Oh, Johnny Cochran, Esq. How your clever wordplay is sorely missed in the trial courts of California.

For me, the second week of law school has been very much about litigation. About trying and winning cases in front of a jury. In Criminal Trial Practice we gave opening arguments on Tuesday. It was a great experience, both in the preparation of the opening and the actual delivery. My classmates gave great feedback, and I look forward to our other exercises to come. In Evidence, everything we discuss is related to what one could bring in to a case to persuade a jury (or judge) to decide in your favor.

It all reminds me of how much I am interested in working in litigation after I graduate (specifically criminal defense), and glad that I have three co-op opportunities left in which I could work towards this goal. Perhaps, as a 3L, I will be lucky enough to work for a public defender or specialized litigation firm, or another agency and get an actual caseload through which I will gain even more experience. My friends who are more interested in the prosecutorial side of criminal law and the plaintiff side of civil litigation share similar thoughts with me. I know some who are eager to work in a busy district attorney's office and learn the tools of the trade there.

As a divergent side note, I'm also witness to all the changes that typically accompany the traditional start of a school year. Meeting new students, electing new student leaders and officers in groups, and, as relevant here, taking on new bloggers. Yesterday I met those who will be blogging this year, and the 1Ls seemed especially eager to describe their experiences in law school during the first two weeks for those out there thinking of applying or applying now. The powers that be tell me they'll be online and setup in a couple weeks-ish, and by that time they'll have great stories to tell about how their first month as first year law students.

Until then, I know Leon and Laurinda and I will be here doing our best to relate the upper level experience.

It's back to classes here at NUSL. Even the new 1Ls had their first classes today. So far, I've had Balancing Liberty and Security in post 9/11 America, Criminal Trial Practice, and First Amendment Law. Later, I have Evidence and Appellate Advocacy. It's great to be back at school and starting classes, if even I wasn't completely ready to give up my summer.

All of my classes are in a newly renovated building, Dockser, directly behind the law school proper. Though, like many of the buildings at Northeastern, the two are all connected on the ground floor. You could, if one was so inclined, spend all day inside the law school complex without ever going outside. As it was much more likely for that to happen during first year, I'm going to make a point of my second year to see the sun and feel the wind.

New extracurricular things are starting up, too, but slowly. We had the Student Activities Fair last night, where student organizations recruited first years (mostly) to be a part of their groups. As half of the upper-level students are always gone, first years at Northeastern are really the life blood of student organizations. For the moment, I'm heading up two student groups, the International Law Society and recently created Criminal Law Society, but am excited for 1Ls to come in and take leadership positions. It will free up my schedule and, I hope, take both groups in great directions as we explore those areas of the law and student interests.

For now, I'm going to return to filling out my security clearance forms for the Dep't of Justice co-op I've taken for the Winter. As extensive and intrusive as the questions are, it is somewhat fun to try to recall exactly where I've lived and what I've done for the past decade.

I made it back to Boston safely and soundly (well...mostly sound), and am gearing up for the start of classes.

Next Monday the new class of 1Ls begin their orientation and I'll be there bright and early to welcome, provide directions, and help myself to the breakfast the university is providing. Sounds like a pretty sweet gig. Even though I have to be there around 7.30am.

I mean...I'm usually awake at that time, but that doesn't translate to actually wanting to be somewhere other than puttering around with a cup of coffee.

I accepted an offer for the upcoming Winter internship with the Dept. of Justice Civil Rights Division/Special Litigation Section. The Special Litigation Section investigates patterned violations of institutionalized persons' federal civil rights--whether those people are prisoners, elderly, juveniles, or mentally ill--and brings a federal suit against the state or local agency running the show if they don't clean up their act to federal standards. The stark bonuses to having an internship so early is getting a jump in my search for housing, being able to focus on classes and Fall Recruitment (interviews and such) without looking for a co-op added on top, and being in DC during the transition from the Bush Administration to whoever we next collectively elect to be president.

If any of you reading will be starting at NUSL next Monday, I look forward to seeing you there!

