First Day Of My Last Year Of Law School

Wow. I am feeling nostalgic. Monday was my last first day of school. I cannot believe that two years have gone by and I am now in my last year of law school. How did this happen? Is this real life?

Time flies so fast sometimes.

Here is the post I wrote after my first week of law school where I talk about the myths and reality of law school. So much has changed and yet so much is still the same. Most days, I still have a hard time believing that I am a law student. I did it, I'm here and now it's almost over. (Well, minus and entire year and the bar exam. But other than that, almost over. :P)

One of my classes is only comprised of 3L's because it is scheduled at the same time as the only mandatory class for 2L's (Professional Responsibility) and 1L's do not get to pick their classes. Many of my classmates are from my section and it just gives me so many flashbacks to my first year.

So what has changed from my first week of law school ever and my first week as a 3L?

• The sheer terror of law school has disappeared. We all know what to expect from a typical law school class and it doesn't scare us anymore. The overall feeling of class is much more like a typical undergrad class. When you walk into any 1L classroom, there is a wave of collective terror that washes over you. Boy am I glad that part is over!
• I volunteer to talk in class much more. I still suck at sounding coherent when I am cold called but nowadays, I often raise my hand in class to discuss something or argue a point. I never expected that when I first started law school. 
• Getting cold called was much more rare than I expected during my first year and it is even more rare now. I got cold called on one time my entire second year and I imagine it will be the same this year.  Yay on not getting cold called!
• The pressure of getting great grades is much less. Yeah, a 4.0 semester would be awesome but most people have accepted the fact that it's not gonna happen. Also, you pretty much get the same grades semester after semester and your GPA doesn't change much even if you work harder. You learn to accept it and move on to other things.
• Related to above, your classmates stop trying as hard. Many people come to class without doing the reading and they aren't nearly as motivated to dominate the class. This means the professors have to try harder to keep people engaged but it also means the curve is lower. The same number of people are getting an A but the knowledge they need to learn to get that A is less. 
• Law School isn't the only thing you are focused on anymore. In your 1L year, you sign a contract saying you won't work. As a 3L, you probably have a clerking job, an internship or (like me) are in a clinic. You also are probably running an org or two so you have a ton of work to do for those. Class is just another thing you have to do, no more. 

My 1L year was amazing and exciting but it was also terrifying and stressful.  Right now, my terror and stress is coming from my brand new clinic that I start tomorrow but my classes are my comfort toy. I know what to expect in class and I'm at ease now.

I like being a 3L much more than being a 1L.

Getting Ready For Another Semester Of Law School

It's that time again. Books are bought, syllabuses are starting to trickle in and my calendar is filling up with meetings and obligations. Yup, classes start back up next week.

First of all, because of the clinic I am doing for 5 credits, I am only taking three classes this fall. Employment law, Consumer Protection law, and Federal Estate and Gift Tax. In comparison, last semester I took six classes. (Five is more normal.) You would think that taking so few classes would save me a few bucks while buying my books but you would think WRONG. My casebooks came to the grand total of 821.00. Good grief. Usually it is less because I buy my books used or rent them but all four of my books were new editions released this summer. This means I can't buy them used and many weren't rentable either. Sigh.

Second, now that classes are about to start, it's about time for me to start my outlines. Yes, I start my outlines before I start the reading. I hate the process but it keeps me organized and helps me study for finals as I go through the semester instead of all at the end. The short notes version is I type up the table of contents with the chapter, headings and subheadings in outline form. As I go through the semester, I fill in the contents with info from the book and class. It works for me but undoubtedly is not for everyone.

So this week I need to finish up my summer clerk position, type up three outline templates, attend training for the clinic and read for next week.

It is official, my last summer vacation is over. 3L year here I come!!
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Classes as a 3L

I never thought I'd say this but I sometimes miss the ease of my 1L year. I didn't have to pick classes because they were all chosen for me. Furthermore, the timing was all taken care of so that my days didn't have any large gaps and my exams were all evenly spaced out among two weeks.

As a rising 3L, I had the hardest time picking classes for this semester. All of the classes I need to graduate are only offered in the spring (that's going to be a fun semester) and so I could not really find any that interested me for the fall semester. Of the classes that didn't sound awful, most conflicted with each other or had huge gaps. So come this fall, I will have a classes Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:30 am to noon. Then a gap until my 3:10 to 4:35 class and then a smaller gap until my final class from 6 to 8 pm. I also have a random Friday morning tax class from 9 to noon. Ugh. Then my clinic is going to be on Tuesdays and Thursdays 8 to 5pm and Friday afternoons.

I'm trying to get ready but I just have a distinct lack of enthusiasm. Send cookies, classes start in less than two weeks.

Benefits of Getting to Know Your Law Professors

I'm a total loner and in undergrad, I preferred it when my professors didn't know my name. I knew I needed a different approach in law school because for one thing, my entire school has around 900 students. I had classes bigger than that in undergrad! For another, you need your professors as your legal wingmen because that's how you get intern and job opportunities. (Which I talk about HERE)

All in all, coming out of invisibility has worked out pretty well. What I didn't know until today is that getting to know your law professors and by default, letting them get to know you, leads to totally awesome presents.

My elder law professor emailed me yesterday and asked me to stop by her office. She went on vacation recently and brought me back Doctor Who sock yarn. That a very specific gift that is very obviously tailored just for me. To buy this gift, she had to know that I knit and she had to know that my favorite thing to knit is socks. Oh, and she had to know that I love Doctor Who and that two of my cats are named after the show. (Okay, the cat bit she didn't have to know, though she did.) Heck, she knows more about me than most of my classmates!

I feel so touched. Plus, more sock yarn is never wrong. YAY!

