D.C. -- I Never Want to Leave.

I’ve been MIA, but do you blame me? Spending a semester in a new place is overwhelming in so many good ways that having the chance to just sit down and blog about it has been at the bottom of my to do list. So where to start?

I've been in D.C. for over a month and I can honestly say I LOVE IT HERE. The District and surrounding cities are so much more than I expected them to be. It has been such a great change of pace compared to living in New York… I seriously don't want to go back. The only thing that is really missing here is the pup (it has been quite the adjustment not having him – so used to sleeping next to that oversized ball of fur that sleeping alone has actually been hard to do). I don't live right in DC which has actually been a blessing. I live on the outskirts in VA and I love it. I really don't know how anyone could be bored here. But before I get to that, let me give a little break down of what I have been up to in terms of my externship and PR Class.

Clerking for Federal Judge

What do I do? Research and writing, A LOT OF IT. My first month has only consisted of about five assignments, one was due last week the other is due on the 27th and the third doesn't really have a date. The first two are draft decisions for my Judge and the third is legal research on two issues for one of the attorneys and the remaining were just peer edits for another judge’s final decision. So far things have been going very well.

Do I like it? I love it. The assignments that I am working have been a bit overwhelming at times but it's really forcing me to improve my writing and research skills along with time management. I'm not going to lie I have been nervous because my summer internship did not have anything to do with legal research or writing. it was completely hands on within the real estate practice -- and I loved it (i might actually continue there in the spring). But I do wish there was a little more legal research and writing to help me prepare for this. I haven't had to do research or writing since the spring and I have definitely psyched myself out saying "I don't know where to start", "i don't know if I'm doing this right", "this is going to be horrible". But I have to remind myself that this is a LEARNING experience. The judge I am working for is already an outstanding mentor and I can learn so much from him. I just have to stay focused, motivated and prepared. The rest will fall into place.

Clerking for my Judge has come with so many great opportunities to really experience the judicial system in DC. My judge has asked me to attend oral arguments for both the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia as well as The Supreme Court -- horrible right? The oral arguments for the Federal Court of Appeals was interesting to sit through considering it was dealing with actual cases versus the ones that our LCR professor created. The building was absolutely stunning. Coming in October I will attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court which I'll be sure to include a quick recap of at some point. Last week I had the chance to attend a welcome reception for some newly filled positions. It was a great chance to network with others. Next week I will be attending a two-day judicial conference which will be a great chance to network and listen to some great lecture series. I will also have the chance to attend at least one trial during my time here. Typically they are in Boston, Philly or even in the Syracuse area. As well as attend at least one settlement conference. 

PR Course 

What is PR? Professional Responsibility -- you must complete this course in order to graduate and it is supposed to help you prepare for the MPRE. The MPRE is an exam that you have to take in order to sit for the bar. Each state has a different passing score as well as different time periods for how long that score is good for. Be sure to look into the states you are interested in before hand so you know your bottom line score to aim for.

How do you attend while you are in DC? It is a virtual course that I "attend" twice a week. In order for me to do the DC externship you have to either of taken PR prior or you have to do it while you are there.  So far it has been okay, but in all honesty I don't really like the virtual aspect. I actually find having to be on a webcam extremely distracting. Now my classmates that are physically in the room cannot see me, but the 6 of us that are taking the course virtually can. It's super distracting because we are all in different locations and there are always different things going on in everyones background. I feel that I pay more attention to the screens of everyone else than my professor because I can see everyone else and no so much him. I wish it was just the professors screen and that's it. But thankfully he records our course so I have been going back and listening to the material each week to review what was going on in class to make sure I am not missing anything.

Seminars

On top of working and class we also have to attend seminars about once every two weeks or so. Each seminar has a guest speakers. So far the guest speakers have been great. The only thing that really gets me about these things is that there is a participation grade for the seminars. I hate participating in class – I’m an anxious person when it comes to speaking to in front of everyone in a classroom setting. I’m self-conscious about the answers I give. I just don't like to be wrong and not because I can’t deal with being wrong, because I can, its more so I get worried that peers will think I’m dumb. It sounds silly to think that way but I’ve witnessed it first hand and unfortunately, I’ve thought things about classmates answers before - we all have. It’s something I am working on but I find it hard to come up with on the spot questions and sometimes even answers. Other than that, the speakers have been great opportunities to learn about different areas of law. Plus there’s usually a reception after which again is a great chance to network.

Exploring D.C.

My roommates and I decided to move into our apartment a week before all the madness started and I'm so glad we did. It gave us the time to unpack, relax and get a feel for the city. One thing we did was a test run on the metro, we found where our placements are located and how long it would typically take to get there - highly suggest doing this if you are moving to a new city. But with all the down time we also had the chance to go and see the Monuments aka "The Mall" -- i loved every second of this. It was about 5 miles total and it was a nice day out so it made it all the more enjoyable. 

