Ah hem... Upon Request: Law School

It amuses me to have suggested posts from friends. It makes me feel that I need to work on my communication. It's useful, though, because now I know where to focus my energy.

Law School

The first year of law school is finished with the second semester now completed. How did it go? Well, it tends to take a month or so for grades to get posted. The two grades that were posted are above average and this makes us happy and hopeful. The ones that aren't posted were the classes that Patrick enjoyed less, was less interested in, and was more challenged by. However, I expect that he will probably get at least average marks in those as well, so it will be good overall.

Before going to law school, Patrick was advised to watch the movie The Paper Chase and was told that was what he should expect in the realm of competition, even if he wasn't going to Harvard. We found that was not really true. Professors mostly want to help and are interested in the students. This university at least tends to be (I suspect) about as family-friendly as any school ever will be short of BYU. The students are mostly respectful and kind to each other, even if they are in competition with each other. It seems that while you hope that other people overall will do poorly when compared with you, you hope specific people will do almost as well as you.

The thing that causes such great stress in law school, I think, is the fact that the entire grade rests on one test. Bad test day? No sleep last night? No excuse. That test is the end all where that class is concerned. Patrick thought, "No problem," because he is a great test taker, but these are essays and not multiple choice (which is his particular strength), so they are eight hours (for one test, that is) of grueling, stressful examination. What that means is, you have to learn to keep up on your reading and outlining throughout the semester so that when you get to the end of the semester you can just review what you already know pretty well and you don't have to learn everything anew and organize your notes for the first time in that last stressful week. I think really understanding how to study and prepare is what makes the first semester so hard -- you don't get the system until the second semester. Patrick, at least, certainly improved at his efficiency in studying and organization in the second semester.

Internships

Students in their first year across the United States are required not to begin submitting resumes for internships until December 1. I think this is to keep them as focused as possible during the first semester since they really do need all the help they can get trying to understand how it all works and get into the legal world. This is why we spent some of Christmas break at mingle events with two Milwaukee law firms. Though those didn't pan out, it certainly helped give us a final goal perhaps for the law firm itself and particularly for the environment and culture we most enjoyed for a law firm. So we found it valuable anyway.

For his internship this summer, my dear husband is interning with a professor. This involves mostly doing research for books/supplements the professor is working on. Patrick really likes this professor, is interested in this area of study, and he is very glad to be working for this professor. Plus, this internship has the advantage of being paid, not high-paid, but it is paid, and since many of them aren't we are grateful for some income for the summer.

The disadvantage to this type of internship is that it is not very true to what he will be doing as a lawyer. It is much more difficult to get into the research when it is not part of a problem-solving puzzle. In the future, when he is working with clients, he will research previous cases to make a case for what to expect in his particular case with that particular client. Here, he is researching cases, but it is more make making a list than doing any sort of puzzle. It worried me at first when he wasn't enthused about this research, but when he explained why that made sense to me and I do think there is hope that he will still love being a lawyer. Phew! I was getting nervous there for a little bit.

Conclusion

Hopes this helps satisfy your curiosity, Cami. Let me know if you're dying for even more details. I suspect that I overkilled on your question, anyway, but now you know. Welcome to the wonderful world of law school. I suspect it is not any more stressful than doing a master's in accounting, in reality, especially with the low-stress husband I've got going through the process.