A Day In The Life Of a Summer Law Clerk

I haven't written too much about my summer clerk position because it took me awhile to decide what I thought about it. Today I was thinking about how when I first heard that I got the position, I didn't know what to expect. Not that every position is the same but I thought it'd be fun to share what my day as a law clerk looked like.

5:30 am - Wake up and lay in bed for half an hour wondering why I decided to take the one position that was an hour plus drive away.

6:00 - Remember that I really wanted to work with an elder law firm and get out of bed. Shower, dress and all that jazz.

7:00 - Get in my car and start my commute.

8:00 to 8:30 - Arrive at work. This time varies greatly depending on traffic and weather. Generally my morning commute isn't too bad and I usually just jam out to the radio.

8:30 - Head to my desk and start up my computer and try to remember where the heck I left off the day before.

8:45 - Office meeting with free bagels!! Yum! (Only on Mondays.)

9:15 - Head back to my desk and start trying to figure out this massive case I was handed that spans years, numerous lawyers, and many different practice areas. I have been working on it for ages but half of that was simply reading through a case file that was over a foot thick. Today I was trying to figure out the notes of one of the paralegals and find a legal argument for a motion that feels like it is taking me way too long to write.

10:30 - Get pulled off the motion for some legal research for one of the attorneys. Actually, this may be why the motion is taking so long. Other than the fact that the attorney was mistaken on the type of discovery request he had received, so I had to do the research twice, this was the easiest part of my day. Finally, something law school has prepared me for!

12:00 - Finish typing up the research results and go on lunch. Most days I go to Checkers because I can get a burger and medium tea for 3.08. Before hand, one of the paralegals asked if I had ever been to a nearby Amish restaurant. I said no so when I got back, she brought me blueberry pie!! Paralegals are awesome.

1:00 - Come back from lunch and a couple paralegals asked me to go get documents from the Clerks Office. The entire exchange went like this -

• Paralegal 1 - I need you to get me a deed from 1988, before the records were digitalized.

• Me - Inside my head, okay. I know I need to go to public records. Then what? Thank God for Google.

• Paralegal 1 - You'll have to find it on microfilm but it shouldn't cost too much.

• Me - Wait, what? They still use that? Starts Googling how to use microfilm.

• Paralegal 2 - Oh, grab me a certified copy of an order while you are there. Don't forget to grab enough petty cash so you don't have to pay for it.

• Me - Crap, am I supposed to have the cost memorized? 

1:20 - Try to figure out the microfilm machine and fail miserably. Eventually figure it out but then the machine glitches/freezes and won't allow me to print. Fuuuuuun. Even the clerk couldn't figure it out.

1:35 - Finally get the copy of the deed and get the order without a problem. Have a 10 minute conversation with an employee about how the Clerks Office and the local law school should work together to offer field trips. She completely agreed and told me horror stories of new attorneys getting things wrong. At least I eventually figured out the microfilm machine?

2:00 - Back at the office and so I try to get back to that motion.

2:20 - Paralegal asks me to draft a "Zero sum verified initial accounting." I look at her completely blank so her and another paralegal make fun of me (gently) and walk me through it. (Did I mention that I love paralegals? Because I do.) No but seriously, I've heard of initial accountings. I even know when they are due. I've never actually seen one before.

2:30 to 2:45 - Deal with computer issues that won't let me use the software I need to draft the initial accounting.

3:30 - Finish the accounting and go back to the motion of doom. Draft one section of the legal argument but need two more. Research case law until I get pulled aside by the Medicaid planning attorney to discuss a new client he got and his likely game plan.

4:30 - Go back to the motion and start to look up more case law.

5:00 - Suddenly realize everyone is leaving and I feel like I got nothing accomplished. Head out. One thing that surprised me about the firm I work at is that they take a work/life balance seriously. At 5:00 on the dot, everyone starts packing up. Including all the attorneys. Now, they might do a little work at home but for the most part, they're done. I'm sure it helps that a vast majority of the people working there have toddlers.

7:30 pm - Finally get home. The traffic was horrible today so it took me twice as long as usual to drive home. UGH. Tired and my feet hurt.

Every day is a little bit different but this is more or less how it goes. Sometimes I go to court with one of the attorneys or act as a witness for a will signing. As for my actual work product, so far, I have written responses, conflict waivers, proofread documents, summarized transcripts of hearings and done lots and lots of research. I like most of it quite a bit.

The hardest thing for me is facing the fact that there is still so much I don't know. I am still learning the software my firm uses, I don't know how to draft things that I've never heard of before, and things like Clerk fees are completely not taught in law school. However, I am learning many of these things now so that I have less to learn after I graduate!

Plus, I really do find my day fascinating. I get to look in on guardianship law, probate, wills and trust drafting and medicaid planning almost every day. It couldn't have been geared towards my interests any better!

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How To Prepare for a Law School Class

As we creep up on fall and get closer and closer to orientation season, I have decided to write a series of posts on law school to help all the soon to be newbie law students out there. As a rising 3L, I finally feel like I have finally gotten this whole law school thing figured out and I want to pay it forward for all the blogs that helped me get ready to start law school. 

I am not going to lie, during undergrad, my preparation for a class was to make sure I got dressed and brought something to take notes with. I rarely found reading the book necessary but in the classes where it was . . . I read. Maybe highlighted a line or two if I felt like it. I didn't do anything else. Unfortunately, that is not enough for a law school class. Especially during the first year.

Here is what I try to do before every class. I was much more dedicated my 1L year but overall, I still do the majority of theses things before class. Most my effort is geared towards the final exam and not towards the fear of being cold called. Sounding intelligent in class gets you exactly zero points towards your grade and besides, I've only been cold called a handful of times in two years of law classes. However, with that said, I've found that by focusing on the exam, I am usually more than prepared to answer questions in class. And, as more and more of my classmates have started to skip the reading, I sound even better. Yay for 2L and 3L apathy.

