JD Law Students Blog

I have been working very hard on getting a summer job that would offer me good experience.  It’s pretty exciting.

 At first, I concentrated solely on getting a paying firm job, which would be great.  Since it’s pretty hard for 1Ls to get a paying job, I started early — around December.  Career Services is amazing; Sara and I hammered out a great resume and cover letter.  I sent one of each to every firm in Bozeman.  I had three interviews over the winter break with 2 amazing firms and one very small but good firm.  The two larger firms hired someone else, and the other firm is still not sure if they have the resources/need to hire a clerk (I got that feeling that I wouldn’t get paid).

At first I was pretty bummed as all the rejection letters came in, especially after interviewing.  But I think I know what I did wrong/need to work on.  I have another interview with a good firm over the spring break.

After sending out applications to the firms, I then decided to broaden my scope.  I’ve been looking at other internships with various organizations.  My goal is to either get a position in Montana, or establish a connection that would somehow translate into a later job in Montana.  I applied for a resource council that concentrates on western states but that is looking for someone to intern in the DC office.  That would be pretty amazing.

Finally, I went in to Career Services again, and Sara recommended that I apply for judicial clerkships.  Thus, I sent out another 21 resumes and cover letters (I think I’ve sent out 60 total).  I’ve already had a few email replies.

I’m actually really excited.  I think I’m going to be able to find something.  Even if I don’t get a paying job with a major firm, I think I’ll get at least the opportunity to clerk for a judge in Montana.  I’ll probably have to work another job because I may not get paid, but I have no problem with that.  I just hope I can be in Montana!

May the Vermont legislature withdraw Vermont National Guard troops from Iraq, irrespective of President Bush’s war powers and the national war effort? Vermont lawmakers are taking up this issue, aided in part by the testimony of Vermont Law School professors to be given in Montpelier. Regardless of one’s personal thoughts on the war, it is certainly remarkable to have such a pivotal question of Constitutional Law within our federal structure being debated only a short drive away.

The debate in Montpelier drives home several points from our first-year law courses and reinforces the notion that we are learning the law not in some sort of vacuum, but rather in a manner that interfaces directly with current events. The questions implicated above query the same inherent tensions we have been studying all year: federal power balanced against state power, and legislative power balanced against the executive power of the President. Perhaps most importantly of all, we have all learned that there are rarely easy and clear-cut answers to these balancing-act predicaments; there are substantial arguments to be made on either side of macro-level Constitutional theory as it pertains to virtually any issue, and the question of Vermont withdrawing its troops from Iraq is no exception.

Any opinions expressed above are solely mine and not attributable in any way to Vermont Law School.

Law school is helping me with my narcissism.

Of course, I’m not actually a narcissist… not outright anyhow.  But I am working on it. 

Lots of people talk about how law school is so humbling… myself included.  However, I think that law school gives you a bipolar personality in this regard.  I think that law school is also intended to make you a narcissist as well.

 Which one you start law school as is up to you…

But in the end, you’ll turn out as this flipped out tweaker… 

I’d say that you end up being “in awe of your progress towards becoming a lawyer.” But when you break that down… you’re really saying that you are humbled by how great your accomplishments really are.  You are in awe of yourself.

I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it.

I’ve said it before, but my goal is to do better this semester than last semester.  I really NEED better work habits and discipline…. the rumor is that your first year sets the pace for the final two…. I really just want to go to school and be proud of how I am doing. 

That’s all I want. 

In my regular life, I like to pretend I am a narcissist.  At law school… I have to face reality, however daunting…. that I’m not as hot as I’d like to think I am.

 I’ll keep working at improving.

After a nearly constant barrage of storms over the last month, I might need to rethink my avid defense of commuting to South Royalton. Fishtailing at 40 mph down I-89 while chunks of ice fall from the sky does not put me in the legal frame of mind. Although walking to school is not without dangers, they are less potentially devastating than the risks of sliding off the interstate and into the White River.

The roads in Vermont fall into two broad categories: paved and dirt.

Paved roads that bowed and broken with pot holes on a yearly basis. I-89 isn’t bad because the State starts paving it at the Canadian border and when they reach White River Jct, they turn around and pave it again.

Secondary roads are worse.

Even at 20 mph, I think my car will soon shake itself to pieces. Every morning I pass grim warnings–discarded hubcaps and mufflers and miscellaneous piles of scrap metal that must once have been cars.

Dirt roads are easier to fix for the town, but on warm days they thaw into pockets of mud that suck passing vehicles down. Spinning your wheels in an attempt to escape only drives your car deeper into the quagmire.

All these roads are coated with metal-consuming salt. Although it can be helpful to see the road through the bottom of your car, the mud gets everywhere when you’re stuck.

