I was watching a game on TV one day when Lee Corso, an ESPN college football analyst who played for Florida State said, "Life is about change, and your ability to adapt to it."
In my first semester of law school, I readily made the change to this new environment and to living in my small apartment in Alumni Village. School has always been enjoyable and an easy adjustment for me. But an even bigger change is coming in just a few months- after I graduate and take the bar exam. I am trying to get ready for it. The difficulty is figuring out exactly how I need to change. It can be mentally exhausting. Job openings in this economy are scarce. Interviews are even scarcer. If I get an interview, I need to wow the employer. I need to hit a home run.
My experiences in law school have shown me a few things that I do not want to do. For example, working under the billable hour system is not for me. I will not bother going into details as to why I dislike that system, but unfortunately, this aversion wipes out many avenues of employment. Most law firms utilize the billable hour model.
I've managed to narrow my thinking about the future to three directions, each of which requires a very different mindset. In no particular order of preference, they are:
1) Plaintiff's Civil Litigation Attorney:
I would be good at this.
Much of my focus during law school has been in developing skills as a trial lawyer and a knowledge base in personal injury/wrongful death/workers’ compensation practice.
Personal injury, workers’ comp and wrongful death became primary choices for practice in large part due to my experience as a law clerk with Parks & Crump, LLC in Tallahassee. It is much more satisfying to see the face of the client I represent, to know them as a person, and to fight and win a personal victory for them. I would not be happy working for the other side, billing hours day after day to a faceless client, helping (in the words of Mr. Crump) Goliath defeat David.
In order to succeed in this field, though, I need to take on more "walking around stress" than I have as a student. To be a good advocate, I have to be willing to go into fights for my clients on a daily basis. My clients' cases will always be one of if not the single most important thing in their lives at that given time. My clients will put a lot of hope in me. The partners of the firm, my fellow attorneys, the paralegals, will all have expectations of me. Their livelihood will depend on how I perform. To take on this kind of responsibility and high stakes gamesmanship will require disciplined thinking on my part. I will have to become a somewhat different person than I am now.
To succeed in job interviews for a plaintiff's civil litigation attorney, I need to already be thinking like this. I need to get ready.
2) Criminal Defense Attorney/ Public Defender
I would be good at this.
Back on September 10, 2010, I wrote a blog entry about my pro bono work with the Leon County Public Defender. It was an enjoyable experience.
In order to be a successful criminal defense attorney in private practice, you almost have to put in your time with a Public Defender's Office or State Attorney's Office. Many people make careers there, particularly in the Public Defender's Office. The "walking around stress" would be cut down some, as the state will take care of my salary and the livelihoods of my support staff. Criminal law is more fun than the civil side, too. On the other hand, I would be in court a lot more. Parks & Crump typically goes to trial only about twice per year. As a public defender, though, I will have the daily stress of almost literally holding a person's life in my hands. The words I say to a jury, how I act in front of them and the judge, will decide if my client (guilty or innocent) goes free, goes to prison, or perhaps goes to the lethal injection table. To get ready for this job, I need more independent study of criminal law and procedure. Most of my electives in law school have been to help me prepare as a civil litigator. I never took Criminal Procedure-Adjudication ("From Bail to Jail"); I never took Dean Logan's legendary Criminal Procedure-Police class ("Cops and Robbers"). I also skipped the criminal pre-trial drafting courses that many students interested in this area of law took. Still, I have all the confidence I need to be successful here. More than any other area of law, I think I could quickly become competent here.
But to succeed in these job interviews, I need to already be thinking like a criminal defense attorney. I need to get ready.
3) Sales in the legal field.
I would be good at this.
There is a possible option to not practice law altogether and instead go into a sales career, either with the bar prep company which I now work for as a student, or with the publishing and internet research giants used by law schools and law firms- Wolters Kluwer, LexisNexis or Westlaw.
I already possess many of the fundamental skills necessary for success in sales, though it did not come naturally. By nature, I am an introvert, but my experience in auto sales before coming to law school opened up a new world and a new way of thinking to me. After a few months practice, I finally began to instinctively see a situation and think, "Now what would the good salesman do?"
The mindset needed to be successful in sales is what I already have to a large extent, but it is a 180 degree turn from what I need to be a successful trial lawyer. In sales, it is not good practice to dislike anyone. Anyone. But for a trial lawyer, there are different rules.
For example, earlier this semester, I had to prepare for a Mock Trial tournament. Our case was a criminal one, a murder trial. I was the prosecutor, and my chief assignments were to tear up the defendant (an accused throat slasher) on cross examination and then tear him up again in my closing argument before the jury.
In getting my mind ready, in drafting my cross examination questions and in practicing how I would say them, I was aware that it was affecting my job as a sales rep for my bar prep company. I was not as friendly to people. I did not bother studying them as much to pay attention to their likes and dislikes. I also was surprised when I began forgetting some students' names. In sales, I learned tricks to remember peoples' names. But in getting ready for this trial, the tricks faded in my mind, and so did the names. I was thinking instead about how to get the jury angry with the defendant, about how to make the jury feel moral revulsion over what he had done.
Now that the Mock Trial tournament is over, I am good to go for sales interviews again. But if I start to get ready for other types of interviews, criminal law or civil litigation, I will lose this edge...
