Hi everyone,

This winter I am working with Judge Young and his clerks at the Moakley Courthouse in Boston. I've already been put on a legal research project and told that I will be writing bench memoranda at least once every two weeks. In addition, I will get to sit in on trials, motions, etc. However, some of my friends on the other rotation warned me that the excitement of sitting through a trial wears away fairly quickly. Note: Pinching oneself does not work and leaves bruises.

Still I am taking this experience as a chance to see litigation in process. I'm fairly sure I want to do transactional work in the future, but I think a lot of that is that I haven't seen what litigation has to offer. I've never done debate and NUSL does not have Moot Court or Mock trial except for those competitions offered by the affinity groups and different organizations (APALSA made it to the Vegas Nationals).

I do think that the opportunity to do a judicial internship is one of NUSL's advantages. Of course, students from other schools do judicial internships, but the other schools don't have a long list of judges as co-op employers.

Misc. note about my alma mater - Heroic Computer Dies to Save World from Master's Thesis

The article is hysterical.

Hi all,

It's utterly freezing in my office/conference room where I work. I am a huge advocate of the work shawl.

That is the one thing you should take into account when coming to Boston, especially if you prefer warmer climates. Boston gets frigid and then no one goes out in the evenings ... well sensible people, at least.

Otherwise, work is going well. I love the clerks I am working with. I don't have much interaction with the judge but I have seen Judge Young in action in the court.

Working for Judge Young means that there is a lot of work to do. I am writing an ERISA memo and doing research on recent federal cases that are or at least seem to me, pretty pinnacle. I most likely will have at least one memo due every two weeks!

This week the 1st Cir. Court of Appeals is sitting. One of the arguments was for a recent case in the news regarding a Lexington school teacher who read King and King to her 1st grade class room.

The arguments are very interesting. One attorney certainly fit the saying, "if you have the law pound the law, if you have the facts pound the facts, and if you don't have either pound the table."

Still, you can never tell with these cases.

The second case I saw argued was about peremptory challenges regarding religion and whether Batson covers religion. The trial counsel actually started with a joke! I can't wait to see the results although it may take a very long time.

The commute to the courthouse is very difficult. Sometimes I wish I lived closer but I don't think I can sacrifice the free food, rent, or TV. My morning commute consists of local bus, orange line to red line, then silver line. My evening commute is a bit better because there is a bus that will drop off at the orange line.

The only problem is the squishing and absolute jam packedness.

Hope all is well on the other end!

Hi all,

So there isn't much in my life besides work right now ... and dreading the need to do holiday shopping ... so I will be discussing the former.

A judicial co-op, I've found, is harder and easier than my other co-ops.

The last two weeks were hectic because I was writing a bench memo for yesterday's motions hearing. Bench memos are important because you are in a way summarizing both party's position and picking a winner.

It's very difficult to pick winners because both sides (at least in the case I was given) had excellent briefs and very good arguments. As the Judge said, "there is only an up or a down. If X wins, then Y loses. If Y wins, then X loses."

This week and the next should be a bit easier because the Judge is handling a patent case trial, so I will be working on another project that is as equally important but not as stressful as picking a winner.

Also, today there is going to be a holiday office party. Office parties are always interesting. I take this as a chance to put names to faces of old clerks mentioned and SOs always fondly spoken of.

On other news, there is supposed to be a Nor'easter on Sunday ... so keep bundled!

This week there has been a patent trial going on. I think its very interesting how the lawyers and the experts are able to break down very complicated technical pieces into understandable morsels for the jury, the judge, and me (most of whom do not have a technical background).

What I really have enjoyed about watching the trial is observing the different lawyering styles of the plaintiff's and defendant's attorneys. It is very much like watching a play at the theatre and I have been wondering, along with the other clerks, if they "put on" a certain type of personality to perform for the jury. And if they do, how much does that affect the jury's decision.

I asked the Judge this and he said that he's seen a lot of jury trials (ofc) and he feels that they do decide on the merits and not the lawyer's character/personality giving the example of a very incompetent lawyer and the jury still deciding his way.

