Sowande, 2L

Weekends after the first year are so different. I've enjoyed a few road trips, spending time with local friends who are on the opposite rotation, being at home, and getting to see Boston when people are a lot more relaxed and the population is down to a more realistic size.

I've been working on finding a co-op these last few weeks, and evaluations for the spring are due at any moment. What's really been interesting about the co-op process has been the research part of figuring out who I should apply to. A little bit of "google-ing" has turned up some very interesting judges who I believe could provide some great learning opportunities.

The co-op office procedure is very straight forward, and the past-student views on working for those employers are very helpful. When flipping through the files available in the co-op office, which contain the student reviews, my eye tends to gravitate toward whether the job is accessible by public transportation or not.

Although I was really hopeful and excited about working for a Japanese animation licensing firm in San Francisco ("persistence, persistence, persistence"), as my summer coursework has progressed I have found myself continuing to fall prey to the lure of Bankruptcy Law.

What mystery hast thee in store, oh ye treacherous sirens of debtor/creditor relations? Pray release me from thy treacherous cognitive grasp, that I may once again possess innocence, free to discuss the bounty of knowledge and life through ear and lip unknowing and fresh as the morning dew.

Actually, pray keep me intrigued about the practice area, but pray help me to stop bringing it up in every conversation with anyone who will listen.

Posted by Sowande at 6:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, I think I actually am moving downstairs this time... Blargh, ever since we lost our original roommate, things just haven't been the same. Good roommates are very hard to find, so if you are incoming, I sure hope you've already started looking.

Summer continues... of course the weather doesn't seem to agree. It is rainy... more like a heavy mist actually, and it's cool outside. I've spent this weekend catching up with law office friends on the opposite rotation, and it's been a hoot (I was going to say "incredible" but somehow that word seems a little disingenuous). Hearing about what they are doing on Co-op has been incredible. One is writing memo after memo, and a few opinions (a lot of people only get to write one or two, so I've heard) for a Federal District Court judge in Springfield. I'm not surprised since she's a super genius. Another friend has been doing a lot of constitutional law and racial disparity work with a local organization. And yet another is in New York doing immigration law. Everyone seems to be learning a lot and putting our first-year work to very good use.

I'm not sure where I'll be working for the fall just yet, but we sent in our first round of applications last week. How it works is there are co-op employers, and non-co-op employers. Those who are co-op employers are applied to, by students, through the school. I've applied to the Federal Communications Commission in Washington D.C., the Human Rights Commission in San Francisco, a local media company, and a few others.

My goal this week is to apply for more co-ops on my own. We are allowed to work virtually anywhere as long as we will be supervised by a practicing attorney, we get a certain number of hours per week for a certain number of weeks, and as long as we will be evaluated at the end of the number of weeks we've worked. So that leaves it pretty much open to whatever you can latch onto, anywhere in the world.

I'm still holding out for Viz Media, LLC, a Japanese animation licensing company in San Francisco. Persistence, persistence, persistence.

Posted by Sowande at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I have been relatively quiet on the issue of marital rights in the U.S. these days because, believe it or not, I am a little bit of a "sit back and watch" type when it comes to politics. This is because for me, many of the intricacies of American social institutions and politics didn't seem within grasp--particularly before law school. My parents lived paycheck to paycheck, so there were no investments discussed at the dinner table or at family gatherings, nor was anything directly lost in the recent economic downturn*. The effects I felt during the last two economic downturns that I remember since 1980 seemed minimal to me at the time.

My first significant introduction to such things was in Property last semester. Our professor gave us a most memorable breakdown of what the "mortgage crisis" meant, and explored several theories as to how it came about. Admittedly, I had very little prior introduction and so I felt like I was being told a big secret.

To many in America, in fact I would go so far as to say to most in America, such "secrets" are coveted and discussed among a select few. The micronization, packaging and resale of mortgages and investments are not impossible to understand in very general terms. I am certainly not saying that I now can solve the problem, or even that I can wheel and deal with the top financial minds, but I feel like I understand what the headlines mean.

