Tomorrow is my last day of co-op! I can't believe it - three months ago I came out to Southern California for the first time, having never stepped foot in a federal courthouse, and now Pasadena and the Ninth Circuit courthouse feel so familiar. It really has been a great experience and I feel so lucky that it has been part of my law school experience. I am leaving some good weather and some great friends behind.

Today I thought I would share with you some of my favorite law-related but non-casebook reading. I find that every once in a while its great to go back to those books that inspired you to pursue the law, whether they be the classic To Kill A Mockingbird or even, admit it!, John Grisham. Here are a few of my favorites:

A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr, is the true story of lawyers taking on corporations...and winning. Eventually. For me the combination of an ambitious, if unrealistic, young lawyer, corporate (ir)responsibility, and public health combine to make a thrilling read. Even better, some of the main characters are still practicing right here in Boston. Beyond the excitement of the story, however, the book also illuminates what a long and draining fight class action lawsuits, and litigation of all kinds, can be.

I recently read Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary, by Juan Williams. Prior to attending law school, and even through my first year, I didn’t understand people’s interest in Supreme Court Justices. However, after being in law school a bit longer, and reading this book, I find it fascinating how learning about individual Justices can give you a better idea of what the practice of law was like during their tenure, what the political climate was, and, most of all, remind you that law is made by real people, who are products of their place and time.

One of my favorite books of the past year or two was Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, by Kevin Boyle. It’s one of those non-fiction history books that gives you an incredible sense of what life was like during a specific period in American history. As they write on the website for the great bookstore Powells, http://www.powells.com/:

“In 1925, Detroit was a smoky swirl of jazz and speakeasies, assembly lines and fistfights. The advent of automobiles had brought workers from around the globe to compete for manufacturing jobs, and tensions often flared with the KKK in ascendance and violence rising. Ossian Sweet, a proud Negro doctor-grandson of a slave-had made the long climb from the ghetto to a home of his own in a previously all-white neighborhood. Yet just after his arrival, a mob gathered outside his house; suddenly, shots rang out: Sweet, or one of his defenders, had accidentally killed one of the whites threatening their lives and homes.

And so it began-a chain of events that brought America's greatest attorney, Clarence Darrow, into the fray and transformed Sweet into a controversial symbol of equality. Historian Kevin Boyle weaves the police investigation and courtroom drama of Sweet's murder trial into an unforgettable tapestry of narrative history that documents the volatile America of the 1920s and movingly re-creates the Sweet family's journey from slavery through the Great Migration to the middle class. Ossian Sweet's story, so richly and poignantly captured here, is an epic tale of one man trapped by the battles of his era's changing times.�

This book got me really interested in Detroit, in Clarence Darrow, and in the history of the NAACP. Arc of Justice is captivating - a moving and devastating portrait of racism, American history, and one man’s story.

One final note: while not directly law related, right now I am reading The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America, by Allan M. Brandt. The Cigarette Century was recommended to me by NUSL professor Richard Daynard, who runs the Public Health Advocacy Institute, http://www.phaionline.org/. Check out their work on Tobacco Control here: http://www.phaionline.org/projects/tobacco-control/.

Have a great holiday everyone!

The transition back into the life of a law student has been harder than I expected. The upside of the NUSL lifestyle, of always running to a different location, job, task, set of people, has a downside of...well, of always running to a different location, job, task, and set of people!

Just two weeks ago (!) a day in my life looked something like this: wake up around 7, walk three sunny miles to work (with a stop for coffee at my favorite bakery), spend the day in the beautiful federal courthouse working on cases at my own pace, helping clerks as needed, and joking around with my fellow externs. Come 5 or 6pm, leave, have dinner with a friend, and spend the rest of the night doing. . .whatever I wanted!

My days now look a little different. I wake up in the morning, and it’s dark and cold out. I jump out of bed (ok, drag myself out of bed) and think about everything I have planned for the day. Go to at least one, and sometimes two, fast-paced and challenging classes. Read dozens of pages of cases for each. Work in the CISP office. Run from meeting to meeting. Serve as a research assistant to a professor. Stop into Chicken Lou's for my customary dose of fried food. Try to keep up with everyone over email and the phone. And, finally, at 8 or 9, trudge home for a late dinner, a dose of trash TV, and some final bed time legal reading. Yep, life has changed.

Don't get me wrong, I know I'm very lucky that my full time job is learning. It’s pretty incredible. But it has surprised me how hard it is to get back in the swing of school. The semester seems quick too, with a holiday break in a few weeks (Florida, here I come!), and then the quick descent of finals.