All right, that's enough complaining. I am graduating from a top 50 law school in two months. I am in much better shape than most people.
It would just be less tiring to know exactly how I should be training my mind right now. As it is, I worry about being mediocre or indecisive in interviews. But we'll see where I land.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Birmingham and Mock Trial
Today in Tallahassee, I found pollen on my car for the first time this year. I also turned on the air conditioner in my car for the first time since September or October. During my drive to school, I saw a dogwood tree in full bloom. I am glad that the cold weather is fading away...
And last weekend, I had the privilege of competing in my final Mock Trial tournament. I was part of a team that Florida State Law sent to the Texas Young Lawyer's Association (TYLA) regional competition. This tournament is one of if not the most popular Mock Trial tournaments in the country. It is a national event, with many of the law schools in the country sending a team to their respective regional contest. Our region includes Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. The regional winners go on to Houston in April for the finals.
The Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham served as this year's regional host. The city has a beautiful courthouse where all the teams competed. My team did fairly well. We beat Barry University, the University of Miami, and lost a close contest to the University of Alabama. Our 2-1 record wasn't quite good enough to reach the semifinals, so we were done with the competition on Saturday night.
This gave us the opportunity to see a little of the city. During our trip, we stayed at the Sheraton in downtown Birmingham. On Saturday night, Kid Rock performed right across the street. To my surprise, he has quite a following. Kid Rock groupies filled up the rooms of the hotel, and well before the concert began my hall was littered with beer bottles and empty cigarette boxes. I enjoyed mingling with the fans before I hit the town Saturday night. I was used to their thick southern accents, but to hear guys speaking the southern working class dialect while wearing all black and eyeliner was a bit unique.
When we left the hotel, my teammates and I took a cab to a section of town called "The Five Points." This area had a good feel to it. We discovered a cool little place called The Blue Monkey Lounge tucked at the end of a cobblestone street. My teammates' company, the atmosphere, the music, the drinks, and the women there were fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and all of us, I think, appreciated blowing off some steam. If I am ever in Birmingham again, "The Five Points" is a place to which I would return. Here is a link to the Blue Monkey Lounge website: http://bluemonkeylounge.com/
As far as the competition itself, my only regret is that I did not get a chance to go in more trials. Each time I compete, I feel myself getting stronger, getting better. I was conscious of how good I felt once the trial got going. Sure, I was nervous before and during the competition. That will probably always be there, and sometimes the nerves show through a bit. But I was also aware of my confidence. It is not an overstatement to say that for certain flashes during the trial, I felt invincible.
That feeling, that rush, is the best thing the Mock Trial Team has given me. I have learned and continue to learn a lot about how trials work and what I need to do to win. And, foolishly or not, I now believe that I can beat anyone in a courtroom on a given day... Bring in the top trial lawyers in the country. I'll go head to head with them. Bring in anyone with style and presence: President Obama, Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise from A Few Good Men, I'll take on whomever walks into the courtroom. This is silly boasting, I know, but it is really a great, rare feeling when this kind of rush hits me before or during a trial.
Anyway, my Mock Trial competition days are over, and I am a little sad about that. I think that if there was a 4L year in law school, I would stop focusing so much on my grades and instead compete in as many tournaments as I could. Once you really start learning what to do, Mock Trial can become addictive.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
And last weekend, I had the privilege of competing in my final Mock Trial tournament. I was part of a team that Florida State Law sent to the Texas Young Lawyer's Association (TYLA) regional competition. This tournament is one of if not the most popular Mock Trial tournaments in the country. It is a national event, with many of the law schools in the country sending a team to their respective regional contest. Our region includes Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. The regional winners go on to Houston in April for the finals.
The Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham served as this year's regional host. The city has a beautiful courthouse where all the teams competed. My team did fairly well. We beat Barry University, the University of Miami, and lost a close contest to the University of Alabama. Our 2-1 record wasn't quite good enough to reach the semifinals, so we were done with the competition on Saturday night.
This gave us the opportunity to see a little of the city. During our trip, we stayed at the Sheraton in downtown Birmingham. On Saturday night, Kid Rock performed right across the street. To my surprise, he has quite a following. Kid Rock groupies filled up the rooms of the hotel, and well before the concert began my hall was littered with beer bottles and empty cigarette boxes. I enjoyed mingling with the fans before I hit the town Saturday night. I was used to their thick southern accents, but to hear guys speaking the southern working class dialect while wearing all black and eyeliner was a bit unique.
When we left the hotel, my teammates and I took a cab to a section of town called "The Five Points." This area had a good feel to it. We discovered a cool little place called The Blue Monkey Lounge tucked at the end of a cobblestone street. My teammates' company, the atmosphere, the music, the drinks, and the women there were fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and all of us, I think, appreciated blowing off some steam. If I am ever in Birmingham again, "The Five Points" is a place to which I would return. Here is a link to the Blue Monkey Lounge website: http://bluemonkeylounge.com/
As far as the competition itself, my only regret is that I did not get a chance to go in more trials. Each time I compete, I feel myself getting stronger, getting better. I was conscious of how good I felt once the trial got going. Sure, I was nervous before and during the competition. That will probably always be there, and sometimes the nerves show through a bit. But I was also aware of my confidence. It is not an overstatement to say that for certain flashes during the trial, I felt invincible.
