Single, Studio or Roommate

I'd like to throw some question out to bloggers:
What was your living situation like during 1L year?
You recommend living in a Single (Studio, Roommate)?

As I see it:
The benefits of living in a single is the complete and total selfish control of time and space.

The benefits of living in a studio is all of the above, except in a smaller universe.

The benefits of living in an apartment with roommates is the cheaper price and good company.

Drawbacks of living in a single is the scary thought of having only books as your friend.

Drawbacks of living in a studio is the previous thought, except in a smaller universe.

Drawbacks of living in an apartment with roommates is the unpredictable nature and personalities of roommates, whom I've never met/lived with til' now.

So which would you choose under these circumstances?

Ah~ The Amazing Possibilities After Law School...

I was at church yesterday, and after service John, a great mentor and friend, comes up to me and tells me about a newspaper interview he recently read that reminded him of me. He read about the winner of last season's Survivor.

I had, just a few weeks before, told John that I'm training for the Iron Man competition, so I thought, "Maybe that's what reminded him of me." I was geniunely flattered thinking, "Dude, my pects and bisceps must really be bulging through my shirt!"

My narcissistic thought-bubble quickly popped, when John continued to mention, "....he went to law school, and you're going to law school!" I later found out that John was talking about Yul Kwon, the Stanford grad who later went on to Yale law school. This guy is now my new official role model. He's got both the brains and the brawns (and if applicable the beauty).

Later that evening I watched the final season of the Apprentice. Stefani Schaeffer, the L.A. attorney, is now Donald Trump's new apprentice. Schaeffer attended the University of California, Riverside, and then went onto to graduating from Southwestern University School of Law's SCALE program (2 year law program; instead of the typical 3 year program).

So there ya' go! After law school, if you want to make it, not merely as a star, but a winner on America's prime-time reality T.V. show, YOU CAN DO IT!

Visiting Law Schools: Chicago

Chicago, Berkeley and Stanford each had their ASW on the same weekend. As for UPenn - the dean of admission called me to personally tell me not to come (long yet funny story). Since Berkeley and Stanford are only four-driving-hours away, I visited them the week preceding ASW. Here's a brief review on Stanford and Berkeley, then a thorough review on Chicago.

I was honestly more impressed with Berkeley students than with Stanford students. It may have been their "not a big deal" attitude about studying. I'm sure the "pass, honor & high-honor" grading system had a part. Although Stanford's architecture reminded me of a huge taco bell, the facilities and equipment at Stanford were much more posh than Berkeley's. Students at both schools boasted their amazing job prospects. One Stanford remarked, "The hardest part is choosing from the loads of options. Employers love us. Coming from Stanford you pretty much have the job, so you really have to purposely try for an employer to revoke an offer." Lastly, I was pleasantly surprised that Boalt wasn't "hippy" town.

Chicago was amazing. I should admit from the outset that I'm a bit infatuated with University of Chicago (yet another long and funny story for another time). To sum it up Chicago's ASW was a weekend of being wined and dined. I was particularly impressed with Dean Levmore, the faculty panel and the trivia contest.

I arrived to Chicago via Las Vegas (I won $11.00 from the airport slot machine...beginners luck!). At Las Vegas I met another admitted student. He and I sat together on our plane ride to Chicago. Once at Midway airport, my 2L host picked us up with his car. We stopped by his apartment (Regents Park) to drop off my luggage. Regents Park is in every sense of the word "a luxury apartment" - beep-in-security revolving door, elevator with elevator music, and a 24-hour security-doorman. My host's apartment was large with 2-bedroom and 2-baths. He had the Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2 and X-box 360....a video gamer's dream come true!

Afterwards we went directly to the law school. Chicago Law's architecture wasn't bad; in fact, I thought it was really nice (a lot of windows). Once inside at the Green lounge (the main lounge), I spotted admitted students, current students, professors, administrators and a dog (help dog that guides the disabled). I walked over to the table where Dean Perry and Mike Machen were registering and welcoming people. After finishing the formalities I spent the next hour chatting with current students. It felt nice and natural.

