Ira, 3L

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hope everyone is having a great start to their summer. Or at least a pleasantly mediocre and uneventful one, if that's what you were looking for.

I just finished my third day at the Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia. The first week is all training--really intense training. Everyone at PDS I've met is brilliant (quite intimidatingly so), and extremely approachable and helpful. While most interns are working for one or two attorneys in one division (e.g., Trial Division, Community Defender Division, Parole Division), I am actually one of two interns working for both the Trial Division and the Appeals Division. Today, us interns working in the Appeals Division skipped out on one training session (with approval, don't worry) to attend oral arguments in the DC Court of Appeals.

Monday we officially start working and I expect it to be immensely intense, and am really looking forward to it. As they should, PDS seems to approach work and work product as "how dare you bring me anything less than your very best + 10." I appreciate that spartan regimen, especially as our day in and day out work is a matter of someone's liberty.

Otherwise, I had a nice vacation with my fiancee. We celebrated her birthday, visited my family in North Carolina (via roadtrip), then settled into my place in Virginia. Visiting my family was great. Plus, it was a nice break from law school before I dove straight into my internship. Outside of working I'm spending time researching and preparing to apply for clerkships, reading books I've been trying to finish around law studies, having intriguing philosophical and political conversations with my five roommates, exercising (yay for law school not getting in the way), and longingly missing my loved one and friends.

More to come...

So, it's my second week of internship, but my first full week of actual, hands-on work. The last week of training, as I described in the prior blog, was fairly intense. This week has been a little calmer thus far, but only a little. So far I've gotten three assignments, all great, none of which I can discuss. Not at all whatsoever.

I can say this, though: working for PDS and in the criminal law field reaffirms my love for it that was but a seed planted before I came to law school. Law school has opened up my eyes and introduced me to many other areas of the law that are fascinating and interesting, and, as always, I have a lot left to learn, but criminal law and civil rights drive me. And public interest drives me.

To add shape and description to the co-op and how it ratchets things up a bit more than I've previously experienced with internships, however: in addition to our actual work on cases, all eighty-five or so interns are split up into trial practice groups (TPGs). These TPGs meet several times over the course of the internship and will seemingly function very much like the Criminal Trial Practice classes I've taken. I welcome this practice, the chance to continue learning trial advocacy skills, and learning from other points of view. My TPG meets tomorrow evening, and today around 6pm we were sent our hypothetical for tomorrow.

Outside of work itself, I am beginning the long and (hopefully) quite thorough process of applying for clerkships. Putting in for both federal and state level clerkships, I am lining up those who'll write my letters of recommendation, researching the judges to whom I may be interested in applying and (if successful) working under. As applications for clerkships starting August 2010 are due this fall, I am actually glad to currently be on internship. If I spent all day in class and then much of my evenings reading, I would likely be overwhelmed and exhausted with the sheer administrative effort required by applying for clerkships. Thankfully, I went to a great and informative workshop put on by NUSL's Career Services Office.

Also, I am reading a ton. Gladly and beautifully. I missed novels and poetry. Having just finished Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe, I am now reading the entire Harry Potter series. I'd never read them before and, having become hooked recently on the movies, am determined to read through the sixth book before the latest movie comes out next month. Moreover, I have a stack of books I'm looking forward to reading after Potter (in no particular order): a mystery novel I found in the bargain bin, Slipping into Darkness by Peter Blauner; The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera; The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner; The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria; and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

Hope everyone else is having a great summer as well!

As they often do, things go on with relative repetition. Here and there. For the most part.

Co-op at the Public Defender Service is keeping me fairly, and happily, busy. With some common regularity, as I also work in the Trial Division, there is an emergency or a rush to get matters ready for trial. Yesterday, for example, I spent quickly fleeting hours trying to transcribe a video interview for a trial starting that day. Normally, one would not leave such potentially helpful information un-transcribed until the last minute. However, just as normal, the US Attorney's Office did not give us the potentially exculpatory (or at least quite helpful) video until the evening (and I mean evening) before the trial.

