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!
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Showing posts with label YLS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YLS. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
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.
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To those of you out there taking traditional law school finals, I salute you.
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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.
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.
***
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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!
***
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.
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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. :)
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. :)
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.
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.
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.
***
[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
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. :)
***
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. :)
***
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'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.
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.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Law Professors Hate Rules, Too
Actual text of an e-mail from a shall-remain-nameless professor:
"I regret to say that Law School and American Bar Association regulations require that I make some sort of assessment of your performance in this class. To this end, I have prepared an exam for the course."
"I regret to say that Law School and American Bar Association regulations require that I make some sort of assessment of your performance in this class. To this end, I have prepared an exam for the course."
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Picking Classes: Help Requested
I have a (relatively short) paper due at 4pm tomorrow/today. Instead of doing the pre-reading necessary to write the paper, I am procrastinating. By picking possible classes for next semester.
Some of my "maybe" list, generally listed in order from "most black letter law-like" to "this is not actually a law school class, right?":
* Criminal Law (the one class I still have to take)
* Evidence
* Trademarks & Unfair Competition
* Trial Practice
* Business Organizations
* Family Law
* Elements of Effective Legal Writing
* The Book of Job & Injustice
* Ethics in Literature
* Economics of Education (this is actually not a class offered at the Law School, but in the Economics department...still, I can get Law School credit for it anyway)
I have to pick two of these, basically, to fill my spring schedule. Any suggestions? Course descriptions available here.
**
Some of my "maybe" list, generally listed in order from "most black letter law-like" to "this is not actually a law school class, right?":
* Criminal Law (the one class I still have to take)
* Evidence
* Trademarks & Unfair Competition
* Trial Practice
* Business Organizations
* Family Law
* Elements of Effective Legal Writing
* The Book of Job & Injustice
* Ethics in Literature
* Economics of Education (this is actually not a class offered at the Law School, but in the Economics department...still, I can get Law School credit for it anyway)
I have to pick two of these, basically, to fill my spring schedule. Any suggestions? Course descriptions available here.
**
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Welcome to the Class(es) of 2013!
YLS admissions officers made some hearts skip beats by announcing via Twitter: "The first admissions offers will be made at the end of this week!" By now, the first few calls - with a tell-tale (203) area code, of course - have gone out. We might not work as quickly as the HLS admissions crew, who, following tradition, made their first offers before Thanksgiving, but I like to think that the element of surprise (with no pre-screening "interview" call) makes up for the relative delay. :)
Welcome to our newest readers who seem to have found our blog upon their recent acceptances to HLS and/or YLS. We're happy to have you!
Welcome to our newest readers who seem to have found our blog upon their recent acceptances to HLS and/or YLS. We're happy to have you!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thanksgiving Recap: Taboo Version
Thanksgiving vacation has come and gone. A HUUUGE meal was prepared and halfway-consumed (seriously, there was about 5x the food we needed and at least 2 bottles of wine per person - we do not take holiday meals lightly around here, people). And the rest of the weekend - except for some excursions out to Crown Street's nightlife establishments, one of which found us narrowly avoiding a deadly stabbing - was basically spent playing long extended games of Taboo.
Let it not be said that YLS students are competitive - in the classroom. But when it comes to board/group games, some of our crowd can get downright intense! [Maybe it's easier to trash-talk when you're all good friends & comfortabably able to make fun of each other's game-playing idiosyncracies...and inebriated by leftover wine...] We probably could have used an Olympics-level arbiter on a few close scoring calls. :)
All-in-all, a super-successful weekend. Very little academic work got done. But a holiday plane ticket got booked, we tried out the new Mexican place across the street (YUMM!), and I did my laundry. Baby steps.
**
Let it not be said that YLS students are competitive - in the classroom. But when it comes to board/group games, some of our crowd can get downright intense! [Maybe it's easier to trash-talk when you're all good friends & comfortabably able to make fun of each other's game-playing idiosyncracies...and inebriated by leftover wine...] We probably could have used an Olympics-level arbiter on a few close scoring calls. :)
All-in-all, a super-successful weekend. Very little academic work got done. But a holiday plane ticket got booked, we tried out the new Mexican place across the street (YUMM!), and I did my laundry. Baby steps.
