How Far We've Come

A visiting student sat in front of me in Civ Pro today. I listened carefully to see if I could hear the lecture from his point of view.

Residence, domicile, notice, bulge jurisdiction, Pennoyer, Shaffer, states, States, long-arm statute, found in the forum, venue, forum non conveniens (or as my prof likes to say, "forum non")...

Poor Guy. Had I sat in on this lecture a year ago, I would have been completely lost. But, he grabbed a seat where he couldn't just exit unobtrusively. So, he stuck it out for the full hour. Hell, stubbornly sticking it out through stuff that is boring, dry, and not making any sense? It's official: He's going to be a very successful law student.

As for us 1Ls, we've got all sorts of choices these days. Summer Job solidifying, TA positions for 1L courses, Moot court try-outs, Trial Team try-outs, and of course, the infamous journal write-on competition that promises to arrive like a frying pan to the face immediately after finals. Most of us are attempting to qualify for at least one of these activities, and some of us are going through the application process for all of them. Thankfully, my school doesn't let people do moot court and trial team at the same time so no one feels the need to be insane like a family friend of E's who actually did trial team, moot court, and Law Review this year. Needless to say, that guy's girlfriend didn't see much of him this year.

Me? My summer is shaping up. One of my profs approved a research paper that I proposed so I'll be doing my best to get through the research and writing of that over the course of the summer (although I suspect it'll push into next fall).

And, in a bit of job-search wussiness, I decided to return to the law firm in the Valley where I worked before school as a summer associate. See, I knew I liked it there. When my first resume blitz didn't turn up very much except standard "we-don't-want-no-stinkin'-one-L" letters, I decided to ditch the stress that my fellow classmates were complaining about. So, I called up the partner and happily accepted his offer. Of course, Murphy's Law: *After* I accepted, I did get a few bites from other firms that interest me. I would like to try out as many firms as I can before I get out of school. But, I feel no need to burn the only bridge I've got in the legal world. So, I guess I'll see if those firms are actually interested next fall (along with the many writers of friendly rejection letters that politely encouraged me to apply again as a 2L).

So, If last summer is any indication, after finals and journal write-on, I'll have a nice mix of patent prosecution and litigation with the occasional trademark, due diligence matter and whatever else pops up. Of course, I'm also looking forward to the job for the additional perks of having an income, freedom from homework, good food, golf, and playing against other Valley IP firms in the IP softball team. As far as the extra-curriculars for next year, I'm thinking I'll try out for everything and make my decision after seeing what actually pans out and soliciting much advice (hint, hint, feel free!). Moot seems to be the more well known and gives you both writing and speaking experience, but trial team seems to be better litigation experience (although, it appears to have a much bigger time requirement), and of course, the benefits and drawbacks of journals have been discussed by many others before.