Read -
Not to state the obvious but ... you really do need to read before a law school class. Not only is there the possibility that you will get called on but the class makes zero sense if you didn't read. The way the class is structured, there is no lecture. You cannot simply show up and take good notes if you didn't already read the material. Class mostly focuses on each case separately and you are responsible for putting it all together to make a cohesive whole. Guess what, the majority of casebooks do that for you! (If you have a crappy, hide the ball casebook, buy supplements. Work smart guys.) If you only listen to each case separately, you will never pick up on the things that connect them together.


Highlight -
Very early on during my first 1L semester, I learned that briefing each case helped if you got called on, but it also helped understand each part of the case and what it actually meant. The only downside is that briefing a case takes forever and when you have 30 cases (between all classes) to read each night . . . well, something had to give. Where I drew the line was with typing up each brief. I started trying the book briefing method and I haven't looked back yet. The way that works is as you read, you assign a different color for what would have been each section of your brief. For example, green is for facts; blue is for issue/question; pink is for reasoning; yellow is for rule/holding; purple is for concurrence; orange is for dissent. This way, you are still training your brain to separate the different parts of the case but you don't need to spend forever typing it all up. If I find something confusing or hard to explain, I rewrite it in the margins and I'm often drawing graphs, arrows etc in the casebook. When I get called on, I can quickly find the information I need to answer the question.

For this to work well, you can't be a highlight everything kind of person. Only highlight the parts you need, not everything that is a fact, etc.


Notes -
As I've discussed before, (HERE and HERE) I write all my notes in outline form pulled from the syllabus and table of contents from the casebook. Before classes start, I type up the empty outline and fill it in as we get to it throughout the semester. The part I fill in from the book tends to be the information in between the cases, especially the intro to each chapter or section. My ultimate goal is that by the last class of the semester, I do not need to look at my book AT ALL in order to study for finals. My outlines are less than 100 pages (usually much much less) and my casebooks can be up to 1304 pages. It's much easier and much more productive to study from my outline than from the casebook. Easier = awesome.

And even though I don't brief each case in my notes anymore, I do type up a short blurb on each case in my outline. It usually ends up being two to three sentences that include the rule of law and a bit of the reasoning. 1L's might need a bit more but as you train your brain, you can write less and less.

Class Preparation Schedule -
During my first 1L semester, I found that for me doing all my casebook reading and pre-class notes for the next week over the weekend gave me the best results. At that time, I had three law based classes and then legal research and writing. So on Friday after class, I would try to get all of the next weeks reading done for class one. Saturday I would finish up class one and get all of class two out of the way. Then on Sunday, I would do a weeks worth of reading for class three. This left Monday through Thursday for my R&W classwork and for some sort of work/life balance. (Haha, I lie, there was no balance my 1L year. If I had free time, I usually ended up catching up on stuff I got behind on.) I found that when I tried to do it day by day, I was wasting time by trying to remember where we left off, fighting the post class exhaustion, and couldn't keep up when something would pop up to screw up my schedule. Because of all this, I often had to stay awake until 2 to 3 am when I had a class at 8:30. Day by day reading simply did not work for me. On the other hand, I did (and still do) have to sacrifice my entire weekend while many of my classmates considered that their slow down time.

For many of my classmates, my method would not have worked for them at all. They needed the mental strength of having at least one full day off from law school a week. Or they had different professors (my R&W professor is famous for her intense workload) and different study needs. My best advice is to try different methods (an not just regarding when to study but also how) and find the way that works for you. I've tried dozens of study methods I've seen online or through friends and the ones that work, I keep. The ones that don't, don't.




However, once you find a method that works for you, and actually do the work, all that is left is to find pants and grab your computer. You are ready for class. Not as easy as undergrad but not all that bad either. Read, highlight (or brief if that works for you) and jot down some notes. And if it seems to take forever and that you must be the slowest reader in the world, it gets better and you WILL get faster at it.

My Favorite Cheap Eats Story

Every once in a while, the stars align and I can feed fiancé and I for pennies. Last month was one of those times. I stopped by Winn Dixie to buy eggs but decided to check out the rest of the store for deals. I walked by the whole chicken section and saw that there were a couple marked down for quick sale. The best by date was still a few days out so I decided to get one. A six pound chicken cost me 3 dollars. That's 50 cents a pound!

Now cooking whole poultry is not my favorite because it's kind of a pain getting the bird prepared and then you have to deal with carving it. However, it is delicious so sometimes it is worth it. I threw it in my largest cast iron skillet with a cut up onion inside the cavity and some butter and garlic under the skin. I baked it for an hour and served it with mashed potatoes and gravy ( made in the skillet with the chicken drippings.) Pretty easy meal right?

[Sorry for the terrible pictures and my messy kitchen. I took these pictures to text to my sister and didn't plan on blogging about it! Forgive me please.]

Then as I carved the chicken, I threw the icky parts, the cooked onion and the carcess straight into my crockpot and made stock. I had never made chicken broth before but it was embarrassingly easy. Throw bones into a crockpot set on low, fill with water and add spices and a bay leaf. Then you leave it for 12 to 24 hours. When you come back, you fish out the bones and bits with a slotted spoon and throw it away. The broth was so much better than the store bought crap I usually get that when I got my Instant Pot, the first thing I made was broth for my freezer. It was that good. My crockpot ended up making about ten cups of broth And it was made with ingredients that I would have thrown away!

However, I planned for this batch to be made into homemade chicken noodle soup. After I scooped out the bones and other solids, I added some frozen carrots, celery, and pearl onions and threw in a couple cups of the leftover chicken.  Then I let that cook on low for awhile and then added a package of uncooked egg noodles and some kale I had in the fridge. Once those were done and I added salt and pepper, I filled up ten pint freezer containers with the soup and put them in my freezer for later.

