Ira, 3L

With about a month and a half left until classes start, I'm halfway through my co-op. For the first genuine occasion, I can say that I do not want my co-op to stop. Thankfully, it's not going to end. Not completely. My supervisor approved my staying on and helping out after I meet the co-op standard minimum of eleven weeks, and then helping on an ad hoc basis once classes begin in March.

Truly, working for CPCS--for the Roxbury Defenders--and representing and helping represent clients at all stages of trial proceedings has been a great work experience and work environment. It is a supreme understatement, but every moment is a learning moment. Talking with and interviewing clients. Building rapport with the generally helpful court officers. Advocating for clients in open court. Researching and planning their cases back in the office. And, overwhelmingly, watching and seeking the advice of others. I have learned a great deal just by observation.

Yesterday, in fact, I watched a bench trial (i.e., the case is argued in front of and decided by a judge--no jury). I was in the courtroom waiting on another matter, but stayed to watch this trial because I know the attorney. The Commonwealth did not have enough evidence to convict the defendant of Operating While Under the Influence, and, after some very clever cross-examination questions and a well-researched and planned argument by the defense counsel, the judge found the defendant not guilty!

Outside of co-op, this week academically has been one filled with registering for classes and waiting on our evaluations (i.e., grades) from the Fall. Evaluations are suppose to post this afternoon, so that may or may not be a welcome message awaiting me when I get back from court. I'm sure I passed my classes, but there is a 50/50 chance I rambled my way through Trusts & Estates.

I registered for classes for the Spring semester--my final one in my law school career. I only need to take three classes, thanks to nearly driving myself off a cliff with work last quarter, and the credit I get as an Editor on the Journal. The dust will settle on classes in a few weeks; I'll let you know once I know about my final schedule.

Here's the dream team: Advanced Criminal Procedure - Adjudication; Sports Law; Client Interviewing and Counseling.

I have also signed up for and am interested in Welfare Law; Employment Law; and Intellectual Property Law.

Hope everyone is having a spectacular winter.

I imagine that in the next few weeks the first acceptance letters will start going out to the 2010 incoming class. After hearing from some of you (often through our amazing Admissions officers who meet you at open houses), I thought it would be a grand idea to dedicate a blog to the big move to Boston.

Then, I thought I'd go even further and specifically write about moving to Boston with pets. So, if you're an out-of-towner or out-of-stater and have thoughts of moving to Boston on your mind, this blog is for you.

Well, if you have a pet. If you don't, and have other questions about moving to Boston, let me know and maybe I'll dedicate an upcoming blog to helpful answers and links on that non-pet issue.

I moved to Boston for law school from North Carolina. Plus, I moved with an 140 lb. great dane whose back comes just above your average kitchen counter. So, the good news is that it can be done. Boston is not the most pet friendly city, but it's not difficult to move here with a pet, and some neighborhoods are better than others.

If you have a dog and you're going to be living in the city limits of Boston (i.e., south of the Charles River, aka one of these neighborhoods ), then you're suppose to get a dog license. You can find out all the information you need at the City of Boston website. In short, the procedure is pretty standard and you can do it through the mail. Unless you have a pitbull. Then there is a higher fee you must pay and a separate application fill out, which is also on the City of Boston website.

Apparently, it is a state law to license your pet. But Boston doesn't require licenses for cats, fish, iguanas, birds, or potbelly pigs. Or, at least, not that I could find. If you end up living outside of Boston (e.g., Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline), I'd check those towns websites for any requirements. I know plenty of scofflaws who shirked the idea of getting a license, but, hey, paying a few bucks ahead of time saves you a huge fine if you get busted. I imagine the vets report whether the dog is licensed.

Okay, now to the most important part: where can you live that will let you bring a dog/cat/tamarind monkey? Step one: don't panic. Sometimes searches on craigslist look daunting, but trust me: If I was able to find a place with a horse of a dog, you can find a place. Well, maybe not for the pet monkey. Yet, who knows? You're coming to law school, here's a chance to try out the art of negotiation and persuasion.

