What Was I Thinking?

 

Yeah, so 5 years ago I decided law school was a good idea... what was I thinking? I was thinking: good salary, career, I'm good at this stuff, I want to be a courtroom, respectable.... I mean I watched TV and Legally Blonde... I could sooo do this...

And then I went to law school and news flash ** they lie to you! School is nothing like the practice of law. There are no right answers, no perfect on-point cases, no one uses the bluebook, judges don't weigh and balance the law.... 99% of the time its a crapshoot.

 

Your clients will lie to you, bend the truth, play hide the ball; opposing counsel will talk to you like you're a child and in general just be an a$$; you will have days you never sit down and days you fall asleep from boredom; judges will have asinine rules that require you to jump through tiny little hoops; you will copy & paste more times than you care to count; every 6 minutes of your life are accounted for; and you wonder why you care what you look like since no one ever sees you (aka buy a very comfortable office chair).

You will be a partner's go-to one day and dropped the next. You will write your heart out only to have it edited down to nothing. You will do exactly what you are asked to do and still be wrong. Clients will know your cell phone number and home address. They will love you and hate you, they will want your advice on everything, they are co-dependent!

Your personal life will suffer. You have nothing to talk about anymore other than work, or how bad work is, or why you hate work. Your law friends will be your only commiserates. People will envy your cool job, little do they know they make more than you and work less and have a life.

But.... then there's that 1% of the time when you do something great and you think, its not all that bad. (don't worry the moment will pass and you too will be in the kitchen scarfing down cupcake and whiskey to dull the a$$-chewing you will get later).

Yeah, what was I thinking? TGIF, I'm headed to the bar!

Lawyering

So I'm often asked what its like to "lawyer" or my family will ask how lawyering went today. I'm not sure how many TV dramas people watch, but no I do not represent criminal, I do not spend time in the jail brokering deals,  nor do I spend time in the courthouse.

I spend my days researching issues, drafting motions and discovery, and responding to opposing counsel's motions... aka I write a lot. I also do other random things like find documents that contain certain words or find a case that says xyz and was most likely heard in such and such year... (you new lawyers know what I am talking about). But mostly I'm learning about what it means to practice law. It's so not what they teach you in law school.

No one stops to teach you how to draft discovery or write a motion and yes you may learn what terms means, or what some of the various motions do, but no one teaches you to draft them and do it well! No one teaches you what it's like to bill hours, to think about what you are doing ever 6 minutes, or didn't do. Law school doesn't tell you about filing at midnight or juggling several cases for several partners. They fail to mention what its like to exist in a firm. They try to tell you, but its hard to explain.

What they do teach you in law school is to think, rethink, and think again. Question why things are they way they are and to never stop. Look at every issue and look at it again.

The practice of law is just that, you practice every day, hoping to achieve perfection. But law is an ever changing, ever evolving concept. Each judgment rendered is a potential new twist and turn to the law.

So, as you're reading this, I'm not going all Alex Cabot on someone, I'm sitting in my new-to-me, with the Aggie-colored carpet office billing typing away! ~The Illegal Blonde

So What You're a _____ Lawyer

I'm not sure how this works in other states, but here in Texas the bar passage rate comes with some bragging rights. I became well aware of this as a 1L when one of our deans interrupted class just to brag about our school's passage rate. It became abundantly clear to us still scared 1Ls that passing the bar was important. This fact was reinforced my 3L year when this same dean came in to a class of mine to report a rather low bar passage rate. Our administration pondered over why the rate dropped, was it because the students were less smart? No. Eventually the blame was put upon BARBRI putting up the lectures online and students quit going to class. I still think this odd that they blame BARBRI... I mean just because its online does not meant the student cannot go to class, but that is neither here nor there. The point is that passing the bar becomes something of a ranking for Texas law schools. I mean if you check out the results page on the BLE, you can also see the rankings for Texas schools.

