Job Non-Negotiables

I may not be far along in my career, but over time through short-term jobs and a few long-term jobs, I have developed a list of non-negotiables for any job that I intend to stay in for more than, say, two weeks. This list is not about nice perks, like an employer who pays for gym memberships or free meals at the office or the ability to work from home any time you want. Those are great, but they are not non-negotiables. The items on my list are so important that if a (long-term career) job doesn't have any one of these things, it's time to look for a new job (I say this as someone who has worked in jobs with some of these, none of these, and now, fortunately, all of these). 

Here's the list:

1. You actually like the people you work with. I know, I know, this is so elementary. You'd be amazed how easy it is to convince yourself that it isn't that important, and that feeling like you have nothing in common with your coworkers and quite honestly don't even want to be around them isn't that big of a deal. Well, it is a big deal. You're obviously not going to have fun every minute that you're at work, and you're not going to be interested in everything your coworkers are interested in (football, anyone?) You're not going to work with people who never get frustrated with you or snap at you because we are all human, we all get stressed out, and we all have bad days. But in general, you should like your coworkers and your boss(es). You should feel like you can carry on real conversations with them. You should feel like you can be yourself around them. You should be in a workplace where (genuine) laughing and smiling is a regular occurrence because you simply enjoy each other's company. And the idea of a 4-hour road trip with a colleague or boss for work should not make you freak out. 

2. You are being treated with respect. This encompasses more than I can write in a short paragraph, but of course, if you are being respected, you will know it, and if not, you'll know that too. Your bosses should not act like you're stupid because you don't know how to do something. You shouldn't be getting yelled at (and if someone ever does yell at you--because like I said, we're all human and make mistakes--they should apologize and work with you to fix the problem). You shouldn't be getting ignored. If there are meetings that pertain to your work or involve members in your group or team, you should be getting included in them. If you make a mistake, you should have a calm discussion with your boss about how to fix the issue, and then you should both get to move on--mistakes shouldn't be blown out of proportion and you shouldn't be treated like you are stupid when you mess up. 

3. Your managers are invested in your professional development and you are being challenged and pushed to be better. Your bosses shouldn't ignore you when you talk about your professional goals and long-term development. They should care about helping you get to the next level in your career. You shouldn't be bored--of course you'll have some boring projects or assignments here and there, but overall the kind of work you are doing and the quantity of work you have should not bore you. You should have managers who challenge you to keep improving yourself and your work and to keep growing as a professional.

4. You receive appropriate mentoring, training, directions, and feedback, and you always know where you stand. You should not be expected to know how to do things you have never done without being taught or trained. While mentoring and training is especially important for very inexperienced professionals, it's crucial for anyone. You shouldn't be thrown into the deep end of a job or a profession with no guidance. Your managers should care enough about you to show you how to do the things you need to do and to teach and train where necessary. Along those lines, you should receive regular feedback on your work and on how you are doing. You should know where you stand in terms of your performance, and your boss shouldn't save up six months' worth of feedback to be delivered all at once where it's invariably going to come as a huge shock. And this is another article entirely, but let me just say this. Feedback should not be delivered as if it's punishment. Receiving feedback should not be an event that only happens in incredibly stressful closed-door meetings with the boss. It should be delivered organically, naturally, and often, in relaxed settings as much as possible, with the intent to help rather than to make the employee feel like they are in trouble. For instance, some of the best feedback I've gotten at my current job has come on the drive back from court appearances with my boss. It starts out with, "So, how do you think you did today?" and then we talk about what went well and what I need to work on, and I walk away with a lot of helpful information without feeling stressed and anxious. This is how it should be. 

5. You are given fair opportunities to show what you are capable of. You should be receiving opportunities to try new things and new tasks. Your manager shouldn't give all the opportunities to one or two "favorite" employees. You should never be told that you are not capable of doing something that you've never been permitted to try. You should be given a fair chance to succeed. 

6. Your performance is evaluated fairly and accurately. You should know what you are going to be evaluated on before it happens. You should receive feedback on an ongoing basis so that the dreaded annual review doesn't have to be dreaded, as nothing in it should come as a surprise. It should be accurate. If you've done high-quality work and met your goals, you should receive good evaluations. You shouldn't be receiving feedback from left field that you've never heard from your boss before (or worse, feedback about you that you've never heard from anyone before). You should be given a fair summary of what you need to improve and what you do well on. You should not only hear about your mistakes and weaknesses in an evaluation, because that's totally demoralizing, especially when you've worked your butt off and generally done really solid work. If you have a boss who thinks that the purpose of a performance review is to demoralize an employee as much as possible in 45 minutes, you probably need to find another job. Likewise, just in general terms, if you have a boss that thinks the way to motivate employees is to ignore the 50 things they've done right and harp on the one thing they've done wrong, you definitely need to find another job. 

7. The job pays what you need. I don't really know what else to say about this one, because this is such a personal topic. I personally do not believe that you should leave a job you really like just because you think the pay is slightly below the market. I find too many of my peers getting themselves in really bad job situations because they're chasing salary without much consideration of anything else. Does the job pay enough to meet your needs and some of your wants? If so, it's probably not worth it to leave just for a higher salary (assuming you are not grossly underpaid). 

8. You are appreciated and valued, and your boss makes you feel good about your contributions, not bad about them. This is another one that's hard to put into words, but you will definitely know if you have it or not. Does your boss say "thank you" for your work? Is credit given where credit is due? Are your strengths emphasized? If you go above and beyond, is it rewarded? Do you hear from your managers about your successes and what you are good at, and not only about your mistakes? Do you feel supported? Generally, do you feel good about going to work? (Seriously, one of the biggest but simplest questions I've answered in my career so far was this: Do I feel good or bad the majority of the time that I'm at work? When I answered that question with "bad," that's when I knew something had to change.) You are not always going to have good days, good weeks, or good months on the job. But overall, you should feel that your hard work is appreciated and that your work--and you--are really valued. 

Happy Blog Post :)

I originally posted this last night but have decided that I need to remove a lot of the details for the sake of anonymity, but here's the gist!

I've been duly informed by my mother that my last blog post was just a little depressing and I need to write something happy . . . and I totally agree with that! I am so excited about what I get to write about tonight, readers. SO excited. I have waited for a long, long time to tell you all about this, because I had to wait until all the details were fully in place. I've made some cryptic and vague references to this situation in posts over the last few weeks, but haven't been able to share it outright.