In my work for the Appellate Division, I was recently assigned to write an appellate brief. This is a great opportunity, portends to be great experience, and has me excited. I have written a couple briefs before and welcome the additional experience.

The rest of my time is spent finding a break in the rain to go for a run, reading and reading and reading Harry Potter (mid-way through the fourth book), and watching baseball--specifically, the Atlanta Braves. Thankfully, the Braves are doing a little better than a month ago. Let's hope it holds out. I tried watching a Nationals' game the other day when the Braves was a rain-out, but they were just awful. I speak as a fan knowing I still could not do half of what those players do every day, but, still, they were awful.

Oh, yeah. And like everyone else, I am eagerly awaiting exam results.

I wish I had more to report other than all the work I have been doing on co-op, but I've been attempting to live a fairly monastic lifestyle to save money. Such is the life of a graduate student.

The work I have been doing at PDS, however, has been great and educational. Since my last post, I worked on a case scheduled for trial, two appellate briefs, and a Community Conference. The case for trial, which I cannot discuss specifically, asked me to research issues over aiding and abetting law and other doctrines of liability in DC. My research was over a potentially narrow part of the case, but I was helping formulate different defense theories or arguments to use if the prosecutor approached the case in a certain way.

One appellate brief involved--like many of our cases at PDS--stops and frisks. I aided an attorney in researching the law over Terry stops and how we could make a viable argument for overturning the trial court's denial of the motion to suppress. The other appellate brief is all mine. Knowing that we interns want experience writing briefs and want writing samples, the powers that be at PDS assigned me to write a brief. I'm stoked and have started going through the record and meeting with attorneys about the case.

Lastly, I worked yesterday for PDS at their annual Community Reentry and Expungement Summit. I may have also mentioned in an earlier post that I spent a bit of time out in the community publicizing this event and trying to get people to come. The Summit itself is primarily about educating people with DC criminal records on the process of getting their records sealed. Despite this primary goal, the laws of DC (like the laws of most jurisdictions) do not permit a majority of the people with records to have them sealed. So, the Summit also brings in a host of others and makes them available to people who are having a hard time reentering or sustaining themselves in the community due to their records. Namely, PDS arranged for job counselors, civil attorneys to give free consultations, housing services counselors, social services, etc. There were also speaking events held and, from what I was told, workshops on applying for jobs, etc. I heard from a few people in attendance and they thought it was a great event and very helpful. I worked helping people figure out whether or not they were eligible to have their records sealed. Unfortunately, most were not.

Otherwise, not a lot is going on. I am still working on (and almost done with) the Harry Potter series. I'll be back in Boston next week for the case I was assigned in the Criminal Advocacy Clinic, which is yet again scheduled for trial. Hopefully, hopefully, for the sake of all included the trial goes forward and has a favorable disposition.

Quick blog this week, folks. Between co-op, the clinic case that I am still working on in Boston, applying for clerkships, and trying to have some semblance of a life outside of the halls of justice (e.g., occasionally going for a run or watching a baseball game on TV), I have very little time and words to spare.

My fiancée came to DC this past weekend and we had a blissful time. While an obvious statement to many, it deserves proclamation: the separation of long-distance is not fun on a relationship, if even only for three months, and if even with the luxury of modern technology. I'm really glad she got to come to stay and we got to do fun things around Northern Virginia and DC. I'm buying a ticket soon to see her once more before the internship is over.

Despite my interests in international law, especially international criminal law, and my desire to go abroad, I am positive I am going to do my next and final co-op in Boston. I would like to be in Boston, and be with her, for longer than three months at a jaunt. Perhaps I will take an international-law or global human rights-focused internship in the winter. Regardless, as a Senior Lawyer at the UN once told me, if you want to be a lawyer in the international sphere, be a lawyer. Any experience helps as long as you don't lose sight of your goals.