[No, I don't know why this was the only picture I took of my awesome soup. This was like my third bowl and half eaten at that. Dishonor on me, dishonor on my cow.]

At this point, I STILL had lots of chicken left over so I made a chicken pot pie in my cast iron skillet with a pre-made piecrust, leftover chicken, kale and a frozen mix of carrots and peas and pearl onions. Made a white sauce and baked. Fiancé ate almost the entire thing!!! And he has been begging me to make it again! It was delicious.

Then, if you can even believe it, we still had a cup or so of leftover chicken so Fiancé brought it with him for lunch on the fourth day.

To recap -  I paid:

$3.00 for the chicken
$1.50 for the ready to microwave, mashed potatoes
$3.00 (approximately) for the carrots, celery, bag of peas and carrots and pearl onions
$2.49 for the pie crust
$1.29 for the egg noodles
$1.79 for the kale
and a small amount for flour, spices, and milk.

For under 14 dollars, we had a roast chicken meal with mashed potatoes and gravy, a chicken pot pie and ten servings of chicken noodle soup. Oh and some leftover chicken. Obviously this wouldn't stretch quite as well for a larger family but it works pretty well for two!

I know I write a lot about food and saving money on this blog that is supposed to be about law school but I swear it is connected. Right now, I am trying to save for the Bar exam next summer. Not only do I have to commit to not working or only working minimal hours during the bar study course, the course itself costs $3,000. Taking the bar exam itself costs about $700. Oh, but don't forget you need to pay your state to even apply to take the bar and to convert your student application to a full application. Plus, the school advises to have 5-6 months of expenses saved up because it takes months for the results to come out and who knows how long it will take to find a job after that. The more I can prepare now, the less horrible next year will be. 

Update On the Whole FAFSA Saga

So I talked to my school and they say I am fine. WHEW. Can you just imagine the pain if I couldn't start my last year of law school on time because I was stupid and forgot to hit submit on the dang form.

I would never live that down.

Anyway, according to my school, their deadline isn't until August 1st and the FAFSA's deadline  in February really has more to do with undergraduate financial aid. Since undergraduate students may qualify for federal funds like grants and subsidized loans, the deadline matters much more because the funds may run out. Lucky (Unlucky) for me, graduate students only qualify for unsubsidized student loans.

So my heart attack was unnecessary and I feel much better now. Plus, even though I only just submitted my FAFSA, it has already been processed and is on the way to my school. Apparently, it's a much faster process in the summer. Go figure.  

Now I can go back to dreading the start of fall semester in peace. ;)

Just When I Thought I Had This Whole Law School Thing Down

Well, I officially messed up. After all my time in college, what with community college, university and now law school, I really thought I had this whole school thing under control. And then I made a newbie mistake.

Fall semester starts in less than a month ... and I just found out I forgot to submit my FAFSA. I started it, I just never finished it.

Stupid Stupid Stupid.

I have no excuses. I don't know how I managed to forget something so big but I am officially FREAKING OUT.

How to Succeed in a Class When You Have a Terrible Professor

As we creep up on fall and get closer and closer to orientation season, I have decided to write a series of posts on law school to help all the soon to be newbie law students out there. As a rising 3L, I finally feel like I have finally gotten this whole law school thing figured out and if I can help others figure it out quicker than I did, I'm happy to help. 

There I was, sitting in one of my classes. Buying things on Amazon and messengering people on Facebook. I knew that it was a stupid idea to spend tens of thousands of dollars on tuition and then just play around on the internet but I couldn't seem to help myself.  This class was going to be a struggle no matter what, simply due to the fact that it was scheduled from 6pm to 9pm. You either had to eat dinner early and fight the post dinner yawn-fest or eat a snack and hope you didn't get so hungry later that you wanted to start gnawing on your arm.

It was a stupid time to have a class.

However, it could have been manageable with the right professor. We did not have the right professor. I had heard of his reputation back when I was a 1L but truly didn't grasp how bad it was going to be until after the first class. Half the class dropped the course and the only ones who stayed were the ones in the concentration who needed this class to graduate. (He's the only professor for this course.) He even joked about how he was a terrible professor. And bless his soul, he really was. We would get there at 6pm and he would start reading word for word from the book.  Mind you, it meant you didn't really have to read but really, I can read faster than anyone talks so it just felt like a total waste of time. After an hour and a half, he would apparently get bored of that and so he assigned everyone a day to teach the class on a topic. Only, the topic rarely had anything to do with what we had covered in the reading and didn't really help us on our assignments. We didn't have an exam in the class and so very few of us had any motivation to pay attention. One of my classmates did citation checking for her job and the lady next to me played video slot machines on her tablet. Another guy just slept through half of it.

Eventually I figured out that I was stuck with a crappy professor no matter what and I could totally waste my tuition dollars and coast or I could at least try to get something useful out of it. In the end, this was one of my higher grades for the semester even if I never did completely rein in my out of control internet habits.

Teach Yourself The Material - Sure, we all know that we should be doing the reading, and making flashcards and such but when your professor is an ineffective teacher, it is even more important. One of my 1L professors often contradicted herself in class because she simply did not know the material she was teaching. My classmates who focused on in-class learning did terrible on the exam, my essay was given as the model answer to the rest of the class. Reading the casebook is a good start but using supplements is even better. For most classes, I use 1-2 supplements. For this one, I used seven.

Join a Study Group - Personally, I hate study groups and find that they are usually ineffective for my learning style. However, when the entire class is struggling, it can be useful to find a group that is willing to help you teach yourself the material. You can share supplements, go over class notes to see if anyone actually understood it, and split up the work. Besides, it is always nice to know you aren't the only one struggling.