In other amusing news:

One of the other law clerks is from Australia. So a tidbit Australia-Xmas is one (and maybe only) Carol: 6 White Bloomers (re: Kangaroos and Santa's sleigh)

I've found the lyrics (not sure they are entirely accurate) but here it goes:

Early on one Christmas Day, a Joey Kanga-roo
Was far from home and lost in a great big zoo
Mummy, where's my mummy, they've taken her a-way
We'll help you find your mummy son, hop on the sleigh

[Verse:]
Up beside the bag of toys, little Joey hopped
But they hadn't gone far when Santa stopped
Un-harnessed all the reindeer and Joey wondered why
Then he heard a far off booming in the sky

[Chorus:]
Six white boomers, snow white boomers
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun
Six white boomers, snow white boomers
.. On his Aus-tra-lian run

Pretty soon old Santa began to feel the heat
Took his fur-lined boots off to cool his feet
Into one popped Joey, feeling quite OK
While those old man kangaroos kept pulling on the sleigh

Joey said to Santa, Santa, what about the toys
Aren't you giving some to these girls and boys
They've all got their presents son, we were here last night
This trip is an extra trip, Joey's special flight

Soon the sleigh was flashing past, right over Marble Bar
Slow down there, cried Santa, it can't be far
Come up on my lap son, and have a look around

There she is, that's mummy, bounding up and down
Well that's the bestest Christmas treat that Joey
ever had
Curled up in mother's pouch all snug and glad
The last they saw was Santa headed northward
from the sun
The only year the boomers worked a double run

Sadly today did not reach the 60s as it did yesterday. Massachusetts weather is a fickle fickle creature teasing us with warm breezes and actual sunshine. Usually we in MA are content with 30 degrees (because that is so much better than 10 below), but to tempt us with a few days of spring-like weather only to snatch it away again ... Still as the saying goes: the cold weather builds character.

In other news, the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is sitting again this week. The Judge is also presiding over a new trial. Contrary to popular opinion, I have not tired of sitting in on trials and appeal sessions. However, I just don't have the time do so!

I have a lot of research and writing going on right now and in addition, tomorrow is the deadline for the January co-op mailing for the summer. I am definitely trying to fulfill my public interest requirement for the summer. However, I really wanted to work in London for Fidelity, but I am not even sure if they are going to be hiring for the summer. That is one of the downfalls of the co-op program because if I do lock in now, I can't try later for something that might only be an opportunity later. It's very much a game of strategy.

Still despite this I still went to see 2/3 of the arguments in front of the First Circuit.

The first case was very interesting and has been in the news.

Kufner v. Kufner - basically American couple in Germany divorces and wife finds pictures of her 8 and 9 year old sons nude. She takes them back to the US in contravention of a German court order. It's very hard to tell but I think that the case will go against the mother just because of the line of questioning ... or at least what I can guess.

Judge Selya was presiding and he is such a hoot. He is a very interesting judge to watch.

The second case was the Facebook case. This presented another interesting legal corporation question turning on the Delaware LLC laws. I couldn't really tell how this one will fall out but I guess we shall see.

On yet another sidebar: there is a Japanese judge observing the courts this winter and he is only 28 and has been a judge for 5 years!!

Hi all,

This week Judge Young presided over two cases and one finished.

The first case was a social security fraud case. The jury came back with a guilty verdict. What was interesting in that case was that although my gut instinct and the bulk of the evidence said that he was guilty, I thought that the prosecution had made an error that could possibly maybe inject un poquito amount of doubt. In a criminal case that doubt must be reasonable. The error was that the prosecution failed to ask during a deposition of a woman in Puerto Rico (played in trial) for her ID. In a case of social security identity theft, I thought this was a vey glaring error.

In other news, last week Judge Young went to BC Law to do the motions session. This gives law students an opportunity to see actual lawyering, a motions session, and ask the Judge questions afterwards.