A lot of places will allow small pets, such as cats and dogs under 30-40 lbs. Sometimes they still charge you an up-front pet fee. Sometimes they charge that and pet rent, often around $15-30 a month). If the listing doesn't say, don't be afraid to ask. Sometimes the owner will be on the fence about allowing a pet, and offering a pet deposit or pet fee (often around $200 - $300) helps. I've also sent in letters of recommendation from previous landlords, veterinarians, etc--whatever I had to do to convince the new owner/landlord my dog was a sweetheart.

Boston has several neighborhoods, and some are more pet friendly than others. On the whole, I found Jamaica Plain, Roxbury Crossing/Mission Hill, and even Roxbury far more pet friendly than, say, Back Bay or anywhere closer to the city center. Although I've never lived there, I hear Allston, Brighton, and Brookline (not technically in Boston, but it borders the neighborhoods and public transit runs through it) are also more lenient.

Sadly, I don't know of any dog parks in the city. However, I don't live in the city any longer and haven't looked in some time.

Many people take their pets to the Angell Animal Medical Center. It is a premier, full-service veterinary clinic, with both normal and emergency hours. Helpfully, it's not too far from the school. If you're bringing a car, they also have lots of parking. I'm proud to say that my roommate from last year is a doctor at Angell, so I've probably had more exposure than most. It's a great place. Though, to be fair, there are other options and I'm sure a google search will quickly pull some up.

That's all the introduction I can think on making the move to Boston with a pet. If anyone has any specific questions, leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

An early merry christmas, happy holidays, and late happy winter solstice to everyone! I've even heard that today is festivus; however, this blog is not the most appropriate place for an airing of grievances, so for now I'm at peace for everyone to be merry and be happy.

I have only a little bit of shopping left to do tonight and then hopefully I'll be done for the holidays. Tomorrow the office and courts close early so I'll be speeding home to help cook a Christmas eve dinner of fabulous proportions. I am very excited about waking up christmas morning in my house with my fiancee and opening presents in our living room next to our very first tree. It's all a very beautiful winter wonderland.

I think I'll even cook tomorrow with "A Christmas Story" playing in the background.

Co-op continues to go well. I spent Monday and Tuesday this week helping an attorney in a Superior Court motion to suppress hearing, and today and tomorrow in District Court awaiting the assignment of new cases for which I could do bail hearings. I am learning a whole hell of a lot, both by doing and by carefully watching attorneys do. Also, the attorneys are all very helpful and actively include me in their cases or case preparation. I can honestly say I am not looking forward to ending the co-op in six weeks or so and going back to classes.

More to come...

I'm staying home from co-op today, sick and feverish with the flu or something. Soup and Gatorade. Thankfully, I had completed all the work I had on my agenda. The trial I'm working on had motions hearings scheduled all week, and I worked hard on bench memos and researching the law to help prepare the attorneys for their arguments. But, one of the District Attorney's testifying witnesses came down with the flu too, so we rescheduled for next week.

The co-op continues to be a great experience: I did another bail hearing on Monday, and learned a lot about what questions to ask to better represent and advocate for clients across different situations.

Outside of work, we put our Christmas tree up and decorated it yesterday. It's huge and beautiful and gleaming with lights. As I have a rather large dog -- a 140 lb. great dane -- whose back comes up to around the kitchen counter, we had to put him in another room so we could decorate the tree unobstructed. Like all dogs, he's pretty curious and eager to help by getting in the way.

I've been a delinquent blogger. That's probably becoming the norm now.

Nevertheless, here I am and I finally found a moment to break and write something other than bench memos and motions to suppress.

