Law Students

Big Dog, Little Dog

Posted on November 02, 2008
Dear K,One of our favorite books is Big Dog, Little Dog. We have read it countless times since you were born, just like Grandma used to read it to Daddy when he was a little boy.But this weekend, when we read Big Dog, Little Dog, you became fixated on two words: TUBA and IDEA...

Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31, 2008
And, if you're looking for costume ideas for next year...

Shar-pei stomach

Posted on October 31, 2008
A frightening topic for Halloween...I forget about my Sitemeter stats for months at a time, but I checked them recently. A bunch of people find this blog by searching for "cesearan section recovery", and one person searched for "i had a cesearean my stomach still high...

Top baby names of 2007

Posted on October 30, 2008
The Social Security Administration's list of the top baby names for 2007 is out! Always a fun read.As usual, I am appalled by the girls' names. I hope little Ashly, Rylee, and Miley have fun playing together.K's name made the top 1000, with an alternate spelling...

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Work-life boundary

Posted on October 30, 2008
Yesterday I went to to a talk by ?pela Trefalt about her doctoral research on how large law firm attorneys deal with work-life boundary issues. She studied seventy people at an AmLaw 100 firm, about half men and half women. She found that one the attorneys' biggest concerns about work-life balance was jeopardizing their relationships at work...

Clothes horse

Posted on October 29, 2008
"What clothes should we wear today?" I said to K. "How about your blue sweatpants.""No!" he said.He has never shown the slightest interest in his clothes, except when they have pictures of dogs or fire trucks on them. Even then, he'd just as soon hug them or eat them as wear them...

Parenting philosophy

Posted on October 28, 2008
K got a visit from both sets of grandparents last weekend. My parents arrived Thursday night, after his bedtime, and took him to two different farms on Friday. (The first was a vegetable farm with a farmstand. The second had animals and a hayride.) When K woke up from his Saturday afternoon nap, Dida and Dadu were gone, and Grandma and Grandpa had taken their place...

Living in the twentieth century

Posted on October 27, 2008
"Okay," I announced to JW, "I'm going to learn how to send a text message.""I guess the day had to come," he replied. "It's time."[Ten minutes passes]"??!!! I just keep getting this message that says 'Short Mail!' There's no way to send a text message!""Let me see...

19 1/2 months

Posted on October 22, 2008
Dear K, It's almost Halloween. This year, you will be a bat. I wanted you to be a dragon but we are lazy and we found a bat costume on sale. I don't think you get the Halloween thing yet. Next year you'll probably want to go trick-or-treating.I haven't written about your daily routine in a while...

Two kid questions

Posted on October 21, 2008
First, a matter of playground etiquette: A toy is on the ground. Your toddler grabs it. Do you take it away, or let him play with it? (JW and I differ on this one. I'll wait to hear what other people say before telling you what we think.)Second, a gadget/toy question: is there some device that's like a little-kid radio, where I can preload a couple of songs and he can hit a button to play the song? Something like the Mozart cube, but instead of Mozart it plays the songs that I pick...

Bar update

Posted on October 18, 2008
The firm won't pay for the Bar/BRI iPod option. But apparently they'll give me time off to attend the lectures. (Which doesn't seem cost-effective to me, but okay.) So even though I hate the idea of being stuck in a room watching a video for four hours a day, if they really won't have a problem with me taking off at noon, I guess I won't complain...

The dark side of the law

Posted on October 17, 2008
People always say that working for a big firm is like selling your soul. They suggest that you'll be asked to do awful, unethical things on behalf of your clients, selling your services to the highest bidder regardless of the moral content.Public service work, now that's noble...

Thinking ahead

Posted on October 16, 2008
All the 3Ls were invited to a bar prep session this week. The Dean of Students reminded us that if we have committed any crimes or have done bad deeds, we should tell her before writing it on our bar application. Then the Bar/BRI rep said we would have to study 8-12 hours a day and should say goodbye to our families and friends and do nothing but study for two months before the exam...

The five bloggers meme

Posted on October 10, 2008
I've been tagged a few times now (hello pickled), and inspired by Ana's lovefest, I'm finally participating. But not as eloquently as she did.Just in case anybody feels left out, please know that if you are on my blogroll (and don't blog mainly about substantive law) I read you religiously and would happily have you over for dinner any time...

Hitchhiker

Posted on October 09, 2008
People around here like to complain about certain people or events being "so Cambridge." I can't tell you exactly what "so Cambridge" means, but it's some combination of affluence, entitlement, liberalism, obliviousness, and a busybody-ish intrusive quality...