I am praising the Lord right now because I just got my dream job!! I have waited SO long for this and worked SO hard for this (and that's exactly what that last blog post was really about). I have really struggled in law school to find good jobs in the summers, and have often struck out completely in that pursuit and been stuck in positions that either weren't related to my law degree at all or in positions with bosses who don't treat their staff with respect. And this is the first time in my life that a truly GOOD job has come through for me. Because I struggled all through college and law school to find good summer jobs and internships, and because in law school I never got the summer associate jobs at nice law firms where they take you out to lunch every day and pay you a very handsome salary. I've also experienced firsthand just how competitive the legal job market is, and all in all in my law school journey, I would guess that I've interviewed about 20 times for jobs that I didn't get. And that is a lot. And it was incredibly discouraging.

But then. Last fall, I wrote a lot in my journal about the kind of job I wanted to get. I wanted to do family law litigation in a small firm in the city I worked in last summer, I wanted to work with great people and to have at least some Christian coworkers, I wanted to be in court a lot, and perhaps most of all, I was hoping and praying that for once--for once--finding a permanent job could just fall into place and be EASY and not like pulling teeth and not full of disappointments and rejection letters. Because let me tell you, I was really tired of getting rejection letters! So anyway, I wrote and wrote on those pages of my journal about the kind of job I wanted, and I prayed and prayed about it too.

In late January, I submitted a resume to a wonderful law firm in the city with a very well-respected family law practice group. The firm has less than 20 attorneys (perfect size for me!) and their family law practice group is considered one of the best in the whole region. So I emailed them my resume and a letter of interest in joining the family law group, not really expecting to even hear anything back. But I did hear back--two hours later. They invited me to come up for an initial interview and lunch with two partners in the family law group. That night, I started researching the firm more online, and I realized that several of the firm's attorneys went to my undergrad . . . and I started realizing that probably played a big part in why they had gotten back to me so fast.

The first interview went so well, and the two partners were wonderful and friendly and put me at ease so much. I had such a good feeling about everyone and everything, and it didn't even feel like an interview because they were so nice, and we just talked and laughed for a couple hours over lunch. So they were wonderful and I had SUCH a great feeling about the firm, and I also loved everything I had learned about the practice group, the type of work, the lifestyle, the culture, and so forth. And it was the biggest breath of fresh air in the world to be in a law firm where people were kind, professional, polite, and respectful. I know this sounds so dramatic, but I think you'll know what I mean when I say my heart instantly ached to be a part of this firm. I just wanted it so badly. It was SO good for me to be around attorneys like those two partners I met with. They were so genuine, and talked to me about how they love their families and their churches and their community activities and so on. (Oh, and the church thing? I know that being highly involved in church is of course not dispositive of the issue of being Christian, but just based on that alone, my educated guess would be that at least 10 of the attorneys in this firm are Christian. Check that off the list too of things I really, really wanted in a job).

Then I went to Seattle for the Moot Court competition, and had a great time with my teammates up there but admittedly was distracted the entire time, wondering if I'd get good news back from the firm and daydreaming about how much I wanted to work there and how it was everything I wanted and would fulfill ALL the criteria I wrote down in my journal last fall--because I'd be doing family law, and in the courtroom all the time, and working with wonderful people, in the city I love. I got on the plane to fly back home on Monday morning after the trip, and I prayed about the job thing once more. I sensed very deeply that there would be a rejection letter waiting for me in my mailbox when I got home, even though I thought the interview had gone very well. I wasn't trying to be negative at all, but it was honestly very hard for me to expect anything else when that is how essentially every other interview I have had in law school, regardless of how well or poorly it's gone, has ended. I wanted to believe that this was the year that God would do a new thing, but oh, readers, it was hard to believe that. That's what I was also dealing with when I wrote that last post--it's the feeling of wanting to believe that THIS TIME it will be different and God will give you the thing that has become a very deep and heartfelt desire, but not having any basis for believing it will be different because it's always, always gone the same way before. But that morning on the plane from Seattle, I prayed about it one more time, and I instantly felt a deep, enveloping sense of peace come over me. I was truly overcome by peace, and I just knew that no matter what happened, it would be ok. I got back that night and checked my mail and there wasn't a letter. So I hadn't been rejected yet!

As it turns out, the week I got back from Seattle, I was invited for a callback interview after finding out that two people at my law school made calls to the firm on my behalf without me having to ask. So I had the callbacks this past Friday, and again, they went so well. I absolutely loved everyone I met, and they were all every bit as nice as the two attorneys I met in the first interview. At dinner, for example, we were acting like we had all known each other for years--laughing, joking around, recommending wines, and just having a good time. Normally I wouldn't let down my guard at all during an interview situation like that, but they put me so much at ease that I knew it was ok to just relax, laugh, and enjoy myself. And I fell in love with this law firm all that much more.

Then the waiting game began, and that's why this past weekend was tough. I knew that you don't get the answer right away, but I was driving myself crazy waiting for news, and it was like, "You need to call me NOW." The partner had told me they were having a shareholders' meeting on Tuesday and would probably have an answer for me after that. And sure enough, Tuesday night at about 6:30 pm, she called me and told me the firm would like to extend an offer to me! I could not be happier right now. God has had His hand in this SO much. This is what I've been waiting for. It is not an exaggeration to say that I have worked and waited for years for this opportunity, even though until about eight weeks ago, I didn't know what, exactly, I was working for, but only the type of job I wanted. But this is what I came to law school for, and it is exactly what I have wanted to do for so long.

I just can't get over how incredibly redemptive this whole thing is. This is one of those very rare moments where God gives you a bird's-eye view of your life and you can SEE why some things happened in the way that they did. If I hadn't been totally determined to go to my undergrad and nowhere else for college, I would never have had that strong alumni connection with several of the people at this firm. If I hadn't had the job I had last summer, even though it wasn't a pleasant experience, I wouldn't have acquired nearly enough practical experience in family law to get my resume noticed by this firm. If I hadn't had the job I had my 1L summer, one of those calls would never have been made on my behalf--because it was my supervisor that called for me and was able to vouch for my work ethic.

And on and on. I have seen God redeem those tough work experiences and all those rejection letters and all that waiting and turn it into something good. Something so, so good! Because like I said earlier, this is truly my dream job. God is just so good, y'all. He is so wonderfully good. He is truly able to do far more than anything we could ever ask or imagine, and like I wrote about a few weeks ago, THIS is the year of the Lord's favor and the year that God is doing a new thing in my life. A brand new thing. An offer instead of rejection, the opportunity I've worked for after a long, long wait, and the chance to do what I love in the city I love for the Lord I love. I'm pondering anew what the Almighty can do--and what He has already done. With God, all things are possible, and He is unstoppable. And it's worth the wait.

8 Things Not to Say to Someone Who's Looking for a Job

Let me put it to you this way: looking for a job is insanely stressful. I've been telling people for months now, "Oh, I don't feel stressed or worried or anxious about not having a job yet/ the possibility of being unemployed/ etc." LIES. How could I NOT feel stressed and worried and anxious about it? I essentially have 3 months to find a job (not counting the summer, because when you're studying 12 hours a day for the bar exam, you don't have time to look for a job) or face the reality of being an unemployed law grad with a fair amount of debt. I'm stressed about it all the time. And seriously, no one is hiring right now! Or at least, no one is hiring brand-new grads who have less than a year's worth of experience.

