One of the great things about NUSL is its real-world emphasis. Through coops, students have four opportunities to work in diverse legal settings and get a sense of different practice areas. In future blog posts, I hope to write more about the coop program. Today, though, I thought I would write about an interesting experience I recently had at Boston City Hall. Going into law school, I never thought that I would take a field trip. This past week, though, I did!

Although coops are great experiential learning opportunities, the real-world emphasis of NUSL is not circumscribed to the coop program. Classes frequently focus on real-world legal issues. One such class that I am taking is entitled "Teaching the Constitution."

This course is divided into two three-month sections. In the first section, students learn about Supreme Court cases that specifically relate to students' rights and how these cases can be taught to local high school students. The second section is devoted entirely to going into local high schools and teaching students about the Constitution and the Supreme Court's body of student rights cases. It was with this class that I went on my field trip.

Our trip was to a hearing at City Hall. It was actually my first time attending such a hearing, and I really enjoyed it. The hearing was prompted through the work of the Hyde Square Task Force, which is spearheading a youth-led effort to get Civics taught in area high schools. It was interesting to hear the testimony of students, who were asking city officials to institute a curriculum requirement that would prepare them for active democratic participation. Moreover, my experience at City Hall got me very excited about getting into high school classrooms!

As I write these words, I am surrounded by drained coffee cups, high-lighted print-outs, beat-up casebooks, multi-tabbed statutory supplements (“peacocks�?) and post-it notes with disjointed thoughts jotted on them. That's right...it's finals time! As such, I thought I would spend this blog piece writing a little bit about finals and the process whereby upper-level students at NUSL take them.

Some of you who have friends in law school may think it odd that I am taking finals now. You might think that I am about a month ahead of the standard law school time-line, which is true. With the quarter system that upper-level students are on, finals for students on my rotation fall in November, right before Thanksgiving.

I have a love/hate relationship with law school finals. They comprise some of the most strenuous experiences I have been through. At the same time, I have also come to respectfully regard them as real opportunities for growth, self-discovery and development. It's rare that you will be given the opportunity (indeed, the mandate) to focus so intensely on learning. Law school finals are a very intense experience, and I believe that they can change you. I know that I will never forget the feeling I had after taking my last 1L exam. It was criminal law and I vividly remember the feeling of accomplishment that filled me at its end. I had made it through first year of law school! I had not showered in the last three days so I could spend more time studying, but I had made it nonetheless.

For now, though, I had better return to my exam studying. I have two more exams until I am done: law of financial institutions on Thursday and corporations on Friday. Both are going to take more highlighting, more note-scribbling and more trying to unravel doctrine while also trying not to unravel my sanity. I will be back next week to write a little bit about the trial competition that I will be doing in the spring. Until then, be well!

This past weekend, my wife and I watched a documentary called Street Fight. If any of you NUSL applicants have not seen it, I highly recommend it as pre-law school viewing. It's an engrossing film about the 2002 Newark, NJ mayoral election. The election comprises an epic struggle between a young, passionate up-and-comer and an entrenched incumbent and his attendant political machine. It's quite a story and I won't give away the ending.

The reason that I open this week's blog with this documentary is that watching Street Fight made me take stock of the ways in which law school has informed my political consciousness. I thought it might be useful to discuss this process a little bit and hopefully provide readers with a “bigger picture�? of what NUSL has meant to me. I have spent quite a bit of time on this blog discussing the minutia of NUSL: coop, final exams, school assignments and so forth.

Moving from the small to the large, I think that the overarching theme of my legal education has been the application of the motto that I learned as a boy scout: “Be Prepared.�? My experience at NUSL has forced me to critically examine my beliefs, which has made me more prepared. At this point in my legal education, I feel ready to begin my practice of law because I have come to appreciate what my values are and why they matter to me. I also feel more comfortable in areas that have nothing to do with the practice of law. Sitting at the Thanksgiving table and discussing politics with adverse (and sometimes belligerent) family members is not threatening to me, as it once was, because my political consciousness has become less rooted in unexamined emotions and more rooted in self-examination and erudition. Although my values are largely the same as they were before law school, my cheer in the face of having these values questioned is much more steadfast.

I have also become more prepared by observing (primarily on coop) how talented lawyers approach legal problems. They anticipate the weaknesses in their cases and honestly confront each case's awkward contours. Seeing people I admire engage in this process has liberated me from the emotional vulnerability that comes with real self-criticism. I have learned to take hard looks at myself, which has made me a more self-actualized person.

