With the down time before the start of classes quickly dwindling down, I am heading into my last weekend of complete freedom from school work. I am going to spend it with law school friends. From Thursday through Sunday, we'll be in a rented house on Cape Cod. Over the course of my time here at NUSL, I've really met some terrific friends. I'm really looking forward to having fun with several of them this weekend. For our dinners together, we're having a cooking competition that we're calling the Iron Anteater contest. My wife and I just finished shopping for some of our secret ingredients! We're very excited and bullish on our odds of winning!

Because I still have to finish packing and have to go see the dentist (ouch!) before heading out, I will end this blog piece here. I'll be back next week with a report on how the first few days of my last quarter went. Till then, take care!

Posted by Martin at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While I have some time off between coop and my final academic quarter, I have started preparing my bar application files. The amount of paperwork is prodigious; I am glad that I have started on it now. Certified driving records, every address I have maintained for thirty days or more over the past ten years, every employer I have ever had, transcripts from college, naturalization records, personal references. . . it's enough to make my head spin.

I am about done with most of the heavy lifting and hope to have my application completely ready to go by the beginning of April. I have also started thinking about how I will prepare for the bar exam. I have signed up for two commercial bar review courses. In addition, NUSL offers its own bar review course over the course the final quarter. It meets on Friday, when there are no scheduled upper-level courses. Because I will be in court every Friday for the domestic violence clinic, though, I will be unable to make use of this resource. Accordingly, I recently went onto eBay and picked up a 29-set compact disc review of the bar exam subject matters. Fun, fun, fun!

My wife and I have also begun planning for our move to a new city and are looking at apartments this weekend. Big changes are around the corner!

Posted by Martin at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This past week has been a whirlwind. I have been quite busy with obligations, both law school related and otherwise. On Thursday, my teammate and I rode down to Connecticut, where we represented NUSL at the National Trial Competition. It was wonderful that the competition was in Connecticut, because it allowed some of my family members to come out and watch me compete. I had a lot of fun at this competition. I'm quite happy that I participated in both a trial competition (this year) and a moot court competition (last year) while in law school. I really benefited from each. Moreover, each netted me a plaque to hang in my office!

On Monday, NUSL held its annual "No Talent" Show. The show is a great event and this year I actually played a small role in one of the skits. It was a lot of fun. The No Talent Show is always such a fun event.

On Tuesday, I had my last day of coop at the Public Health Advocacy Institute. I have enjoyed my time there. To celebrate the end, the attorneys there took me out to a lunch, which was a nice touch. Once I left work, I attended a team leader meeting for the Domestic Violence Institute. When I got home, I set out to spend the next couple of days recovering from the past couple of weeks. In particular, working full-time and getting ready for the National Trial Competition ended up wearing me down.

Today, it's Valentine's Day, and I am taking my wife to see When the Road Bends at the MFA. Tomorrow, my friends on the other rotation are celebrating the end of their final academic quarter. Other than that, though, I will be laying low until classes begin.

Posted by Martin at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm in the midst of putting the final touches on my opening statements for the National Trial Competition. Because I am leaving for Connecticut tomorrow morning, and still have some things to wrap up before going to bed, I will keep this blog piece brief. I thought I would write a little bit about my last quarter of NUSL. I just finished selecting my courses, and my dream schedule includes:

*Jurisprudence, which is being taught by an adjunct who is my current supervisor on coop.
*Teaching the Constitution, which will find me teaching constitutional law to area high school students.
*Law and Literature, assuming I get into this limited enrollment class.
*One of the trial practice courses (criminal trial practice, civil trial practice, civil motion practice).
*TA'ing for NUSL's domestic violence clinic.

I think this schedule will be terrific. Its beauty is that it is comprised entirely of courses that lack an in-class final. This way, I will be able to go into my bar review course (which begins the very day after the quarter ends) with a fresh mind and minimal post-finals burn-out.

I'm excited about my last quarter. It seems like it was only yesterday that I was trying to understand the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; now, I am on the cusp of law school graduation.

Before I sign off, I wanted to share something with you potential students. I recently watched a fascinating (albeit depressing) movie that I think you will really enjoy. It's called Maxed Out, and if you have not yet seen it, I recommend it highly. You can see the trailer here.

Posted by Martin at 1:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)