Ira, 3L

Welcome to the Northeastern University School of Law Blogs! As one of two 1Ls blogging this year, I want start off by giving you a sense of where I am now (busy, busy, busy) to where I was last year (busy, busy, busy). A year ago, I was working a full-time job, volunteering, and applying to law schools. I applied early admission, early decision, and just plain early to the schools on my list. Feel free to follow my example. Or not. Fast-forward to the present: I'm finishing my second full month at Northeastern, and, as you read above, I find the pace maintaining at a full-tilt. Or faster. Of course, I don't imagine anyone seriously considering committing their lives to three years of law school--as I imagine many of you are now so considering--would have any fantasies about it not being a heavy and deadline-ridden workload.

You may ask, then, how am I--as a 1L--finding time to write this blog? Honestly, I just sleep a little less. There is no rest for the weary, after all.

You may also ask, what is the first year like in law school--you know, besides all the "busy" and the "go, go, go?" What is the meat of it? What should I expect?

First, expect a lot of reading. That is a standard law student answer, but that's because reading is a staple and the answer holds true. Secondly, know that the professors and the administrators and your fellow students will expect a lot of initiative out of you. Your success, at the end of the day, is up to you. Even in the many group projects, your success is reliant upon how much you put into it. Everyone is here to help and, as far as I've witnessed at Northeastern thus far, is totally approachable when your have questions or problems. Yet, they are training future lawyers and thusly expect a higher level of responsibility and effort.

As a 1L you take a standard first-year curriculum. At Northeastern, you take a standard first-year curriculum and then some. This semester we all take Civil Procedure, Tort Law, and Property Law, and a course titled Legal Skills in Social Context (LSSC). I'll talk a bit more about LSSC in the next blog, but know for now that it is an intensive course--emphasis on INTENSIVELY time-consuming--that teaches in-depth legal research and writing while examining the social aspects and application of the law. Unlike research and writing courses at other law schools, LSSC is unique in that it stems straight out of Northeastern's commitment to public interest law and public service. Again, more on this later.

Monday, at or around the mid-point in our semester, all 1Ls took a Torts practice exam. Many considered it a mid-term and prepared for it accordingly. Many are now drained from having studied Torts exclusively this past weekend and neglected other pressing assignments. "Many" could be a code-name for "Ira." Honestly, I actually fall somewhere in between being totally drained and very glad it is over. A benefit to the practice exam was recapping everything we've studied in American tort law to date. It's amazing how many cases one can read in two months.

To wrap up, a word or two on living in Boston in the eyes of an out-of-towner. I moved from North Carolina where I lived the majority of my life, did my undergraduate studies, and worked. It's too easy to turn a cliche and say that the Northeast is totally different from the Southeast. I mean, it's true and it isn't. Some things are the same, some are not: people still drive like maniacs; the seasons still go Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall. Yet, people do indeed talk faster and behave with more of a hurry up North. It's not unfortunate, just noticeable. Also, quite inconveniently, you can't buy beer in grocery stores. I haven't discovered yet if this is a singular Boston or State of Massachusetts practice. Stay tuned. Either way, it made two stops out of one. More stops when you're in the city--on foot or in car--is not always a cool situation.

Lastly, just imagine living in Boston when the Red Sox win baseball championships. For those of you not familiar with what Franklin Street in Chapel Hill looks like after Carolina wins big at basketball--picture pandemonium.

Personally, I'm an Atlanta Braves fan. Always have been. Despite my fervent disapproval of the designated hitter rule, Atlanta is in the National League and I'm not barred from from liking Boston. It helps that I don't like George Steinbrenner, the Steinbrenner family, and by extension the Yankees. Other than those exceptions, I just dig baseball in general.

But I'm SO glad it's over. And I know many other 1Ls who agree. Now we can get some work done without either 1.) pretending to do it while watching the games, or 2.) actually doing the work and wishing we were watching the games. Interestingly, this all around the time that the upper-level students tell us is the threshold of the first-year--that week or couple of weeks when nearly every 1L feels like their reaching their capacity for assignments, projects, lack of sleep, stress, coffee ingestion. A couple blokes in Civil Procedure with me see no end in sight, because now football season starts in full swing. Luckily for me I don't dig football.

Don't get the impression, though, that the first year of law school is only about work, increasing your coffee intake by 300%, and making hard choices about the trade-offs outside of studies. It's not. At Northeastern, speficically, 1Ls really are the force behind the show. With half of the upper-level students gone on co-ops every three months, it's really difficult for there to be any continuity of effort in student activities. So, a lot of onus is put on the 1Ls to keep things going. This creates an interesting working dynamic.

Yesterday I was at a meeting for Dean Spieler's Ad Hoc International Programming Committee. I'm not on the Committee officially, but, hey, it's Ad Hoc and the Chair--Professor Hope Lewis--invited me. I'm the 1L Co-Chair of the International Law Society (ILS). The purpose of the Committee, mandated by the Dean, is to examine the possibility of increasing international opportunities into the curriculum, co-operative education, and the academic setting at Northeastern. "International opportunities" is very vague, but just know the Committee is basically drafting a memorandum--to be distributed to the law school's administration and faculty at large--to propose increasing the number of international classes offered and establishing study abroad programs and partnerships with foreign institutions and universities.

Awesome. The Committee is working on it. They've got it under control. Why am I at the meeting? Shouldn't I be in the library somewhere reading Supreme Court Cases on the claim preclusion (or res judicata depending on your vintage)?

Yes, yes I should. But there is much more to do at Northeastern--especially as 1Ls--that doesn't compete with your scholastic duties as much as you would think. My major platform in ILS consists of exactly the same issues with which the Committee is involved. Northeastern has some great core international law classes, but they need to be offered every quarter for upper-level students and most of them are not. Taking a class on, say, European Union Laws could be quite central in getting a co-op internship or securing post-graduation employment. More so than not totally conflicting with the 1L lifestyle, this dynamic that co-op creates forces first-year students to be active.

No. It forces us to be proactive. We know that upper-levels and the faculty are there for guidance and support, but these opportunities to shape our education and take part in more than just our studies are out there waiting for us.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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...

It's the last week of classes! I'm sure I've mentioned that in a blog or two previously.

Yesterday we had our last Research and Writing class of LSSC for the first semester. We each turned in a final draft of a legal memo and a draft of a client letter. With all that we have to read in our case books for our other classes, it seems that our research and writing assignments often get re-prioritized or weighted down under scornful words for taking time away from Civil Procedure, Torts and Property. I admit I've cursed Research and Writing a time or two. Or more. And several fellow students have told me they've done the same.

But, at the end of the proverbial day, I can't deny that what we're learning is anything less than integral. According to co-op employers and post-graduation employers, one of the most important things they look for in an applicant is the ability to write well. Again, the new Research and Writing program is taught by adjunct faculty and, overall, is still in its infancy. But, for all the cussing I've done at two o'clock in the morning with back-logged cases to read for Property (or the Social Justice class of LSSC)--I'm glad I have it. Also, whatever written product comes out of it at the end of next semester, there's a great possibility I can expand on it to fulfill Northeastern's writing requirement.

A word (or more) on exams: it is an interesting comparison to undergrad. to think about law school exams. In law school, as most know, you get one test at the end of the semester. That's it--one cumulative test. That doesn't happen to too many people in undergrad. Now, given, Northeastern doesn't provide traditional grades--but an exam is still an exam. For example, each of our exams are four hours long and they are all essay question. In fact, they are essentially one large essay question with two or more sub-parts. Four hours long. Heck, that's a marathon. And I'm fairly certain the clock doesn't stop for bathroom breaks.

Okay then, back to studying.

Currently bogged down with studying for finals (Civil Procedure on Friday, Property on Monday and Torts next Wednesday), there are not a lot of activities going on around the school--or in 1L life--to report. There are still plenty of events happening at the school (with 2Ls and 3Ls still in classes), but I'm sure they are devoid of first-years. Going to club meetings, presentations by prospective faculty, or lectures by practicing attorneys in certain fields (this week they had Military Law) all sound great. I enjoy going to those things. Overall, though, it's less and less feasible when you're trying to squeeze every spare minute out of a day.

Nonetheless, like Leon noted in his blog, we're all looking forward to the end of exams. I'm awaiting Thursday, December 20. Then, maybe, I can do some holiday shopping before I leave for North Carolina to visit my family and friends back home. I seriously considered ordering them all "Northeastern Law" T-shirts and sweaters, but I don't imagine that will go over too well with, say, my four-year old little brother.

I'm also really looking forward to next semester's classes, while remaining a fount of optimism about my law office's LSSC project. We'll see.

I'll report back after my Civil Procedure exam on Friday, as it gets out early afternoon. To all of you out there reading who are currently studying for your own finals, or meeting deadlines at work--or, I suppose, just being bogged down in your own special way--my best to you.

"One down, two to go." That's what my girlfriend told me when I called her after finishing my Civ Pro exam. I think she'll be happier than I am once exams are over. Pretty positive.

So, I'm done with my first ever law school exam. It was four hours long, the proctor seemed like somewhat of a tool, and I did...well, on second thought, I'm not going to describe my performance on the exam. Two reasons: One, they ask us to not discuss the subject matter of the exam with anyone else for some time after exams end (in case anyone has to take a make-up due to unforeseen circumstances--like, say, being stuck in a plow-created snowdrift on the other side of Boston); and, two, the exams are quasi-anonymously completed and anonymously graded. I'd like it to stay that way. We're each assigned a five-digit number (which doesn't make it totally anonymous) and the professors don't know who completed the exam until after they've finished grading.

This system of anonymity is linked to a relatively new way of taking exams at NUSL. At least, I hope it's new, because a lot of kinks are still being worked out. These "kinks," I think, are creating a lot of the stress that goes into exams. The safest way to know that none of the technology supplied or provided will fail us while taking the tests is to write in a bluebook by hand.

Like many, I decided to take the exam on my laptop. Some do choose to write it out, and many choose to take them on the school's computers.