That feeling, that rush, is the best thing the Mock Trial Team has given me. I have learned and continue to learn a lot about how trials work and what I need to do to win. And, foolishly or not, I now believe that I can beat anyone in a courtroom on a given day... Bring in the top trial lawyers in the country. I'll go head to head with them. Bring in anyone with style and presence: President Obama, Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise from A Few Good Men, I'll take on whomever walks into the courtroom. This is silly boasting, I know, but it is really a great, rare feeling when this kind of rush hits me before or during a trial.
Anyway, my Mock Trial competition days are over, and I am a little sad about that. I think that if there was a 4L year in law school, I would stop focusing so much on my grades and instead compete in as many tournaments as I could. Once you really start learning what to do, Mock Trial can become addictive.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Preparing for the Practice of Law
My decision to go to law school was a way to hit the reset button on my life. I was not happy with the direction I was going, and I wanted to learn skills that would make me more valuable in society- a trade that would make me more employable.
Prior to law school, the closest I had come to learning a trade was sales. I had also worked for the Post Office, but this simply involved brute manual labor. Working for the Post Office did nothing to prepare me for any sort of other job.
Sales was a fascinating experience, though. I took a job with a car dealership in Las Vegas. Management put me out on the lot, and the veteran salesmen were amused to watch me crash and burn with one customer after another. It was clear to everyone that I had no idea what I was doing. But I was paid totally on commission, so I was only really hurting my own wallet. Management watched me, though. If I got a qualified buyer in and seemed to be making progress, they would send over one of the three or four "closers" who worked there to make sure the deal got done. One closer, a sharp guy named Rod who was originally from Hawaii, would actually kick me under the table if I said something wrong to a customer.
Sales was a complete fog to me at first, but I eventually began to learn some things through failed experience, watching what the veterans did, and reading a very good book on selling.
I continued to work in auto sales after I made the decision to return to school. Ironically, in the five or six months in between my decision to go back to school and the start of classes, I became pretty good at my job. It was probably due in part to the fact that I was more relaxed. I had made my decision. There was no need to push too hard, as I knew I was leaving soon.
Anyway, management began letting me close my own deals. During one of our weekly sales meetings, a manager had me stand up. He told the group that my progress over the past few months had been tremendous, and he wanted me to share the secret of my success with them. I said that I simply found a part of the deal that I believed in. I got excited about it, and I tried to convey that excitement to the customer...
Now, less than three months from graduation from law school, I find myself trying to learn a new trade again. The practice of law will be far different from law school . Law school gives you some fundamental tools, but school is largely a world unto itself. There are also certain similarities between the practice of law and the art of selling, but there is no doubt that I have to get myself into a new mindset. Here are two of the most stark adjustments I am trying to make:
1) Changing the importance of being a nice guy.
In sales, "Make the customer like you" is a cardinal rule if not the most important rule of all. My sales performance improved once I began thinking of the business as "the science of being liked." You never argue with a customer in sales. You may win the argument, but you will lose the sale.
In law, I am not convinced that being a nice guy is important. Sure, you should always be courteous and polite. But your client is not hiring you to be a nice guy. Your client is hiring you to win their legal argument. Particularly in trial law, I think this holds true. Many of the trial lawyers I am meeting strike me as being confident to the point of arrogance. I do not hold this against them. You almost have to be arrogant and stubborn to be successful. Time and again in law school, I have heard that law is an adversarial system, and I've seen a little of how contentious it can get. If I am always being humble, trying to adhere to the science of being liked, then I am probably not serving my client very well.
In sales, ideally you want the whole process to be so smooth and pleasant for everyone involved that the same customer will come back to you again and again and also send you referrals.
But in trial law, you want to inspire fear- or at least hesitation- in the other side. There are some great lines from the movie, The Verdict, starring Paul Newman. Newman plays Frank Galvin, an attorney representing a woman in a coma due to the medical negligence of a Catholic hospital.
At one one point in the movie, another attorney, Mickey, asks him, "Do you know who the attorney for the Archdiocese is? Eddie Concannon."
Galvin replies, "He's a good man."
Mickey: "He's a good man?! He's the F***ing Prince of Darkness! He'll have people in there testifying that they saw this broad Tuesday on a surfboard in Hyannis!"
...Hopefully, in sales no one ever calls you the F***ing Prince of Darkness.
2) Eye wear.
Repetitive motion jobs take their toll on parts of the body. I observed this in the mail carriers I worked with and the health problems that they experienced.
If you're going to be a lawyer, you might as well resign yourself to the toll all the reading off computer screens is going to take on your eyes. Several people I know have had to get glasses or stronger prescriptions since coming to law school. My own vision has slightly worsened- though not to the point where I need glasses (my dominant performance at table tennis over the Christmas break convinced me that I don't need glasses, yet).
Losing my eyesight has always been a big fear. I always thought that people who wore glasses could not see anything beyond a certain range- that it all literally turned to black after 500 yards or so. As my own vision has suffered some wear, though, I am relieved to learn that vision loss does not quite work that way. I can still perceive color from far away.
