The Second Wind Cometh

I feel rejuvenated, not literally, but mentally. I am still physically tired and wish I could sleep in on weekends, but the fact that I wake up early all week has jinxed that.... but I digress...

I am caught up in school work, so much so that all my classes are outlined to the most recent day, I am slightly ahead on reading and a written assignment and have had time to start reviewing. I realized I slacked off the first few weeks of the semester and now have to review that concepts I half ignored the first weeks cuz I was not on my game. But I am doing it!

I started a new, yes another biz venture (let me know if you want info) because I have a firm goal/idea for my solo career and want to work as hard as I can towards it, both financially and academically. For those of you that scoff and say I am only a 1L or that i should be doing something legal with my time, I say this... Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. And while do intend to find a legal job 2L year, but in my podunk area they are harder to find then a person who reads. And to quote Ani DiFranco "you gotta have an alternate plan."

So, yes, I am still yawning, I am still tired, but I feel good about the semester, the year and my future.... lets see how next week goes, lol.

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.