Law School

Dear Diary,

I'm relying on my days in Physical Science 100, my high school physics class, and of course, Wikipedia, for a proper analogy of my feelings toward life right now.

According to Wikipedia's entry on the Law of Conservation of Energy: The law "states that the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains constant over time (is said to be conserved over time). A consequence of this law is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed from one state to another. The only thing that can happen to energy in a closed system is that it can change form."

With law school, I feel like my life is an isolated system with a set amount of busyness built in. I try to destroy the busyness, but like energy in the aforementioned law, it cannot be created or destroyed; it simply changes forms.

Last semester I was in class a lot. I was looking forward to having some extra time on my hands this semester. Looking at my schedule before classes started, I saw a lot of empty space. Unfortunately, I forgot the Law of Conservation of Busyness -- that when in law school, busyness can neither be created nor destroyed, it only changes forms. Those deceiving empty spaces have been filled up with a judicial externship in Columbus, heavy involvement in Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), work on my law review paper, etc.

The realization of the existence of this law has been liberating, rather than depressing. Rather than getting frustrated by my inability to change my degree of busyness, I now embrace the notion; I will be busy for the rest of my law school days (and life I'm sure). Though Danielle will not like reading it, that's the way it is. Laws are laws... unless the Supreme Court or Congress change them.

Jacob

Dear Diary,

Week two (of the official semester) is now upon us. I did the client counseling short course the week before the semester started, so it's week three for me. I did get all my grades from last semester, so I'm officially into this semester now. Last semester is done. I'm no longer in the Avatar vortex. (Side note: after I made an Avatar analogy in my last post, my wife pointed out this article on CNN to me. Just in case any of you were worrying about me, no, I'm not depressed or contemplating suicide. I like my life; it was just an analogy.)

One big difference between this semester and last semester is the amount of time I spend in class. Last semester I had two or three classes a day. This semester I have two classes on Tuesday, three on Thursday, and one on Friday; it's beautiful. I'm still busy though. I have a lot of extracurricular activities and I'm doing a judicial externship at the Ohio Supreme Court, which is out of class credit. I'll take less class busy over more class busy though.

On the homefront, Danielle took Luci into the ENT today and the verdict is in -- tubes. Luci is getting tubes in her ears next month. She's had 5 or 6 ear infections in the last seventh months, so I'm glad that she will get this taken care of. I had tubes in my ears twice when I was a kid and was on amoxicillin most of my childhood, so this outcome seemed kind of inevitable for her. Hopefully in a couple of weeks she'll be ear infection free for a while.

Time to go watch American Idol with Danielle. Hopefully we'll see something as good as "Pants on the floor" from last week.

Jacob

Dear Diary,

Because it would be impossible to recap everything that has occurred in my life over the last month, I won't even try. Instead, I am going to give a very brief, truncated list of what one of my good friends likes to refer to as, "the happenings that have happened."

Happening #1: Exams
I took four exams in the five day span of December 8-12. I have no distinct memories of those five days; they are just a blur. I remember typing a lot and eating a lot of bagels that the library provided. I also remember thinking some of the exams were hard. That's about the extent of my memories from the 8 - 12 of December 2009. (You can consult with Danielle for more details of what actually occurred.)

Thankfully I had a couple of days after the five-day exam-a-thon to prepare for my last exam. Having two whole days of study was a luxury. It reminded me of the days of being a 1L when my exam schedule was laid out so nicely for me. I made it through the final exam, and I'm 99% sure that's the last time I will ever choose to take five law school exams in one semester again.

Happening #2:Christmas
Christmas is a lot of fun with a daughter who gets very excited about everything that is Christmas. She loved the lights, the food, the decorations, her nativity set, and the presents on Christmas morning. However, Luci had a hard time believing the presents were actually for her. When she woke up and came downstairs, Luci saw a little toy kitchen we bought her, and she said, "For 'Anca" (referring to her friend Bianca). We said, "No, it's for Luci," to which she replied, "For Luci??? For Luci?" She just couldn't believe she got presents and kept asking, "For Luci?" She let out some squeals, we visited with family and friends, and had a very enjoyable Christmas overall.