One day, I was looking down Jefferson Street at a stoplight. It had to be over 500 yards distant. The light looked like a fuzzy prism and had no clear borders. I thought to myself, "Now, three years ago I would have been able to see the circle of that light clearly. It would not be fuzzy."
But I could still see the change from green to yellow to red.
That's good enough, I guess. As long as I can perceive color and light from as far away as I always have, and as long as I can clearly focus on things close to me, I'll take it.
In sales, this was obviously not a problem. I was outside on the car lot most of the time, and got to stretch my eyes, so to speak, by looking at the mountains on the horizon outside of Vegas. Or I could look up at the huge tower of the Stratosphere casino. Planes also came in for a landing right over our dealership. I could see strange white passenger airliners with no markings on them but a red stripe down each side. Rod, the closer from Hawaii, told me that those planes carried the employees of Area 51 back and forth. They landed at a location called JANET at the airport, which stood for "Just another non-existent terminal." Who knows if Rod was telling me the truth.
There are other changes to my mindset worth noting, but this entry has already taken too much time. I need to get back to studying Complex Civil Litigation.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Prior to law school, the closest I had come to learning a trade was sales. I had also worked for the Post Office, but this simply involved brute manual labor. Working for the Post Office did nothing to prepare me for any sort of other job.
Sales was a fascinating experience, though. I took a job with a car dealership in Las Vegas. Management put me out on the lot, and the veteran salesmen were amused to watch me crash and burn with one customer after another. It was clear to everyone that I had no idea what I was doing. But I was paid totally on commission, so I was only really hurting my own wallet. Management watched me, though. If I got a qualified buyer in and seemed to be making progress, they would send over one of the three or four "closers" who worked there to make sure the deal got done. One closer, a sharp guy named Rod who was originally from Hawaii, would actually kick me under the table if I said something wrong to a customer.
Sales was a complete fog to me at first, but I eventually began to learn some things through failed experience, watching what the veterans did, and reading a very good book on selling.
I continued to work in auto sales after I made the decision to return to school. Ironically, in the five or six months in between my decision to go back to school and the start of classes, I became pretty good at my job. It was probably due in part to the fact that I was more relaxed. I had made my decision. There was no need to push too hard, as I knew I was leaving soon.
Anyway, management began letting me close my own deals. During one of our weekly sales meetings, a manager had me stand up. He told the group that my progress over the past few months had been tremendous, and he wanted me to share the secret of my success with them. I said that I simply found a part of the deal that I believed in. I got excited about it, and I tried to convey that excitement to the customer...
Now, less than three months from graduation from law school, I find myself trying to learn a new trade again. The practice of law will be far different from law school . Law school gives you some fundamental tools, but school is largely a world unto itself. There are also certain similarities between the practice of law and the art of selling, but there is no doubt that I have to get myself into a new mindset. Here are two of the most stark adjustments I am trying to make:
1) Changing the importance of being a nice guy.
In sales, "Make the customer like you" is a cardinal rule if not the most important rule of all. My sales performance improved once I began thinking of the business as "the science of being liked." You never argue with a customer in sales. You may win the argument, but you will lose the sale.
In law, I am not convinced that being a nice guy is important. Sure, you should always be courteous and polite. But your client is not hiring you to be a nice guy. Your client is hiring you to win their legal argument. Particularly in trial law, I think this holds true. Many of the trial lawyers I am meeting strike me as being confident to the point of arrogance. I do not hold this against them. You almost have to be arrogant and stubborn to be successful. Time and again in law school, I have heard that law is an adversarial system, and I've seen a little of how contentious it can get. If I am always being humble, trying to adhere to the science of being liked, then I am probably not serving my client very well.
In sales, ideally you want the whole process to be so smooth and pleasant for everyone involved that the same customer will come back to you again and again and also send you referrals.
But in trial law, you want to inspire fear- or at least hesitation- in the other side. There are some great lines from the movie, The Verdict, starring Paul Newman. Newman plays Frank Galvin, an attorney representing a woman in a coma due to the medical negligence of a Catholic hospital.
At one one point in the movie, another attorney, Mickey, asks him, "Do you know who the attorney for the Archdiocese is? Eddie Concannon."
Galvin replies, "He's a good man."
Mickey: "He's a good man?! He's the F***ing Prince of Darkness! He'll have people in there testifying that they saw this broad Tuesday on a surfboard in Hyannis!"
...Hopefully, in sales no one ever calls you the F***ing Prince of Darkness.
2) Eye wear.
Repetitive motion jobs take their toll on parts of the body. I observed this in the mail carriers I worked with and the health problems that they experienced.
If you're going to be a lawyer, you might as well resign yourself to the toll all the reading off computer screens is going to take on your eyes. Several people I know have had to get glasses or stronger prescriptions since coming to law school. My own vision has slightly worsened- though not to the point where I need glasses (my dominant performance at table tennis over the Christmas break convinced me that I don't need glasses, yet).
Losing my eyesight has always been a big fear. I always thought that people who wore glasses could not see anything beyond a certain range- that it all literally turned to black after 500 yards or so. As my own vision has suffered some wear, though, I am relieved to learn that vision loss does not quite work that way. I can still perceive color from far away.
