Just a quick note here, an update if you will. Winter break and Christmas season are here. A lot of changes are on the horizon for our family. This past semester went by rather quickly. Almost methodically. Sadly, each day was on sort of a “rinse-repeat” cycle that worn all three of us down. I only worked half the semester and even then only some 6-7 hours a week. Still, with my wife working full time, the semester managed to sap quite a bit of energy.
Academically, I felt the semester was my best yet, which as anyone who is in law school will tell you is a mixed bag. Law School rewards EARLY achievements – those that arrive in your third year of law school are mere platitudes to your ego and your job prospects. So the fact that I may have my first “straight A” semester means nothing as it will still leave me jobless…..
The economic news seems pretty grim and the prospects of finding a state job are somehow worse. My good friend at the office is still working as a law clerk, even though he received his license to practice 2 months ago. I feel sorry for him in the same sick way that I hope no one has the chance to feel about me. His life over the entire term of law school was with the office – his hopes, dreams, aspirations – what have you – have taken a beating and hurt his confidence in a way that he is still trying to come to grips with. I think he needs some time to really get over this before he can effectively search for a job – any job. What I am jealous of, in a way, is his dedication to the criminal law. It appeals to me for sure, but not in the same “intense” way as my friend. Perhaps I’m better off because of this?
I do not know. Part of me thinks that my work experiences during law school would just naturally “crescendo” into a position somewhere on the state or defense side. Part of me still believes this. Increasingly, however I realize that I bumped into the criminal law – I did not go out and find it. Had I not gotten that first position at the PD’s office my first summer, I would have never really pursued criminal justice, especially after my dreadful grade in Criminal Law that spring. So I have a strange constant “guilt” if you will – I often do as much as I need to to stay competent and communicate well. Yet I am not like my two coworkers who live and breath the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines. I do not have time to study them independently. All that I know of them is from what I absorbed from my limited study, what others have told me and my own boneheaded mistakes. So if my friend does not get a job, what makes me think that I deserve one when I know I work “less hard?”
My background supports work in Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury/Workers Comp – two areas that I have not given much thought. I really was hoping to develop a patent law / IP mindset during lawschool but it just did not happen. I did not take either class nor did I seriously pursue taking the patent test. I just had no passion for it – not in the same way as I had passion for the criminal law issues I’d been working on. One area that I did develop a taste for was religious liberty causes. Pretty much my favorite class of law school – religious liberty. The one class that really made law school “worth it.” It helped me develop independent cand critical thinking skills. It is the class that makes me right now feel like a “mature” 3L.
So why not find work in this field? I should really try but the opportunities seem even more restricted than my other options. I am going to spend some times this week researching the options….
Too much time talking about school, not enough time talking about the boy. My son is now a boy. A little boy. My wife remarked this past week that he has ceased to be our little baby. At a little over two years, the boy speaks so much now that I almost forget that I once held in in front of a camera at 4 months whispering in his ear “say something.” I still whisper but those words are “give daddy a kiss” which on occaisson he does. However, sometimes he will let out a big “NO!” or a sly “no…….” or if he is really feeling introspective he’ll pause, look at me and say “no.”
If I had to pick my favorite moments with him, I’d have to say that they always come during reading time. There is a bonding that happens there that is hard to accomplish any other way. Perhaps playing chasing games or lifting him up “way high” to touch the cieling comes close. But that reading time just before he goes to sleep – priceless.
I should post more often – perhaps my thoughts during the semester would stay more focused. I dunno. Anyway I hope that all the 118 hits I’ve received thus far aren’t just from me and my wife. Would love to hear from others. Leave a comment – please.
