Earlier this week, the College of Law issued our new grade point averages and class rank. It was the first time in a year that the school has assessed my position, and my class should not be sorted again until the final ranking is issued after graduation next year.
I was very happy upon receiving the new rank. If I could graduate with my current statistics, I would take it without hesitation. All of the past year was spent trying to raise my GPA and class rank to make up for the mild disappointment of the grades from my first semester of law school.
This goal I have now met.
So, I enjoyed my new position for about an afternoon. That night when I laid down to go to sleep, however, I felt a new and different sort of pressure beginning to creep into my brain.
Now, I have to maintain my spot, I thought. I have climbed the ladder consistently every semester of law school. During my final year, I must work to make sure that I do not drop.
But my study habits should not change much next year, and I know that the pressure I am beginning to feel is nothing compared to the pressure those at the very top of my class must experience- those who are the top five or the top ten.
I do not know who is #1 in our class, and I can understand why that person might want to keep it a secret. A huge target gets drawn on your back, and you become the object of curiosity and envy among people used to making As and being at the top of the class for their whole lives. Your peers study your actions more closely, and some, I am sure, are secretly hoping to see what happens if you stumble.
I am friends with a few people who are in the top five- a couple from my class, a couple from the class that matriculated last year, and a couple from the class that just graduated. I also know the person who graduated first in her class from Florida State Law last year. They all handle the stress of being on top with modesty and politeness. It is no problem to admit here that they are much smarter than myself. They have a gear I am not familiar with and had not seen until I came to law school.
The difference between them and me is that they can learn much more in a shorter period of time than I can. They can listen to a detailed lecture once, do a complex reading assignment once, and get more from it and lay it out in a more organized fashion than if I had it repeated to me five times.
Earlier this semester, I had to miss a couple of classes due to a Mock Trial competition, and I asked one of my friends in the top five for her notes from those missed days. When she gave them to me, I just had to laugh at how good they were. The notes provided me with more information and in a better format than if I had been sitting in class myself. I actually showed them to my parents.
These students in the top five are the people who do not need to take courses tested on the bar exam. They will be able to grasp the requisite knowledge in the two month bar prep course after graduation. These are the people who should be judicial clerks, those prestigious jobs where one works for a judge, helping him or her draft opinions on all types of law.
And yet, when these "top five" go to work at huge law firms with the billable hour requirements, the firm gives them all that they want to handle. Even they are stretched and consumed by their work.
It lets me know that I could not survive, let alone be happy, in such an environment.
My angle, as I wrote about in my previous blog entry, is to become very knowledgeable in one particular area of law that involves the courtroom. I feel confident in the courtroom. Given a neutral set of facts to present to the jury, I have not yet met a person that I feel I could not beat in the courtroom, and this includes the top five students, professors, and current lawyers.
I am somewhat less optimistic about beating out my friends in the top five for the highest grade in a class. Still, the pressure of my trying is something with which they must constantly deal, and it is impressive that they can remain so relaxed and friendly with their colleagues.
Hopefully, I can act as graciously as them in trying to preserve my lesser status in the class ranks.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
The Plan
This summer is shaping up to be a bit of a double edged sword.
To my surprise, despite earning grades this year that were much better than in my first year of law school, I am unemployed right now.
I was thrown a bit of a curve ball when, due to the economic downturn, the firm I worked with last summer decided not to hire any law clerks at all this season. Last year, I was one of three that they hired. But I can not hold this against them. They gave me perhaps my most important experience during law school, and I am indebted to them for the trips and the meals to which they treated me last summer.
Also, though I have absolutely no regrets about working for the Summer for Undergraduates Program, this hampered me in some capacity for finding work with a firm. The program cut into about five weeks of the summer break, and law firms are more reluctant to bring on someone who is only going to be around two months.
So, I am going to miss the income.
But now for the other side of the sword. I am treating this break as if there was not one, as if I were still taking classes full time. Only now, I am studying books in the area where I think I need the most knowledge- personal injury law.
My experiences this year taught me that I will probably not be happy working at a firm that operates under the billable hour system. Unfortunately, the billable hour system is utilized by firms in most areas of law. Perhaps in a future blog entry I will detail just how that system works.
On January 16th of this year, I wrote a blog entry about how a student can not predict what kind of law he or she will practice. I now have to make that blog entry not true in regards to myself. Personal injury law, the type that I worked with last summer, is the major area where firms do not operate by the billable hour.