Happening (sort-of) #3: Grades
The reason that this is a sort-of happening is that I'm still waiting on grades from three of my exams. I've visited this web page more times than I want to admit the last couple of weeks hoping to see something in the way of grades. I finally got a couple back last week, which was really nice, and hopefully I will get the last few soon. Spending an inordinate amount of time working on something makes it difficult to patiently wait for the feedback. In addition, grades give the previous semester a sense of closure. Once the grades are in - for good or for ill - the semester is finally complete. Right now, I feel like I'm in that vortex tunnel thing that connects the two worlds in Avatar. I'm in between two worlds. I'm Jake Sulley and I just want to get to Pandora (this semester).

Additional Happenings
Spending lots of time with family, visiting friends in my hometown of Wooster, gaining weight (I don't weigh myself regularly so no official amount to report), fixing our oven, and repairing additional things around the house that I neglected over the last semester.

All-in-all a great break, and I'm excited to be past the midway point of my law school career.

Jacob

Dear Diary,

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but December is here. My first final is a week from today and two weeks from tomorrow I will be finished for the semester. These realizations are simultaneously exciting and frightening: exciting because the semester is close to being over and frightening because I have a lot of work to do between now and then.

So where did November go? A quick update on my life to fill in the blanks:

Utah
I made a quick trip to Utah to attend a wedding a couple of weeks ago. We had a really good time visiting with family and friends. Danielle and Luci actually stayed for a couple of weeks, while I was just there for the weekend. I thought that I would get a lot of things done while they were gone, but then I got sick on my way home from Utah.

Illness
On my flight home from Utah, I started getting the chills and feeling really achy, which made for a miserable couple of flights. When I did get home, I went to see the doctor and tested negative for H1N1. While that was good news, I still had to stay home from school for a couple of days until my fever broke and I felt better. Ideally, I would have been doing schoolwork while at home, but I just can't focus when I'm sick. With Danielle and Luci gone, and not really feeling like doing schoolwork, I was bored out of my mind. Though I'm feeling fine now, I still feel like I'm playing a catch-up with school. A word to the wise: don't get sick at the end of a semester.

Law Review
Law Review has been occupying a lot of my time recently. I had my third draft to turn in last week, my cite check of a lead article due yesterday, and I have my final draft due on Monday. I'm going to be elated to turn in my final draft on Monday and have some closure on Law Review for the semester. There is a certain sense of satisfaction that comes from working really hard on a project and finally turning it in; I'm looking forward to that satisfaction.

Thanksgiving
Due to flight prices, Danielle and Luci didn't come back until last Friday, so we didn't get to spend Thanksgiving together. I did get to go up to Columbus and enjoy Thanksgiving with my parents and siblings, and Danielle spent it with her family in Utah, so it all worked out. At my parents' house, we made enough food to feed at least 15 more people than were actually in attendance, played some football in the morning, watched football, and went to the movie. It was a very relaxing day before jumping back into school work on Friday.

November ended before it seemed to start, and now that December is upon us, it's time to crawl into the cave of solitude (figuratively, not like this one) known as finals. If you don't see me for a while, you will know why. When I reemerge, I will hopefully still have a family, still have friends, and still have a home. Throw in some good grades, and I will be a happy man.

Jacob

Dear Diary,

I can't think of a more clever title, so I'm going to go with my favorite Jeopardy category.

This past week I had lunch with Dean Bilionis. Not just me (I'm not that important), but a few of my classmates as well. We meet with the Dean a couple of times throughout the year as both a law school at large, and in smaller settings, to discuss the happenings of the law school. I really enjoy the meetings, and the one this past week was no exception. It was the most intimate setting that I've experienced thus far -- only about 10 students. The meeting was very informal and full of candor, but at the same time you could tell that the Dean appreciated and respected our input.