So far, I've made it safely through three-fourths of my journey back to Boston. Currently visiting my family in North Carolina, I arrived after a four day trip from Phoenix across the country. Before I left I went to a Diamondback/Braves baseball game. The Braves routed the D-backs 11-5. It was glorious. The Braves are extremely unlikely to make it to the playoffs this year, while the D-backs are almost a shoe-in, but that's a beauty of baseball. No matter the standings, every game is new. And for that game, the Braves played, for a short time, like a championship team.

Along the way I stopped and saw the Grand Canyon for the third time in my life (first as an adult), saw my sister in Oklahoma, had some fantastic Jamaican food and corn bread at a market in Nashville, and saw the tip of the Smoky Mountains and buzzed Mount Le Conte from a helicopter.

Soon, I'll be back in Boston and preparing for school, which starts a week and a half from now. Our class lists were finally posted, and the book lists are slowly coming to light. If professors have chosen to publish their book lists outside their offices, as opposed to making them available to the Office of Academic and Student Affairs, I, like many students returning from co-op, won't know anything until we get back to town. When I discovered the classes I will (most likely) take, I immediately ordered books. Despite my advice to you in a previous blog to always buy used, so far most of my books have been new editions. Unfortunate for the pocketbook. What was used was still pricey, especially as many cheaper copies were already bought by other law students who knew their schedules and required books earlier, and I paid more in shipping in hopes that the books will get to me before classes start.

Also, since my last blog, I applied for an internship for next Summer. Again, this competitive internship, if obtained, could lead to a job after graduation. If I get an interview (cross your fingers, folks), the organization's reps will be here on campus the first few weeks of classes. I am, admittedly, somewhat anxious.

Additionally, I had that interview for an internship this Winter. It was somewhat ironic to have the internship interview while still at my Summer co-op, in the middle of the work day. But, such seems to be the life of a NUSL student. No rest for the weary. The interview seemed to go really well, and yesterday, I received an offer. Again, I cannot divulge anything specific yet, but all will surface soon. Currently, I am waiting on word from other potential employers before I accept or reject.

For now, I am enjoying my last few days of vacation and, like much of the rest of the world, keeping one eye on the Olympics.

Have you ever been part of a street race? Drivers or passengers welcome. Not that I am condoning or encouraging illegal or potentially deadly activity, although I readily push unhealthly levels of rebellious acts, but the metaphor is necessary for my story.

Try not to think about what you may have seen on movies; few films get the feeling behind racing cars right. When you speed down a flat road, heading into a curve, your compatriots and challengers vying for the outside, you pick up speed. A lot of speed. And just before you hit the apex you can almost--almost--feel yourself floating, as if the tires aren't really touching the road. Then, for a split second, the curve (if gentle enough) seems to hold you fixed before it slingshots you forward faster and faster.

In a way, that is what this last week in Arizona and at the Supreme Court has felt like. Albeit a lot less attractive than racing, it certainly leaves less of a carbon footprint and (presumably) endangers fewer lives.

I have all but finished the projects assigned to me, even recently completing a few they dug up because I'm the only intern here and they didn't anticipate me needing more work. Yet, I have a lot going on otherwise and the office seems satisfied if I keep myself busy as they try to meet their own deadlines. Specifically, I am finishing that article I'm writing for the ILSA Quarterly, and still working on applications for Fall Recruitment. I have almost completed one massive application, only lacking a final class list for the Fall. With approximately three weeks before classes start, our classes have yet to be finalized (or book lists published). So, when I know which classes I will actually be taking, I can send off that application. And hope for the best.

I do have an interview tomorrow for an internship this Winter. Different from Fall Recruitment, but if the interview goes well, I may get an offer in time to include the info. on my resume or a supplemental resume. It is pretty common to give a revised resume during an interview. In fact, after scheduling tomorrow's interview, I emailed the attorney one. Last week, I was chosen to be one of Professor Ramirez's research assistants this Fall, along with fellow blogger and all-around wonderful person, Sarah. So, I quickly updated my resume and was glad to provide it ahead of the interview. That way, we have more to talk about.

Lastly, I have yet to start packing and preparing my car for the drive back across the country. During which I don't plan on racing (since you were wondering). I'll be on the road for at least four days, so I may miss a blog.