**
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Giving Thanks
I've never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving (especially because I *hate* lots of traditional Thanksgiving foods; see stuffing/dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie...each and every one = yuck), but Thanksgiving break during law school has been a huge blessing.
Last year, my roommate & I both stayed in New Haven for the long weekend...our families are far away, and the hassle of traveling wasn't something we wanted to mess with around Thanksgiving. We watched a full-day "Jon & Kate Plus 8" marathon. I went to a big potluck dinner with a bunch of our classmates. We passed the rest of the weekend being lazy and ordering takeout and occasionally venturing out to neighborhood bars; it was glorious.
This year, both my roommates and I are all staying here. And I get SIX WHOLE DAYS off. Woo hoo! We're again having a massive Thanksgiving potluck (coordinated this year with a Google Spreadsheet - hallelujah!). We'll be joined throughout the long weekend by friends who share our love of wine, cookies, and board games. We'll sleep in, with no alarm to be heard. We might do some online shopping. There won't be any "Jon & Kate" this year, but I'm sure we'll find something else on TV worth watching (personally, I'm hoping a "Dog the Bounty Hunter" marathon magically appears).
Sometimes in the midst of source cites and long lectures and fruitless searches for international and unpublished law journal sources, I forget just how wonderful a life we've been blessed to be living: we spent last weekend with visiting friends for the epic Harvard-Yale weekend, where there was school spirit galore and beautiful weather and a bountiful tailgate and only a little bit of homework. Now, just one school day later, we get twice as much of a weekend. Lovely.
Happy Thanksgiving! How are you spending your holiday? Are other law students buckling down with work, or are you taking a real break?
**
Last year, my roommate & I both stayed in New Haven for the long weekend...our families are far away, and the hassle of traveling wasn't something we wanted to mess with around Thanksgiving. We watched a full-day "Jon & Kate Plus 8" marathon. I went to a big potluck dinner with a bunch of our classmates. We passed the rest of the weekend being lazy and ordering takeout and occasionally venturing out to neighborhood bars; it was glorious.
This year, both my roommates and I are all staying here. And I get SIX WHOLE DAYS off. Woo hoo! We're again having a massive Thanksgiving potluck (coordinated this year with a Google Spreadsheet - hallelujah!). We'll be joined throughout the long weekend by friends who share our love of wine, cookies, and board games. We'll sleep in, with no alarm to be heard. We might do some online shopping. There won't be any "Jon & Kate" this year, but I'm sure we'll find something else on TV worth watching (personally, I'm hoping a "Dog the Bounty Hunter" marathon magically appears).
Sometimes in the midst of source cites and long lectures and fruitless searches for international and unpublished law journal sources, I forget just how wonderful a life we've been blessed to be living: we spent last weekend with visiting friends for the epic Harvard-Yale weekend, where there was school spirit galore and beautiful weather and a bountiful tailgate and only a little bit of homework. Now, just one school day later, we get twice as much of a weekend. Lovely.
Happy Thanksgiving! How are you spending your holiday? Are other law students buckling down with work, or are you taking a real break?
**
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Women in Law Firms: II
Cat, I'm so glad you wrote your last post! The lovely ladies over at Ms. JD have talked about the issue of "to ring or not to ring" before, and it's amazing to me just how stark the difference was in how you were treated across different interviews. As far as I know, none of my engaged/married female friends here took off their ring while interviewing...but I think you raise a good point about how, given that you took your ring off eventually [and took a job where you didn't initially wear your ring], you might/might not be expected to "keep up appearances" that you're somehow some young, unattached female associate. Obviously, your summer firm will probably have events where your (amazing!) S.O. will be invited...and presumably, he'll want to go to at least a couple! But hopefully, your firm will realize that your work product matters more than your relationship status.
I guess I should feel lucky not to have had to make the "ring or no ring" decision, but I definitely had a couple of my own awkward "this is only happening to me because I'm a woman" moments during the interviewing process. At one callback, a mid-level associate vented to me about how her chosen practice area meant lots of long nights and not much flexibility to start having a family right now. I appreciated her honesty, but I don't think she would have shared the same "my biological clock is ticking!" horror stories with a man.