One day, I was looking down Jefferson Street at a stoplight. It had to be over 500 yards distant. The light looked like a fuzzy prism and had no clear borders. I thought to myself, "Now, three years ago I would have been able to see the circle of that light clearly. It would not be fuzzy."
But I could still see the change from green to yellow to red.
That's good enough, I guess. As long as I can perceive color and light from as far away as I always have, and as long as I can clearly focus on things close to me, I'll take it.
In sales, this was obviously not a problem. I was outside on the car lot most of the time, and got to stretch my eyes, so to speak, by looking at the mountains on the horizon outside of Vegas. Or I could look up at the huge tower of the Stratosphere casino. Planes also came in for a landing right over our dealership. I could see strange white passenger airliners with no markings on them but a red stripe down each side. Rod, the closer from Hawaii, told me that those planes carried the employees of Area 51 back and forth. They landed at a location called JANET at the airport, which stood for "Just another non-existent terminal." Who knows if Rod was telling me the truth.
There are other changes to my mindset worth noting, but this entry has already taken too much time. I need to get back to studying Complex Civil Litigation.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
3L Stress
Beginning last semester, and increasing this semester, I sense a new kind of stress among some of my fellow students graduating with me in May. The tension is completely related, I believe, to the pressure of finding a job.
Florida State Law has an outstanding career placement record- perhaps better than any of the other ten law schools in this state. We will all land jobs eventually. But the current condition of the economy has hit almost every occupational area hard. The legal field is no exception. Fewer of the big law firms are hiring. It is harder than in years past, I think.
I am feeling the stress a little myself- not so much because I'm worried about finding a job. There is always room for a good lawyer, and I have the tools to become a great trial lawyer. Even if it is September before I get a job, one is coming. The stress, for me, arises from not knowing exactly what the next chapter is, along with hoping I do not rush into a situation where I will be unhappy- while at the same time making sure that I do not pass up a golden opportunity. Also, there is the peer pressure. Many of my friends are in the top 10% of the class. Most of these students do in fact already have jobs lined up. When they ask me where I am going and what I have lined up, I have to say, "I do not know, yet."
Last semester, these same top students were probably feeling a stress similar to what I am feeling now. Last semester, they were applying for judicial clerkships. A judicial clerkship is a prestigious position in which a person works for a specific judge. The judicial clerk reviews pleadings and other documents submitted to the judge for the accuracy of the legal arguments. Clerks also help judges with research and in drafting opinions. In short, clerks work side by side with the judge and do much of the heavy lifting.
For federal judicial clerkships, the top students from the best law schools submit their application materials via OSCAR (The Online System for Clerkship Application and Review). The judges then cherry pick whom they want to interview and hire. One of the best things a new lawyer can have on his or her resume is a federal clerkship. The clerkships typically last one or two years. Large law firms will be more than happy to hire a student fresh out of law school, and then hold the job for that student while he or she works as a judicial clerk for a couple of years.
Last semester, when the window on the OSCAR system opened for applications, I remember a friend posting as her Facebook status, "Let the rejections begin!" Another student commented, "Let the anxiety begin!" Both of these students received well deserved clerkships and will be working for federal judges after graduation. The FSU students who were not selected still have a wealth of options available.
Even if I had the top grades to get a foot in the door with OSCAR, I am not sure that is a job I would enjoy or one in which I would excel. You have to be tremendous at research and legal writing (and legal writing is a completely different animal from writing a blog, believe me). You must have the ability to become competent in different areas of the law in a short amount of time. Much of what we learn in law school is so complicated and related to logical reasoning that I compare it to math proofs or algebraic equations. Working as a judicial clerk, for me, would be like having to sit in a room and quickly solve proofs and equations, one right after the other, all day, every day. Judicial clerks finish their tenure with a wealth of great legal experience, especially in dealing with the arguments on paper.
I would not want to have to go up against a former federal judicial clerk in an appellate brief writing contest.
But standing in front of a six or twelve person jury at a trial- that is a different story. I am more comfortable there, and I have a lot more confidence in my ability to win. Using the law and facts to persuade a jury is much more up my alley than analyzing all sides of the legal arguments for a judge.
Anyway, we will see what happens. I think the immediate future is largely unknown for most students in my class at FSU Law. It is not unnatural for us all to feel some anxiety about that.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Florida State Law has an outstanding career placement record- perhaps better than any of the other ten law schools in this state. We will all land jobs eventually. But the current condition of the economy has hit almost every occupational area hard. The legal field is no exception. Fewer of the big law firms are hiring. It is harder than in years past, I think.
I am feeling the stress a little myself- not so much because I'm worried about finding a job. There is always room for a good lawyer, and I have the tools to become a great trial lawyer. Even if it is September before I get a job, one is coming. The stress, for me, arises from not knowing exactly what the next chapter is, along with hoping I do not rush into a situation where I will be unhappy- while at the same time making sure that I do not pass up a golden opportunity. Also, there is the peer pressure. Many of my friends are in the top 10% of the class. Most of these students do in fact already have jobs lined up. When they ask me where I am going and what I have lined up, I have to say, "I do not know, yet."