But me--my own laptop. And a Mac, at that. What a rebel, huh? Don't get any ideas, though, the exam software disables any other programs from operating or even being accessed while the exam is in progress.

Anyway, Macs have slightly different instructions and they interface with the exam software in slightly different ways. This causes some frustrations because a lot of people couldn't get the software to download properly (some PCs too) and had to start the exam late. I do say this, though, the computer services folks at the law school were on hand and doing their best to solve all problems. I can only imagine it's tough to deal with strung-out 1Ls who have had little sleep in days while they've studied for exams, and who don't want any more anxiety than studying for Civ Pro often causes.

Luckily, I had no problems with the software. The exam, though, well I'll tell you about that next semester when I get the evaluations back.

I think the title of this blog says it all. So much has happened in the past two to three weeks, and yet at the same time it feels like so very little. I mean, I did almost nothing else (and I mean nothing) than study for fifteen hours a day or more and take three four-hour long exams. And yet it feels like such a long journey.

As counterintuitive as that whole scenario seems, it expresses the truly exhausted and confused feelings with which I was left after finishing exams. Yesterday, at 1:00 p.m. I was done with my last exam--Torts--and yet had this feeling like I was everywhere and nowhere at the same time; mentally full of everything and nothing at all. In a word--drained. At the post exam celebrations naturally full of warming and flowing libations, nearly all the 1Ls with whom I spoke expressed the same.

And yet, above it all, just oh-so-glad to be done.

We get about two weeks off and have to be back at school January 2nd prepared for a rigorous week of LSSC--starting working on the project I described in earlier blog.

For now, I'm happy to be on a plateau of relative calm and restfulness before starting my second semester. Naturally, we are already getting assignments for the first day. No complaints on my end, really, about all of that. It's far better to have the required readings and assignments sooner than a day or two before. Or not told or provided the opportunity to discover the information at all and still expected to have magically known about it and read the material. Yeah, that happens.

So, I plan to read a book or two, do very little, spend time with my girlfriend, visit family in North Carolina, do very little, do all the reading for the start of next semester, and...just for kicks...do very little.

Happy Holidays everyone!

About a year or so before I even filled out a law school application I read Scott Turow's "1L" at the recommendation of a colleague. For those of you who don't know the book (or can't surmise it's subject matter from the title), Turow describes his first semester as a 1L at Harvard Law School. Of the many memorable points in the novel, he closes by briefly describing the start of his spring semester.

Turow rehashes in quick fashion everything he felt he'd learned during "the" first semester, and then discusses how the second would be different: he'd make time to read the paper at least once a week; read a book for pleasure; spend more time with his wife; and, in general, take things easier. He mentions knowing he would have time for these because his grades didn't qualify him to be on the Law Review, but forcefully notes that irregardless of the circumstances he would make time. That his life would not be all about law school.

I thought of this on my walk to school today and realized a great difference between our situations: Scott Turow didn't have a huge LSSC project in the offing.

My analysis ended there because I don't like to analogize when too many factors come into play. E.g., Turow reluctantly went to Harvard (he disliked stodginess and the 'good ol' boy system' if I recall) in the 1970s, and I'm proudly at Northeastern (bastion of Experiential Learning and Public Interest) in 2008.

So all that remains of that thought, then, is the LSSC project. Today 1Ls began school three days before classes resume, entering into an "intensive first week" of our project. We essentially have a steep learning curve to overcome and little time in which to do it. All deadlines and program expectations were laid out, on top of our client agency's expectations and project interests. To me it all seemed like some great desert sea, an ocean of sand dune-deadlines. Whenever we reach the summit of one dune, we have but uncovered and put in sight the next one to be scaled--dead ahead.

It sounds gloomy, like some Sisyphean objective merely created to work and exhaust us. Yet, I know it's not. And, like all great treks where the journey is many-obstacled and seems endless, I know that the end is more than the destination. We will all come away, I think, greater somehow and more knowledgeable than we can now fathom.

Mapped against this, pragmatically, we will also have done what lawyers do: represented our client to the best of our ability and delivered the information and the advocacy asked of us.

As my group's project is for the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, I'm off to research info. on the state and federal governmental responses to homelessness...with my eyes on the dune ahead.

More to come...

Normally I post two blogs a week (because I know the demand is so high), but you'll notice I deviated from this last week. That's what law school is all about, I'm afraid--deviation from best laid plans due to reprioritization. Despite the hundreds of angry and discontented emails I received eagerly asking why I had not posted and what was going on in 1L life, I chose to apply my efforts to finishing my law office's LSSC research plan.

In four groups we all did research on different facets of the state of homelessness in the US (including the role of the judicial system in the lives of homeless persons) and pulled together an updated summary of our research and what we think our next steps should be. Remember that our project goal is to research how homelessness is addressed (or not) in foreign countries.

Besides being part of one of the four teams (we researched the weighty subject of the governmental response to homelessness), I helped edit the document for clarity, punctuation, etc.

In approx. three days our law office pulled together thirty-one pages of research on homelessness in America. And that is only really a brief introduction.

On Monday 1Ls also started our traditional "law" classes and the Research and Writing component of LSSC. So far, in a simplistic nutshell, I've learned that Contract Law is about promises made and how they can be enforced, Constitutional Law is about the powers of the government (specifically the Supreme Court of the US) and the actual Constitution to tell states where legal (and maybe political and social) boundaries are, and Criminal Law is about punishment. All about punishment for violating the generally decided "social norm."

The busy, busy, busy begins again.

I'm going to review this past week in reverse. No real reason--just enjoy the ride.

We had Monday off due to a somewhat expected Snow Day. Sadly, like many 1Ls, I spent most of it working on my group's LSSC project. Truly sad, because I was hoping to go sledding down some of the larger hills near where I live. This could have posed a problem because 1) I don't own a sled, and 2) I planned to go sledding with my dog (a 140lb. Great Dane). Irregardless, that didn't happen.

As I mentioned in my last blog, the previous subcommittee in which I formed a part researched the governmental response across the United States to homelessness. Since Friday, we split up into different research subcommittees based on foreign countries to be analyzed. I am now one of three researching the state of homelessness in South Africa. We're working vigorously, planning our week out down to the hour. We must compile our information with the other four subcommittees' information on their own individual countries and have it prepared for review by next Thursday.

Note that this is only a preliminary step and an introductory look at the countries we chose to research. We have much more work to do before our presentation to our client-organization at the end of March-early April.

Last Wednesday the International Law Society (ILS) hosted an Immigration Law Conference with five panelists. The event was planned by ILS and co-sponsored by the Queer Caucus (QC), the Business Law Interest Group (BIG), the Asian and Pacific Islanders Law Students Association (APALSA), the Latin-American Law Students Association (LALSA), and the NUSL Co-Op Office. It seems to have been a big hit and had a fairly good showing. Our panelists came and spoke on the status of immigration laws and policies in America and the paths to reform. We had three lawyers, a social worker, and a policy analyst all working in different areas of immigration law.

Later this week (seriously, I intend to write a second blog this week), I want to discuss some of the more enlightening cases we're studying in our classes.

In Criminal Law we've just finished discussing the need for prohibited or unlawful conduct (basically, a "crime") to be specifically written down and accessible in a statute in some form or another. The basic (read--very basic) premise is that one needs the opportunity to know ahead of time that a certain type of act should not be done. Why? Because the will of people--that is, the legislature--decided that it should not be done.

We read a California case from 1970, Keeler v. Keeler(go ahead, click on it), where a husband brutally beat his (soon to be ex) wife for cheating on him. Due to the beating and its severity the baby, with which she was eight months pregnant from the other man, died. Note that the wife lived. The prosecutor brought a murder charge for the killing of the baby and he was convicted. Ultimately, however, the Supreme Court of California overturned the conviction because there was a question whether or not an unborn fetus counted as a human being. Basically, under the homicide law passed by the legislature of California in 1850, the unborn fetus was not considered to count as a human being. So, can the husband be convicted of taking the life of someone or something that never lived?

The court decided that it was the role of the legislature (as the democratically elected majority) to define an unborn fetus as living or not living and not the role of unelected judges.

Now, I in no way intend to start a debate on whether or not the Court's legal opinion in this case is correct OR when life truly begins. I described this jarring case because--for me personally--it has been very relevant. My hometown, Jacksonville, North Carolina, has been a hot-spot of media attention for the past week and a half after a pregnant female marine went missing and they later found what they believe to be the remains of her and her fetus buried in the alleged murderer's back yard. Sparing you any more details (for you can always read the news article at the link if you don't already know), the burial site is but a mile from my mother's house. If that wasn't relevant enough, there is a lot of talk around town (and I imagine in the District Attorney's Office) of whether they will ultimately indict for the murder of the unborn baby. I don't recall from my two years working in a Public Defender's office in North Carolina whether there is a law in the state making the murder of a pregnant woman (and her fetus) a double homicide.

There are a lot of presuppositions in that last paragraph (e.g., that we or the authorities know who the murderer is; that it actually was a murder; that they'll ever catch their suspect), but such is the nature of the criminal justice system, the nature of our media, and the nature of our humanity.

In lighter and more refreshing news, I'm going skiing tomorrow. This is somewhat of a delight for an out of towner who generally grew up near the coast--to be able to drive an hour and go skiing. Well, skiing that doesn't involve water. It's great, especially with all the fresh snow.

I hope everyone has a pleasant holiday weekend!

After coming back from a fantastic trip skiing this past weekend and a federal holiday with which to read for the coming week, I slogged into the LSSC work for my group's Thursday deadline. Besides completing my portion of the research on South Africa, I volunteered to help the team charged with checking and editing citations.

This may seem rather esoteric and eye-gougingly banal, but the devil is in the details and legal research and writing is all about the details. Citations and their proper usage are a big deal in legal writing, as they inform future readers of your work on what research you're basing your information. So, we spent hours and hours of pain apiece correcting mistakes in citation. Some persons seem to have made the mistakes carelessly, without really using the source for appropriate citation usage (The Bluebook), others succumbed to a common problem with my group's research--we're dealing with foreign material from the UK, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Australia, France, and South Africa. Seriously foreign material, not just foreign to us as 1Ls.