At another callback (admittedly, in a smaller Midwestern market....so take that for what you will), three different women tried to sell me on the firm by saying that it was a great lifestyle firm, that their hours were reasonable, and that the firm was really supportive of flexible work arrangements and going part-time, even for those on a partner track. All of this was lovely to hear, of course, and they're things I care about - but they were not things that I asked about. The women seemed to just assume that as a woman, I'd want to weigh them as serious considerations. Again, I appreciated their almost "big sister" approach, but I question whether I would have received the same treatment (or had more "down to business" conversations) had I been a man...or if the two of them who met their husbands while working at the firm would have mentioned that, either.
Of course, there's a fine line to walk...I sincerely appreciate that law firms are trying to be more lifestyle-friendly in ways that will help to address some of the problems that have kept women from staying/rising to the top in the past; but I also hope that those measures are being adopted to help women and men alike to have more balanced lifestyles, and that women aren't automatically being written off as unlikely to work hard to make partner, etc. It's nice that accommodations are there should we choose to take advantage of them, but it's important to make sure that choice is ours, not theirs.
I guess I should feel lucky not to have had to make the "ring or no ring" decision, but I definitely had a couple of my own awkward "this is only happening to me because I'm a woman" moments during the interviewing process. At one callback, a mid-level associate vented to me about how her chosen practice area meant lots of long nights and not much flexibility to start having a family right now. I appreciated her honesty, but I don't think she would have shared the same "my biological clock is ticking!" horror stories with a man.
At another callback (admittedly, in a smaller Midwestern market....so take that for what you will), three different women tried to sell me on the firm by saying that it was a great lifestyle firm, that their hours were reasonable, and that the firm was really supportive of flexible work arrangements and going part-time, even for those on a partner track. All of this was lovely to hear, of course, and they're things I care about - but they were not things that I asked about. The women seemed to just assume that as a woman, I'd want to weigh them as serious considerations. Again, I appreciated their almost "big sister" approach, but I question whether I would have received the same treatment (or had more "down to business" conversations) had I been a man...or if the two of them who met their husbands while working at the firm would have mentioned that, either.
Of course, there's a fine line to walk...I sincerely appreciate that law firms are trying to be more lifestyle-friendly in ways that will help to address some of the problems that have kept women from staying/rising to the top in the past; but I also hope that those measures are being adopted to help women and men alike to have more balanced lifestyles, and that women aren't automatically being written off as unlikely to work hard to make partner, etc. It's nice that accommodations are there should we choose to take advantage of them, but it's important to make sure that choice is ours, not theirs.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sad Day at Yale
It was announced today that the body found in an on-campus research building was that of Annie Le, a student at Yale's medical school. Tonight, there's going to be a candle-lit vigil at Cross Campus, a large outdoor meeting space near the center of campus. Of course, additional counseling staff have been brought on board, and a lot of extra security has been put in place around the medical institutions, which are generally on the south side of the Yale complex and about a 15-20 minute walk from the Law School.
Although it's believed that the crime was not a random act, lots of people are quite shaken that something so horrific could happen here, so close to where we live and study. [I walk by the Amistad building from time to time, usually on my way to the train station from the medical campus.] Perhaps rightly so, the Law School is doing its best to put forth a supportive but reserved face - reminding students that we do live in an urban area where crime does occur, circulating phone numbers and security shuttle schedules, and emphasizing the need for everyone to speak up if someone or something seems out of place.
Neither Cat nor I are strangers to living in cities that are stereotyped as dangerous and/or crime-ridden, and I don't pretend to be invincible...though I do walk home alone in the dark probably more often than would be advisable. Still, I think what's particularly troubling about this case is the reminder that threatening activity can happen even inside the confines of a building you think to be safe simply because it has the University name stamped on the outside. Sadly, that heuristic isn't always accurate.
***
Although it's believed that the crime was not a random act, lots of people are quite shaken that something so horrific could happen here, so close to where we live and study. [I walk by the Amistad building from time to time, usually on my way to the train station from the medical campus.] Perhaps rightly so, the Law School is doing its best to put forth a supportive but reserved face - reminding students that we do live in an urban area where crime does occur, circulating phone numbers and security shuttle schedules, and emphasizing the need for everyone to speak up if someone or something seems out of place.
