Update re: my life

So apparently I did not provide an update of recent changes in my life. I found job... Now I work as a tax attorney in a small law firm. I love my work. Basically, I do the same stuff that I did at the clinic of my LLM program except that things we do at my work are little bit more complicated and clients pay us to do our work (which is, unfortunately, they usually do not do that on time). I think this is the biggest update in my life for the recent months. Telling the truth, I still cannot believe that my dreams came true. Thank you, God!

As a continuation of my previous post

So I was talking about relation between grades in a law school and a future career. A couple of days after my post, where I talked about a lesser impact of the law school grades after five years into the legal career, I received another monthly issue of job postings from my law school. Skimming over postings I noticed one from a large law firm--Holland & Hart. They were seeking a corporate attorney with a legal experience of not less than 8 years... [now, bitting of drums, most interesting part] ... and among required documents for an applicant to submit was an unofficial transcript from a law school.

So, yes, I must say, if you want to be in a large law firm, get good grades.

Do bad grades impact your success on the bar exam?

While I was waiting in a law school’s cafe for my lunch to warm up in a microwave, an article in magazine drew my attention. As it appeared later, a magazine is one of those cute magazines for law students that try to give so-called “smart” advices (unfortunately, very often too stale and useless) to law students, trying to convert them into “real” professionals.

An aforementioned article talked about grades in a law school. The article’s point was that grades will follow you during all your life. Some law school professors concluded that law school grades have both short-term and a long-term impact on student’s life. Put it differently (as I understood that article), if you are a C student, you are going to be a loser for all your professional life. [Indeed, I may have biased view on such issues, since I am one of the “not-in-the-top-50%-of-the-class” students.]

I believe there is some truth to such statement, as I was convinced by my own experience of rejections for job interviews (I am not even talking about getting an interview) and since I am more than sure that rejections occurred because of my crappy grades.

From my communication with practicing attorneys, I learnt that the grades definitely have a short-term impact: as a job applicant and a young attorney you do not have an experience and your grades are what a potential employer will look at with hopes to find out about your diligence in work and learning. However, after getting some experience, it is your professional skills that is important for an employer but not your grades you have received five years ago.

But who knows, maybe I do not know much about current legal job market and I am wrong about long-term impact. I will let my future to prove the accuracy of article’s conclusions.

What made me upset, mad and irritated is this article’s statement: grades impact student’s success on the bar exam. According to the author, grades constitute 70% of student’s chances to pass a bar exam. What? What bullshit? [Pardon my French]. Here I am, a no-so-good student with crappy grades who passed the bar exam from the first time, and there are students, who had much better grades than I do and they DID NOT pass. How will the author [or whoever made that conclusion] explain my situation?

Why am I saying all this? I think I understand good motivations of the author for writing that article—he/she wanted to develop in 1Ls that desire to get “good grades” that by all means will assist a future young attorney to find a decent job that will help to pay student loans. This is a good intention, no doubt. But what the author did not take into account, is that there are B- and C students who need different motivation and may read that unsupported crap and believe in failure on the bar exam and, later, in profession.

In other words, think positive, law students whatever grades you have. There are thousands of examples, that show different reality. Professor, on the other hand, should stick to their Socratic Method.

Brief Update: the life is going on

So among several goals I have recently created for myself, I have included "writing posts to Blogger more often."  Since there were periods when I wished to post about current events and some thoughts but at the same time I felt it is not appropriate to do that without at least some mentioning what is going on in my life, I posted nothing.  In fact, I was waiting for the time and day when I briefly describe at what stage of my life I am now but, unfortunately, I have been postponing that day finding an excuse in "my busy life," which is, actually, was not that busy, to spare a couple of minutes to write what I am writing now.

Taking my story back to summer of 2010, I will repeat that June and July were HELL because of preparation for the Bar Exam and the exam itself.  August, however, was more relaxing.  Unfortunately, we did not travel as much as we did last year.  But Utah's national park and local lake were great.  The weekdays I spent cleaning a house and watching TV.  Unfortunately, I did not do much of reading, which I had planned to do after the bar exam. I explain this fact by a want to recover from a disastrous "brain damage" bar preparation caused to my delicate mind.

Starting from September I am a full-time student pursuing an LLM in Taxation degree.  I am enjoying studying tax.  It does not seem boring to me at all, as might seem to many other people.  It is not so easy either. But most important I love it.  The program is intense and that makes it not much different from a law school program. As a result I am often tired by the end of the week.  But successful passing the bar exam and following swearing-in ceremony are the best motivation for me and my efforts in being successful.  It was very hard to believe that I made it so far. But I did and hopefully will keep the same pace.

I passed the Bar Exam!!!

I passed!!! I did it!!! I cannot believe it!!! I do not know what to say except maybe that I never ever should lose a confidence in my abilities. The fact that I PASSED shows that studying hard will be paid off sooner or later [better sooner, of course]!

Bar Advisor

I was in the midst of my deliberation whether I should post about my feelings as to the bar exam I have taken three days ago. After reading an article (see below) I have decided to follow the advice of the author and limit my story to the following: "this was hell!" Anyway, the life is going on and you will see later how it goes for me . :-)))

Bar Advisor: "do not blog (publicly) about the bar exam until AFTER you have passed it.

Why do I say this? To begin with, a blog requires lots of psychic energy to maintain. When you draft a post, you want it to be interesting,
well-written, and timely. You worry about it before you send it off into the blogosphere where anyone can read it. When you are studying for the bar
examination, you do not have time for such a distraction and drain of mental resources.

Next, constant and public worry about failing the bar exam (which is what the majority of these bar-exam blog posts contain) will begin to infiltrate your mind and create an expectation of failure. You may not believe it, but it is true. And, guess what, if you fail, you'll be able to continue blogging about how much you hate the bar exam and your loyal readers will keep reading your posts. This is a sick form of codependency."

Procrastination

While procrastinating I have found this article:

PROCRASTINATING AGAIN? HOW TO KICK THE HABIT.
ALTHOUGH BIOLOGY IS PARTLY TO BLAME FOR FOOT-DRAGGING, ANYONE CAN LEARN TO QUIT.

Raymond, a high-powered attorney, habitually put off returning important business calls and penning legal briefs, behaviors that seriously threatened his career. Raymond (not his real name) sought help from clinical psychologist William Knaus, who practices in Longmeadow, Mass. As a first step, Knaus gave Raymond a two-page synopsis of procrastination and asked him to read it “and see if the description applied.” Raymond agreed to do so on a flight to Europe. Instead he watched a movie. He next vowed to read it the first night at his hotel, but he fell asleep early. After that, each day brought something more compelling to do. In the end, Knaus calculated that the lawyer had spent 40 hours delaying a task that would have taken about two minutes to complete.

The article is really long but the end I found most useful:

In Raymond’s case, getting to the task was, indeed, the hard part. Knaus helped him to do that by first determining the reason for his instinct to delay: Raymond feared being tested on the synopsis and looking foolish. So Knaus asked him to pick the lesser of two evils, doing his work—and risking imperfection—or avoiding difficult tasks and losing his job. When Knaus put it that way, the lawyer was able to “just grind it out.” Instead of being fired, Raymond became a “superstar” at his firm.

In other words, when I have that great desire to procrastinate a little, what I need is to think about my finals and that if I do not study, I will fail.

It WORKS now!!! I go to study!

I am lazy, although I cannot afford to be

It is Friday morning. I have planned to do some homework, but I cannot do anything because I am sick, and because I just do not want to do anything :-) I have an interview in 3 hours, so I have read about my interviewers and about firm. Wish me luck.