In our Research and Writing section of LSSC we're currently drafting a Motion to Dismiss a case and a memo in support of that motion. Know that these documents are directed at a fake judge presiding over a fake case involving our fake client--but it seems like great experience researching areas of law with which we're overwhelmingly unfamiliar (e.g., workplace discrimination in violation of the ADA), and great experience persuasively writing motions and memos.

A concern with these LSSC assignments, in conjunction with our continued reading for Criminal Law, Contracts and Constitutional Law, is that as we do more and more research the work and pressure will continue to ramp up. Unlike the fear I've heard from other law offices over fiery in-group squabbling as people get stressed out about this increased and demanding amount of work, my concern is focused on the sheer logistics of these group projects. Is it really a good idea to ask thirteen people to compile a project and give them all an opportunity to participate in writing and researching and editing, and overwhelmingly ask them to have it ready in such a short amount of time?

I'd like to believe it truly is, but I don't know. I'll keep you informed as we near mid-March. Projects are presented to the client and law-school community starting the week of March 24.

So, if you don't already know, let me give a nota bene: do not, I repeat, do not stare upward at the sky during snowfall. Staring into the heavens while snow is falling is a one-way ticket to being hypnotized, entranced or otherwise rendered useless. This is particularly troublesome while driving on a long, dimly lit road.

This is a bit how law school feels right now. There is so much to do, assignments constantly being added, bits of information to remember, on a level hard to sufficiently explain as really, truly extraordinary. So, regardless to your work or prior school experience, just trust my subjective picture here. It's a lot and we 1Ls get so wrapped up in the consistency of it all we get hypnotized, and it's hard even to care if there's an end in sight.

In other news, evaluations came out (for most of us) this past Friday. Northeastern uses evaluations, not traditional grades. Don't sweat it, though, because the grading system is somewhat analogous. Somewhat. Instead of letter grades we get "Outstanding," "Excellent," "Very Good," "Good," "Marginal Pass," or "Fail." The professor makes the decision on how they feel we did on their particular final exam and grades accordingly, then gives a brief (and generally, it's very brief) explanation of that evaluative grade and maybe our performance in the class.

I did decently. I'm happy and I knew the material. That, I feel, is supremely important.

I enjoyed meeting several of you at the Winter Open House last Wednesday. In response to several questions which repeated throughout the night, I thought I'd address them here.

How long is the typical day as a 1L? That is, how long should one expect to be working everyday?

To a great degree the core of this question seems to reflect fears about balancing Law School and personal life. As a short answer, expect to be working all the time. Every day. Expect your personal life to get pushed aside and shunted for much of your first year of law school.

This isn't always the way things play out, but if you expect to block out near all of your time, you'll be on the safe side. Several first-year students that I know actually go to class and read and do their work during the day, and are home by six or seven p.m. They refuse to take their books home and they commit to doing it all during daylight.

Other students spread their work throughout the day, getting it done in pockets. Some work until 2 a.m.

These variances point to one definite thing: you need to figure out what works for you. If you're the type of person who works well at 11.30 at night as opposed to 2.00 in the afternoon, then arrange your schedule accordingly. The focus should not solely be how many hours you spend, but should overwhelmingly be whether or not you get your work done and you understand the material. Regardless of the reasons you came (or are coming to law school), you got to do whatever it takes. I mean, after all, you gotta do what you gotta do.

What classes do you get to pick your first year?

Umm...none. In your first year you get told where to be, what classes you'll be taking when you're there, and who will be teaching the material. I'm pretty certain this is consistent across law schools in America. Think of it as law school boot-camp.

How hard is it to find a co-op?

On the front end it's actually pretty easy to secure an internship. The Co-Op Office is extremely helpful and will work with you every step along the way. Every step. But you still have to prepare the application packets, get an interview, wow the interviewers and be offered a position. A lot of work goes into the whole process, but it's a lot easier than getting into law school. In fact, it's a lot easier than studying for exams. Trust me. In the end, everyone gets an internship somewhere.

Do you recommend taking time off between undergrad and law school?

This is a tough one. I recommend you do what feels right, make a decision and then take the plunge either way. I took time off, but not with the intention of eventually going to law school. I graduated in 2003, then worked and eventually found my calling. However, all that time off and those experiences have given me great perspective. You know, the "real world." But several of my friends and fellow 1Ls came straight from undergrad programs and they're surviving and also carry great experiences and insightful perspectives.

Essentially, in the end it's up to you.

The work here at law school continues. Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Contracts, Researching South Africa's post-Apartheid guarantee of housing to all its citizens, etc, etc. Next week is "Spring Break," but don't let that fool you. Most of us 1Ls already plan to jump face-to-the-fire into our LSSC projects, reading for our core classes, and our research and writing assignments in the offing. There's also been some talk of starting outlines.

So, wanting a softer subject, I thought some would enjoy a list of famous lawyers not primarily known for being lawyers:

Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
Mohandas Gandhi
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Franz Kafka
Nelson Mandela
Rev. Al Sharpton
Ben Stein (yes, that Ben Stein)

Enjoy.

Last week was "Spring Break" for the 1Ls, and also marked the end of exams for 2Ls and 3Ls who are now on their co-ops. Like many things surrounding the study of law, the words "Spring" + "Break" are artifices. The weather was cold, snowy and often blustery, and I took few breaks in my studies and many projects until this past weekend. Now, it is true that I just moved to Boston in August. Perhaps this time of year is about as "Spring" as it gets here. If so, I am saddened and hold out hopes for what of the Summer I will see before heading to Phoenix.

This past weekend, though, I took a break from reading for classes and working on my LSSC project to attend the Robert Cover Public Interest Law Retreat. This year it was in Petersborough, New Hampshire. If asked to describe it in just one word, I would choose "life-changing." Before you argue: it is one word. Trust me, there is a hyphen in there.

The retreat brought together about twenty practitioners and professors of public interest law and approximately sixty students. We attended issue-specific workshops, heard motivational addresses, and participated in a lot of informal talks. I had great discussions with a former public defender, a county attorney, a litigator who fought on the side of government and corporate whistleblowers, and an attorney who brought cases in Washington, D.C. on behalf of prisoners, and many others. Moreover, it was fantastic to get to know students from other law schools. I met some wonderful people, and, honestly, learned a good deal about myself.

As a bonus, the whole shebang was held at an outdoor education center (read: "camp"), which was veritably picturesque with the snow and the clear nighttime skies. In between all our scheduled activities, we even had an opportunity to go cross-country skiing or snow-shoeing on the frozen lake.

Now back from this retreat, I am head-first and neck deep in finishing the LSSC project. I am swimming through treatises on the socio-economic rights possessed by children in South Africa, specifically analyzing whether they have a right to housing over and above adults. Additionally, in Constitutional Law (which I recently learned many schools do not teach until the second year) we are studying the War Powers of Congress, the President, and the role the federal courts have in managing those powers enumerated under the Constitution. We've talked a great deal in the past week about the authorizations to go to war in Iraq, the blank-check for the use of force in Vietnam, etc. It is really amazing stuff. I'll tell you more later, but, for the moment, I head back into it.

...in a short period of time.

My law office finished the bulk of our project. We're putting the finishing touches on it now and preparing it for our presentation Friday, March 28th. After that we're done. Done, done, done. Well, mostly done. I'm sure the program and powers that be will find something for us to do as we run up to exams.

This past Saturday was Barrister's Ball, affectionately and detractingly referred to as "Law School Prom." It was a good time, and nice to relax, drink, and dance the frustrations of LSSC and studying away. It was also great because the Ball is for more than just 1Ls; we got to see the upper-level students who haunt the building and (I believe) hide in the shadows. Seriously, we rarely see them. I believe that they don't go to class.

I am moving into a new place--hence the blog last week about housing issues in Boston. I'll be moving soon, but at least I've finally found a place for me and my 140 lb. great dane. A word of advice on this to future incoming class: this period of time, February - May of your 1L year at Northeastern, is the worst, worst, worst, WORST time you could try to move while in law school. Did I mention it sucks? Trying to balance law school, life, housing, life, law school and law school are not an easy task. I'm not sure if it's wholly possible. So, if given the choice, avoid it.

In other news: it's still snowing in Boston. True, it's light snow and quickly turns to rain. But, for someone who lived most of their lives in the South, snow in late March is a bit much. Moreover, I can't even imagine what the rain will be like in April.

That's all I got for now. I'm sure there is more, but I'm a little exhausted. Perhaps I'll get out a supplemental blog tomorrow...or early next week.

Apologies for the lack of blog last week; it was the run-up to our LSSC presentation and preparation consumed nearly every waking moment. I think, at times, I forgot to eat.

The presentation and debrief with our client and professors went really well. It is still a little surreal that we're done with the project, and...honestly...have a huge chunk of free time to...well, read and study for our other classes and work on our oral arguments for our Research and Writing course. I may even have time to call friends and family to let them know that I am indeed still alive.

At the risk of sounding like I was somehow encouraged or paid to write the following: Despite my supreme exhaustion and frustration with LSSC and (gleeful) happiness now that it is over, I cannot underline enough the valuable skills I now have because of the program. If nothing else, I certainly learned how to avoid a nervous breakdown for me and others. I also now have a great deal of skill in researching foreign law and international treaties that will definitely make its way onto my resume.

In other news, as soon as I finished the presentation and Con Law on Friday I left town and headed south. I was very recently invited to the Barrister's Ball (aka Law School Prom) at Georgetown Law, and took the opportunity to stay in DC and environs to see family and friends. And meet new friends. It was incredibly relaxing, rejuvenating, and...to milk a more utilitarian adjective...fantastic. I write it again: it was fantastic.

