Welcome to Alla's Blog! The Life of a 1L...
I'm learning how to not be the type of girl who gives her declarative statements the cadence of a question. Hopefully this blog gives you a good glimpse into life at Arizona Law.
Hometown: Scottsdale, Arizona
Undergraduate: University of Arizona, Russian Studies & Political Science
Before Law School: Lived in Washington, DC and worked for the Department of Defense, as well as a digital communications agency making websites and tweeting professionally
Law School Activities: Student Bar Association; Law Women's Association; National Lawyer's Guild; International Law Society; LEAD Mentoring Program; Business Law Society
The 1L Job Hunt: The Homework No One Talks About
If you're checking out this blog, it's likely that you've already poked around the UA law admissions website. Aside from posts about the great weather and the great people, I think its important to talk about the first year job hunt. They say that the firm you work at during the summer after your second year is the firm who will hire you after graduation. But what about your first year? We've taken all the 'core' classes in our legal education, but what good are we to employers?
The Career Services office likes to shoot for 100% legal-related employment for students after their first year. While waiting tables and nannying can be pretty lucrative, the experience (and resume building) that we will get from our first summer doing leal work is unmatched. In fact, I think last year over 94% of the 1Ls who weren't studyingabroadwere employed doing some type of legal work. However, this process takes up a great deal of time, as each employer needs a unique cover letter and thus a separate application packet. It's like the homework no one told you about!
UA Law has multiple waves of interviews with varying employers as well as careerresources.
- The On Campus Interviews (OCI's) - where firms come to campus to interview 1Ls for [paid!!] summer jobs. These include both traditional legal firms as well as in-house counsels at large Arizona corporations.
- The Sonoran Desert Career Fair - very similar to "employer speed dating," this is an on-campus career fair where over 50 different law jobs are up for grabs. Students upload their resume, cover letters, and writing samples, and hope the employers pick them. Overall, almost 40% of the class gets positions this way.
- TheGovernmentHonorsHandbook - is a UA-created master database that has hundreds and hundreds of different law jobs available from across the country. This is the go-to source for those interested in working in DC or in the public sector outside of Arizona.
- Judicial Clerkships/Externships - Career Services is also very proactive about placing UA Law students in judges' chambers across the state. In fact, over 35% of the class will end up working for a judge the summer after their first year.
- Lots and Lots of Emails!- theCareerServices office istenaciousand skilled and finding relevant job openings for positions that UA Law students are interested in, and they never hesitate to send them out over the listserv.
- Independent contacts - If you've got connections in a certain city or want to work somewhere unique (likeSiouxFalls or Kansas City) it's up to you to shake things up and make it happen. But there are Arizonaalumnivirtually everywhere, so you'll never be alone in your job hunt.
Here are some fellow 1Ls (including fellow Admissions Blogger Daniel) at the Sonoran Career Fair
and here is a professional picture that the blogphotographer(Melissa Haun) took of me recently:
Posted by: Alla 04/16/2012 1:45 PM
An Incredibly Relaxing Break
After three and a half (seemingly short) weeks, the law students are back and classes have begun for the spring semester. The hallways are filled with friends hugging one another after almost a month away, and classmates discussing the readings they've had to finish before the first day of class. I think I speak for the majority of my class in saying that it's great to be back in Tucson - but not so great to be back in the daily grind of schoolwork and case law.
Over the break, several University of Arizona Law students and I attended a reception at a Phoenix law firm for first year students. The firm's office was on the 27th floor of a high-rise in Downtown Phoenix - so of course my Arizona Law friends and I had to snap a photo of the incredible view of the Valley of the Sun.
After spending some time in Arizona with my family, I headed back East to see friends and network in Washington, DC. There, I wandered around the Smithsonian museums, saw great movies, and connected with former co-workers I hadn't seen since I moved back to Tucson to start school. During the flights to and from DC, and had a chance to read [FOR FUN!] a book about intellectual property that I had been meaning to start since it came out. Piracy, by Adrian Johns is a lengthy historical narrative of IP law starting with printers' guilds in fifteenth century London and ending with digital data today. It's pretty dry, but I recommend it if you're passionate about the subject.
Posted by: Alla 04/16/2012 1:45 PM
Finals Time Mean Stress and ..Puppies?
Yes, the dreaded first semester of law school has come to a close and now its time for finals. We've all buckled down to put the finishing touches on our outlines and begin doing hypotheticals on ExamSoft all day long. However, an unintended consequence of all this time to study is betting to spend time with classmates with whom you may not have many classes (but who are all taking the same subject finals). All the studying means we're spending tons of time together.
Also, in a surprisingly exciting move - our school library is bringing in pets from the local animal rescue league for us to play with in the library. This is really exciting for those of us with pets that aren'tparticularlyplayful. Studies show that playing with animals reduces blood pressure and stress - and needless to say I expect many of my classmates to partake in thisexperience.
The link to the event is here. The benefits of playing with pets can be found here: http://www.deltasociety.org/Page.aspx?pid=311.
And now I'm off to study - but here's a funny video on Personal Jurisdiction in honor of my civil procedure final. http://www.youtube.com/embed/e6L90oN4ppY
Posted by: Alla 04/16/2012 1:45 PM
Getting Ready for No Fun November
November Already?
It seems as though November is when things start to get really crazy during the 1L year. In the span of two weeks, my small section and I will have a memo, state legal research assignment, practice complaint, and oral argument reflection paper due. This is in addition to daily reading assignments, outlining, and club involvement. Oh...and it's Homecoming weekend coming up! However, it's nice to know that in a school this size I can always go meet with any of my professors if I have a question or consult any of the 2L fellows that most classes are assigned.
Despite the crazy workload, weather in Tucson has been absolutely wonderful these past several weeks. This 'autumn' season makes my morning and afternoon bike rides the absolute best part of my day. Being able to study outside in a t-shirt while the majority of the country wears coats is pretty spectacular. The other day I was studying in the law school courtyard when the University of Arizona mascot - Wilbur Wildcat walked by for another event being held nearby. Not one to be shy, the mascot sat right next to me and pretend-studied Civil Procedure with me.
(of course I had to ask a classmate to snap a photo on my phone)
But be assured it's not all sunshine and Wildcat football. I spend most of my nights nowadays studying and outlining at my house or coffee shop. The situation looks notdissimilarfrom this:
Posted by: Alla 04/16/2012 1:45 PM