Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Law school Reloaded: The eve of 2L

Alas, that time has finally come. After a summer of working, drinking, and dreaming of the day where I get to do much more of the latter than the former, our hiatus from academia must come to an end.

I really did put it off as long as I could, including waiting to purchase my books until today. That was what we call a "stupid decision". I forgot that the reason I generally shoot to the bookstore the first day booklists are posted is not because of my excitement for school--it's my excitement for getting a clean used copy instead of paying full price on new books. And since all the used books were gone, my credit card got hit with the stomach-curdling $700+ charge for my books this semester. Ouch.

I also waited to the last minute to turn in my scholarship thank you letter, to the point that I ended up e-mailing it in. I learned I could e-mail it in after a lovely conversation with the never-dull Linda Alba, director of financial aid, who at one point in our conversation informed me that either "her computer was doing something weird or she was having a 70's drug flashback." I really do love that woman.

And my last bit of procrastination is me still putting off my first day assignments. The idea of diving into the fascinating world of Federal Income Tax just doesn't appeal to me yet today. Maybe after a beer.

Anyhoo, welcome back everybody. (And welcome in general to the 1Ls. Don't freak out too much now. Remember: if you really fuck up, you can always fling yourself off the top of the parking garage! No, I'm just kidding. Well, kinda.) Let's have a great year.

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Sunday, August 05, 2007

Summer Update #3

In one more week I'll be done with my second clerkship, and I must say I CAN'T FREAKING WAIT. Clerkship #2 was much more practical and interactive than Clerkship #1, but in the end, still just your run of the mill clerkship with lunches out, alcohol fueled happy hours and social events, and a general glossing over of the insane number of billable hours you'd be expected to work annually as an associate. Both clerkships left with an overwhelming sense that big firm life isn't all it's cracked up to be, even with the recent upping of starting salaries to $160,000. What that will mean for me in the long run is still yet to be determined. Wouldn't it be great if there was a firm paying the outrageous salaries for only working 1600 or so billables a year? Alas, a girl can dream.

In other news, OCI bidding is in full swing for 2Ls and that means people have officially ended their "who got the better summer clerkships" competition and replaced it with the "who applied to more OCI interviwers" competition. The highest number I've heard so far is 46, but I'm sure sooner or later I'll hear of someone that applied to the max of 60.

I've also had the recent experience of meeting a handful of the incoming 1Ls at different functions, and they seem fine, though perhaps slightly less social than the party animals in the class of 2009. By this point last year, we were averaging about 40 people per weekly happy hour, which we were planning, hosting, and drinking at by ourselves. This year's class seems to rely on the 2Ls to plan things for them, or so the events listed on their myspace group would indicate. Worse yet, only about a handful of them actually seem to go to the ones we do plan. I initially took this lack of partying spirit as a bad omen, but then I realized that the fewer partiers in that crowd, the more booze left on the tab at bar review for me.

And with that, I conclude what is probably going to be the last summer update before classes start back up. I've got a few vacations and other events planned that will hopefully keep me 1) drunk, 2) entertained, and 3) away from my computer over the next few weeks, so until then, take care or yourselves, and each other.

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