The Bar Exam

These days, the most frequently asked question I get asked is: When is the bar exam? People just assume I am taking it in July. Most of the time I don't correct them because I don't want to spend the next ten minutes explaining why I'm not taking the exam. It's far easier to answer "July" and let them think what they like. But I will tell you: I am not taking the bar exam in July.

I am not taking it for several reasons. First, I don't have a job so there is no pressure for me to be admitted to the bar by a certain time. Second, it's summer. My kids are out of school right now and it would be impossible to study with even one of them home let alone all three. Third, I just don't want to take it right now. I need a mental break from the minutia of the law after which I can return with a refreshed and with a renewed sense of purpose.

Summer is for spending long afternoons at the pool, lounging on the patio, impromptu visits with friends, and sipping sangria while watching the sun set. Summer is not the time to be cooped up inside a classroom learning black letter law and practicing poorly worded multiple-choice questions. Last Saturday, several of my former classmates willingly sacrificed four hours of their lives to take a mock bar exam. I'm sure I can imagine worst ways to spend a Saturday, but taking a mock bar exam would rank pretty high on my list.

Because there are so many factors, the February exam just works better for me. I can dive right into bar prep when the kids go back to school in January. The weather will (most likely) be dreary, I will have fewer distractions, I can dedicate at least six solid hours per day to prepping for the exam, and I will have a better frame of mind. The break will do me good. In the meantime, I'm enjoying summer with my family and friends. I hope you are too!

The Highway

Remember that perfect, wonderful, family friendly job I had? Yes? Well, it's disappeared *poof* into thin air. I am simply another unemployed law school graduate. I've gone through the phases of grief and I accept it. I'm no longer angry, but for awhile there I was mad as hell.

See, my former employer who also happened to be a close friend, could have told me about his micromanaging tendencies. He could have told me I would be required to consult him before completing any tasks - even very minor ones. He could have warned me that my failure to do so - and to question the necessity of doing so - would have drastic consequences. If he had been completely above board with me, then I would have been honest with him: "I cannot work with you." So many problems could have been avoided. Instead, I was misled into believing I could be autonomous and own my projects - something I have always done quite well in the working world.

My friend thinks we mutually decided to end my employment. In reality, I was biding my time. I had planned to learn as much as I could from him over the summer but find a different position come fall. Ask my husband. He will tell you that I complained almost constantly about my friend's micromanagement style, about his inability to delegate, and about his general lack of emotional intelligence in the workplace. I was miserable the whole time and I did not hide it well. I felt pushed and I pushed back. Hard.

The job promised me has been rescinded. I don't care. I didn't want it anyway once I began working with him. The friendship is in shambles, though there is the hollow, farewell promise to "keep in touch." We will probably never speak again.

I replay our last conversation in my mind thinking of things I should have said, things I should have told him that would help him be a better manager but is it of no use. I didn't say them. He wouldn't have listened anyway. That is the micromanaging style. Their way is always the best way. You know the old adage, "It's my way or the highway." Well, I choose the highway.

Logistics

My mom's impending move has left us scrambling for a kid pick-up plan. For the past month or so, I would leave school and go into work for a few hours before picking up Madhubby from the light rail station and heading home. Mom would pick up the kids and take them to her house where they would eat lots of sweets and watch shows on cable TV. I would pick them up on my way home. There were a few speed bumps with our plan but, overall, things were going well. Until this week.

On Monday, mom phoned me to say she could not pick up the children as originally planned. I called Madhubby, freaking out because we had no back-up plan. My minor freak-out led to a more involved conversation about our long-term childcare plans. His response was that I have a flexible job, he does not have a flexible job, therefore kid pick-up defaults to me. It makes sense but I like going into the office because I get more assignments when I am there.  

The other problem is that my job has growth potential. His does not. So, from my perspective, it makes more sense for him to pick up the kids so I can grow my career. But it's not possible. He would have to use massive amounts of vacation time just to pick the children up from school. Add in that we share a car that I usually drive to school and there is a real problem. So am I to ignore that part of me that hungers for more work and more experience? Well...yes.

I don't like being the one to make concessions but I do not have a choice. If Madhubby were to stay home with the kids (which he has offered to do), then our health insurance costs would skyrocket because my firm does not pay as much towards our health insurance as Madhubby's company does.  No thanks.  

So I will work part-time. Or, I will work part-time hours in the office and do more work at home after the kids are in bed. I will adjust my schedule because I can. I know I said two full-time working parents was never our plan but, between you and me, I always thought the choice was mine to make. It stings to know it's not. 