Last semester, these same top students were probably feeling a stress similar to what I am feeling now. Last semester, they were applying for judicial clerkships. A judicial clerkship is a prestigious position in which a person works for a specific judge. The judicial clerk reviews pleadings and other documents submitted to the judge for the accuracy of the legal arguments. Clerks also help judges with research and in drafting opinions. In short, clerks work side by side with the judge and do much of the heavy lifting.
For federal judicial clerkships, the top students from the best law schools submit their application materials via OSCAR (The Online System for Clerkship Application and Review). The judges then cherry pick whom they want to interview and hire. One of the best things a new lawyer can have on his or her resume is a federal clerkship. The clerkships typically last one or two years. Large law firms will be more than happy to hire a student fresh out of law school, and then hold the job for that student while he or she works as a judicial clerk for a couple of years.
Last semester, when the window on the OSCAR system opened for applications, I remember a friend posting as her Facebook status, "Let the rejections begin!" Another student commented, "Let the anxiety begin!" Both of these students received well deserved clerkships and will be working for federal judges after graduation. The FSU students who were not selected still have a wealth of options available.
Even if I had the top grades to get a foot in the door with OSCAR, I am not sure that is a job I would enjoy or one in which I would excel. You have to be tremendous at research and legal writing (and legal writing is a completely different animal from writing a blog, believe me). You must have the ability to become competent in different areas of the law in a short amount of time. Much of what we learn in law school is so complicated and related to logical reasoning that I compare it to math proofs or algebraic equations. Working as a judicial clerk, for me, would be like having to sit in a room and quickly solve proofs and equations, one right after the other, all day, every day. Judicial clerks finish their tenure with a wealth of great legal experience, especially in dealing with the arguments on paper.
I would not want to have to go up against a former federal judicial clerk in an appellate brief writing contest.
But standing in front of a six or twelve person jury at a trial- that is a different story. I am more comfortable there, and I have a lot more confidence in my ability to win. Using the law and facts to persuade a jury is much more up my alley than analyzing all sides of the legal arguments for a judge.
Anyway, we will see what happens. I think the immediate future is largely unknown for most students in my class at FSU Law. It is not unnatural for us all to feel some anxiety about that.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Staying Off the Roof
Brutally cold weather has swept through the northeastern United States over the past few days. The AFC championship game in Pittsburgh was played in single digit temperature, with a wind chill below zero. A picture on the Internet showed a car in New York City completely encased in ice after a water pipe broke. This part of Florida has been cold, too, with temperatures dipping into the 20s at night.
Last week, a professor gave our class one of the best reasons for going to law school that I have heard in a while. He told our class about watching a construction worker walking around on top of a roof near his office. A harness and tether laid on the roof, but the worker was not using them. Perhaps the harness was heavy and uncomfortable. It was a hot day. The professor then began to explain some of the legal consequences if the worker happened to fall and be injured or killed.
"I used to tell people," he said, "that I went to law school so that I did not have to go up on roofs."
I had to smile at the simple honesty of his reasoning. It made me think about one of the reasons that I enrolled in law school.
In the not too distant past, I was employed by the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier in the Washington, DC area. Without getting into too many details, it was not a job that I enjoyed or that I was very good at, though I gained a new respect for the people who do that kind of work.
Working out of the station in northern Virginia, I was required to put in 10 or 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, doing heavy lifting all day long. My weight was 155 lbs. when I started the job. After six months, it was down to 135 lbs. And then there was the cold. Trying to do all that lifting of endless crates of mail in a bone chilling wind, trying to finger through stacks for individual magazines or letters when I could no longer feel my fingers, always being told "Go faster. You have to move faster," was too much. I opted to go back to school.
Last weekend, I saw a picture on the Internet of a mail carrier in Maine, bundled up and trying his best to do the job in the elements. It was more than sympathy I felt for him. I was genuinely empathetic.
So, I suppose I could say one of my reasons for going to law school was so I didn't have to deliver mail in the cold.
Part of my motivation as a lawyer will be to do a good job for working people like the guy in Maine when he comes into my office. I was fortunate to be born with a high enough IQ to get into law school. I was fortunate to be raised in an environment that allowed me to receive the education that I needed to get into law school. When my roof needs to be repaired, or I use the Post Office to send a package somewhere in the dead of winter, I realize that service is being performed by people whose job I would not want and that I probably could not do very well.
I can be a good lawyer, though, and fight a good battle for the mail carrier or construction worker when he or she comes into my office with a legal problem. That is my arena, my sphere.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Last week, a professor gave our class one of the best reasons for going to law school that I have heard in a while. He told our class about watching a construction worker walking around on top of a roof near his office. A harness and tether laid on the roof, but the worker was not using them. Perhaps the harness was heavy and uncomfortable. It was a hot day. The professor then began to explain some of the legal consequences if the worker happened to fall and be injured or killed.
"I used to tell people," he said, "that I went to law school so that I did not have to go up on roofs."
I had to smile at the simple honesty of his reasoning. It made me think about one of the reasons that I enrolled in law school.
In the not too distant past, I was employed by the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier in the Washington, DC area. Without getting into too many details, it was not a job that I enjoyed or that I was very good at, though I gained a new respect for the people who do that kind of work.