If so, enjoy the trailing summer until then. And rebel where inappropriate.

I intended to write much of this blog about applying for jobs next summer, during Fall Recruitment (aka OCI), but Leon seems to have beaten me to the punch. And a fine job Leon did.

I've spent much of the past several days working on cover letters for my applications. Thankfully, I put together all the necessary paperwork and applied to two jobs. I'll let you know how everything progresses. I should not start hearing anything back about preliminary interviews until September or October.

If anyone is keeping track, and I certainly am, here is a list of newsworthy events about which I've promised to let you know once I hear anything: 1.) my Fall classes, and how many of the forty-three credit hours for which I am now registered I'll actually be starting in less than a month; 2.) my Winter internships, for which I and few other people have started applying; 3.) Summer 2009 "summer associate" internships (aka internships that could lead to jobs after graduation); and 4.) whether the second-year of law school is any more manageable than the first. I am sure there are other things I've chained myself to keep track and report--so I'll do so if they come to me.

Today, I am attending to a luncheon hosted by the Arizona Women Lawyers' Association. Besides free lunch and a chance to meet new people, the keynote speaker will discuss "excessive force" by law enforcement and how much force is too much force? I think it'll be an interesting discussion, and, if nothing else, it certainly gets me out of the office for a while.

There are less than three weeks left in my internship and already other interns in our office are beginning to leave. The school voucher case on which I am working with another intern will be turned over to me solely on Friday, and it is possible that I'll be spending a great portion of my remaining weeks focusing on its legal issues.

Truth be told, the other intern is doing the bulk of the writing on this particular project. While we've both kept up to speed and hold daily meetings about the ongoing research and our informal analysis of the case, we decided she'd write first and I would edit for clarity and polish the memo. My chief concern in the confluence between these job tasks and her departure is getting the memo only partially written. While I have no qualms writing memos or taking over the case, if I have to draft portions of our analysis from scratch, I may have to rewrite the entire memo so the whole thing doesn't look stilted and have two different voices. She and I have very different writing styles and, unless it's blended well during editing, it will show.

A casualty of working on hugely important cases like this one is the general inability to use them as a writing sample. The other intern could readily use this as a writing sample over me, given her effort in drafting the memo from scratch, if not for very specific rules and ethical guidelines over when one can use such a memo as a writing sample and when one cannot. Primarily, this case is unlikely to be resolved until well into next year. And, it's such an important case--dealing with important constitutional issues--that using the document as a writing sample would prematurely publicize the Court's thoughts on the case.

So, I feel bad for my fellow intern. She has worked most of her time here on this one memo and won't be able to use it as a writing sample until well in the future (if at all).

With some guidance from my supervisor, and approval by the Supreme Court, I chose to edit and polish my memo on a first-degree murder case as a writing sample. That case contained a lot of analysis and shows that I had to do independent research to complete that analysis.

These writing samples are so important, and so important right now, because employers want them. They want recent examples of your research and writing skills. I had to submit a writing sample to get this job. More specifically, these samples are so important now because many of us Northeastern Law students are already gearing up to apply to our next internships. Our Winter co-op generally runs from late-November to mid-February, and the deadline for applications is around September 15th. So, we're preparing for that.

Also, many of us are preparing our resumes and writing samples (and more) to participate in "Fall Recruitment," the period during which 2Ls and 3Ls apply for highly competitive summer internships that could lead to offers of employment after graduation. Employers participating in Fall Recruitment do not hire people for the Summer that they're not seriously considering hiring permanently. The first deadline is August 8th.

So, let's review our tally: At the tail end of our current internships, I am applying for my Winter co-op and preparing applications to apply for Summer 2009 co-op (with eyes towards permanent employment), and still awaiting a final word on class registration.

Also, did I mention I have jury duty in Boston a week before classes start?

If I kept a planner...it would soon be bogged down with the weight of ink on my ever-expanding to-do list.

More to come...

