Thursday, June 10, 2010

So, There Are These Rules...

Third week on the job, now. One of my partner supervisors asks over lunch, "How's everything going? Is everyone in the group being nice? Do you like the work? Everything going okay?"

Me: "Everyone's awesome: incredibly nice, and giving me really interesting work. I was so relieved when, after she realized I knew the law and had good coverage of the substantive issues, Linda [the associate I was working for on a specific project; obvi, not her real name] was so patient with my Bluebooking errors."

Partner supervisor: "Yeah, don't worry about that. I explained to her that we love Yalies, and we realize that they don't actually teach you guys how to do that stuff. You got the important things."

Me (thinking to myself): Phew.

Not like I'm totally out of the woods or can just refuse to learn the rules (as I've explained, I'm really trying!), but it was nice to know that I'm not a total screw-up. And I guess it's good I brought my Bluebook with me for the summer. Clearly, I'm going to be needing it.

***

Monday, May 31, 2010

Tales from the Front Line: First Week on the Job

Tomorrow I'll start my second week of my 2L summer firm job. It's hard to believe I'm already 10% done...because it doesn't feel like I've done all that much yet! We had almost two days of orientation sessions, and every day features at least a lunch or breakfast gathering if not also an after-hours social event. Plus I'm always tempted to see my YLS and other friends after work. In short, these are long days. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't exhausted come Friday afternoon.

Everyone in my office (a BIG office: think 500+ lawyers, 40+ summers) has been unbelievably friendly and helpful. My assignments are interesting and related to things I know about, even if I have to ask some questions about format and "how do I use...?" the various administrative and research tools.

Entirely superficially: my office is beautiful, and out of the way enough that I'm not distracted by people constantly walking by (only quibble: my chair is a bit too short - but then, I'm short, so I might be asking too much to have a chair that boosts me up high); the out-of-office lunches have been fantastic (three restaurants I hadn't tried before but were gorgeous and scrumptious); and we're in a great location right on top of the subway.

On the home front: while we arrived to find that our sublessors didn't leave us plates, that was pretty easily addressed by a trip to IKEA. I also managed a pretty ingenious hack for shower curtain rings: I grabbed some 2" binder rings from Office Depot. The weekend has been a nice chance to recharge, take care of some errands, and try to catch up on some lingering tasks for school. I spent the afternoon in the sun, reading some articles I need to cite for a paper and making some phone calls for clinic. Just the break I needed before tomorrow's 8:30am meeting...

***

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Blue Booking . . . Again

I don't usually read the Volokh Conspiracy, but SB sent me this post on abolishing the Blue Book, which I thought was (a) interesting and (b) timely given the number of people now trying to write onto law reviews.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

What Questions Do You Have for Us?

Now that our 2L year is over (well, except for those papers-without-due-dates that SB is still working on), we figure you've heard enough of what we've thought to tell you...so, like in a law firm interview, we thought we'd ask you, our loyal readers, "What questions do you have for us?"

We reserve the right not to answer questions that we might deem too personal, for example, but everything is at least up for discussion. Ask away in the comments; we look forward to hearing from you!

***

Saturday, May 15, 2010

"What if we went to a *real* law school?!?"

The Invisible Man law student advises prospective law students worried about bad grades on final exams affecting them: "...just go to Yale and take every course pass/fail." [NB: Technically, it's honors/pass, but he gets the idea.]

To those of you out there taking traditional law school finals, I salute you.

**

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Professors Say the Darndest Things . . .

An exchange between a student and an older professor in class today:

Student: Is it OK if we use short-hand on our exams? Like DPC for Due Process Clause?
Professor: Yes, but please don't write your exams like you Twitter.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

More on My Bluebook Incompetence

I'll admit it: I'm not a good Bluebooker. Not even close. My small group professor 1L year (where we get basically all of our legal research & writing instruction) was not in any way a stickler about us learning proper citation form (he said he cared more about content than form), so I sort of just winged it and hoped for the best. The professor I do research for says, "I don't care how you cite stuff, just make sure I can find it." [Can you see why I like working for him?] I've been on two secondary journals for multiple semesters, but I've never had to do more than a handful of pages of Bluebooking at a given source cite, and most of the citations are pretty basic. However. This semester I became an articles editor for one of my journals....and that means I have to do a lot more Bluebooking, while trying not to look like a complete idiot.