More than one Georgetown student I met told me that they wish they went to Northeastern instead. Hearing this had an interesting and momentarily paralyzing effect on me: it made me think about the nicely polished rejection letter I received from Georgetown over a year and half ago (I'm willing to admit here that Georgetown was my first choice); about how, regardless, I was glad before their comments that I came to Northeastern with its unique program; and how certain I am that those people will likely be fantastic attorneys no matter where they went to school. Each law school is different, and there is some truth to their reputations and, yes, even the rankings--BUT each law school still prepares you to become a lawyer. It is up to you to find out what kind of lawyer (or, more broadly, what to do with your law degree) and pursue that path.

As always, things are in flux here at Northeastern. Wait, I'm not even sure I know what "flux" really means. Is that even the right word here? Flux capacitor?

Okay, I looked it up: "continuous change." It was the right word choice, after all. Interesting archaic definition, though. As in, "Joey came down a bad case of the flux. He was out all afternoon."

Anyway, despite being done with my huge LSSC project I still feel like I'm trying to keep my head above water. Not a good feeling as one is heading towards exams (three weeks left). Luckily, I bit the bullet and stayed up all of last night to do some catch up and finish this other LSSC project we have due. That's right, other LSSC project. It's a research and writing assignment--a legal brief for or against a motion in a fake employment discrimination case. The motion was due today, noon, and will be followed up by oral arguments this coming Monday.

I must admit that I'm excited about the oral arguments, as it will put me back (in some ways) where I love to be...in the courtroom. I worked as child advocate and, quite separately, with a public defender's office for three years before law school and spent a good deal of time in court. Of course, on Monday it will be a fake courtroom with a fake judge...but it will all be real enough to be a welcome change from the routine of law school.

Overall, the general theme (as I'm sure it generally has been) is business. Read that as "busy-ness." With a double meaning of "business." But it's not all work and no play. Besides the catharsis that the oral argument is likely to be, there are also some really great legal events going on around Boston this month. For example, next week I'll be attending an event at New England School of Law on careers and projects in International Pro Bono Law.

And the weather is getting warmer by and by. I imagine I'll enjoy a nice week, maybe two of spring-like weather before BAM--summer. Or, alternatively, BAM--my move to Phoenix.

One last disparate note: For those of you who have commented in the past week, my apologies for not replying as of yet. An email is in the offing.

The title to this blog frames what has been an instructional week for me.

On Monday, my law office finished (perhaps for real, this time) LSSC with our oral arguments. As I may have described in an earlier entry, we were split individually into attorneys for the plaintiff and defendant for an employment discrimination case. Our oral arguments were the culmination of two months of research and legal writing, preceded slightly by motions and memoranda we had to file with the judge. I had the honor of giving my oral argument twice, as there were more attorneys for the defendant.

To note, the oral arguments were restricted to ten minutes (which is a short, short time to explain anything with the words "legal," "standard," and "discrimination" in your thesis) and, as we were addressing a "judge," we had to be prepared to be repeatedly interrupted with questions.

Both experiences for me were very instructional, as the two classmates against whom I argued took very different takes on the legal issues in question. So, I had to draft two slightly different arguments in opposition. Moreover, I learned a great deal more about speaking in front of a judge. For example, when the judge gets you slightly off your intended track and asks you a question for which you have no immediate answer...don't fumble through your words and end by saying -- "I have no clue, Your Honor."

Ultimately, I answered the question through talking it out. But, I should have said "Your Honor, I need a moment to think on that question" or some derivative thereof.

All in all, the oral arguments came out well and I enjoyed doing them.

That same afternoon I went to a panel downtown at the Boston Bar Association on International Pro Bono opportunities. It was very informative. There were several people, including the the current Chief Judge of the Massachusetts Court of Appeals, who have served on different International Criminal Tribunals (East Timor, Yugoslavia, Cambodia), election observation programs, large American firms that do pro bono work abroad, and more.

There wasn't much of an opportunity for a meet and greet, and, being a 1-L, I had to bolt to get some work done, but I got great notes on resources and places to look for internships and jobs post graduation.

Quite separately, the weather is beautiful here in Boston right now. The winter feels like its finally trailing off. Just in time for what could be an amazing weekend.

This will likely be my last blog to you amidst the classes of my first-year of law school.

Although some of you readers out there may have not read that sentence with the gravity it actually carries, I'm going to give a few moments of literary silence to let that sentence sink in...in the honor of my fellow 1Ls and all those 1Ls who have come and gone.

...end of first-year of law school....

Granted, the end of classes is merely the beginning of exams. But, law school exams are a whole different beast that must be overcome quite separately from the bridge we students had to cross to get here. The important point, I think, is that once we're preparing for and taking exams...we are in fact on the other side of the bridge. Whether or not they let us through the gate, well...that's the beast of it.

Several fellow classmates have mentioned the sheer difficulty in studying in the weather with which Boston has been blessed in the past week. Who wants to be inside and studious when Sunshine beckons us towards adventures and livelihoods that have little to do with the Uniform Commercial Code or issues of federalism and state sovereignty? Studying for exams was certainly much easier during the winter when the weather outside was much less inviting.

Well, notwithstanding Boston's current sunshine (and the Sunshine come and gone), I'm glad I didn't go to law school closer to the Equator. And, considering the lovely weather without these walls, I imagine this is why the powers that be construct law school buildings without big, expansive windows.

Contrary to those feeling torn between the weather and their studies, though, I actually find the majesty of Spring invigorating and helpful towards studying. Perhaps it's the general nature of the season to re-energize and I'm just finding it easier to channel it towards studying. Perhaps it's because baseball season is the best season (and Smoltz is now a member of the 3,000 club).

Anyway, exams will soon be over and I'll be headed to Phoenix to work for the Supreme Court there. I look forward to the chance to do appellate work and to hike some of the beautiful canyons in Arizona.

Tonight, I'm attending a meeting on "Justice for Northeastern University Janitors." (Note: if you go to that link, I wouldn't sign the petition UNLESS you're a member of the NU community AND have already not signed it.) I've been trying to go to these weekly meetings since about February, and now have finally made the time. No excuses, I just didn't have going to the meeting high on my list amidst all other law school goings-on. That doesn't mean I don't support the cause. In fact, I hope to attend the rally and march on the university president's house this Saturday.

More to come. Until next week...

I'll spare everyone the always exciting minutiae of the mental marathon that is studying for law school exams and get on to with what I have been distracting myself. Considering that very realistic picture, though, this blog will be short.

First, the end of classes was great. My last class, Constitutional Law, was wrapped up awesomely. I left it honestly feeling whole and complete. To paraphrase one of the last things Professor Adler said to us: The law tries to boil life down, make it abstract, and pretend that it--the law--operates in a perfect world. One of your best tools as a lawyer is fearlessness in the face of such abstraction. Keep an eye on the real world...a world that is not abstract or perfect.

Secondly, my first Seder dinner at the law school was great. See Wen's (second) blog--"Passover Seder" on the whole experience. I think she does a great job of describing it from the point of view of someone not Jewish at their first Seder. Also, I similarly learned that I don't dig gefilte fish.

Lastly, I spent part of this weekend at a rally in front of the $7.5 million dollar home of the President of Northeastern University. The Justice for Janitor's Coalition rallied with students, student groups, janitors, faculty, local members of state congress, the media, and the public to protest the wages and lack of healthcare under which many of the employees of our facility services must work. The rally went strong all weekend, through rain and sunshine, and collected nearly 900 letters of support from the community for the cause. And the fight continues. Go here to see a Northeastern University TV (NUTV) two-part documentary about it: Part One, and Part Two.

If you click on any of the other links provided in that paragraph you should see some great press coverage of this weekend's rally.

Best of luck to my fellow law students--at Northeastern and other law schools--

One down and two to go. It will all be over Friday at 1.30pm, after a four-and-a-half hour Contracts exam.

I'd ask for a collective expression of dissatisfaction, but in the many moments between studying where I am so susceptible to distraction I can appreciate how lucky I am to have only law school exams to be plaguing my life right now.

I mean, don't get me wrong, they are a plague. A necessary blight inflicted either as a reminder of how far we've come, a sadistic method of testing our capacity for knowledge in a short period of time, preparation for our true "final" law school exam (i.e., the bar exam), or as a right of passage towards our degree. Probably all of the above.

What's next? A short and blissful vacation with those dearest in my life, and then to my internship in Phoenix with the Arizona Supreme Court. I start right after Memorial Day, where the temperature is expected to hover around 95º for a couple weeks before it reaches above 100º for the remainder of the season.

Fear not loyal readers, I will be blogging through the Summer about all the goings on in Phoenix and beyond (and, hopefully, about something much more interesting than exams).

The title to this blog really paints the portrait, but the picture is admittedly incomplete for you non-law school readers who haven't been on this two week journey. So, let me take you there.

Last I wrote, I had two exams left: Criminal Law and Contracts. They both went, and I hope they went well. Crim was a bit of a frustration, because the professor determined that we did not need the full four hours typically allotted for law school exams at NUSL. Instead, s/he made the decision that we would do fine with two-and-a-half. There are pros and cons to this, of course. Presumably, if the time is cut almost in half the tested subject matter would also be cut in half. Presumably. The morning of the exam, moments before starting, we were informed that the Professor made a last minute decision (i.e., right before we arrived) that we may in fact need a full three hours for the exams.

After completing the exam, rich in byzantine hypotheticals where the characters arguably commit over ten crimes on one another and we're asked to explain how they should be charged, I am unsure if anything about the exam was truly changed to reflect the shortened timespan. Perhaps the professor's mind just changed.

Contracts, in all honestly, is kind of a blur. It was half multiple choice and half essay and, as I mentioned in my last blog, spanned four-and-a-half hours. I certainly practiced doing multiple choice questions for Contracts, and it seemed very foreign. As an English major in undergrad., who also studied History, Anthropology and foreign languages, I had not taken a multiple choice exam in a long time. Well, other than the LSAT. And my memory on that too was kind of a blur.