Neither Cat nor I are strangers to living in cities that are stereotyped as dangerous and/or crime-ridden, and I don't pretend to be invincible...though I do walk home alone in the dark probably more often than would be advisable. Still, I think what's particularly troubling about this case is the reminder that threatening activity can happen even inside the confines of a building you think to be safe simply because it has the University name stamped on the outside. Sadly, that heuristic isn't always accurate.
***
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Elephantitis & Epic-itis: Reflections on 1L
Among the selection of TV stations available to me in my overseas hotel room, only two are in English: E! and CNN. CNN keeps showing this horrible preview for an interview with Tarantino about his new movie, and in the soundbite he says something about how he didn't want to submit to "elephantitis...or epic-itis" in doing a movie about something "so big." I guess he was tooting his own horn, claiming to have shown restraint? Not particularly something he's known for, but...eh.
In any case, I obviously don't want to over-state anything about 1L, but it was honestly pretty big in all sorts of ways. I knew that my classmates would be amazingly accomplished and intelligent, but I was (and constantly still am!) incredibly surprised by how nice and interesting they are. I knew that my professors are foremost in their field, but I have been blown away by just how completely they've mastered the content and how compellingly they can make their point...while at the same time being gracious and compassionate. I had heard that YLS was an extremely caring small community, but I never expected to have built relationships with so many staff and administrators or to honestly feel as though everyone is so invested in others' successes.
Of course, that doesn't mean that things weren't overwhelming at times. As a former science student, I'd never been expected to do so much reading - so closely - every night. I'd never before had an assignment that I honestly felt I'd completely blundered. I've never felt so over-committed by everything I had to do, for things both in and out of class.
Given all that, I guess I'll follow in Cat's footsteps and give a few bits of advice:
(1) Don't spend your 0L summer trying to "get ready" for law school - it's not really worth it: it'll be hard to nearly impossible to predict exactly what will be helpful, and you should use the time to relax (read non-law books, travel, hang out with your friends, etc.) because you'll need all your energy for the semester.
(2) Do cultivate some non-law interests. Sign up for an art class, explore your new city-home, volunteer. Just do something that doesn't involve the FRCP or the Constitution or a Restatement.
(3) Similarly, have some non-law school friends: pay attention to your pre-law school friends, and try to make new friends who aren't in law school. When you need a break from the madness, they'll be a great asset.
(4) New school, new city, new classmates = a new chance to "start over," if you want. Feel free to explore new interests, redefine yourself a bit. If you think you've been unfairly typecast before, you can most likely break free from that and try again in a way that suits you.
(5) That said, don't feel compelled to create a new and improved version of yourself...more specifically, don't think that you have to conform yourself to any stereotypes of what kind of student attends your school - if you're not an aspiring academic, don't pretend to fill that mold just to fit in. Do what makes you happy: take classes and join clubs that are fulfilling, not just ones that will look good on a resume. Chances are, you'll do much better in things that you enjoy.
(6) Like Cat said, put effort into making friends - especially people that you wouldn't normally find yourself befriending.
(7) Eat well. Free food at lunch lectures and dinner meetings is great, but there are only so many food pyramid blocks that get repeated again and again.
Okay, back to vacation...as Cat said, we'll be writing periodically over the summer as we feel inspired!
***
In any case, I obviously don't want to over-state anything about 1L, but it was honestly pretty big in all sorts of ways. I knew that my classmates would be amazingly accomplished and intelligent, but I was (and constantly still am!) incredibly surprised by how nice and interesting they are. I knew that my professors are foremost in their field, but I have been blown away by just how completely they've mastered the content and how compellingly they can make their point...while at the same time being gracious and compassionate. I had heard that YLS was an extremely caring small community, but I never expected to have built relationships with so many staff and administrators or to honestly feel as though everyone is so invested in others' successes.
Of course, that doesn't mean that things weren't overwhelming at times. As a former science student, I'd never been expected to do so much reading - so closely - every night. I'd never before had an assignment that I honestly felt I'd completely blundered. I've never felt so over-committed by everything I had to do, for things both in and out of class.
Given all that, I guess I'll follow in Cat's footsteps and give a few bits of advice:
(1) Don't spend your 0L summer trying to "get ready" for law school - it's not really worth it: it'll be hard to nearly impossible to predict exactly what will be helpful, and you should use the time to relax (read non-law books, travel, hang out with your friends, etc.) because you'll need all your energy for the semester.