I believe that God will provide for my needs. I believe that stuff will work out. But I don't know how, or when, that will happen, or how difficult the road may be before things do fall into place, because just because I want to follow God's leading does not guarantee me employment. I know it's wrong to let anxiety get in the way of trusting the Lord, but it is truly hard to turn off all feelings of panic when you don't know what you'll be doing OR where you'll be living in just a couple months. So I've put together this handy little guide for how the families and friends of job seekers like me can help support them--specifically, those things that, in my experience, you should NOT say to someone who's looking for a job and why, and then a few things you should say instead:

1) "What do you have lined up? I'm absolutely sure you have something great." Me: "No, I don't have anything yet." "You have GOT to be kidding me!" You should avoid saying this because it's like, well, no, I'm not kidding. I realize that I have significant work experience/ have done well in school/ had this great clerkship 1L year/ whatever the case may be, but that doesn't always equate to automatically getting a job. Plus, if I had one and you are an important part of my life, I would tell you. I will volunteer updates as they happen, but the job market affects everyone regardless of credentials, and few of us just automatically have something lined up.

2) Me: "I'm thinking about applying for _____ or pursuing ______." Other person: "But you don't want to do that." Um, you don't get to tell me what I want to do with my life. You don't even get to tell me what I should/ have to do since I'm an adult, but you especially don't get to tell me what my subjective, personal desires and goals are. Other statements that fall into this category: "But you've never wanted to do that before!" or "But you've always wanted to do X, not Y." No one but you really knows everything you want and don't want--and sometimes, even you are not sure.

3) "If you do X instead of Y, your law degree will be a waste." This one's self-explanatory, even though I've had several people either say it or definitely imply it.

4) Me: "I'm legitimately fearful of being unemployed for several months after graduation, having to move back home, and not being able to pay off loans." Other person: "You're jumping to conclusions!" Well, no, not really. The legal job market has been affected tremendously by the recession, and a very significant percentage of graduates from my law school (and many other law schools) are unemployed for an average of 9 months after graduation. These are statistics and facts, not unsubstantiated conclusions. Plus, I'll just be honest--when a job seeker tells you what they're afraid of or how they honestly feel, acknowledge their fear; don't discredit it. Tell them that you understand why they are afraid and will do what you can to help.

5) "I'm 100% sure you'll find something." I know people who say this mean well. But when you say this, all the job seeker can think about is that they haven't found something yet and that no one has offered to help them and that career services isn't as good of a resource as it should be and that they're worried about having to live on tuna fish and Ramen.

6) "You're not working hard enough to find a job." No. Just no. You don't know all the things a job seeker does to find a job. Most of us are searching online every single day, submitting applications several times a week, and going to networking events as often as possible. We can't work on it 24 hours a day, but we are doing the best we can.

7) "I just got a great job and they're going to pay me $140,000 a year!! But ugh, think of all the money that's going to come out in taxes. And they want me to do some work in the business litigation group, and I HATE business litigation. And I already have a place to live but my commute's going to be crazy." If you have a job, it's fine to tell your friends about it, but be very sensitive about how and what you tell your friends who are still looking. Bottom line? Even if it's not your dream job, you are incredibly lucky to have a job at all, and none of your unemployed friends want to hear you complain about any aspect of your job.

8) "I'll help you find something! I have all these great connections!" . . . but then they do nothing and don't follow up and don't do what they said they would do. I'm not talking about busy people who wait a week or two to respond to emails, because that's to be expected. I'm talking about the person who, for example, tells you that they have some great contact and you ask them about it several times and months pass and they never get it to you. If you can't help me, that's totally fine, but just don't SAY you will if you won't.

Things you should say instead:

• "I'll help you." And then do it. 
• "I'm praying for you."
• "God has a plan for your life." This may seem cliched, but it's truly calming to hear this reminder.
• "I will support you in whatever you choose to do." THIS. There is nothing you can say that's better than this. Because no job-seeker wants to handle the stress of worrying that whatever they choose, they'll be disappointing people they love. 
• "Here's somewhere else to look. Have you tried _____? Have you contacted ______?" This may seem like an annoying thing you shouldn't say, because chances are good the job seeker has done so. But maybe they haven't, and even if they have, it shows you're trying to help and that you care. One caveat: keep your suggestions at least generally in the realm of what you know they're looking for. If you know the job seeker wants to work in a certain city and you're constantly recommending others, it feels like you're not listening.

I hope these suggestions help!

Back in the Swing of Things

And suddenly, the semester is back in full swing and I'm every bit as busy as I was last semester. This week's to-do list includes things like:

• do laundry ASAP (actually, this has reached the level of an emergency situation. I needed to do it 5 days ago. Now I really, really need to do it.)
• work on my divorce mediation notebook
• start the crash course in First Amendment law before the client counseling competition and start helping to coach the 2Ls in how to conduct the client counseling session
• finish editing globalization and trade manuscript
• email multiple people to set up informational interviews
• prepare direct examinations for trial practice
• prepare petitioner's argument for Friday's moot court practice
• speed-read the Fair Labor Standards Act section of as many of the 200 team briefs as I possibly can before competition in one month
• join a small group at church
• do a few final runs to prepare for Saturday's 5K 

And I could go on, but you get the idea. But even though I sometimes wish I had more time to sleep and/ or watch TV, I 100% prefer running around to meetings and classes and the gym and working on projects all day to sitting around bored (as was the case over Christmas break). Right now, I'm also on a mission for the next few days. There's an attorney who works about an hour and a half away from here that I'm dying to meet because we have both my undergrad and my law school in common, and I feel strongly that he will be a great resource for me in getting a job, so I emailed him last night to ask if we could meet. I then found out in a semi-stalkerish fashion that he's running the same 5K as me on Saturday, so now I'm determined to meet him on Saturday. I just sense that he is a resource I don't want to miss out on in my job search, and that he could, and will, help me a lot. I know that meeting important people for coffee to discuss careers after you've both run a 5K and could use a shower is not really how you're supposed to network, but I feel like it's how I'm going to do it anyway! Updates to come soon. 