Since exams I've had a wonderful Summer break, now soon coming to a close. I spent part of it in D.C.--where I had a wonderful and relaxing time--and in North Carolina--where I visited family. Friday, very early in the a.m., I drive southwest towards Phoenix. Next Tuesday I start my internship at the Supreme Court, and I am really excited. The drive will be one long haul without any time to stop and smell the scenic roses. There will be plenty of that once I get to my post in Arizona.

The relaxing time in between exams and my internship in the offing hasn't totally been law-free. Firstly, I'm not sure if anything is really law free. Except maybe anarchy. Maybe. Secondly, the US Supreme Court has come down with some really exciting decisions in the past week and a half, not least to mention the (hopefully) monumental decision out of California on same-sex marriage.

More to come next week after my first day at the AZ Supreme Court. I hope all the best for everyone's summers too--wherever you are.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Classes are going well and extracurricular student activities are increasingly becoming more...well, active. As I go about my days at the law school, to and from class, to and from meetings, to and from the gym, I am starting to get back in the swing of being in law school.

Now, I realize that I am now entering my third week of resuming classes, but it is all still a twilight zone feeling like I don't belong. Or maybe I'm going to wake up one morning and it will all have been some anxious dream and I will still be on co-op. None of this is to say that I don't want to be in class or would rather be on co-op. Far from it. I enjoy classes and being uber-busy with student activities, interviewing for summer-time employment that could lead to post-grad jobs. As a classmate and dear friend said, I'm "just sick in the head that way."

Simply, I think I am adjusting to what upper level NUSL students (perhaps all law students everywhere) experience: a sort of Resumption Vertigo. We bounce around for three years between full-time classes and full-time work, with a week or two of vacation in between if we're lucky. So, when we're on co-op we're getting over the exhaustion and marathon that was exams. When we're back in classes we're getting over the feeling of being out of (and done with) school. It's all a little surreal.

I wonder if it gets easier, if you get used to the bounding back and forth, later. Do my 3L friends suffer the pain of Resumption Vertigo less? For that matter, this condition--if real--is multiplied for people at Northeastern. Unlike most law schools we don't just get the opportunity to work during two summers. No, we shift back and forth twice more. And, like many of my friends NOW on co-op, they stayed in class after Spring exams--going to school for almost twelve months straight before leaving to work. I can only imagine the disbelief they're feeling, now that exams are over and they were finally let loose.

Perhaps it's all part of the regimen in the end. Perhaps NUSL has patterned it this way so we're always kept on our toes, always thinking on our feet, as a lawyer standing in court and immediately handed a file on a client about which she knows nothing about. Or a junior associate at a firm handed a case and told to churn out a memo by the end of the day. Or, ultimately, just a better worker and a better person in a world where so much is unpredictable and shifting.

Or maybe I'm just sick in the head.

More to come...

I was just listening to the sweet tremble and wailings of Bono and The Edge while completing loan deferment forms and reading for my National Security Law class, and I had an arresting line of thoughts.

First, I find the haunting lyrics and steady, unpredictable music of U2 terrifyingly soul stirring. We all have our preferences and reactions; this is one of mine. While the main purpose of listening to music through insulated earbuds is to drown out the chatter and errant noise of law school and law school people so I can read about the pros and cons of the amended FISA Act on national security and civil liberties, I also listen to get into a rhythm. A calmed, lulled, melodic mode of studying. The Zone.

So, when I'm reading and Bono starts in on the four minutes and thirty seven seconds of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," or Axel Rose slowly pounds the piano keys in "November Rain" I get distracted. Those sort of songs roll around my brain memories of times and peoples ago and stop me from actually paying attention to the words on the page. Dispatch's "The General" too.

Generally I can ignore the bulk of the lyrics for what I'm working on. A friend and classmate listens to soundtracks, like "Last of the Mohicans" and "Braveheart." Great instrumental, lyric-less pieces that subtly backdrop his thought process like we all assume a soundtrack in our own lives really would.

But, for some reason, a few certain songs distract me. Maybe that's a patterned story of law school. Maybe we're all so intensely busy with meetings, readings, meetings, learning and meetings that we're ripe and ready for distraction.

Apologies up front, but this blog is going to be on the shorter side. Extreme side of shorter side.

If this in any way upsets you, loyal reader, you have my full permission to curse my name and immediately quit reading until next week. By next week, unless the powers that be are merely finding things for me to do, I may have a spare moment or two to write a longer, more thoughtful blog.

As of now I have some reading and writing to do. No arithmetic. Not today (in fact, I was a fake expert witness in fake trial today. A medical examiner, I refused to do math on the stand. Flat out refused).

Anyway, if you've read this far into my rambling blog, take comfort in the following quotation from the movie, "They Might Be Giants."

"Of course, [Don Quixote] carried it a bit too far. He thought that every windmill was a giant. That's insane. But, thinking that they might be...Well, all the best minds used to think the world was flat. But, what if it isn't? It might be round. And bread mold might be medicine. If we never looked at things and thought of what they might be, why, we'd all still be out there in the tall grass with the apes."

This quotation brings me comfort, folks. And, honestly, it helps me study the law.

Go ahead, wikipedia the movie. You'll be surprised to know that it is, after all, related to the band of the same name.

More to come...

I may have written a blog about this last year, but, if I did, it bears repeating: Everything is intertwined.

But, Ira, you'll say, that is about as obvious as a parrot with Tourette's at a pet store.

Okay, maybe that's a bad comparison.

Anyway, we all know everything is connected. Six degrees of separation for us all, maybe more so for Kevin Bacon. One thing leads to another, and all that. But, when you hone the interconnectedness of life down to one specific area, like, say, the law, it becomes amazingly apparent.

I'm taking First Amendment law right now, in which we spend the majority of our time discussing the freedom of speech and expression. Or, on occasion, the (not quite) freedom of speech. Nonetheless, the First Amendment has popped up in nearly every other class I've been taking. Point-in-case, in Appellate Advocacy I will have to write an appellate brief and give an oral argument to a Court of Appeals panel on a case involving hacking into government databases and computer systems. There are strong constitutional questions in this case, specifically, whether the First Amendment protects the hackers in using the information they acquired (or how they acquired it).

Moreover, issues involving the First Amendment show up all over the coursework in my class, Balancing Liberty and Security in Post-9/11 America.

Right now in the First Amendment class, we're just finishing obscenity, pornography, and sexually explicit speech. The way the Supreme Court has differentiated all three of those categories is interesting, if not, at times, befuddling.

More to come...

October 21, 2008. 10.14pm. I just read a news report, two emails, and multiple Facebook status messages that are reacting to the recent weather report predicting snow flurries this evening. While I'm tempted to sit back and await with glee the onset of winter conditions here in Boston, I have just a bit too much going on.

Exams for us upper levels are in just under four weeks. And it feels like we just broke into the syllabus. Plus, this week, I am in the full swing of interviews with government and public interest internships for next summer. I am really excited, but I have six in two days. Two on Thursday, Four on Friday. The ones on Thursday I plan on fitting in between classes. Friday, however, will likely just be an exhausting day.

These should be my last interviews for a while, so I'll let you know how they go. If I'm able to secure a job with one of them, perhaps I can finally divulge with whom I have been interviewing all this time. I am excited to discuss it, and talk in-depth about how the interviews go (and have gone). Until then, I won't share too much and prejudice myself--lest some curious potential employer does a Google search on me and finds this blog.

Also, elections are coming up in 2 weeks. I sent in my absentee ballot to North Carolina, but I cannot wait until Election Day.

What a busy, momentous week it has been.

This past Saturday I phonebanked for the Obama/Biden Campaign, calling Democratic and undecided voters in New Hampshire. My main goals, of course, were to get out the vote and arrange rides to the polls. Classmates of mine spent four days in New Hampshire, which has same-day registration, and helped register 1400 new voters.

I'm told Obama won that particular district in New Hampshire by 1500 votes.

So, if there was ever any doubt (and there has been plenty), EVERY vote counts.

Regarding President-elect Obama, I will be in DC during the inauguration. I have yet to line up housing. This process, as a law student living on loans (with a giant dog -- a 4 year old great dane) who is so far going on an internship away from Boston every three months, has been frustrating. It hasn't gotten any less worrisome as my mind is slowly turning towards other things--like exams.

I fear not, however. I'll find housing in DC. And, while I can be assured that it will not in any way be affordable, I am sure I will ultimately bring my dog, work for the Justice Department, and live in DC during the transition to the Obama presidency.

Despite the upcoming exams, I will be blogging next week. Forgive me if I am late by a day or two, loyal readers, as I have a mock trial and a mock oral argument in front of three actual Massachusetts Appeals Court judges in the middle of the week next week.

After that, only three more exams to go.

More to come...

I lied. But not intentionally. Despite my best efforts, I didn't blog last week and am a little late in the current one. I wish I could blame it all on exams, as an all-consuming time-paradox of a juggernaut--mowing over everything in its path--but, in all truth, I could have taken time aside and written a short blog. I've certainly done it in the past. However, I made choices and re-prioritized, and decided I could write a mea culpa blog today.

Here's how the exams went: classes ended last Friday, November 14th. On Wednesday the 12th, I had a mock trial in my Criminal Trial Practice class. It was a two hour, mostly full trial with opening arguments, direct examinations of witnesses, redirects after cross examinations, putting on other evidence, cross examinations after the other side's directs, and then closing arguments. I was part of a two-man prosecution team, representing the Commonwealth in a mock first-degree murder case. The two defendants were charged with shooting a police officer in the head, and the prosecution's star witness was a "career criminal" and co-conspirator. Tough case, especially given the time constraints. My counterparts, the defense, did a fantastic job. In the end, though, we had a hung jury.

On Thursday the 13th, I had to give an oral argument for Appellate Advocacy. We had to turn our appellate briefs in on Tuesday by 5pm, and then give an eight minute oral argument to a panel of three actual Massachusetts Appeals Court justices. I represented the appellee (that is, the side who wants things to stay the way they are) on a First Amendment free speech Constitutional issue. I thought it went fairly well, and the judges gave great feedback on my oral argument.