I write this blog mostly blind, watching the Major League Baseball All Star game. So, I'm typing all fingers and only infrequently glancing at what of worth, if anything, I may be writing. I caught a little bit of the game at the gym, but now it is tied at three in the eleventh inning. Tense and riveting. It reminds me of the NLCS Braves game against the Mets in 1999 that went to the 15th inning (sadly, the Braves lost). Of course, in 2005 the Braves and Astros set a record and went to the 18th inning (which Atlanta also lost).

Obviously, I'm a Braves fan. A pretty devoted fan. Yet, I must say, living in Boston can make you into a Sox fan real quick. Unless you're a Yankees fan. Well, that might be a stretch. Even a misguided Yankee fan could be converted. The Sox magic is powerful and pervasive; you can feel it all throughout Boston. Lucky for me, Atlanta is in the National League and Boston in the American. So, I only need to worry about the interleague games.

Thirteenth inning. That's almost 1:00 a.m. on the East Coast where the teams are going head-to-head.

In school news, we registered for classes yesterday. There were some expected glitches, like the software the school uses malfunctioning and giving us a repeated error message. I suppose if I chose to register via telephone, which was an option, I might not have encountered the error message. There were some unexpected glitches, such as the codes for two new classes not being published by the school. As of this moment, those codes are still not available. I suppose the upshots are that no one can register for those classes, one of which I would like to take, and that this round of registration is open until August 1st.

Registration at NUSL is an interesting process--one with which I was not familiar from registration in undergrad. Upper level students, who provide all the great guidance in this area, tell us that we're to register for as many classes as possible. Well over the number of credit hours we need to take, and even if we're only somewhat interested in taking the class. The best explanation I've gotten for doing so is that many classes are of "limited enrollment." Those classes, with only a certain number of slots, are chosen by a lottery of some sort. The calculus behind the lottery is unknown to me. Nevertheless, if you don't get in the lottery class that you want, you have a back up.

Following that advice, I'm currently registered for 40 credit hours for next quarter. Hopefully I can whittle that down to 13-16 sometime around the start of classes. All very interesting and a little confusing.

Bottom of the fifteenth inning!

For those of you starting law school in the Fall, worry not about the registration experience I encountered. You'll be told which classes you're taking. Whatever choices you're given and processes you encounter won't be for a time yet. For now, focus on having a great Summer (if possible for you) and getting your life and affairs in order before classes start in a little over a month. In a short time, you'll get to focus on the choice of used books or new books.

Buy used.

Happy Belated Independence Day to everyone. I spent my long weekend in DC, and had a great time. I saw fireworks at the Capitol, visited the relocated and newly redesigned Newseum (which has an impressive exhibit on the First Amendment), had some delicious Ethiopian food, and more.

Now back in Phoenix, it's back to business as usual. I have thirty days left in Arizona and plan on making the best of it. In a couple weeks I head to Las Vegas for a friend's wedding, and will attempt to lose very, very little money at the casino. I'm not much of a gambler, but I do dig Kenny Rogers and friendly-poker games with friends. I also have some family staying in Vegas, so I am quite lucky to get the chance to see them.

Work progresses. I just finished writing a memo on a first-degree murder appeal, where the defendant is asking the court for a new trial, and am diving headlong into the school voucher case on which I am working with another intern. The school voucher case raises several constitutional issues, both for the U.S. Constitution and the Arizona Constitution. It's a very interesting case, with both parties unhappy about the Court of Appeals opinion on the matter.

Thinking about my internship ending inevitably hones my focus on classes resuming in late August. We start registering for classes next Monday, and the final information we students need to properly register was just posted this afternoon. Above all, I would really like to take Evidence, First Amendment Law, and the Seminar on Balancing Liberty and Security in the Post-9/11 America. The many other classes available that I need to take to stay within the number of credit hours necessary to graduate are up for grabs. I'll let you know how it comes out.

Otherwise, I am spending my days catching up on my reading and exercise and conditioning. I usually make some regular time to scan The New York Times and Washington Post, occasionally flit through the Arizona Republic and BBC.co.uk. Regularly, though, I'm reading Gideon's Trumpet by Anthony Lewis, The Chomsky-Foucault Debate, and trying to catch up on my Leaves of Grass.

