Career Services, Summer Jobs and ugh... Finals

The super powers of Career Services held a mandatory meeting today. Their presentation was very insightful, but made the pressure of finding a summer job even more suffocating. Not that their informative session came at a bad time; in fact, many firms seek applicants in December and January. Rather, the pressure of finals and the thought of summer jobs, which can be determined in part by grades, have tightened the esophageal noose that much more.

If you don’t want to work at a law firm your first summer, now is the best time to take a pass. Most law firms expect you to gain experience during your 2L and 3L year, so if you think you can make more that $12-15/hr as a law clerk (more if you’re at a large law firm) or just want to sit a home all day in front of the television, then go for it. Those who want to work at a big law firm as a summer associate, good luck. This is a very competitive position and most of these firms tend to hire 2L students over 1Ls.

Networking is key. The more people you know and the more people know you, the better chances you have at getting a job. It was stated that 70% of people who get jobs at firms knew someone at the firm.

Career Services and their message in a nutshell is this: “Don’t find the best job, find a job that is best for you”.

Good luck on landing your dream summer job – and finals (you didn’t think I’d forget about our best friend, did you?)

Lay Down the Law!

10, 9, 8, 7...

It's the final week of October. All over campus the golden leaves are blushing orange and red, cascading from branches, twirling to destruction. The sun is strong but knows it is a false champion. In the early morning and late evening, the chill bares its teeth, ferocious.

At the law school, we 1L students go to class, then go to the library. We put on a brave face but inside the panic is spreading. We talk about outlining and commercial outlines. We tell each other that finals will be challenging but that we'll get through. There are 4 weeks of class remaining, 1 dead week with turkey, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes, and 2 weeks of finals. The party is officially over.

In addition to my 4 finals, we have a closed memo due in LRW the last week of classes. I'm starting to prepare for exams but all I want to do is figure out how I'm going to spend winter break. This is not conducive to finals preparation.

As the upper-division students tell it, things are about to get really stressful. As I wander the law school, I expect to see a couple of 1Ls chained to their chairs in the library. I expect to see a 1L holding his head in his hands, wondering why he applied to law school, sobbing softly to himself in the corner near the water fountains. I even expect a 1L to spontaneously combust. If that happens, I doubt anyone will stop to help...they'll be too busy studying.

What should I do? Well, I plan to avoid the anxiety plague by staying away from large groups of 1Ls, kind of like that movie The Happening. I will travel solo or with only one or two others, constantly watching my back for stress and fear. I will take breaks, walk outside of the law school, and breathe fresh air. I will not forget to eat. I will make sure I sleep. And I will rely heavily on the food of the gods, chocolate. Wish me luck.

Power to the people.

Misdirection

I attended a 1L study skills workshop yesterday hosted by the Oregon State Bar. The workshop facilitator is an attorney; he is also a former law professor. For 5 hours, the facilitator pulled back the veil, letting us gaze into the devious abyss that is the mind of a law professor.

We discussed study techniques, memorization, tips for exam preparation, and the history and function of the Socratic method. We spent even more time laughing about eccentric law professor behavior. The facilitator told us why law professors call on you in class, why they answer your lame questions with another question, how they prepare final exams, why they really hate to read your exams, why they call on you in class when you're not prepared and don't let up, and why they think they're wise and all-knowing but don't really know how to teach. Law professors are all about misdirection; they love it, they love it, they really love it.

Top 5 Tips:

1. Preemptive volunteering: Volunteer before you get called on. Even if what you say is really stupid and adds nothing to the discussion, your professor may go easy on you the next time he or she calls on you because you participated.

2. 50/10: Study for 50 minutes and make sure to take a 10 minute break every hour. This allows your brain to refresh itself. During the 10 minute break, don't watch TV, check your e-mail, or play computer games. A 10 minute break will suddenly be an hour break.

3. Studying: Study one subject at a time, study during the day, and if you study at night, stop studying one hour before you go to bed. This helps you stay organized, awake, alert, and allows your brain to process information while you're still conscious. Do you really want to dream about Civ Pro?