So there you have it: come to NUSL and find self-actualization! OK, that's a tremendous overstatement. I do believe there is a kernel of truth in it, though. That kernel of truth is this: if you come to NUSL with a willingness to confront and question your views of social justice, you will emerge with a deeper understanding of where you stand and why. I think this is true regardless of whether you conclude that social justice is best achieved through economic egalitarianism or through free market capitalism and equality of opportunity.

I thought I would spend this week's blog piece writing about adjuncts. Adjuncts are law school instructors who are not members of the faculty. Some of my best courses have been with adjuncts. During my time at NUSL, I've had four adjuncts: a judge on the Massachusetts Appeals Court, who taught me appellate advocacy; a veteran estate planning and settlement lawyer, who taught me trusts & estates; a former head of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers, who taught me professional responsibility; and, most recently, a federal bankruptcy judge taught me bankruptcy. The highlight of each of these courses has been exploring an area of the law under the guidance of a high-level practitioner with tons of real-world experience. After these courses, I often find myself much more interested in news related to that legal area. For instance, after taking bankruptcy, I have been quite interested in the bankruptcy of Alpha Omega.

For those of you not in the greater Boston area, Alpha Omega is a jewelry store that specializes in high-end timepieces. Quite apart from the legal issues playing themselves out in court, the story of its collapse is an inherently riveting human drama. First, the store mysteriously shut down and its owners could not be located. Then, six million dollars worth of inventory went missing. The biggest plot twist for me, though, has been learning who the presiding judge is: the adjunct who recently taught me bankruptcy!

This spring will mark my last academic quarter of law school. I've been thinking about what courses to take, and have concluded that I will try to *enjoy* my final time in a NUSL classroom. For the past three semesters, I have “maxed out�? on credit hours and have almost exclusively taken courses with in-class finals. This last semester, I am going to take fewer credit hours and select courses that involve writing papers. It will be a change from my usual routine of maxing out on credits and spending my nights cramming for several timed exams. I figure that I will have plenty of opportunity to focus on intense, timed exams soon in enough: in six short months, I'll be taking the New York and Connecticut bar exams.

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.

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!

This week has been terrific. I am back in classes, which feels great. I am very happy with my selection of courses. For my last quarter, I have foresworn doctrinal courses in favor of ones that are more practical and/or more fun. I am taking legal interviewing and counseling, jurisprudence, teaching the constitution, advanced legal research, and civil trial practice. I think this quarter is going to be my best one ever. On a bittersweet note, it will be my last quarter of law school ever! It's hard to believe that my time at NUSL has flown by so quickly. In a few short months, I will be a law school graduate and student of the bar exam.

Until then, my focus will be on savoring these remaining weeks of living in Boston. Over break, I prioritized this top ten list of things I want to do before moving from Boston:

1. Take a drive to the Norman Rockwell Museum in the Berkshires.
2. At the Norman Rockwell Museum, buy a print for my soon-to-be office.
3. Have one last pizza at Pizzeria Regina.
4. Go for Thai food at Brown Sugar with my wife.
5. Visit the spring flowers in the Back Bay Fens.
6. Walk down to the North End on a lazy Sunday.
7. Give my dad one last tour of Boston.
8. Spend an afternoon reading in the Copley Library courtyard.
9. Tour the MFA.
10. Go to a Celtics game.

Boston is a terrific city and it makes me a bit sad to think that I will be leaving it soon. My light class schedule, though, will hopefully afford me a little extra time to bask in its culture.

The spring quarter is already in its second week of classes and I am quite busy. Things have been moving along quickly; classes are already in full swing. I am enjoying being in school for my last academic quarter. It's nice to be able to see friends right before graduating from NUSL and leaving Boston. Speaking of leaving Boston, my wife and I are going apartment-hunting this weekend. It's amazing how much further money goes in smaller cities. For instance, for a little more than what we're paying now for a modest one bedroom, we can get a spacious three bedroom apartment with washer/dryer, dishwasher, parking garage, etc. Of course, there are a lot of things that I will miss about Boston. Probably at the top of the list is its vibrant sense of community. As such, I am trying to soak it all in before we leave.

This past weekend, for instance, my wife and I got together with some of our non-law school friends, who hosted a party at their house in Dorchester. It was a lot of fun. I particularly enjoyed talking with Scott, my wife's best friend's husband. He recently became a dad, and we discussed some of the issues that concern recent parents. In particular, we spent a bit of time talking about schools and racial diversity. I told him about the Seattle schools case, a recent Supreme Court decision, which held that school districts cannot use race in assigning students to particular schools. Scott had not heard of this case, so I enjoyed sharing it with him and telling him about how the Supreme Court has recently approached racial diversity in K-12 classrooms.