Co-op is fantastic. I am interning this Winter for the Committee for Public Counsel Services, Roxbury Defenders Unit. Boiled down, that means I'm working for the Public Defenders in Massachusetts, in Roxbury District and Superior Courts. Now at the start of my second week, I've interviewed several clients, followed attorneys around and helped out during arraignments, represented a client during a bail hearing (my very first!), and aided two senior attorneys with research and trial preparation (including researching and writing those bench memos and motions to suppress evidence) in an upcoming trial.

Lots of work, and I love it.

Also, I continue on with post-grad employment interviews. They seem to go well, but we'll see what's what as time progresses. I had my very first second-round interview last week and things on that front seem promising.

In personal news: It's holiday time and while I'm sad I won't be going home to North Carolina, I love the snow and am glad to spend the season here in Mass. with my fiancee. Tonight we're going to get our very first Xmas tree.

Hopefully I'll post again before the week is out. Good luck to all 1Ls currently going through exams!

More to come...

I am thankful that exams are over. As I've written many times in the last three months, this past quarter was rough. Perhaps the roughest I've had even counting 1L. Nevertheless, it is now p-a-s-t.

There are still a few projects I am working on before I am officially done with this quarter, namely work for the Journal and for Professor Ramirez, for whom I am a research assistant. But these projects I can do from anywhere, and, despite deadlines, not feel constantly under the gun.

Thanks to the break I have been getting things--life--back into order. Hitting the gym regularly, paying attention to my dog, cleaning the house, and, most importantly, reading. Voraciously reading. Note: it would be a little more voracious if I didn't spend several hours watching trash on television. I don't even like television.

Secondary note: I have, though, finally seen a few movies that had long shelf-lives on my list (e.g., "Hellraiser"; the rest of the first season of "Tudors").

But the books, oh the list of book. Here's what I have so far: currently reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett; Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky; The Echo Maker by Richard Powers; and, finally, a book I didn't finish at the start of the Fall Quarter, The Stolen Heart by Lauren Kelly (a pseudonym of Joyce Carol Oates').

If I manage to swim through those, who knows where I'll go next.

As a final word in this brief post, next week is my first ever second-round interview for a post-graduation job. Wish me luck.

I realized not too long ago that I am now entering my fifth set of law school exams. If you tack on the LSAT, MPRE, and that practice exam we took during 1L, I'm well past half a dozen.

And, even though I have the pattern and general tempo of law school exams down (i.e., vigorous studying, outlining, practice questions/essays, caffeine, and foods rich in carbohydrates, sugar, and peanut butter), I am, in a word, exhausted. Call it 3L-itis. Call it ready to be done. Perhaps those two things equal one another. Regardless, with this set of exams, one more in the Spring, and then at least one bar ahead of me, I am still in the tunnel.

I recently completed my take-home exam for International Criminal Justice. Great class; I recommend it for everyone regardless of your interests. You will learn more than just the role and existence of tribunals and the International Criminal Court, but, overwhelmingly, about the rule of law and how one goes about creating it and willing it to continue and live.

Left is an in-class exam tomorrow in Professional Responsibility and another take-home for Trusts & Estates. I'll talk more about the exams in a couple weeks after all extensions will likely have passed.

In more uplifting news, I received some news from the co-op office that I am eligible to receive work-study while I am on co-op this Winter. Receiving a steady paycheck where one was not expected, which also doubles at replacing some of my loans I would ultimately have to pay back, is a cherry on top of the awesome co-op I will likely have.

Lastly, what I look forward to most right now, is the gym. I have already arranged for sparring matches over the Winter, and I have literally been having daydreams about running through the trails near my house or having Rocky montages (replete with jump roping). It. Will. Be. Glorious.

Another 6am post. Despite the hour, I kind of expected some confetti to fall from my ceiling once I started my 100th blog. Alas.

I also hoped that I would I use my 100th blog to announce my post-graduate job. Alas, there is yet to be a job to announce. Interviews, applications, and general rejection continue.

So, instead, I am going to use this blog, at least in greater part, to congratulate all my friends and colleagues who graduated this past May and who passed their respective bars around the country. I'm told that NUSL collectively accomplished a 97.5% bar passage among first-time test takers.