Working out of the station in northern Virginia, I was required to put in 10 or 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, doing heavy lifting all day long. My weight was 155 lbs. when I started the job. After six months, it was down to 135 lbs. And then there was the cold. Trying to do all that lifting of endless crates of mail in a bone chilling wind, trying to finger through stacks for individual magazines or letters when I could no longer feel my fingers, always being told "Go faster. You have to move faster," was too much. I opted to go back to school.
Last weekend, I saw a picture on the Internet of a mail carrier in Maine, bundled up and trying his best to do the job in the elements. It was more than sympathy I felt for him. I was genuinely empathetic.
So, I suppose I could say one of my reasons for going to law school was so I didn't have to deliver mail in the cold.
Part of my motivation as a lawyer will be to do a good job for working people like the guy in Maine when he comes into my office. I was fortunate to be born with a high enough IQ to get into law school. I was fortunate to be raised in an environment that allowed me to receive the education that I needed to get into law school. When my roof needs to be repaired, or I use the Post Office to send a package somewhere in the dead of winter, I realize that service is being performed by people whose job I would not want and that I probably could not do very well.
I can be a good lawyer, though, and fight a good battle for the mail carrier or construction worker when he or she comes into my office with a legal problem. That is my arena, my sphere.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Places to Study
At least as far as I can tell, there is no correlation between law school grades and where a person chooses to study. But it is interesting to watch the study habits of my colleagues.
Personally, I like the second floor of the library. There is an open area of nine tables where I usually sit. It is the only section of the library where talking is permitted. Many of the same faces greet me each day when I come into the library and head over to those tables. One of my friends has taken to calling our group "The 2nd Floor Library Club." Last semester, the 3L students who comprise The 2nd Floor Library Club held a potluck at the library during exams. The food was surprisingly good, with home baked cookies and cupcakes. There was also fresh fruit, pretzels, doughnuts, bagels and some nice beverages. I brought a box of "Cheez-Its," which nobody ate.
The atmosphere on the 1st and 3rd floors of the library is decidedly different. You are expected to be completely quiet here. There are far more cubicles than tables on these floors, so that you are boxed in when you sit down. Quite a few of my friends prefer this environment. They usually sit in the exact same cubicle for hours on end, and I can only see the tops of their heads when I walk past the desks.
Still another group of students avoid the library altogether as much as possible. A couple of my friends who are at the very top of my class are rarely seen in the library. I asked one of them why she did not study there. She replied that the library freaks her out. She can feel everyone's stress in there. I cannot argue with her system. She has the GPA to back it up. In truth, most of the married law school students go home to study rather than to the library. Law school takes enough of their time away from being with their spouses.
The law review house, just outside the main classroom building, is probably another popular place for some of our best and brightest to study. I've been inside a couple of times as a visitor. The law review is the most prestigious extracurricular organization at the school. Accordingly, the house is quiet, comfortably furnished, and had a nice aroma both times I was there.
Still, I prefer the space of the 2nd floor of the library. It is much larger than my apartment, for one. Also, I am trying to enjoy the freedom to study at my own pace, to move around and talk to my law school friends, while it lasts. I like being able to take a quick break by looking up from my textbook and asking a friend at the next table about the upcoming Florida State basketball game. Some of the students in law school are real characters and comedians. I appreciate listening to the jokes they make at the second floor tables, too.
In about six months, after we graduate and take the bar exam, these same students will scatter all across the state and the country. The places we study, and perhaps how we study, will become very different.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Personally, I like the second floor of the library. There is an open area of nine tables where I usually sit. It is the only section of the library where talking is permitted. Many of the same faces greet me each day when I come into the library and head over to those tables. One of my friends has taken to calling our group "The 2nd Floor Library Club." Last semester, the 3L students who comprise The 2nd Floor Library Club held a potluck at the library during exams. The food was surprisingly good, with home baked cookies and cupcakes. There was also fresh fruit, pretzels, doughnuts, bagels and some nice beverages. I brought a box of "Cheez-Its," which nobody ate.
The atmosphere on the 1st and 3rd floors of the library is decidedly different. You are expected to be completely quiet here. There are far more cubicles than tables on these floors, so that you are boxed in when you sit down. Quite a few of my friends prefer this environment. They usually sit in the exact same cubicle for hours on end, and I can only see the tops of their heads when I walk past the desks.
Still another group of students avoid the library altogether as much as possible. A couple of my friends who are at the very top of my class are rarely seen in the library. I asked one of them why she did not study there. She replied that the library freaks her out. She can feel everyone's stress in there. I cannot argue with her system. She has the GPA to back it up. In truth, most of the married law school students go home to study rather than to the library. Law school takes enough of their time away from being with their spouses.
The law review house, just outside the main classroom building, is probably another popular place for some of our best and brightest to study. I've been inside a couple of times as a visitor. The law review is the most prestigious extracurricular organization at the school. Accordingly, the house is quiet, comfortably furnished, and had a nice aroma both times I was there.
Still, I prefer the space of the 2nd floor of the library. It is much larger than my apartment, for one. Also, I am trying to enjoy the freedom to study at my own pace, to move around and talk to my law school friends, while it lasts. I like being able to take a quick break by looking up from my textbook and asking a friend at the next table about the upcoming Florida State basketball game. Some of the students in law school are real characters and comedians. I appreciate listening to the jokes they make at the second floor tables, too.
