not waiting. Fine.

Then the flight attendant accidentally dumps orange juice all over me. I love it. You can't bring liquids, but you can wear them. Change planes, lather rinse repeat. I will say that the flight crew were very pleasant the second leg. I took United for the first time in a long time and thought, I might take them again. (not anymore)

Anyway, I arrived on time, shockingly. I was rather spent and it looked like security was a bugger everywhere.

Point of part I. I don't mind if I can't take regular stuff with me, but let's not be chumps about informing flyers what you can and can't take when you are checking bags. A little more effort on the check person's part would have alleviated many a person's stress level. And I am totally greatful that my daughter was not with me. She could not have handled the chaos and very random method the security dudes were using for determining which families could take liquids. Sigh. I hate traveling anymore.

Look for part II soon. And why I won't fly United again (unless they are at least $100 cheaper than everyone else, yes, I can be bought).

Advice needed--keep commercial paper?

So, one of the blessigns of taking summer school is that I can slack off thereafter in terms of credits. One way to do this is just take 12 credits a semester. Another way is to take a really light fall, 10 credits-ish, and then take 13 or 14 to make up for it. After totally reorganizing my fall and spring schedule (and now I am MUCH more excited about my classes), I am taking (for sure) con law 2, real estate finance, and bankrupcty in the fall. I am currently signed up for commercial paper too. it's only two credits and it meets just once a week. My faculty advisor thinks that I should drop it. He pointed out that I will have a lot more going on with law review and interviews and that all of those classes are relatively challenging to really understand.

In my heart, I know he's right. And I am SO freaking tired right now. And my LR note has to be written by October 1. And it always takes me 2-3 weeks at the beginning of a semester to be able to read my cases quickly (there's just a huge upcurve on the lingo in a subject and deciphering what your prof thinks is imporant). The only reasons I want to take it are 1) I'm actually interested (I know, I'm a sicko), 2) I'm not sure if it will be offered next year, and 3) there are SO many interesting classes that I want to take and not enough time to take them in.

So what do you think?

One final down, one paper down, the MPRE, down and one paper to go . . . and it's killing me I tell you

So last week pretty much sucked. Bad. Big. Ugly. Honestly, I don't recall being this tired after finals (or during) for Fall or Spring last year. Maybe it is the cumulative effect of going full time 3 semesters in a row. Whatever it is, I'm so tired I could cry.

This is also the first semester where I actually got to a point where I calculated what the minimum grades were that I had to get to keep my percentile. Sigh. It's that bad.

One class is totally done. I turned in my paper for that on Wednesday. There are only 16 people in the class, and I think that all but 2 are in the top 20%. What does that mean... the curve is going to be a bitch. We missed not having a curve by one person. And where does that leave me: I have no idea if the paper that I turned in was a total piece of shit. I would give myself and A for research and an E for effort for the writing part. heaven only knows what will come out of that.

Another class has a final and a paper. I had the final Wednesday too (yes, Wednesday was a really great day). It sucked. I can't explain exactly how it sucked. Well, yes I could. And I think that I will. My professor is on crack. That's the only explanation for it. Actually, there is another explanation for it: she's just plain evil. I hate her. A lot. So heaven only knows how I did on the test. And her paper is the one I am supposed to be working on as I type. Sigh. I still don't know exactly what the woman wants from me. And I still need to do quite a bit of research. So the goal is that I will finish the research (finding and reading) today, and write the little POS tomorrow. Edit monday. Re-edit and blue book Tuesday and turn it in. That's the plan anyway. Cute little plan, isn't it? Yeah, we'll see how that goes.

Oh and of course, just to add more fun to the mix, my law review topic is due now. So I spent last night and the better part of the morning trying to find something 1) novel and therefore not overdone and 2) interesting enough so that I wouldn't want to throw myself off a cliff in the next month or two while I research it and write it.

At least I only have this damn paper staring me in the face. When I am done with that, I have 4.5 lovely days of fun in the sun wiht my best friend in another state. No hubby, no kid, no law school. And I'm living for it I tell you.

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.

hindsight and procrastination

hindsight:
I think (know) I am really going to regret doing the SBA thing. I really don't see eye to eye with the pres, who I am reasonably certain lives in outer space because he sure isn't a part of this world. Sigh. He's a leap before you look kind of guy... but in an odd way. He considers leaping off of three different cliffs, then picks one and goes. Sounds like looking first, but he doesn't and this is what is so frustrating. He's not a long term planner/thinker/dealer with consequences person. Double sigh. If I were not in an elected position, I would quit. Truly I would. Because the amount of mental pain I'm going to have to go through is just not worth it. Alas, I was a sucker and ran for soemthing. And now I'm stuck with it. And it's practically against my religion to just be a flake. I wish I didn't have such scruples. Oh well. I won't think about that today. i will think about it tomorrow.

Which brings us to procrastination.
I had family in town this weekend, so that means that since Wed last I have done practically zip, zero, doodah. Where to find inspiration to get on it? Threat of failing doesn't make me do, it just makes me freak out. Sigh. Quadruple sigh.

Still, it could be worse. I could have the bar tomorrow. good luck all you bar takers.

Drowning

I don't know when my summer got completely psycho, bit it is, and I tell you: It's killing me. Seriously I have slightly less than two weeks for 2 papers, one of which is awhole grade, the other is half my grade... the other half of that grade is multi-choice. and we all know how I feel about that and then I have the MPRE.