So, with this new knowledge of myself, my plan is to become as proficient as possible in personal injury law before graduation. I must make a P.I. firm want to hire me.
This summer, I will teach myself a course in personal injury law, as it is not a subject specifically taught by the law school. This break is a wonderful opportunity to learn. While working at the law firm last summer, there were times when I wished I had hours or even days to study a particular topic before submitting my memo or motion. By the end of the first week, I knew to keep my torts textbook and my civil procedure text and notes with me at my desk. Deadlines imposed by the partners or other lawyers kept me from doing as good a job as I would have liked.
Now is my chance, though. When school resumes in the fall, I will have a full slate of reading assigned to me. When I graduate, I will immediately begin studying for the bar exam. And when I land a job, I am sure it will be full tilt boogey and I will have to learn what I can on the fly and in real situations with real consequences.
But right now, I have time. I will read and take notes on Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law: Personal Injury Protection by Russel Lazega. This is a Florida Practice Series book of about 450 pages in length before the appendix. I have already knocked out about 200 pages of it. After completing that book, I will read Florida Personal Injury Law and Practice with Wrongful Death Actions by Judge Thomas Sawaya. This is a volume of over 1500 pages before the supplemental information. I am unaware of any course currently taught at the law school that would require me to even glance at these texts, yet they should prove extremely valuable in actual practice.
The reading should take up the rest of my summer.
Also, a couple of weeks ago I received a jury summons for the first time in my life. I reported as directed on Friday, and to my surprise after voir dire I was selected to sit on the jury for a criminal case. It will be interesting and useful to watch a trial from the jury box, and then go into the deliberation room and observe how the jury members come to their decision.
As for my blog entries for the rest of the summer- we will see what I write about. I doubt that highlights of my week's readings will prove that enthralling.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
To my surprise, despite earning grades this year that were much better than in my first year of law school, I am unemployed right now.
I was thrown a bit of a curve ball when, due to the economic downturn, the firm I worked with last summer decided not to hire any law clerks at all this season. Last year, I was one of three that they hired. But I can not hold this against them. They gave me perhaps my most important experience during law school, and I am indebted to them for the trips and the meals to which they treated me last summer.
Also, though I have absolutely no regrets about working for the Summer for Undergraduates Program, this hampered me in some capacity for finding work with a firm. The program cut into about five weeks of the summer break, and law firms are more reluctant to bring on someone who is only going to be around two months.
So, I am going to miss the income.
But now for the other side of the sword. I am treating this break as if there was not one, as if I were still taking classes full time. Only now, I am studying books in the area where I think I need the most knowledge- personal injury law.
My experiences this year taught me that I will probably not be happy working at a firm that operates under the billable hour system. Unfortunately, the billable hour system is utilized by firms in most areas of law. Perhaps in a future blog entry I will detail just how that system works.
On January 16th of this year, I wrote a blog entry about how a student can not predict what kind of law he or she will practice. I now have to make that blog entry not true in regards to myself. Personal injury law, the type that I worked with last summer, is the major area where firms do not operate by the billable hour.
So, with this new knowledge of myself, my plan is to become as proficient as possible in personal injury law before graduation. I must make a P.I. firm want to hire me.
This summer, I will teach myself a course in personal injury law, as it is not a subject specifically taught by the law school. This break is a wonderful opportunity to learn. While working at the law firm last summer, there were times when I wished I had hours or even days to study a particular topic before submitting my memo or motion. By the end of the first week, I knew to keep my torts textbook and my civil procedure text and notes with me at my desk. Deadlines imposed by the partners or other lawyers kept me from doing as good a job as I would have liked.
Now is my chance, though. When school resumes in the fall, I will have a full slate of reading assigned to me. When I graduate, I will immediately begin studying for the bar exam. And when I land a job, I am sure it will be full tilt boogey and I will have to learn what I can on the fly and in real situations with real consequences.
But right now, I have time. I will read and take notes on Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law: Personal Injury Protection by Russel Lazega. This is a Florida Practice Series book of about 450 pages in length before the appendix. I have already knocked out about 200 pages of it. After completing that book, I will read Florida Personal Injury Law and Practice with Wrongful Death Actions by Judge Thomas Sawaya. This is a volume of over 1500 pages before the supplemental information. I am unaware of any course currently taught at the law school that would require me to even glance at these texts, yet they should prove extremely valuable in actual practice.