Those were both my finals for those classes. Then this past Monday, I had a three hour in-class exam for First Amendment, followed by a three and a half hour in-class exam in Evidence on Tuesday, and then an eight hour take home exam for National Security Law.

I am done, and a little exhausted. And, since I hand-wrote my two in-class exams (speedily writing like a fiend), my hand feels arthritic.

But I'm done! And the exams seemed to go well. I hope my grade reflects that feeling.

For now I'm going to get my life back together after having shut it out for a couple weeks, actually read through my mail, clean my apartment, spend time with my loved one, and then head home to North Carolina for Thanksgiving.

And then, on to Co-op at the Justice Department in DC!

More to come...

I just realized that it is January. Let me back up.

I'm quite well aware what month it is: I have to enter the date on forms almost every day. But January is the month that early decision applicants hear back from Northeastern. I still remember the day I heard, January 19th. A day that is inextricably linked to now. It is very much because of that acceptance letter (and my subsequent acceptance of said acceptance letter's offer -- oh contracts) that I sit here now at the US Department of Justice, doing a full-time internship in DC, and will be present for Obama's inauguration. If I had gone to another law school, one of my other top choices, I would have not moved to Boston and would be on the traditional law school track where I only get internships in the summer.

But I accepted and I did move to Boston! And while the road has not always been flat and smooth (first year, for example, has hills that roll like white caps through your life), it has been wonderful. School, work, the nearing and looming potential and threat of finding post-graduate employment, and, overwhelmingly, life--all have been great. Basically, it is a lot like hugging a porcupine.

The DOJ is sending me to Mississippi in a couple weeks to tour a facility there and help investigate its compliance (or non-compliance) with a court-order and federal law. Not too many interns get sent on assignment by their co-op employers, and even less get sent there for a week and put up in a decent hotel with (almost) all expenses paid. Thankfully, the Special Litigation Section at the Civil Rights Division is different.

Outside of work I am hurriedly completing an article for "The ILSA Quarterly," a publication of the International Law Students Association. I am a student editor for the "Quarterly" and am putting together two Q & As with attorneys working in international law. I spent about an hour and a half on the phone on Tuesday night with a judge on the US Court of International Trade. Last week I interviewed an attorney with the United Nation's Office of Legal Affairs.

Great, great stuff.

Related to school (which doesn't seem that far off, really. I head back to Boston and am done with my internship in a little over a month or so and start classes on March 2nd), we will soon register for classes. I hope to take Federal Courts (a class, basically, about the reach of the long arm of the federal judiciary and their purview -- real or imagined -- to hear cases and tell the states what to do), the Criminal Advocacy Clinic (where we're given intense training and assigned actual cases), and Advanced Criminal Procedure: Investigation (which, it seems, examines the law and constitutionality behind investigations into crimes and how that affects a case).

Also, we got our evaluations for last quarter's classes yesterday. Overall I was extremely pleased with my evaluations. I really tried hard and dove into the finals this past quarter--admittedly, a lot more than I did my first year--and it shows. One evaluation, however, while not bad, is so convoluted I am not entirely sure how I did on the final exam. This is one stark drawback of the evaluation system, especially an evolving evaluation system: some Professors choose not to respect the standard evaluative format (or aren't being informed by the administration) and wax on for a page or so about the law (i.e., nothing that comes close to evaluating your actual performance). Thus, at the end of it all, you have an evaluation that no employer is realistically going to read. Even if it does state some positive and affirming things, those words are still hidden in a labyrinth of words.

Hope all are well. Stay warm.

More to come...

Don't let it be said that NUSL students don't get a vacation. We do very much sign on to being in law school for three years of a non-stop, internship/classes, revolving rollercoaster joy ride. True story.

But if you time it just right, you get a week to two weeks of vacation on one end of each internship. Right now I'm enjoying my two weeks of vacation back in Boston. Plenty of rest, and it snowed some yesterday! Also, the classes I am taking this quarter are finalized, there is a complete book list more than a week before classes start (so I can order books and actually pay a reasonable price), and, while I must wait for loans to disperse so I can actually have money to do things like eat and go drinking, I am having a great time. A really great time.

I subleased my apartment to someone on the opposite rotation while I was gone (another feature particular to the NUSL co-op experience--if you go out of town), so I'm living with my fiancee until the subleasing student's exams are over. Having been gone for three months, it's great to be back and see my partner for more than a few days at a time.

Classes start Monday, March 2. I am taking only three classes (compared with five last quarter), but still a full credit course load: Federal Courts (considered the most difficult class in law school by many); Advanced Criminal Procedure - Investigations; and Criminal Advocacy Clinic. The clinic is supposedly A LOT of work, as much as two courses. But it is also supposedly great experience, we get assigned actual cases to represent (or assist in representing) in Mass. Superior Court, and it looks great on a resume. Employers love to see that you've taken a clinic, especially if you're interested in litigation.

I have also again signed on to be a Research Assistant with Prof. Ramirez, focusing my work and research on national security law issues.

It should be a great quarter.

Not a lot to write for this blog, as not a lot is going on. Just wrapping up the final week of vacation before classes begin on Monday. Have been spending most of my time reconnecting with friends over cheap beer, looking for a part-time job (because it is a sad truth that school loans just don't cut it--especially in this economy), and, most recently, reading for next week's classes. Federal Courts (mainly, issues of federalism and separation of powers) so far is very interesting and I look forward to it, but I try not to have any illusions about what is to come. The subject is universally considered to be mired in complexity (aka mind-boggling confusing), and, by some, pointlessly and unnecessarily so. Many students and the professor consider it the hardest class in law school.

Despite advice by some otherwise, I've decided to add a fourth class to my courseload for the coming quarter. I really, really want to take International and Foreign Legal Research, a two credit course that meets once a week. It will definitely be more work and take away some time from my other classes, but I'm up for the challenge and think it will be worth it.

More to come...

While perhaps titularly second, first and foremost I want to mention that the Northeastern University Law Journal, of which I am a student editor, has just published its very FIRST issue: "To Gitmo or Bust: Practical Challenges in Representing Guantanamo Detainees." NUSL has been around for quite a while, but this is the very first issue of the The Northeastern University Law Journal! Volume 1, Issue 1.

Go! Read it! Critique it! We're very excited.

The first week of classes is now over, and it was quite the week. Well, academically speaking. It all started with a snow day, a New England snow storm which canceled the first day of school.

At the eleventh hour I added a fourth class to my schedule, International and Foreign Legal Research. A research class with no required textbook, it had all the potential of being a lighter skills-intensive class to balance out my clinic and two heavily substantive law-learning courses. Naturally, international and foreign laws encompass all laws outside of the United States. So, if that last sentence were a pie chart, the overwhelming majority of the pie would be international law (e.g., treaties) and foreign law (e.g., French domestic laws). Such a large piece of pie, actually, that you may have trouble discerning the slice of American jurisprudence. I remain really stoked about the class and really enjoyed the first day. However, after taking my other classes, I knew it would be too much.

The Criminal Advocacy Clinic involves a crazy (and appropriate) amount of reading and dedication--as much if not more than two whole classes. Then there is Federal Courts. As I explained before, Fed Courts is considered to be hardest class in the law school. Even by faculty.

So, I decided to wrap my schedule up with Advanced Criminal Procedure and hope the school offers the research class in the future. I am excited that the school is approving and offering more international and comparative law related courses, and I definitely want to support their existence and learn what they have to offer. Luckily, after this I have two academic quarters left.

More to come...

Thus far this week has been fairly full and busy. Ripe with things to do and little down time.

Not totally devoid of down time, though: Last night my fiancee and I finally hooked up the Wii and played a bit of Soul Caliber II--a Mortal Kombat-like fighting game. She beat me down royally.

Besides all the ever mounting reading and assignments for classes, I finalized that I will not be doing a dual degree Masters program in Sustainable International Development at Brandeis (a dual degree program Northeastern just started offering this year). There are two chief reasons why I will not be doing the program, which means I will not be earning a Master's along with my law degree, and I will not be adding a year onto my graduation, but I will write more about it in a later blog.

I also may have expanded my role at my upcoming Summer co-op with the DC Public Defender Service. While I am assigned to the expansive Trial Division and two attorneys, DC PDS recently offered an intern or select interns a chance to split their work 50/50 between one Trial Division attorney and one Appellate Division attorney. I immediately jumped at the chance. I am very interested in appellate litigation, second to trial, but fundamentally believe that appellate experience makes for a better trial attorney (and vice-versa). As of yet I await word whether I win and get to be that intern or not.

Today, as a requirement of the Criminal Advocacy Clinic, I sat in on arraignments at a state district court in Boston. I ran into a NUSL student on co-op currently working for the Public Defender's Office, and watched several individuals be read their charges, waive their rights to a jury trial, plead guilty, not-guilty. All I witnessed this morning I'd definitely seen several times before when I worked in the court system in North Carolina, but I went to experience them in Boston. Rarely the assumer, I wanted to see the arraignment procedure of Boston (and Massachusetts generally) firsthand, see some of the players in the courthouse, and generally get a sense of the flow. How is court held? Do attorneys talk over one another? Ignore their clients or witnesses? How do particular judges run their courtrooms?

Soon, in the Clinic, we'll be assigned our cases. And, I imagine, we'll back in that district court experiencing matters from the other side of the bar.

School and life have been fairly busy for the past couple weeks, as all activities ramp up in speed in the fourth week of class. Frighteningly, that means we only have six weeks of classes left before exams. I pray the next four weeks don't go by as quickly as those now gone. But we all know the old adage about times power of flight.

And I was never much one to control its passage.

On the busy front, my two substantive classes, Federal Courts and Advanced Criminal Procedure-Investigation, are filled and filled and filled with reading. This week alone we have four classes of Fed Courts (including one make up class) and roughly 130 pages of reading. To be clear, that would be 130 pages of dense, occasionally confusing and contradictory Supreme Court cases detailing when and why federal courts can or can not hear cases.

