Hard Work

In a little under two months, I will be starting my 1L. To gain as much information as I can before I go, I am constantly scouring the web in my free time. Site after site, I am overwhelmed by the rampant pessimism from most students. Its not that they hate studying law. The just cant get over the fact that some people have better grades and go to better schools. Prestige and salary seem to be the dominant reasons for working in biglaw.

I never thought I would see the day when my crappy grades and middle class background would serve me well in the legal field, but I have found it. I will tell you why it serves me well. While other students are crying about their tier 2 law school slipping rankings, I am thankful that I got into law school in the first place, no matter what tier school I am attending in the fall. Other 2 and 3Ls complain that they will only be making $$$ when they work for the 2nd best biglaw firm in their city. I've heard of associates turning down jobs at firms where they could be happy at, just so they can go make 9k more at a larger, "cooler" firm, that will work them 20 more hours per week. There is more to life than money. I dont have very much money, so I had to find other things to love.

Don't get me wrong. I want to be rich. Hard work lies ahead. And if for some reason I don't have money flying out every orifice in my body, then the fault will lie in my own hands. From all my experiences, hard work will eventually overcome any obstacle. Sadly, I will not be quitting law school to play in the NBA, nor will I be a traveling oil boy for the Hawaiian Tropic Bikini Team. These are achievements that very few attain. Every Partner at the firm has reiterated the same thing. Schools matter a little. Grades matter the MOST. I presented all of the Partners with my background, school, etc., and they all agreed that being at the top of your class no matter where you go is better than being average at a great school.

With enough encouragement and motivation to last me a while, I am on cloud 9. Determined to be successful at law school, I cant wait to give a pessimistic 1L some advice. EAT MORE FIBER.

The Three S's

Surf. Sand. Sex. I tried to stay away, but the geniuses over at Fox figured out the right combo of surfing and orange county'ish bad acting and got me hooked. Its bad. Guys aren't supposed to have tv nights...Unless it for sports. Most of my buddies made fun of me. That is, until I sat them down in front of the TV and got them hooked too. So ladies, if the bar is empty, we are probably glued to the television eating our bon bons.

Moore is better

Fahrenheit 9/11 is hot. So hot, in fact, that I started an argument at work with a paralegal just by telling her that I enjoyed the movie immensely. I don't agree with everything in the movie, but I felt that Moore tied together quite nicely Bush's prior oil affiliations, and how the liberation of Iraq might stand to help profit those in Bush's company. Not only did Moore provide a convincing argument, he did so with the panache that a top box office smash should have. Critics rely heavily on blaming the "editing" of the movie, portraying Bush in a bad light. True, to a very minimal extent, it is hard to edit that fact that GW is not a good public speaker. In fact, most of my college professors have better communication skills. Am I, an educated individual supposed to believe that someone not capable of articulating smoothly and coherently, is dually capable of running this complex economy? That is what I have been led to believe so far. It is sad that people are so quick to condemn what they don't understand. For a man that has never been interested in politics, I am genuinely looking forward to learning more about both candidates before the upcoming election. I do believe that Ketchup is easier to get out than oil is.

It's getting hot in here

The weekend is finally here. After working all week and going out with the guys two nights this week, I am bushed. With the release of Farenheit 911 today, you would assume that bushed means that I am a crooked, scheming, liar. Nope. Just tired.

Gotta rest up for independence day. This one should be good. Going to a luau with a fire pit and a whole pig roasting away. Add 50 college buddies and a handful of kegs and it should make for a real intellectual crowd. After working all week with high-power attorneys it is kind of nice to hang out with the buds. Need to get all of my socializing out of my system now or my 1L is going to be even tougher.

Its funny how these blogs seem so interesting in your head, and then when you read what you wrote, it seems to have lost all its snap. If at the very least I help someone drift off to sleep then I have done my job. I can still rest knowing that I am still more eloquent than that damn hypo we have for a President. And the answer is yes, I can do better. Just let me try. There would be no monica's. There will, however, be a Jessica Simpson.

I'm a good cause

For many many years, rich people have been buying their way around society. Using their money to sneak through the door literally while the common folk such as I are left to pay the cover charge. I wonder how much would have to be donated on my behalf to get into one of the schools that waitlisted me? It might be cheaper to donate the money to the school than to move all the way across the country to attend the other school. This donation would also provide the donor a tax write off becoming an even more favorable option. So would 5k get me in? Has anyone out there heard of someone whose done this?

Another thought: Kids always have fundraisers for school. Candy bars that are ridiculously overpriced are pushed more aggressively than cell phones. I am always the first in line to support these kids. I regularly buy more chocolate than any 9% body fat person in the country.

So how come it is not acceptable for me to sell candy to pay for law school? Since when did "poor starving college student" not be the omnipotent excuse for everything? I could see it now. I would buy a variety of candy at Costco, selling most for 3x what I paid. Using my marketing degree, we would have maximum product visibility at the office, promotions and even student discounts for the candy. I would design some ridiculous but genius upsell idea, like t-shirts or hats. I would even have my law schools tuition pricing in close view of the candy. But, im pretty sure that the partners and everyone else would think I was scumbag for doing this. It would be labeled "tacky".

This situation also reminds me of my undergrad alma mater contacting me for a small donation. Where were they when I needed help paying for my undergraduate degree? Oh that's right. They didn't have any financial aid for me. The Dean happens to make almost 300k at my school. What a fuc*ed up world we live in.

Ivy league material

The hardest part about making up lost ground is explaining to Stanford, NYU, Princeton, etc, grads why I chose to go to a Third Tier school. I am eloquent, but still have a hard time explaining why frat boys have such average gpa's. I am not choosing. Law school is the cream of the cream. I fully intend to prove this with success there. But getting into a school has proven to be a huge task so far. At least the possiblity of transfering is there.