So wish me luck! I hope to find some way to kick start my brain soon.

Oh, one final note: I missed it last year, but it looks like I’m going to be able to make the annual Reblaw conference this year. I’ve heard great things about it, and I’m already excited about attending this February. Check it out if you’re interested in social justice lawyers and law students: http://islandia.law.yale.edu/reblaw

I gave a tour yesterday to prospective students, which is one of my favorite things to do. I love consciously remembering why I chose to go to NUSL, and talking to excited students about the realities of law school. That led me to reflect, today, on my choice to attend, and the process of choosing a law school. It’s a big choice! I know it sounds cheesy, but when you find the law school that’s right for you, I think you just know. It’s a big decision, one you should have, ideally, already spent a lot of time pondering before you come down to enrolling in a school. For me, it was a year of intensive thinking that led up to choosing a school – I read all those “Is law school right for you?� books, talked to as many people as possible about their experience as law students and as lawyers, and read about and visited as many school as possible.

And when it came down to it, all that preparation made the choice easy. Although I was admitted to a number of law schools (some better ranked than Northeastern, or more widely known), as soon as I spent time at NUSL and talked to staff, faculty, and students, I knew it was the right place for me. In fact, the day after I visited NUSL I went to visit another (better ranked, honestly) school for a scholarship interview. I took the bus, got off and walked around the campus, and then…got back on the bus and left. Before even going to my interview.

Now, I’m not recommending this course of action. It was rude to my interviewers (although I called them to say I wouldn’t be coming) and rash. However, it was also right. I knew the setting of the second law school wasn’t right for me, knew the feel of the school didn’t suit me, and knew that Northeastern had felt like a match the day before. And I’ve never once regretted the decision.

I know the coming months, this season of acceptances and rejections, is rough for everyone. However, if you have really put thought into your choices, and done a good job of expressing your desires and goals to those around you, I truly believe you will find the right fit - whether it’s Northeastern or another wonderful law school.

I'm battling with a stubborn cold right now (or at least that’s what I assume it is, since I can't apparently be bothered to go to the doctor), so please excuse me if I'm all over the place.

A few prospective students have recently asked me about the feasibility of practicing outside Boston with a degree from NUSL, and I know this is a common concern. The best way to create connections outside of Boston, of course, is the co-op program (see Aisha’s blog for more, I think she’s done all of her co-ops in Atlanta!). However, beyond co-ops, the alumni network at NUSL is strong and nationwide. In addition to all the NUSL grads out there willing to talk, I have also recently realized that we have a very valuble resource in the faculty. And that’s why this week what’s on my mind is how much I love my professors at NUSL.

I have been struggling with trying to make connections in Florida, where I hope to move after graduation, and have turned to some professors for help. In the last few weeks, I have shot off emails to professors who practice, or teach, in areas of law I am interested in, asking if they might have connections in Florida they would be willing to speak with me about. The responses have been uniformly enthusiastic. Professors and administrators have given me names of lawyers, firms, judges and organizations they know in the area, helped me access lists and directories, and told me about NUSL alums they know working in South Florida. I’ve been bowled over not only by the feedback they have given me but also by their friendliness in responding. They really seem to see their place in the NUSL community not only as standing in front of a class a few times a week, but as being a general and accessible font of knowledge and experience to share with students. All of this is in-line with my experience at NUSL generally. During my time here, professors have been happy to have me on as a research assistant, welcoming of my ideas and concerns, and open to my various and ever-changing enthusiasms. I can’t think of one professor whose office door I would be afraid to knock on, and I can think of a half-dozen I say “hi� to in the halls. Sure, class selection, the co-op program, a commitment to public interest law, and all the other things about NUSL are important to me….but day in and day out, friendly and welcoming faculty make law school just a little bit easier.

We are in the midst of some changes over here at the law school. For years, NUSL has prided itself on not having grades, and instead having narrative evaluations, individually done for each student by the professor. Coming to NUSL, the lack of grades was not a prominent consideration in my mind. However, having been here almost two years now, it has taken on greater significance. I have seen first hand, again and again, how lack of grades (and consequential lack of class ranking) really leads to a community of cooperativeness. This wasn’t a reality to me until I met people from other schools who knew the exact rank of others in their class, and I realized what a different environment there is at Northeastern. I know it sounds unbelievable, but I have felt no competitiveness while studying for finals. There is no incentive not to share notes and outlines, or not to study together, because no one benefits by another doing poorly on the exam (there’s no such thing as a curve here at NUSL!). I credit this almost entirely to the lack of letter grades and rankings. To be sure, the eval system has had its disadvantages: quality, length, and clarity of evaluations varies greatly between professors; some employers are (understandably) confused by the system; and the process of converting these evaluations into page long transcripts as required by some federal employers can be unwieldy.

