Things That Excite a 1L

In a new series I am starting called, "Things That Excite a 1L," I bring to you the highlighter within a highlighter within a highlighter within three different colored pens.


Exciting? To say the least. 

In Strict Violation of GTL!

Should I be perturbed that I am paying almost $35,000 a year for a legal education and I just spent 30 minutes of my class time evaluating whether or not a Jersey Shore house member should be evicted for her insufficient practice of  the “G” in “GTL”? Wow. 

1L Quote of the Week

"Rules are shortcuts to justice" -- Professor Grace Giesel (Contracts) 

Don't Be a Gekko: Get the Grade Without Losing Your Soul

“It's a zero sum game – somebody wins, somebody loses.” While this cut throat attitude may have served Gorden Gekko well on Wall Street, it would find him alone and, more importantly, jobless after Law School.

In our Structured Study Group last Friday, Paige Hamby, a 2L and Academic Fellow, wrote out the GPA distribution and class rankings of last years 1L’s on the whiteboard.  Just the presence of those numbers increased the tension in the room. My eyes and my pride were locked on that top 5%. Those numbers served as uncomfortable reminders that our “friends” in the room are our also our competition.  The moment I started to feel myself plotting and scheming, I remembered what we had learned just two days prior in Professor Arnold’s lecture on Negotiation: getting what you want doesn’t have to mean getting a bigger piece of pie than the other person, it could mean making the pie bigger. That way, everyone gets more.

In today’s economy, there’s only one way for us law students to find a high-paying legal job: know someone on the inside. And unless that “someone” is your mom or dad, you’re going to have to find them yourself and make them like you.

Refusing to give your notes to someone who missed class, refusing to come to their rescue when they stumble on a question in Civil Procedure, or simply trying to intimidate your fellow classmates may mean that you graduate with a higher rank, but Louisville is a small world, and when the day comes that you cross paths again in the professional world, I’m sure they’ll be happy to return the favor, or the lack thereof.

On the flip side, if you help your classmates to get better grades, you will gain their trust while, at the same time, expanding your network of connections and reserving for yourself a better spot in the job market.

So don’t tear others down thinking it will help build you up. Instead, build relationships in Law School. Help and encourage your classmates because regardless of what Gorden Gekko would have you believe, almost nothing in life is a zero-sum game – especially not your legal career. 

Cuz' every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man.

Today, Professor Jones, our Torts professor, taught the fellas in the room one of the most important things they may ever learn in law school.

No, it wasn’t a great defense in a negligence action. It had nothing to do with trespass. In fact, it had nothing to do with Torts at all. It was a mini-lesson on where to find a good suit – complete with the name and number of a respectable local tailor.

Because, after all, in the real world, it doesn’t matter how much you know about comparative negligence, strict liability, or the RICO statute, no one will hear you if you look like bum.  

Professor Jones and his "good suit" lecture.

Law School: How I Got Here

When I was a little girl, I certainly did not dream of growing up to be an unwed teenage mother.

           

And yet there I was, a high-school dropout working at Red Lobster forty hours a week in order to support myself and my son. Upon the discovery that I was pregnant, I left my home at the age of fifteen and set out on my own. I worked at Red Lobster for two years, but after being asked enough times for “…more Cheddar Bay Biscuits, please?” I realized that I wanted more in life. I reenrolled in high school and received my high school diploma. Upon graduating from high school, I enrolled in Jefferson Community and Technical College, where I completed one year of schooling. Yet, once again, I knew I wanted more.

In the fall of 2007, I enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves to satisfy my desire to serve my country in some real, meaningful way. Ever since witnessing the 9/11 attacks during my freshman year of high school, I knew I wanted to help protect my country and its citizens in some direct, hands on way. Immediately after graduating from boot camp, I transferred to Indiana University Southeast to pursue my Bachelor’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. I became very involved politically, writing regular columns for my local newspaper, serving as the Executive Director of Kentucky College Republicans, and involving myself in nearly every social cause that I felt worthy of defending. I soon realized that I had the ability to influence others, correct injustices, and actually make tangible differences in my community and the world. Remarkably, the single teenage mother who once waited tables to scrape by has since received her Bachelor’s Degree with honors, studied abroad in countries such as Italy, Greece, Turkey, London, and Amsterdam, and even had the opportunity to meet with numerous political leaders, including Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, along the way.

           

What enabled this woman who, statistically speaking, should have never graduated high school to accomplish so much more? The answer is freedom: political, economical, and ideological. In the United States, there is the basic belief that everyone is created equal, and that we all have the right to pursue our own happiness. However, happiness does not fall in our laps; nor is it simply handed to us. Pursuing happiness and a better lot in life takes hard work, ambition, and a competitive spirit. Yet, I believe that Americans can truly choose to be whoever they want to be regardless of social class, race, gender, or religion. I am living proof that the freedom we experience in the United States provides us the opportunity to choose to be whoever we want to be and achieve whatever we want to achieve, regardless of statistics or stereotypes.
           

However, the principles that enabled me to get where I am today are currently under attack, both legislatively and ideologically. More and more, in the White House and in the classroom, I hear the value of freedom being replaced with the value of equality. Freedom, true freedom, does not ensure that everyone is equal, but that everyone has equal opportunity. I do not believe that everyone should be equal, but rather that everyone should be afforded equal opportunity. If everyone is forced to be same, then no one will be great. True freedom should allow for greatness.
           

One of the greatest things about the United States legal system is that it is built on the bedrock of the Constitution and on the founding principles of freedom, equal opportunity, and the right to pursue happiness. Today, every time I see a teenage mother settling for a life with little or no education, little or no money, and little or no hope, I am reminded of why I want to pursue a legal education.

I believe a lawyer is a person who is trained to serve his or her society. A lawyer defends people who are not trained to defend themselves, a lawyer defends the rights of people, and a lawyer is needed to seek justice. As a lawyer, I will be able to protect freedom and defend the principles that enabled my own trajectory in life. To me, becoming a lawyer is the next step in my mission to defend the freedom, rights, and interests of the American people. 

So, here I am, two weeks in to the next three years of my life at University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law.