I love it, love it, love it! (The Office Memorandum)
This – yes, THIS – is what I’ve been waiting for. What I’ve suspected is out there. The Office Memorandum – what a beautiful concept! From my textbook:
Attorneys working together in the same office tend to communicate their legal analyses in one of three ways: they talk to each other, they e-mail, and they draft office memoranda. Our focus is on written analysis, and so this book examines how to present a legal analysis in an office memorandum or e-mail.
An understood method and mode of communication between attorneys. And taught in law school, no less. I mean, holy cow, the law profession has process. And they even teach it in school.
If only software engineering could make the claim – that it possesses a standard form of communication that’s so widespread, respected and understood.
This is a symbol for what I’ve been looking forward to in my new career in the law – difficult work because the problem itself is difficult, not the meta-problem.
Program Your Way to a J.D.
I read a somewhat negative take on part-time and evening programs, and I just had to write about the situation I’ve created for myself.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m at a school in the Northeast, and I love the area. The part I didn’t mention was my plan for paying for law school: I sized up my school in advance, and periodically checked their “employment” web page. I saw that this school is a great match for my legal goals, and its evening / part-time program is very well established and respected in the legal community.
Eventually, they had an opening, I applied for a programming job, and got it. After one year working, I’m now eligible for the college’s 50% tuition benefit. So I applied for the evening program at my school, was accepted, and now my 1L year has begun.
That’s a great story, but there are many benefits beyond the simple cost reduction:
* I’m already on the campus 9-5, and so it’s very easy for me to pop over to the law school for a meeting or event.
* I really feel how I’m a part of the institution – I’m able to positively affect it in so many ways – my experiences in both roles help inform what I do. (For example, part of my work involves supporting software systems that students use.)
* I can sometimes be a little shy and so it’s been great already having tons of contacts, knowing lots of the law faculty and staff before ever starting school.
* Working at a college is definitely less stressful than most industry jobs – a good thing when going to school.
* I get to park in staff parking spots. 
There may be some drawbacks, that any part-time law student will have – working at the day job instead of getting legal experience, and so I’m thinking about how I’ll handle that. But otherwise, I think this is going to be a great 3 – 4 years.
Reading habits of law students vs. computer programmers
Here’s an interesting article that briefly looks at the issue of reading and studying styles.
Anxiety All Around
I’m still mystified by the whole Law School Mystique and the worry and fear that so many students have. – because I’m just not feeling it. I’ve heard plenty about it, though. Am I overly confident and naive? Or rather, well-prepared and in possession of a balanced attitude? Here are a couple of quotes from the PLS II list that show what I’m talking about:
So it’s beginning, everything I’ve been warned about is definitely in full effect. I am not dealing with it too well! I have been trying to keep to myself, but classmates keep wanting to know what I studied, did I read ahead like them? Did I brief ahead like them? What I thought of the professor’s lecture, etc. [...] Well my problem is that for 2 of my classes I apparently get points for participation. Today kind of scared me because they were talking about the case book notes and their version of a brief (which is extremely long and in my opinion contains a lot of irrelevant information) . I also made the big mistake, (I know, HUGE) of telling a 2L that I am trying the PLS method. We bonded and she brought it up so I thought maybe she did it, but she said that she got too overwhelmed with reading cases and briefing and there was no time for “supplements. ” She went on to advise me to stay away from supplements and to go by what the professor said. She said that sticking to the syllabus and doing old exams I could do really well. The amount of work is insane, to read a case takes forever because everything is hidden, by the time you are done you have no idea what you read…never mind black letter law! Any advice/thoughts? I am in panic mode.
Here’s Atticus’s reply, emphasis mine.
You remember how, when you were a teenager, you’d go to a horror movie, or a thriller, and you’d be really, really, scared—and you’d tell yourself “It’s only a movie”?
Well, try something like that now. These people have perfected the art of getting first-year students to panic, freak out, etc. It’s part of the sick game they play. [...]
Of course, none of these things is to be dismissed. But neither is any of them the overwhelming, imminent threat it’s made out to be. In short: get a grip. [...]
You’re the willing victim of what you KNOW is a con game, Christina.
Wow. There so much paranoia, pessimism and anxiety here. It’s hard to believe that this is merited. However, I do understand a lot of the reasoning for feeling this way. I’m looking forward to the start of my 1L year at my school that proclaims to be “different” (ie., better).
