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.

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?

Worst day of my life

Ok, so that was rather hyperbolic, but I am definately having a downer day. I feel like i have faield at my externship. I know that I am over-reacting, but I can't help but feel it's partly true. In the last 5 or so weeks I've written three things for the court. One that is polished and pretty... which the judge has yet to see. And two things that were drafts that the fulltime clerk wanted to see after I finished a draft. And that was it... a draft. I gave it to them and said... the citations need cleaning, and I need to do a serious organizational and grammatical edit. You know, this is a first draft. Sigh. So imagine my utter horror at THAT VERSION being given to the judge. Shit.

And I feel like the clerk I gave this stuff to now no longer thinks I can do anything. It was a first freaking draft. Lesson learned: when they say draft... they mean pretty damn close to finished. Sigh. Damnit. From a networking way, I just feel like these weeks were totally wasted. Shit.

Writing lessons:

• The passive voice is loved by me... i know this but I usually clean that up on edit. I need to write in active voice to start with.
• My transactional phrases at the sentence level suck. I usually forget the phrases and just go with the single word transition like rather or however or moreover... and those are lovely but there are lovely transitional phrases that read well too.
• i need to outline a wee bit more before I write... so i realize when two different claims have the same element ahead of time, so i don't write like an idiot.
• And i need ot spend less time researching and just start writing already.
  

Not a happy day for Joey. But hey, it's almost over, right?

trying to put a good face on it: I really have learned tons and tons about what good writing is and nuances on pleadings that i don't think i would have learned before.

still... it's going to be awkward to say why i don't have a letter of recommendation from this judge when it's interviewing time. At least I still have an "A" in my writing class to try and talk around.

well, I'm off to my last interview of the season

Yup. I get to retire the suit after today. Temporarily anyway. And will be so glad. I'm not even sure that I want this job, but I'm going to the interview anyway. More practice is good, right?

So I have to say, overall this year's OCI for me was a bust. But I learned a lot. Like my resume scares people off. Like don't be too uptight in an interview. You want them to talk about the old lady they stopped in the road to help, or when they were stuck in a hurricane and had to eat ramen for 4 days, or how they can't put their vanity back in their bathroom until they tile the floor, and they can't tile without running water, which they can't have until the vanity is back. These are good things to talk about.

Summer school. Here I come.