Questions about UW Law

I have had a couple inquiries via email and one in the comments about UW Law in general and my situation specifically. I can tell you that the one thing I have learned in law school is that you just never know.

I have gotten interviewed for jobs where I didn't meet their criteria at all. I have been not been offered positions that I was qualified for because of not having grades the employer wanted, but exceeding all other qualifications. I have had employers offer me paying school-year positions based on my summer work when I least expected it.

I don't know much about law firm jobs because I rarely apply to any. I like 40-50 hour weeks, and think that I didn't bust my ass at law school just to continue to do so as a nameless cog in a giant legal machine for the next 30 years. I have a ton of interest in doing very "non-traditional" stuff with my degree. Like starting a non-profit which saves other non-profits time and resources. Or counseling other people considering a second career. Or working on the technology side of law practice. Or saving the world.

I have a lot of dreams, but not many solid goals, other than following my passion for people wherever it takes me.

If you are seeking further information about UW Law, feel free to email me. Or leave your email addy in the comments and I will get back to you. I love talking to people about my experience, but I want to remind my readers that every person is different, and so are their job prospects and hopes and goals and thoughts about law school, the legal profession and success.

My biggest education in law school has been the one I gave myself - about it being a great thing to be different. About shattering the status quo. About going against the grain and doing my own thing.

Are you gonna vote?

So, I am going to be adding a "Register to Vote" button for HeadCount to my blog. As some of you may know, I started working for HeadCount in 2004 when the org first started, registering people to vote at music concerts and festivals all over the midwest. I had a great time doing this, and eventually worked my way up to Outreach Director in 2007. However, being in charge of outreach at a time when the organization needed to grow exponentially to prepare for the 2008 election and law school didn't go well together. My grades took a big hit from working so hard for HeadCount and I resigned my position in January 2008 to let more available people take over.

The good news is that HeadCount is still going strong, and voter registration is a cause which is still near and dear to my heart.

So, please click on the button on the right side of the page, and check out the site. You can register to vote, or even volunteer to help others exercise their own right to vote.

This is outrageous [attempt to go green content]

My boyfriend and I are trying our best to recycle everything and to stop using so much stuff. So, we are now trying really hard not to buy bottled water. We got a Brita filter for Christmas and have been refilling water bottles or using Nalgene bottles for our daily intake of H2O.

We had to replace the filter today and I discovered that Brita filters can't be recycled here in the U.S. Chlorox owns Brita in the U.S. and they haven't started a recycling program here like they have in Europe.

There is a petition online to get them to recycle these plastic things. Check it out.

Time to start working soon

So, I start working on Monday. Many of my friends at school started over a week ago. My employer for the summer wanted me to wait (vacations or something for my supervisor). So I have had some time on my hands. I went camping for a few days. I went to the Chocolate Festival in Burlington. I went to a fabulous dinner with my mentee. I got to spend my best friend K's birthday with her, and commisserate and have a great time talking about the "good old days" before both of us started collecting all these degrees and life got so crazy. I have read one mystery novel already and am in the middle of another. I have done a lot of shopping for work clothes.

I still haven't found my damn passport yet though. I have to get on that.

Monday is coming too soon!

Hillary for....Supreme Court?

This article in the ABA Journal intrigues me. It discusses the possibility of Barack Obama cutting a deal to get Hillary Clinton out of the race by promising to make her his nominee for the Supreme Court. This would be more exciting for me personally than her being President. For some reason, a SCOTUS Justice is much more intellectual and interesting than a President. I think that our friend George had a lot to do with my perceived "dumbing down" of the Presidency.

Bo-battiness

I found today that I have gained 25 pounds since I quit smoking. Add that to the few that I gained in the first part of 1L just from eating crap, and that makes me about 30 pounds heavier than when I started law school. And, I was already heavy.

I am now at the "Fatty Bobatty" stage. I don't like it. My brother gets married in July, and I had to admit to his finance that I was just too fat to fit into the bridesmaids dresses she selected. (She responded by kicking me out of the wedding party. Nice - huh?)

