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Wen, 2L
« February 2008 |
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Teamwork
One of the first things that comes to mind when people talk about NUSL is “co-op”. All NUSL students get to go on four “co-ops” during their three-year legal education and we absolutely adore it. But while “Co-op” officially stands for our “Cooperative Legal Education Program,” I have learned that it means a lot more than just four legal internships. It also means we recognize the value and importance of teamwork. For example, as a 1L last year, I completed a major project on potential legal remedies for reducing children’s exposure from second-hand smoke along with more than a dozen other law students from our law office. As you can imagine, working with 13 people to produce one single written product is both intellectually and administratively challenging. But these were not just any other 13 people – these were 13 often-opinionated law students. Although I’m not certain if I will remember what my project is about ten years down the road, I know I will remember the lessons I learned about how to work and lead effectively in team settings. And that skill can make or break one’s career in law. Just when I thought the emphasis on teamwork was just an 1L year thing, I realized that three out of four classes I am taking this quarter involve varying degrees of teamwork. Some classes like administrative law place such heavy emphasis on teamwork that our final exam will be done in a small group. To be perfectly honest, I was and remain very hesitant about a class in which I will be evaluated on how well my group does. But that’s precisely the point. We all are much more comfortable relying on ourselves than other people in our group. Yet to succeed in law, we must rely on others in our firm or organization. By taking these cooperative classes, we get an invaluable opportunity to develop these “teamwork muscles” that will come handy and give us a head-start once we start working. Meanwhile, I’m sure there will be a lot of growing pains for me this quarter.
Learning Curve
Something amazing happened to me this weekend. I finally mastered s-turns. S-turn is so elementary to snowboarding that it’s something they teach you right after you learn how to stand up on your snowboard. It consists of a heel-side turn and a toe-side turn. So it is pretty embarrassing that I have just fully mastered this technique during my fifth snowboarding season. Like many kids in my generation, I grew up skiing. Unlike snowboarding, I learned the basics of skiing (“pizza” and “French fries”) in all of one day. Then when I was in college, snowboarding became the cooler snow sport so of course I had to try it. So for the past four years, I have persisted in making my way to the slopes at least once a year to snowboard even though it’s painfully clear to everyone that I cannot do a s-turn if my life depended on it. Then this past weekend, instead of using the board that I’ve been using, I borrowed my friend Liz’s board and headed west to the slopes at the Berkshires. Though I will never believe the whole “the equipment can make you a better athlete” business, I must admit that a smaller and more flexible snowboard did help me master the s-turns that have eluded me for so long. In fact, I was on the verge of finally giving up on snowboarding when we were driving to the Berkshires. I even told my boyfriend that this is going to be my last snowboarding season and that come next winter, I’m going to be a skier again. But skiing was the last thing on my mind when I finished my last run on the snowboard. The s-turns that had seemed so impossible one season again were now coming to me completely effortlessly. As we drove home, I could only think about how I can get one more trip in before it gets too warm to snowboard.
You may wonder what snowboarding has to do with law school. It relates to law school in two ways. First, you should know that if you come to law school in Boston, there are lots of good mountains within a 3-hour drive. But more importantly, it just so happens that learning how to snowboard is just like learning civil procedure during your 1L year. The learning curve is very steep. You will feel lost and hopeless for most of the semester. And then toward the end, someone explains a rule to you in a different way or you read your rule book at a slightly different angle or whatever the triggering event may be, the glorious moment of clarity finally dawns on you and everything that the professor talked about all semester long clicks into the right places and the world is a happy place again. As many of you make your final decisions about law school this spring and start your legal education as 1Ls next fall, I hope you’ll remember that persistence pays off in law school and most other things as well.
Professional Responsibility
It’s already two weeks into the spring quarter so I thought I’d write more substantively about my classes. As you know, I took the MPRE (Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination) last Saturday. It is definitely do-able for those who came prepared and mostly painless compared to most law school exams. NUSL requires upper levels to take the professional responsibility course before graduation. It’s probably preferable to take the MPRE after completing the course, but I decided that I wanted it to get past this barrier and focus on passing the bar exam my third year. So consequently, I took the MPRE with only one week of professional responsibility class under my belt. On the other hand, this is definitely the type of material you can learn on your own.