As my wife and I drove home from that party, I was thinking about how pervasive the law is in American life. No matter what topic is discussed at a dinner party, the law is usually somehow implicated. It's interesting to be entering a profession with such expansive reach. I cannot wait to be a *real* lawyer!

This week has been exciting and busy. I have met law school friends for an intimate dinner, sat as a judge for two colleagues representing NUSL at a moot court competition in which I competed last year, and discussed the District of Columbia v. Heller case with friends. I have been also occupied with school work and extracurricular activities. I have started teaching high school students about the constitution, though the Marshall-Brennan program.

I also received a comment on this blog! I thought I would share my response as the answer might interest others. The question was:

What exactly are your duties as a team leader for the NUSL Domestic Violence Institute? Does the school grant you some type of scholarship when you participate as a team leader?

In terms of my duties as team leader, I oversee the efforts of a team of two first-year students, who work a six-hour shift every other week. During each shift, we go into the emergency department of Boston Medical Center ("BMC"). BMC is a large non-profit hospital and serves a diverse community of patients. During our shifts we interview women in the emergency department about their thoughts and opinions on domestic violence. When I conducted such interviews as a first-year law student, I found it tremendously instructive. I learned a lot about building rapport with all sorts of people. When our interviewees disclose experience with domestic violence, we offer our services as advocates. In addition, the nursing staff frequently refer to us patients who are hospitalized as a result of domestic violence. Accordingly, the program has two components: interviewing and advocacy.

In terms of the remuneration that I receive for serving as a team leader, I receive no compensation. In fact, I think this is one of my favorites aspects of the program. The program has a large number of students participating in it, particularly first-year law students (who are usually strapped for spare time). The fact that the program enjoys an enthusiastic level of participation, despite the lack of academic credit, tuition assistance, or other compensation really speaks to the social justice values that many students bring to NUSL. In fair disclosure, though, I should also add that although the program is run by NUSL, students from other Boston schools participate. For instance, both of my team members go to different schools in Boston. If you want more information about the Domestic Violence Institute, you can go here.

I started today off by doing some reading for jurisprudence. The material was so dense that I had to read it last night and then wake up early today to re-read it. After reviewing the assigned reading, I had a coffee and read the latest issue of The New Republic, which just arrived and (as an aside) had a very disturbing photo morph cover. Before I knew it, it was time to hit the road. My first class of the day - legal interviewing and counseling - was about to start. I really like this class; I have been conducting interviews ever since I got involved in the domestic violence institute as a 1L and now have a great opportunity to think about what I have learned in the past two and a half years. I am enjoying the retrospective that this class provides and am discovering changes that I can make to make my interviews better.

After legal interviewing and counseling, I had to rush over to NUSL's clinic offices, which are currently located a few minutes from the law school building. Once there, I met the professor who runs the domestic violence clinic for lunch. We had lunch together with her teaching fellow. We spent our time talking about the Dorchester Court project, which I involved in this quarter. I had a great time talking with this professor. She is one of my favorite NUSL personalities and is my most valued mentor. It was great to talk things through with her, but I had to literally run out of the building; jurisprudence was beginning in seven minutes.

Shortly after jurisprudence, I was in civil trial practice. During today's class, we covered direct and cross examinations. I was assigned to conduct a direct examination, which I thought went pretty smoothly. Although I hit a few snags, I think I have come a long way from where I was just a few months ago. One of the things that has really helped me get more comfortable in a courtroom setting is the National Trial Competition. Truth be told, I wish I were only a 2L so that I can do it again! I will have an opportunity for some more experimenting with courtroom advocacy in a "safe" setting this weekend, when I participate in a a trial advocacy workshop.

When I got home, my wife and I had some dinner and finished watching The Staircase, which is a six-hour documentary about North Carolina v. Peterson, which was a high-profile murder case that took place in the fall of 2003. For all you prospective students with a Netflix account, I would highly recommend putting it on your queue. The documentary was riveting and allows its audience a real inside perspective into the criminal defense team. If you're interested in the case, you can check out the CourtTV website here, but be aware that it contains major spoilers. I thought The Staircase was phenomenal and I am going to recommend it to all my friends.

Now I have to do my reading for tomorrow. I had better get going!