We were assigned our clients in the Criminal Advocacy Clinic last week. As with all the work I do on co-op, I cannot discuss any details of my client or my client's case(s). I can say that I'm teamed with two 3Ls, both wonderful with great ideas about representing our client and his/her case(s). Per the court rules of Massachusetts, it will be one of my two teammates who will argue the case(s) at our trial date in District Court. 2Ls, such as yours truly, can do everything but stand up and be present for a client in front of the court. It should be noted, though, that we go heavily armed with practicing attorneys supervising our steps (and any potential missteps).

Clinics are a lot of work. Massive amounts of reading, in-depth training, and often going out on the street to talk to your clients, witnesses, agency personnel, etc. And I safely speak here for all the clinics at Northeastern (likely all law schools)--they are a lot of work. Many of the other clinics offered at Northeastern, such as the Domestic Violence Clinic, Poverty Law Clinic, Prisoner's Rights Clinic, and the Health Law Clinic, require their students to be in the office at least twenty hours a week. We in the Criminal Advocacy Clinic may operate under the same requirement, but the program heads seem to permissively fold it into our field-work.

I also have a meeting tomorrow with Professor Susan Sloane, who, among other things, heads up the Legal Research and Writing aspect of NUSL's LSSC Program. I was recommended and asked (and subsequently applied) to be a Teaching Assistant for the Research and Writing program next year. If hired, I will work with a group of Adjuncts and their 1Ls on their research and writing projects.

I'm quite excited and hope I get it. Competent and effective legal writing means a great deal in this profession, and I jump at the opportunity to improve my skills--if even through the teaching/tutoring of others. If I get the job, this may mean I have to go buy a new Bluebook (aka widely accepted authority on proper legal writing format and citation). I think I left my copy on co-op at the Dep't of Justice in DC.

I got the job for next Fall as a Legal Research and Writing Teaching Assistant with the LSSC Program. I will work with two law offices, two Adjunct Professors, and around twenty six or twenty eight 1Ls to improve their legal writing skills. Very excited, I look forward to the program.

Last Thursday I went to a great program the Career Services Office held on applying for state and federal clerkships--prestigious and hugely experiential, one-year assignments to state or federal judges. Applying, it seems, is quite the process. Yet, actually getting a clerkship would be well worth the time and effort. When I co-oped a the Arizona Supreme Court last summer, I got to see first-hand much of what appellate clerks do, and what they learn and how influential they can be.

Yesterday, Monday, I went to hear Dr. Makane Moise Mbengue, a Senegalese Researcher at the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva, speak at the law school about a case recently heard by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Dr. Mbengue clerked for the International Court of Justice, along with NUSL's newest professor Sonia Rolland , and also acted as counsel for the African nation of Djibouti in its ICJ claim against France (Djibouti's former colonial ruler) for not complying with a treaty. It was a great discussion about the processes of an international body, bringing claims to that body, diplomacy, international and legal politics, and clever advocacy.

This week is a continuation of a lot of reading for classes and preparation for court. My case in the criminal advocacy clinic will be heard this Friday in District Court. Wish my client justice.

Most likely going to trial in less than two weeks. As I wrote in an earlier blog, my group's case in the Criminal Advocacy Clinic was scheduled for Pretrial Conference in the District Court this past Friday. At court, our client adamantly told us that s/he wants to plead not guilty and would take no deal offered by the District Attorney. So, we scheduled our trial date.

Two weeks is a ridiculously short time to prepare for trial, especially for hiring an investigator (for which we successfully moved the court for funds) to gather evidence and start interviewing, preparing witnesses, interviewing other witnesses, writing openings and closings, rewriting, rehearsing, etc, etc, etc.

It will be a busy two weeks, but I look forward to it. Such is the life of living on your feet.

Otherwise, I've been closely following the NCAA Basketball Playoffs. Interesting, really, is my keen attention because I'm not a huge fan of basketball. But I do like competition (which would explain why I didn't really care until March Madness descended upon us). And I did go to Carolina, whose highly talented team will be playing tomorrow for yet another Championship title!

You know who won't be playing? Who lost early on? Well...lots of teams...but specifically Duke. And Coach K.

First, congrats to Carolina for winning the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship! Their fifth title. I lived in Chapel Hill for about eight years, during undergrad and afterwards, and can say that I witnessed this (or a slightly lesser version) on several occasions. We Chapel Hillians know how to celebrate. And riot.

Second, I've been ill and under the weather for the past several days. For at least a day and half I was incapacitated. Unfortunate, truly, because law school doesn't really afford time off. I'm feeling a little better today, so will spend a great deal of time catching up; especially with trial at the end of this week.

I just started outlining for federal courts, which is my one in-class exam this quarter. Fun times. Outlining is a reminder of the dwindling down of the term--my Fed Cts exam is May 12 at 9am. Four hours long--and causes a tightening panic in the chest of many. But soon it will be over and we'll all either be back to co-op or graduating.

I must say that while I have only had one full quarter outside of being a 1L, this quarter is the busiest I have felt since my first year. It could be Federal Courts, which many, including the professor, consider to be the hardest class in law school. Or it could be the mixture of that and the Criminal Advocacy Clinic (plus one more class) on my weekly schedule.

Right now I am also working with a group to pitch ideas to the Journal staff for next year's topic. We have to research a topic that our large committee approved, write a memo and give a brief presentation on why that topic is important enough to focus a whole journal and a symposium around it. So as not to divulge any information early, I'll let you know how it goes.

Also, in the Criminal Advocacy Clinic, we go back to trial this Thursday. One of our witnesses could not be present two weeks ago and we asked for a continuance. Interesting game of chess trial is, and, once it's over, I'll go more into why. Right now, I could potentially (however unlikely) affect future moves if I discuss in detail now. Just know that trial is a crazy, crazy time. And worth it. I recommend the clinic if you're interested.

Yesterday was perhaps the warmest day of the year so far in Boston. I believe the temps got into the mid-80s if not higher. My fiancee and I had lunch by the harbor, walked near the water, then spent the rest of our evening at the library doing work. C'est la vie when you're a grad student.

Of note, tomorrow evening I should be going to a training seminar on sentencing advocacy for lawyers representing criminal defendants in federal court. The seminar is hosted by District Court Judge Nancy Gertner, and, while I am not yet a lawyer representing federal defendants, clinic students were invited. I look forward to it!

The federal sentencing advocacy training seminar last Tuesday with Judge Nancy Gertner was fantastic. It was very educational on a topic I knew almost zip about, and it was yet another great visit to the beautiful federal district courthouse.

Everything else has been exams, exams, exams. The 1Ls are currently going through their exams, probably taking their second exam today. We upper levels are gearing for ours next week, although I'm considering doing my take home this weekend and getting it over with. It's a timed exam, for my Advanced Criminal Procedure class, and I have eight hours to complete the exam and upload it to a central database after downloading it.

Plus, and I can say this freely and fairly I now believe, my case in the Criminal Advocacy Clinic where we're representing an actual defendant in district court, is still going to trial and is now scheduled to happen the week of finals. Fun.

Back to it...

Finished exams yesterday afternoon. What a great feeling every single quarter. My last exam was Federal Courts. Whew. Done. Great class, great professor, LOADS of information. Even a four hour exam wasn't enough to write everything I learned in ten weeks.

Now, before I prepare to yet again leave Boston for DC on co-op, I have a few non-exam things to finish. I need to finish building my section of the course materials for the upcoming national security law course, which I took last quarter but is being taught again this summer. Also, I need to pack up everything I own and put it in storage. My lease runs up at the end of May and, as my fiancee and I are moving into a different place when I get back in August, I need somewhere to store my material possessions and furniture while I galavant at the DC Public Defender's Office for three months.

Today, however, is dedicated to trial preparation. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the case and defendant to which I was assigned as part of Criminal Advocacy Clinic is scheduled for trial tomorrow. If all goes according to plan, we'll be done tomorrow or possible Friday. If all goes well, we'll be done with a not-guilty verdict from the jury.

Good luck to all my compatriots in the remainder of their exams, and best to all those who have their last summer of relative freedom before starting law school.

Wow. I feel drained. Drained from writing my resume over and over again, in different formats, in different font, in different words carefully chosen to hit the reader's brain-pan in ways that evoke surety and acceptance and interest. To be totally clear, I haven't been simply writing and rewriting my resume. That was certainly a part of it; no, I have been for repeatedly listing out everything academic, professional, or alluring that I have done since 1999. On clerkship applications. On resumes for post-graduate jobs. Cover letters. In conversations and informal interviews. Emails.

Whew. The juggernaut of applying for post-grad jobs and clerkships is similar I think to staring in the mirror. Trying on different outfits you own. Standing in different poses at different angles. Staring in the mirror. Imaging how you look to the person soon to be staring back at you. Except, quite naturally, the mirror is really more of a darkly, tinted window. It reflects, but not fully. And eventually you get tired of looking.

No rest for the wicked, that is for sure.

Oh! Also, the powers that be published course evaluations yesterday. I must say, I am really pleased. The narrative evaluations were not only clear and constructive, but I earned pretty high marks. After quickly folding those into my applications (see above), I am now left to think about the courses I would like to take next quarter.

Of those being offered, here is what I want to take: International Criminal Law, International Law, Professional Responsibility, and Section 1983 Litigation. That's only 11 credit hours, so I may not be able to stop there. I may get independent study credits for another project and thus would clear the present hurdle of taking 12 hours. But I'd also like to take Immigration Law or Family Law. So, perhaps I'll sign up for one of those. My hesitancy in taking five courses, four of them substantive, is the amount of reading and work they'll provide on top of my editorial duties on the Journal and as a legal, research and writing Teaching Assistant to incoming 1Ls. So, we'll see what happens.

In other news, I finally finished the Harry Potter series this past weekend. It was wonderful and sad to finish. Now I'm ready to see the upcoming film, and, now that I am one of the recently indoctrinated, I have started to lie to the ignorant about how the story ends. Mwahaha.

Now I'm pouring my way through The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Next on my list: Kite Runner.