Job Search Musing

I made myself a little "Job Search/ Career To-Do List" this weekend and therefore have "started" my post-grad job search . . . right? I also added about 75 people on LinkedIn, updated my resume, uploaded it to the "resume books" on the career services website, and made plans to join the local bar association and to renew my membership with the American Bar Association. I was talking to a friend lately about how important it is to get our networks to work for us . . . I can't devote as much time and energy to job searching as I want to and probably need to, but I want to milk my connections for all they're worth and put myself in a position where people readily think of me when they hear of particular job opportunities, and are willing to pass those opportunities my way. I'd like to get 250 connections on LinkedIn by October 15th, and I'd like to send my resume and a note of interest to at least 5 potential employers within the next week or so. Full disclosure, I think that LinkedIn has very little, if any, value for actually getting a job and is more a way to seem connected than to actually be so. But I also think that employers may assess how active and connected you are on LinkedIn to determine if you are the type of person who is active in your networks and has the ability to generate business connections for their company.

Several friends and I have talked about how we're ready to start work right now. I am just ready to go with this and ready to be where I've worked to get for years. Not that I'm not still enjoying school, because I definitely am, but I'm ready to be in the work world helping people and making a difference and putting my education to work.

I am planning to network like crazy at this Moot Court competition coming up in November, the one I'm planning with a student committee and the one I wrote the competition problem for (which, by the way, is DONE and posted on the website and it is such a huge relief to be finished!) We have to invite attorneys and judges from all over the city and different parts of the state to come judge competition rounds, and we will probably have 150 attorneys in all participating, and I plan to give out my business card and speak with every single one over the competition weekend. I am pretty determined to make some solid job contacts from that event, because I feel like it's definitely possible. In the meantime, one of my friends is my "job search accountability partner" and she's supposed to keep me on track to make sure I'm sending my resume to enough law firms, and going to job fairs, and things like that. So we'll see what happens. But I know I have to stay on track with this, because in this job market, if I don't make things happen, they're definitely not going to happen. I have got to put in the work and effort if I want to have any chance of seeing results. I'll keep you all posted!

Lessons Learned on the Job

A random sampling of some things I've learned from work this summer . . .

1) About 80% of being a good attorney is learning how to ask the right questions, in the right way, to the right people, at the right time.

2) Even though it seems like there is, in law practice there's basically no mistake that's irreversible. Your client isn't going to just lose the case because you captioned their discovery responses incorrectly, like I did. Your office is not going to have bar complaints for breach of attorney-client privilege brought against it because you accidentally email one client private information intended for another client (also like I did). Just call the client, explain what happened, apologize, and ask them to please PLEASE delete the information. Mistakes are allowed. As long as you fix them.

3) That said, the details matter, and they need to be RIGHT. Everything needs to be cited correctly. Grammar and spelling need to be accurate. Complaints need to be filed in the right court in the right county. Use of legal authority must be appropriate and not misleading. All of these things are more of a credibility issue than anything else . . . do the little things right and you gain credibility, with the courts, with judges, with clients, and with other attorneys; overlook them and you lose it.

4) The scariest email you can ever get is an email from your boss that just says "come see me" with NO further explanation. This is more or less the adult version of getting sent to the principal's office.

5) Not everything you learn in law school is useful or necessarily even familiar to a practicing attorney. Case in point: if you ask one of the attorneys if the court rules for a particular county require briefs to contain parallel citations, they'll say, "What are you even talking about?!"

6) You can only help your client to the extent that they want to help themselves.

7) Clients will ask you out on dates, and try to write their own demand letters because they think yours wasn't good enough, and try to bring champagne to their depositions, and just in general make your life a WHOLE lot more interesting.

8) Make enough phone calls to random people who may or may not want to hear from you, and have enough awkward meetings, and you'll realize that you no longer even have a comfort zone because your tolerance for extreme awkwardness is through the roof. I could call or speak in person with pretty much anyone after this summer, and I wouldn't feel awkward about it anymore because chances are good I did something even more awkward at some point this summer!

9) Law school doesn't teach you how to practice law. Practicing law teaches you how to practice law. That said, my classes have been indispensable this summer. I would have crashed and burned without what I've learned these past two years. You have to have that foundation of basic knowledge before you can learn how it all fits together in practice.

10) Work ethic and character are more important than doing your actual job perfectly. I may not be able to do my job tasks perfectly (well, I know that I can't!), but I want my character and reputation to be impeccable. Anyone can achieve this. Be on time. Respect people. Do what you say you're going to do. Do the tasks nobody else wants to do. Go above and beyond. Be honest. Take the time to get the details right, and refuse to cut corners. When you make a mistake, admit it and make it right. Thank people for what they do for you. Don't complain. And a liberal use of "sir" and "ma'am," at least here in the South, goes a LONG way. Listen to people. Take responsibility for your own attitude and actions. These simple things that anyone can do in the workplace will get you a lot further than futile efforts to do your job 100% perfectly.

Possibility

You know, try as we might to predict and plan for the future, we never know what our lives are going to look like. And sometimes just thinking about all the possible permutations my life could take makes me feel almost breathless with the heady sense of possibility. Sometimes, something you never even thought about could end up being the path your life is going to take.

I've never really thought about starting my own law firm before. I always figured I'd probably do what everybody else does--interview, interview, and interview some more during my 3L year, and become an associate at a  firm, and eventually work my way up the ranks to maybe become a partner after several years. I'd work under other people and on their schedule and their terms.

But I don't have to do that. Two of my young, fresh-out-of-law-school attorney friends have begun thinking and talking, at first casually and now more seriously, about starting their own law firm and going into business for themselves, and one of them asked me if I would be interested in working with them if they were to go through with it. I would most definitely be interested! Of course there's a ton of things I would have to think about. They're not even at all sure if they want to move forward with the idea or not . . . the two of them are still determining how well they'd be able to work together long-term, and there would be hefty start-up costs and a lot of other issues to take care of first. I feel like a plan like that would probably be in the works for approximately a year, or more, before it really came to fruition. And I'd have to pass the bar exam before I could actually officially join them as a licensed attorney, even though I'm pretty sure I could work under them, with their supervision, in the months between graduation and getting bar results back in October 2014. But if we did this, it would be so great to practice law on our terms and according to our values. I wouldn't have a boss. I could work as much as I needed to work to get the job done, but I wouldn't have to bill a set number of hours or go on boring corporate retreats or anything like that. And pretty much the coolest part is that we'd all be partners of equal status in the firm--and so I'd be a 25-year-old partner at a law firm, which doesn't sound bad at all!

This might not happen at all, or I could of course decide that it's not right for me or that another job is a better fit for me. I haven't known these people for a very long time, either, so I'm obviously nowhere near ready to make any sort of decision, but fortunately we're not anywhere close to me actually needing to make a decision about it. It's still in the very early stages of discussion. It's out there on the horizon as a possibility, but sometimes possibility is the most exciting thing in the world. And you know, if I don't start my own business with these two people, I could totally do it with somebody else. That is a real opportunity that I could choose to take, even if I've never considered it before.

