My boss asked me to write a short essay about my goals for the summer. After struggling for a very, very long time, I came up with the following. Regardless of the fact that my boss never asked to read it, I was still happy I was able to finish it, and figured I would share it here.
My reasons for wanting a career in law are simple. Lawyers are wealthy, powerful, intelligent, and generally well respected. Years of a competetive environment and high family expectations fostered a need to excel, to become someone with the aforementioned traits. I performed will in high school so I could get into a good college and further my progress towards the lifestyle I desire. I currently attend a prestigious university, studying an innovative and lucrative discipline. Until recently, I told myself and whoever that asked that I planned to combine my goal of becoming a lawyer and my bioengineering major with a career in intellectual property law. I can recall a very specific moment that I realized I had no idea what the process to becoming a patent lawyer actually entails. There is a possibility that my hard work in my current studies has really little effect on my becoming a lawyer at all. I decided I had been in denial about the fact that being a lawyer requires more than a respectable undergraduate degree. It thus became my goal this summer to learn as much as possible about the life of a lawyer; this includes everything from daily life to law school experiences. I want to meet real clients and find out what court is really like, as opposed to assuming it resembles some dramatic TV show. After this summer, I imagine myself able to feel more prepared than any other first year law student who expects to become the next Jack McCoy. I hope my experiences will ultimately aid me in my goal of becoming a successful lawyer.
Who knows? Maybe I'll look back on this in a few years and realize how insightful I was after all...
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Summer 2010
Upon, well, really not that much prodding, I've decided to start writing in this blog again. Here's a little background on what has happened since my last post (early July 2009).
I've recently finished my third year at UCLA, and finally broke the 3.0 cumulative GPA barrier. For those of you out there who don't know what I'm talking about, I shall explain. For the past year, my cumulative GPA has gone from a 2.98, to a 2.99, to 2.994. No joke. Instead of just rounding up to 3.0, the system just added decimals. Really annoying, as I had to have had a 3.0 GPA to take this one class in Spring. That's a topic for another time. After toiling incredibly hard and keeping very long hours, my new cumulative GPA is 3.024. Success!
By Spring Break (late March) I knew I would be spending my summer in Eugene, Oregon, with my boyfriend. I thus needed to find a job to occupy my time, and hopefully make some money. Keeping with my desire to have a career in law, I spent my break cold-calling lawyers in the Eugene area. The vast (as in, all but one) responses were along the lines of "Oh, a third year UNDERGRADUATE? We only take law school students" or "we have no position for you at this time, but feel free to submit a resume!" I like to call that one the easy-let-down. Some people don't know how to say no. Anyway, I get a call back from a message I had left with this one attorney saying he was very interested in working with me over the summer. I went for an interview and was invited to return to work part time, unpaid, but experience life as he does. So far I have been assigned readings from texts that are studied in law schools and have met with a client. That's just after one week.
I intend to make this summer's blog about my experiences in the big bad world of law. What do I get to do every day? What are some insights I grasp from assigned reading? On the side, did I do anything interesting in Oregon? Goodness knows, I am NOT used to the small, quaintness of a town like Eugene, but am very interested in exploring what it has to offer.
See you at the Oregon Country Fair!
I've recently finished my third year at UCLA, and finally broke the 3.0 cumulative GPA barrier. For those of you out there who don't know what I'm talking about, I shall explain. For the past year, my cumulative GPA has gone from a 2.98, to a 2.99, to 2.994. No joke. Instead of just rounding up to 3.0, the system just added decimals. Really annoying, as I had to have had a 3.0 GPA to take this one class in Spring. That's a topic for another time. After toiling incredibly hard and keeping very long hours, my new cumulative GPA is 3.024. Success!
By Spring Break (late March) I knew I would be spending my summer in Eugene, Oregon, with my boyfriend. I thus needed to find a job to occupy my time, and hopefully make some money. Keeping with my desire to have a career in law, I spent my break cold-calling lawyers in the Eugene area. The vast (as in, all but one) responses were along the lines of "Oh, a third year UNDERGRADUATE? We only take law school students" or "we have no position for you at this time, but feel free to submit a resume!" I like to call that one the easy-let-down. Some people don't know how to say no. Anyway, I get a call back from a message I had left with this one attorney saying he was very interested in working with me over the summer. I went for an interview and was invited to return to work part time, unpaid, but experience life as he does. So far I have been assigned readings from texts that are studied in law schools and have met with a client. That's just after one week.
I intend to make this summer's blog about my experiences in the big bad world of law. What do I get to do every day? What are some insights I grasp from assigned reading? On the side, did I do anything interesting in Oregon? Goodness knows, I am NOT used to the small, quaintness of a town like Eugene, but am very interested in exploring what it has to offer.
See you at the Oregon Country Fair!
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