Oh! And I was recently quite lucky and honored to be chosen as a Student Editor for the upcoming school year for the Quarterly, the International Law Students Association periodical. Currently, I'm researching and writing the increased role victims of mass atrocities and war crimes have under the international criminal justice system--specifically in proceedings at the International Criminal Court. It may sound a little esoteric, but it's interesting stuff.

More to come...

We finished the election case and the justices issued a preliminary ruling on the matter. I'm not positive if they've sent copies of the order to the parties, so I'll keep all details under wrap for the time being. While my supervisor and I worked quickly on an election case with a three day timetable, three more cases were appealed up from the Superior Court. Unluckily for my colleague interns who were assigned the cases, they had a two day timetable. Three of the election cases, including mine, were all heard and decided on at the same time. Quick and hotly contested business, these judicial decisions in election matters.

Otherwise, I've been working on a death penalty case which has come to the Court seeking post-conviction relief. There are very strict rules about when and how a criminal defendant can appeal his conviction for post-conviction relief--which is something different than just outright appealing the conviction after the judge or jury has ruled you are guilty. For the ease of explanation, most defendants appeal for post-conviction relief when new information comes to light that raises questions of their guilt and responsibility--information that was unavailable or was hidden during trial. Or, say, new information comes to light about the constitutionality of the trial proceedings--as in, the prosecutor or defense counsel had DNA evidence that would prove the defendant was not the true culprit--but they suppresed the evidence and told no one. None of the above are reasons that my case is now on appeal, and of course I cannot go into detail.

Confidentiality can be a real downer for my blogging.

I am also working on a case, with another intern, that deals with the constitutionality (under both the Arizona constitution and the sacred of sacreds) of school voucher programs. As I also cannot describe the particulars of this case, and any description of school vouchers may be impermissibly touching on issues I am currently researching, a New York Times article from 1999 describes a proposed school voucher program in New York City and gives a good and short treatise on the relevant issues. And how seriously controversial these issues can be.

In other happenings, and for a slight light moment, I was reading some online blogs about this year's presidential campaign. It's tough not to be a bit of a political junkie in such an election year, but I tend to be a bit of a political junkie no matter the year or election. Nonetheless, I came across a story that made me nearly spit up my dinner. No lie. Actor Stephen Baldwin, in a quasi-interview (he did the talking) on Fox News (of the "We Report Very Little of Worth, You Decidedly Listen" reputation), told the world that if Barack Obama is elected president in November, he is going to leave the country.

1.) I am not taking a stance or endorsing any candidate for president on this school-sponsored blog. This is about Stevie Baldwin.
2.) Who, I was unaware, was still in this country.

Now, to be fair, Stephen Baldwin had stellar roles in "The Usual Suspects," "Bio-Dome," and...well...little else of cinematic value, and as a recent born-again Christian he has started a community outreach program for kids. I read that the program is targeted towards urban youth--mostly skaters--and, although his program is a little heavy on the proselytizing, it's doing good work by keeping some kids away from drugs and out of jail. Way to go Stephen.

However, forgive me if I take no moment of remorseful reflection on the sad state of affairs if Stephen Baldwin leaves the country. I don't think the order of things and the universe as we know it will topple over if and when he goes ex-patriot.

Though, and perhaps this gets to the sheer selfish audacity of his comment, I bet those kids in his community outreach program will surely suffer.

Once, I too said the same words about Bush when he ran for reelection in 2004. Allthough, I told only my friend next to me and not the Fox News watching audience.

My point is this, and it's larger than me or Stephen Baldwin: Just because you don't like the way things are looking or the way things may turn out--these are not reasons to throw in the towel. We, luckily, still live in a society where we don't have to be afraid to speak up about our discontent or disagreement with the powers that be. We can still make efforts for a better tomorrow, even if we're displeased with the today. Things are not so bad that we necessarily need to be concerned about living our lives "underground," or move to a culture where our views are more readily accepted. Today, you can be a card-carrying communist with a Joey Stalin mustache and sit on the bus next to a capitalistic businesswoman and have no fear that she's going to turn you in.

Stephen, do what I had to do: get over yourself, stay home and work for a better today and tomorrow. The kids will appreciate it.