I thought I was prepared for all these challenges as a native Vermonter, but driving 80 miles a day from Montpelier to South Royalton exacerbates the problem to unprecedented levels.

And now the weather report on WCAX is calling for another blizzard on Tuesday. Guess I’ll get out the shovel and duct tape. Maybe I can sleep in the library.

VLS students aren’t allowed to visit career services until November sometime during the first semester.

I read one of those pre-law school books and they said to forget the “rules” and start searching for law internships before you even come to law school. 

 Given that your GPA and class rank will likely only go down once you come to law school, even if VLS… I tend to agree. 

Luckily for me, I am looking for a summer internship in Alaska.  Not only that, but I’m not looking to get a “I love the environment” internship… just a normal everyday, let me sue your pants off, or send your butt to jail, internship. 

So I started by contacting Vermont Law School Alumni working in the state.  Most everyone wrote me at least a page long email - 3x the size I wrote them - with suggestions.  Most seemed to point in the same direction, so today, I sent my first request for information to one of their suggestions. 

Also, many people told me I was getting a late start.  Eek.  I know.  I’m concerned… but my supreme confidence in my value… since I’ll likely work for free… keeps me from worrying too much.  I suppose, in the worst case, I could work a side job to pay for things… deliver papers, night security… what do law school students with unpaid internships do at night?

Luckily for me, I’ve already got a place lined up for free.  That is essential. 

I’m also hopeful about the Navy internship I applied for… although not confident at all.  I anticipate returning home and working.  That’s really the best I can hope for. 

It can’t get any worse than living apart from my wife and kid for the summer.  I have plans to compensate me for my loss though - a wishlist of books, a friend with a XBOX 360, and some training courses I want to take.

 It should be a great summer!

I have always been a busy body, these days termed “high functioning” with an active imagination and waves of pure energy. In an Undergraduate institution one is offered many opportunities to join, lead and administrate. In law school this tendency can be dangerous. There are tasks to be done and clubs to be run. Some organizations are just for fun and some have an educational component, all involve tapping into a limited commodity… time.

VLS has myriad student groups offering a significant amount of diversity and opportunity to any and all comers. It’s a beautiful thing, and one of the most attractive characteristics of this otherwise rural campus life. One can join an affinity group to learn about other cultures or be active in their own, or learn a skill like Martial Arts or Mountaineering, in fact you can do them all– at the same time. Therein lies the rub. You can do it all but it may not be in your best interest to do so.

Law school is hard but, the hardest part of it is the level of self mastery that it requires. You must first master your calendar, requiring that you know your own strength, stamina and develop foresight. Qui bono? You do, if you can figure out how to make the most of a community minded, public interest instinct in the medium of limited time and resources. No one here will tell you that being member of this or monarch of that is beyond you, nor should they. However, I am happy to advise you to choose your extracurricular attachments wisely. Many campus organizations are artful at strengthening much needed personal skill sets like networking, project management and general leadership skills. However, they can also lead to a loss of focus if the balance isn’t just right for you.

How do you know when you’ve found the right balance of curricular and extracurricular activities?

1-You have prioritized your schoolwork over other commitments.

2-You sleep regularly, or as regularly as a law student can sleep.

3- You can take meals with friends and loved ones without turning them into working meals.

4- You can avoid getting emotional with your peers about club related matters.

5-You are happy with your position and related responsibilities in the organization with whom you are affiliated.

If you can’t say that the above attributes are akin to your experience, you may be over-committed. Consider scaling back. You’ll find that the school won’t close down if your campus group is less than revolutionary.

TDT

It’s a rough day.

I know that I’m always complaining and having my own personal pity party when I write things on here.  That’s not necessarily who I am.  I’m really a very happy person.  You wouldn’t be able to tell that all this is going on behind my smile because I really do enjoy life and I’m not a psychopath.  But I gotta let it out somehow.  The modern stream-of-consciousness is for me in typing.

 Last night, I was fighting with someone I care(d) about over text message (how lame is that?).  We recently had a falling-out.  I guess the thing is that he doesn’t feel enough.

 I love projects.  I don’t know that I’ve ever dated someone who isn’t a project, and when I have it’s been boring.  Most women at least claim that they want a healthy, happy relationship, but to me that just reeks of monotony.  I need the intensity of unhealthy (dare I say self-destructive) relationships.  I think love and hate are so closely related that when you reach one, either one, in its purest form, you’re surprisingly close to the other.  And jumping between the two in some ways makes you feel even more intense.  Happy, nice, and fun disgust me; intense, smoldering, and consuming are what I strive for.

I’m not going to claim that that’s ever worked for me before.  The relationship before this ended horrifically, and I still can’t look him in the eyes.  I haven’t told anyone exactly what happened.  But I can say that I have used my heart to its fullest.