For better or for worse, however, this system is changing. Starting next year, students will continue to receive written evaluations but will also receive key words such as "good" and "excellent." Some (including me, to be honest) fear that this will create a system tantamount to traditional grades. Others welcome the standardization. Multiple school wide meetings have been held about the issue, with various student groups giving their two cents. Regardless of your opinion on the issue, it’s a conversation that’s going on here, and one you should be willing to get involved in if you come to NUSL.

Ira and I were talking a few weeks ago about how one of the most common questions we get from prospective students is "How many hours a day do you work?"...and how hard it is to answer that question. It's hard to answer because I don’t think most of us think about it that way (it would probably be too overwhelming!) and also because it just varies so much. But it occurred to me today that I can still give you a sense of things. Below are two days, one during a regular week, and one during this week (the week before finals!). They are ripped pretty much verbatim from my planner so...enjoy!

Monday, December 10 (Non-Finals Time)

Wake up at 7, grab breakfast on the way to school (thanks Dunkin Donuts!)

8-12: Work in the CISP office, selling NUSL merch to people, inventorying used text books, and studying in between tasks. This is a work study job, so I get paid about $10 an hour.

12 – 1:30: Employment Law with Prof. Klare

2 – 3:40: Law and Economic Development with Prof. Danielson

I’m out of school by 4! Usually I’ll go home to drop off my books and take a walk. Back at home by 6, have dinner, watch some TV, and get in a few hours of studying. In bed by 11.

Tuesday, February 12 (Finals Time)

Wake up at 7, grab breakfast on the way to school

8-10: Table for CISP, get people to vote on which of their peers should receive co-op funding for public interest co-ops

10-12: An Employment Law study group with friends, going over a past exam

12-1: A meeting on loan forgiveness, and the new federal loan programs

1:45-3:15: Federal Courts class with Prof. Burnham

3:30-5: Work on finals outlines, discuss exam anxiety with friends.

5-6: Federal Courts study session with friends. Only get through about 1 page of notes (out of 50!). Wow.

6-8: Work in the CISP office.

8 onwards: Walk home, have dinner, talk on the phone to my boyfriend, catch up on emails, do reading for class tomorrow.

In bed by 11 or 12.

Hope this gave you some sense of being a law student! My advice would be to know your own tendencies before starting law school. If you’re someone who tends to over commit to activities (ahem), acknowledge that now so that you will avoid it in law school (especially 1L year!). If you are someone who studies well with others, make that happen, but if you aren’t, don’t try to participate in study groups just because you feel like you should. And don’t be afraid to change your strategy. One week my computer was broken, and I realized that without that hunk of plastic in front of me, I made a lot more eye contact with the professor and looked at the case a lot more closely (instead of the formatting on my computer). Once I realized that, I tried to incorporate those things into my class habits, even once my trusty computer was back. Bottom line: no one can tell you exactly what its going to be like to be in law school….and that’s why it’s important to know your priorities ahead of time. Want to spend a lot of time with your family? It’s probably best you try to avoid living far away, with a commute. Want to stay in shape? Schedule those work outs in. Most of all, go easy on yourself. All of us thought we would be the exception to the rule, the law student who can do it all. None of us can. The sooner you accept that, the happier you will be.

My dad said today that he thinks reading of novels is an indicator of well-being. I would be inclined to agree.

Now that I'm not in school, I have returned to the world of novels and non-casebook reading generally. So far I've reread David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas," one of my all time favorite novels. It was just as great the third time around! After that I dove into "The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao," which I came to after hearing numerous interveiws with the author. In interveiws, Junot Diaz is charming, entertaining, thrillingly dorky, and incredibly astute. The book almost lived up to the author, and TBWLOW (wow) left me wanting to learn more about the Dominican Republic, and the Carribean in general. Now I have moved onto a colder climate, farther away from Puerto Rico but even closer to my heart - Alaska. Michael Chabon's book "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" has gotten a lot of good press, and so far it's living up to it. In addition to all this fiction, I have been slowly sifting through Mary Oliver's new book of poetry. She has been a favorite of mine for years and this newest collection is incredibly powerful.

Other than that, my freedom from law school time has been spent (when not at my co-op obviously) playing Guitar Hero 3, lying on the beach, and devouring all the good food Puerto Rico has to offer. It has been raining here for a few days though so, don't worry, it's not 100 percent perfect...

ps - I also wanted to give a shout out to the Givelber Adjucts program and the Daynard Fellows programs (named after two of my favorite professors!). They are two ways that the school (with student input) brings in awesome practitioners to talk to NUSL students about public interest work and I look forward to telling you more about this year's selections!