(2) Do cultivate some non-law interests. Sign up for an art class, explore your new city-home, volunteer. Just do something that doesn't involve the FRCP or the Constitution or a Restatement.
(3) Similarly, have some non-law school friends: pay attention to your pre-law school friends, and try to make new friends who aren't in law school. When you need a break from the madness, they'll be a great asset.
(4) New school, new city, new classmates = a new chance to "start over," if you want. Feel free to explore new interests, redefine yourself a bit. If you think you've been unfairly typecast before, you can most likely break free from that and try again in a way that suits you.
(5) That said, don't feel compelled to create a new and improved version of yourself...more specifically, don't think that you have to conform yourself to any stereotypes of what kind of student attends your school - if you're not an aspiring academic, don't pretend to fill that mold just to fit in. Do what makes you happy: take classes and join clubs that are fulfilling, not just ones that will look good on a resume. Chances are, you'll do much better in things that you enjoy.
(6) Like Cat said, put effort into making friends - especially people that you wouldn't normally find yourself befriending.
(7) Eat well. Free food at lunch lectures and dinner meetings is great, but there are only so many food pyramid blocks that get repeated again and again.
Okay, back to vacation...as Cat said, we'll be writing periodically over the summer as we feel inspired!
***
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Things I've Been Doing Instead of Studying for Finals
I only have two final exams this semester, because a) I'm in a clinic, which only gets a credit/no credit designation; b) see a), but for a journal; c) one of my classes was finished halfway through the semester, so I took the exam just after spring break.
As such, I am now doing everything BUT studying for my two exams. [I don't really feel anxious about these two exams - yet - in part because it's kind of arbitrary, I think, whether I'll get an Honors or a Pass grade in both of them. I *could* work hard to get an H in either/both, but I'm just not sure I care that much.]
Some things I've done instead:
* Graded papers for the undergrad class that I'm TAing. This is torture. Some of these kids CAN NOT write. They're juniors & seniors at Yale, and yet they have trouble forming complete sentences or creating logical arguments. Sometimes I wish that I read the papers while slightly buzzed, but that would be irresponsible TAing, I imagine, and I'm not getting paid the big bucks to be an irresponsible TA. If you want to talk about being irresponsible, look no further than one of my students, who after getting a week-and-a-half extension on the only graded assignment of the semester, insisted at 11pm that she needed a "few more hours" to polish her paper that I had told her was do-or-die due at 12 midnight because I needed to read it & grade it before going to bed/getting up uber-early to get on a train [see below]. At 1:08am, my plea of "Please, for the love of my sleep schedule, send me what you have now!") was met with "Just 15 more minutes, promise!" Those 15 more minutes turned int0 30, which resulted in a not-too-happy SB. The paper was, to put it lightly, underwhelming. I found out today that she's taking the class pass-fail. "Underwhelming" = she passed (and with a pretty good grade!), because I'm a really really nice TA. [To be fair, a couple of the papers have actually been quite good. Hooray!]
* Went to NYC. Twice. In 30 hours. I have to get a special tourist visa to travel to South America later this month because the Consulate General of a certain soccer-crazed country demands outrageous fees and rather excessive procedure, in retaliation for the US doing the same to their citizens. Fair enough, I suppose, but I don't make US immigration policy! In any case, I had to either make two trips to NYC to drop off and pick up my visa, or pay a bundle to a private company to do it for me. It turns out to be cheaper to take the Metro North and do it myself. Ironically, the first studying I've done this finals period happened when I opened a Property hornbook on the train and again in the Consulate waiting room.
* Packed my room and moved my stuff into storage and a different apartment. Our subletters needed our apartment on a certain date, which just so happened to be a date before we really wanted to vacate. So I'm now subletting someone else's apartment for the week, because I figured I'd be more productive here in New Haven than somewhere more exotic. Productivity has not been particularly high, however. On the upside, there are nice neighbors & it kind of feels like being in a hotel for a week.
* Organized a few summer events with YLS alumni for a student group I'm involved in. Wished that I'd actually be in densely-populated cities this summer, so that I could go to the events.
***
As such, I am now doing everything BUT studying for my two exams. [I don't really feel anxious about these two exams - yet - in part because it's kind of arbitrary, I think, whether I'll get an Honors or a Pass grade in both of them. I *could* work hard to get an H in either/both, but I'm just not sure I care that much.]