The reading should take up the rest of my summer.
Also, a couple of weeks ago I received a jury summons for the first time in my life. I reported as directed on Friday, and to my surprise after voir dire I was selected to sit on the jury for a criminal case. It will be interesting and useful to watch a trial from the jury box, and then go into the deliberation room and observe how the jury members come to their decision.
As for my blog entries for the rest of the summer- we will see what I write about. I doubt that highlights of my week's readings will prove that enthralling.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Monday, June 14, 2010
Cloud Hopping and Other Encounters with Nature in Tallahassee
Now that the Summer for Undergrads program has ended and I have some free time, I thought I would write about something different.
A couple of weeks ago, I walked out of my apartment in Alumni Village and spotted a partial rainbow on the eastern horizon. Other people were also standing outside gazing at it. One young toddler of Asian descent was so excited that he did not know what to do with himself. He ran around a swing set shouting "Rainbow! Rainbow!"
A slightly older girl ran up to him, and they both dashed across the lawn as he continued to shout, looking back over his shoulder at it.
I can remember the first time I saw a rainbow. It was in Wilmington, NC and I was three or four years old. I was in the backyard of our apartment and our neighbors were also outside playing in a plastic kiddie pool. The rainbow was not fully formed, but I was still fascinated at how the colors stood out distinctly in the blue sky.
I have only seen a perfect, completely formed rainbow once in my life. That was in Rochester, New York in June 2004. It appeared outside my room in the Strathallan Hotel, and I stepped out onto my balcony to watch it over downtown Rochester. That rainbow was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in nature, and even the local news anchors mentioned it that evening on their 6pm broadcast...
After the Tallahassee rainbow disappeared, I went for a bike ride through Innovation Park. The cloud patterns that caused the rainbow moved in from the western horizon, and I found myself getting soaked with rain. Spying a large oak tree, I ducked under its branches and waited. In a minute, the rain stopped.
The clouds were unique. I could see patches of darkening blue sky where it was not raining, but then also there were grey clouds and lightening where I saw rain pouring.
I decided to play a game of cloud hopping. I took off on my bike for the engineering building, trying to make it there before the next rain cloud passed over my head. The first few drops began to hit my back just as I zipped into a covered entrance of the building. The rain was warm, so it did not bother me much. But I enjoyed playing this game.
The rain stopped again, and I rode my bike out from the engineering building, past the golf course and the small reservoir in the park. Some Canada geese were already flying in to rest for the night.
A colder, steadier downpour caught me before I could get to the next building and its covered entrance. The rain drops beat loudly on the thin plastic awning. But again, it did not last long.
I cloud hopped for about an hour, watching parts of the evening sky light up with electricity. Eventually, the clouds moved off and the rain stopped for good. I coasted back to my apartment on the downhill slopes from Innovation Park to Alumni Village.
...
A few days later, the natural surroundings of Tallahassee gave me another interesting experience.
While on one of my usual night time runs, I felt a tickle on the back of my neck which I thought to be a drop of sweat. When I tried to wipe it away, though, I suddenly discovered that I had palmed some sort of creature about the size of a golf ball.
In the span of half a second, I grabbed it from the back of my neck and tossed it to the ground. I heard its large exoskeleton clatter across the asphalt, but I did not stop my run to see what the thing looked like.
In the half second it was in my hand, I felt a pinch on my palm. I looked at my hand as I continued running, and through the glow of the street lamps I could see a pink mark on my palm where it had bitten or pinched me. Luckily, it did not break the skin and the mark faded quickly.
With this memory fresh in my mind, the next night I was doing laundry when I came back to my apartment to find a massive and fierce looking insect mounted on my door frame about chest high. This is what it looked like.
I had no idea what this creature was, but its face had what looked like fangs, and it appeared to be a predator of some intelligence.
I did not want to get attacked by this thing. For a few moments, I debated what I should do. Then I said to it, " Bug, I don't want any trouble, but you have parked yourself right at the entrance to my home. I have to go in- you understand?"
Holding my empty laundry basket as a shield, I carefully keyed into my apartment and slowly opened the door. The creature did not move, and I shut the door.
After half an hour, it was time for me to go back to the laundry facility to switch my clothes from the washers to the dryers. I hoped the thing would be gone when I opened the door.
