Tag Archive for 'Law School Experience'

Just Answer My Question!

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 06/10/08
in Career Prospects and Law School Experience
. 2 Comments

Maybe it’s just the heat, but I’m a bit frustrated at my school. The law school cafe isn’t open during the summer. I’m still waiting on grades (just one left, though). The financial aid office hasn’t been very communicative. So I’m probably over-reacting to a minor exchange I had with the career office this week.

Let me preface this by saying that I’m not seriously looking for a job. I am however trying to figure out what I’m going to do with this degree (answers range from staying where I am to working for the public defender). That means if there are chances to interview or talk with people in the legal profession, I’ll take them.

This week’s exchange with the career office left with the same question I’ve had several times since I started law school at Catholic U: Would it hurt to JUST ANSWER MY QUESTION?

We’ve been getting e-mails about fall recruiting on campus. I noticed a link to the Fall Recruiting packet during a recent login to our online jobs database. So I read through it and hadn’t seen anything about whether 2Es could participate. I returned to the database and noticed that most (perhaps all) of the employers interviewing on campus are only interviewing students who are 2D, 3D, 3E, and 4E. Makes sense, right? You want to catch students during their last summer.

I was still curious, however, as to whether there were opportunities for 2Es during fall recruiting. If there were I’d at least submit my resume. If there weren’t I wouldn’t go through the trouble of updating my resume, etc. So I emailed the career office, asking if there would be chances for 2Es to interview during fall recruiting and that I had reviewed the packet and the OCI opportunities and wasn’t sure. The answer I got was: “Follow the provided link to our Fall Recruiting packet. It contains all of the information for participation and deadlines. Let us know if you have any other questions.”

Of course, I went back to the packet and noticed that the definition of “all students” did NOT include 2Es. So I got my answer. But obviously I had missed that in my review of the packet. Would it have been so hard to just say: “Employers don’t typically interview 2Es during fall recruiting, but we’re happy to sit down to discuss options with you.”

One answer (the one I got) says: do it yourself. The other one says: here’s how we can help.

I know which one I wish I was paying for.

Top 10 Things I Hate About Law School

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 06/02/08
in Law School Experience
. 7 Comments

A Top Ten list is like penicillin, the catch-all means of remedying writer’s block, and I’ve had the bird flu of writer’s block of late. So, thought I’d put together some lists of stuff I like and hate about law school, hopefully with our loyal readers adding to the random stuff I include.

So, the Top Ten Things I Hate About Law School are:

10. Classmates with long fingernails. Talk about distracting during exams.

9. The commute. One hour after a day’s work is a bit much.

8. The hostage situation that occurs with our grades after each semester.

7. Professors who confuse their own hypo by, for example, mixing up the party’s names.

6. None of the restaurants on campus being open on the weekend.

5. No real choice in registering for staple courses for evening students.

4. The law school scheduling mandatory activities during business hours.

3. The law school scheduling two exams within 48 hours of each other.

2. The law school not sending enough exams to the exam room. (this happened twice this spring)

1. Evening students quitting their day jobs while still going to evening school.

What did I miss?

Where, O Where Are My %$$#(& Grades?

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 05/28/08
in 1L and Law School Experience
. 6 Comments

The Great Waiting continues. Much weeping and gnashing of teeth accompanies each visit to Cardinal Station, our school’s site for students to pay bills, register, and receive grades. 23 days since our last exam and 29 since our first, there still no grades.

The only grade I have so far is from Lawyering Skills and that class ended in April with our Appellate Brief. Dr. Bombay wondered last week whether other schools run on similar timelines. So, do you? Are you still waiting for Spring semester grades? When you were in school did you wait long? Did you even care how long it took to get grades back? Were you ever prevented from getting a job or internship by delays in receiving grades.

Continue reading ‘Where, O Where Are My %$$#(& Grades?’

Last Lawyering Skills Class

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 04/12/08
in Law School Experience
. 3 Comments

Last Lawyering Skills Class + Heineken = Recipe For Success

Appellate Brief Haiku

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 04/01/08
in 1L and Law School Experience
. 3 Comments

Submit your very own Haiku honoring (slandering?) your 1L Appellate Brief. All schools welcome.

Here’s mine:

You red clad devil.

Your page limit frustrates me.

Can’t wait to burn you.*

* after I submit you, get a grade, and get you back, of course. you don’t get off that easy.

Why Can’t I Just Go On Vacation?

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 03/18/08
in 1L
. 0 Comments

Another quintessentially law school experience…

So, we’re taking a vacation to the Outer Banks this summer with some friends. Like many, we found a property online and booked it. Last night - about a week later - I received the rental agreement in the mail. I read every. single. word. of it. It all looked pretty straight forward, but I got a kick out of this sentence: “Most homes are served by septic systems.” (emphasis added) Visions of Mrs. Rush and her port-o-john trap door danced in my head. It’s even got the Hadley Rule covered: “… in no event shall Owner be held liable for any consequential or secondary damages.”

Continue reading ‘Why Can’t I Just Go On Vacation?’

Gut Check Time

Published
by
Casebook Sherpa
on 01/23/08
in 1L and Law School Experience
. 1 Comment

Last night was one of those nights for me. If you’re a law student - or have ever been one - you know what I’m talking about…

a paper due in a week that you have no idea how to write (or research)…

50 pages of case reading staring you down…

just received below average grades (in your estimation) in two classes (thankfully, just mid-terms, but still)…

It seems like there’s no time. If you’re not careful, it’s easy to back yourself into thinking it can’t humanly be done - or, more dangerously, that YOU can’t get it done. At least that’s what I can feel like - nearly arriving at your wit’s end, wanting to throw in the towel.

And then it kind of dawns on you (even if you don’t want to believe it): somehow you’re going to make this happen and you’re going to get through it. To get to this epiphany though you need patience. Sometimes the supply of that precious commodity is more plentiful than others. Incidentally, I’m not suggesting law school is unique in this way or perhaps even worth this kind of heartburn.

What do you do when you just never get to that point, though?

Continue reading ‘Gut Check Time’