New Semester Resolution

So with the new semester starting today, I started reviewing some resolutions in my mind. Even though I felt like I did good my first semester, I am definitely willing to try a change. Also, I really am down for the whole self improvement sort of deal (ok, I am like a self help addict half the time).

I divided my resolutions into different categories. Each resolution highlights what I want to improve the most.

Academic Resolutions
1. Read smarter. Last semester I got really good at reading. And by good, I mean I am able to read ridiculously fast. I always used to read fast though, so It was only a matter of time before I got good at reading the boring crap. Now I want to be able to question what I am reading as I read it, and make connections that I may have over looked by only reading.
2. Be more confident. Not a gunner (although if you ever raise your hand, ever, or even just nod your head, you risk being branded a gunner, so take the term as you will), but I want to be certain of myself when I speak and when I prep for exams.
3. Review my notes and semi outline after class. I actually did that today. It was a fun fusion of book, lecture, and my thoughts on the issue. I think it should help prepare for finals.
Enter into a writing competition. I am not sure if this is in the right section. It does sound cool though.

Professional Development
1. Have interactions with lawyers in the field I want to go in. So I was assigned a mentor. I wrote to him and I am waiting to hear back. Ummm… It doesn’t hurt to have more interactions though.
2. Get a summer internship. For the awesome experience. Paid would be preferable. (A broke law student has got to eat!)
3. Be up on my current events in the field I want to go into. Sadly, I've been sort of in the dark about those, and about most other things. Unless it happened in the library, there is a good chance that I am unaware about it. But, I did know about the bird that flew in here in November.

Personal (along the law school variety)
1. Be nice to everyone. Pretty straight forward there. This also includes the "don’t talk shit behind people's backs" clause. They always find out. Also, bad karma.
2. Bring my own lunch and make it tasty. I brought peanut butter sandwiches almost every day last semester. At the end I rebelled. In order to save my cash, I will cook extra at dinner and pack it in a tupperware to eat for lunch.
3. Don't dress like a damn slob. Harking back to my post about keeping law school classy, I plan on dressing like I want to be a damn lawyer, or at least like I am worth the five minutes talking to.

Exams- the EXTREMELY brief recap

Saturday was a big day for me. It was my last exam.

What does that mean? First and foremost, it means that I am now 2.5 years away from becoming a real lawyer (God help us all). Secondly, it means that I can sit back and begin to evaluate my habits and see what I did right and wrong (a process that I won't actually post about until I get my grades back.) Third, it means that I begin my summer job search. It is a risky strategy that I will post about momentarily. Finally, it means that I get to breath for a moment, a process that I will discuss now.

Basically, this whole breathing, relaxing thing is unreal to me. I have plenty of classmates still taking exams, so I don't want to out right dance and celebrate. Furthermore, my first three points (lawyering, evaluating, and job searching) really are lurking in the back of my mind, if not the front. I don't know what my grades will be until January, so I don't know if I successfully completed my first semester. I just know that I completed it. I don’t know that I was doing this whole law school thing right, or maybe I need time to change my ways (I think I did it right, but I need some cold hard facts to help me decide- it is the math geek in me.) And this whole applying for jobs thing, well, it is scary, hard, and I am pretty sure I just bombed a phone interview an hour ago. I really don’t want to go through that process (although my next post will have a happier, lighter tone).

So what did I learn over this exam period?
-I learned that study groups can be an amazing thing.
-That an outline should be learned backwards and forwards, that way during the exam you don’t actually need to look at it.
-That freaking out does not help.
- Conversely, cookies and coffee do help.
-Talking about the exam after the fact will only make you feel worse. You can’t change the exam, so you don’t need to be reminded of a point you may have missed.

As I turn from my first semester towards my second, I await my grades and go through the arduous task of applying for summer internships. Also, I am drinking gingerbread mochas and enjoying some sleeping in time.

Research Points!

So one of the coolest things to come out of law school (ok, the whole concept of me going to law school is pretty damn cool) is that my research is meaningful. It is meaningful in the "I am looking up stuff to help change the world" kind of way. It is also meaningful in the "I can win a Wii" sort of way. Both Lexis Nexis and Westlaw, which are research databased for law school, let you earn points by looking up cases.

Getting LexisPoints:

• Earn 15 points per day for looking up cases (30 in September)
• Earn 100-500 points for online training. Must complete a quiz at the end of each training. Takes about 20 minutes per training.
• It takes a little while for research points to post.

Getting Westlaw Points:

• Each 10 per day for looking up cases
• 500 for the "Attorney Journey" series of tutorials. A set of four tutorials.

For both Lexis and Westlaw, it takes 23,000 points to get a Wii. On Lexis I have 1000 points (plus the research points that have posted.) On Westlaw I have 390 points. I just began this quest for points the other day though, so it isn't like I am totally behind. I am totally excited!

Got to think about the future

So less than a month in, 12 school days to be precise, I am already worried about what I'll be doing after I graduate. I've just a started and I have to assume that I am graduating already. Yes, yes, I should not doubt that, but in my mind, the thought of graduating is so far away, I've yet to get one single grade. How the hell am I supposed to know even if I will be able to get a job after graduation? Here are a few things that I've been up to:

• Attended a presentation about jobs at the DOJ. In order to get even an unpaid internship I must start applying after December 1st, when ABA states that 1Ls can start looking for jobs. Merry Christmas DOJ!
• Attended a trial advocacy meeting. Halfway through the meeting signed up to be a law clerk online (because the spots were all going to be taken if I waited until after to meeting to sign up- like were supposed to. Word to the wise, be nice to the people around you and don't make enemies. I was nice so someone let me use their computer to sign up.)
• Attended a meeting for people interested in a banking law internship. Application due in 3 days.
• Attended a presentation about jobs in the government. Big message of the day- network network network! (OMFG, network?)

So here it is, already there are 4 meetings pertaining to life outside of law school (well, 3.5 trial ad is a competition, but can really help in getting a job post grad.) I guess from this point I've got to put some faith in myself. Unlike undergrad, where I spent the first two years thinking that the fact that I am in school is good enough, law school is setting the fire under my ass early. It is not good enough that I made it. I've got to be awesome at it.