But I won't stop there, I also want to give a shout out to to those who didn't pass. I am not celebrating the fact that they didn't pass, and I am not trying to sugarcoat a sour situation. Rather, I want to recognize that they put a whole hell of a lot of work in, went to school for three years, studied, then spent about two months studying vigorously, and took the bar. All that work should not go unnoticed. And it shouldn't be said it was for naught.

Finally, in the world of Ira, beyond still interviewing for jobs, I finished taking the MPRE last week and am prepping for exams next week. I may have mentioned it before: the MPRE is the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam, and nearly every state requires you earn a certain score before you can even apply to take the bar. The subject matter is no overtly complicated, but the sixty multiple choice test questions are tricky. It's tough to get a bead on how I did.

Let's hope it's easier to gauge how I do on exams. I have one in-class, Professional Responsibility, which will be similar to the MPRE but in essay format, and two take-home exams. International Criminal Justice is a twenty-four hour timed exam due no later than Monday afternoon. The other, Trusts & Estates, simply has a due date of next Friday at noon.

After that I still have a few projects to put bows and ribbons on before I head off into the sunset of co-op, but I'm already starting to amass my reading list for the Winter.

More to come...

It's 6:39am and I had a strong urge to start this blog with "Captain's Log, October 28, 2009. 6:39am. Somewhere--somewhere lost in the galaxy."

Odd as I've never been much more than a passing Star Trek fan.

As I may have stated in previous blogs, this quarter of my third year feels a lot like being a 1L all over again. That, in turn, feels a lot like constantly trying to keep yourself from drowning under the weight of it all. Early on in this quarter, I became all too tempted to assume being this busy and feeling this oppressed by time and agenda was an Ira-centric issue. However, as weeks pass and we draw near to the close of the term, I'm starting to hear from classmate after classmate that they too have been staggering under the weight of it all.

There are a few lessons to be had here, I'm convinced:

(1) Don't bite off more than you can chew. Being involved in student activities and extracurriculars is great, and IMPORTANT, but don't let your eyes get bigger than your stomach. It seems it's a pretty common mistake to assume you can do it all. That's when classes start to feel the pinch. There is a balance to be had, and it's different for everyone. So, find yours but don't forget about classes. They are primarily why you're here at law school, and why you're future self is paying them ungodly amounts of money.

(2) No person is an island. Realize that a lot of the time, when you feel alone in your burdens, you have good company. Many of your classmates are also feeling a little taken down by the wolves that hell week during 1L when you question why you even came to law school, or when you're having nagging, persistent 3L/senioritis musings about why are you still in law school.

You might respond..."but Ira, those are all pretty cliche and common-sense lessons." And you'd be correct and get the gold star. However, as you'll learn, much of law school is an unwitting war to disturb common sense out of your day to day thinking for a while. Not all of school has it out for your practical side, of course, and you'll probably be far better off at experiential-focused NUSL. Just know, for a while, when you're trying to delve deep into the conceptual thought pattern of whether a fictitious, objective, and quite unrealistic "reasonable person would feel harmed by such behavior," common sense may take a vacation and not tell you it's leaving.

You may also be quite calculating and notice that I said there were a few lessons to be learned. I guess that lesson is to stop reading so much into things. Some things--sometimes--need to just be taken at face value.

In less ranting news, I have two interviews this week for post-grad opportunities. Wish me luck! And good luck to all my fellow interviewers. At this point, I'm rooting for any and all of us to get a job lined up before we take the bar. I also attended an MPRE review session this past weekend, which is helping prepare me for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. Nearly every state (except California, I think) requires that you have a certain high score on the MPRE before you can even sit to take the bar and become a licensed attorney. After all, they want to make sure that you're ethical. Or...at the least, that you can answer sixty multiple choice questions as if you are.

More on that later. Good luck to all of you out there as you start finalizing early admission applications.