I opened the door quickly, and then took a step back. The insect was still there, only now it was raised up and larger. I thought that perhaps I had startled it when I opened the door, and in response it had flared to attack position. This is what it looked like. The photos are pretty close to actual size.
Again, using my laundry basket as a shield, I stepped outside, shut the door, and took a closer look at the insect. It was then that I realized it was molting- breaking through its old shell.
Now is my chance to kill it, I thought.
But I do not enjoy squashing live things, and I only do it when I really have to. I decided to give this fierce but cool looking insect more time. Maybe when I came back from the laundry facility it would have finished molting and be gone.
Unfortunately, it was still there when I came back. Mounted on the back of its old shell, I now saw that the insect had wings. It moved slightly when I came close.
I managed to slip past it again into my apartment. After another half hour wait while my clothes dried, I opened the door again, hoping the bug had flown away.
But it was still there, and it flexed its wings when I opened the door.
Okay, that's it, I thought. This thing has wings and it is responding to my movements. It can fly up and sting me in the face if it wants to.
Using the door for protection, I took a broom and poked at it to get it off my door frame. I felt a tinge of sympathy when it tried to use its old shell for protection. It was not able to fly away, yet. But I poked it again and knocked it off the door frame, along with the shell. I heard it hit the ground.
Well, that's that, I thought, and I finished my laundry. The next day, I did some research at the library and discovered that the insect was actually a harmless cicada.
I felt badly that I had not allowed it to finish molting. Eventually it would have developed into something like this.
But given my experience from my run, I was not taking chances.
It was just bad luck for the cicada. I learned from this, though, and I now know what a molting cicada looks like.
The first image of the cicada is from http://www.earthlife.net/insects/images/hemipter/cicada3.JPG
The last three images in this blog entry come from http://www.insectidentification.org/process-of-molting.asp
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
A couple of weeks ago, I walked out of my apartment in Alumni Village and spotted a partial rainbow on the eastern horizon. Other people were also standing outside gazing at it. One young toddler of Asian descent was so excited that he did not know what to do with himself. He ran around a swing set shouting "Rainbow! Rainbow!"
A slightly older girl ran up to him, and they both dashed across the lawn as he continued to shout, looking back over his shoulder at it.
I can remember the first time I saw a rainbow. It was in Wilmington, NC and I was three or four years old. I was in the backyard of our apartment and our neighbors were also outside playing in a plastic kiddie pool. The rainbow was not fully formed, but I was still fascinated at how the colors stood out distinctly in the blue sky.
I have only seen a perfect, completely formed rainbow once in my life. That was in Rochester, New York in June 2004. It appeared outside my room in the Strathallan Hotel, and I stepped out onto my balcony to watch it over downtown Rochester. That rainbow was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in nature, and even the local news anchors mentioned it that evening on their 6pm broadcast...
After the Tallahassee rainbow disappeared, I went for a bike ride through Innovation Park. The cloud patterns that caused the rainbow moved in from the western horizon, and I found myself getting soaked with rain. Spying a large oak tree, I ducked under its branches and waited. In a minute, the rain stopped.
The clouds were unique. I could see patches of darkening blue sky where it was not raining, but then also there were grey clouds and lightening where I saw rain pouring.
I decided to play a game of cloud hopping. I took off on my bike for the engineering building, trying to make it there before the next rain cloud passed over my head. The first few drops began to hit my back just as I zipped into a covered entrance of the building. The rain was warm, so it did not bother me much. But I enjoyed playing this game.
The rain stopped again, and I rode my bike out from the engineering building, past the golf course and the small reservoir in the park. Some Canada geese were already flying in to rest for the night.
A colder, steadier downpour caught me before I could get to the next building and its covered entrance. The rain drops beat loudly on the thin plastic awning. But again, it did not last long.
I cloud hopped for about an hour, watching parts of the evening sky light up with electricity. Eventually, the clouds moved off and the rain stopped for good. I coasted back to my apartment on the downhill slopes from Innovation Park to Alumni Village.
...
A few days later, the natural surroundings of Tallahassee gave me another interesting experience.
While on one of my usual night time runs, I felt a tickle on the back of my neck which I thought to be a drop of sweat. When I tried to wipe it away, though, I suddenly discovered that I had palmed some sort of creature about the size of a golf ball.
