Ira, 3L

Having just finished my last in-class exam, I am two steps to done. One step? I don't know, I'm not sure anymore. What I have left for my graduation requirements: a 20-25 paper for Sports Law.

That's it. Done-zo. Assuming I get all the course credits coming to me, next Friday, May 28 around 2.30pm, I will be a law school graduate. Juris Doctor.

Looking back at my nearly three years of blog posts, it's been quite the trip. Seven years ago when I graduated from Carolina I had little insight or prediction that I would be here at 29. Three years ago when I started, while I knew I would (likely) eventually graduate, I had no idea I would be staying in Massachusetts and employed as a public defender by the Committee for Public Counsel Services, work on co-op in Phoenix and Washington, DC, be splayed on an Admissions'/Co-op brochure and be sent throughout the country, or any number of other things that have happened in three years.

Taking all things together, I'd say that my legal education at Northeastern has been great. While, of course, I have no real way to compare that against anything (after all, I only went to one school), I feel really prepared to go out and be an attorney. At least, I know I'm ready to go out and represent clients at arraignments/bail hearings. But, it is true that any law school can teach you how to research and understand the law, and that most of law school and learning to be a lawyer is learning how to learn. And realizing that self-improvement and education is never ending.

So, I also look to the intangibles at Northeastern that made it all worthwhile and continue to make things memorable. For example, I made great friends. Lifelong friends. I have represented and helped represent many, many people on co-op, and seen both the great result of success and the unavoidable consequences of failure. The fact that I've always been near the heart of downtown Boston has been wonderful.

Naturally, it's law school. And nothing is peaches and creme. It's hard. 1L, especially, is immensely hard. But it was all worth it.

Thanks to the Office of Admissions for a forum to announce my thoughts, and thanks for all the support in the background.

On to the bar exam and (maybe) being a licensed attorney...

Congratulations to my friends and loved ones who just passed the February bar! I am so incredibly happy for each of you.

A spark ignited from that happiness: Thoughts of how close I am to being done with law school and being a licensed attorney myself. All that remains is a few weeks of classes, exams, and then one sprint through the gauntlet that is bar preparation and taking the bar. Oh, and passing the bar myself. NOT to be overlooked that crucial last step.

Thankfully I finally paid for the bar preparation class. While I had several companies from which to choose, I will be taking it with Bar/Bri starting a few days after graduation. Along with this process, I am now finishing my application to take (and, if I pass, be admitted to) the Massachusetts Bar. Listening to some of my friends, the Massachusetts application is not in any way as difficult as it could be. For example, a friend applying to take the bar in Colorado said she has to provide the names and contact information for four individuals who can attest to every different location she has lived since she was 18 years old.

The most comparable question on the Mass bar application--at least for me--was when I had to recount every place I have worked since 18. It took a little research to discover the whereabouts of all 12 or so places I've been employed in the past decade (some of whom do not exist anymore), but I got all the information on there.

Today is my last day of the work week at the restaurant (and my oh thank the gods last double of the weekend) and then I head straight back into classes until Thursday. Another blog is in the offing this week, partly because I missed a blog last week and mostly because soon I will be publishing my series finale. I want to pack as many day-to-day blogs in as I can before writing a farewell.

Have a great week everyone!

More to come...

When I started writing this blog it was very warm and beautiful outside, a high of 89--and my partner had just called me from her lunch break on co-op; it seem she decided to take a walk down near the waterfront. I'm sure it was gorgeous and lightly breezy and comfortable. And I was very touched: While I always love it when she calls me randomly in the middle of the day, this time she called because she walked by the place where we had our first date.

Despite nature's amazing blessing of warm weather in the past week, I have been mostly stuck inside playing catch-up. Catching up on Journal work and reading for my classes. Between waiting tables at the restaurant and working on the Journal, my reading for my mere three classes admittedly slipped and fell. It fell and took a nap.

Mostly caught up now I am slogging towards graduation. But I will miss law school, I must admit. Law school, like all schools, is a culture with a dynamic all unto itself. Even once I pass the bar (fingers crossed!!) and am in the working world, in an office with truly brilliant and dynamic people, it will be different than school. We all know this. Such is life. And it will be missed. This is probably one reason (among many) that Facebook is so popular: allows people to reconnect and remember lost rememberings of school days gone by.

This past Saturday I spoke at the Admitted Students Open House, on a panel with three other amazing 3Ls. The panel's discussion seemed to go very well, and I enjoyed meeting some of you afterwards and answering questions about my experiences. I also had the fortunate happening of meeting several fellow North Carolinians who were rumbling through the big decision (as I was three years ago) whether to move nearly 900 miles north.

While I told them they need to make whatever decision is best for them, what I really meant was -- Do it.