4. Memorization: There are a variety of memorization techniques. For example, when you are trying to memorize information, create visual pictures in your mind for each piece of information. The more outrageous, violent, or sexual the picture is, the more likely you will be to remember it.

5. Grades: In law school, in the vast majority of your classes, your grade is based on one final exam at the end of the semester. Spend the semester preparing for the final exam, not for classes. If you bomb in class, so what. If you bomb on the exam, it matters. The exam is the key.

To memorize negligence, I'm going to create a visual picture of myself in a negligee. And now you are too. I'm so sorry. You're not going to forget negligence now, are you?

Power to the people. 

Law Reviews

I’ve been told that being on a law review is a sought after quality that employers look for. Lewis and Clark Law School is great for this purpose. They have three law reviews; The Lewis & Clark Law Review, The Environmental Law Review and The Animal Law Review.

You can grade or write on to the first two law reviews and begin in your 2L year. 1Ls can join the animal law review as a voluntary source checker; if you do an “outstanding” job you could be asked to return for the next year without needing to grade or write on. If you’re invited back in your 2L year, you could shoot for an editor position. This sounds much better than slaving away your second year source checking, when you can get that out of the way your first year.

If you think the Animal Law Review is an activist group you are wrong. They publish articles from all spectrums of the animal law and animal rights world. You don’t have to be interested in Animal Law to be on the law review, nor do you have to be a vegetarian or vegan (of which I am not), and you don’t have to own a pet (but would, however, I fear the lifestyle of a poor law student would subject my pet(s) to scraps and DIY veterinarian care). According to our speaker, the Animal Law Review has twice the readership of both the other law reviews combined. It is also the nation’s first law review devoted exclusively to animal issues (according to their website http://www.lclark.edu/org/animalaw/)

Personally, I believe it will be a great experience and the law review office is animal friendly, which is a definite plus for my non-existent pets. It will also be one of the rays of light emanating from my resume, especially during a time when law firms are cutting the size of their summer programs or doing away with it completely.

Lay Down the Law!

Cake Junkies

Today at the University of Oregon School of Law, we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of our nationally recognized Legal Research & Writing program. And really, can there be a truly great celebration without cake?

The law school paid for 4 or so giant sheet cakes and placed them in the commons area just before noon. By the time I got to the commons just after 12pm, the line of sugar addicted cake fiends stretched for what seemed like miles.

If you want a law student to do anything, tell them you'll give them a piece of frosted cake in return. If they had cake in law school classes, no one would ever skip. If law students got a piece of cake in exchange for each hour of pro bono service, the world would be a better place.

Cake used to be reserved for special occasions, like birthdays, weddings, and retirement parties. These days, cake has been dumbed down, tossed onto folding tables for everyday pedestrian occasions like the 30th anniversary of a legal research and writing program. The cake is probably from the Costco bakery, mass produced, slathered with unmanageable amounts of frosting and sprinkles and not so cute messages written in electric pink icing.

Okay, I was tempted to have a piece. I love sprinkles, especially jimmies. What are jimmies? Chocolate sprinkles on the West Coast are jimmies on the East Coast. I held firm, however, refusing to eat a piece of cake in celebration of some 30th anniversary that means nothing to me.

I'm going to see if there's any cake left. Probably not. Law students are cake junkies, and they'll celebrate anything or pretend to celebrate anything for their next frosting hit. I can pretend I care as long as I get a piece of cake, with a ridiculous amount of jimmies on top.

Power to the people. 

Bald Is Beautiful

I just turned in my LRW final closed memo. After meeting with Professor LRW, I ripped apart my draft and went about reconstructing my legal arguments, case illustrations, and counter-arguments. I think I was able to simultaneously beef up my memo while trimming the unnecessary, irrelevant, and repetitive. I hope it's concise and insightful and answers the damn client's legal question. The client shouldn't have had a bag of Canadian superweed in his car to begin with...