And to put a little icing on that ulcer, I've found out that my Law Review topic is due the first week in august and the first required submission (not first draft, read: publishable draft) is the first week in October.

Someone please come and shoot me now.

BTW--is anyone else having problems getting to volokh.com?

Do I really want to graduate when...

I see the shellshocked looking recent grads as they come into their last week or so of studying for the bar. Seriously, these people look spent, most look like they could use a shower, and the tension in the library is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Poor souls. Oh, the things to look forward to.

Spring schedule and networking

We have to register for both semesters at the same time at my school, which I suppose is a good thing because it forces you to focus on more trees. When I initially registered, I did NOT sign up for moot court. I just thought: 1) it's one piddly credit that destroys my entire winter break, 2) based on my experience this year, I think that I will suck at it, and 3) meh.

But now I'm starting to think about OCI and fall interviewing in general. And for whatever odd reason most of the attorneys that firms send to our school are litigators. I'm thinking that even if I don't ultimately take moot court, it might be helpful to register for it (since the transcript shows what you sign up for) just so I can play both sides: sure I want to try litigation; sure I want to try transactional.

Next week, I am going to call the wife of one of the clerks i worked with for my externship. She's at a firm in town that I love for all kinds of reasons, not the least of which is they expect people to want and have lives outside of work. They are hurting for good women associates ... even more for good women partners. It seems like almost all of their women have babies and call it good. In any case, they also have a really really rocking real estate department, and I am so into property. So what's the trauma you ask, networking. Oh, I hate it. I feel so awkward and uncomfortable. The only trick that I've learned so far is that I relax if I force myself to smile. Relaxing makes me seem more personable, I think anywy. So, point: wish me luck. It's just a call to see if we can do lunch, but I think it will really be the key to getting interviews at that firm to start with.

What are your networking secrets?

Holy Cats! Only three more weeks until...

• The MPRE
• finals are over, which means I owe 2 papers and a MC test

Suck. I'm in deep doodoo. Breathe.


____________________________________


Update: A fire is officially lit under my tush. I've just ploughed through 2 of the books I thought would help me on one of my papers. I'm hitting 2 more today and some law review articles.

I will survive.

Wow, it finally happened, the post that I didn't post

I've just spent that last 10 minutes writing a post about a conflict I have with a prof. I tried to be as vague as possible, but ultimately, I think if the right person were reading, they'd have me. And so, this is the first time I will not be putting down my real thoughts about a law school issue because of fear of discovery. No one is ever anonymous on the web. Sigh. I could have used the catharsis that comes from bitching too.

Do you like your SBA?

Do you think that they are useful? What do they do? What do you think they should do?

I went through my first year with the SBA being largely our cruise directors. There were a couple of more academic issues that they settled, but by and large they were the party committee. Well USNews rankings came out around the time that we had elections for this coming school year. Let's say that our school was not delighted with the rankings. So most students felt that the SBA failed them. That maybe we should be less concerned about cruise directing and more concerned about increasing our reputation. Well and good, and I ran for office (a minor office) on that theory... as did the guy who won pres.

now that we are in it, we are finding that we have a conflict because we only have so many monetary and people resources and we don't think the cruise directing was that good either. So now we are trying to decide how party the SBA should be and what we can realistically do as student reps to increase our rankings.

In the meantime, I'm dealing with our account being overdrawn, the board members not seeing eye to eye on what we are supposed to be doing, and deadlines looming for orienation cruise directing. Sigh.

So it's time to figure out 2L classes

So my school does an odd thing (at least i think so): you have to register for fall and spring cases at the same time. It's a good thing/bad thing. I like it because if something doesn't work out on your fall schedule you know to fix it for spring right away and vice versa, But i don't like it because I don't know how I am going to feel or still be interested in come spring.

So right now, I've signed up for fall:

• Bankruptcy
• Business Organizations
• Real Estate Finance
• Appellate Practice

I will now also have one credit of law review. I only need to take 12 credits a semester to graduate, thank you summer school. now I'm nt sure which substatnitve class to drop. Originally, it was appellate practice. Now I don't know.

Spring is:

• evidence
• con law 2
• and something i can't remember

I'll also have 2 credits of law review and two credits of TAing for a 1L class.

yeah so that's it. I'm not as excited about it as I was when i signed up.

So if you are a prospective law student mom, and you ask a law student mom what it's like, do you want to hear the truth?

I've been pondering this lately. Our admissions folks routinely send me emails of moms who are interested in law school and want the low down on feasibility. And i've been giving it to them. There are lots of factors, not the least of which is what is your goal and how does that relate to grades. Because frankly, if you want to do a federal clerkship and work for a schmancy firm etc, then being a mom in law school is a whole lot tougher because you really need to be at least in the top 10%. If you don't need top 10%, then no sweat. I generally give a run down of what my 1l schedule was like, how I studied and when and realistically how that affected my family time. I also tell them that without my husbands support with my daughter, I would be dead in the water. Shoudl I not be sharing this? Should I be more encouraging. I mean, I don't feel like I am discouraging; I say repeatedly that a mom can be successful, but it does mean some sacrifice and you have to have your head screwed on straight.

What do you think? Too much honesty is bad? good? I hate to ever think that someone didn't go to law school because I made it seem too hard. But it isn't easy, and while I have enjoyed success, it's been a crap load of work. I would have wanted someone to be honest with me.