In the span of half a second, I grabbed it from the back of my neck and tossed it to the ground. I heard its large exoskeleton clatter across the asphalt, but I did not stop my run to see what the thing looked like.
In the half second it was in my hand, I felt a pinch on my palm. I looked at my hand as I continued running, and through the glow of the street lamps I could see a pink mark on my palm where it had bitten or pinched me. Luckily, it did not break the skin and the mark faded quickly.
With this memory fresh in my mind, the next night I was doing laundry when I came back to my apartment to find a massive and fierce looking insect mounted on my door frame about chest high. This is what it looked like.
I had no idea what this creature was, but its face had what looked like fangs, and it appeared to be a predator of some intelligence.
I did not want to get attacked by this thing. For a few moments, I debated what I should do. Then I said to it, " Bug, I don't want any trouble, but you have parked yourself right at the entrance to my home. I have to go in- you understand?"
Holding my empty laundry basket as a shield, I carefully keyed into my apartment and slowly opened the door. The creature did not move, and I shut the door.
After half an hour, it was time for me to go back to the laundry facility to switch my clothes from the washers to the dryers. I hoped the thing would be gone when I opened the door.
I opened the door quickly, and then took a step back. The insect was still there, only now it was raised up and larger. I thought that perhaps I had startled it when I opened the door, and in response it had flared to attack position. This is what it looked like. The photos are pretty close to actual size.
Again, using my laundry basket as a shield, I stepped outside, shut the door, and took a closer look at the insect. It was then that I realized it was molting- breaking through its old shell.
Now is my chance to kill it, I thought.
But I do not enjoy squashing live things, and I only do it when I really have to. I decided to give this fierce but cool looking insect more time. Maybe when I came back from the laundry facility it would have finished molting and be gone.
Unfortunately, it was still there when I came back. Mounted on the back of its old shell, I now saw that the insect had wings. It moved slightly when I came close.
I managed to slip past it again into my apartment. After another half hour wait while my clothes dried, I opened the door again, hoping the bug had flown away.
But it was still there, and it flexed its wings when I opened the door.
Okay, that's it, I thought. This thing has wings and it is responding to my movements. It can fly up and sting me in the face if it wants to.
Using the door for protection, I took a broom and poked at it to get it off my door frame. I felt a tinge of sympathy when it tried to use its old shell for protection. It was not able to fly away, yet. But I poked it again and knocked it off the door frame, along with the shell. I heard it hit the ground.
Well, that's that, I thought, and I finished my laundry. The next day, I did some research at the library and discovered that the insect was actually a harmless cicada.
I felt badly that I had not allowed it to finish molting. Eventually it would have developed into something like this.
But given my experience from my run, I was not taking chances.
It was just bad luck for the cicada. I learned from this, though, and I now know what a molting cicada looks like.
The first image of the cicada is from http://www.earthlife.net/insects/images/hemipter/cicada3.JPG
The last three images in this blog entry come from http://www.insectidentification.org/process-of-molting.asp
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Sunday, June 13, 2010
The End of SUG 2010
The Summer for Undergraduates Program 2010 has come to a close.
It is for the students themselves to say how successful the program was, but I believe we had a positive and lasting impact. My thanks go out to Dean Daniels for hiring me as a mentor again. Like last year, she did an outstanding job running the program. Also, her office assistant, Sarah Lowe, deserves a lot of credit. Sarah performed much of the behind-the-scenes work to keep the program running smoothly, but the students did not get to know her that well. My fellow mentors worked very hard during the program. No one of us had to carry an undue share of the work load.
As I told students at the closing reception on Thursday night, this is a fun job and an easy job for me. It is fun and easy because the students are the ones who make it so. It is a pleasure to work with bright and positive people who have their whole lives ahead of them. I encouraged the students to stay positive and to stay curious as they progress through their college years and then on into their careers.
A few students asked me what the differences were between their group and the one I mentored last year. Honestly, there is not much difference. I made good friends in each of the last two SUG classes. Both classes are filled with enormous potential.
I'll take a stab at some humor to point out some differences, though. A couple of students in this year's class had a few zingers for me that I did not hear last year- zingers of a sort that are new to me.
On the first day of the program, before he even said "Hello" to me, one student came up and commented, "So I notice you're a bit older." When another SUG participant beside him chided him about this, the student responded to her, "What? He knows he's old. He can look in the mirror."
But I quickly got to know this student and appreciated his humor and perspective. We had some interesting conversations, and he kept me entertained with his sarcastic insights into some of our events.
