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.

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...

Before I start into the thick of this blog, I want to let all those know that the undergraduate program of Northeastern University is having a panel for all pre-law students, students that may be interested in law school, long-time graduates thinking about going to law school, etc. The focus of the panel will be on taking the LSAT, applying to law schools, personal essays, etc. It is open to anyone interested, not just NU students, and is Monday, February 25th at 5.30pm in 105 Shillman Hall. If you're not from NU and want directions, please feel free to comment on this blog and leave your email address.

The Connections networking event on Wednesday went well. The Offices of Career Services and Alumni Relations provided a list of alumni attending prior to the event, so I did my research and talked to the few people practicing in the areas that specifically interest me and those working in areas that may interest me in the future (e.g., labor and employment law).

I spent great chunks of my time at the "Government" table and at the "Criminal Defense" table. At the former, I spoke with a couple attorneys working in the Mass. Attorney General's office about what they do as Asst. Attorney Generals, how the different divisions of the AG's office work together, whether they ever bring cases into federal court, etc. I also spoke with a Naval JAG attorney who described the benefits and detriments he saw in being a military lawyer.

An anecdotal tangent: as I finished talking with the JAG attorney, a classmate of his from 2004 came up to say hello. The classmate worked at a large Boston firm. He mentioned all the rain and snow we've been having to the JAG attorney, then said, "Yeah, it's my week to shovel the patio." Both the JAG attorney and I thought his tone was joking and he was being sarcastic, but--as his behavior seemed more serious and straight about the matter--we inquired further. The classmate mentioned something about the "partners not having shovels" then changed the subject.

If he was serious (and, frankly, I still don't know), that scenario is frightening. I'm all for helping out whenever and wherever possible, and fully support the co-operative lifestyle, but I doubt that all the attorneys rotated "facilities services duties" every week. I'd be hugely unhappy if I had to take time out of researching and investigating whatever case I'd been assigned to shovel the firm's patio. Maybe the fellow was joking, or maybe they had a big group meeting and took volunteers because paying another company to do it was just getting too expensive. Maybe not. Maybe those are the things you sign yourself up for with some firms.

Anyway, the chat with the criminal defense lawyers at the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) (essentially, they're the public defenders) went well. As I worked for a public defender's office in NC, they recommended I not apply until the end of my second year--if I was interested--as certain offices give certified 3Ls cases to actually represent in court. As I expected, interning with them before I was certified would give me little more experience than I have already with a Public Defender's Office.

This weekend is a long one with President's Day on Monday, but I'll be spending most of it studying and working on the LSSC project. Given the pleasantly warm weather we have outside today, though, I think my dog and I are going to go for a run.

Honestly, law school is terrible on keeping a regular exercise regimen.

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.

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.

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...

Sometimes, it's doing a lot of work that is only tangentially related to your studies. And the fun you're trying to have in the meantime.

For much of last week, and nearly all of the weekend, I worked on two projects. First, I was editing and writing a proposal for funding and support to produce a documentary and create a web-based center. A research assistant for Professor Deborah Ramirez, I am leading up a small team of students who are compiling and collaborating research done in the U.S. and U.K. The project focuses on building partnerships between law enforcement agencies and Muslim, Arab, Sikh, and South Asian communities to combat terrorism, extremism, and hate crimes. Great project, great work.

And, a main goal of getting the proposal done and beautiful was because of a meeting this week during where we intended (and did) present it. A French Investigative Judge, Philippe Coirre, was attending meetings and doing research in the Boston area, and he asked to meet specifically with Professor Ramirez about this research we have been working on.

The meeting went rather well, I thought. Judge Coirre seemed very receptive to Professor Ramirez's thoughts and vision, and the purpose behind building these law enforcement-community bridges. He asked me to email him an electronic version of the proposal so he could discuss it with the French Minister of Justice. He likes the partnership ideas and thinks it is something the French government should look into implementing.

I'm sorry? Let me, make sure I've got this right. You want to give this specific proposal, which, while a fantastic achievement of collaboration and brought together from many, many people's thoughts and hard work, I spearheaded, to what is arguably the equivalent to our Attorney General?

Incredible. I had only one response: Definitely.

Sometimes, I really love law school.

Oh, and the second thing that occupied much of my time: Revamping an article I wrote for the ILSA Quarterly--an independent international law periodical. My article on victim participation in trials at the International Criminal Court should be published a little later this fall.

Happy New Year to several of you! Happy long weekend to the rest.

And the world is watching. While Bush will be President until late January, we all know that America (heck, Earth as we know it in a geopolitical sense) will be a very different place on Wednesday, November 5th.

Regardless of who is elected. Seriously. What a powerful feeling, the sense that we stand on a precipice of tomorrow.

It's been a week of powerful legal headlines, as well. Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens was convicted in Federal Court. Just today, Massachusetts State Senator Dianne Wilkerson was arrested for allegedly accepting $23,500 in bribes from undercover FBI agents and others. The Boston Globe has published photos that do actually seem to show her accepting wads of money. Those who follow Mass politics will remember that she is on the ballot next week, as a write-in candidate (having been beaten in the Democratic Primary Election Cycle by Sonia Chang-Diaz). This may be hefty on the tongue-in-cheek side of things, but this does not look good for her re-election.

Also, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that the state sex offender law, namely its requirements of an address for registry purposes, is unconstitutional as applied to Georgia's homeless population.

In news more particular to this (occasionally) hard-working 2L, I accepted an offer to work for the Public Defenders Service's Trial Division in DC next Summer. Check out their website and all they do here. I am very excited at this prime opportunity and honor to work for such a renowned office, although it puts me away from Boston for yet another co-op. As of this moment, I just finalized my plans for my third co-op before I have even started my second.

As Ferris Bueller famously said, "[law school] goes by fast. If you don't stop and take a look around every once a while, you might miss it."