I have always been pretty proud of how well my alma mater has done on the bar exam, considering its a 3rd tier school and people liken it to an inner city slum often. I mean we require our students to take all the major bar subjects ( you would be amazed that 2 certain schools do not require evidence!). But I was never more proud of be a alum of my school than Saturday morning. I attended my sister's law school graduation. Now, it was quite different from my own. First, it was in the Baptist church (this should clue you in where I was). Second, it was very small (winter class). The student speaker was the highest ranking student, instead of one chosen by the class, and the speaker was a professor (who was brillant BTW! I love a good Bluebook joke). But most of all, they were VERY proud of themselves and their little school. I get it, its the graduation for that school they are going to shout its praises from the mountain tops, but I feel as though it went a tad too far. I mean, how many other lawyers were out there thinking, I did not go here and I'm a damn good lawyer. This particular school is rather proud to dub themselves ______Lawyers. Who cares? I mean honestly after you pass the bar who cares what school you went to. Yes, I get it their lawyers go through the hell of PC,  but so what! Its not like I did not endure hell at my school. I mean I'm pretty sure as Elle Woods would say, "we took the same LSATs....) I took the same bar exam, I am employed.... Just because I did not go through PC does not mean I will not make a good litigator.

Now, I'm going to stop at this point and say two things: 1) I am way proud of my sister and would not have missed that moment for the world, so this is by no means to take away from her accomplishment. I mean I was in tears just seeing her; and 2) my school just won the National Moot Court Competition for the 2nd year in a row!

My point, who cares where you went to school! Each law school offers its students different opporunities, programs, experiences, but they all over the student the same degree. It's up to that student to make it worth it. It's not about being a Tech Lawyer, a Baylor Lawyer, a UT Lawyer, etc... its about  being a lawyer. Its about passing the bar and going into practice and proving yourself. Yes, I'm a product of my school, but I'm also a product of myself. ~The Illegal Blonde

Love a Law Student Month

So in honor of "6 weeks out" I dub this Love a Law Student Month! Not too long ago I remember th pang of angst I felt when I got to that day on my calender which marked 6 weeks until finals! For of those of you non-law people, its the point in the semester where most law student start buckling down, honing in on outlines, and beginning the making of copious flashcards! (I do not miss these days,) but I remember and understand. I also know how lonely this time can feel, especially as the holidaus approach. Many law kids do not go home for Thanksgiving because they have finals when they return. They miss much-needed family time in order to stay mentally alert and get in as many hours as possible.

It's at this time of year that the law school library begins to look more like an Occupy Wall Street Camp, than a place of learning. Carrels are packed with snacks, red bull, and coffee. PJs become the outfit of choice and no one even thinks to wear their contact lenses. law students everywhere return to lonely apartments and rent houses, tired, weak, hungry, and beat down.

So, remember, if you have not gone to law school you do not understand the stress level, you cannot compare it to anything, and no its not just a test... IT'S THE ONLY GRADE I GET IN THE CLASS!!!!! It is times like these when law students needs your love, support, and goody baskets! Tell them you love them and offer them a drink when they are done! To all my law school friends, hang in there!!! But enjoy the fact that you get Christmas Break.... ~The Illegal Blonde

Those Were the Days

As the fate of my futre hangs in the balance (hint hint bar exams results 1-2 days away) I thought it would be nice to remember the fun and not so fun times from law school!

Fun

• meeting my best friend and Maid of Honor
• cupcakes
• carrell dance parties
• the morning crew
• that time the kid next to me got called on in Torts and had no book and had to read from mine and the sentence involved sex
• after final round receptions
• bullshitting my way out of getting called on
• "You Get a Car" "You Get a Car!"
• a certain Property and Wills & Trusts Professor
• karoke
• Lindy Tour
• making some of my best friends!

Not So Fun

• Studying
• Finals
• BARBRI
• The Bar Exam
• being unprepared
• shelf-checks in foreign languages
• mid-terms, competition, comment deadline, and shelf-check all due in the same week
• DRAMA
• DRAMA
• PR
• getting sick away from home
• having no clue what your prof is talking about
• my first B, C, and D...
• did I mention DRAMA

Would I repeat the last three years? NO! Would I recommend law school to anyone? NO Would I trade the memories for $1M? NO Do I regret it? NO

Make every moment count, have no regrets, and when you do something, do it with all your heart, soul, and mind.