Another student this year was also a master of sarcasm. As I ate dinner with him and some others one evening, I told them about my experience as a park ranger at Petersburg National Battlefield in Virginia.
"Wow," he said as he continued looking down and eating his food. "That battle must be a really great memory for you."
It took me a couple of seconds to catch on. After a laugh, I went on to explain that I have a great great grandfather who fought for the Confederacy. The student (who is African-American) asked with enthusiasm, "Do you have his picture on your wall?"
But perhaps the best zinger came from a student who meant to do no such thing. The two of us were riding in my car to visit one of the local law firms. He was asking me all sorts of questions about law school when suddenly he threw in, "So, if you don't mind, can I ask how old you are?"
I told him. There was a pause. He shifted uneasily in the passenger seat before asking, "You ever feel like the years are just... passing you by?"
These are just a few isolated moments of humor at my expense. Despite their sharp wit, these same students saw fit to elect me as the outstanding mentor, so I guess my age did not act as too much of a handicap in being a positive influence on them. The students also gave me very nice cards and a gift.
This job was a blast, and I wish it could last all summer.
I also wish the very best to the students of SUG 2010. This program will be a really great memory for me, and I hope for them, too.
Whether they go to law school or not, our aim was to give the students insight into all the options a legal education provides. We also sought to help them shape their individual goals.
To the students, it was a pleasure meeting you all. Good luck to you.
Your favorite (and oldest) mentor,
Nathan Marshburn
It is for the students themselves to say how successful the program was, but I believe we had a positive and lasting impact. My thanks go out to Dean Daniels for hiring me as a mentor again. Like last year, she did an outstanding job running the program. Also, her office assistant, Sarah Lowe, deserves a lot of credit. Sarah performed much of the behind-the-scenes work to keep the program running smoothly, but the students did not get to know her that well. My fellow mentors worked very hard during the program. No one of us had to carry an undue share of the work load.
As I told students at the closing reception on Thursday night, this is a fun job and an easy job for me. It is fun and easy because the students are the ones who make it so. It is a pleasure to work with bright and positive people who have their whole lives ahead of them. I encouraged the students to stay positive and to stay curious as they progress through their college years and then on into their careers.
A few students asked me what the differences were between their group and the one I mentored last year. Honestly, there is not much difference. I made good friends in each of the last two SUG classes. Both classes are filled with enormous potential.
I'll take a stab at some humor to point out some differences, though. A couple of students in this year's class had a few zingers for me that I did not hear last year- zingers of a sort that are new to me.
On the first day of the program, before he even said "Hello" to me, one student came up and commented, "So I notice you're a bit older." When another SUG participant beside him chided him about this, the student responded to her, "What? He knows he's old. He can look in the mirror."
But I quickly got to know this student and appreciated his humor and perspective. We had some interesting conversations, and he kept me entertained with his sarcastic insights into some of our events.
Another student this year was also a master of sarcasm. As I ate dinner with him and some others one evening, I told them about my experience as a park ranger at Petersburg National Battlefield in Virginia.
"Wow," he said as he continued looking down and eating his food. "That battle must be a really great memory for you."
It took me a couple of seconds to catch on. After a laugh, I went on to explain that I have a great great grandfather who fought for the Confederacy. The student (who is African-American) asked with enthusiasm, "Do you have his picture on your wall?"
But perhaps the best zinger came from a student who meant to do no such thing. The two of us were riding in my car to visit one of the local law firms. He was asking me all sorts of questions about law school when suddenly he threw in, "So, if you don't mind, can I ask how old you are?"
I told him. There was a pause. He shifted uneasily in the passenger seat before asking, "You ever feel like the years are just... passing you by?"
These are just a few isolated moments of humor at my expense. Despite their sharp wit, these same students saw fit to elect me as the outstanding mentor, so I guess my age did not act as too much of a handicap in being a positive influence on them. The students also gave me very nice cards and a gift.
This job was a blast, and I wish it could last all summer.
I also wish the very best to the students of SUG 2010. This program will be a really great memory for me, and I hope for them, too.
Whether they go to law school or not, our aim was to give the students insight into all the options a legal education provides. We also sought to help them shape their individual goals.
To the students, it was a pleasure meeting you all. Good luck to you.