Last week I volunteered to help man the law school's table at the Cincinnati grad fair for an hour. I had the opportunity to talk to undergrad's seeking more information about UC Law, and tried to be as honest and candid as possible. I really like the law school, so I didn't have to stretch the truth to sell anyone on it. It was a funny experience for me though, because there I was, talking to all these people about the law school, when I was in their same boat not too long ago. I just found it ironic how I knew nothing about law school in general two years ago, and now I am a source of information.

Luci was a chicken for Halloween. She liked her outfit a lot. She only went trick-or-treating to five houses, but somehow ended up with a bucket full of candy, $2, and a beanie baby. That's efficiency. We just went to the neighbors right around us, and we told her, "Just take one piece of candy." She'd take one, and as we were talking to the neighbor, she kept taking more and putting it in her bucket. The neighbors would then say, "Oh, it's fine, she can have as much as she wants," and proceed to tell her how cute she was. That's how you get such prodigious trick-or-treating results.

School's been busy. Other than my memo and brief, I didn't have any assignments last year that I had to work on during either semester; I just had the exams. This semester my classes have all had little assignments. Though small, when added to other responsibilities, the weight of them seems disproportionate to the actual work that I have to do for them. One interesting assignment I had was to write a patent application for a koosh ball for my Introduction to Intellectual Property class. I developed a lot more respect for the people who write patents after I tried to do it myself. That being said, I'm not heart-broken that I don't have the science background to be a patent attorney.

Night has fallen, and I need to go to bed. Until next time.

Jacob

Dear Diary,

Before I came to law school, I remember reading some mock, "day-in-the-life" of a law student. It all seemed too scripted to me; I didn't feel like I got a really good idea about what goes on in the daily life of a law student. Alas, I decided to keep a running diary of some of the highlights of October 21, 2009, along with my thoughts at the time. I didn't have anything special planned, so I felt like it would be a good, "typical" day. However, a "typical" day is always atypical.

6:10 a.m. -- Wake up. The fall break killed my wake-up routine. It has been really hard to get up the last few days. It doesn't help that Daylight savings time is still going on. When will it end? (Editorial answer to my rhetorical question: November 1).

7:40 a.m. -- Arrive at the gym. Good to see the Squat Box Club here today. I'd like to know their story, but I think KG (a 3L who lifts with me) and I enjoy making up a story more. (There's this group of people there always doing this powerlifting routine. It's not a group of people who you would take as powerlifters. Most of their lifts are performed in and around the squat box, so we refer to them as the "Squat Box Club.")

8:40 a.m. -- Realize that I forgot my towel. I always make fun of KG for making rookie mistakes like forgetting a towel, and then I forget mine. (Don't worry, I figured it out. Innovative, but I figured it out).

9:30 a.m. -- Plan out my day and the rest of the week. I have to plan. If I don't, I realize that I just spent an hour reading some mindless article on the internet.

9:45 a.m. -- Budget and work on the finances. Familial duty calls. I actually like doing the finances though. I think my wife and I both like that I do the finances, so it works out well.

10:13 a.m. -- Still working on the budget. Printing out a budget and doing the finances is taking longer than I anticipated today. I guess when you are married and have a child, with pretty much no income, it takes some time to plan these things out.

10:31 a.m. -- Read for Legal Ethics. I don't want to, but I'm going to do it. (In this class, you only have to participate once if you want to. Everyone is assigned a problem to do research on and present in class. I did mine earlier in the semester, so it would be easy to just go to class and do nothing. Complacency, however, I've found isn't good for my law school grades.)

11:13 a.m. -- Lunch at Spicy Pickle. Danielle and Luci came to go out to lunch with me. We go out to eat once a month as a family. We really like going out, but we're poor. (See 10:13 a.m.) It's nice to see Danielle and Luci. Luci goes to bed around 6:00 p.m., so I don't get to see her much during the week.

12:00 p.m. -- Lexis Shepherd's training. Lexis has had a huge push at the law school. Last year, they didn't seem to have much of a presence, but this year the Lexis people are around all the time. I know pretty much everything she's teaching, but it's always good to get a refresher and some rewards points.

12:35 p.m. -- Read for Ethics and Federal Courts.

