Benny, 2L

This quarter is rapidly coming to a close. In a few minutes I actually start my last class of the quarter (I have a pretty great schedule -- only have class on Monday and Wednesday, but with this Wednesday being a holiday, today is my last day of class). Luckily, I only have one in class exam, and then a couple of out of class exams/assignments.

I'm starting my co-op search from scratch for next summer, and there's a good chance that I'm going to create my own co-op. I've also identified a couple of really neat fellowships that I'm going to apply for, so I'm going to be working on those over Thanksgiving break.

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A couple of weeks ago my LSSC Law Office met with our client, which went really well. This coming week the Law Office is going to be meeting with and interviewing a "key informant," essentially, an individual that can help shed some light on the group's project. It's our last meeting as a Law Office, and, reflecting back on my experience, I've really enjoyed working with my 1Ls. It's been amazing seeing their transformation over the course of the semester, and I'm excited to see what the end up doing, both in co-op and through their careers in the law.

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Is this the time of year when people start applying to law school again? Hard to believe that I was going through this process a couple of years ago, but if folks have any questions, please ask away.

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We had our monthly movie night with some friends last week, and watched The Very Same Munchhausen, a Soviet telling of the classic Baron Münchhausen story. It was....interesting, to say the least.

It's hard to believe, but I'm starting to think and apply for co-ops for next summer. Right now I'm considering going down one of two roads -- either working for a state or municipal agency, or for a small law firm that works in an area that I'm interested in, such as municipal law. The first co-op application deadline is in a couple of weeks, so I really need to strategize about what I want to do for my last two open co-ops.

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On the LSSC front, I can't believe that I only have 3 weeks left with my Law Office. Tomorrow morning they're actually meeting with our client, who is flying in from the west coast to meet with them. It should be a great opportunity for them to engage on a deeper level with the project.

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In Professional Responsibility today we talked about the ethics of attorney's advertisements, and we watched a couple of videos of ads from different states. Unfortunately there are a small but visible minority of lawyers out there who, in my opinion, give the legal profession a bad name, and this one in particular caught my attention (although I have to admit that it's entertaining in its own right).

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And yes, the World Series is starting tonight. Although I'm bummed that my Red Sox won't be there, I can't say that I'm surprised that they didn't make it this far. Although they scored a decent amount of runs this year, I never felt that this year's team had the lineup go all the way. So I guess I'm rooting for the Phillies. . .

It's kind of funny to be writing this blog entry right now, because as I look out my window we are getting the season's first snow (while the wedding I went to in New Mexico, which I'm writing about below, was in the middle of the desert). I was not expecting it to snow this early, and usually when it does snow this early in the year, it's only for a few minutes. But so far, it's been about an hour (although it's too warm to accumulate right now).

Last weekend my wife and I went to New Mexico for a wedding. The bride and groom are old friends of mine who I worked with almost 10 years ago at a camp in Maine called Seeds of Peace, which is a non-profit coexistence camp. There were a lot of people there that I hadn't seen in years, and it was a lot of fun catching up. The wedding was about an hour outside of Santa Fe, and as you can tell from the picture below, it was quite a dramatic landscape (although I'm afraid the picture doesn't do it justice).

Besides catching up with old friends and family, the other great thing about New Mexico was the food. Virtually every dish came with a choice of either red or green chili sauce, but because I was feeling kind of indecisive, I decided to get a mix of both.

School is going well, and I'm amazed at how fast the quarter is going by. My Law Office is starting to work on its social justice project over the coming weeks, and we're going to be meeting with our client a week from this Thursday. The LSSC curriculum has changed quite a bit from years past, and I'm hopeful that shifting the project earlier in the semester will allow students to create an even better work product for their clients.

My last couple of weeks have been consumed by preparing all sorts of project documents for my Law Office (for those of you unfamiliar with NUSL lingo, "Law Offices" are the small sections -- 12-14 students each -- that 1Ls are split up into for their social justice project). It's been really interesting doing preliminary research on the issue that we're working on for our client, but it's also been taking up a huge share of my time.

And like that....Fall is here. This wasn't much of a summer weather wise, but as I look out my window right now it's very clear that summer is over. The leaves are changing, it's cooled down quite a bit (especially at night), the NHL season has started up again (go Bruins!), and the Red Sox are about to start the playoffs (go Sox!)

Oh!....before I forget. I got a question on my blog from a prospective student who was wondering about schedules. In an earlier blog posting I mentioned that I had a 3 week break after my 1L year, but the student didn't see this long a break on any officials NUSL calendars. I took this break right after my second semester was over this past spring. Although the break may have looked shorter on the calendar, students sometimes have flexibility in putting together their schedules. So in my instance, I took a longer break at the beginning of the summer, as my employer was happy to have my start June 1, but I also ended later than some of my friends that were on co-op. I had some friends that started their co-op as soon as exams were done, so they had a lot more time off at the end of the summer. As long as you get the requisite number of weeks in, then you're generally fine. Hope this clarifies things.

