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