Thursday, May 19, 2011

Internship Update

Wow, is my summer internship awesome this summer.

First of all, let me start by saying that last summer's internship was awesome as well, but mostly because the judge I was interning with went out of his way to make sure it was.

This summer, however, is off to a great start.

First of all, I am real intern this summer.  I have a cubicle, a desk, a computer, a phone.  No longer I am sitting on a couch taking notes and generally just paying attention, I now come in and get to my own work assignments.  It is very cool.

What is also cool is how well everyone in the office treats me.  First of all, every attorney, office assistant, paralegal, and legal assistant has already come up and introduced themselves and offered support.  They all seem to appreciate that I am helping out.  Also, they are fairly laid back in office protocols.  Although I am usually the type to show up early, it seems as though I could work 10-6 if I preferred.  Either way, no one seems to be hovering over me and constantly checking up, which is how I often felt at my previous (non-legal) job.

As for the work, so far it has been interesting.  I won't go into details, but so far I have researched the history of a sentencing statute, done research on a particularly narrow Supreme Court exhaustion ruling, and assisted in preparing a file for a re-sentencing hearing.  All of which has tested my legal and professional skills, and which has kept me very busy.

So far, so good with the internship.  I honestly can't wait until next week for more.  I hope at the end of the summer I am still enjoying it this much.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Post 2L Year Retrospective

As we all know, law school is a three year journey harrowing experience.   Having just completed my second year, I thought I would take a little bit of a retrospective introspective on my experience so far.

As a 1L, I was on the one hand eager and excited, but on the other, in way over my head.  Most of the first year is spent hanging on by the skin of your teeth as ever mounting demands of reading pile up.  On top of that, the ever present fear of the cold call, and eventually the dreaded writing assignments, make the 1L year stressful.  Looking back, however, I realize that the 1L year was all about the class experience.  I spent most of my time reading casebooks, taking diligent notes, and preparing for my next class.  In between classes, most of the kibitzing among students revolved around class as well.

As a 2L, again I found myself pressed for time, honestly even more pressed than as a 1L.  The odd difference, however, is that it was rarely with classwork.  As a 2L, I found the demands to be job applications, internships, Moot Court, Journal, volunteer experiences, shadow days, informational interviews, and other activities related to law school, but primarily outside the classroom.  Although I almost always stayed on top of my reading, I wasn't able to do the deep preparation of 1L year.

A good example is in the notes taken from casebook reading.  I took much less 2L year, but was generally always able to fully participate in class discussions.  I suppose this is a great sign, after a year of classes you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from any given professor.  Also, you get much better at reasoning out cases and principles, especially on your feet, and can participate in class without memorizing every case in the casebook.

This definitely leaves way for pursuing the extra activities, such as Moot Court, which more resemble what a lawyer actually does.  By having time for Moot Court, I was able to practice my research and writing while seeing an appellate case through from start to finish, valuable skills for actual legal practice.



Another fun diversion from 1L year to 2L is the courses you take.  1L, the courses are all pre-picked, which means plenty that are outside your personal intellectual curiosity.  However, since the curriculum is the same nationwide, these 1L courses all have plenty of prep books and study aids available.  This year I took mostly bar tested courses, but also was able to take Copyright and IP, both classes I wanted to know more about.

Now to see what 2L summer brings my way...