Use Class Time Wisely - And no, I don't mean pay attention. If the Professor is going to give you wrong information, confuse you, or read out of the same casebook you've already read from, paying attention is counterproductive.  Instead, use that class time to your benefit by working on your assignments, outline or an online supplement. My classmate's idea of bringing her work with her isn't bad either. She got paid per hour, while in class.
The only caveat to this is to not look disrespectful because even with blind grading, you don't want to tick off the professor. In the class with the confused professor, I sat in the front row, right next to the podium.  I always made sure to have my casebook out and would glance up every once in a while. Apparently I looked like I was paying attention because she later commented on how it was appreciated. In reality, after the first month, I rarely paid attention unless she said the words "exam" "important" "remember" or the like. Instead, I was reading ahead in the casebook and I had my outline finished long before the last class. Then I just filled the time with online supplements.

Know the Difference Between Shouldn't Pay Attention and Not Wanting To Pay Attention - We all have off days but if you routinely zone out in most of your classes or in classes you find boring, you are going to regret it. Besides, with most classes, you need to pay attention to the professor or you'll bomb the exam. These tips only work in classes where it's such torture that no one can follow along. Not even the gunners. There is a difference between a boring professor and a bad one. With a boring professor, I've found that my best bet is to take super extensive notes. I'm so busy taking notes, even of things I will later delete, that I don't zone out. Later, I review the notes and get rid of all the pointless fillers. Accidental finals review? If it's an extremely boring class, I've banned my computer all together. I hate taking notes by hand but it's really hard to get distracted by Facebook if you can't access Facebook.

Professor Evaluations - When you're so fed up with the entire class and you just want to throw your casebook at your professor's head, don't. That's battery. Comfort yourself with the knowledge that there is an Assistant Dean out there that will be required to read every word of your professor evaluation. On one of mine, I used up all the available space and attached another sheet so I could continue. That professor no longer teaches at our school. I personally don't go on a rant on evaluations because I don't imagine they get taken as seriously as a well thought out critique but if thinking up an epic rant gets you through the class, you do you.

How to Gain Legal Experience While in Law School

As we creep up on fall and get closer and closer to orientation season, I have decided to write a series of posts on law school to help all the soon to be newbie law students out there. As a rising 3L, I finally feel like I have finally gotten this whole law school thing figured out and if I can help others figure it out quicker than I did, I'm happy to help. 

When I started law school, I had absolutely zero legal experience. Plenty of experience in the medical field but that no longer seemed relevant. Because of this, one of my main goals going into my 1L year was to gain as much experience as I could. Two years later, I think I have done a pretty decent job. I have interned with a judge, interned with a governmental agency, clerked for a law firm and had both an office job and a RA job on campus. Both of which related to the field I want to practice in after graduation.

I think it helps when you have a strong idea of what field you want to practice in but it's not necessary. If you don't know what you want to do after graduation, try to get a wide variety of experience instead of focusing as narrowly as I did. Heck, it'll probably be even easier to find ways to gain experience.

1L Year -

Many people think that during your first year of law school, it is impossible to gain legal experience because you are forbidden (usually) from working. However, most law schools have a pro bono requirement for graduation and the best time to fulfill those hours is during your 1L year. During later years, you may have an internship or law clerk job and a full class load and you may not have the time to add pro bono to that. Plus, when it comes time to apply for a summer job or internship, you really want something legal already on your resume because many of your classmates will have nothing but part-time retail or restaurant work during college.

By the end of my first year, I had almost 70 pro bono hours completed and half of them were legal. I volunteered for legal research at the clerks office where I researched statutes that defined their duties and requirements. I interviewed a client and wrote a will which you can read about HERE and HERE. Oh and I also volunteered with a program and prepared peoples taxes. All of those programs were offered or publicized through my school but very few 1L's took advantage of them. With the will event, I was the only 1L to participate. And yes, I was asked about it in every interview I have had since then. Every one. I am about to start my 3L year and many of my classmates have just started to think about getting their pro bono hours. At this point, I have almost 300 pro bono hours and all of those hours have paid off by giving me contacts within the legal field. It's even better than networking events except you don't get the free booze.

1L Summer -

Finding a legal job for the summer following my 1L year was one of the things I was most stressed about. All 1L students were advised to get something legal on their resume, no matter what. I knew that I needed to be paid to pay my rent but I really wanted to intern with a judge, which doesn't pay you. So I managed to split those requirements into two part time jobs. Two to three days a week, I worked at my school's elder law office and the other two days, I interned with a guardianship magistrate.  I got two items on my resume in one summer. Score!

I started off my job search by visiting my Career Services department and following the advice they gave me. They looked over my resume and pretty much covered it in red ink but I changed everything they said to change and sent it back. Three times. Then I had to decide whether to pursue a judicial internship through the school or privately. If I went through the school, they found them for me and I just had to apply. However, it also meant I had to pay tuition for the privilege and had specific hour requirements. If I tried to get one privately, I would have to do all the work to find one on my own but had more control on hours. Because my scholarship does not cover the summer semester, it made much more sense to look for one privately. I didn't have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege of working for free and I could limit it to two days a week so I could work for pay the other days. Of course, the idea of trying to find one by myself, also filled me with terror but I pulled on my girl pants and got to work.