Working It My Way

I always write about how family friendly my law firm is but that's a general statement that really tells you nothing about firm policy. At my firm, family friendly means:

• Minimum billing requirements are only 1500 hours per year or 30 hrs/wk

• I can work wherever and whenever I like as long as I get my work done. That means when my kids are home from school or on break (like they were last week) I can stay at home too. If I don't feel like going into the office, then I don't have to just as long as I am available via Blackberry. 

The philosophy at the firm is "work hard." It's simple and it works. In the future, I will have client meetings and court appearances so working from home will be more difficult but not impossible. The important thing is I have the option and that makes work almost ... fun. 

Office Politics

There is a woman in my office who is having issues. I will call her Susan. Basically, Susan does not like being told what to do by more senior people who also happen to be younger than she is. When Susan brought this issue up with one of the named partners, she was told "too bad," albeit in a much nicer way. I think Susan's dilemma is quite common.

I know my own mother, who is a young 53 years old, has a hard time dealing with younger people in the workplace. She often compares her work peers to me, and will say things like "I can't believe so-and-so thinks she can tell me what to do. She's the same age as you are." To which I say ... nothing. I have invited enough of my mother's ire over the past few years to know when I ought to keep my mouth shut.

I do sympathize with older workers who are not used to taking orders from Generation Xers and Yers, but I don't understand it. Demographics in the workplace have been changing for a while now. Older workers are retiring and younger, qualified people are filling the void. Older workers, who are left in the workplace, can either accept that young(er) people are more qualified than they are, or they can grouse about it in private, but complaining about it to supervisors is a bad practice.

Sadly, if Susan does not change her tune, I know she will be out on her ear. The named partners are reasonable people but constant complaining is bad for the office environment and they will not abide it too much longer.

FTW

Remember the Motion That Could Actually Change Someone's Life? Well, the motions hearing was yesterday and ... we WON! The courtroom was an emotional place. The clients were crying, their witnesses were crying, and counsel, well, we were holding it together but just barely. 

The court's ruling is huge for these clients. It has given them closure after two years of fighting a certain state agency. Finally, they can move forward with their lives and I did that for them; my motion helped them win. I don't mean to gloat but I feel pretty damn good about this outcome.  

I still have some doubts as to whether litigation is the right path for me but, I must admit, I like the competition. And winning? It rocks. 

The Party Line

I am still here but slammed with work. We have three trials coming up fast: one this week and two next week. So much for my wish to do transactional work. Maybe in a few years I can switch gears and try something else. For now, I will do the work that will pay my student loans. 

Haunting Work

The lawyers in my firm do a lot of work as Guardians Ad Litem. A Guardian Ad Litem represents dependent and neglected children in court proceedings and is focused solely on serving the best interests of the child. Sometimes, temporary custody is awarded to a family member while the child's parents work on whatever issues they need to work on to get their child back (e.g. drug dependency issues, domestic violence, etc).

Sometimes, the parents are beyond saving and in those cases we move straight for termination of parental rights and place the child in foster care. We continue to represent the child until permanency is achieved (adoption) but in the interim, we visit the child in placement and that part of my job has been really tough.

On my first day of work, I did back-to-back home visits of children in placement. Both children were with family members and, I thought, both were doing well. Other people in my office disagreed with one of my assessments and at least one child has been removed from the care of her relative and placed into a foster home. Maybe the child should have been removed and maybe she shouldn't have been - the decision to do either is not easy - but the basis on which the child was removed didn't sit well with me.

I cannot not say too much but the bottom line is lawyers, for the sake of their clients must consider cultural difference when working in certain fields like immigration, family law, and yes, child protection. Ignorance of those cultural differences can lead lawyers to misinterpret actions and facts.

I have talked about my background a lot: female minority raised in New Mexico. I feel I understand Latino culture much better than my Caucasian counterpart, who was raised in the Midwest, and who accompanied me on the home visit. So when I am in a Latino persons home, going through their closets, peeking into their bedrooms, and asking all sorts of personal questions, I am not surprised he is defensive.

I don't automatically think "Oh, this person is defensive because he or she has something to hide" I think "Latinos are private people and prefer to handle problems within their family and community therefore it is probably very difficult to have strangers in their home asking pointed questions about how they are with their own family." I get it.

But as a newbie, not even a baby attorney yet, who was tagging along with a more experienced person, my opinion was disregarded. That child was removed to foster care and it haunts me. And I wonder: can I really do this without having an emotional breakdown every single week?