Your favorite (and oldest) mentor,
Nathan Marshburn
Sunday, June 6, 2010
A Generous Gift
The Summer for Undergraduates Program receives most of its funding through a donation from Wayne Hogan, a very successful attorney in Jacksonville and an alumnus of the College of Law. Mr. Hogan is a also a mentor of Attorney Benjamin Crump. Mr. Crump is a founding partner of Parks & Crump, LLC, one of the most successful personal injury firms in Florida.
On Friday, we held a lunch in honor of Mr. Hogan in the rotunda of the law school. During the lunch, Mr. Crump spoke about the influence of Mr. Hogan on himself and on the practice of law in the state of Florida.
Mr. Crump then presented the law school with a generous gift- a donation in the amount of $20,000 for the Summer for Undergraduates Program. Mr. Crump made the donation in honor of Mr. Hogan.
It was a tremendous gesture, and one audibly appreciated by the students in the program. The program has changed the lives of many students over the years, and opened worlds of new opportunities and ideas to them.
Also, I wish to note here that Mr. Crump is in contention for Advocate of the Year at the Nation's Best Advocate Awards Gala. The award goes to an attorney who excels in achievement, innovation, vision, leadership and legal community involvement.
You may join me in voting for him at:
www.NationsBestAdvocates.com.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
On Friday, we held a lunch in honor of Mr. Hogan in the rotunda of the law school. During the lunch, Mr. Crump spoke about the influence of Mr. Hogan on himself and on the practice of law in the state of Florida.
Mr. Crump then presented the law school with a generous gift- a donation in the amount of $20,000 for the Summer for Undergraduates Program. Mr. Crump made the donation in honor of Mr. Hogan.
It was a tremendous gesture, and one audibly appreciated by the students in the program. The program has changed the lives of many students over the years, and opened worlds of new opportunities and ideas to them.
Also, I wish to note here that Mr. Crump is in contention for Advocate of the Year at the Nation's Best Advocate Awards Gala. The award goes to an attorney who excels in achievement, innovation, vision, leadership and legal community involvement.
You may join me in voting for him at:
www.NationsBestAdvocates.com.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Politics, a "Not-So-Boring" Man and a Grand View
The end of this week in the Summer for Undergraduates Program was a flurry of activity.
On Friday, we visited the State Capitol- specifically the Governor's Office and the offices of the Attorney General and the Chief Financial Officer. Politics in Florida is especially interesting right now. It is an election year. Governor Charlie Crist is running for U.S. Senate. Though Governor Crist was elected as a Republican, he has switched to become an independent for his senate run. The Attorney General of Florida, Bill McCollum, is also a Republican and is currently running for governor. Mr. McCollum is one of the state attorneys general who is challenging the new health care law for its constitutionality. Though the AG was not in his office yesterday, we got to take a look at his desk. I remember a unique University of Florida Gator mascot made from legos setting on top.
Alex Sink is the State CFO, and her office is just down the hall from the Attorney General. She is a Democrat and is running for governor against Mr. McCollum.
Coincidentally, I met Ms. Sink and Kendrick Meek (the likely Democratic opponent against Governor Crist in the senate race) at fund raisers last year during my employment with Parks and Crump.
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the top priority for many people at the Capitol right now.
The Governor, the CFO and the Attorney General all occupy the first floor of the Capitol Building.
The evening before our visit to their offices, we also went to the Capitol Building. This time, however, it was to the very top floor (22nd) for a networking reception with attorneys and judges in Tallahassee. I did not know until this week that this floor is open to the general public during normal business hours.
The view of Tallahassee from the 22nd floor is grand. I saw the law school far below, along with the football stadium, the hospital, and the roads I frequently drive.
The Capitol Building is the tallest in Tallahassee, and it was neat to look upon downtown and see a rooftop swimming pool in one of the hotels. One of my fellow mentors called his girlfriend at her apartment and got her to come outside and wave to us. She looked like an ant.
While enjoying this view, the students ate gourmet quality food and got to know some of the movers and shakers in the politics and the legal professions of Tallahassee.
On Tuesday of this week, Judge Robert Hinkle of the Northern District of Florida spoke to the students in his courtroom at the Federal Courthouse. Judge Hinkle is one of the most intelligent individuals to address the group, having earned a bachelor's degree from Florida State before attending Harvard law school. He was nominated to become a federal judge by President Bill Clinton in 1996.