With respect to the class, it is a lot more stimulating than I thought. I think the mere fact it is required puts off many NUSL students. But rest assured, pondering about ethical dilemmas other lawyers faced is not only thought-provoking (and I must admit occasionally entertaining) but will also help us become more ethical lawyers and stay out trouble in the future. So to give you a taste, consider this scenario that Professor Hall posited to us on the first day of class.
You are a young criminal defense attorney. You just won your first big case and got your client acquitted of murder. You did such a fabulous job representing your client that he took you out to dinner, during which he told to you that you’ve really worked a miracle considering that he actually did commit that murder. What would you do upon learning this, if anything? What if since the acquittal another personal has been charged with that murder? Would your answer be different? What if that person faces the death penalty? You should know that ABA rules generally prohibit attorneys from disclosing information learned from representing a client. Would your answer be different if your client died of heart failure soon after the acquittal and the other person still faces death penalty if convicted of the murder your client committed?
MPRE
It has been a very busy week so far. First, I had to make sure I want to stay in all the classes I pre-registered for. Typically that decision depends on the material on the syllabus, teaching method of the professor, whether it will be an in-class or take-home final, who else is taking that class etc. I liked all four classes I went to so I didn’t have to “shop” for classes. Once I made that decision, I bought the required books for the classes. I bought almost all of my books online this year so the totally cost come out to a modest $300. Then, I had to catch up on all the things I missed in the past three months. The hallways are filled with excited conversation about people’s coops. It never fails to amaze me when I hear about where coops take Northeastern law students.
Lastly, there is the MPRE on Saturday. It stands for Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. I think of it as the first step to pass the Bar – the final obstacle course before I can call myself a lawyer. It is a is a sixty question, two-hour and five minute, multiple-choice exam that tests students on their knowledge of the professional and ethical rules that govern our profession. In Massachusetts, a law student cannot sit for the bar until s/he has passed the MPRE. And nearly all states require law students to achieve a passing score on the MPRE before practicing law. As for preparation for the test, many will go to a review lecture offered by Bar/Bri, a company that prepares students for the Bar and take practice exams; others will study on their own; still others will “wing” it. I do not recommend the last method. In my an opinion, there is no reason to waste $65 to take a test that you could have easily passed had you invested a little time to prepare for it. Though many people see the MPRE as a chore, I actually have learned some pretty interesting rules. For example, did you know that a lawyer may be disbarred if s/he said “Good morning. How are you?” to a juror in an elevator at the courthouse? It turns out we have some pretty strict rules preventing advocates from exerting improper influence on jurors. I don’t know about others but I’m glad I learned that one.
Home … Frigid Home
I finally made it home. I had naively hoped to write that it felt all warm and fuzzy to be back in my beloved city, see its skyline for the first time from afar, drive home on the river roads with city lights reflected in the water, and remember thousands of bits of memories that make this ridiculously cold yet character-building city my home. But alas, the truth is it was way too frigid to feel anything at all. After more than nine hours of flying, landing, delaying and waiting for luggage, I was transported from sunny and 70s to single digit temperature and wintry mix. It turns out this February happens to be the coldest and snowiest February on record. One thing about true Bostonians – it doesn’t matter how many of these bone-chilling winters we have lived through, we will never, ever, stop complaining about it. Nor will we flee to somewhere warmer (not permanently anyway). Our modus operandi - grumble about it, suffer it, and then brag about it.
So with that, this Bostonian is home and getting ready for a brand new quarter of classes. In a way, this time of transition is my favorite part of the quarter because I get to do everything anew. I have a clean slate, from books and school supplies to study habits to exam strategies. For my second quarter of my second year in law school, I pre-registered online for (1) Secured Transaction, (2) Professional Responsibility (the only required upper-level course), (3) International Business Regulation, and (4) Administrative Law. Once classes start on Monday, I will have time to check out these and other classes before I make my final selections during the add/drop period. It’s great that the school gives me a chance to change my mind, but I have a really good feeling about these courses.
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