I know a lot of you out there are getting ready to make your final decision about where to attend law school - and some of you have probably never been to the NUSL campus, or to Boston generally. Although I had visited before I made the decision to attend, it was still daunting to think about moving to a new city and find housing in a place I knew so little about. So let me tell you a little about how I choose an apartment and a neighborhood.

I didn't want to make a decision without having seen a place, so I came to Boston for one weekend, sure that within that time frame I could set up an apartment. Well, I did get an apartment, but it didn't go as planned. I had lined up places to look at via ol' reliable Craigslist, but none of them turned out to be what I expected. Either the apartment didn’t look as advertised, or the roommates didn’t seem like a good fit. With only hours to go before I left Boston, I ducked into a real estate office and had the broker show me some apartments. I ended up signing a lease that day on a one bedroom apartment (which cost about $1300 a month), and with it a large check that included a broker fee. For me, the convenience was worth the fee, but if you have the time to look around, you should be able to find a place on your own, without a broker (and without that annoying fee).

If I didn’t know Boston, how did I decide where to live? Luckily, I had a few friends in the area and sent them the apartment listings that interested me, asking if the locations were any good. If you don't have friends in the area, another way to find out about neighborhoods is to take part in the online chats the admissions office holds, where you can ask current students about Boston and about housing.

If you are new to Boston, like me, I would recommend choosing one or two neighborhoods that seem like a good fit to you and then going from there. The most popular places for NUSL students to live are the area around Northeastern (sometimes just labeled Northeastern on listings, sometimes called Fenway area, and sometimes labeled Back Bay), and an area a bit further away from the school called Jamaica Plains (J.P.). I chose to live close to Northeastern for the convenience of being able to walk to school, and the closeness to shops and restaurants. The downside of the area is that it’s expensive and filled with students, like me, instead of having a more neighborhood-y feel. J.P., on the other hand, is a bit further from school (although accessible via the 39 bus or the Green and/or Orange line of the T), however there are more housing choices (houses as opposed to just apartments, for instance) and it’s a much quainter and quieter place to live, with families and schools as opposed to all students. I have stayed in my over-priced but perfectly located apartment for the first two years of law school, and love being able to walk home between classes. However, for my final year, now that I know the area, I am looking to switch places, maybe moving into the slower pace of J.P. We will see how that switch goes.

One final note, a lot of people ask me about housing when you are on co-op. I was worried about this as well, and convinced it would prohibit me from leaving Boston on co-op. However, it is so much easier than I expected. Since students are moving around all the time, I haven't had any problem getting great sublettors for when I am away. This coming year, a friend who is on the opposite co-op rotation from me is going to split the lease, so that neither of us has to worry about finding a sublettor! Perfect.

Next post I’ll write about some of my favorite things in Boston, to try to give you a sense of what it’s like living here. Good luck with the housing search!

There are so many skills useful to the practice of law that you don't learn in law school -and socializing is one of them. Lawyers are not known for being a social and fun-loving bunch, and many of my friends bemoan the semi-required networking events you start to encounter in law school. However, I often enjoy them, and have found that there are lots of ways to meet people in your field of practice and make valuable connections, regardless of your interests.

This summer, I have had the pleasure of attending a variety of events - some, sponsored by the Boston Bar Association (BBA), are panel discussions composed of lawyers from different firms and organizations, speaking on issues such as representing clients on death row, and the role of politics in the practice of law. Others are events like the Lawyers Have a Heart run (check out our team photo below! I ducked out before my appearance in a headband could be memorialized in print), or the Corporate Challenge, where firms round up groups of eager summers and associates to raise money for charity events. Finally, there are the more classic, and decedent, social events. Last night, for instance, a group of us went to the Justice Is Sweet event. Hosted by the BBA, this annual event is a fundraiser in the form of a dessert and wine buffet. There were, yes, chocolate fountains in which to dip strawberries and marshmallows. Pretty ridiculous! And delicious.

Even though these events sound silly, or indulgent, they actually are a great opportunity to meet other people in your field, to raise money for good causes. It’s a chance to spend time with your co-workers in a lower stress situation, and to see the people that you may spend the next few decades encountering in court! Obviously you don’t have to be best friends with everyone who just happens to be a lawyer, but having cordial relationships with those who will be your work community is a great bonus and makes an often stressful career that much more enjoyable.