And then there are other thoughts I've been having in the past couple weeks too, about life after law school and everything I could do with it. There are some really beautiful neighborhoods up here, and I already can name three or four that I can easily see myself buying a house in if I decide to live here after graduation (and the house-buying thing is something I've wanted to do for YEARS. I really think I'm going to try to do that within the next 2 years or so). And I picture myself buying and decorating my own home in one of those pretty neighborhoods, and doing some landscaping. I picture myself carving out a niche in this exciting city I've already come to love, and maybe in a few years finding someone to share it with when I'm ready for that.

I think I let the future freak me out too much when I really need to take a step back and just be excited about the twists and turns my life can take. I don't have to plan it all right this minute. It's not like our lives typically go exactly according to our plans anyway, and that's totally ok. I need to learn to sit back and enjoy the ride more, without always trying to see what's around the bend.

I Have No Idea What I'm Doing.

Yeah, that's the way I feel every day at the firm! And honestly, I want to just shoot straight with our clients and tell them exactly that instead of beating around the bush and faking like I know what I'm talking about. Because I don't. I never know what I'm doing, but slowly but surely, I'm starting to learn. Thankfully, I not only can preface any statement to clients with this disclaimer, but am also technically obligated to tell them: "I am not your attorney. I am not AN attorney. I cannot offer you formal legal advice. Here's what I can tell you: _____. Oh, and by the way, you still need to talk to one of the four [real, licensed, official] attorneys." But yesterday in court and at the mediation I went to, I got mistaken, not once but twice, for being an official attorney. That's one mistake I don't mind, and besides, give it a year and it won't be. (I'm so excited!)

But I'm telling you, there's never a dull moment. Today I got yelled at by a client about how I and my coworkers need to "have integrity," etc., etc. (comes with the territory in the legal field, but girlfriend, please!), worked on a custody case, and got assigned to prep for a trial for a huge--and I do mean huge--medical malpractice case. Obviously I can't talk about what the case is actually about, but I've been assigned to research all the medical issues to determine what the actual standard of care was in the given situation, and how the doctors deviated from the standard of care, and to basically become a go-to expert in the firm on all the medical and scientific issues in the case. Working on all these personal injury cases has made me really appreciate all those biology and anatomy classes from high school, because believe me, they're coming in handy, especially when I'm given an assignment like the one I got last week: go through all the client's medical bills, and make your best determination as to what bills actually resulted from the injury/ accident, and what bills were entirely unrelated. Sounds pretty simple, but I was doing a lot of Googling to figure out what resulting medical conditions relate to what kinds of physical trauma and injury.

Law school is great and all, and I am not one of those people who supports ditching the whole institution in favor of just passing the bar exam, but I have to say that I have learned more in the past two weeks than I probably have in the past 2 years of school--BUT, that said, I couldn't be doing what I'm doing now without what I've learned from my classes. But there is no better way to really learn jurisdiction than to have to sit down and figure out what court, in what county, you can actually file an action in (and trust me, it is not that easy to know). There's no better way for me to reinforce what I learned in civil lawsuits than to actually have to figure out how to write a pleading in such a way that it would survive a 12(b)(6) motion, or to learn the rules of evidence than to have to determine if a certain expert witness would pass the Daubert standard. And I use my domestic relations class constantly, mostly with working on child support and custody issues.

So, I never really know exactly what I'm doing and I've had to get used to feeling stupid about 47 times a day, but hopefully eventually it will become like second nature. And this week I got such a great compliment from someone in the office: She said, "Your clients are going to absolutely love you, because you just make people feel so at ease and they just light up when they talk to you." I sure hope that's true!

It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect.

It really doesn't. Life doesn't have to be perfect. You and I don't have to be perfect. Our goals and dreams don't have to be perfect. Our days don't have to be perfect. Our friends don't have to be perfect.

I was really reminded of this this week when I was reading one of the alumni blogs from my college. One writer, a 2009 grad, was talking about how you can't be afraid to have your career path meander a little--or a lot. You can't be afraid to try new things, and ultimately, you can't be afraid to fail. And you can't be so focused on finding the "perfect" job or "perfect" life that anything less than that ephemeral and elusive ideal feels like settling. And she reminded readers of this classic quote:

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Just don't. Don't pursue an ideal that you know can never really happen when if you opened your eyes, you just might see a satisfying possibility right in front of you. I'm all for not settling, and holding out for the best, but sometimes by doing that, I've ignored something great. Don't let "not settling" turn into a paralyzing inaction while you wait around for perfection, because it won't happen. Perfect shouldn't be the goal--"good" or "excellent" or "satisfying and fulfilling" should be.

Decisions, Decisions

It has been such an eventful week--for me, for my family, and also for some of my friends.

On my end, yesterday I received a job offer for next summer to work with a family law trial lawyers' group. I'm really excited and grateful for the opportunity. At the same time, I have a big decision to make, because I have been given only a very short time to accept or reject the offer, and it happens to be in a city that has always been on my list of "top 10 places I will never live in." Mostly because I'm not a big-city person, and this is in a huge city. But I'm reminding myself to never say never, because this does sound like a great job, and it's in the practice area I am most interested in. For a lot of other job interviews I've had, I've had to conjure up, or even come close to faking, interest in their practice areas. No law student can be genuinely interested in every area of law, so a lot of times I've had to draw some really tenuous connections to my current interests to try to convince employers that I would just love their practice areas--even though for some of them, the truth is that they just don't excite me or interest me very much at all. But not so for this place--I've loved family law since I interned in that area in summer 2011. So I will probably give it a shot, but I need to do a lot of thinking/ praying/ talking to people and getting advice first.

And as for my tasks for this beautiful fall Saturday? Mailing my absentee ballot back so I can be a good citizen and do my voting duties, going to the gym, and hitting up Starbucks for a really long case note-writing and editing session before my deadline on Monday. Although that session might end up more like this:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/16-ways-to-appear-more-productive-at-a-coffee-shop/

Thanks for reading!

My New Career Goal

OK, this one is really simple and for once doesn't involve anything like getting a Ph.D. or breaking into a highly competitive field or finding a position that lets me pay off all my loans in a year. It isn't even really geared towards "getting a job," but more towards building a network so that I can eventually, well, get a job. My new goal is to do something--anything--to enhance my professional development and build my network every single day. I left it purposely open-ended, but the idea is to keep me from getting the "tunnel vision" that so often plagues law students, where they either are not focused on the future at all, or where they only have one career-related goal and think that it's the end of the world if they don't achieve it.

So, what does that mean for me? It could include:

• handing out a business card
• going to a career lecture or attorney panel (checked this one off for today--went to a great public interest career panel discussion)
• sending emails to speakers at said panels to thank them for the advice they gave
• polishing my resume
• polishing some writing samples
• doing some small things to enhance my resume, like getting research-certified in legal databases and joining the American Bar Association
• doing a mock interview
• applying for a position
• maintaining strong relationships with people who know me and my work product and could recommend me to employers

Do any of you have lists like this? If so, what's on your list?