The Judge happens to have 5 female law clerks and interns and 2 male law clerks and interns. By happenstance, the guys couldn't make it to BC. The Judge of course made clear that he had male clerks before the Q&A session where he introduced everyone. And someone actually had the gall to ask the Judge why all his clerks were female!

Unbeknownst to me, someone I knew from middle school and elementary school and hadn't seen since then was attending that class. He came up to me afterwards and we caught up for a bit. It's such a small world! Or at least Boston is small enough that occurrences like that become regular.

In other other news, I am so busy! Even with two weeks left, I need to write a bench memo due today and pick up another case for the next motions sessions!

Still working for a judge is a ton of fun. One of my memos became an opinion! It's on Westlaw!! I'm so proud.

If you are reading this in one of the 24 states that have their primaries -- Go Vote!

On Co-op news:

I certainly will vote as soon as work is over. Although I am worried that I am not correctly registered in my hometown. I am fairly sure I changed the address last year, but we shall see.

In other news, the trial ended today on directed verdict. This is especially rare because the Judge firmly believes in the jury system.

And after (currently) working for the Judge, I can see why. The jurors take time out of their normal day (although they don't have a choice if they are selected from the pool) and they take notes and definitely pay attention. They even ask questions during the process.

2 interesting quotes/phrases from the trial:

"The suspenders of policy on the pants of language"

and

"Hatching the dragon that I need to seek to slay later"

In Academic news:

Classes start the first week in March. I am registered for Professional Responsibility, Admin, Secured Transactions and am still between International Business and Modern Real Estate Development.

Otherwise, I have no other news to report so ending as I began -- Yay Voting

As the title states, it is my last week working in Judge Young's chambers. I absolutely adored working here and recommend the experience to anyone.

Judge Young is different from other judges in that chambers is filled to capacity with clerks and interns. (2 law clerks, 2 international law clerks, 4 total interns). I think this co-op differs greatly from my last one in that I worked and interacted with people a lot more (and not just because it was clearly more people in a smaller space). I got a chance to work with the clerks and improve my bluebooking skills. I am a lot better using signals. This is especially true since I had no experience using signals before. (i.e. see and see also). I also am more equipped with being thrown cases and issues that I was not familiar with before and researching the heck out of them.

In a quick recap of:

What I've written -

2 ERISA bench memos.
1 Habeas case
1 social security disability benefits memo that became an opinion. I am so proud of this one because it's all my own work (ofc with some edits from the Judge and the clerks) and it's on westlaw! I, ofc, printed a copy for my parents to post on the refrigerator.

I probably would have written more if Xmas and New Year's wasn't in the middle of my co-op ... not that I am complaining as I still wrote a lot ...

What I've seen -
1 patent trial - v. boring but the attys have excellent powerpoint skills and are very suave oralists
1 criminal trial - The defense atty was effective but very much a dramatis personae
1 hostile work environment - Small town politics and lawyers (v. soap opera-y)
1st Cir. hearings - some cases were very interesting ...

last week the 1st Cir sat and one of the Judge's cases was up on appeal.

The case was Guzzi v. Anderson (?).

It was about an orthodox Catholic prisoner who wanted kosher meals. The prisoner wasn't associated with any known churches and the prison had been giving him kosher meals before realizing that he wasn't of Jewish descent and began giving him regular meals. The prisoner ofc wasn't having any of that (perhaps Kosher prison meals are tastier?) and sued stating that because he was orthodox catholic he should get kosher meals. The prisoner was represented by an amicus at the hearing who I thought had a good argument that the process was not as good as it ought be. But the prison also had a good argument that the prisoner had not provided any proof, scripture, anything that showed that as an orthodox catholic, his religion required him to have kosher meals.

It being a difficult question, the 1st Cir. requested that they try to settle.

Otherwise ... Happy Valentine's Day ...

Good news! I am employed for the summer (hence the title). This summer I will be a "research analyst" for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Boston.

For those who want to apply next year, I warn you that the application process is extremely difficult. Everything is done online. I remember allotting an hour to do the application and it took me the afternoon.

