Inhale. Exhale. Breath. Relax.

So I just realized my twitter handle's acronym is LSD. Awesome.

Anyways, 1Ls around this time generally get very fearful and anxious about their grades. Rightfully so, I suppose, when you consider that for many top law students, the participating firms at on campus interviews during the beginning of 2L year look at only your 1st year grades. Since 3L interviewing is mostly dead, your 1st year grades can, in effect, determine whether you make it to Biglaw, a prestigious federal internship, or whatever. In general, for clerking, the first 2 years matter.

There's also a strange concern about finding a job for their 1L summer. I find this laughable, for the most part.

Here's 2 quick thoughts I had on 1L grades and the 1L summer job search when I was supposed to be outlining.

1) It's definitely not the end of the world if you don't do well first semester.
While it is true that this can impact your 1L summer job, you'd be surprised at how little your 1L job matters most of the time. The important thing, if you do poorly, is to work hard 2nd semester to counter-balance it. Remember, it's better to do bad 1st semester and to do well 2nd semester than the other way around. Positive trends.... everyone loves them!

Oh, and your post-finals panic? People, you probably didn't do as bad as you thought.

2) STOP WORRYING ABOUT YOUR 1L JOB
Maybe I need to stop lurking on TLS, but it amazes me that people are concerned about 1L jobs right now. At the end of the day, the kid who RA'd for his professor over the summer is not really going to be at much  more of a competitive disadvantage than the kid who interned for a judge over the summer. It's just not that big of a deal. It's all about how you present it during the interview. There are plenty of good jobs to be had even if you don't start applying until after finals. Hell, some of my friends didn't find their summer jobs until March or April.

Finding a job for 1L summer is cake compared to the future job search...

Joy of Cooking

If I weren't in law school, I'd probably be in culinary school.

Ok, that's not true because my cooking skills are not very good, but if I wasn't in law school, I'd WANT to be in culinary school. Heck, I kinda wish I was in culinary school now. My life would probably still be busy and stressful, but it would also be DELICIOUS!

Anyways, I find myself experimenting with food more with finals approaching. This is probably because achieving some sort of success in the kitchen gives me the sense of accomplishment that I'm not going to be getting from finals, heh.

So, hopefully I'll get back into this blogging thing. The mission/context of this "blawg" has changed somewhat so I guess that requires some explanation at some point.

Brief Thoughts on Admitted Students Weekends and UVA

Hmmmm, so Above the Law recently reported a bit on the Virginia 3Ls who were protesting their unemployment by wearing shirts intended to scare off 0L's from attending UVA.

First thought: UVA 3L's are certainly justified in expressing how they feel.

Second thought: Hearing from disgruntled students isn't all bad for a 0L.

When I visited schools last year, I remember one school where a 3L, who was obviously not part of the group of volunteers that guide 0L's around, was rather bitter and cynical about the whole law school thing. I ended up attending that school. I'm not going to say that it's a good thing to have your 3L's badmouth your school (it's not), but schools go really far to shower you with all of their good aspects and none of the bad. Or if they do tell you bad things, they're minor and inconsequential. It was actually useful to hear some dissenting opinions, if you will. From two extremes you can get a better sense of the actual picture!

I volunteered for my schools admitted student activities and I mean, yeah, I glossed over some things. The more opinions you can get, the better.

'course, my disgruntled fellow didn't go so far as to make t-shirts.

An Aside: The LSAT

Ah, well, another long gap between posts. It's sad that I have many things I want to talk about, but either little time or willpower to write about it.

However, right now I am short on time but full of the desire to write, so I just smacked down my more reasonable side and have decided to write a post.

So when I last left off I was preparing for the LSAT. There's been some rumblings that the ABA might want to abandon the LSAT as a component of admissions. To this I react....

A) What the fuck
B) What the fucking hell?
and
C) You idiots!

Yeah, there's probably, by all accounts, a glut of lawyers right now, and law schools are enrolling more and more and opening more and more law schools. The LSAT remains a "barrier" (although, I'm pretty sure there are schools out there you can get into regardless of your academic statistics)

But my main bone of contention with removing the LSAT is that it's so very very clear that the academic standards are various universities are not the same. For me, getting an A at my undergrad was.... easy. I've walked into interviews with my undergrad GPA shining on my resume. Employers are impressed. I'm happy that they're impressed, but the secret truth is- liberals arts majors in general are a joke and many undergrad institutions themselves are jokes in terms of how difficult it is.

It is very easy in undergrad to use sites like ratemyprofessor or whatever it is that they're using to find the easy classes. I had one class where I think there were only a small handful of people who didn't get A's or high B's. I mean, it was friggin ridiculous. It was a required course too.