The first drafts of my memo were very frustrating to write. I really didn't have a clue. Revising, editing, and fine tuning my final closed memo was rather quite enjoyable. I spent a big chunk of Sunday in the library, cases, textbooks, and notes strewn about me. I wrote and revised and read cases again to ferret out the teeny, tiny, important details that I failed to incorporate the first and second and third go around.

I also spent a big chunk of Sunday listening to a fellow law library patron laugh her butt off while watching David Letterman. She had on headphones. David would say something funny on her computer that I couldn't hear. She would laugh, not realizing how loud or not soft she was laughing. It was more amusing than annoying. David is not that funny. I don't think she's a law student. Law students don't have very much to laugh about.

Before I turned in my LRW final closed memo today, I had my head shaved. I feel brand new and shiny. See, if you go to law school and you're already bald, you don't have to worry about pulling out your hair. Go ahead, shave your head. Do it. You'll thank me later.

Tonight, I get to be a potential mock juror. The upper-division students in some upper-division class like Trial Practice are honing their jury selection skills. I plan to make it difficult on them by being ornery, slightly abusive, and mildly condescending. That's how it is in the real world of jury selection. Potential jurors are opinionated, nasty, and usually have no desire to do their civic duty by serving on a jury. You get paid crap, you get fed crap, and you have to sit there during the trial and listen to crap. The only saving grace is that you get to miss work, unless you don't have a job and serving on a jury cuts into your TV watching time. Anyway, it should be aces.

Power to the people.

Initiation

I was initiated into the “study all weekend and still feel like you’re not doing enough” club this weekend. As my colleague says - poor, sad, horrible me.

The work is non-stop and no matter how much you do, it still feels like you’re at base camp.

Hike. Drop the e. Ing. Ampersand. Camp. Ing.

That sounds fun. Maybe I’ll just leave school and hike mountains and camp for the rest of my life. I can be granola. I live amongst them.

Lay Down the Law!

Beisbol

When you're in the first year of law school, you sometimes lose track of what's really important. 

I want to watch the MLB playoffs but I have to study. Poor me.

I want the Rays to get to the ALCS but I have to study. So sad.

I want the Angels to force game 5 but I have to study. How horrible.

I would love to see the Dodgers and Phillies play 7 in the NLCS, Mannywood and Mr. Howard trading majestic home run shots...but I have to study. It's a hard life.

How about a La La Land World Series? Maybe, but I'm sure I won't see it because I'll have to study. Poor baby.

By the way, I didn't do so hot on my practice Torts mid-term. My Civ Pro mid-term is on Thursday. I have a practice mid-term in Crim on Friday. My LRW revised closed memo is due a week from tomorrow. Bring it on. I will not be defeated. And don't you worry about me...I'll find a way to watch baseball. Holy cow.

Power to the people. 

Malaise

Yesterday, after class, I rode my bike home in the rain. What a delight.

This morning, I awoke to gray skies. As I dressed in blue jeans and a tee-shirt, the rain began to fall again. As Forrest Gump might say, it was "big fat rain." Giant, man-crushing drops. Relentless.

Now, I'm preparing for my first practice mid-term in Torts. I think that the rain has stopped but the sun is still nowhere to be found. Fall has arrived and Oregon does Fall with the vengeance of Kobayashi eating hot dogs for prize money.

As this is my first law school mid-term, I don't really know what to expect. I've heard that the multiple choice questions that Professor Torts creates are long, snaking affairs and should be approached with a machete and bright, flaming torch. The machete is for cutting through the jungle vine hypos which precede the multiple choice answers. The bright, flaming torch will help you light your way to the correct answer...or...it can be used to dry your tears as the elusive answer escapes your grasp. I'll let you know how the exam turns out. I'll probably ace it. Hmmm, that was rather cocky. Deal with it.

Once the two hour exam ends, I'm going back outside. I will embrace the rain as a long lost brother. I will embrace Fall as a long lost fourth cousin who lives in Canada. If I don't, it's going to be a long 6 months in the beautiful, mysterious, lush green state of Oregon.

Power to the people.