Screeching tires indeed. In a little less than five hours I will be Boston-bound. In an interesting repeat of my last DC co-op and trip home, I will very much be attemping to recreate scenes from "Smokey and the Bandit." Hopefully, though, there will be very little Smokey in pursuit.

Yesterday, I gave an oral argument of my brief in front of a panel of Appellate Division attorneys. The argument was...okay...but the experience was great. My brief and its own arguments are still very much in flux, so my oral argument got penned down with legal theories and questions that will probably have but an ancillary place in my final draft. Again, it was great experience. The more the better. The attorneys were fairly unrelentless in asking me questions, as if I was arguing in front of a Court of Appeals, and truly held my feet over the fire.

Aside from co-op, the Editorial Boards of the Journal recently had a switching of the reigns meeting (a necessary process as one rotation is leaving and one coming in), and my days since have been peppered with administrative work for the Journal. As Managing Editor, my chief function is supervision and management of the staff. So, I have been planning recruitment, retention of last year's staff, etc. If I wasn't sure before that it's going to be a busy quarter, I am now.

Now if only I had any clue as to what classes I will be taking, so I could plan meetings around that schedule, plan office hours, buy books BEFORE classes begin...etc.

Hope all are having a great wind-down to their summers. Incoming 1Ls: you especially need to have a great one. Memories and time with friends and family are important now, as you will be relatively unreachable for about eight months.

I made it safely back to Boston and have been here a full week. I am heading to Maine tomorrow for a little R&R. Yet, as with almost all R&Rs in this culture, I am bringing work with me. I am still working on my appellate brief (see earlier blogs), and finalizing my federal clerkship applications.

On Wednesday we finally had some disposition to my clinic case that has been ongoing since March. As mentioned in previous blogs, I was part of a three-person team representing a client in Boston Municipal Court (Roxbury). Since April we have been continuing the start date of our trial for a variety of reasons (e.g., witnesses were no-shows). Wednesday was the big day. We were planning on going forward with trial come hell or high water. Then, right after calendar call, the Asst. District Attorney agreed to dismiss the case. Case closed and our client served. We got the disposition he wanted. A fantastic feeling: My first win.

In other news, I still have very little idea what I am taking for classes in the Fall. Today was the close of "Pre-registration," and now all wait for the publishing of lottery lists for limited enrollment classes. It seems like more and more classes are limited enrollment every year. The lists are expected to come out approximately 11 days before classes start, and, as per the usual at NUSL, not being on a lottery list (and thus not secured a spot in the class) means you need to show up and see if you can get in the class. Which means I have to come by the books to read for the first day, without actually buying them. Frustrating.

I can say this, though, it looks very much like I will be taking Professional Responsibility, Disability Law, and Trusts and Estates. I hope very much to take International Criminal Law AND Section 1983 Litigation (suing the cops and the Government for doing bad things "in the name of the law"), but I think I will only be able to take one. After all, adding both would make five classes on top of being a TA for the first-years' writing class and the Managing Editor of the Journal. We'll see. If I get lucky maybe I'll give it a go and see if I can handle it. If so, then I'd only have to take two classes my final quarter. And that, ladies and gents, would be golden.

...but it's terribly difficult to ever completely escape law school.

The Office of Academic & Student Affairs published the lottery list for classes with limited enrollment. I got into every class for which I registered but one. So, it looks like my courselist for the fall is: Professional Responsibility, Section 1983 Litigation, International Criminal Law, and Trusts & Estates.

I'm psyched. We've already received our first day assignments for Section 1983 Lit., and I have a great deal to read and prepare for my first week as a TA in the Research & Writing class.

Plus, the work on the Journal is ever-sharpening and piling on. It's going to be a busy quarter as we work toward publication.

At the beach, while getting sunburned and going for sweltering, wonderful and exhausting runs, I've been spending the remainder reading and grilling. I finished "An Unbearable Lightness of Being," by Milan Kundera, and am near the end of "Slipping into Darkness," a crime/mystery novel, by Peter Blauner. Having plowed through the Harry Potter Series while on co-op, this quarter may mark my most well-read since before law school.

What a first week. The first in a while that feels like two.

Let's hope it's not a trend.

All my classes are great. I am particularly interested in International Criminal Justice and Section 1983 Litigation. There is so much to learn in every class I'm taking, but those two in particular strike a reverberating chord. Section 1983 Litigation, for the un-indoctrinated, refers to the federal law (42 U.S.C s 1983) that allows a person to sue officials (generally, the police or local government entities) for violating their civil rights while acting "under the color of law." The latter means, in short, that the official violated the rights while acting as an official agent (even if s/he wasn't authorized to do so). A common (and inflammatory) example is police brutality and the excessive use of force (e.g., Rodney King). The class is taught by a NUSL alumnus, the widely renowned civil rights attorney Howard Freidman.

I have also met with the 1Ls who I will assist this year as they learn legal research and writing. I blew through much of the first instruction at top speed, as I was given limited time with them. So, I look forward to working more with them. Legal research and writing are vastly, hugely, Grand Canyon-like important in the law. They are, of course, not everything, but they go a great deal into the ability to communicate effectively within the legal industry and make accurate, successful arguments. Thus, employers are bent on finding law students who can research and write really well.

Nothing new on the clerkship job front. Just more turning in of applications. Just more waiting.

We also had the first meeting of the Law Journal yesterday, and, as the Managing Editor, I spent a great deal of time talking to the interested 2Ls and 3Ls about the commitment the Journal requires. And it does. We are still hoping to publish the next issue (our second issue!) before the year is out, and have a great deal of work on the articles to make them publication worthy. Also, we are simultaneously planning next Spring's Symposium (and thus, next year's issue), which will be on Second Amendment Issues after the 2008 Supreme Court decision in Heller. That opinion determined that the right to bear arms is an individual right, and not one (as understood and argued by many) merely pertaining to membership in a militia. I'll talk more about that as we develop the topic.

More to come.

This is an all-business blog today; classes, the Journal, TA'ing, and life goes on unabated. Unrelenting.

C'est la vie.

Yesterday we upper-level students submitted our applications for Winter co-ops. I applied to a good number, and hopefully will start hearing about interviews next week. This co-op, whatever it ends up being, will be my last co-op and I hope to make it an educational and memorable experience.

I am also going through clerkship interviews right now. Very exciting, a little nerve-wracking (especially with the turnaround time), and, honestly, fun. I'll let you know how things went, once all is said and done.

Other than above, helping manage and edit the Journal, and assisting 1Ls with their legal research and writing, I attend class. And class, ironically, is starting to seem more and more like what I do in between everything else. One of my classes, Trusts & Estates, is very interesting. Beyond reminding me that I once took property law, T&E covers the laws governing what happens to a person's property and assets after they die. The subject matter and facts of the cases we read are both morbid, fascinating, and occasionally sad. All and all, I'm glad I took it: Beyond preparing me for the bar, it's nice to study law outside my general interests of criminal justice and civil rights.

More to come...

I am still working on finding a post-graduation job, but I've finally lined up my Winter co-op. I interviewed at several places, and, ultimately, it was a tough decision, but I chose to go with the Roxbury Defenders. The Roxbury Defenders are a divisional office of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (i.e., Massachusetts' public defender system), representing indigent criminal defendants for crimes allegedly committed in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. I will get to work on cases in both Roxbury District Court and Suffolk Superior Court (both trial level courts), help attorneys with their own cases and trials, and even argue some bail hearings when the Commonwealth (aka District Attorney) are asking the judge to set a bail/bond that will keep the client in jail until his/her next court date.

As stated above, the job search goes on. A rejection has rolled in here and there, but such is the nature of the beast (and the economy). This year's graduates are competing with a larger pool of last year's graduates (and I'm talking about the national job market!), as well as a smaller pool of the year prior. I still have applications out in the ether, and will likely have some interviews before Halloween. I feel that my prospects are good, and I'll continue to put myself out there and apply for jobs. Having a paycheck (especially working in an area of law that intrigues me) would be clutch. Thankfully, NUSL's Office of Career Development is hugely helpful in reaching out to employers and contacting students about career opportunities.

The school's Law Journal is currently working towards its second publication, which will have articles about the subprime mortgage crisis and related litigation, and planning for its third Symposium and publication. The latter issue will be about the regulation of firearms, both by the federal government and state government, and will touch some of the many, many subtopics that fall under discussion of gun regulation. We are currently contacting potential speakers for the Symposium and authors for the publication (those two groups not being mutually exclusive), and laying down some of the logistical groundwork for holding a Symposium at the law school (e.g., reserving the budget, rooms, caterers).

More to come...

So, the Sox lost it.

I'll go ahead and say it and get it out of the way: They deserved to lose. October being October, and all things being equal, the way they were playing in the post-season I'm fairly positive they wouldn't have made it to the trophy.

Oh well, there's always next year. Sad weekend for Boston and much of New England, though, to see the Sox, Pats, and Bruins all go down in a three day hat trick.

Let's all just collectively hope the Steinbrenner family doesn't get another ring.

Things are status quo in law school. Reading, researching, writing, editing, working on the Journal, applying for post-graduate positions. Interestingly, there is a general fog of starting the quarter lifting around the law school. I can tell that everyone is starting to realize (or, at the least, allow themselves to be aware) that we only have a month before exams. To butcher a quote from a friend of mine: there are two kinds of people in the world--those who feel ready for exams, and liars.

Currently, while ignoring the threat of exams, I am working on a teaching outline for my 1L research and writing class. Tonight I am going to lead the first-years through some helpful research tools and tactics. Also, researching on my own, I am working on a memo for my Section 1983 course. Section 1983 refers to the federal civil rights statute that allows individuals to sue the government and government officials for tramping over their rights. My topic is on the confluence of the First Amendment and retaliatory arrests (e.g., after speeding through a school zone, for which he was not stopped or cited, a bloke flips a cop the bird. The cop then stops him and arrests him for speeding. Constitutional? We'll find out!).

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.

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...

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.