Plus, if you go to one of these state schools, no offense, but let's just say the student body does not exactly consist of the best and brightest. There are, of course, brilliant people amongst the general populace. But, taken as a whole, it's nowhere near as competitive as an elite private institution. 'Course, there's grade inflation at a lot of these elite institutions.

There's 2 counters to this I suppose. Your LDAS score report will give you an approximate percentile ranking in terms of LSAT takers from your school, or something like that. And then there's the LSAT itself, where you can find out just how good someone is academically. I mean let's not kid around, you can "learn" the LSAT. So really, the LSAT is mostly a judge of how well you can learn critical reading and logic. But, it's better than just relying on GPA and school reputation. It's just like high school with the SAT. I saw valedictorians and other highly ranked people do terribly on the SAT. And honestly, I didn't think those people were all that smart. Their high schools were not that great. Standardized testing has problems, but it does kind of even the playing field a bit.

So you didn't get into Harvard undergrad. So what? You can still make a 180 on the LSAT and then who the eff cares where you went? Otherwise, schools really have no choice but to weight GPAs differently (not that they don't already do that, but LSAT scores can help "verify" a good GPA from a questionable undergrad.

So that was rather long-winded and unfocused, but it's the best you'll get from me on a wednesday morning. I'm hungry.

Reminiscing (Part 1?)

Mmmm. So, I guess technically I'm young (22). Lately, though, I feel old. I've felt like time has just been flying by. It's hard to believe that the first year of law school is essentially 3/4 over. In just a few months the first year will have come and gone and I'll be just 2 years from being (I hope) an actual lawyer. Geez.

Let's rewind time some. I didn't blog or tweet or anything like that when I was in undergrad (I miss college soooo much), so y'all missed out on the joy that was my "0L" year. Now, like an old man, I feel like reminiscing a little bit about the joy that was not being in law school (because applying for law school was soooo much more fun). This is not because I am procrastinating (I am), it's because I feel nostalgic, honest!

Officially (in interviews, applications, etc) I have wanted to be a lawyer ever since I was a wee little one watching JAG and The Practice. Because, driving jet planes and having sex with fellow lawyers on desks was totally what I wanted to do. Ok, at that age, it was really the jet planes.

Ok, but really, I guess it started with doing the whole debate thing. Typical, eh? Although, I never did do mock trial in high school or undergrad. I've never really felt the compulsion to do it either, not even in law school. Methinks I won't be at trial attorney. Anyways (if you've read me at all, you've seen I digress easily and frequently) I decided in high school that I wanted to do this law thing. I was interested in public policy and government back then thanks to my debate experience (oh, young and idealistic young(er) me. So naive. so innocent. If only I could go back in time and warn you about the harsh realities).

More digression! Anywho, I went to undergrad and majored in government related things. The idea for most of undergrad was to do this lawyer thing. I took a logic class (somehow part of my poli sci requirements.... I have no idea why?) and I'm guessing that sucker was pretty useful on the LSAT. At the end of my sophomore year, I knew I had to start getting serious about the lawyer thing, so I joined a few legal related organizations and started reading more about the process. Of course, I didn't know nearly enough when I applied. I know much more about the whole thing now then I did then,

So, my plan was to begin padding my resume in my junior year (good god, did I do anything sophomore year? I guess going to sport events on campus and attending parties doesn't count for anything) and then take a Kaplan course in the spring. The goal was to take the LSAT in June of 2009. And now that the story has been set up a little bit, we'll continue it next time I feel like procrastinating, which, y'know, won't be long.

Happy Valentines Day

Not! Never been a big fan of Valentines Day, except when it meant the obligatory free candy from teachers and classmates and the reciprocated free candy back at them. Actually, I never was a fan of that either.

Anywho, this last month has been insane between classes (which I have already given up on), job applying (which has been two words, epic fail, thus far), extra-curriculars (time-consuming? yes), social obligations (every so often I see people that I recognize outside of the law school. I have forgotten what to do in these situations other than babble about case law), and personal hygiene (and by that I mean I have not had time for it... ew, just kidding... I still shower).

Soooo, how have these things gone?

Classes: Well, grades came out. Contrary to my doom-and-gloom prognostications, I actually did better, much better than I had feared/anticipated. Won't be clerking on the Supreme Court anytime soon, but it'll do pig, it'll do (paraphrasing that quote). Of course, there's no way I'll do that again this semester and when I really think about it, I'm kinda boggled as to how I did as I did. People who seem much smarter than me seemed to do not as well (we're not ranked and it's taboo to discuss grades in detail so who knows). I kinda wish we were ranked because I'd like to know where I stand instead of having to guess. Too much subterfuge!

As for how classes are going this semester? I'm already so overwhelmed, I'm paying less attention than ever before! Woo. Less is more in terms of prep? Hope so.