Because Northeastern has a unique take on grading, I had to request my evaluations be translated into a single buzzword that explained the evaluation. Not very surprisingly, buzzwords went down the line very similarly to the ways A, B, C, etc. would. In addition, there was a specific paragraph that explained the use of buzzwords. This is a very important paragraph. I think I copied and pasted that paragraph at least 10 times on the transcript.

In addition, the online application included a page for honors such as moot court, mock trial, journals, and reviews. Because the year is broken into quarters, NUSL did not previously have journals or reviews. (Moot court is done within the clubs and only just has really taken off).

Thankfully, NUSL just started a new journal which I had earlier signed up for. Otherwise, that page tends to be very sparse.

Still in the end, it turned out well as I got a phone interview with DC and an interview with Boston.

And I've been wanting to work for SEC Boston since they came to speak at the first semester co-op panels.

Everyone have a great day now.

In two words, "Background Investigation."

I preface all statements by saying that I am thrilled to be working for the SEC. I am super excited about being part of an administrative agency that is actively protecting the interests of investors. I am the one in the family who fills out all the stock litigation papers. You know, the ones that say, there is a class action, do you want a cut when they settle?

Still, the information that the federal government needs from you after you have been hired is extremely extensive. Remember when I told you about applying to the SEC and how long it took. Yep, the background check takes longer. If you are applying to the federal government and expect to be hired, here is what you should expect.

Round One: Fingerprints. Thankfully, I will be working for the SEC which has a relationship with a fingerprinting place down in Post Office Square. This means I don't have to pay the $40 that comes with needing to be fingerprinted.

Round Two: Forms Forms Forms. This covers that you are going to be working for the SEC, the direct deposit sheet, your tax forms, etc. Actually this is pretty quick, it can also be that the extensiveness of Round Three has erased this time period from my mind.

Round Three: Background Investigation. Be prepared to list every job you've had since you turned sixteen years old, have a verifier (my mom) for your time of unemployment, multiple references, and if your parents are citizens by naturalization (as mine are) their certificates of naturalization.

Round 4: More fingerprints.

Still if you think about it, that's actually the information you need for when you apply for the Bar. So having federal employment now is a VERY good thing because I certainly was having trouble remembering my old high school jobs, supervisors, and even summer classes I took during college. Especially the when. I can't even imagine how much more I would have forgotten in a year.

Otherwise, I've finally finished the background check and it's as good as I can remember. I'm only thankful now that my parents did not allow me to travel abroad because that would have certainly added another 3 hours to fill out the form.

On an off-topic note, I went to Ruth Chris Steakhouse (Boston) on Friday for lunch. I ordered the Louisiana gumbo, the 8 oz. Petit Filet, and the Chocolate Mousse cheesecake. The gumbo was fairly average, but the petit filet (w/ mashed potatoes) was SO good. I completely throw a plug out there for Ruth Chris even though they are so famous they really don't need one.

This isn't a comment on race issues (although I think it works just as well) but one of the little nuggets to think about in working in the summer is summer work clothes. As I shop for summer appropriate work tops, I notice that all around me women are wearing yellow: yellow shirts, skirts, and shoes.Yellow is everywhere. I have not yet given into this fad but if I found a good top on sale, maybe.

On other less shallow and sartorial topics, I am currently writing this at home and watching Battlestar because all the movie tickets were sold out. I went to dinner, did a little shopping, and was sadly disappointed to find that I would not be seeing the Incredible Hulk. It ruins my plans to watch all the Marvel movies in a row. I saw Iron man last week, and I definitely agree with the majority; that was an excellent movie.

On other work related matters, I just finished my second week at work. I love working for the SEC. I can't really talk about my work, but I can tell you that the work is constant and interesting. I've written two memos and already am on a third assignment. It's also incredibly easy to get to work, so much easier than school.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

I am really enjoying my summer co-op with the SEC. There are a total of four legal interns (three from Northeastern) and an indeterminate number of college interns. I've been busy since my first day! The work is mostly securities regulation (no surprise there). Since everything we work on is top secret, I can't talk about what I am doing. I can say that I've done tons of research and writing, doc review, and some other prep stuff.