One of the students asked how the judge got to be where he is in life. Judge Hinkle described himself as "boring," and said that if he had lived a more colorful life, he probably would not have been selected to be a judge.
But as one of the students commented to me after the session was over, we could all tell that he was being modest. People with those credentials who describe themselves as "boring," the student said, are almost always anything but boring. Indeed, we had to cut off student questions for the judge in order for them to have time for lunch.
As I have said before, the students are really appreciating all the opportunities and connections to which they have been exposed.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
On Friday, we visited the State Capitol- specifically the Governor's Office and the offices of the Attorney General and the Chief Financial Officer. Politics in Florida is especially interesting right now. It is an election year. Governor Charlie Crist is running for U.S. Senate. Though Governor Crist was elected as a Republican, he has switched to become an independent for his senate run. The Attorney General of Florida, Bill McCollum, is also a Republican and is currently running for governor. Mr. McCollum is one of the state attorneys general who is challenging the new health care law for its constitutionality. Though the AG was not in his office yesterday, we got to take a look at his desk. I remember a unique University of Florida Gator mascot made from legos setting on top.
Alex Sink is the State CFO, and her office is just down the hall from the Attorney General. She is a Democrat and is running for governor against Mr. McCollum.
Coincidentally, I met Ms. Sink and Kendrick Meek (the likely Democratic opponent against Governor Crist in the senate race) at fund raisers last year during my employment with Parks and Crump.
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the top priority for many people at the Capitol right now.
The Governor, the CFO and the Attorney General all occupy the first floor of the Capitol Building.
The evening before our visit to their offices, we also went to the Capitol Building. This time, however, it was to the very top floor (22nd) for a networking reception with attorneys and judges in Tallahassee. I did not know until this week that this floor is open to the general public during normal business hours.
The view of Tallahassee from the 22nd floor is grand. I saw the law school far below, along with the football stadium, the hospital, and the roads I frequently drive.
The Capitol Building is the tallest in Tallahassee, and it was neat to look upon downtown and see a rooftop swimming pool in one of the hotels. One of my fellow mentors called his girlfriend at her apartment and got her to come outside and wave to us. She looked like an ant.
While enjoying this view, the students ate gourmet quality food and got to know some of the movers and shakers in the politics and the legal professions of Tallahassee.
On Tuesday of this week, Judge Robert Hinkle of the Northern District of Florida spoke to the students in his courtroom at the Federal Courthouse. Judge Hinkle is one of the most intelligent individuals to address the group, having earned a bachelor's degree from Florida State before attending Harvard law school. He was nominated to become a federal judge by President Bill Clinton in 1996.
One of the students asked how the judge got to be where he is in life. Judge Hinkle described himself as "boring," and said that if he had lived a more colorful life, he probably would not have been selected to be a judge.
But as one of the students commented to me after the session was over, we could all tell that he was being modest. People with those credentials who describe themselves as "boring," the student said, are almost always anything but boring. Indeed, we had to cut off student questions for the judge in order for them to have time for lunch.
As I have said before, the students are really appreciating all the opportunities and connections to which they have been exposed.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Thumbs Up to the Tech Help Desk
This week, the students in the Summer for Undergraduates Program are performing group presentations to educate the rest of us on various areas of the law. The categories include: Corporate law, criminal law, environmental law, family law, health care law, intellectual property, international/immigration law, labor/employment, personal injury, sports and entertainment, and tax.
The employees in the tech department of the law school have been great in helping the students create funny and amusing videos to accompany their presentations. The students have also been able to go to the tech support staff when they have difficulties with power point presentations or other computer glitches. The student group presenting on criminal law was particularly impressed with the editing job of the tech staff for their video.
People who can solve computer and technology problems have become almost indispensable to the operation of business and educational facilities. They are just as important to the operation of a law office as the lawyers themselves.
So, thanks to the tech department. You guys are making my job much easier.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
The employees in the tech department of the law school have been great in helping the students create funny and amusing videos to accompany their presentations. The students have also been able to go to the tech support staff when they have difficulties with power point presentations or other computer glitches. The student group presenting on criminal law was particularly impressed with the editing job of the tech staff for their video.
People who can solve computer and technology problems have become almost indispensable to the operation of business and educational facilities. They are just as important to the operation of a law office as the lawyers themselves.
So, thanks to the tech department. You guys are making my job much easier.
YFM,
Nathan Marshburn
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