Job applying- sucks. lots of apps. little response. awkward interviews. rejection city!

extra-curriculars- meaningful but time consuming?

social obligations- um. does waving in the hall count as a social life? Okay, I exagerate. I do other things. But always with nagging guilt and the feeling that I should be doing work. I haven't felt relaxed since December.

And yet, while I feel stressed, busy, and tired all the time, overall things are actually going well. Doing relatively well in classes has given me an un-deserved and foolish confidence boost. Stay tuned in June or July when I get shot back down to earth.

A busy month of January

I'm as busy as a 2L! Whew. So many clubs and activities going on along with job searching, classes.... oh man. So, it's a lame excuse, but it's my excuse for not writing.

An Aside on Jon Heyman

Wow. I am super busy right now and I just wasted over an hour arguing with a guy who refuses to do investigation. He's too involved with reporting baseball to get the facts right, even though he's castigating a guy over his misinformed facts. Here's how it starts... an innocent tweet directed at River Ave. Blues blogger, fellow law student tweeter, and yankee fan Benjamin Kabak.


""@bkabak i noticed somewhere amidst a string of tweets ripping my reporting you erroneously tweeted rep giffords was dead. thats irony

@jmhs thank god for that! i do think its funny he comments on reporters as if he has any knowledge of it. he has zero. & this is exhibit A

@jmhs the story said she critically injured. perhaps he doesn’t know what critically injured means. if thats case, he should go back to hs

@shanabartels it was reported critically injured. it says that in the story he linked to! he obvs doesnt know what critically injured means

someone who has less than hs reading level should not be commenting on my reporting"

-Tweets from Jon Heyman, respected SI baseball reporter.

And that’s just the first barrage. He’s still going on.

Meanwhile, I’ve sent him dozens of tweets, a few of which were answered, but he refuses to accept what I’ve shown him via many links- that it is very likely by a great preponderance of the evidence that the article in question, an NPR article, was likely changed after the fact to reflect updated news and information.

Here’s an article from NPR admitting they corrected their initial erroneous report http://www.npr.org/2011/01/09/.....038;f=1001

Here’s a web post about how the media (NYT, NPR, CNN, FOX, Reuters) all erroneously reported her death, and screenshots of how the NYT changed their article from saying she was killed to saying that she was injured.

http://bit.ly/gE9EEb

Obviously NPR did the exact same thing, but Heyman either knows this but refuses to back down or simply can’t grasp the concept. Heyman could not take the time (apparently) to look at my evidence, but was able to respond, for over an hour, to well wishers and critics alike, including me. As you can see, at first he wants to argue about the article. I sent him dozens of tweets trying to explain what had most likely happened. He then admits that he doesn't know exactly what went down that day but he'll take a look. Clearly he does not. 

Then he changes the topic, saying the issue here is Kabak's attacks on his reporting and questioning of his ethics. I have no opinion on that, nor would I be able to make a judgment on the accurateness of either party. What I am concerned about is the clear mis-information campaign Heyman is pepetrating against Kabak and how he refuses to acknowledge the information I've sent him, many many many times, that exonerates Ben.

@LawStudentDiary i dint know who got the story right or wrong that day. i was probably busy with baseball minutaie.i'll take a look.

SI_JonHeyman Jon Heyman 

@LawStudentDiary he linked to a story saying she was critically injured.

SI_JonHeyman Jon Heyman 

@LawStudentDiary he tweeted that she was dead over a story saying shes alive, then corrected a few mins later.

SI_JonHeyman Jon Heyman 

@LawStudentDiary i fault him for ripping me for months based on ill-informed innuendo, first to me, then behind my back.

SI_JonHeyman Jon Heyman 

@LawStudentDiary where is your buddy to stand up for himself, studying libel laws?

SI_JonHeyman Jon Heyman 

@LawStudentDiary i'll castigate him because he repeats ill-informed innuendo, and thinks hes hiding by no longer using my tweet name

Sighhhh. Frustrating. Waste of time. I COULD BE WRITING COVER LETTERS. But, since he's now shifted his focus to Kabak's allegations against him somewhat, hopefully the stuff about the Gifford story has gotten through a little bit.

5 Years Ago

With the new year dawning, I'm closer to being another year older. I found myself feeling nostalgic when I was out and about the hometown over break.

5 years ago I was also feeling sentimental as a senior in his last semester of high school. While it was was very enjoyable to embrace senioritis with open arms, I remember writing on my personal blog of old (way back when everyone had a livejournal) how I felt sad thinking about everyone would be going their separate ways in a matter of months.

Of course, everyone promises to keep in touch, but 5 years later it's interesting to think about who I've actually kept close with and who I've sadly drifted apart from.