I first researched all the court systems within a comfortable drive and wrote down all the departments I was interested in working in. For me, that was mostly within the probate courts. Then I researched each of those departments/judges for the different counties near me and found the email addresses for their legal assistants. Yes, those email addresses were all found thanks to Google. Yay Google. I then emailed the various legal assistants with a cover letter asking about their policies for applying to be a summer internship (making sure to use the research I did so it was apparent it was not a mass email). Then I waited. Within a week, I had received a request for a resume from one county and from another, I was sent an application. Then I waited again. Eventually, I was given the news that I had been placed with a guardianship magistrate and I was good to go! And just in case you are under the mistaken impression that I am some perfect person that never does dumb things, read THIS. I managed to get a judicial internship after answering the phone with "wuugaaaackkk!" and giving the legal assistant an incorrect email address. How awkward can I be? (Don't answer that.)

Talking to my classmates, many had a similar approach to finding a summer job with a law firm. If they didn't have a local resource to tap, they researched local firms they were interested in and started calling or emailing. Some worked for free while others got paid but most who put in the work, found a place.

I found the paid job at the elder law office at my school on accident but I couldn't have planned it better if I had tried. Since I knew exactly what field I wanted to go into, I made sure to introduce myself to the employees and professors at the beginning of the year. I would often go to the events they put on for students and I made it clear that I was interested in what they do. Shortly after the Will event I volunteered for, the coordinator offered me a job in the office. It was a combination of receptionist work and legal research for the professors and it PAID. I was sold.

2L Year -

The same professors who worked in the elder law office, got me my government agency internship for my 2L year. Because they knew I was interested in elder law, when an opportunity came up for an elder abuse internship, they passed on my name. I was actually contacted by the agency and invited to intern for them. I didn't need to apply or compete with other students for the job because it wasn't even open to the public. Sweet deal.

If you have an interest in a field, even before you can take classes on that subject (thanks mandatory 1L classes) GO TALK TO THOSE PROFESSORS and let them know you are interested in that field of law. Not only do they know enough about a topic to teach it, they know all the people who practice in that area. Seriously, if I had known how beneficial it was, I would have done it on purpose. I know dozens of people who have gotten job interviews thanks to a professor reaching out for them.

Later on, I was contacted by a professor I was taking a class with and asked to be their RA. Since I was dead broke, I accepted so fast it made my head spin. By chance, my professor was literally writing the textbook for our class as we went along so I basically got paid to prep for finals as I researched for and edited her casebook. It was awesome.

2L Summer -

My first approach to my 2L summer was OCR but in the end, that didn't work out for me. Since I'm so focused on elder law, and those are basically all small firms, there were very few OCR firms I wanted to apply for. I did get a few interviews from it but I did not get any offers. You win some and you lose some. In this case, I lost. As we got closer and closer to summer, I started to freak out a bit. I let everyone I knew know that I was looking for a summer job and ideally, I would love something to do with elder law. I ended up getting two leads on elder law attorneys looking for a clerk so I emailed them. One ended up going to a friend but the other was exactly what I was looking for and it paid really well. I interviewed with them and I got hired right before finals and I couldn't be more pleased with it. The only downside is that there is no chance of a permanent offer because they are not planning on expanding anytime soon. The pitfalls of small firms. Sigh

Once summer hit, I started getting emails from people looking for a student interested in elder law. Once again, by making my interests clear, people passed on my name when a job offer was mentioned. Of course, I already had a job lined up but it really made me calm down knowing it wasn't as last minute as I thought it was.

3L Year -

Although my 3L year hasn't technically started yet, I already know what legal experience I am doing for the fall semester. I applied for the local elder law clinic  and thanks to all my previous work, I ended up getting accepted. Since it is during the fall, my scholarship isn't effected and I get credits for doing it. That means I can take less classes. Sweet! The way clinics work in Florida is that the Florida Bar certifies that I have cleared the character and fitness test and I will actually get to legally practice law (under an attorney's supervision). How is that not the best legal experience possible?


Final Thoughts -

If you look over all the various ways I gained legal experience, they all involved putting myself out there. I'm a classic introvert so I know how very un-fun it can be but 90 percent of my experience came from taking opportunities others weren't. By choosing to take part in pro bono activities in a field I was interested in, I not only got legal experience but I was able to interact with the people who work in that field. Those interactions later led to job offers. I got my judicial internship by taking the time to use Google and contacting perfect strangers to ask for a job. None of this is in my normal comfort level but I made it work.

Look At Me Joining Stuff and Stuff

Before law school, I rarely joined groups or clubs on campus. Sure, I was a member of the International Club (because we went to theme parks) and I might have been on the email list for a couple others but in general, I'm not really a joiner. I found the idea of running a group or club horrific. No. No way. I'll leave that to the extroverts who thrive on chaos.

Then came law school where there are more clubs than students. The first week I joined the Elder Law group and a couple others that were near and dear to my heart and considered it done. But those sneaky orgs offer free lunch and interesting topics and events. So I started going to more and more and once you sign in, they got ya.
[Side note - It's a rare day when I can't get free lunch at school. Pizza, subs, italian etc. Free food is the best food!]

I probably ended up in 20 to 25 groups which is actually less than most law students at my school. Then last year I ran for a position on the Elder Law board and to my surprise, I won. So all last year, I had org meetings to attend, promote, help organize etc.  And it was FUN! To be honest, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it while in undergrad but law school changes people. Thanks law school. Thanks.

Since I had so much fun last year, I ran for vice president of the Elder Law Society and for treasure of another group I really like. I won both (well, I ran unopposed. Shhhhh) and now I am running around like a chicken trying to plan the events for next year. Tomorrow we have the budget meeting with the treasurer of the student body to try and convince them to give us funds. They have really been cracking down on the smaller orgs and have decided that we must justify any funds not spent last year It's incredibly frustrating how nitpicky they are being with some groups but not others. We had some issues last year where they wanted us to cancel our small firm networking event and join (and give our allotted funds to) another group. We didn't and I think they might be making us pay for that decision.

I swear, sometimes law school reminds me of high school. There is all the drama and we even get a prom.