Well, the rumors that my 2L year was somehow going to be easier and less busy have yet to materialize. The common wisdom on the life cycle of a law student is that things ease up quite a bit after the 1L year. Although this year hasn't been as hard yet in the "my-brain-is-hurting-I-don't-think-that-I-can-do-this-much-longer" kind of way, I am still managing to have surprisingly little time to do things like watch the Patriots game tonight. Between classes, interviewing, LFing, TAing, and working at the library, I'm finding that my weeks are packed quite tight.

This weekend my wife and I were in Philadelphia for a wedding. Unfortunately my flight out of Logan was delayed 5 hours, and I almost missed the rehearsal dinner. Still, the wedding was a lot of fun, and I even managed to see some college friends that I haven't seen in a couple of years. I was also very impressed with Philadelphia as a city. It has the historical feel of Boston, but it also feels much bigger.

My brother and his family get in town this week for a couple of days, and as always, I'm excited to see my nieces (I'm sorry -- am I always talking about my nieces? If it bores you, I apologize, but they're lots of fun to spend time with). I'm realizing that I talk a lot with my brother and my wife about law school, but that neither have them have ever been to a law school class. Maybe it would be fun to invite them to one of my classes.

I'd love to write more, but I need to get back to writing these memos.

It really wasn't that long ago that I was in the same shoes as this year's 1Ls, but it sure seems like a week ago that I was at orientation, buying my books and course packs from Gnomon Copy, and generally excited/anxious/stressing out about starting law school. So, I figured I'd give a few words of of....wisdom? I suppose that this entry won't be as useful to the prospective students, but hopefully some NUSL 1Ls will read this and find it helpful.

1. Don't Stress Out Too Much
At a certain point, most 1Ls feel a certain degree of self doubt, questioning whether they made the right decision, and ask themselves whether they'll make it through the year. Remember -- thousands of people have done it before you, and thousands more will do it after you. Just take it slow, and as everyone was constantly reminding me, "Law school is a marathon, not a sprint."

2. ....But Do Your Work
From what I saw, the students that end up suffering the most are those that get behind in their work. Maybe I'm more neurotic than most (check that: I AM more neurotic than most), but stay on top of your assignments, and don't get behind on the readings. Law school can be somewhat deceptive, because oftentimes there is not that much reading in terms of the number of pages. However, even 15 pages of reading in say, Civil Procedure, can be a lot, because the material is so dense and unfamiliar. Do your reading for every class, even if you don't think you understand it, and you'll be better for it.

3. Utilize the Research Librarians
We live in a world where all of us use Google, iPhones, WestLaw, etc., and forget that oftentimes the best resource is actual people. It may seem old fashioned, but when you have a research assignment, do yourself a favor and talk to one of the Research Librarians. The problem with WestLaw, Lexis, Google, etc., is that there is too much information, and it sorting through it is a tremendous challenge. The Research Librarians, in addition to being incredibly helpful, are also the nicest people at the law school (sorry fellow students, profs, staff, and administrators).

3. Finally....TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!
About half way through our 1L year, a lot of my classmates all of a sudden realized that they had stopped taking care of themselves, and attending to those things are are important to them outside of law school, like working out, seeing friends and family, and generally doing things for fun. All of us work hard, but it's important to also be easy on yourself, and take a break when you think you need one. Even an afternoon or day off will help recharge your battery, and you'll be in much better shape when you're up against a major deadline if you manage to have some gas left in your tank.

Good luck, and have fun! Now, I actually have to get to my work.

Last week I wrapped up my first co-op. It went by really, really quickly, and it's making me realize that being on a quarter system is going to be VERY different from being on the semester system my 1L year. All in all the co-op went really well, and I spent the last week wrapping up some memos, tying up loose ends, and passing on any open cases I was working on to my co-workers.

So I have a couple of weeks off, and I'm trying to spend as much of it relaxing as possible. Today my wife and I got a new toilet installed (yeah, exciting stuff), and tomorrow morning we head out to Madison, WI (affectionately called "Mad Town") for a week to visit my brother and his family. My wife and I are actually ice cream junkies (for those of you not from Boston, despite our cold climate, we have some of the best around), and when we get into Milwaukee and pick up our car, we're going to head straight to Leon's Frozen Custard. Midwestern style frozen custard, which I've never really seen on the east coast, is a much creamier, richer, and undoubtedly unhealthier version of our soft serve ice cream. We've had it a few times, and in this oppressive August heat, it's all I can seem to think of.

I stopped by the law school today to deal with some paperwork and pick up some things, and it made me excited to be back in class in a few short weeks. Unfortunately the heat is really preventing me from thinking right now, but I'll try to put up some thoughts before class starts for 1Ls about what to expect, and how to get through what is a very exciting, difficult, and exhilarating year.

