Law: Sick

Law school is a balance.  You have a bunch of work from class, then you add on a some extra responsibilities because you are a type A person, and you try to get a little personal sanity time in the form of exercise and a little bit of time with your friends.

 If you balance things right, you are ok.  You can get through each week, have your reading done, and hopefully put yourself in a place where you can relearn the material in the days/weeks leading up to finals. 

Then something happens to tip the balance.  For me, that occured this week when I got sick.  For the last few days, I have had no energy.  I don’t want to go out, I struggle to stay awake, and I can’t be productive for more than an hour or two at a time.  My work has suffered as I try to sleep off the sick before interviews this week (more on that in a later post) and I an falling behind. 

I know the answer – get healthy, sacrifice some personal time, and get my balance back, but knowing what I have to do and doing it are not the same.  For now, I’ll sit here and hope to get better in time for my Tuesday flight and Wednesday interview.  Hopefully this will be the last time my balancing act is thrown off between now and the end of the semester.

Law: OCI, Day 3, Part II (Small Law)

As I continue to attempt to finish OCI updates, I realized that I forgot to talk about one of my most unique interviews.

For this interview, a SMALL (8 lawyer) law firm came to campus looking to hire talent.  The recruiter seemed really interesting.  He pitched tons of resonsiblity for market pay and pointed out that although they are small they still have a sophisticated practice.  Then he said something I didn’t understand.  This firm of 8 lawyers was interviewing not only at HLS but at U Va, and a few others places.  This would be no big deal, except he also said they are only hiring one summer associate.  I found this odd.  I understand the desire to see candidates from all over, but if you are a small firm looking to hire because you don’t have enough associates to handle all of the work your firm has (his words, not mine) it seems strange to me that you would spend so much time interviewing. 

 Hmm……..

Anyway, I thought this one went well.  Not great, but not bad.  That said, I haven’t heard back and I think the fact that I didn’t offer any particular connection to the city was an issue for him.

I’m running out of time to find a job.  Next week = freak out time.

One more day’s worth of OCI (two more interviews) and I should be all caught up.

Law: Signals

So I didn’t do much on my Ames brief tonight other than spend a few minutes citing some portions that I knew needed support.  Its interesting that lawyers have developed a series of signals that are supposed to help the reader follow the way a citation is being offered.  I think the interesting part is that, at least among law students, this idea of telling somebody how to read a passage has actually morphed into something more akin to “how much or little B.S. is your citation.” 

When you are 100% legit and your citation is what you were looking for, you just say nothing.  If you couldnt find what you want and you want to tell your reader that the case you found is more or less what you wanted but you couldn’t find anythign saying what you said is exactly right, we have a signal for that.  When you want to say “eh, I couldn’t find something and I needed a citation….” we have a signal for that too. 

In the interest of fun and goofy, I have decided to demonstrate the way I use each of these signals in Ames briefs with some examples from humerous parts of my past. 

No Signal – This means you are legit.  You have stated a proposition of law and the courts support you.  You have your ducks in a row and found what you wanted, perhaps even quoted directly. 

Angie was told that she realy know how to work a cornor.  Thomas v. Taylor, 10 B.Supp 7, 14 (Brad. 2006).  Here I wanted to prove that Angie was told she knew how to work a cornor, so I cited to a “case” were she was told she knew how to work a cornor.  No B.S. needed.

See – This means that I know I need a citation, and I found something that doesn’t say exactly what I said but says something pretty similar.  I am not “struggling” for a citation but I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted. 

JC Fresh cannot dance without looking like a fool.  See, Fresh v. Normal Looking, 4 Norm. 18 (Starfish 2007).  Here I am saying “look, I can’t actually prove that he can’t dance without looking like a food, but I have a source that is in the ballpark, perhaps that he looks like a food when he dances, or that the only time he was seen dancing he was foolish. ”  I’m pushing what I can find a little bit but darnit I’m right and this more or less supports me.

See, e.g., – I made a statement and I can’t find something that says what I said is right, but I can find something that would be an application of what I said or a case in point.  What I’m saying is stronger or draws new lines, but darnit I can cite cause look, this went the way I said it should.

Josh is in love with older women, he doesn’t go after them unless they are 35 and have a house.  See, e.g., Frederick v. Momma Brec, 69 Sick.2c 07 (H. Park. 2007).  Basically I don’t know that the rule is really what I said, but it seems like it is or could be (and I want it to be) so I’m citing to an application of that claim.

C.f. – I needed a citation.  I couldn’t find a citation.  There was nothing that I could find to support my claim, so I looked for somethign tangibly relatedthat comes out in a way that would be good for the person in a similar position to the side I want to win.  The points aren’t the same, but they aren’t completely unrelated.  This hints at what I want in some way or the other and its the best I can do so get of my back already!