Next on the agenda was filing into charter buses to go to downtown Chicago. My ride there was pleasant due to the girl sitting next to me - her rather sarcastic and slap-in-the-face humor was just the thing to let time fly by. Shiff Hardin (the law firm) hosted us on the 66th floor of Sears Tower. The rolled-up shrimps, edamame, fried-dumplings, sushi, and open bar were definitely a nice touch. Throughout the reception partners walked up to me trying to sell their law firm - one even offered me a job (he may have been joking, but what the heck, it felt good).

Afterwards, it was off to Sluggers (the bar). This bar had a batting cage, so I spent the rest of the night hitting soft-balls. =)

The day after, Dean Levmore gave a rather amusing and superb welcome. He was very witty and to-the-point in answering everyone's question. He made it a point that Chicago is unique amongst other law schools because of its "life of the mind" and intimacy. Faculty panel followed next with Professors Baird, Buss, Samaha, and Henderson on the table. Professor Samaha and Henderson blew me away - they were absolutely brilliant. Professor Baird and Buss were also great, but Prof. Baird didn't speak much and Prof. Buss' topic of choice was far from my interest. The next big highlight for me was the "Faculty v. Student Trivia Contest" - it was hilarious! The students won with the faculty trailing very close behind (1 point).

Now my notorious list of positives and negatives:

Positive:
- Faculty is amazing (by far the best I've sampled thus far).
- A bus ride away from a great city
- Nice facilities
- Rigor: students are smart and serious
- Intimate and close-knit community
- Amazing job prospect and reputation
- Generally friendly student body


Negatives:
- Less than perfect weather (Windy City)
- Not the most safest neighborhood
- Rigor: students are smart and serious ("Where fun comes to die")

Visiting Law Schools: USC

USC hosted a day-long event. Parking was free (law school sponsored). USC law is situated towards the Natural History Museum side of the college campus. It's right next to Marshall Business school (which btw was posh!). After years of living in green suburbs, it was hard for me to appreciate all the grey smog and red bricks, which is the general characteristic of the USC neighborhood. But once on campus, there is a stark change in color. Things just seem brighter and greener within the campus gates.

After parking my car, I approached the law school building. There were big red and gold (USC colors) balloons and white cloth tables decorated with food and drinks. But I was alarmed. The people standing around that area were wearing suits and tie. I was in khaki pants and t-shirt. When I got within 50 feet of the crowd, I realized the pomp-and-circumstance that alarmed me a few seconds ago was business school affiliated. I think B-students were meeting prospective employers. Although I was relieved that no one would accuse me of under-dressing, I was admittedly disappointed not to be showered with free food.

The law school is quite small. I walked into the building and waited for the admissions office to open. The day was to start at 9:30; I was 15 minutes early. Propsective students started gathering around ocean-green-colored couch area. There were about 15-20 students. Promptly at 9:35, the admissions staff took us to USC's mock court room to debrief us of our day. The court room, wasn't as big as UCLA's, but the wood used to build it seemed to be of higher quality (I don't know anything about wood quality....but it just seemed that way).

We were given the opportunity to sit in on a 1L class, criminal law. It was boring. Mainly because I had no idea what the professor was talking about, and because the class was more of a lecture than a discussion.

After class we were given a tour of the law school. The library has been recently renovated. I've seen the library in its pre-renovation days, and I've got to admit the new look is much nicer. I was amused, however, that the library had the Abraham Lincoln room. It allegedly has the largest collection of Lincoln books and materials of all the law schools in the world.

After the tour it was lunch time with a professor at the University Club. The University Club is the classy dining area for staff, faculty and guests. The menu has high-end dishes like salmon and filet mignon. I ordered the salmon. The professor was awesome. She was in charge of the legal clinic that helps non-profit organizations in the greater L.A. region. Our lunch conversation ranged from world-travel to best-yogurt toppings.

The day ended after lunch.