I've noticed that a lot of my fellow students don't seem to recognize that the "rules of engagement" for finding jobs has completely changed from what it was even 10 years ago. Or they seem to be aware of it, but to not know how it should affect their job search. Here are two things I've learned about it:

Here is what I think is by far the most important one: In this economy, you don't "choose" your job or career path; it, in many ways, chooses you. Some students "choose" to work in, for a random example, labor and employment law. But let's say those students graduate and there are no jobs to be found in labor and employment law. Are they going to do nothing for 5 years while they wait for positions in their "chosen" field to open up? Of course not. They will take whatever jobs are offered to them. Maybe a position in a D.A.'s office. Or in a small personal injury firm. Or doing legal consulting for a business. And those first opportunities may eventually lead them into their "choice" of labor and employment law, but more likely than not, a whole new career path they could never have envisioned on their own, but that is deeply satisfying, opens up. I am not "choosing" what I'm going to do next summer or after I graduate law school--not in terms of what it is or where it is. I don't say this to be negative, but the economy is too bad to be doing that and it's a set-up for disappointment. Of course I am going to more strongly pursue opportunities in fields I think I would really enjoy, like family law and public interest work. And I'm also not saying we have no autonomy in the job search or that we're all going to have to just take jobs we hate--not at all. But in a generation that's grown up with choices that even our parents never could have imagined when they were young, we need to learn to relinquish some of our ability to choose, accepting that holding on to our "choice" with clenched fists is a hindrance and not a help. This job market is not about choices; it's about making the most of whatever opportunities are offered to us.

And finally, I've learned that the first few years of work after law school (or after college or any grad school) are about being willing to do the dirty work and "pay your dues." My friend aptly compared it to doing a residency after medical school. It means you need to be ok with not working in your dream job, in your dream city, right away. It means you're willing to work the crazy-long hours, knowing that it won't last forever and is a way to get established and get valuable experience. It means you might take the clients or cases or even the office cubicle that nobody else wants. It means that the words "work-life balance" probably shouldn't come out of your mouth for the first year or so. It means you realize that your first job doesn't have to be your last, and while it may be hard at first, it gets better.

And I'll be perfectly honest--these career lessons can be tough pills to swallow, but I think being aware of them will help me in the long run. And I also know that whatever job I end up in has every bit as much potential as any other job to be part of a career I really love.

Planning the Next Steps

I'm just so excited about the doors that seem to be opening up through the work I've had this summer in admissions. Working with law student recruiting is something that I love doing and that I can easily see myself doing either short term, for a couple years after I graduate while I determine my next steps (like possibly going into forensic psychology), or even on a more long-term basis.

I was talking to the director of admissions today, and she was telling me how she knew that working in traditional law practice was not for her (and I feel exactly the same way). But she told me how much she absolutely loves her job, and how it's been the perfect fit for her. I've felt the exact same way about the work I've been doing this summer with students and their families, and I'm pretty sure I would be very happy pursuing this type of work as a more permanent career. Along those lines, she was telling me that admissions and recruiting positions at law schools around the Southeast are constantly being posted on job boards, and she sent me one of the postings. She told me she wished I was graduating now because we actually have an open position like that at my school now. But she said that she will help me figure out how to look for those types of jobs when I'm in my last year of law school, and how to navigate that process. I'm so excited that I really could become a director of law school admissions and financial aid, or something very similar, in just two short years (our director is a relatively recent grad herself, so it's definitely possible). I just felt like my next steps were really coming together, in the sense that I have a very clear idea of where I want to go next, and how to get there (not to mention a fantastic mentor to help me out).

A couple weeks ago, I had a very awkward conversation with a guy that I don't know very well. He asked me what I'm doing this summer. I told him about my job, and how I'd really like to work in law admissions at least for a while when I finish school. "Why?" he asked. "So you can catch up on sleep after law school?" Um . . . seriously? I thought about daring him to call up the dean of admissions at my school and tell her that that's what he apparently thought of her career, but I resisted the urge! I also resisted the urge to tell him that he shouldn't assume I'm lazy/ not smart when he doesn't even know me. (I might add that I found this guy incredibly attractive and intriguing before this, but after that conversation? Not so much!) This was also the same day I had another very awkward conversation with another guy who was asking me about my career plans, and I was telling him, and he said, "It sounds like you don't have it figured out AT ALL." So awkward! I never know what to say in situations like that . . . thanks for the vote of confidence?

But I've got to keep reminding myself that I'm not choosing a career for other people . . . it's for me and I need to do what I think is right for me. While I hope people won't judge me and my choices if they find out I have a law degree that I'm using in a non-traditional way, they can if they want to, and I'll just have to prove them wrong by working harder.

Career Aspirations

I mentioned that I had exciting news, so here goes: Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to really solidify in my mind--and then verbalize--what I really want to do with my life, career-wise. I've known for a long time what I've wanted to do, but I've beaten around the bush when asked about future plans because getting to this career seems almost insurmountable. In a lot of ways, it seems more like a dream job than a real career path.

I want to work in the intersection of forensic psychology and law. These are the people who evaluate clients for their mental competency to stand trial and assist in all sorts of psychological consultations to determine how mental health and behavioral issues play a role in the courtroom, especially in criminal, family law, and personal injury cases. Forensic psychologists are experts in how psychological issues and neuroscience affect our understanding of criminal responsibility, sentencing, and the potential for recidivism. They do not always have law degrees, but many of them do because they have to be able to communicate effectively with attorneys, judges, and juries about how psychological issues might affect the outcome of a case. And that is exactly what I want to do. I've been absolutely fascinated by the brain and behavioral sciences since I took my first psychology class as a freshman in college. This is my passion, and I want to be able to pursue it.

Along with those decisions, I also really think that I want to eventually move back to Virginia (of course, provided that there's work available there in the areas I'm interested in). I love Georgia. I really do. And I have such wonderful friends here, who I wouldn't want to leave, and I think I could definitely be happy staying here. But I also miss living in VA a lot, and I feel like I left part of my heart in the Shenandoah Valley! It was so amazing to go back a few weeks ago, and I felt like I was coming home. After I came back here again, I realized that I really, really missed it, even though I've tried to convince myself that I don't. That would mean taking the bar exam in Virginia and pursuing moving up there, either right after law school or eventually.

There are so many obstacles that stand in the way of me reaching these career goals, but I'm going to see them as challenges to deal with as they come up. For one, I would have to get a master's, if not a doctorate, in psychology--in addition to finishing my J.D. My bachelor's degree is not in psychology, which is not really a problem, except that I may need to take a couple prerequisite courses before I could enroll in a master's program. And I would probably want to work for a couple years after I finish law school just to gain experience, be sure of my career aspirations, and pay down student loans before I started working on the psychology degree.