The Symposium on March 19 went really well. Fantastic panels and great discussions about the Second Amendment, one's right to bear arms (for self defense or as part of a militia), and, as an extension, what the government can tell us we can and cannot do.

Great scholarly and practical debates rang throughout the law school that day.

The time since the Symposium has been spent playing catch-up in my classes and in turning to the newest events on the Journal agenda (e.g., choosing new editors for next year). I also have been working on a research project for Professor Ramirez and steadily waiting tables on the side. And by steadily I mean I worked three doubles and a single shift in between my Thursday and Tuesday class this week.

Additionally, I was recently recruited by the Co-op Office to speak as part of a panel at the Admitted Students' Open House on Saturday, April 10. I think the Admissions Office may have had a hand in this arrangement. They usually do, and I figure...hey, it's the Admitted Students' Open House. Admitted = Admissions.

Nevertheless of how I end up at these delightful meet and greets, I am excited. First, I'm excited because I dig meeting new people and having good conversation. It drives my fiancee nuts sometimes when we go to big functions and I start talking to person after person. Second, the Open House is the day before my 29th birthday. After the event, my fiancee and I are going to go do birthday celebration stuff.

I'm not being purposely vague--I really haven't planned a thing for my birthday. Well, for my birthday celebration. On the day in proper, I'll actually be working at the restaurant serving up burgers, steaks, and hot cups of chowder. Trade-offs, trade-offs.

Next blog (maybe even later this week), I can talk a little bit more about these mythical classes I take.

This Friday, March 19 the Northeastern University Law Journal is hosting its annual Symposium, "Chamber to Chambers: The Second Amendment in the New Century." See the flier below and read the IMPORTANT BLOGGER MESSAGE at the bottom.

As Managing Editor of the school's Law Journal, I would love to see each of you reading this blog at the Symposium! Click on the link above for a full program. It's here too. It would give you a great idea of what goes on at the law school, especially student run programs. There will be three panels throughout the day, all in Dockser Hall, room 240. Come to a panel of your choosing, listen to nationally renowned scholars and practitioners discuss gun regulation and the Second Amendment, or come for the whole day!

This week has been mostly a blur. I was out sick today, Thursday, my only other day of classes during the week. The rest of the time I was working my new part-time job at the restaurant. And somewhere in there I got sick.

Next week is Barrister's Ball, the law school prom, and it'll be the third I'll have gone to at Northeastern and I'm really looking forward to it! I'll try to post a few pictures afterwards. Barrister's Ball is an institutional social event held annually by nearly every law school, and it's pretty much like prom. Except everyone is older. And generally more stressed out from being in law school. But good times.

I'll post another, longer blog on Monday about the Journal's upcoming Symposium on the Second Amendment ("right to bear arms" for the unfamiliar) and Gun Regulation. The Symposium will be held all day at the law school on Friday, March 19.

For an idea of just how timely our Symposium is today in America, in Massachusetts, and in several issues of constitutional jurisprudence, Massachusetts' highest court, the Supreme Judicial Court, today decided two cases that said states can still heavily regulate gun ownership because the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to say that Heller v. U.S. applies to the states. Heller was the case from a couple years ago that said the right to bear arms is an individual right. The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments in McDonald v. Chicago, which directly questioned whether Heller and thus the Second Amendment right to bear arms applies to the states or only to federal territories.

Welcome back, indeed.

This week has been filled with my three classes, seeing fellow classmates I haven't seen in three months, hearing about co-ops, talking about co-ops, and, overwhelmingly, the Journal.

Journal, Journal, Journal. For example, I have interrupted writing this blog at least three times thus far, the longest break being forty-five minutes, to handle some Journal matters. Good times.

The bulk of the Journal work is preparing for our upcoming symposium, "Chamber to Chambers: The Second Amendment in the New Century." We have several panelists coming in from out of state, from such organizations as the Coalition to End Gun Violence, and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, as well as academics and legal scholars, to discuss the Second Amendment and gun regulation.

The symposium is happening Friday, March 19 at Northeastern School of Law, in Dockser room 240. If you're local, or are going to be in town, you should come by! It would not only be a great event, but a great way to see what Northeastern is all about. The event starts at 9:00a.m. and different panels will run throughout the day. I will post a more itemized schedule next week!

Otherwise, classes are going well. I enjoy all three of them, especially Sports Law thus far. I have to write a twenty-five page paper as my final in the course and am currently trying to determine a suitable topic. It has to be about sports and the law, and, to ease any pain I might experience, about something I find interesting. My dad was a football referee until just a few years ago, so last night I started researching lawsuits that are commonly (or controversially) brought against referees in amateur or high school sports. We'll see where it goes.

More to come...