With my summer co-op at GBLS wrapping up next week, I thought I'd offer a few random snippets of where I've been, what I've been up to, and what I've been thinking about for the last couple of weeks:

Went to Berkshires in Western Massachusetts this weekend with my wife and a friend. We camped for a night, checked out some of the cute small historic towns, and then spent Sunday at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. For those of you that have never been out there, it's really beautiful, and quite a spectacular experience to hear world class classical music out in the open (even if it was raining).

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My fall schedule is starting to take shape. I'm probably going to be taking Evidence, Professional Responsibility (the only required class after 1L), Advanced LSSC, and doing an independent study where I will be looking at state tax law and policies. Advanced LSSC basically means that I will be teaching a 1L section of Legal Skills in Social Context, which I spoke about a few times during my 1L year. So, that means that I may be teaching some of you that are reading this blog.

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On the co-op front, I was fortunate to secure a co-op for the winter quarter, once I'm done with classes in the fall. I'll be a Judicial Intern for the Honorable Norman H. Stahl, a Senior Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit here in Boston. As it turns out, the other Judicial Intern will be one of my nearest and dearest friends from law school, which is also pretty exciting. The experience promises to be an intense and challenging one, as I'm going to write approximately 20 memos over 10 or 11 weeks.

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Movie night again tomorrow night -- very exciting. I voted for How to Get Ahead in Advertising, which I've never seen, and frankly, know little to nothing about.

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On another note, Red Sox fans around here are reeling from the revelation that our favorite Red Sox hero, David Ortiz, tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003. The test results were never supposed to be released, and were merely meant to measure how bad the problem was before the union and Major League Baseball decided what to do about it. Still, it's reconfirmed for many of us that the current generation of baseball players will forever be tainted by this scandal, whether they tested positive or not.

A bunch of my non-law school friends decided to do a movie night this summer, so every Wednesday night we get together at a friend's house and watch a movie that we all picked. It's become a really fun tradition, and every week we pick somebody's name out of a hat. That person picks three potential movies for the following week, and we all vote on what we want to see. Tonight? I'm not sure what the final vote tally is, but I voted for Ishtar, which, from everything I've read, is supposed to be one of the worst movies (or at least biggest box office bombs) of all time. My friend who put the movie on the list, though, swears by it, and is convinced that it's thoroughly underrated. Hopefully I'll be able to form an opinion in a couple of hours.

I'm staying at work late today because I'm trying to help a client get a loan modification from her bank, and I needed her to come in and sign some paperwork. It's meaningful and exciting to do this work with clients, and to try and keep them in their homes. At the same time, I've realized over the last couple of months at GBLS how much of an uphill battle we face. We are seeing people's real struggles every day, and all of the financial institutions we work with are just concerned about the bottom line. Taking my several clients' experiences, and multiplying it over the millions of Americans who find themselves in similar straits, quickly makes me realize the rough shape that our economy actually is.

Moving onto more exciting (or at least less depressing) topics, I'm heading out to Bumpkin Island (I know, awesome name) this Friday to camp with some friends, including a law school friend. Bumpkin (I just can't get enough to saying/spelling it out) is part of the Boston Harbor Islands, which is part of the national park system. Virtually forgotten by Bostonians for a long time, over the last decade or so they've become a great destination for people who are looking for a quick, cheap, and really interesting day trip.

Before I get into the rest of my blog entry for this week, I got a question on last week's entry about the types of clients we serve at Greater Boston Legal Services. Because we provide free legal services, we use income guidelines to determine who is eligible to receive our services. I'm not familiar with the exact specifics of the guidelines, but just because a potential client fits within the guidelines does not necessarily mean that we will take on their case. In addition to the income guidelines, we also look at the strength of their legal claims, to make sure that we can actually help them, if we do decide to take on their case. Cases get assigned to specific units, such as the Elder Law Unit, the Immigration Law Unit, the Welfare Unit, the Housing Unit, and my unit, the Consumer Rights Unit.

I usually use this blog to write about the student experience at NUSL, but on occasion it's also helpful to give you a glimpse of what our professors are up to. Professor Peter Enrich, who was my 1L Contracts professor, is an expert on state and local government issues, including state and local budget and fiscal issues. He was recently interviewed for our local Fox TV affiliate, where he discussed how a relatively new tax credit for film production isn't as good a deal for the state and its municipalities as we've been led to believe. The clip is below. Interesting stuff, at least for those that are interested in state and local policy issues.

We finally have had a stretch of a few beautiful days, so everyone in Boston is in a way better mood. This weekend I'm trying to spend as much time outside as possible, opting for the bike instead of the car, and spending time with friends and family. Tonight we're going to see Sacha Baron Cohen's new Bruno movie, which I've been excited about ever since the Borat movie came out a few years ago.

Yesterday I turned in an early application to co-op in the winter for a judge on the First Circuit Court of Appeals. I have no idea how hard it is to get those co-ops, but I figured it would be a great opportunity to continue improving my legal research and writing skills.

Have a good weekend, and for those of you in the Boston area, enjoy the weather!