K&M

Posted on October 07, 2008
This weekend we had a visit from my brother, his wife, and my four-month old niece! K tends to be territorial and got very upset when I paid her too much attention, but overall he liked having her around, I think. He's still talking about her a few days later...

Not-so-forbidden foods

Posted on October 05, 2008
A friend once told me how her little sister always asked for a taste of their father's beer. One day, when her sister was six or seven, her father said, "Okay, you can have a sip," figuring she'd hate it and that would cure her. She loved it, of course, and after that he could never drink beer in front of her because she would go crazy begging for a sip...

Mommy

Posted on October 04, 2008
K said "Mommy" for the first time today!He tends to just say the beginnings of words (a request to be picked up is "Pi uh," if he wants extra grapes he asks for "mo," etc.) So he's been saying, "Ma" and "Da-y" for a while. But suddenly, this morning, when I was in the basement I heard him saying from upstairs, "Ma...

The advantage of the billable hour

Posted on October 03, 2008
A week ago, I wrote about the joys of freedom from the billable hour. But I've realized that the billable hour does have one big advantage: it limits the time you spend.I used to do the occasional psychological study for pocket money (and because they're fun)...

Low expectations

Posted on October 02, 2008
NPR's summary of the vice presidential debate: nobody expects anything of Sarah Palin, and Joe Biden will be fine if he just curbs his tendency to be "long-winded and gaffe-prone." The format prevents the candidates from responding to each other directly, which will "help them to avoid making mistakes...

19 months

Posted on October 02, 2008
Dear K,How does it feel to be 19 months old? I know what you would say: "Yeah!"In the past month, you have started saying two-syllable words and repeating what Daddy and I say. (Who are we going to vote for President next month? OBABA!) You have learned to eat with a real fork, not just a baby fork, and to use a spoon all by yourself, making mealtimes much easier and more pleasant for Mommy...

Minority experience in large law firms

Posted on October 01, 2008
Interesting report by the Minority Law Journal (summary here) about experiences of mid-level associates at large law firms, broken down by racial background.African-American associates are less satisfied overall. They perceive that they need to work harder than other associates to get to the same level...

Personally kickstarting the economy

Posted on September 29, 2008
JW and I have been talking about replacing our windows forever. Our house, built in the 1960s when oil was cheap, came with virtually no insulation and windows that actually ice over in the wintertime. JW and his father have filled the attic with insulation, and we decided it was finally time to take care of the windows -- except, gulp, it cost thousands of dollars more than I expected...

Thinking like a lawyer

Posted on September 27, 2008
A neighbor stopped by to talk about a town controversy involving poisoned pigeons. The gears in my brain started turning and I guess I wasn't reacting as much as she would like, because she said, "I can see your sympathies aren't with the pigeons. But imagine if a hawk ate the poison! Think of the hawks!" I nodded, still processing...

Life at the AG's office

Posted on September 22, 2008
Week 3 of my internship. Two things that are really different about the AG's office versus the firm:1. Especially because I'm in a criminal division, the AG's office is an arm of law enforcement. The AAGs may not do the same job, but they see themselves as essentially on the same team as the police and work with them closely...

Law school v. business school

Posted on September 18, 2008
Yesterday in class I sat next to somebody I didn't know, a not infrequent occurrence these days. "Hi," he said. "How are you?"I was taken aback, until later in class when I looked over at his browser and saw that he was a business school student. Then I understood...

This is how we do it

Posted on September 13, 2008
I get this all the time: "Wow, a baby and law school! How do you do it?"It surprises me when it comes from female attorneys, you know, people with actual jobs. I remind them that during law school you're only expected to be somewhere about three hours a day, and even then it's not the end of the world if you don't show up...

Sing after me

Posted on September 12, 2008
I discovered this song on YouTube and have been singing it with K. We both love it. My favorite part is when I sing, "Be my echo," and he replies, "Echo, ego, aggo, I go." Just thought I'd share for other parents of music lovers. (There's a cute intro, but the actual song starts at around 1:28...

My last semester

Posted on September 08, 2008
Here's the lineup:1. Taxation and Regulation of Nonprofits. More tax. Bring it on.2. Internet law seminar. Professor supplied food at the first class. Readings are both light and interesting. Promises to be an engaging course.3. Professional Services, a business-school style class about how professional services firms like law firms, consulting firms, and accounting firms are run...

We have a new baby!

Posted on September 07, 2008
That's the collective "we." Congratulations to Cee, who has a beautiful new boy!

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