12:38 p.m. -- I know I'm supposed to be reading, but I just had a great idea. I had a conversation via email with my friend Mike, who graduated earlier this year. There's a picture of him in the brochure of the law school's Cornerstone Campaign, and I pointed it out to him. It's first year Civ. Pro. and according to him, he's praying he doesn't get called on.

On to my brilliant idea. He looks really young in the picture, so I'm thinking that every law school should have to publish before and after photos of their students. You can't tell me this isn't a good idea. I can't think of anything more telling of how a particular law school wears on its students than a before and after picture. (And by the way, if I would have seen a before and after picture of Mike, it wouldn't have scared me away. He looks the same now; just older).

1:19 p.m.-- Reading after lunch doesn't go so well. I'm always sleepy.

1:30-5:00 p.m. -- Federal Courts and Ethics. Class is going by really slowly. I don't care what classes you have, 3.5 hours of class is a lot.

5:00 p.m. -- Law Review. Speaking of slow, my law review paper is going slow. I think I have a really good topic, and I've found some interesting items in my research, but it is a slow process. I have a deadline coming up for this next draft, so I need to pick up the pace a little.

6:00 p.m. -- Walk to car. I like driving to school. I used to take the bus to school, but then they raised the prices (from free) and my dad gave me an old car.

6:25 p.m. -- Arrive home.

6:35 p.m. -- "Make Dinner." I'm making dinner tonight folks. I actually can cook, but I'm going to heat up some leftover lasagna because I'm starving. Danielle usually cooks, but she had her phone stolen today, so she's in a bummed out mood. She was taking out the trash when I got home, which is normally my job, so it's the least I can do to "make dinner."

8:30 p.m. -- Basketball. I look forward to Wednesday nights because it's basketball night at Church. It's not anything formal, just a bunch of guys getting together to play. I try to dress like someone who is terrible at basketball just in case someone new comes to play. Then, anything above terrible is a surprise to them. It's all about getting into people's heads.

10:10 p.m. -- Get home from basketball. Danielle is texting the person who stole her phone from my phone. We had tried calling her phone earlier today, but it was turned off. Well now it's on. She texted the person and they texted back. Anyway, during this back and forth, it became clear that the person was not planning on giving the phone back. I may not have done that well in criminal law, but I explained to Danielle how even if they just found the phone, at the point when the owner made a rightful claim and the person would not return it, that it was a crime. (Special thanks to Professor Lassiter for pounding the elements of larceny into my brain).

11:00 p.m. -- Trying to talk to Verizon customer service. Danielle didn't have a phone, so we called Verizon from mine. She's trying to explain that they can't call her back on her phone because someone stole it. This conversation is taking longer than it should, and I'm ready for bed.

11:46 p.m. -- Finally turn out the lights. After talking through the options with Verizon and not getting any more texts from the perpetrator, we had her phone disabled and finally went to bed.

Dear Diary,

This week is fall break. Whoever invented fall break was brilliant. In undergrad, I didn't even get a spring break, let alone a fall break. The timing of fall break is perfect too; it's right at the time that I start to feel weighed down with school and need to come up for some air. Though I am getting some school-related things done this week, I'm spending more time with my family and enjoying seeing Luci while she is actually awake. In addition, Danielle and I can relax at night without having to worry about getting me out the door in the morning.

Since I last wrote, quite a bit has happened both in and out of the school context:
-I accepted a position working at Phillips Edison next summer. It's a locally based real estate company that owns shopping centers all over the country. I'm very excited to work in an environment that mixes my interests in business and law.
-As Erin so eloquently described in her blog, Erwin Chemerinsky delivered the Taft Lecture last week. After he finished, I was amazed at his presentation. I am not a constitutional law buff, so my eyes sometimes glaze over when those topics get brought up. However, I was completely engaged during his talk on the First Amendment. He got up there and spoke eloquently, with no notes, for 45 minutes. He did not verbalize his pauses or stutter; his delivery was clear and concise, delivered in a way that the audience could understand. I've seen a lot of people talk and lecture, but that was impressive.
-On a personal note, one of my best friends, Marc, came to visit Danielle and me from San Diego. His visit was the first time he'd ever been anywhere in the U.S. between Western Colorado and Massachusetts. We had a good time and it was fun showing him Cincinnati and life in the Midwest.

