Ira, 3L

Firstly,

It was really great to meet several of you at the Fall Open House this week. As I mentioned then, in person, please feel free to comment on any of my blogs (or those of my fellow-bloggers) if you have any more questions about Northeastern, law school life, or even the Admissions process. Note that I personally have no role in how your application is received and reviewed, but I'd be glad to answer questions as someone who was a prospective student last year.

For those of you who couldn't make it to the Fall Open House, don't sweat it. It was a nice time, there was free food, you had a short chance to meet many of the professors, Admissions' staff, Dean, and several students, but 1.) it's not necessary to attend Open House to be accepted, and 2.) there will be more.

Personally, I moved from North Carolina (interesting digressing factoid: although I now live in Massachusetts, NC is traditionally called "The Old North State." You can infer how us North Carolinians view ourselves) and in no way could afford the time off from work or the airfare to come to all the events the Office of Admissions sets up for prospective students. I made a point to come to the one AFTER I was accepted, though.

And there was still free food, plenty of professors, the Dean, and Admissions' staff to meet.

Secondly, after today we 1Ls have one full week of class left. That's it. These are "The End Times"--not to be confused with the time of the same name mentioned by Nostradamus or the Aztecs. 1Ls are catching up on whatever reading they may have skipped, missed, or simply need to read again to understand, outlining, and beginning to take practice exams. There are definitely a few I need to read again, but I'm sure I'll cover them in the finishing of my outlines.

In several of our classes this semester we've studied the impact of economic theory on the law, and I can't help but have similar thoughts on the inverse amount of sleep and work that seems to test law students on what is really the most efficient use of their time.

More to come...

Posted by Ira at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I did--definitely--but, like most 1Ls, I spent a lot of time studying and outlining for finals.

Also like most 1Ls, most of that outlining was focused on Civil Procedure. I've heard from many that Civ Pro is considered, by far, the hardest class during the first semester--maybe even the first year--of law school. I haven't taken my second semester classes yet (I'm calling it the "Spring of the Three C's"--Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, and Contracts), so I'll have to get back to you on a comparison. But Civ Pro is a lot of information. A LOT. All in all, though, it's really about how the judicial branch of our government (really, the Supreme Court) has decided to run and organize the federal court system so as to keep it "efficient" and "fair."

As this blog is titled, though, the most exciting goings on for 1Ls deal with internships. For those who are going on internship (note--we call it "co-op") next Summer, we're already receiving interviews and offers from the places where we applied. Several classmates and friends had their first interviews today. I and two other students got an offer straight-out from the Arizona Supreme Court.

I am excited about getting an offer so soon and from such a prestigious place. Also, I thought it would be a great example to blog about how choosing an internship at Northeastern works.

So, I applied--as I wrote in an earlier blog--to eleven "co-op employers." Several of them are with judges or judges' offices. In the way the internship system is constructed at Northeastern, if you get an offer from a judge for an internship for which you applied--and you have yet to accept another offer--you HAVE to take it. Even if you receive an offer at some place you really, really want to work for three months.

Knowing this at the get-go, and knowing that I really want to do my FIRST internship with a judge (such co-ops supposedly provide great legal research and writing experience, among other things), I did not apply anywhere I would be unhappy turning down.

So, on Monday I received acceptance of two interviews and an offer from three different co-op employers. Since the offer was from the Arizona Supreme Court (obviously a judge's office), I had to turn down the interviews with the other agencies. Yet, I don't have to immediately accept the offer in Arizona.

How can that be, right? Didn't I just write above that I HAVE to accept it? No matter what?

Well, as in the law and in life, few things are "no matter what." Since I applied early, I have ten days to respond to the offer. Since it's a judge's office that issued the offer, I can only turn it down if I get another offer from a judge's office within those ten days.

I would really, really like to go to Arizona for the summer and work with the top court in that state. It helps that I have family that live in Phoenix, so I'd have a free place to stay.

But, I want to keep my options open. I applied to other judges with whom I also really, really want to work, and I have ten days. Well, as of today, I have eight.

Wish me luck.

P.S. We 1Ls have a week and half of classes left; then a reading week to study, stress-out, crack, recover, and study more; then exams. I'll keep blogging if you keep reading.

Posted by Ira at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Why do you want to go to law school?

No, scratch that. Why do YOU want to become a lawyer?

I mean--that is what the first question comes down to, right? Isn't that the meat of it? Isn't that what all the admissions offices--the law schools--are really asking you on your application? Why do YOU want to become a lawyer?

Now, to be fair, not everyone who goes and finishes law school becomes a lawyer. Some go into the private business sector without taking the bar--e.g., working as consultants--or take equally lucrative positions elsewhere. I've heard that there are even certain people who are solely interested in legal scholarship and academia. I'm not totally clear on whether you need to be a licensed attorney or have practiced to teach, but that's a little immaterial to the scope of this blog. The bulk of law students do take the bar and practice law in at least one of the fifty-one jurisdictions in the United States. But, why?

Why does anyone want to be a lawyer? Isn't there, like, an uncountable number of lawyers already? Does the world need more? I was certainly asked these questions by friends and family when I applied to law schools. The reasons I continue to give and the reasons I've heard from fellow students are varied: money, a particularly appealing area of the law, perceived job security, the "professional" status of the profession, family pressure (e.g., your dad or mom is a lawyer and wants you to follow in their steps). Interestingly, some students simply provide that "they thought it was a good idea." (Note that this list is in no way comprehensive and does not reflect my actual reasons. It is meant, only, to be a rainbow).