So don't judge me too harshly, please. I'm trying to learn, I really am. But to give you a sense of just where my baseline is, here's a transcript...I was gchatting with a mutual friend of Cat & yours truly today:

me
: Geezus. Ordering of citations?!?! RIDICULOUS.
J [HLS student]: haha
I get e-mails about that!
me: I didn't even know it was a thing until last week.
J: "Dear journal, juts reminding you that this is one of the most commonly neglected rules."
me: gah
totally insane
J: ordering of signals as well
me: yeah
I figured that out just TODAY.
J: hahaha
me: who'dhaveknown!??!
J: it's such bs!
me: I am such a bad law student.
I am going to be such an incompetent summer.
J: lol
me too!!!
me: I can't even Bluebook.
me: but now, with my "I know how to order stuff" knowledge, that's like the only rule I'm honoring.
it's zero-sum, man.
and ordering cases? whoa!that was mind-blowing!
...
me: yeah
I'm pretty much gonna be like "sorry, people, I'm a bad Bluebooker."
"Don't assume anything I said is correct."
J: Good idea, SB.

***

Sunday, April 11, 2010

In Other News...

While I spent much of the weekend lounging in the living room, doing bouts of work and watching the Masters, my classmate just won $750,000 at the North American Poker Tournament event at Mohegan Sun. The full story is here, for people who just want the summary and not the play-by-play.

One might say her final opponent's play was affected by Vanessa's supporters, including a number of YLS classmates:

"If ever I get heads up in one of these things again, I'm hiring myself a new cheering section," Beasley said. "I'm hiring your cheering section."

Congrats, Vanessa!
***

The Blue Book Revolution

Both SB and I are relatively involved with our respective journals, and we were commiserating today about Blue-Booking. (If we have any non-law students reading this, I am sorry, but this post will probably be totally incomprehensible). Likely because we had spent so many hours Blue-Booking, we decided to come up with slogans for a revolution in which the Blue-Book would be eliminated. Here is the G-Chat text of that conversation:

SB: I'm sure there is some catchy "red blood of the bluebook runs through the cities!" rallying cry we could come up with
Cat: I'd go more for: Down With Blue Book Tyranny! Up With Flexible Application of the Chicago Manual of Style!
SB: haha - that's cool, too!I'm kind of an anarchist: "Anything that lets me find your source is cool with me!"

Obviously, we are not actually advocating either violence or eliminating the Blue Book. But sometimes, it does seem like too much attention is paid to Blue Booking in student journals - after all, does it really matter if you ensure the period after Id. is not italicized?

Monday, March 29, 2010

Swamped

HLS has many many amazing opportunities. Too many opportunities. So many, in fact, that some version of the following scenario will arise inevitably during any HLS student's career:

The scenario: A friend of yours who plays some important role in an organization on campus will approach you. He/she will have a particular look in his/her eye that is hard to describe but impossible to mistake once you've seen it. You know that organization has a particularly annoying and large task to accomplish in the near future. You also know that if you add one more thing to your To-Do list, you will Low Pass all your classes.

The solution:
  1. Run in the opposite direction. The problem is that in a class with 500 people, many of whom will know you and also play important roles in institutions on campus, this gets physically draining after a while.
  2. Practice what you learned in D.A.R.E., and "just say no."
Trust me, I know. Over the course of this semester, I failed to say "no" sufficiently firmly. Several times. Low passes here I come?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Sorry, We're Taking a Break

We're nearing the end of spring break, and I'm incredibly happy to have had this week "off." Sure, there was still some school work to do, but it's awfully nice to be able to do that work on the balcony overlooking the pool. And it's *really* nice to be able to go to places like this every day:


Yes, I actually went there this past Saturday. It was pretty awesome.

