A Woman in Law School

Whenever I can I try to observe court. It's a good way to network, think fast, and see what reality looks like after law school. Over winter break I observed a lot of criminal and juvenile hearings. Today I observed what is known here as child abuse court.

It was not fun. Not only were the cases difficult to hear, it was also difficult to try and remain impartial as an observer. I suppose I didn't have to remain objective but I'm still trying to figure out what "side" I prefer and thus I try to challenge myself to see both sides.

Otherwise things went well.

When I observe court I always do the following things:

• let the baliff know I'm a law student observing. He/she usually informs the judge, who has several times invited me up to the stand to talk about law and law school.
• take business cards to exchange. Yes, I don't like doing it but attorneys love giving them out and it's easy to just hand one back. Tip: always write something about your conversation on the back to remind them of who/where/how you met, etc.
• have questions ready to ask the judge or attorneys. Most of the time the questions aren't answered, but it does set things in motion to get an interesting conversation going.
• thank the judge and baliff for letting me observe.

My favorite judge is out of town for the rest of the week which is a blessing in some ways as I should spend more time outlining...

I hate outlining...

Yes, it's an art to be mastered.

And I'm trying to weave the notion into my tired head.

At times I feel as if there is no such thing as privacy in law school and thus, "the art" of it comes into play.

It's not a new idea. In general, people are clueless about the space around them and about the conversations we all become a part of. I recently worked my way into a conversation after I had eavesdropped for a good 15 minutes. I was happy I did as the two professors had lovely ideas and suggestions for me. However, I still overheard their private conversation making it far from private.

So, take note! We are always listening. Nothing you say is per se "private." Especially to law students, as seen HERE!

Fellow blogger Gudnuff asked some good questions about the Client Counseling Competition so I thought I would address them in another post.

Client counseling is a skill some lawyers regularly do. I first learned about it in our legal research and writing class because we had to practice interviewing each other and suggest avenues of potential action. It makes complete sense that a lawyer would interview a client, however I never really thought of it as a learned skill before law school. Lawyers are always meeting with clients so it makes sense to think about and practice how you would organize an initial interview.

The competition had no affect on our grades. If you won or advanced to the next level I suppose it gave you bragging rights. My partner and I didn't spend too much time preparing for it and overall it was a good experience. The judges gave us good feedback on how well we questioned, listened and put our client at ease. I know that I don't take criticism well so it was an opportunity to receive some good constructive criticism and continue to learn how to accept it gracefully.

I'm all about putting myself in uncomfortable positions. I'm not the best at networking so the more I put myself into awkward shoes, the more I learn how to relax and network in a non-cheesy fashion. One of the judges was an attorney that talked to us earlier in the semester about an externship I was interested in. Because he was there and I recognized him I was able to ask him more questions about the externship and continue to get face time with him. So I suppose the competition was worth it just for that.

Again, I would recommend it to all law students if you have the opportunity. It was fun to talk with local attorneys and get to know my partner better. If anything it's an excuse to wear a suit!

My school recently held it's Client Counseling Competition and I have to say that it was fun competing in it. As the competition neared, my partner and I seriously wanted to withdraw as we had our last memo due. But we stayed in and had a great experience.

The thing about partner counseling is that it's harder than you would think it to be. You have to make sure that each of you is sharing the floor AND making the client as comfortable as possible. It's also difficult asking questions because you don't know what questions your partner wants to ask and you also don't want to interrupt your client. We didn't advance to the next round and were happy about that. It was a really good experience and I would encourage all law students to at least give it a try. Our judges and clients were local attorneys and judges so if anything you may have at least some time to network.