Meaningful Stuff

I wrote my first Motion That Could Actually Change Someone's Life this past weekend. It was filed with the court today after my Managing Partner and I had a brief phone chat about it. She was impressed that I was able to craft a well argued motion with so little direction. She said she "loved [my] argument." I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the court loves my argument, too.

The Hidden Job Market Part II: Getting a Job

I had forgotten how draining working and going to school can be because - well - I haven't been doing much working until recently. I started working part-time at my new job, a law firm where I will save babies and break up families; I will work full-time after taking the bar exam. It sounds much more ominous than it is, but it is interesting work and a good chunk of it is really important stuff.

The good: the billing requirements are ridiculously low. Around 1500 hours per year or roughly 30 hours per week. I have my own office with a nice view, my own parking spot, and a team of assistants at my disposal. I can telecommute if I need to and the office is actually family friendly - it's not a bald-faced lie told to get associates in the door. Plus, my salary is significantly higher than what public interest work pays.

The bad: nothing

So, you're probably wondering how a slacker like me, who is in the bottom half of her class, got this cushy law firm job. Remember my post about The Hidden Job Market? Well, I tapped it. I have a friend who has a firm, I reached out to him, and the rest is networking history.

Work and Career Prospects

My job is mercifully slow. I haven't worked a substantial amount of hours since the beginning of December - and I am okay with that. I have been busy registering/prepping for the MPRE, doing bar exam practice essays, and checking for grades every few hours (2/3 of my grades have posted as of this writing). I cannot handle one more thing on my plate.

A permanent job offer is also in the works. The work is interesting, the hours are flexible, and the money is better than average. Plus, I get to work with people I like. I know ... kind of cryptic right now but I promise more details later if it all works out the way I think it will.

Tapping into the Hidden Job Market

Career Services Office (CSO) talks a lot about the "hidden job market," or networking. You probably think it's a load of crap but it's not. In a struggling economy where jobs are scarce, networking may be your only ticket to getting a job.

When I worked in Human Resources, I would typically receive as many as a hundred resumes for one opening. All things being equal with respect to education and experience, I would select the candidate referred by current employees because it created a distinguishable characteristic where none had previously existed; the current employee was a readily available personal reference.

Networking during law school is beneficial because it puts you in direct contact with lawyers in your area who may be hiring or who may know someone else who is hiring. The most difficult part of networking is getting started. Inn of Courts have been great networking opportunities for several of my friends and internships are another great way to enmesh yourself in the legal community while in law school.

My law school hosts a variety of networking events that enable students to meet practicing attorneys or judges. A friend of mine received an invitation to interview during one such event.If your school hosts these sorts of events, then you should definitely try to attend one.

I have been lucky. Early in law school, I accepted a part-time position that has put me in contact with a lot of different legal professionals, from paralegals to judges, and has been wonderful on the networking front.

For example, there is a clerk position open with a judge I have worked with on several projects. Only problem is I missed the stated clerkship deadline. So, I called her and she told me to submit my application packet anyway and she would still consider it.

I cannot say for sure that she would not give someone else a few extra days but given the competitive nature of clerkships, and the strictly imposed deadlines, I think our existing professional relationship - cultivated through networking - was a factor in her decision to extend the deadline for me.

The Perils of Vague Websites

I had a great interview at a place I thought was the perfect professional fit for me based upon what I read on their website. I realized fifteen minutes into the interview that it was not the perfect fit for me at all. It was really the type of place from which I run screaming in the opposite direction.

The work is interesting but it is completely antithetical to the type of work I want to do. But, for the next hour-and-forty-five minutes, I sold myself as the perfect candidate. I convinced them that I was the perfect person for the position and it worked.

Today, I penned a curt but courteous decline. A "thank you. It's not you, it's me" letter. I felt like adding "and update your website so unsuspecting law students who want to save the world don't apply to your organization only to have their hopes and dreams dashed" but I thought that would be a bit much.

Stuck in a Moment

I'm SUPPOSED to be enjoying my summer but I can't because stupid law school bullshit keeps infringing on my fun. Take yesterday for instance. We spent the whole day lounging around the house, working on crossword puzzles, napping, and playing in the backyard with the kidlets. Then, FOR NO REASON AT ALL, I started freaking out about school because I haven't done any internships and I was worrying about flunking out in my last semester and before I knew it, I was pouring myself a second glass of Pinot Grigio while Madhubby talked me down from the ledge. Not good. It's summer for chrissakes. A class-less summer at that.

And today, the same negative thoughts about school and the legal profession in general are on a loop inside my head and I have to work hard to push all that negativity to the back of my brain and tell myself it will all be worth it in the end even though I don't actually believe my own hype. But for awhile everything is ok and I launch into cheerleader mode Rah-Rah. GO Law! Then I read shit like this, burn my pom-poms and down a whole bottle of wine.