**

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Dahlia Lithwick on Going to Law School

In recent days, there's been a flurry of discussion here at YLS about why law students choose to be involved (or not be involved) in certain extracurricular activities. In the course of thinking and talking with my friends and classmates, I fortuitously came across an old article by Dahlia Lithwick (Yale undergrad, Stanford Law, lawyer-turned-journalist/author) at Slate.

She writes to those who are considering (or who have found themselves already enrolled in) law school. I think she gives good advice, or, at least, an opportunity for reflection.

**

Friday, March 5, 2010

Lies They Tell About YLS

I'll follow Cat's insightful "lies" post with one of my own, since we're getting to the point of the admissions cycle where cheerful, wide-eyed (and sometimes a little bit scared) admitted students are beginning to go to special admitted student events on a variety of campuses. Schools inevitably roll out the red carpet and introduce you to their most cheerleader-like students, trying to convince you that their school is the best (or, at least, the best fit for you, given your options).

Full disclosure, in case you didn't already know: I am one of those cheerleaders here at YLS. I LOVE IT HERE. I, like Cat, could not imagine having gone anywhere but the one magical place I ended up. And I will happily tell anyone who will listen all the good things about my school.

BUT.

I will also tell you that there are good reasons *not* to come here. And there are some "reasons to come here" that are a bit colored by rose-tinted glasses:

1. "Everyone here knows everyone." Also known as, "A small school is awesome." This is partially true. I do think we know more people here than we would if we were at a large school. Since 1Ls have classes with 2Ls and 3Ls, there's inevitably more mixing. We also have only one building. There's a good chance that physically, you're going to bump into a good number of your schoolmates. But there are some people in my 189-person-plus-transfers class that I haven't really talked to; there are also a good number with whom I have never had a class. Some of them probably don't know my name except as attached to a bunch of all-school emails.

On the flip side, those of us who do know each other know each other REALLY WELL. This can be good. This can also be bad. Imagine high school gossip with added gossip about jobs, etc. and you have some pretty crazy stuff floating around the social ether. It took me a good while to get used to conversations with friends-of-friends starting with, "So, I hear you're...[doing xyz]...." and not freaking out. I've generally come to like the small, family-like atmosphere, but there are times when being anonymous might be nice, too.

2. "You can get any job you want if you go to Yale." In this economy at least, this is not true. We are still, yes, very blessed and relatively insulated from the economic downturn. But there are 2Ls who didn't get jobs through OCI (gasp!). And there are people who did not get the job they wanted in the city they wanted. A degree from YLS is not a golden ticket to prestige and riches. (Darn.) Hard work - and sometimes luck - is still required.

3. "You should go to Yale if you get in. It's #1. Why would you go anywhere else?" Even our former Dean pretty much made this his motto when talking to admitted students. But there are good reasons not to come here. Maybe you want to be somewhere else, geographically, for the rest of your life, so moving to Southern Connecticut isn't your idea of fun (but, I promise, New Haven is actually quite wonderful). Maybe that's related to a geographically-stuck significant other or family without whom you'd be miserable. Maybe you want to study certain things - or get a dual degree - in things that we're just not that strong in. Maybe you come and visit and you just don't like the feel of the school and think you'd be more comfortable somewhere else. All of these seem to me pretty legitimate reasons to go somewhere else; I know people who've chosen other schools "over" Yale, and they're quite content with their choice, thankyouverymuch.

So to those of you who will be visiting a parade of schools over the next couple months, I hope you'll take the time to peel back the layers and understand more about a school's character than what gets into the viewbook. And I hope you'll say "hello" when you're in New Haven. :)

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Lies They Tell You at HLS

I don't want to give you the wrong impression. Attending HLS is great. I (sorry SB) would not have gone to another school, even a "better school," had I known at the time I was picking schools what I know now. Still, there are some things that they tell you at HLS that are flatly not true. Specifically:

1. "The competition is over." This was told to me, and every other 1L on the first day of orientation by no less a paragon of truth than Elena Kagan. I am 100% certain I have never been in a more competitive environment. It's possible that a more competitive environment exists, but I don't know of one, and I would not voluntarily be part of such an environment if I did discover it.