Now, I’m in one of my projects, but I realize that I don’t have time or energy it.  He’s too damaged.  Or maybe it’s that I’m too damaged.  Or maybe it’s that we’re both slightly damaged and are starting to realize that we first and foremost have to fix ourselves.

I’m crazy about him for all his idiosyncracies, all the things that I say I hate but secretly love (or is it the other way around?).  I’m drawn to his lack of affectation yet cry when he won’t show emotion.  I love that he’s the ultimate individual yet wish he would tell his family about me.  I like to just be ourselves together but I need him to hang out with my friends.  I like that he’s too smart to fit in anywhere yet scream inside when he tries (and fails with an amazing amount of ease) to have a normal conversation.

I. Just. Don’t. Have. Time. For. This.

I want to be able to call him every day and ask how his homework is going and see if he paid his rent and make sure he went to work.  That’s normally my role.  But I can’t.

Part of me thinks I should feel like a horrible person.  He’s a nice guy.  I’m his first girlfriend.  I could make or break him for life.

But, the scariest, most repulsive, weirdest thing is that I really don’t care.  I can honestly say that I care about no one but myself.  I don’t want to know how his day was.  I’m not going to make sure he paid his power bill.  I’m exhausted.

So I abandoned him.  But I still want him in my life.  I’m one of those incredibly selfish people who wants everything.  But he wouldn’t meet me halfway (which I can’t blame), and he ran away.

Now, we started this whole are-you-going-to-call-me-on-V’s-day thing (over text message, not any other acceptable form of communication usually used for such conversations), and it started getting sour.  Then he dropped the I-HAVE-CANCER bomb.

When I say bomb, yeah, I mean bomb.  I lost it.

So I called him to clarify.  Guess what, no cancer.  Just some tests.  Certainty the potential, and all the fright associated with the doctor telling you you may have the C-word.  But nothing conclusive.

And after our conversation, the only thing I could think was, “That’s so immature to not involve someone in your life who clearly cares about you and not tell them, then when fighting drop it like it’s something you can blame them for.  Horrible.”

Horrible.  Horrible.  Horrible.

Most of all, I’m horrible because all I can think about is how selfish he was by not telling me about it earlier.  By bringing it up during a fight.  By being someone in my life who’d have the audacity to need me.

Culture is an understatement of what VLS offers.  Diversity is also an understatement of the law school.

 We are diverse… and diversity is funny.

 I’ll resist the urge to let you in on the minutia of funnyness that I’ve uncovered here at VLS - mainly because of the possible liabilities that come with sharing your brand of humor with the internet.

In any case, this week is a busy one.  My wife and baby are in New Mexico visiting family and I’m eternally grateful.  I’ve spent nearly every day this week at school until 10-11pm at night. 

I drive the 1/2 hour home, shovel snow for a half hour, prepare lunch for a half hour… tonight I have to bring in firewood for probably about the same amount of time… and then arise at 7am at the latest in order to get to school on time. 

My efforts at improving my study habits are progressing without the aid of chemicals.  I’m having to rely solely on my wits… which are good…fried, but tasty.

I’ve forced myself to work in a group… which is forcing me to actually work.  I talked to the Academic Success Program director and she shared (however truthfully) that 70% of my peers won’t actually get serious this semester until after spring break.  So I feel slightly better, while not really being reassured.

Being on my own is great because I am able to stay late at school and am forced to force myself to do the things I normally try to rely on others for. 

I still don’t have an internship for this summer, but am working slowly on it.

I’m REALLY excited about the end of this semester.  One, so I don’t have to go to class all summer… and two, because I have a list of books and projects that I want to work on. 

Anywho… ask me anything about school.  Its hard for me to imagine that I’ll be a 2L in a little more than 2 months. 

 Scary!

The platitude is the only mammal that lays eggs.

Can we resist the narcissistic voyeurism of Facebook?  Standing over the still waters of the world wide web, we see the beautiful specter of human connection.  But it is our own reflection.  We pour our personal details into the water, entranced by the illusion of community. Something slips, which we did not intend to release.  Plunk.  We thrust our hand into the water, but the thing is gone, billowing in all directions.  The water becomes opaque.  Conformity spreads in an instant.

Will we fight for individualism?  The struggle requires constant redefinition.  Yesterday’s protest is tomorrow’s fad.  Yesterday’s original thought is tomorrow’s rote cliché.

Our egos burn now, and we are blinded by their incandescent brilliance.  But someday they will sputter and fade, and we will wish we saw the stars.

Can we look away?

Or will the mass of our egos pull us past the event horizon, where our ramblings and selfish noise dissolve into a point of infinite density?