The Flipside of Summer

I dropped Trusts and Estates because I did not find the subject matter all that interesting plus I can still graduate within a reasonable time frame with minimal effort without T&E. I have no regrets whatsoever about shirking that giant of class. There is time for it later, if I so choose, and T&E seems like one of those courses that is easily learned during a CLE (maybe two) and not during the summer when there are other, more entertaining, options

Work is made wonderful mostly because of the flexible nature of my job. The pay could be better but it's competitive for a public servant. Plus, I've gotten two raises since starting there three-and-a-half years ago, so I can't complain too loudly. I still have the odd in-office meeting that sometimes doesn't jibe with home life, but the rest of my time is spent researching, writing position papers, and networking. For summer, I'm up to 20 hours per week instead of the usual 12-15, which is fine with me because I really don't want more hours than that because of my family responsibilities and our summer schedule.

The Natives are Restless

If you don't live along the Front Range, then you might not know about the judge and his attorney wife who stole acquired one-third of their neighbors' million dollar lot through adverse possession. A lot of people are very, very angry and think McLean and Stevens used their legal knowledge to take the Kirlins' property for no other reason than to prevent the Kirlins from building their dream home; the one-third reduction of the lot now makes it un-buildable. When asked for comment, Edie Stevens said her neighbors were just disgruntled. I think that's the understatement of the year.

In response to the outpouring of support from the virtual community, the Kirlins are hosting a Protest Picnic at their home in about ninety minutes. Lemonade, folk music, media coverage, and police in riot gear will be provided.

Unimaginative

Life continues at a feverish pace, which means I have little time for fun, extracurricular stuff - like blogging - but you guys are out there and you check in daily, so I feel the need to oblige you in some way, however pedestrian that way may be. Right now my blogging is imperfect and hampered by all the noise in my head - much like my search for the perfect costume - so bullets is the best I can do. Substantive posts to follow.

• Lizzie has A's in every class except Math (89.44%) and Orchestra (89.66%). She easily made Honor Roll. I think we've got this middle school thing covered.

• Olie's reading level is an L, which doesn't mean anything, unless you know that in order to pass 1st Grade, her reading level only needs to be a G.
  

• Work is very, very slow. I either need more work or more money. Both would be ok.

• Law school still sucks

Baby Makes Four

A law school friend is having a baby. Scratch that. She's having two babies. I know people have babies all the time - everyday, even - and lead perfectly normal lives. Well, mostly normal. But for this friend of mine, baby making (times two!) was low on her priority list. It was more like:

1. Ace Law School
2. Pass the Bar Exam
   
3. Get High Paying Job at Global Law Firm and Work Seven Days a Week (I'm not even kidding)

which she did with amazing skill. So, you think, she's an intelligent woman, right? Nope. No, she's actually pretty - how do I put this nicely? - naive. She has this insane idea that two babies will in no way affect her life. And, you know, it may not.

Her husband is quite willing to be a minivan dad but I have to agree with Madhubby (mark this date) that something unexplainable does happen when a couple moves from couplehood into parenthood - at least it did for us.

I can't really explain what occurred, but all of a sudden Madhubby sucked at doing ordinary, everyday things for which I previously thought him competent. Like boiling water or folding laundry. Honestly, I went completely insane about everything baby related and a few things not baby related, too.

But, back to my friend. She had joked she would fit pregnancy in between graduation and studying for the bar exam. But then...no baby. No trying for a baby. And now, she's at a large law firm with billable hours and a family-unfriendly reputation. A law firm that courted her, groomed her and gave her scholarship money and I wonder - can she make it all work out? I'm waiting for the answer to that question and I promise, I will let you know when I have it.

Plan B

There is a great article in today's WSJ about the waning legal job market. In a nutshell: law school graduates not near the top of their class have a slim chance of cracking six figures in their first law job.

He's [Matthew Curl, a Houston criminal defense lawyer] making less money than at his last job and has thought about moving back to his parents' house. "I didn't think three years out I'd be uninsured, thinking it's a great day when a crack-head brings me $500."

Wanna contribute to the conversation? Check out the WSJ law blog. I'm headed there now.

Three in Three

This is why law firm life is not for me. Miss my kid's birthday? No fucking way. Bubba will be three years old in a few weeks and I've already chosen invitations, ordered the bouncy truck and ice cream cake. Besides, Madhubby would have me tarred and feathered if I left him alone with six screaming three-year olds.