In about six months, after we graduate and take the bar exam, these same students will scatter all across the state and the country. The places we study, and perhaps how we study, will become very different.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Saturday, January 8, 2011
The Drive to Florida
Classes for the spring semester begin on Monday the 10th. Yesterday, I made the 10 hour drive back from North Carolina to Tallahassee. As I headed down Interstate 95 South, the time alone in my car gave me a chance to think about the Christmas gatherings with my family, and to contemplate the future.
It was nice to see my aunts, uncles and cousins back in NC. Several of them asked me how much longer I had in law school, and were surprised when I replied, "Just one more semester, if everything goes according to plan." My time in school has flown by for both them and myself.
"Wow, so you're pretty much a lawyer now," one of my cousins said.
"Not quite," I answered. "I still have to pass the bar exam after I graduate."
I could not help but notice that a few family members were studying me like never before. The best way that I can describe their look is as if they thought I knew some important secret. The way they looked at me and asked me questions about school reminded me of the privilege and opportunity I was given when I received the acceptance letter from Florida State Law back in the spring of 2008.
Yesterday when I began my drive from NC, the morning was cold, overcast and drizzling. The temperature had not climbed much above the freezing mark. But as I headed south toward Florida, I could see the end of the cloud cover in front of me, growing larger. Though it was only one or two o'clock in the afternoon, the sunlight shining off the cloud edges had the colors of a sunrise. By the time I was in Georgia, the clouds were all gone and it felt warm to stand outside and pump gas into my car.
As I drove, I thought about graduation from law school. Graduation will mean the taking on of responsibility- responsibility for my clients and for my fellow attorneys whose livelihood and welfare of their families is invested in the success of the firm. At Christmas, I looked at my parents and thought about all the responsibilities they had shouldered in their lives. My dad, as the top manager for an entire county of probation officers (and a county containing the largest military base in the world). My mother, for all the disabled and mentally handicapped children she taught over the years. My mother as well for all the meals that she cooked for us as a family and all the rooms in the house that she constantly cleaned.
Each morning, my parents got up before dawn to head to their stress-filled jobs. 25 to 30 years they did this. And now, they are both enjoying well deserved retirements.
Over the break, I caught myself complaining about the hours in front of a computer screen that a lawyer must spend. But I stopped when I thought about my parents and the work of their lives.
It's my turn, now. Soon it will be "The Real World, Part II." This time, I will have a law degree from a great school. As I headed down I-95 to Jacksonville and then I-10 to Tallahassee, it became clear in my mind that not disappointing my parents is the chief motivator in my life. They worked very hard to help me get to this point. I owe it to them to do my very best to become successful- as a trial lawyer or through whatever other doors this degree opens for me.
I hope that I can remember these thoughts and this goal as I make decisions for the future.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
It was nice to see my aunts, uncles and cousins back in NC. Several of them asked me how much longer I had in law school, and were surprised when I replied, "Just one more semester, if everything goes according to plan." My time in school has flown by for both them and myself.
"Wow, so you're pretty much a lawyer now," one of my cousins said.
"Not quite," I answered. "I still have to pass the bar exam after I graduate."
I could not help but notice that a few family members were studying me like never before. The best way that I can describe their look is as if they thought I knew some important secret. The way they looked at me and asked me questions about school reminded me of the privilege and opportunity I was given when I received the acceptance letter from Florida State Law back in the spring of 2008.
Yesterday when I began my drive from NC, the morning was cold, overcast and drizzling. The temperature had not climbed much above the freezing mark. But as I headed south toward Florida, I could see the end of the cloud cover in front of me, growing larger. Though it was only one or two o'clock in the afternoon, the sunlight shining off the cloud edges had the colors of a sunrise. By the time I was in Georgia, the clouds were all gone and it felt warm to stand outside and pump gas into my car.
As I drove, I thought about graduation from law school. Graduation will mean the taking on of responsibility- responsibility for my clients and for my fellow attorneys whose livelihood and welfare of their families is invested in the success of the firm. At Christmas, I looked at my parents and thought about all the responsibilities they had shouldered in their lives. My dad, as the top manager for an entire county of probation officers (and a county containing the largest military base in the world). My mother, for all the disabled and mentally handicapped children she taught over the years. My mother as well for all the meals that she cooked for us as a family and all the rooms in the house that she constantly cleaned.
Each morning, my parents got up before dawn to head to their stress-filled jobs. 25 to 30 years they did this. And now, they are both enjoying well deserved retirements.
Over the break, I caught myself complaining about the hours in front of a computer screen that a lawyer must spend. But I stopped when I thought about my parents and the work of their lives.
It's my turn, now. Soon it will be "The Real World, Part II." This time, I will have a law degree from a great school. As I headed down I-95 to Jacksonville and then I-10 to Tallahassee, it became clear in my mind that not disappointing my parents is the chief motivator in my life. They worked very hard to help me get to this point. I owe it to them to do my very best to become successful- as a trial lawyer or through whatever other doors this degree opens for me.
I hope that I can remember these thoughts and this goal as I make decisions for the future.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
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