I can't say for sure that this is the direction I'm going to go in, and I want to be open to whatever I'm supposed to be doing. But this is what I am passionate about now and have been passionate about for a long time. Today when I was at work, the director of career services stopped by and we chatted for awhile, and I told her that this is what I want to do. It made it seem more official just to really talk to someone about it--and who better to tell than the director of career services? It's hard to know exactly where I will end up, but as long as I know this is a passion I have, I think I owe it to myself to see if it's possible to turn it into a career.

Identity Crisis: Prestige vs. Happiness

I think that one of the most significant "identity crises" for people in their twenties, just beginning careers, is choosing between prestige and happiness. Because let's face it: it's kind of hard to have both, or at least very hard to have both on a consistent, long-term basis. Usually, what's prestigious isn't necessarily what will make you happy . . . and what makes you happiest may not be prestigious at all.

This topic is on my mind a lot because I see this issue 24/7 in the law school environment. Most people who end up in law school (yes, including me) are by nature incredibly competitive, driven, and goal-oriented. And most of us law students each want to be that person who "does it all": who is the managing editor of law review, captain of a Moot Court team, president of multiple student organizations, a clerk for a judge, etc.--all while getting straight A's, maintaining an active social life, and being ready to pass the bar exam with flying colors and then go make a great salary working for a prestigious law firm. It's probably true that no matter what field you end up in, there will be people who seem to be able to do it all and still have time to breathe and have a life--and who are genuinely happy in the activities and goals they're pursuing.

But for most of the others, it is all too easy to get caught up in a rat race where you are constantly pursuing the next prestigious, attractive option to beef up your resume or to impress people, without even realizing that what you're striving for isn't making you happy. Yes, some people are truly happy pursuing all of the prestigious goals I described above--but for a lot of people, the things they really want to pursue in life or in their careers aren't going to elicit responses of "Oh, that's so impressive!" from others. I've begun to realize since starting law school that a lot of the things that I and my peers want to do aren't what you might call "prestigious," whether it be traveling to Third World countries to tackle legal issues in poverty-stricken areas or pouring our time and energy into clinics that provide pro bono legal services to people who really need them. I'm beginning to realize more than I ever have before that some of the most prestigious options available to me are not necessarily going to make me happy, while some of my deepest passions probably wouldn't be considered impressive at all. In the typical situation where you really can't have both, it is very hard to choose between the most prestigious option and the one you think will actually make you happy.

I'm trying to learn how to choose happiness over impressiveness, because I'm pretty sure that will help me lead a more satisfying, regret-free life in the long run. I can't say it's not an incredibly difficult choice or one that doesn't make me second-guess myself a lot--but I would rather fulfill my own passions than simply someone else's expectations.

Quarter-life Crisis

Stephen Marche first wrote an article called "The War Against Youth" in Esquire magazine about a month and a half ago, and it has ignited a tremendous amount of discussion since then. The basic premise of the article is that present-day America is now characterized by a "gerontocracy" of the older generation in power, who is crafting social policies that harm the young, especially people of my own generation. Marche cites a lot of different statistics, but he especially talks about how the gap in the wealth and net worth of younger and older Americans has skyrocketed in recent years. He also mentions that, while higher education is more necessary than ever, its ever-increasing cost has made it more out of reach than ever. This has resulted in more and more people around my age (I feel like the article addresses anyone between the ages of about 18 and 30) being unable to support themselves financially and unable to find work, all while "many claim that the young deserve their fate," according to Marche.

One of the statistics I found most interesting in this piece is about the exponential rise in the trend of expecting young people to render free labor through the ubiquitious unpaid "internship." Marche talks about how doing unpaid internships, which was virtually unheard of in the 1980s, has now become so common that young people often have no choice but to participate in them if they want to acquire any experience at all. Perhaps the most shocking information about this? Companies save about $2 billion dollars a year on this form of unpaid employment. This weighs in to part of the article's argument that our culture has become accustomed to expecting young people to work without pay--something which would never be expected of the older generations.

Marche's article doesn't mention the term, but what he is really talking about is what has been dubbed the "quarter-life crisis"--that period in the twenties to early thirties when young people are trying to become financially independent, gain the education they need, and establish their career prospects in a severely faltering economy. As a result, they are often unable to find work, forced to move home with their families, and compelled to put their adult lives on hold while they try to find their footing in a world that has become increasingly hostile to their interests. These struggles can, in turn, lead to depression, confusion, and indecisiveness in young people.

Marche's theory is that the "war on youth" is very systematic and methodological, and that older generations are actively seeking to disenfranchise the young and strip them of their power. This is where I disagree--I think that the issues confronting my generation are not intended by any one group, but are instead the results of economic policies that simply can't be sustained, along with a world that's changing so fast that education hasn't been able to keep up with it. For example, as he discusses, higher education has never been more important to stable employment than it is now, but it's also never been more expensive. Yes, some people can do very well without college degrees and beyond, especially if they are entrepreneurs, but this has become the exception, not the rule. College has now become almost as necessary as high school used to be in past generations--it's basically just an expected next step, and for most people, it's crucial. But yet the cost of education has spiked more than ever in recent years, even more than the rate of inflation. I don't think this is the result of policies of a "gerontocracy" aimed to harm my generation though--I think it's the inevitable result of a lagging economy.

We also live in a society where, in 10 years, there will be so many different kinds of jobs that don't even exist now. But I think that our system of education and employment hasn't yet caught up with all the structural changes taking place as technology revolutionizes the world we live in. For one thing, the sheer amount of job choices that exist nowadays can be so overwhelming that people have no idea of what to do. For example, research suggests that people are more likely to actually make a choice when they have 6 options versus 30 options--this is small-scale version of the indecision that can plague a generation faced with a staggering number of career choices. Also, 50 years ago, higher education was geared very specifically toward specific careers--law, medicine, etc. When people graduated, they knew exactly how to use their degrees to match a career. Now, colleges across the country offer more and more programs that are meant to be applied to any number of careers. Not that they aren't valuable; I studied liberal arts myself and think these educational paths are legitimate and important. However, the lack of specificity leaves a lot of graduates floundering and wondering, "Just what, exactly, are my marketable skills?" As education has tried to broaden its reach, young people have become more easily overwhelmed by choices and unsure of where to turn, especially in a crippled economy. Is this the fault of the older generations? Probably not. And, more importantly, it will take the various generations working together to solve some of these societal issues.

Career Advice: Write a Fake Resume

Yes, that title was meant to get your attention, and no, I'm not talking about embellishing your resume or making up skills you don't have so that you can get jobs you would otherwise be unqualified for. (Besides being unethical and deceptive, I think that job-hunting technique will always come back to haunt you one way or another!) This is actually about a non-traditional goal-setting method I've used that has helped me significantly.