2. "1L year is the hardest year of law school." This, actually, may not be a lie, but if it's true for you, I don't think you're doing law school right. 1L year is the boring year where they make you take a bunch of things you're probably not interested in. I am confused by people who work the hardest in 1L year, because it seems unlikely to me (although I admit, not impossible) that anyone really wanted to come to law school to learn a lot about feudal property systems and how to sue someone for a slip-and-fall. I'm taking harder classes 2L year, doing more activities, and sleeping less than I did 1L year. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

So, now that I've given you two lies, I'll list a truth. They are right when they say Harvard is the "New York City" of law schools - both in that it is exciting, dynamic, populated by people with very very different interests, and has an incredibly wide range of opportunities, but also in that it can be impersonal, hectic, and lacking in a support system. There's not a week that goes by, though, that I'm not grateful to be here.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Clerkships Post Two

Cat, I'm glad you posted about the beginning of the clerkship process. We here have also just begun the official onslaught of clerkship info sessions, etc.

Unfortunately, as you mentioned, the beginning of this season seems to have created more questions than answers. Just how many judges have already hired some (or all) of their clerks for the terms for which we'd normally be applying? How many applications do we really need to submit to be reasonably assured of some success? And for people like me, is this even something I want to do? It seems like applying for clerkships isn't really something you can do sort of half-halfheartedly...so while some of my friends and classmates yearn to join The Elect and are already figuring out all the "on-plan vs. off-plan" and other obscure details of the feeder judges they plan to apply to, I can't even say whether or not I want to/need to pay attention.

Here's the long and short of my current thought process:
Unlike Cat, I don't have a real (personal or professional) reason to take a one-year stopover in clerkship world on the way to another, more permanent job. On the other hand, I'm not sure that what that 'other' job is going to be yet. And clerking seems like a good learning experience regardless of what you end up doing. But I had kind of planned to move to a specific city in the relatively short term after graduation (meaning, I think I'd like to end up there in the next 2 or 3 or 5 or 10 years), and it's VERY unlikely I'd be able to get a good clerkship there. But a clerkship for only a year - in some other random city - wouldn't be the end of the world, and I'm generally very flexible and comfortable in nearly every city I've ever been. And on and on and on, the list of maybe-yes-maybe-no factors continues.

So anyway, for the short term, I'm going to keep going to these information sessions and talking to current clerks to try to figure out whether or not I should think seriously about clerking. It would be nice if we didn't have to think about this and make a decision until after this summer: if it turns out I like my firm just fine (and, of course, they like me enough to hire me full-time), then maybe this could be a less-relevant decision. But deadlines in law school - where they exist at all - seem to be terribly unfriendly, and the timing of this process (where we basically have to decide whether we want to clerk this spring) is in no way ideal.

In any case, I'll keep you posted along the way.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Clerkships Post One

Today was the kickoff to the "search for the judicial clerkship" season, and everything is not totally well in Harvard Clerkship Land. We were told some fairly dispiriting numbers about how many of us would get clerkships in the new economic climate, and warned to keep our expectations within reason. I think the problem for many of us is that we don't know what would or would not be reasonable. I know I'm not clerking on the Supreme Court, but is it crazy to apply for a district clerkship? Should I be looking at state courts in the area I grew up? However, the clerkship folks told us that we could come in for a "blunt and realistic" assessment. That sounds approximately as much fun as going to the dentist . . . but it's really good that the Career Service does that for you.

On the bright side, it's somehow comforting (even though by rights it should be terrifying) that so many of my classmates are going to go through the process with me. It feels like we're all in this boat together, although I guess it should also feel like not all of us are going to reach the shore on the other side and it's time to start bashing each other over the head with our paddles. Nevertheless, it doesn't feel that way. Over the next several months, we're going to be sucking up the courage to go ask for letters of recommendation, worrying about our grades, and trying to determine whether we'd be willing to move to a state that we'd never set foot in before for a better clerkship together. Somehow, that seems like a bonding experience.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Welcome to the Twilight Zone?