Even with all this, I cannot regret being a joiner for once. Beyond the resume blurb and such, I have gained so much from being a part of these groups. Plus, I have met so many attorneys that remember me from the orgs I am in. I was at the Pride Parade a few weeks ago and one of the attorney's walked up to me and was like "oh hey! You're in the Elder Law group! How are you? Let me introduce you to my colleagues, they do estate planning."

Maybe being a joiner isn't so bad?

How To Take Notes In Law School

As we creep up on fall and get closer and closer to orientation season, I have decided to write a series of posts on law school to help all the soon to be newbie law students out there. As a rising 3L, I finally feel like I have finally gotten this whole law school thing figured out and if I can help others figure it out quicker than I did, I'm happy to help. 

Yes, an actual outline of mine. For an open book exam. 

You would think that after 13 years of k-12 education and 4 years of college, note taking would be second nature. Unfortunately, law school follows a different set of rules and if you don't figure them out quick, it can be hard to get back on track.


Keep The End Game In Sight -
The whole purpose of your notes is to help you be prepared for your final exam. Sure, they can also help during class if you get cold called, but their ultimate purpose is for the exam. YOU DON'T GET GRADED ON COLD CALLS. If your notes are 90 percent about the cases, you are seeing the trees but can't see the whole forest. You need to find a balance.

Don't Save Your Outline Until The End -
Seriously, what kind of sense does it make to do all the reading all semester, take book notes and/or briefs (at least in the beginning of law school) take class notes and then redo it all into an outline at the end? The week before classes start, I take the syllabus and the table of contents of the casebook and make an empty outline. As I do the reading, I fill in what I think will be important. During class, I type in anything my professor said that was important. Still in outline form. Then at the end of the semester, I go and remove anything that I don't need for the exam. Back when I still did case briefs, (I do a couple lines per case now) I would end up deleting most of the case brief except for the Rule.

Color Code Your Notes -
I color code my reading too so this one was a no brainer for me. I use black for notes from the book. Blue for anything the professor said during class. Red for anything the professor said about the exam. And brown for anything I added to my class notes from an external source, such as a supplement. At times, I have had to add additional colors, for example, when we had a guest professor or the like. Not only does this make it more interesting to study from, it also helps when there is a conflict. Often, professors disagree with a point made, or the standard theory and having them clearly marked together on which is which is invaluable.

Add Visuals -
Lots of people are visual learners and can't really understand a subject until they can see it. Even though it's in outline form, you can still add images to your notes. A surprisingly large number of professors draw graphs or tables on the board. Put that in your notes. If you find an excellent ____ ---> ____ ---> ____ in a supplement, take a picture of it with your phone and add it in. If it helps you understand and retain the information, put it in your outline.

Evaluate Your Class -
The kinds of notes you need to do well on the final, depends on the class and the style of the exam. If you are taking a closed book, multiple choice exam, your outline needs to be extremely brief and barebones. You need to basically memorize it before you walk into your exam and since you won't be writing an essay, you don't need to be able to argue the material. A closed book exam is similar except you will want a bit more detail so you can adequately argue both sides and come to a conclusion. For open book exams you want much more detail but your organization needs to be extreme. There is no point in having the best outline in the world, if you can't find what you need when you need it. Headings, sub-headings and such, help a lot but the easiest way I've found is to print out your outline (So far, all open book exams have been hard copy only), put it in a binder and then tab the living daylights out of it. At the end of the semester, I go through it dozens of times before the exam. This makes sure that when I get a question on a specific topic, my brain immediately goes, Oh yeah, that's about 2/3rds in between blank and blank. All of these different styles will change how you take notes during the semester. If you have a closed book multiple choice exam, don't type up 2 pages of reading notes for every class. Similarly, if you have an open book, essay exam, don't leave from class with two sentences of notes.

Back Up Everything -
Seriously, I wish I could shout this though a bullhorn. Although most people know to back up papers or other assignments, people seem to forget about the lowly class notes/working outline. One of my closest friends lost her outlines halfway through the semester when they were deleted from her computer. My second week of school had me freaking out when my class notes crashed and only deleted a couple days worth of work. A couple days took me almost a week to redo.

Notes are even more important in law school but they can also end up making things easier for you come finals.  As everyone around you is running around frantically trying to finish their outlines, you can stay calm and actually study from your outline.



Related Posts -

How I Prepare for Each And Every Class

How to Start Getting Legal Experience Even in Your First Semester

How to Succeed in a Law School Class When the Professor is Terrible



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Paging All Soon To Be 1L's

Every year as we get closer and closer to the start of law school orientation season, I see the traffic to this blog pick up. Of course, I never know exactly what brings people here but I have a visual of all these baby law students frantically googling for advice and ending up here. With this (possibly imaginary) vision in mind . . .

Here is your chance! Comment on a post or email me. Ask me any questions you have or any topics you think I should cover. What kind of advice are you looking for? I'm open to anything.

It can be today, next week or four years from now.  I know that I lurked on hundreds of blogs before I started my 1L year and every one of them made me feel just a bit more prepared on what to expect and just a little less panicked. Consider this my way to pay it forward.

Fire!

It has been years since I looked around at all the theme and background options for this blog so I spent a few minutes looking them over. I happened to see the fire one and I was sold. In general, law students equate law school with hell and in this day and age, we have the meme's to prove it.

For how long will I leave it this way? No one knows.

Barrister's Ball

After my long absence, I looked at my draft folder and saw that I had started a post on the Barrister's Ball. Even though it's been MONTHS since this happened, I decided to finish it up anyway. Here it is. . .