Some, of course, always bring up the money aspect. Lawyers make a lot of money, right? Yes and no. I'm sure most of you already know that. I worked for a Public Defender's office for two and a half years before coming to law school and I can say with complete certitude that those attorneys did not make anywhere near what they could have if they worked for a large firm. Or, heck, even if they opened up a small practice focusing solely on traffic and DWI/DUI cases. Yet, despite the fact that they were making a small percentage of what they could earn in a corporate gig--they still made more money than me. In that way, I think, the income is all about your own perception.

But, it doesn't end there. Everyone wants to make money, after all. If I, for example, was only concerned with making money I would have never finished undergrad. at Carolina and just kept working construction and home installation. There's a lot of money to be made in construction.

Yet, no one wants to be doing something they don't enjoy. Or, at least, not for very long. Money is money. It's definitely important to pay the bills (and the enormous law school debt), but life is far too short for unhappiness.

I want to be a lawyer because lawyers have unfounded potential to be instruments of social change. The law is, after all, around and within everything we do. You can't even build a porch on your own house on your own land without making sure you're following proper zoning laws and municipal ordinances (which, by the way, we just learned in Property are generally favored as prime methods to govern land-use). If the law--in any culture--permeates society in this way, think about the cutting edge work those practicing law get to do! Intellectual Property Law, for example, is becoming more and more important as our culture shifts so much of its resources and knowledge to the internet.

Again, why do YOU want to be a lawyer?

In other news, it snowed for the first time in Boston yesterday. Snow in the South is incidental (unless you live in the mountains)--especially when you grew up near the coast like I did. Now, I live in Mission Hill and got to enjoy my mile walk to school as the snowflakes fell down around me. It didn't stick to the ground and stopped by noon, but was great. I keep waiting for the deluge, though...some blizzard to roll in and give me the New England winter so many friends told me I could expect. Then, when it is negative 15 degrees (or colder) and I have to walk on the street because the plows pushed the snow up on the sidewalk, I'll let you know how my walks to school are going. I bet I'll still think they're great.

Two more things:

1.) Have a Happy Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, please enjoy whatever break your employer or school has given you.

If you aren't employed and don't go to school...well...just try to enjoy yourself. :)

2.) Following Leon's example: please note that there is a link in the bottom right, under the blog, to leave comments. Leave a comment, post questions, ask me to transfer large sums of your money from a Nigerian bank--whatever is your fancy. If you leave a comment, I will most definitely respond.

Posted by Ira at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A short post today:

It's tough to be a 1L and keep apprised of the goings-on in the world. Even if your homepage is set to The New York Times or BBC.com. Some news, though, makes it through the sand-bag walls created by the readings for Property, Torts, Civil Procedure and LSSC. The devolving and frightening situation in Pakistan, for example.

A few weeks ago I heard that the lawyers of Pakistan were protesting in the streets again--uspet that President Gen. Musharraf dismissed the country's Chief Judge. Again. The protests were getting violent. Clashes with the police ensued. This all seemed a repeat of earlier this year--lawyer protests at the tail-end of winter. Click here to see pictures from that conflict.

Looking at those pictures, it all seems like a farce: lawyers in suits and ties in the streets, hurling stones and being beaten by baton-wielding police. A true clash of law and order. It's like something out of a Monty Python bit.

That got me thinking about two interrelated things: 1.) the way lawyers are perceived generally. I mean, if asked to describe lawyerly characteristics--"physically threatening" certainly wouldn't top the list. And, 2.) how indicative these actions are of the Pakistani lawyers' dedication to the role of the judicial system and the rule of law.

More to come...

Posted by Ira at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday my LSSC law office met with our client representative to discuss our project due next April.

Wait, let me back up and give some introduction and history:

As I mentioned in my first blog, LSSC stands for Legal Skills in Social Context. Clicking on that link will certainly give you a description of the program, but I think, like most descriptions, it's abstract and slightly inadequate until you've experienced whatever is being described on the ground. Know that LSSC used to be two separate courses under the 1L curriculum. Students took a class on "legal research and writing" and then took another class that developed useful lawyering skills and analyzed the law and its role in society. The research and writing course was taught by 2Ls and 3Ls. Two years ago it changed. LSSC was created, the two courses were brought under its title, and the coursework was overhauled. Now, adjuncts--i.e., practicing lawyers--are assigned to teach individual research and writing courses. Thirteen to fourteen students are put into "law offices" that study these lawyering skills and the societal role of the law and lawyers.

After a rather intensive first semester of studying the methods of legal research and writing and lawyering skills, each law office is assigned a project on which to apply all this learning. The project is not invented by the law school, but submitted by an outside agency. Apparently, in the past two years the program has gotten a great numbr of submissions from organizations. I've heard that the application process is quite competitive.

Whew. Okay, we're done with the intro. I feel it is important, because a lot of 1Ls--including me--were confused about the whole set up of LSSC. It is, after all, something completely unique to Northeastern and not traditionally done at other law schools. I mean, how many curricular programs are out there giving 1Ls the opportunity to work on budding legal issues for a real client?

So, we met our client organization yesterday, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP). I hear that other law offices are working for agencies like a Public Defender's Office, the Vera Institute, and so on.

NLCHP has asked us to research the criminalization of homelessness in America (i.e., states or municipalities making it illegal to be homeless by making illegal some activity done by the homeless--such as sleeping or eating--or done by the public--giving food to the homeless). After that, we are to research programs in other countries that combat the causes of homelessness as alternatives to this criminalization, and analyze whether it would even be legally feasible (i.e., constitutional and workable) to institute such programs in America.

We don't start research until January and we're scheduled to orally present our project to NLCHP in April. I'll let you know how things progress.

In other news, the weather has gotten colder here in Boston and it gets dark around 4:30 p.m. I'm told it's going to snow soon. That's fine with me--it all just signals that we're almost done with our first semester of law school. The fabled first semester.

Posted by Ira at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)