Some things I've done instead:
* Graded papers for the undergrad class that I'm TAing. This is torture. Some of these kids CAN NOT write. They're juniors & seniors at Yale, and yet they have trouble forming complete sentences or creating logical arguments. Sometimes I wish that I read the papers while slightly buzzed, but that would be irresponsible TAing, I imagine, and I'm not getting paid the big bucks to be an irresponsible TA. If you want to talk about being irresponsible, look no further than one of my students, who after getting a week-and-a-half extension on the only graded assignment of the semester, insisted at 11pm that she needed a "few more hours" to polish her paper that I had told her was do-or-die due at 12 midnight because I needed to read it & grade it before going to bed/getting up uber-early to get on a train [see below]. At 1:08am, my plea of "Please, for the love of my sleep schedule, send me what you have now!") was met with "Just 15 more minutes, promise!" Those 15 more minutes turned int0 30, which resulted in a not-too-happy SB. The paper was, to put it lightly, underwhelming. I found out today that she's taking the class pass-fail. "Underwhelming" = she passed (and with a pretty good grade!), because I'm a really really nice TA. [To be fair, a couple of the papers have actually been quite good. Hooray!]
* Went to NYC. Twice. In 30 hours. I have to get a special tourist visa to travel to South America later this month because the Consulate General of a certain soccer-crazed country demands outrageous fees and rather excessive procedure, in retaliation for the US doing the same to their citizens. Fair enough, I suppose, but I don't make US immigration policy! In any case, I had to either make two trips to NYC to drop off and pick up my visa, or pay a bundle to a private company to do it for me. It turns out to be cheaper to take the Metro North and do it myself. Ironically, the first studying I've done this finals period happened when I opened a Property hornbook on the train and again in the Consulate waiting room.
* Packed my room and moved my stuff into storage and a different apartment. Our subletters needed our apartment on a certain date, which just so happened to be a date before we really wanted to vacate. So I'm now subletting someone else's apartment for the week, because I figured I'd be more productive here in New Haven than somewhere more exotic. Productivity has not been particularly high, however. On the upside, there are nice neighbors & it kind of feels like being in a hotel for a week.
* Organized a few summer events with YLS alumni for a student group I'm involved in. Wished that I'd actually be in densely-populated cities this summer, so that I could go to the events.
***
Monday, April 27, 2009
Attack of the 0Ls
This past Thursday-Saturday was the admitted students program here. By the numbers, I:
* Gave one (1) unofficial tour;
* Staffed the registration desk for three (3) hours, during which time I had only one (1) person previously known to me unexpectedly show up in front of me;
* Gave directions to The Table at least eight (8) times;
* Ate five (5) free meals - highlights included two (2) bottles of Raspberry Ice Tea Snapple and one half (1/2) of a delicious chocolate-covered Rice Krispie treat - in the span of about thirty (30) hours;
* Accidentally directed people to go to room 128 instead of room 127 at least five (5) times before realizing my mistake;
* Currently have seven (7) HUGE Gladware containers of leftover food in my fridge because the wonderful guys at the takeout place WAY misoverestimated how much food twenty (2o) people would eat;
* Met, by my best guess, at least one third (1/3) of the class of 2012.
After all that excitement...the most telling number of the rest of my weekend: 7 (the approximate number of hours slept over the past two nights, combined).
***
* Gave one (1) unofficial tour;
* Staffed the registration desk for three (3) hours, during which time I had only one (1) person previously known to me unexpectedly show up in front of me;
* Gave directions to The Table at least eight (8) times;
* Ate five (5) free meals - highlights included two (2) bottles of Raspberry Ice Tea Snapple and one half (1/2) of a delicious chocolate-covered Rice Krispie treat - in the span of about thirty (30) hours;
* Accidentally directed people to go to room 128 instead of room 127 at least five (5) times before realizing my mistake;
* Currently have seven (7) HUGE Gladware containers of leftover food in my fridge because the wonderful guys at the takeout place WAY misoverestimated how much food twenty (2o) people would eat;
* Met, by my best guess, at least one third (1/3) of the class of 2012.
After all that excitement...the most telling number of the rest of my weekend: 7 (the approximate number of hours slept over the past two nights, combined).
***
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