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Is It Possible to Have Fun During the Bar Prep?
I remember after my first week of Bar prep the instructor telling us to enjoy our summer break—meaning Memorial Day weekend because that was going to be it in terms of free time and fun. I hate to break it to you but that’s mostly right, so take advantage of this long weekend and have some fun! Go get drinks, go shopping, hang out with friends, whatever you want to do because this is the last weekend you’ll feel like you can do anything without a tremendous amount of guilt and anxiety. Having said that, does that mean that you will have no fun or breaks for the reminder of…
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Lowered Expectations: Managing Interns & Boring Assignments
So here’s a funny story—practicing law can be boring. The day to day necessities can be tedious and annoying. Even when we really enjoy practicing law, there are parts of procedure and the rules that are just super boring. I mention this because many of us are about to start supervising interns and one of the biggest things we have to do when managing interns is to help manage their expectations—especially as they realize that the day to day of legal work isn’t exactly what they envisioned. First, most students, through no fault of their own, don’t really know what practicing law entails. I recall one student I interviewed that…
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The Bar Exam: Helping Family Understand Your Stress
Many will start their Bar course this week. I remember clearly how much fear of the unknown I had going into my first course. And rather than feeling somewhat relieved after the first day, I left feeling more nervous than before because I just didn’t know how I was going to learn everything I needed to learn in time for the Bar. I say this not to freak you out, but to show solidarity in the complete mind-F that the Bar prep can be; it’s a really difficult time because this is high stress, high stakes. Throughout the summer we’ll share Bar prep tips that are useful for those studying,…
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Pick a Passion: Overcoming Guilt While Providing Support
Once you start working as an attorney, you’re typically bombarded with requests for fundraisers, events, etc. helping support one cause after another. The good news is that, student debt aside, many of us eventually find ourselves able to participate in traditional forms of philanthropy. The bad news is that being more aware of problems can lead to you feeling overwhelmed with your ability to help. As women of color, we may feel more empathy to seeing these injustices because we know first-hand how unfair, mean, and biased the system can be to others—many of these causes are not just something we hear of, third-hand, but rather real problems our family…
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Things to NOT Do as a New Legal Intern
Summer jobs are about to start in just a few weeks—this will be my sixth (!!!) summer working with interns and it’s hilarious to me the huge difference in my supervision skills that I have now compared to my first summer. Like, the fact that my first summer I had no supervision skills for one… Now that I have some experience on working with interns I can tell you how small changes in behavior can make a big difference in having a successful summer job. The open secret is that many attorneys strongly dislike working with students because it often ends up being more trouble than it’s worth. But I LOVE…
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In the Country We Love, a book review
Confession time–I have never watched Orange is the New Black, but Diane Guerrero’s character, Lina, on Jane the Virgin is one of my faves. I was excited to receive Diane Guerrero’s new book In the Country We Love: My Family Divided* to review because, at minimum I like supporting Latina authors and knew it would touch on immigration. But I was pleasantly sucker-punched-surprised when I read this book. I read it in one sitting–it is that good and necessary. First, my preconception of this book was that it would be bubble-gum lite in regards to immigration. I had heard of Diane’s story, but I’ve read some quickie memoirs before that just…
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Keeping it Classy: how business etiquette promotes classism
When we enter the legal field, it can feel complicated and difficult to master appropriate business etiquette because most of us have not had as much exposure to this type of culture. Most of us do not come from high income families, or families with professional parents, and yet after graduation we find ourselves colleagues to those that come from higher socioeconomic positions. We do what we can to fit in, but we’re so consumed with fitting in and abiding by these rules that we don’t take time to assess them or even acknowledge why these means of communication often feel unnatural to us. Many people act as if business etiquette is just a natural part of…
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Don’t Do It: Things to Avoid After Law School Finals
One of the biggest difference between undergrad and law school is that in undergrad, you go into finals with a basic idea of what your grade will be in that class. In law school, all of your grade is dependent on this one final exam, and you have little idea what your grade will be or even if you are truly understanding the concepts of the course. So unlike undergrad, where you can turn in your bluebook and move on–law school finals stick with you for a long time. There’s always a little bug in your head reminding you that grades are coming and it makes you worry about how you…
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Gift Guide for Law Grads
Graduations are coming up and I’m so excited to see my Instagram feed because it will be filled with celebrations! Whether it’s a graduation or the end of finals, I’m here for all the positivity! Because my love language is gifts, I want to share gift ideas for law grads that you can give your fave law student OR if you’re the law grad, you can casually send this to family members so that they can shower you with some presents-I’m so not above telling my loved ones exactly what I want as gifts! But seriously, getting through law school is no small feat and deserves real recognition. Further, the…
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Confidence Boost: What All Law Students Need to Know
During law school, I kept a semi-consistent blog where I basically just re-capped my weekends (super riveting, I know). I was looking at a post I wrote after the first day of my Bar prep course and how much I was already freaking out about failing: But mostly I’m fearful because the one thing law school was great at was reminding me how unintelligent I am. I mean, when people asked me questions about theories or laws I would think to myself, “why are they asking me?” Seriously, my intellectual confidence took a beating so it’s no surprise that I am apprehensive about this whole Bar thing. Now, some people…