Big Boy Pants

By the time a law student reaches their third year, they're expected to know a few things. Being called on to brief a case the first night of class shouldn't come as a surprise, as it did for one of my close friends last night.

The professors know that you know the drill, and they're more than happy to jump in feet first and blast off within the first 10 minutes of the first class

Third year looks like it will be pretty action packed. I've got mountains of work to do, and I'll admit I thrive on the challenge of getting it all done every week.

I don't think it will be as much of a mental challenge as it will be a time management challenge this year. That's not to say the coursework is easy, which in law school it never is. It's just that now we're learning mostly niche areas of law, a kind of fine-tuning for lawyering if you will.

It feels good to be back in the groove and sweating it out again. I got my big boy pants on again...

Landing a legal career: low and slow

The good news: I'm finding plenty of available relevant jobs to apply for.
The bad news: The legal world seems to move at a snails pace when it comes to hiring.

There are a few awesome job opportunities that are developing right now. But they are taking time to develop. So I'm waiting. And waiting.

Third year begins next week, so technically this is my last weekend of freedom for a while. I'm sure this blog will start to shift focus to my third year studies.

Short and sweet today!

Prospects and Pencil-Breaking

I'm officially done with craigslist job postings. It seems that almost everytime I apply for a "legit" job, I get a spam email within the next 24 hours. Aside from that, there is a potential good opportunity in the works.

I'm constantly reminding myself that this job search will take some time. I keep wanting to press the accelerator, while it seems everything around me is pressing the brake pedal. I think I've pretty much conquered this situation mentally. It took about 2 weeks to settle into reality and comes to grips and peace with what happened.

There's a still small voice that reminds me that in the grand scheme that is my life, this is simply a small plateau.

In things more relevant to the origins of this blog, I have a mock bar exam on Saturday. It covers all the material I've learned thus far during my first 2 years. All we're required to do is simply take it. They reveal the names of those who pass it. Classes past have only had a small handful of people pass, so I'm not really going all out for it.

I'm not excited that 7 hours of my Saturday will be spent head-scratching and pencil-breaking.

For now, I'm patiently waiting to see how God pans out a very positive prospective job. I'll keep you updated as things progress.

-Jesse

Landing a J-O-B

This is temporarily going to become my blog about becoming employed in a full-time job. It seems that some days there are three or four jobs that cry out "That's me!", while other days there's absolutely nothing that fits my skill set.

As of today, I've applied for 11 jobs, spanning various fields. My primary focus is getting a legal assistant/paralegal position. It makes the most sense since I now have only 2 years of law school left.

So far, I've had one phone interview and one other response which I have a gut feeling was a scam. Who in the world scams for a law firm job?

Yesterday was by far the most emotionally exhausting day in this hunt for a new job. Today is much better.   The past few days have been much for fruitful, with more relevant job openings appearing. In the last 2 days alone, I've applied for 6 jobs, all of them I could see myself working in.

I'll try to do daily posts or semi-daily posts. I think it will be fascinating to look back on these posts once I'm working full-time again.

In the meantime, I'm working as many hours as I can at Fulin's (sigh, but a thankful sigh)

-Jesse

Patience

This post is difficult. The past several days have been spent trying to make things happen, with the outcome of nothing happening. I suppose I could use this to vent. But, people who complain online irritate me. The last thing I want to come across as is irritating.

Almost two weeks ago I lost my job. Thank God my secondary job has allowed me to pick up more hours. Perhaps I was overly optimistic when I reasoned that I would work as many hours as I could until I was able to land another full-time job.

Interesting emotions have begun to set in. Some good, most bad. I'm discovering how much I depended on my job title/position as my place of importance in this world. I could easily label myself as just a server now, but that would exclude every single achievement and accomplishment I've done. It would also forget that I'm about to begin my third year of law school with the previous two years displaying the amazing favor of God.

Interesting thoughts have entered my mind. "You're not hirable". "Your resume won't stand out". "You'll have to settle for less". "This job can't pay the bills, you'll lose your house".

I imagine if I was single and simply floating through life that this experience may not be as traumatic. Add a wife, a baby, a mortgage, and everything else and suddenly your problems seem to be exponentially magnified.

The strongest emotion I've had to face is feeling sorry for myself. Why is it tempting to simply sit in a corner and suck my thumb waiting for someone to throw me some sympathy? I try to catch this early on, and remind myself of who I am, who my Father is, and why I refuse to identify myself in this way.

As for right now, I'm learning patience. I'm learning that it doesn't come easy, quick, or conveniently.

A New Direction

I had it planned out. The next two years of my life, all charted out and organized. To my surprise, that plan has been turned on its head. In respect to certain people close to me, I'll reserve specific details from this post. But I'm now facing a new direction in my career and couldn't be more excited to see where God takes me.

Now that I'm beginning my third year, it seems both fitting and appropriate to begin building a firm foundation in the nuts and bolts of the legal world. Where this takes me, I'm not sure. Yes, it's scary not knowing what lies ahead. But there's a calming peace that God is opening a fantastic opportunity in the coming weeks. I'll keep you posted as things develop.

For now, we're (Heather, Violet, and I) fine and surrounded by loved ones with much encouragement and support. Thanks for reading!

Jesse

Winter Waiting

I'm now at the point where I'm anxious to start school again. I'm sick of having too much free time, it makes me feel unproductive. It sounds ridiculous to say something like that, but I have to constantly be doing something.

But the three months off have allowed me to see some great developmental moments in my daughter, Violet's life. For example, she can mimic alot of simple verbal phrases, which makes for some hilarious moments. She can now walk periodically, although she's best motivated by walking to a stuffed animal or a place in the house where she knows she can cause trouble.

This break has also been great because it broke down my routine. At the end of last year I was the epitome of a cog in a machine. Eat. Work. Study. School. Sleep. It's been a nice vacation from Study and School.

When I was gearing up for my second year at this time last year I was nervous and worried. Would I be able to hash through these classes? Could I repeat the success I had somehow stumbled upon during my first year?

This year is different. I feel ready. It's not arrogance, but confidence. I have a game plan. I know how to best prepare in a way that suits my style of studying. I spent last year honing my studying abilities I had discovered as a first year student.

Thinking about third year, my mindset is "another year to put in the books". This is far from the "Holy crap I hope I make it!" desperation I felt last year.

I'm excited to take more specialized classes and not so much of the core essentials that law students have grown to despise. My father spends a great deal of his practice on wills and estate planning, and I'm excited I finally get to learn the nuts and bolts of this area of law.

I'm a little nervous about moot court, mostly because I'm unfamimiar with how it will work. To be honest, I'm a little intimidated at the thought of presenting a make-believe case to a real-life judge. I'm sure that experience will produce a nice blog post or three.

One month to go until classes start. I have to remind myself to enjoy this time off. But that's hard to do when you just want to be done with school and start doing this thing in real life.

Bye for now!