More importantly, I see a more distinct line that exists between those who are in the know and those who aren't--and it worries me. If early education continues to be de-prioritized and cut, I think the line could easily become a wall... Many would say, "Well why don't people go out and find out for themselves?" To that I say, a majority of people beyond the reaches of the biggest cities (most of America) aren't instilled with the interest or drive to seek such information out. They--WE aren't encouraged to do so and many of our priorities are backwards. Funny how sporting events still sell out, but library funding and staff are constantly being cut.

Coming back to my main point, taking Bankruptcy still remains one of the best educational choices I could have made. It really speaks to just about every aspect of American life, especially marriage. So far, I can definitely see benefits and downsides to filing for bankruptcy while married. But focusing on the benefits for a moment, I noticed that married couples are availed to certain benefits that unmarried couples (who want to get married but cannot) are not.

I think it would be interesting to see an equal protection case, and perhaps with the current financial situation, we may come across something. Who knows, I'm only a few weeks into classes but I will be keeping an eye out for something good.

*I'm obviously glossing over a very powerful ripple effect, but that would make this post much longer.

Posted by Sowande at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The more I think about it, the more amazed I am at how much I accomplished during my first year of law school.

Even before the school year started, I was running an uphill battle. I had to figure out how was I going to deal with being so far from everything I knew and loved about my life, friends, partner, and dogs in Arizona, and my closest friends and family in California. I had to arrange my finances in preparation of qualifying for the appropriate financial aid--and then I still had to secure the means to attend law school in a matter of months. I had to gather all of the belongings I thought I would need, and then figure out how to move them across the country. Luckily I had an excellent support system, and a network of friends and family, all of whom were in my corner. They offered everything from words of advice to a nice floor to crash on while I sought the appropriate living arrangements.

I relied heavily on Northeastern University staff, and not just the people in the law school, even before I got into Boston. In retrospect, open communication was really what set the school apart. I'm not here to diss other schools or sell anyone on Northeastern, but I will admit that I kinda based my choice to come to Northeastern on what the voice at the other end of the line sounded like, or how open they were with information. That's MASSIVELY important to someone like me, who was a tiny bit familiar with the rigor of law school, and who moved across the country to jump on in. I'm big on the "moved across the country" thing--maybe I'll make a t-shirt or something.

I'm a second-year law student now. Things feel immensely, immensely--I cannot stress this enough but I will try--immensely different. My classes are smaller, I can actually read cases, the subject matter seems increasingly relevant... what else... I don't know, I mean this is incredible. And who knew I'd love Bankruptcy Law so much?

Last Thursday, I went to the American Civil Liberties Union's First Amendment Dinner. A table was donated to Northeastern University School of Law, and about ten of us attended... let me see, I took some notes here...

The night was in honor of a former Army Chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, James J. Yee, who was arrested and placed in a naval brig for 76 days. He put it down, and gave an awe-inspiring speech about being held for such a period of time without knowing what was going to happen to him at almost every turn. I couldn't imagine...

Oh, and we also heard from Katrina vanden Heuvel, an editor for The Nation, who said something I absolutely loved: "There's never a time to compromise America's highest ideals." Quotable quotable if I do say so myself.

So, a few of us from my old "law office" (see LSSC Thoughts) are going to go to Martha's Vineyard for the weekend. Yesssss, I'll be bringing my books... I've never been, and though I had the opportunity to go a couple weeks ago (SO glad I've been forgiven on that one...) I am pretty dang excited. I can't help but worry about getting sand in my phone, or bitten by ticks and getting lyme disease... whoa, speaking things into existence is where I wrap it up with a lovely picture of me, reading for Contracts toward the end of last semester. //end stream of consciousness

Posted by Sowande at 6:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)