As I sat down to type out this blog, thinking over the past week and a half (apologies for the late entry--I was in Boston, see below), I realized that soon I will have been typing a blog for all three years of law school.

That means I've been in law school for almost three years. And I have only two academic quarters and one co-op left. Wow.

I'm sure a great number of people--if not nearly all--have had the "wow" moment I just had, but the ordinariness of its feeling does not lessen it in the slightest. I was in a much different place a year ago, not to speak of just before starting law school. Back when I had no solid idea of what LSSC means or where I would end up doing my co-ops.

Looking backwards always makes me turn around and look forward. All that empty, excited, hopeful feeling of what lay ahead. A feeling of pioneering into the unknown that is your future. I have that feeling a lot these days as I apply for post-grad jobs and for clerkships. I know I've mentioned much of this before--more or less--in previous blogs, but it cannot be overstated that this is much of what I've done and continue to do this summer. Apply, apply, apply. Focus on where I will be come August of next year. All eyes forward, all hands on deck.

That being said, I did travel to Boston this past weekend and spent the majority of my time focusing on the here and now. Thursday I did meet with a professor or two in my efforts towards gaining a clerkship, and, quite separately, did do some work for the Admissions Office which doubled as advertising myself to potential employers with an internet signal, and did write a cover letter here and there, but the rest of my time (and there was a lot) was spent with my fiancee. We just got a new apartment, with a great balcony overlooking the forest, and we just relaxed our time away. It was wonderful; this morning, before catching a plane back to DC, we had breakfast on the balcony and saw two deer at a far off watering hole.

I have eighteen days left in DC. In that time I have two projects that must be completed asap, clerkship applications to ready for submission, and a couple of job applications to see through. For example, on July 27 I began my interviews (1st of 3) with the Public Defender Service in DC. Conveniently, that's the same day I register for classes. I'll let you know how they go.

More to come...

I recently finished the first draft of a memo that examined the propriety of defense attorneys and prosecutors talking with dismissed jurors, after the verdict has been entered, about the case they just judged. Good times.

Many states, Massachusetts included, severely limits any contact between trial attorneys and jurors, in regards to the case they just tried. DC, as in so many other ways, is different.

Now, I'm attempting to work like mad (attempting being the important qualifier) on an appellate brief. I put down the draft brief for a week or so while I did some trial-related work, but want to turn it out by early next week so I can get some feedback and possibly make a revision or two before the co-op ends.

This weekend I will probably be working on the brief, but have two other important tasks: prepare for a mock opening and cross-examination I'll deliver in my Trial Practice Group (mandatory for interns at PDS, see my earlier blog), and for my first round hiring interview. Public Defender hiring interviews are notoriously intense (even combative), and PDS's hiring process includes three interviews. Luckily, the first round is more of a general "tell us about yourself" interview. Nonetheless, I need to go over my application, my materials--in short, rehearse--because PDS's interviews start Monday.

Wish me the best.

It seems that every blog I write lately begins with "this is going to be a short one." Or, something along the lines of "uh...crazy busy. No time to describe why." Or that's what hits the tin brain pan whenever I put my fingers to the keys.

I am still banging out this appellate brief, and hope to have it done by the end of today. Nearly one full week left of co-op, then I head--blissfully--back to Boston.

Here is a sampling of what's been in the news and on my mind lately:

Terror suspects indicted in North Carolina, my home state

Obama's continuation of Bush's policy of indefinitely detaining but not trying terror suspects at Gitmo

Palin's emotional, but nonsensical exit speech...and Shatner performing it as poetry

Endorsing Judge Sotomayor

Meanwhile, clerkship applications are ongoing as are concurrent searches for post-grad work. Two days ago, I had a particularly horrific interview experience with my current co-op employer, the Public Defender Service in DC. I think I held my own, but we'll see if I make it to the next round. More on that later...

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.

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...