Bail hearings and trial preparations continue on co-op. Yesterday, I had a particularly rough time with the bail hearing because the allegations against my client are seemingly pretty lock-tight. While, under the law, the person's allegations themselves should not be an overriding factor in whether a cash bail is set (e.g., $500, $10,000 before s/he could get out), the judge often takes the allegations into consideration when making his/her decision. Often, the judge reasons that the person is likely to not show up to court because they have the serious possibility of a conviction and serving time in prison.

So, one makes the best argument possible in tough situations.

Otherwise, I am helping an attorney prepare for a complex trial scheduled for next week. As is fairly usual with co-op students, I am a newcomer to this late-stage case and had to quickly learn about the allegations and the history of the case, our investigation, and our planned defense. In short, I had little time to learn everything about this case so I could best assist the attorney and the client. Picture a treadmill.

Outside of work I picked up a part-time job as a waiter; anything to fill the off days I will have this coming quarter and make a little money to fight off the traditional-ever-mounting-law-school debt. I have never worked as a waiter before, but I figure if I can talk a judge down to a low bail on an armed robbery charge, and calmly counsel and talk to a person with anger and mental health issues, attending to restaurant patrons should be a quick learn.

That's not to say that waiting tables is easy, just that I think I'm equipped to learn. Tonight is the second night of training where I continue to memorize (and taste) everything on their menus. Although I didn't go to law school to better learn how to be a waiter (or any other job, really, than be a lawyer), it's important to keep your blinders off and know that any situation can teach you something. Waiting could make me be a better counselor and advocate. And, most importantly, waiting pays.

Best of luck to all my friends and loved ones on the opposite rotation who are in the thick of exams!

This is officially my last week of co-op, but I am staying on until the Friday before classes resume. It's one part insatiability, one part wanting the experience.

Regarding classes, I will be taking Sports Law, Legal Interviewing & Counseling, and Advanced Criminal Procedure. I'm wicked excited about all three, as I am about soon graduating and these three being the last courses I may ever take.

Another reason I am excited about graduating is that I have a job. Last week the Committee for Public Counsel Services offered me a staff attorney position in their Public Defender Division. And I accepted! Exclamation point! So, next year, I'll be a public defender here in Massachusetts (although I don't know exactly where in Massachusetts).

I must say that I'm very thrilled to be extended an offer and to have a job lined up prior to graduation. It's a tough year economically for everyone and having a job before graduating seems to be uncommon. Many find jobs after graduation, and even more so after taking and passing the bar. Moreover, I am humbled and honored to get a position with CPCS--a great agency with a wonderful training program--where I will be able to continue representing the indigent of Massachusetts.

Relatedly, Thursday, my fiancee and I are attending training to help Haitian refugees and those flown to hospitals in Mass apply for temporary protective status. Many in law school are involved in this and other projects in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquakes and we saw this as a great opportunity to put our budding legal skills to use and help where we could with what do have. After the quakes, a network of students at NUSL sprang into genesis and started sharing information on how to help and where, and where to donate time, money, supplies, etc. If there is one thing that NUSL students do well, it's springing into action. I'll report back on the training and counseling sessions.

Dear lord...I have not written a blog in much longer than I remembered. Apologies to avid readers; I wish I had a good, solid excuse. However, my days have been filled with co-op and my evenings with reading and relaxing. So, for at least a few hours in the evening, I had plenty of time to blog.

I have been doing more bail hearings and arraignments--so many, in fact, I've lost count. I'm scheduled to represent a client at his probation surrender hearing the first week that classes resume. Of the many things I've done, I've yet to represent someone at a surrender hearing (where the Probation Dep't alleges that a person has violated the terms of their probation and should be sent to jail). So, I'm excited at a new learning opportunity and ready to dive in and prepare to be the most effective advocate I can be.

Classes start on Mar 1, and it looks like I will get the schedule I wanted: Advanced Criminal Procedure, Client Interviewing & Counseling, and Sports Law. I will only have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and, along with my work on the Journal, I will meet the minimum required hours to stay full-time and graduate in May. So, I'm set.

Much of the rest of my time will be preparing for graduation, working a part-time job to make money and meet costs (if I'm lucky), and, overwhelmingly, the Journal. On March 19th the Journal will be hosting its third annual symposium, a huge event with speakers coming in from all around the country. This year's topic is the Second Amendment , and speakers will be discussing its import from many different angles, including public health/domestic violence, firearm regulation and federal regulation of state activities, gun violence, and, of course, one's constitutional right to bear arms. That is but a sample of the discussions that will be held all throughout the day, and will be garnished by refreshments. I will be writing more about the Symposium in subsequent blogs, but please come and encourage others to come. The event is open to the public and it would be a great introduction to NUSL and to cutting-edge constitutional issues. It will be great!