Waitlist's suck

I really decided to go to law school on a whim. I studied two solid months, 8 hours a day, and scored decently. The problem is that I took the February LSAT and applied pretty late in the year. So now I am accepted at one school and waitlisted at two others. The problem is that the school that I want to go to, which is 30 min from here waitlisted me too. I am accepted to a school back east. I hate to sound like a wuss but these west coast winters are about all I can handle. I have never even lived anywhere that was colder than 30 degrees in the winter, and I am about to move to a place that is subzero for a quarter of the year.

After reading that last paragraph, I realize that I sound like the biggest wimp. You try living in sunny soCal all your life, then moving to Oregon. I picture myself to be one of those guys who buys a huge, puffy, over-insulated jacket and roasts everywhere. Maybe a crappy winter is just what I need to keep my social ass in the library.

Trying to plan my life right now stinks. I just started dating someone really cool. I am so picky that I rarely meet someone who grabs my attention, and here she is, two months before I have to leave.

Another thing that stinks are the Lakers. Phil is gone, Kobe is leaving, Shaq wants out. Does anyone remember the Chicago Bulls legacy because the Lakers are going to be crappy just like the Bulls. Some people call it rebuilding, I call it bad business. Why cant they all just get along? I hear Kate Faber is going to be a Laker girl. Either that or Kobe will get traded to the Nuggets.

Anxious

Two months till the big top show begins and I cant sit still. Is this normal? I hear people at the firm talk about how law school was just an evolution of their career as if they born to work for a big league firm.

My background is completely different. I was in a fraternity in college. A college in fact that led my and all my fellow students to believe that our degrees would be worth gold. Guess what Shirley? They aren't. I had fun in college. My fraternity brothers and I spent most of our time drinking beer and chauvenizing women. For most of you that think that kind of stuff really goes on in fraternities, you are right. But thats not all we did. We shaved random eyebrows off, tested food as hygiene products, and designed the very first weight lifting program using beer instead of weights. Well, maybe we weren't this pathetic. Honestly. There could have been a few brewskis and couple drunk nights, but we found time to go class.

I have finally realized the cost of all the time I farted around in college. The uptight people at the firm, are essentially the people that we drunkenly yelled at at 2pm on a Tuesday afternoon, on our way to our film literature class. So props to all you stiffs out there for being so studious.

Time to make up lost ground. But how? So now I am back to the cut-throat rat race, just trying to get a gold plated wheel to run on. I am humble, especially after getting 7 rejections, 1 accept, and 2 waitlist letters. I am kind of worried that maybe law school is harder than I expect, and maybe genetics do factor in afterall. I always thought that I could substitute hard work for my sub-par intellect. But what happens when the best students study just as hard? I am scared shitless though and am motivated beyond belief.

On a random note, saw Dodgeball this weekend. I was disappointed considering how witty Old School was.

Bling Bling

With a BS in Business, filing wasn't my first choice for starting my legal career, but I soon learned that taking a file clerk position at a prestigious law firm has many perks. The single greatest are the networking possibilities. Being privy to many confidential conversations, I have witnessed attorney arguments, gossip, and all the other transactions that make this world go by.

Every free chance I get, I am pressing these attorneys for knowledge. It's hard being so green in this industry. Some of the attorneys wont even make eye contact with me let alone acknowledge my presence. I am in awe at how much self-loathing goes on around here. Attorney's hate other attorneys. They tell me to reconsider being a lawyer. The secretaries tell me they hate their jobs. NEWSFLASH PEOPLE. This is no different from any other workplace. Work sucks unless you are fortunate enough to do something you love. I happen to enjoy arguing with people, and have a very quick wit. Combine this with a legal education and I think that I will make a good attorney. I wonder if these lawyers cry when they get their monthly bank statements?

The hardest part for me is going to be choosing which area of practice that I want. I am not one of those people who "falls into" things. Yes, I have been stuck sometimes but I find a way to plan my goals. Right now I want to help society. Prosecution best fits my personality and helps me attain this goal. On the other hand, I went to lunch with a friend the other day who just purchased a new BMW. I HATE materialistic people, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't like the attention the car got us. How do you pick between doing well for society, and having gobs of money and arm candy? Unfortunately, my two brains are conflicted in this matter. I hope law school will help with this decision.

Bandwagon

So everyone hates my Lakers because we are all "bandwagon" fans. Yet everyone seems to side with whatever team is playing against the Lakers. This seems entirely hypocritical, but then again it takes a mental-midget not to root for the Lakers. Detroit clearly outplayed them. No arguments there. So give me another reason to hate the lakers. Dont bring up infidelity. My personal favorite MJ 23, cheated more times than Charles Barkley eats per hour. He could probably still win this years presidential race too. Everyone hates Kobe because people love to criticize the cream of the cream. I wonder if Pamela Mackey owns a Kobe jersey?

Terrified

Thats the only way i can describe it. In two months time, I am going to starting something that few try, and even fewer succeed at. Law School. I still think Turow writes scarier novels than Stephen King. I am going to succeed though.

I even lucked out and landed a job at a prestigious law firm as a file clerk. Priceless. I know how sharks get their razor sharp teeth. Chewing butts all day. I've heard stuff come out of the attorney's mouths that would make a sailor blush. But even sharks can bite their tongue, and im pretty sure that it hurts even worse. This is supposed to be me in 3 years? Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson cant even run the smack as good as these attorneys.

So with an average B-School education, a few years of C.Y.A. training in the entertainment industry of Los Angeles, I am ready to smell my first drop of blood. Shark Bait OOOH haha.