Now, I either need to drop some weight or buy something to wear to the wedding itself. I am afraid that I won't be able to find something suitable. So, it's workout time. And stop eating swedish fish because they are easy to sneak into the library. Time to buckle down.

Time limits and law school exams

For the second time this semester, I took an exam that I could have used at least another half hour to complete. Professors write exams where most students write until the very second time is called. As a result, I usually submit answers that are formatted poorly, and that include either too much information, or not enough.

I am a "ponderer." I like to think things through and determine the best course of action, not just a "good" course of action. This personality and law school exams are like oil and water. They just don't mix. This means that I take exams in areas of the law that I am familiar with and enjoy, but give the professor the impression that I am clueless about them in the end.

Why can't they just give us more time on the exams? If they are worried about those students who write too much, they can give us a word limit. That won't hurt anyone. I welcome it actually. The real skills they should be testing are those that apply to the real world. In real life, a client doesn't ask your opinion and expect a thorough response in 3 hours or less. They want an idea of their options during the meeting, and a well thought out response later. What we really should be asking of students is that they THINK about things and keep written work to a reasonable length.


What do you think?
Discuss.

Panic at the library!

No, it's not a hip new band, it is a plague upon my law school. It's happy fun finals time, and I made the mistake of staying in the law school to study because I didn't want to get rained on.

Then people started rolling in here at about 10am. My 2 hours of beautiful quiet and solitude with Trusts and Estates were destroyed in a matter of minutes by the palpable anxiety of my fellow students.

This semester I had managed to stay out of the fray. I even studied near the undergrads yesterday. Why did I deviate from my plan?

Oh the humanity! I just want to be somewhere laid back and calm.

I am going home to take a nap.

Semester, quit ending so fast!

Dear Mother Time (I am a feminist - get over it!),

I am not ready for exams. I am however, ready for spring (that means no frickin' snow). I am totally ready to work, but I am not ready to finish school. What I am asking here is that you either slow down, or grant me that additional hour or so that I desperately need.

Especially because I have a trusts and estates exam this weekend.

Sincerely,

Improvilaw

Professor, quit talking so fast

I hate that at the end of the semester, when you start feeling a little worried about exams and the depth of the knowledge in the course, the professor starts talking really fast. They always try to cover material that they really don't have time for at this point in the semester and it is infuriating.

Dear Professors: Stay on task early in the semester so you have PLENTY of time to get through the material. Alternatively, you can just not test us on the material covered the last 2 weeks of class. You have at least 2 degrees. Get your shit together and follow your own syllabus - please! Your failure to shut down stupid questions the rest of the semester and to allow the class to lag isn't my problem or my fault. Quit punishing me for your lack of time management.

Sincerely,

Improvilaw

Sorry about the lack of posts

Sorry about not posting for a while. Life got in the way of blogging. I also have been a little overwhelmed lately. The end of the school year brings a lot of work with it. I have classes where I missed some reading and need to make sure I have looked at everything. I have outlines to make. There are end-of-year parties and dinners to attend. Clinic clients' cases needed to be wrapped up if possible.

That means that a lot of stuff falls by the wayside. Like getting my hair cut. For some reason, I haven't been able to get a haircut appointment that will stick. I have had stylists cancel my appointments twice this month. I am thinking that I don't have time to make a new appointment now, so cute hair will have to wait until the end of May.

I am looking forward to camping season already. I am thinking about taking off for the woods right after my last exam.

I forgot how much I like doing plays and stuff

Last night was our law school's annual "skit" show. Basically, we poke fun at law school classes, professors and culture in general. I got "excused" to get out of the law review election a little early to do the show. I played a "Gunner Phone Sex" operator (on stage) and a talking locker (Offstage). It was a ton of fun. I got to enjoy my inner "ham" and really enjoyed it. When I was younger, I used to do that kind of thing all the time. It was nice to do something through the law school that had nothing to do with academics, or my career or even social justice for once. Not that I don't love being in those kinds of things, it is just a different thing.

This was just for me.

Speaking of which, I gave myself a gift this week and decided not to run for SBA again. I just gained a few hours a week back! The rest of 2008 is going to be about me taking back my life from the beast of law school.