What I mean by a "fake resume" is the resume you WISH you had and know you are capable of having someday, if you meet certain goals and develop certain skills. I think it's important to create this resume, not to give to potential employers, but simply for yourself. It's a tactic that has helped me get inspired and start thinking outside the box for creative ways to turn the items on my fake, idealistic resume into real accomplishments I can really tell employers about.

I have used this technique when I hit some roadblocks in my own job search, and it has helped me a lot to refocus and redefine what I want to be unique and attractive about me as a professional. I started with my real, unembellished resume and things I've actually done. Then I jotted down some of the goals I have related to my career: jobs I might want to have, languages I want to learn, computer skills I want to develop, articles I want to write, extracurricular opportunities I want to be involved in during law school. Then I started adding some of those "goal" items to the resume as if I have already accomplished them, or simply expanding upon things I've already done to make them more impressive. This document is just for me--and when I have those additional accomplishments on paper and want to be able to legitimately give it to an employer, I feel really inspired to go to work to tackle those goals so that I can!

For example, on my fake resume, I didn't just write an honors thesis (an item on my real resume). No, I published my thesis in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. In this resume, I'm not only fluent in Spanish, but also in Korean. I write for my school's law review journal and have published a few articles on research topics I'm interested in (the articles have titles and everything). I have already earned the advanced certification in legal research and writing that my school offers. I am a member of a moot court team and have won an award for oral arguments. Have I actually done any of these things yet? No. But these are all based on specific goals that I have for accomplishing these items within the next couple of years, and writing them down in resume form, as if I've already completed them, has a pretty powerful psychological effect on my motivation. The trick is to be as specific as possible about putting your goals into written form--the way you would if you had already met your goal and were able to chat about your accomplishment with an interviewer. It makes me see these goals as being doable and also really desirable, because once I have them on paper, I want to be able to keep them there--which means I have to DO them.

If anyone else has hit a plateau in career planning/ job searching, I hope this method will prove helpful for you.

Being a Professional . . .

It's that time of year again . . . interview season is upon us at the law school. Every day my classmates are showing up in suits, skirts, and heels because they have on-campus interviews (which are called "OCIs") with various employers for summer associate positions. I am just now in the process of applying to some jobs, so I haven't had any OCIs yet, but I hope that I will have some in the next few weeks. I and my classmates have also been working to get our resumes absolutely perfect so we can apply for all these jobs.

Tomorrow night there is a networking/ social event with some local attorneys and members of the Georgia bar. So tonight, I pulled all the clothes out of my closet that look even remotely "professional" and tried to plan some outfits for all the networking and interviews coming up. (In times like these, I feel a little jealous of the way guys just have to put on a suit and tie and they KNOW it's professional...for women, the rules are not quite so clear-cut). I decided my bright turquoise nail polish had to go in favor of a more conservative shade (read: a more boring color). Being in law school has made me continually be thinking about what is or is not considered professional, especially when I buy new clothes or accessories. For example, the other day I was at Target, planning to buy, of all things, a new umbrella. I'm a fan of bright colors, and there was this great umbrella with turquoise and lime polka dots all over it, and I really wanted it. Then I had this thought: would I be embarrassed to be carrying THAT umbrella in the rain with my colleagues as we walked to a business luncheon, or a courthouse, or some other work event? With that thought, I really considered just buying the basic black umbrella and being done with it. But I just couldn't leave that beautiful umbrella on the shelf and get a plain one, so I decided that either a) I can get another one for work-related events, or b) my colleagues and potential employers will just have to be impressed with my professionalism in other ways! So, I got the bright polka-dotted umbrella, and I don't regret it.

One of my concerns with entering a very conservative, professional, and ambitious career path is that I will feel the need to squelch aspects of my personality just to succeed . . . I know that others have felt this way too about going into law, or medicine, or other similarly driven careers that are full of unwritten expectations. But for now, as I go into various interviews, I am going to do my best to show off MY personality and my skills, and not just to tell people what I think they want to hear. So I'm just going to polish my resume, find some good interview clothes, practice selling my skills . . . and remember to bring my polka-dotted umbrella in case it rains.

Today's Inspiration

This was just one of those all-around great days. Today I had the privilege of listening to two fantastic speakers at my law school, and they got me really motivated and excited. I had to go listen to the first speaker for part of my legal profession class. She works in the public sector at Georgia Legal Services, and everything she was saying about what she does--and about really, truly loving her job--really struck a chord with me. She talked about some of the stresses of the work, like when she gets a call at 2 in the afternoon from someone who says, "I have court at 9 tomorrow morning. How can you help me?" She explained that in this particular office, they have 5 attorneys covering 23 Georgia counties. That means that they often get calls from clients who need legal help, but they simply are too understaffed to be able to help everyone. The speaker talked about how most of her cases have to do with family law issues, like helping women get custody of their children or restraining orders against abusive husbands. She said she has also done a lot of cases to help low-income families be able to stay in public housing when facing eviction, often for the pettiest of reasons. I really connected with the things she was saying. I've never given a lot of thought to working in the public sector because the vast majority of information we as law students receive about it is from the perspective of doing pro bono criminal defense. Although I am deeply interested in the law and using it to help clients, I do not feel led at all to practice criminal defense work. This is the first time I've heard from someone who helps clients with women's and family issues who can't afford to pay for a lawyer, and it REALLY inspired me. All day I have been thinking, that is exactly what I want to do with my law degree. I decided then and there to apply for fellowships to work in public interest for the summer. Of course, I'm not totally sure yet that I'll do that for this summer (it's only February), but I do feel that I should at least submit some applications to places that do similar work as Georgia Legal Services.

Then, I went to another great speaker who graduated from my school, served as a trial lawyer for 30 years, and now writes novels full time. I found this second talk equally inspiring because everyone who knows me well knows that I love to write. Sometimes I think that if I could do anything in the world, I would sit on the porch of a beach house somewhere and write novel after novel while watching the waves crash on the beach and the sun rise and set over the ocean each day. Even being in law school now, I know that I want to write as well as practice law, whether that be scholarly articles, blogs, or full-fledged books like this speaker. He explained that for each novel he writes, he literally reads through it almost 75 times, writing and editing and rewriting. I was so impressed with the commitment and work ethic that I am sure that requires. All in all, this speaker made me really motivated to keep writing all through law school and to see where it may take me. I would love it if I could make writing a really consistent part of my life and career even when practicing law.

Then, I went out for dinner tonight with some friends for my friend Alex's birthday, and had such a great time. When I'm with this particular group of friends, we are pretty much laughing nonstop--there's never a dull moment. Now, I'm back home and getting ready to curl up on my couch with some hot chocolate and my Jodi Picoult book--it doesn't get much better than that!