When a friend does something that another friend keeps making annoying comments about your family, the answer isn’t to litigate, but to make more annoying comments about their family.   C.f., G-Dog v. Submariner II, 53 X.Sup 69 (D.C. Iowa 2005).  Here I couldn’t find anything to support what I wanted to support (that you should make annoying comments) but I found a case that said something that has to do with a response in kind involving family members.  In this case, the best I could come up with was a case that said “if he hits on your sister, date his.”  Tre isn’t anything to say what I want, so I’m making an analogy.  Using an analogy explicitly wouldn’t be persuasive, so I’m doing it as a citation, take that.  If I really wanted to be correct here, I’d use a parenthetical explaining the case, but here I dont, that would hurt me.

So there it is, this is how me and the other people I know manage to find cications for all sorts of propostions that need a source but for which we cannot find an effective one.

Law: Ames

The last few days of my life have been a flashback to the end of last semester.  I’m sitting in my room, staring at my computer screen, up to my elbows in papers as I try to get a strong start on my Ames brief.  Gag me.

I’m supposed to brief why a defendant named Dorian did not have a constitutional right to access a law library when he refused a PD and opted to appoint himself.  I am also supposed to argue in the alternative that even if there WAS a right to access, it wasn’t violated here. 

 So far I have a draft of the argument why there is no right to access.  I’m struggling with the second part because I lack fact to fact comparisons.  I may wait to get my opponets brief and argue against that.

 On the plus side, this is the draft, and its about half way done.  There is light at the end of the tunnel……. now I just hope there is a job there too.

Law: Recepting Again

Today was another reception and I have to say, it was by far the worst reception I have been to all semester.  Because I was so unimpressed, I’m not even going to do a full write up.  The recruiter was young but not very attractive and her an an associate firted with each other the whole time I was there.  This would not have been so bad except I was stuck in the conversation and unable to get out until I left.  The food wasn’t good, the venue was a little cornor of a local bar and the drink were average at best.  Easily the worst reception I have been to.  Oh, and to cap it off, they didn’t give away any swag.

Law: OCI – Day 2, Part 2

Before I go to bed tonight, I wante to take a few minutes to finish my wrap-up of last Friday’s OCI.  This interview (which wa actually my first of the day, but the second I’m blogging about) was the one OCI firm I was excited.  Of course, those of you that follow along closely on the blog know that being excited means that I will not be getting the position. 

That said, I felt pretty good about the interview.  We talked a lot about the offices I was interested in and I tried to ask intelligent questions.  The interviewer made a reassuring comment at the end (after looking at my grades he said something like “it looks like you did very well, just as you have all morning”).  Although that made me feel good, it was followed quickly with the “we don’t know how much space we have, I find out the end of next week how may spots, if any, I can fill at each office.  Since I know for a 100% fact that two HLS 1L’s have already accepted position there for this summer and I’m guessing they aren’t looking for an all-HLS 1L class, it seems like the odds are against me.  If you want a 15 person 1L class in Milwaukee, you fill the spots early.  Hopefully there is an available spot for me, this seems like a really neat opportunity.  If I were a betting man I’d put the chances of me getting a job there at 1/5.

The good news is, this was my last “high stress” interview (in the sense of places I really really want to work at).  The bad news is that I still dont have a job and I haven’t heard back from any of the places I sent grade updates to (including the smaller firm that requested them before making hiring decisions).  

Hopefull it works out. 

Seeing as how I’m out of firm reception stories and OCI stories for now, I guess tomorrow I’ll have to blog about something meaningful again.  Thankfully the rest of the week there are recepions.

Law: OCI – Day 2, Part I

Day two of OCI in my world (day five in the real world) was Friday.  On Friday I did a pair of interviews, on that I was excited about and one that I added because I had bids and an open time slot.  I’m going to go out of order since I’m writing this post in class and I want to talk about the less interesting interview firm.

 I interviewed with a bankruptcy firm in Century City with a partner that seemed really interesting.  A fewminutes in we were talking about minor league baseball and things seemed to be going well.  I was thinking that a summer hanging out in warm weather would be a great gig even though I wasn’t too into the firm.  Then he asked what I would change about the school, I gave an off-the-cuff answer, and he proceeded to tell me how he didn’t agree.  The rest of the interview was own hill – lots of him telling me what he thought was wrong with law school and explaining that there was no reason for me to not want to be in the Midwest.  It was odd.  He closed by saying they would bring two students out for callbacks and hire one.  They were interviewing about 15 students.  I wasn’t excited about the firm before, and the odds are long, so I’m not excited now.  Basically, this interview was a waste.

Law: This Week In Firm Receptions (Part III)

Today we come to the last of my “catching up on this week’s firm receptions” posts.  This post refers to the Chadbourne & Park reception at Boarder Cafe this Wednesday night.  This was an evening that began with good food and ended with about a dozen of us chanting the firm’s name during karaoke singing at the end of the evening, needless to say, this reception was well worth it.

Basically here is how it happened. 