I am really enjoying this semester, particularly its lighter courseload. This past Tuesday, for instance, I went to go see Saul Williams with two law school friends. Although I am a big fan of Saul Williams, the show was not as good as I had expected. It was still nice to get out and do something unrelated to the law, though. Saul Williams did two spoken word pieces, which were incredible. His music, though, was not to my tastes. On Thursday, my wife and I are having date night. It's also a fact-finding mission: we are going to try a restaurant before we make the dinner reservations to follow my graduation ceremony. Then on Friday, one of my favorite NUSL professors, Lois Kanter, is hosting a dinner party for my wife and me, in honor of the fact that we're expecting our first child. On Saturday night, I am getting together with some law school friends for game night. I am going to dominate over all of them! On Sunday, I am meeting law school friends for a brunch and then working my final shift ever at the Domestic Violence Institute at Boston Medical Center. With all this social activity, my final semester stands in stark contrast to my first year, which was almost entirely devoted to studying. It's a really nice to wrap up my time at NUSL. Next week, I will be back with my thoughts on worthwhile extracurricular activities during law school. Until then, take care!

Today, I had my final law school class ever. My law school years came and went pretty quickly! With classes done, I am just wrapping things up. I set my schedule up so that I would not have any finals. I do, however, have a few final papers to write. I will finish these at the beginning of the upper-level exam week. Then, I will start reviewing for the bar exam. As far as the bar goes, I am getting geared up. I have created a week-by-week schedule for myself and am getting mentally prepared for the last big push! I have canceled my subscription to the New York Times, New Republic, Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, and other indulgent time wasters; written (but not yet activated) my “away” email auto-response; created folders for each of the six topics of the Multistate Bar Examination; and cleared my calendar of social commitments. It’s going to be an intense (but rewarding) final push to the end of July!

The bar exam is approaching ever-more rapidly. This past week, I did a simulated, all-day bar exam. If it had been the actual bar exam, I would have passed, albeit not by a wide margin. In the remaining weeks before the exam, my focus is going to be on making a "final push" before the test. The past few weeks have been pretty intense, with lots of studying crammed into days that always seem to end too soon to get it all done. I'm certain that the coming weeks will be quite similar.

Over the past few weeks, I have gotten quite a bit of perspective on NUSL and the ways in which it prepares its students (and sometimes, doesn't prepare its students) for the bar exam. For those readers who will be 1Ls in the fall, I would suggest that you really make sure to enjoy your time as a first year student. It's a special time, and going through a bar review course that focuses on "just the law" has made me appreciate the social justice context that NUSL gave me. I learned "the law," but also gained an appreciation for the ways in which it affects people's lives. I could not imagine being a lawyer without that aspect of my legal education.

Out of all the classes I took at NUSL, my favorites were the ones that were not on bar topics. The classes that I took on bar topics were good, but I think you could learn the "just the law" from BABRI. As most soon-to-be-law students won't know what BABRI is, I guess I should give you some context. The entire bar review review enterprise is quite interesting. It is dominated by one company, BABRI, which runs a two-month bar review program. It's almost entirely conducted via video. As such, I (along with a large majority of the roughly 56,000 bar applicants in the United States) get up each morning and go to an auditorium, where I watch a four-hour DVD with about a hundred other students. It's a surreal experience that makes me yearn for my NUSL days, or, alternately, yearn for the day when I actually begin the practice of law.

One week ago, I was in Albany, NY, sitting for the New York bar examination. Afterwards, I made my way down to Connecticut to sit for the Connecticut bar examination. It was a grueling three-day process. Since wrapping up the bar exam, I have been recovering from two straight months of studying. My wife and I hosted a party over the weekend, and family and law school friends came to our new home. It was a lot of fun to see friends from NUSL, as well as family members who I had neglected ever since graduating. My aunt remarked that my NUSL friends all looked pretty shell-shocked from the bar exam. I bet I looked the same!

I will spend this week recovering from said shell shock. My plans include reading Justice Thomas’ book, My Grandfather’s Son, which I just picked up from the local library; assembling a crib for our first child who is due at the end of September; riding my recumbent bicycle through my new environs; playing some old school video games; and catching up on podcasts that I have missed during the bar exam. On Friday, my wife and I will head out for a week on Cape Cod. I’m excited to smell the salt water for the first time this summer.

While studying for the bar, I was putting in about seventy hours per week. As a result, I fell out of touch with current events. I have been catching back up, but have quite a backlog. I have not yet read anything about the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment case, the coming Olympic games, or the state of the presidential race. Starting my morning off with the New York Times is a ritual that I really missed during the bar review process. Getting back to my usual life feels terrific.