So at the beginning of February, we all got a save the date email for Barrister's Ball. That was happening IN February. Wait, what? Where were the details? The place? The extras? No one knew. And when we asked the people in charge, they could only say "we aren't allowed to say more until we finish signing the contract." Wait, It's in a few weeks, the contract isn't signed yet? Yikes! We all pretty much agreed that this Ball was going to suck and I know many people who decided not to go because of this. Fiancé and I still wanted to go but we really didn't have high expectations. The year before, the Barrister's Ball was so much fun and it was so well organized that the tickets went on sale months before the actual ball. We couldn't see how they could top it, even with the best organization.

We were wrong. We were so, so, so, wrong. It was a Casino Royale theme and it was an absolute blast. We all got to play all the gambling games we wanted and with our "winnings" we got to enter into a raffle depending on how much we made. The drinks were incredible and there were multiple bars all around so there were no lines. Plus the food was actually VERY good this year. Last years was boring and I wasn't very impressed. There were multiple photo opportunities and a live band and dancing. All in all, it was very well done.

However, I did learn for the first time how much the Barrister's Ball actually costs the student body and I am pretty horrified about it. It costs over 50,000 dollars each year! Now maybe I'm crazy but that seems ridiculous for a bunch of students who continuously complain about the high cost of tuition. I mean, sure, some of that is paid by our 50 dollar tickets but not that much of it. The rest comes out of the Student Body budget which comes from our tuition dollars. Yikes!

I will of course go next year because 1) it'll be my last year and 2) my refusal to go wouldn't lower the amount paid in any way. I just think it's a bit excessive.

As to the after-party . . . well the least said the better. It did involve walking barefoot, a strip club and an uber so obviously ... we had a great time. The next day wasn't quite as fun but we survived.

Oops - I did it again

I fell off the face of the earth again. In my defense, this last semester was pretty miserable and when it finally ended, I had two days to fly back to Washington State for my sisters wedding. Totally worth it but totally exhausting.

Not all that much has changed since I last wrote a blog post. I am still a law student but now I can call myself a rising 3L. ONLY ONE MORE YEAR!!! I did pretty much screw up my grades this last semester. Well, in my own special snowflake way. I didn't go below the curve (Thank you Jesus!) but I basically hit the curve for the first time. Sigh. I'd like to say it wasn't my fault or blame it on all my writing courses but honestly, I just didn't have much motivation to study. The class I did the worst in, should have been one of the easier classes but I allowed myself to get behind in the reading and then skipped the maximum allowed days of absences so I wouldn't be cold called on when I hadn't done the reading. I did catch back up of course but I didn't do a whole lot more than that. I cruised and it showed in my grades. My own fault.

I am working at a law firm this summer so I hope to God I get some actual experience under my belt because I feel completely out of my depth. I really like the firm and it's pretty much all Elder Law so I want to soak up as much information as I can. They aren't looking to add more associates so I unfortunately cannot turn this summer job into a permanent one but I'm just so excited to be working in Elder Law that I don't care. Plus I actually get paid this summer. WHEEEE.

Watching all the just graduated 3L's studying for the bar has really made me want to cherish my last year of law school. The bar prep company says that it's 8-10 hours a day, six days a week but everyone I've talked to says that is a lie. They've been studying 7 days a week, no breaks for over a month now and it just doesn't sound fun. Worth it because at the end, you get to practice law. But no fun all the same.

This coming up Fall semester will be interesting. I was accepted into the Elder Law clinic so I will only be taking half the classes but of course, will be working part time instead. I am trying to get as much experience as I can before I graduate and I'm excited about this clinic. I will be working with low income elders and will actually be practicing law!!!!! (Under the supervision of an attorney of course) How awesome is that?

All in all, life is going okay. Some bumps, some bruises but I'm still standing.

Can't complain.

Proof I am too old for this

One night. I only pulled one all nighter. I stayed up all Thursday night, turned in my work on Friday morning and took a two hour nap. Then I got back to work and caught up on my reading. YAY! I'm caught up! Whooo. Now to move onto next week right?

No. I went to bed on Friday night, woke up for two hours and then went back to sleep. I slept until 6pm on Saturday.

Well surely I would stay up all night and get some work in right? Nope. I fell back asleep with my laptop on my lap around 11pm and slept until noon on Sunday. Now I'm behind again.

This is so not fair. It's not like I was chronically sleep deprived before I pulled the all-nighter!

I'm too old for this

I'm pulling an all-nighter and it's making me cranky. In the last two weeks, I've had four (thankfully short) papers due as well as an engagement letter, sample agreement contract, an ad, pro bono and fee policies. Add an internship project due at 8 am and there was no other way to get this all done.

Thank god the will and memo that was due in the morning was pushed off until next week!

HEART ATTACK

Generally, I have no problem with my computer's battery dying while I'm at school so I never bring my charger with me. Yesterday, I really should have brought my charger. About seven minutes before my last class let out, I got the notification that I should shut my computer or it would go into sleep mode soon. Okay, no problem. I shut it and finished my notes by hand. I went home and charged my laptop. Only instead of turning on like normal, it wouldn't let me sign on! I googled (on my phone) the problem and was told to force a shutoff and try again. So I did. Nope. Wouldn't work. Finally had to do a repair start and it let me in but even then, it wasn't working right. I couldn't access any of my documents or even safari. I thought it was due to how I had to start up so shut down correctly this time and tried again. That didn't work either. Finally, after numerous google searches and one or two tears, it just randomly corrected itself and got back to acting properly. I checked my files and other than losing some of today's notes and such, I'm good to go.

I have no idea what the problem was but I was/am freaking out! This computer holds my life in it's hands. Even though it is only the third week of classes, I have pages and pages of notes. I also have my internship work on there which is irreplaceable. I do back up regularly but for me, that is about once a week. A weeks worth of work would still be TERRIBLE.

It's been hours and I'm still shaking.