Some other places that I want to check out are:

     -   The White House

     -   Holocaust Museum

     -   African American Museum

     -   The Zoo

Any suggestions for happy hour or great places to eat be sure to let me know! 

Fall 2017 -- In D.C is Where You'll Find Me.

 I'm super excited the share that for the Fall semester I will be in D.C. completing a semester long clerkship with a Federal Judge! Originally I wanted to go in the Fall of 2018 but when there was an opening for the Fall of 2017 it seemed like a much better fit considering I still don't know which area of Law I want to practice in. Syracuse offers a plethora of experiential learning opportunities from clinics to local externships to the D.C. program (which is growing to NYC, Boston and CA over the next couple of years). In fact, you need to complete so many hours of experiential learning in order to graduate. 

So why D.C? 

Well to be honest, I really just wanted a chance to get out of Syracuse. I never had the opportunity to do any sort of study abroad trip or semester in a different US City during undergrad but I always wanted to. I honestly didn't think I would be able to afford it during law school either but when the opportunity presented itself and I got the okay from my parents (they'll be taking care of my dog while I'm gone for those 5 or so months) I really couldn't say no  && let's be honest -- I didn't want to say no. 

What will I be doing in D.C.? 
The beauty of the D.C. externship program is that unlike most law students who can only work part time during the semester, I can work full time. So from August --> December I will be working around 35 hours a week. I do have to take the PR (professional responsibility) and attend a seminar course while I am there but one is an online course that meets twice a week at night for an hour or so and the other we meet about once a week. I might also take the MPRE exam (required before taking the bar) while I am down there. I still have a little bit of time to decide before the sign up deadline. But overall, I am getting a ton of hands on experience in an area of law - you really can't pass that opportunity up.

Where will I be placed?

The professor who runs the D.C program has a list of about 70 placements you can choose from. They range from clerking with federal judges, working with the immigration office, criminal defense or real estate work or even working for NASA. The opportunities are really endless. Even you interest is not on the list, doesn't mean its out of the question. I know a few students who have applied for other externship opportunities and have been accepted. 

The process has been a bit stressful -- and all at once -- when it comes to being placed. I was hoping to complete an externship with a firm that practices Real Estate law -- After completing the property course during 1L year I gained an interest in real estate law and wanted to gain more experience in this area. But unfortunately there wasn't an open position in the Fall program. But another great opportunity was available - clerking for a federal judge. He was going to be in the area and wanted to conduct an "unofficial" interview so we went ahead and did that.

My interview was smooth which I was pleasantly surprised at. The judge was very kind and personable. My interview lasted about 45 minutes long and I think I answered a total of 5-7 questions:

Why did I join the sports and entertainment law society?
What happened in Con Law?
Why did I choose to apply for this position?
What areas of the law interest me / have I decided on what area of law I would like to practice in?

and then a few standard questions for the position regarding citizenship and criminal record.
My best advice that I can give when it comes to answering questions like this is be honest but do it in a professional way. I dreaded answering the 2nd question because ever since I got my grade in the class I have been up in the air with how to handle it in terms of re-taking the class, answering the question of why this happened in interviews, how it will affect my ability to get a job later on, etc. etc. I was honest and he appreciated that. When all was said and done with the interview, it wasn't final yet. I still had to conduct a phone interview with two judges and an attorney.

I completed that yesterday and while it went well, I'm not sure how I feel about phone interviews overall - its hard to hear and I just prefer to meet people in person versus over the phone. But I did like how the interview was conducted: the attorney began  by asking a few questions relating to my law school experience -
How would I describe Syracuse's legal writing courses
What kind of legal writing have I done
What have been my favorite courses
the first judge followed by asking questions that were geared towards my current internship with the real estate attorney -
How much legal writing have I've done between my two legal internships 
Does my current internship revolve around individual or collaborative work 
Whether I plan to stay within the Real estate practice area. 
Finally the judge I will be clerking for asked a few clarification questions regarding two courses that were on my transcript -
what they were
why we had to take them
what we did for them
 Overall it must have gone well because he called shortly after to offer me the position!

Where will I be living?

There are about 15 of us total going in the Fall semester, 2 of which are my close friends. The three of us found an apartment together — we will be subleasing — which was more difficult than we had hoped. The problem isn't finding a place - there are so many places in D.C. -  it's getting a response from prospective landlords, finding places that offer short term leasing for a reasonable price (and are units that are furnished. The second challenge on top of all that was having someone go and look at prospective places because you should NEVER sign a lease without looking at the place first. Thankfully two of our close friends are in the DC area for the summer and were nice enough to look at a few places for us. This has definitely been an extremely stressful process but we finally found a place that meets all the things we were looking for. Its in a great location - 10 - 15 minutes from the city/ all of our work locations - it has 3 bedrooms, fully furnished, minutes from downtown and is less than a half a mile from the metro stops (you use these a lot in DC apparently).