Now the list of positives and negatives:

Positives
- Relatively intimate law school atmosphere
- Minutes away from the Staple Center, Downtown L.A. and the beach
- Trojan connection (pervasive throughout the campus)
- Awesome weather
- Across the street from the Natural History Museum (dinosaur bones!!!)
- Amazing array of restaurants and ethnic food
- Students seemed geniunely happy

Negatives
- The neighborhood is sort of shabby
- Job opportunities seem to be L.A. polar
- Law school architecture could use some remodeling.

Big-Law Revolution

Andrew Canter and Craig Segall, Stanford Law students, are heading up a new organization called, "Law Students Building a Better Legal Profession." The article can be found here.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

“We are writing as a group of over 100 law students to propose a change in the way we all experience our profession. We are working to ensuring that practicing law does not mean giving up a commitment to family, community, and dedicated service to clients.”

Four Principles -

1) Making concrete steps towards a transactional billing system;
2) Reducing maximum billable hour expectations for partnership;
3) Implementing balanced hours policies that work; and
4) Making work expectations clear.

By next fall recruiting season, they want to compile a list of AmLaw 100 firms that have committed to their request, and let law students know which firms are on board and which are not.

What sort of negotiating leverage does this organization have? For starters, they are willing to exchange all of the above for lesser money (salary). It is the organization's belief that they have enough market power to make the difference.

Here's my 2 cents from a law student's stand point.
Most law students don't have the insight or wisdom to see beyond money. When law firms wave $160,000, their primal instinct comes screaming back. They begin to see light and hope for paying off that $150,000 loan. This coupled with the "grass looks greener on the other side" tendency, law students all too often think: "It won't be that bad being a highly paid associate at a top-notch firm! In fact, it'll be awesome!"
It isn't until they are working associates that most law students realize they are cuffed in golden chains. As the organizers of this organization astutely point out, all negotiating power goes out the window, once law students are associates, so change must start from the law student level.
Thus, for this organization to get real results, they need to spend more fire power and time preaching to the law students. Fortunately, more and more associates are getting the message out that they are "extremely unhappy" by leaving their firms. The organization should go a step further and connect these dissatisfied attorneys with current law students, so that the law students can get it directly from the horse's mouth.

Now, from AmLaw 100 stand point, this new organization may seem a bit brazen: who do these kids think they are?
Law firms are generally conservative in their management and business. But just like their proteges, they are moved by money. The main question for these law firms will be, "Will it affect our profit?" If lowering associate salaries across the board (keep in mind, they are going to hit some rough pavement, if they try to lower the salaries of already practicing associates) in exchange for all of the above requests won't affect their profit, law firms should (in theory) jump at this proposal.

Personally, I think, as I mentioned in a previous post, some sort of free-market system (like ibanking) would be better. Start off with a lower base salary, but award increased bonuses to those who were most productive. Let those who want to work their butt-off do so. Let those who want more control of their time do so.
I don't see how or why the nature of modern legal profession wouldn't allow for such a system. Perhaps there is something I don't see. If anyone can provide invaluable bits to contribute to my meager knowledge, I'm greatly indebted to her/him.

Visiting Law Schools: NYU and USC

This weekend I'll visit USC, and next weekend I'll be at NYU.

I'm really excited about Greenwich Village. Whenever I visit New York City, I somehow end up in the Village hanging out, eating and lounging around. One of NYU's greatest asset is its happenin' location. I always wonder how students at NYU ever get any work done with so much "distractions." The last time I visited NYU Law, what impressed me above all, however, was the super friendly student body. One student even went out of her way to show me her dorm room, which compared to the apartments near Columbia seemed smaller, but nicer.

Speaking of locations, USC's is less than ideal. For those familiar with the L.A. area, East side ain't all that spiffy. I rarely go out towards that area. USC is near downtown L.A., but L.A.'s downtown, in comparison to the downtowns of other cities, is dead - there is no nightlife what-so-ever. However, most people in L.A. have cars. You can't really get around without a car in L.A. So as a student at USC, you can always drive to Sunset/Hollywood for parties and return to the East side for classes.