I'm going to savor the last few days of my fall break now.

Until next time,

Jacob

Dear Diary,

Last week I participated in the Corporate Law Exchange program luncheon (I'm not sure if that is the official name, but it is close enough). The idea of the program is to match up students interested in corporate law with local in-house attorneys who can provide guidance and mentorship. Last week was a luncheon to kick things off. Each table had a couple of attorneys and a couple of students. At my table was an attorney from First Financial Bank and an attorney from New Page. At other tables were attorneys from Macys, Xpedx, Chiquita, and First Transit to name a few. It was a very enlightening experience to be able to pick the brains of so many experienced attorneys. One piece of advice that many reiterated is to get work experience at a firm before taking a job as in-house counsel.

At the luncheon we were matched up with one of the attorneys who was willing to have a student shadow them at their work for a half day. I was matched up with the attorney from First Financial, and I am excited to shadow her sometime in November and to see first-hand what an in-house attorney does. I am by no means set at this point in my life on becoming an in-house counsel, but I saw this program as a really good learning experience. So far, it has proven to be such and I look forward to learning more in November.

Jacob

Dear Diary,

Generally, the root cause of my lack of blog posts is forgetting that I should write, not a lack of material. Today I find the exact opposite to be true; I'm searching for some good material. It's not that my life is devoid of fulfillment -- I'm happy and satisfied -- it's just that when I try to think of what "exciting things" have happened, I am at a loss. Alas, my avowed purpose in blogging is to convey an undistorted glimpse into my life as a law student, so I must write on.

The Weekend

Highlights
Spending time with my family, not having any commitments we had to attend to, working outside in my yard, and not doing any school work after Friday at about 4:30.

Lowlight
Watching BYU get smashed by Florida State. It was bad; really, really bad.

Law Review

Highlights
I have a topic that I am actually enjoying, I've been putting in some productive time recently, I am doing research in the hard copy of the minutes of the Ohio Constitutional Convention of 1912 (it's just fun looking in a really old book for things that are actually relevant to my topic), and realizing that my first draft due on Monday really isn't that much writing.

Lowlight
Not being done with my draft due next week yet.

Job Search

Highlights
Getting a job offer today, telling a joke in my interview and getting my interviewer to laugh (not a common technique I use, but it just fit too well) and having a call back interview next weekend where my wife and I get to go on an overnight trip while our friends babysit Luci.

Lowlight
The million things that start running through my mind when I have to make a big decision.

That's a quick update in a not very eloquent form. Hopefully the creative juices will start to flow before next week and I can dazzle everyone with my blog post. The whole dazzling thing might be a little ambitious, but here's to hoping.

Jacob

Dear Diary,

Life continues to march right along. I'll be honest, I started to have those "maybe law school isn't for me thoughts" the beginning of this semester. They didn't persist long; I just needed to get back in the swing of things. I was looking at all the things I had to do for the entire semester instead of taking it one day at a time. I think that's the great life lesson for juggling a busy schedule -- take it one day at a time.

I got phone calls this week from a couple of the places I interviewed with on campus, inviting me back for second interviews. I keep hearing about how tough the market is, so I feel fortunate to have the chance to keep interviewing. Hopefully they go well and I can find a good opportunity for next summer.

The weekend's here and I am very excited. Tomorrow we're going to Coney Island, because some friends gave us free tickets. I think it's Children's Hospital Day or something like that. Tonight, Danielle was looking for a babysitter for Luci, so hopefully that worked out so we can go out. Luci goes to sleep at 6, so it's not hard to find people to "babysit." We just say, "hey, can we bring our child over to your house and let her sleep there until we come pick her up in a couple of hours?" We have a lot of friends from church who are willing to help out, so it's made our transition to life in Cincinnati very easy.

I'm going to go enjoy my weekend of relaxation. Until next time.

Jacob