Dream Job (almost)

As I've mentioned before, I subscribe to a daily email from Idealist.org that lists new jobs that match the criteria I've specified. The other day I learned about this job: Consumer Rights Attorney for the National Consumer Law Center. It looks almost like the ideal thing I will be shooting for once I get my J.D.

Can anyone who is either in law school or who has been through it tell me what I should be looking for in law schools to help me get a job like this? Right now I'm just asking generally about "public interest" programs and loan repayment programs. Are there more specific things that I should be looking for (like specific classes they might offer, for instance)? Thanks.

Posted 02:13 PM | Comments (2) | law school

Rolling Admissions

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I learned yesterday that I'm way behind schedule in this whole applying to law school thing. The first sign came when I ran into a friend I haven't seen for a while and she whispered confidentially, "I'm leaving after this semester." And I said, "Really? Me too, probably. What are you going to do?" Her reply? "I'm going to law school." So there you go: it's the cool thing to do.

But then she said: "I just sent my applications out last weekend."

Ah-oh. I don't even know where I'm going to apply, let alone having applications ready. I thought applications were due in January or so, right? I mean, what's the rush? I felt a twinge of panic. Have I missed something somewhere? But then I brushed it off, thinking my friend must be just a little too eager.

However, in the afternoon I attended a "pre-law" information meeting for undergrads who are headed to law school, and my panic returned. The pre-law advisor basically said: If you haven't already taken the LSAT, that's the first strike against you in the applications process. Law schools have rolling admissions, which means they kind of admit on a first-come, first-served basis, generally beginning in early November. Therefore, you want to have your applications out by Oct. 31—at the latest. And you can't really know where to apply until you know what your LSAT score is, because that score will tell you which schools you might reasonably accept you. So taking the Oct. LSAT is ok, but you'll have to scramble to get your apps in in time to be considered in the first wave of admissions decisions.

Crap.

So I have a lot of work to do, and I'm behind already. Wish me luck.

Posted 10:23 AM | law school

Only One?

So is Al Gore the only Democrat willing to step up and denounce Bush's renewed unilateralism? According to this Reuters report, in a speech yesterday:

Gore saved some of his sharpest words for the newly announced doctrine of pre-emption -- a strategy which calls on U.S. forces to strike first against potential threats and ensure unchallenged U.S. military superiority.

Calling the new policy a "go it alone, cowboy-type" approach to foreign policy, Gore said Bush risked shaking the very foundations of the international political order by flouting laws and disregarding world opinion.

Thanks, Al. If you'd pump up the volume on that kind of direct challenge to Republican nonsense, you might actually have a chance in 2004. Maybe. Big if....

Posted 10:20 AM | general politics