Elusive Internships

Reading through some of my morning blogs I visit, I noticed a trend in people being unwilling to take the prospect of "free labor," whether it be from student interns (undergrad, law, etc) or attorneys who have been laid off due to the economic climate. They are afraid that they will be un-motivated, perform poorly or feel that they are too good for the work that they are given.



I say, judge each situation on the individual who is applying for the work. In my case, I had to have my internship this semester in order to get my Paralegal B.A. I looked for 6 months, taking resumes around every week to solos, firms, courts, banks, etc. No one would give the time of day. They said they didn't have the work for the employees they did have, much less someone else, they didn't want to train someone, or they had poor interns previously. Needless to say I was frustrated. Now I am not someone who shows up unreliably nor does shoddy work. I am in the top of my class and run a successful business, but all people saw when I went around for my internship was the fact that I was a student who was free labor, therefore I must be sub par.



Luckily I finally found an internship in a local court. They loved my credentials, loved the fact I didn't expect to be paid, and appreciate my punctuality and work ethic. I think that this internship is perfect for me as a future lawyer as I get to work closely with the judges and lawyers who spend their time at the court, and I get to see how the court works from the inside rather then from the out.

Volunteers, interns and other free labor should be judged on the positives that they bring to the table and what they can contribute to the business/firm/organization. Just because we are free doesn't mean we, or our work product, are sub par.

Vermont and New Hampshire

The Vermont Senate and New Hampshire HOR have both voted to legalizes Same Sex Marriages within their state borders. While the measure needs to pass the other side of the legislatures and the state governors, it is a good sign that more and more states are willing to see that all people deserve the same rights and protections under the law. Civil unions, while a step in the right direction, still give a second class standing to the GLBT community because they only offer a fraction of the rights that marriage gives couples and are not recognized in other states within the U.S.

Cheers to these states for taking a stand for their constituents rights and well being.

The 6 (7?) P Rule

A lot of my friends wonder why I am even thinking about my own practice when I haven't even had my first day at law school yet. Simple, the answer boils down to a motto my first Intro to Law professor drilled into our head: The 6 P Rule (Well technically there can be 7 P's, you figure it out).

"Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance"

Truer words were never spoken. I have seen this happen time and time again both academically and within the business world (Background: My best friend and I opened a business in a local mall that she owns and I have ran since it opened 2 years ago. I will be stepping down in May however). The business, while it still continues today, was done by the seat of our pants. I got to see first hand, and suffer the consequences, what happens when you rush through everything. By starting to plan for my practice now I can begin making business outlines while the business world is still fresh in my head, I can start building on the form bank started in my paralegal training as a narrow the scope of what areas I want to practice and I can start squirrelling away supplies and other stuff I might need. Hopefully at the end of my schooling I will have a basic idea of of where I want my practice, what i want to practice, and a nice little selection of tangible and intangible tools at my disposal. 2.5 years might seem like an eternity to some, but I think it fly by once school starts and the bar exam looms on the horizon.

By preparing now, I hope to cut costs, headaches and much needed time when I am out of school, studying for the bar and trying to open my practice.

Welcome!

Welcome to my first foray into the world of blogging. I have noticed how helpful and prevalent blogging in during the course of my academic career, and think its a great way to get my name out there in the legal community.

A little about me:

I am 31 yrs old and have a little more on my plate then your average law student. We (my partner and I) have car payments, a mortgage and a small clump of other debts. Plus, not only am I in school, but I finally got his tail back in school as well.

I will begin law school at the end of May. I have to admit, this is not where I pictured myself when I was younger. In fact, law was something I saw as completely out of my reach. I, like many people unfamiliar with the law, thought that to be an attorney you needed to be able to rattle off statutes, case decisions and the like. I didn't look at law as a viable choice for a career until I became a paralegal major. Of course, once I went further in my paralegal schooling, law school seemed like a natural next step for me.

I hope to open my own practice when I graduate law school. I have never been one who was happy working for others. I am independent, opinionated and work best when its my name on the line. Of course my problem right now is deciding what areas of law to focus on. I am mainly interested in Intellectual Property, Alternative Family/Gay Rights Law, Business Law and Real Estate, but every day in class or while surfing the net, I find 10 more practice areas that sound challenging. How is one to decide?

Topics I want to have in this blog: being a non-traditional law student, exploring various practice areas, law school itself, ideas for solo practice and the like.