Step 1:  The firm sent mostly young and fun associates and only one partner.  The people they sent didn’t feel the need to make small talk about this practice group and that area of the firm, they just wanted to enjoy themselves.  Towards the middle of the night the 3L’s decided to start screwing around (read:  flirting openly with attorneys, running into the kitchens, playing “cat and mouse” meaning running after each other around the bar, and doing trust falls). An hour or so and several tequila shots later, we were inviting them to come sing with us as another bar.  They agreed, we went, they opened a tab, and that is pretty much how the night ended.  Overall, it was an evening of good drunken fun.

In the traditional format, here is my summary:

Venue:  Boarder might be the best place for a reception.  The downstairs has a big enough room to hold people and lots of tables for food.  The only drawback (which didn’t matter here) is that there are very few places to hide. 

Food:  Um, ya, the food here rocks.  They start out by putting out tons of chips, salsa, queso, and other things.  Then they added the meal component.  For the first time, I essentially had  full dinner at a firm reception.  Just keep going back.  My favorite was the non-friend hot chicken, though the traditional mexican stuff wasn’t bad.  

Booze:  Lots of it and high quality.  I focused on Makers once again, though I mixed it up with about a half dozen tequila shots over the course of the evening.  They cut us off about ten minutes early but the firm made up for it by picking up our tab at the next stop.

Attorney Interaction:  There was lots of it, more than I usually engage in, but the people were fun.  We didn’t talk about law or firms and just had a good time.  Then they came out to sing with us, proving their coolness.  There was a small bump when a Jr. Associate called out one of my friends for acting like an idiot, but they patched things up and several attorneys pointed out that they weren’t very big fans of her.  Yes we spent alot of time with associates, but they were fun and we enjoyed ourselves, so I give the attorney interaction two tumbs up.

Swag:  The only place the firm fell over.  A thing full of mints just doesn’t cut it when other firms are giving out things like $10 gift cards.  Then again, when the firm is this cool, how pissed can you be about the swag?

Law: OCI Interview #1

No I haven’t forgotten that I promised one more firm reception recap.  I am trying to get caught up in order so I don’t forget anything (it was a week of bloggable activities) and this is what came next.

OCI Started last Monday, but my interviews didn’t begin until Wednesday.  Things kicked off Wednesday with my first interview with a high quality of life firm in Grand Rapids.  The firm pays fairly well (1600 a week in a place with a very low cost of living) and seems like it does all of the normal summer pampering.  The first question of the interview was “why a firm in Grand Rapids when you are from Chicago?”  We talked about that for a while and talked about the value of quality of life.  The interview was pretty “meh” overall.  He didn’t seem particularly interested in a kid from Illinois and I caught onto that and it took down my excitement for the interview.  He ended with a dry “we’ll let you know in a couple of weeks” which is interview speak for “don’t hold your breath unless you aren’t planning on breathing.”  Oh well.  One down, seven chances left.

Law: This Week In Recepting Part II (Continued From Tuesday Night Events Part I)

Ealier this week I talked about the first of the week’s three receptions, a Tuesday night event with a firm I’m not interested in.  Now its time to talk about the second of the week’s three events and the second part of the Tuesday night double header:  the Sidley Austin reception at Grafton Street.

Venue:  Grafton is a terrible place for  firm reception.  Yes I understand that a lot of alums really used to love the bar that was there.  Yes I get that “Good Will Hunting” was filemed in the bar that used to be there.  This isn’t that place.  That place lookd like a pretty good place to hold a reception (minus to not being fancy).  This place is too small, bottlenecks around the registration table no matter where you place it, and doesn’t serve enough food or provide enough drinks. 

Food:  With grafton, it is always the same story:  The food is good, but there isn’t much of it.  This held true today.  During the food pass, I was able to snag one random thing that was completely forgetable (all I remember is eating it, I have no clue what it was).  The redeeming factor for this particular visit comes from complete luck.  We happened to be pinned next to a table when they put out bacon wrapped scallops.  In the munching that followed my group managed to make up for the lack of other good food by thoroughly enjoying the scallops.  Nice save Grafton.

Maker’s Mark means you can’t go wrong, and its nice to order drinks with a waitress and not have to get to the bar, but I’m still not a fan.  One drink in an hour and a half just isn’t enough to make me happy about the event.

Attorney Interaction:  The drawback of going to a firm reception for a firm you are interested in is that you have to talk to people.  I posted up with a couple of people from the Chicago office for  while, but didn’t recognize anybody.  After a while I got the strong sense of “I’ve already been here, the office recruiter remembers me, I’m leaving.”

Swag:  Highlighter and a candy bar….. I’ll pass.

Overall this wasn’t the best reception.  Had I not been intersted in the first place, I wouldn’t have gone because its Grafton.  Had I been talked into going for some odd reason, I would have complained that I got talked into it.  But its a firm I want, and with the fun of other receptions comes having to go to a few receptions at places you like even if the reception isn’t awsome.

 I have one more reception recap for the week, then perhaps we’ll get into something maningful (or perhaps I’ll talk about interview season).