Finding Rivers

From August 16, 2010:


Why write a blog?

This is the question I have been attempting to answer for several weeks as I wavered between actually writing something in this little white box or letting this web domain drift into virtual oblivion.

I have reached a conclusion: Write.

So, write what?

As I sat through lectures on my first day of law school orientation, I figured it out.

Here are some of the things I learned:

1. One study shows that 52% of lawyers are dissatisfied with life.  

2. Another study claims that lawyers have the highest rate of suicide among professionals.

3. Still another claims that 40% of law students are clinically depressed by the time graduation rolls around.

The Burning Question: Why the heck would anyone want to go to law school or be a lawyer?

The Answer: Each of you has to answer that for yourself.

The Advice: Hold onto that answer.  Stay true to your personal values and beliefs.  Don’t lose yourself among the race for jobs.  Remember, you can’t study for 24 hours every day.  We’re not saying it won’t be hard–it will be.  But, don’t forget who you are along the way.

One phrase in particular elicited laughter from the nearly 200 of us nervous 1Ls, including me, but it also made me stop and think more deeply about what these 2Ls, 3Ls, professors and deans were trying to drill into our brains.  "It is possible to be a law student/lawyer and still be human."


In fact–as the speakers challenged us–remember to be human first and a law student second.  If you keep that at the forefront, you won’t lose yourself in law school.

My Resolution?  To consider this blog my online oasis–the place I will record the small and simple joys in life along with the momentous and memorable.  Here, I will draw the fun and humor out of being a 1L… and eventually a 2L… and 3L.

I was an English major (specifically a Creative Writing major) as an undergraduate, so writing is something I thoroughly enjoy, something that allows me to feel human.  I also like photography–some of that might pop up on here as well.  To my family and friends–maybe this will provide a more complete view into my life here at law school.

So, here is to finding rivers in that 1/2/3L of a desert.