We're now two full weeks into the new semester. Amazingly, to this point I've done all my assigned reading *before* class. I've even underlined & highlighted, which tends to fall by the wayside when one gets in a rush. It's late Saturday night, and I've even done all my reading through THIS COMING TUESDAY. I can't explain how this staying-up-to-date has happened, but I almost don't want to know the explanation for fear of somehow screwing it up/jinxing it.

[Maybe I've felt some sort of psychic pressure to do all my reading because three of my five courses now ban laptop use during class? Hard to know if that's the case. I'll leave my thoughts on no-laptop classes for another post.]

Perhaps ever more astonishing than a sudden injection of academic energy is the fact that my sudden studiousness hasn't been accompanied by a lack of out-of-class activities & social engagements. Just last night, there was a basically-the-whole-school-in-attendance Jersey Shore party, complete with themed dress-up requirements. If you don't know what that entails, perhaps it will be made clear by the following explanation of one lady's outfit, described by said lovely lady: "I Googled 'Jersey Shore slutty dresses' and just bought the first thing that came up." General reaction of the crowd to the selected dress: (J)WOW(W).

A good time was had by all.

And so, while I kind of wish I had been in DC for this weekend's Snopocalypse, things here are pretty cool, too.

***

Monday, January 25, 2010

Spring Term Begins!

And winter term just ended . . . on Saturday. That's right - we took our exams on Saturday, got an entire day of vacation, and now start the spring semester today. I am woefully unprepared, and it is going to be really embarrassing if I have to pass on a cold call on the first day of class. Reflecting further on this, I will end my post here, and go back to my reading.

Whoa-o, We're Halfway There!

Tomorrow (technically, today) marks the first day of our fourth semester of law school, meaning we're halfway done. Crazy.

Earlier today, my roommate described our law school career as such: "It's like a mountain. We got to the top, so it's all downhill from here."

Another friend agreed, saying, "It's like a week, and it's Wednesday afternoon. We just have to get through Thursday, and then we can coast all through Friday."

Whatever the schematic, it's a bit sobering to think we're now halfway-educated wannabe lawyers. I can't even competently pick classes for this semester or my outfit for tomorrow, nonetheless do anything for a hypothetical real-life client that will exist sometime in the future. Regardless, mini milestones like this give us time to pause and reflect on just how blessed we are to be here...coasting toward Friday or careening down a mountain. :)

***

Friday, January 15, 2010

Baby, What's Your Number?

It's a new year. To me, at least since I was 16, that has meant "the tax year is finished!" Ever since I've had income of my own, I've been excited to do my taxes and get my refund. I anxiously await my W-2s and 1099-INTs, and then I use TurboTax to file the very same day that the last piece of documentation arrives. I realize that's weird (it was especially weird when I was 17), I promise. But I like plugging in some numbers and following some instructions and getting some other numbers and then calculating some more and then getting a final number. An important number.

But one thing that thinking about my taxes and AGIs, marginal rates, personal deductions, and a host of other numbers got me pondering was: what is someone's most important number?

