Sorry about the lack of content lately. It's transition time! I've been meaning to get back to my "No More Heroes" series of posts, but I find myself challenged by the subject matter. d^_^b I also thought about doing a "1L Retrospective" but I've decided to save that for when grades come out. So I'll catch you up to where things stand.

Finals and the write-on were brutal. With the possible exception of the week I spent roofing my house, I don't think I've ever worked that hard in my life. No joke! The write-on is two parts: you have to write a casenote (basically analyze a court decision) using only the materials provided. Then you have to edit the footnotes of another casenote. You have four-and-a-half days. I spent 8-12 hours a day for three days working on my casenote--one day reading, two days writing. I spent 14 hours on the fourth day editing footnotes, plus another four hours the next morning. I'll know in June whether it was worth the effort!

Now I'm just working. I'm a research assistant for a professor; basically I spend 4-5 hours a day reading about property law and preparing or editing various materials. It's light work, with light pay; I have a few classmates who are picking up in excess of $2000 per week at internships, though most of my classmates are earning significantly less than that, if anything at all. A lot of people are doing "externships," working for course credit... that would be nice, but frankly I can't feed my family on course credit. Yet! d^_^b

The nice thing about the light work is, I play with my kids for four hours every morning while my wife writes. She's getting a lot of good work done, and my children get a reminder that they have a father who loves them and is not always busy. d^_^b

I should have grades and an invitation--or not--to the Law Review by June 25th, though earlier would be nice! On July 5th my information will go out to various New York employers, and I will go to New York and hopefully have some interviews for my 2L summer. Baby's due July 7th, family reunions scattered around the end of July... but mostly just a summer to breathe a little.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Law school is not, on the whole, intellectually difficult. You don't have to be super smart to succeed. Law school is not an academic challenge! Rather, it is a test of endurance. The work is hard only because there is so much of it--much more, I imagine, than strictly necessary. I have heard rumors that this changes somewhat after the first year, that thinking becomes more important than raw mental endurance.

Here's hoping!