But what is nice about working and not being at school is having weekends free. So far I've been going to the movies every week (matinees because I am still a poor law student).

Last week when I went to see the Happening (which is NOT a recommend) I saw Chris Rock at the Loews Theatre in Boston. He was originally going to see the Incredible Hulk but missed the previews and was going to see the Happening. He was with two others. I thought he looked and talked a lot like Chris Rock but then I thought, why would he be here in Boston and without entourage.

It was only after the movie when my friend told me that the ushers were saying how it was Chris Rock!

Since I didn't (clearly) get an autograph for myself, no one else gets them either ...

Still there is my celebrity sighting for the week. Let's hope that this becomes a tradition and that Hollywood has come to Boston.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

This week has been a slow week at the office, but I am excited to say that I finished another memo. All law schools have a writing requirement. Starting next year for the incoming class, people can fulfill the writing requirement with a portfolio of pieces, from co-op or classes. This would have worked so well for me on this co-op since I've already written three memos, each more than ten pages. Sadly, this requirement does not apply to me. Also it is incredibly difficult to get a memo approved to be released from the SEC.

In other news, my work friends and I have started going across the street to Elephant and Castle on Tuesday nights to play trivia. Sadly, we didn't make it into the championship to win Red Sox tickets. We did place, not thanks to a team that cheated! I know, so terrible. You may wonder how I knew they cheated. The announcer said "We've already had a complaint, don't do it again or your team will be disqualified." I understand why they don't get the automatic DQ because the pub is a business and want those people to come back and not feel embarrassed.

But I'm bitter.Why would you cheat at bar trivia! The point of bar trivia is to show that you have a whole bunch of useless knowledge in your brain like knowing that the ancient Romans called Scotland Caldonia or that owls have asymmetrical ears. (Both questions no one in my team knew). Obviously it's easy to know those facts if you google it on your PDA/Blackberry. I'm slightly bitter because of the injustice that cheaters do prosper. They won the $50 that comes with first place and a chance to participate in the trivia championship with Red Sox tickets as a prize.

I like competitions and I like to win. But really, if one team cheats that's just not fair. Now if all of us had a chance to cheat, that would be a test of who has the fastest fingers on a blackberry and would be more fair. But that's just not the point.

In other news, I plan on seeing Wall-E sometime soon. The NYT gave it the best review! Maybe tomorrow.

Otherwise, I hope everyone enjoys this slightly chilly 4th!

A quarter is a really short amount of time. This week our final exam schedule was posted. Although it's only the beginning of October, it is important to start thinking about final exams and outlining. That's why while it is a school holiday, I am already at school. Today I will force myself to learn everything about Bankruptcy that I haven't understood so far. I've already, sort of, done that for Tax because we had a "midterm" quiz on Tuesday that covered the first fifteen classes. I can't believe that we've already had 15 classes!

Although, I must admit studying is not the only reason that I am the only student in the building today. One of the things about co-op is that you are constantly applying. Usually with co-op mailing season, the first mailing is the big one. You get a list of over 200 employers and all 2Ls and 3Ls on summer/winter rotation choose ten. One may be surprised to learn that even with those numbers, often people apply to the same ten. When that happens, there are supplemental mailings. With these you can apply to as many places on that list.

But whether you do the big mailing or the supplemental, when a student gets an interview it would be best to prepare. That's the other reason why I am at school. I have an interview tomorrow that I need to prep for. This usually involves looking up the interviewers, the company, and just pondering what may happen.

Tomorrow is not only busy because of the interview (which will take more than 2 hours!) but I suddenly appear to have a social life. . . shocking, I know. I am going out with some college friends that I haven't seen in oh about 2 months, then right after there is an inter-APALSA mixer at Lucky Strike, and then right after that my law school friend is hosting a wine party. Does anyone know of any good under$15 Shirazes?