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Jobs and Journals
Now is the time in our law school careers when we despair.
As DG notes, the process of applying and interviewing for 1L summer jobs is in full swing, and there's nothing like this process to beat all hope and self-confidence right out of even the least neurotic law student. Case in point: I had a mock interview Friday, so I went to school in my monkey suit, which prompted the following conversation w/a fellow 1L who spent several years working in some business-related pursuit before coming to law school :
Fellow 1L: Why the suit?
Me: Mock interview.
Fellow 1L: Oh, do you have any interviews scheduled for the public interest interview program?
Me: Yeah, but just one -- out of 15 bids!
Fellow 1L: I didn't get any, but I don't really care about public interest.
Me: That's surprising, since you have some good work experience that I figured employers would love.
Fellow 1L: Yeah, but I didn't try to hard w/those applications. What about you? Don't you have some work experience?
Me: Sure, I spent the last four years teaching college English classes. I figured more employers would like to see that, that I'd get more than one interview out of 15 apps.
Fellow 1L: [frowns] Yeah, right. No one's going to want to hire you when they see you've never been in the real world.
Me: Oh. Yeah. Sure.
See? Conversations like that just make your day! I mean, what a great confidence builder! And I don't think the guy had a clue what a callous and ignorant insult he'd just delivered. But whatever. I went to my mock interview with a great guy from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. When it was over he said I did fine, and that the message my resume sent wasn't "academic who has never been in the real world," but "this guy sure has done a lot of things" or something like that. He said I had a good "story" that tied everything together and made my choice of law seem like a logical progression from my past work experiences. Like I said, he was a nice guy, but even if he was just trying to build my confidence, I appreciated it. For most of us, I don't think law school comes with nearly enough confidence-builders.
So now is the time on Sprockets when we dance! Not.
I mean, it appears that now is the time in law school when everyone gets incredibly pissy and jealous and neurotic about grades and jobs and did I mention jealous and anxious and scared? So people lash out at other people, maybe. Like a few people lashed out at Glorfindel last week, and more recently, the Ghost. Jealousy is an evil mistress, but I do hope Adam will reconsider: Don't give up the Ghost!!
As I glance at my bank statements and write yet another huge check for the huge amount of rent I pay in order to live close to school, the thought of possibly not getting a job this summer is, frankly, terrifying. The thought of getting a job that provides legal experience but no paycheck is only slightly less terrifying. But that's just the thing about this law school deal: If you happen to be lucky enough (or work hard enough, or whatever) to get a piece of good news like a good grade or a job offer, even then you don't get the props you deserve. Grad school was the same way -- an elaborate system of ritualized hazing.
And speaking of lack of confidence-builders and elaborate systems of ritualized hazing, GW's journal write-on competition is next month. I started law school thinking I'd try to write on to a journal for sure; now I'm much less certain. Luckily I don't have to decide in a vacuum: Stay of Execution says law review seems seriously overrated, while Notes from the (Legal) Underground says it was a great experience. I'll probably maybe give it a whirl. Probably maybe. Shockingly, I'm pretty ambivalent about it. ;-)
The next few weeks promise a furry of extracurricular confidence-busting opportunities. Next week includes my first oral argument for the brief I turned in last week (only 5 minutes under very relaxed conditions), an interview, a "Client Counseling Competition for the ADR Board, meetings for mock trial preparation, watching the final round of the upper-class moot court competition , and probably some other things I'm forgetting. The mock trial competition itself takes place in three weeks, and that journal write-on competition will be in about a month. I feel like Three Years of Hell: Where did January go? Is it just me, or does every 1L at this point feel like classes and reading are just something you do in your spare time?
p.s.: Happy (late) Birthday to Bekah!
Posted February 2, 2004 05:57 AM | law school
I think there's a lot to this ritualized hazing thing. It seems to be a constant across professional schools (including grad school), and I don't know why.
Med school was particularly blatant. First, there's the cadaver ritual, which made a few people very uncomfortable and "toughened them up" a bit. Then, the dog labs, where we had the "opportunity" to inject various drugs into an anesthetized dog and then to kill it with potassium chloride. I'm happy to say I refused to participate in this little ritual. Then came third year and taking call in the hospital. Scheduled for six weeks of surgery? You got six weeks; no weekends, every three days you had to stay awake all night in the hospital. The call itself wasn't the hazing ritual. The hazing ritual was that you were expected to "show enthusiasm" for what you were doing, even if it was holding a retractor in the OR at 3:30 AM on a Saturday morning, or being chewed out by the junior resident because she was pissed off about something and no one else was around that was lower on the hierarchy. At last, fourth year, and the "opportunity" to put on a monkey suit and fly around the country at your own expense to interview for residency positions. And the match, where you had to sign a contract committing yourself to whichever residency you were awarded by the matching computer. Trouble is, you had to commit several months before you found out where you'd matched.
Hazing, for some reason, seems to be a common thing in professional school. I don't really know why, but there it is. At least in law school, no one's paging you in the night...
Posted by: Carey at February 2, 2004 06:20 AM
What an ass. What's worse is that it sounds like he applied to the public interest programs when he had no intention on following through. Why don't those people who are just in it for the money steer clear so that people like you have a better chance of getting called back?
Posted by: falconred at February 2, 2004 06:10 PM
Try not to let thoughtless comments like that get to you. No employer comes to law school thinking they're going to hire an experienced attorney. They're looking for someone who can converse intelligently and pleasantly, show some enthusiasm for the practice of law, and demonstrate some particularized interest in the job on offer. Your background will present just fine in interviews; people will love to hear stories from your teaching days.
Posted by: Tom T. at February 2, 2004 11:05 PM
Carey: I bet you get this all the time, but: Wow, med school!? And now law school!? I don't know how you do it. My hat's off to you, for sure. I'll keep your experience in mind the next time I consider whining about the hazing of grad school or law school...
Falconred: Yeah, my sentiments exactly, but the guy is actually very nice and he just wasn't thinking about what he was saying. A lot of people have that anti-academic bias, I think, and especially if they come from finance/business fields. Different ways of thinking.
Tom T.: Thanks. I'm not really in despair about it, and things are looking up, anyway. I was chosen as an alternate for a second interview, and ended up getting a slot, so now my return rate for the interview program is 2/15, which is double where I was before. Now I just need to prepare some of those stories from my teaching days...
Posted by: ambimb at February 3, 2004 10:24 AM