It has been a super stressful process in such a short period of time but its finally all over and official, Fall 2017 in DC is where you'll find me! 

Note Taking: Laptop v. Paper - Which Do I Prefer?

I've been asked multiple times and have even asked this question myself a few times:

"When it comes to note taking do you prefer to hand write or type your notes?

First and foremost you need to figure out which your PROFESSOR prefers. Typically once the syllabus is released it will have the class guidelines including "use of electronics / laptops use". If the professor doesn't mind the use of laptops, then use yours. If they do mind, well your stuck using the traditional pen and paper method.

If the professor doesn't have a preference I prefer to type my notes.

Why? because I tend to type faster than I write - I find it easier to follow my typed class notes versus the written ones because hand written notes are usually rushed - you're trying to get down as much as your hand will let you. I find that I am a pretty quick typer so I basically have a transcript of the course which helps when it comes to outlining.

What apps / programs do you use to take notes?

There are many places where you can create notes. It really all comes down to which you are most comfortable with using. I'm someone who likes my notes to be super organized especially when they are typed. Each class has its own folder on my desktop which is broken down into class and home work notes as well as specific assignments for those classes. I've tried a few different note taking methods, each which have their own pros and cons. 

Word - The first semester I just used plain old Microsoft word for my notes. But I found this to be a pain in the butt because I had so many word documents - each class, each homework assignment and then my outline. It was hard to keep track of everything and sometimes the formatting got all haywire during class and would put me behind because I had to fix it to move forward. I also didn't like that it was equally as challenging to put in any form of flow chart, graph, diagram, etc. For example my Civil Procedure professor always drew out these extremely helpful diagrams in class. microsoft word never let me do them because of formatting issues and it would drive me nuts because then i would have to hand write them, snag a photo and insert it into my notes later on. It was just too many extra steps that I just got tired of doing. 

OneNote - About half way through the fall semester I saw one of my friends using Microsoft OneNote to take class notes. Over the winter break I decided to check out OneNote to see if it would be better for class notes. It was. In OneNote you can make a "Notebook" for each class, add multiple sections to those notebooks which can be further broken down into sub-sections and as many pages as you wish to those sub-sections. During the spring semester I created a notebook for each class I had and then added various sections and subsections that were needed for those classes. 

For example in Crim. I had three sections:

Class Notes

Homework Notes

Tutoring Notes

Then under both class and homework notes I created subsections for each week and color coded them - so week one in both sections was gold. From there you could add additional pages to each subsection so I used those for each class day. As for tutoring notes, I would try to color code them so they would match to the days we were covering but  we went over a lot of material so I would usually make a heading as to which topics the session was covering and then copy and paste from there to my outline. 

If you still are satisfied with either of these programs there is another great option -- Evernote. Evernote is similar to OneNote but takes it one step further. I actually just stumbled upon Evernote so I haven't used it yet for school but am thinking about using it this semester. I got the chance to play around with the app/program a bit and so far it seems fairly easy to use.

Similar to Onenote you have the option of creating notebooks for each of your classes along with sections and individual pages for those sections. But Evernote has the option of adding things that you "screen shot" "highlight" "note" etc. on a webpage and store them in Evernote for use within your notebook. Here's an example:

1. Once you download EverNote you will have the option of adding EverNote to your search bar. This icon will only show up when the app is open 


2. From here Open EverNote and Create your NoteBook.

3. While searching through safari, if you find something that you want to screen shot and place in your notes, you have the option to do this. All you do is click that little elephant icon on the search bar and down drops a menu. You can take a screen shot of the entire web page or just what you need, create specific notes relating to the page or add even create audio recordings.

4. Once you take that screen shot, create a note or recording, hit the "Save to EverNote" button, this  will synch what took a you screen shot of to the app by creating a new note. If you don't hit synch, it won't show up in the app. 

5. From there you can either work directly in that new note or copy & paste the content from one note to another.

Finally, Evernote allows you to synch your notes to multiple devices which is a lot harder to do with Word / OneNote. I think overall the app is really handy, especially with the web browser options. It's definitely something I will be trying this fall. 

If, however, you are stuck with the traditional pen & paper method there are some tricks that I have picked up along the way.
Shorthand / symbols - In undergrad I always just wrote as much as I could without short-handing everything and it definitely made it difficult in some classes when I went back to go over things. (I missed a few major points here and there, or just stopped in the middle of a sentence because I couldn't catch everything) During the fall semester my LCR professor provided us with a list of shorthand to use when taking notes. In classes that I was stuck with hand writing my notes I would use symbols like ∆ for defendant, π for plaintiff; H for holding R: rule; b/c because etc. etc. (I actually began using these in my typed notes too because it was just easier than taking the time to type it out fully.)
Below find a list of shorthand options that you can use for note note-taking:

Here are some helpful key combinations to use when typing your notes:

If you have any questions or suggestions for other apps to use, short hand options or anything helpful that is note related be sure to reach out to me!