I came up with a list of possibilities:
  • Age/birthday - lots of people are insecure about being too old or too young. Others are really into astrology or other numerology that depends upon their birth date.
  • Phone - it's how we stay in touch, and now that you can keep your number seemingly forever, it can be a sort of ID number.
  • Wealth/income/adjusted gross income/taxable income - here's where the tax obsession comes in. :) How much money you make (or have accessible to you) can be hugely important to the opportunities you have available, and some people think different levels of wealth can make you more or less happy.
  • Academic measures, like LSAT/MCAT/SAT/DAT score and GPA - this seems to be a favorite (even if taboo) topic of students in their early-mid 20s. Two little numbers can have a *huge* impact on the list of schools to which you're admitted.
  • IQ - not that many people even know their "official" IQ as measured by a trained psychologist, but where you fall on the bell curve has been linked to so many life outcomes that it seems pretty powerful.
  • Sexual partners - not often talked about except among close friends (with the recent notable exception of the cast of The Real World - DC, where this was dinner convo #1 on the first day they were in the District....what?!?), but for some it's a source of shame/pride/whatever.
  • Zip code/address - certain streets and neighborhoods can carry some level of social cache, while living in other locales can get you some street cred ("You lived in Baltimore?!?! Like on The Wire?!? Damn.")
  • Children - whether you have them, when you have them, and how many you have is "the single most important decision you'll ever make," my mattress salesman told me, back in June 2007.
  • Spouses - this is the "second most important decision," according to my mattress salesman. I assume he was talking about who, not how many, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. [For the curious, "your mattress" is "the fifth most important decision," according to my mattress salesman, after the aforementioned plus "your vocation" and "your neighborhood."]
  • Facebook friends/followers on Twitter - social media grows and we have a set of new ways to mark how popular you are. [You should follow us!]
  • Hotness - assume the basic 1-to-1o scale.
  • Height/weight/eyesight/bra size/etc. - some of these things you can change, some of them you can't, but most are pretty obvious to anyone who runs into you, and they can be a big part of a first impression whether you like it or not.
  • Cholesterol/blood count/blood sugar - less obvious to the naked eye, but pretty important to your overall well-being, especially as you get older.
  • Frequent flyer or other status program miles - really only on the list because I happened to be on an airplane as I was concocting this list, but being an American Airlines AAdvantage Gold status member has made my life markedly easier this year. (Free checked bags! Free access to exit row seats!)
  • Credit card, student, or other debt load - the flip side to the income/wealth bullet. Even people who have great jobs can be crippled by debt. Ask people with adjustable-rate mortgages from the early 2000s.
  • Social security number - pretty basic, but fundamental to your identity, or lack thereof, if it's stolen. Similarly, consider bank account numbers, etc.
A lot of these things I think increase and decrease in importance as we grow and age and enter different life stages. Some of them retain importance only because they enable choices that affect later stages. Others (like SAT score) we might forget completely as time goes on. What do you think? What's most important? Is there anything I'm missing?

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Winter Term!

It's winter term at HLS, and that means we are [shockingly] having lots of fun. Most people do something exciting over winter term, like take a class in an unusual and interesting area of the law, or work on a paper they are passionate about. I have a friend who is in another city, working on a cool internship for the month. The classes are intensive - about 3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week - but compared the schedule of a typical HLS student, that's not too much out of the ordinary. Plus, some how it's easier to just concentrate on one subject intensively rather than juggling several at the same time. So, we're catching up on seeing friends, watching TV shows, and (in my case) reading lots and lots of mystery novels. I suddenly realized that I hadn't read much John Grisham before law school, and decided I had to rectify that problem immediately.

In the spirit of having fun, here are some suggestions for some cheap-ish things to do in Cambridge this winter. I would say be sure to go out well-wrapped up, but it actually hasn't gotten super cold here.

1. Awesomely, MIT has a lindy hop dance session every Wednesday night.

2. The Harvard Natural History museum is free to Harvard students, and has these amazingly realistic glass flowers.

3. The Boston Celtic Music Festival is happening this weekend!

4 . The List Art Museum at MIT is super impressive, although it's unfortunately closed until February.

5. Burdick's hot chocolate is delicious, and not that expensive as a treat.

6. I love the Harvard Bookstore. It has a great used book section, and they often have interesting authors come speak.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Ours are Not the Only Wacky Law Schools

Not exactly in response to one of my earlier posts but somewhat on point, a professor at Suffolk thinks that us professional school students aren't getting enough schooling in the traditional ways of the law:

It would be a step in the right direction (but only a small one) if law schools were to revive and require the discrete Agency course and relegate to the extra curricular “subjects” such as these: Climate Change Justice (taught at Harvard), Social Justice Lawyering (University of North Carolina), Law and Literature: Murder (University of North Carolina), Social Disparities in Health (Colorado), Wal-Mart (Colorado), Law & Literature: Race and Gender (Duke), Sexual Orientation and the Law (Duke), Ethics in Literature (Yale), Civil Disobedience (Suffolk), and Critical Race Theory (Suffolk).

It's an interesting article, on the whole, about the "de-professionalization of the American law school." I'm not sure I'd want to attend the author's proposed " bare-bones, back-to-basics for-profit law school," though...nothing billed as "boot-camp-like" is an automatically good thing in my book.