2L

I entered my 2L year this summer. I can still remember that excitement and nervousness I felt the first day of school. Sadly, entering my 2L year, I don't have those same feelings. We joke that you can easily point out the first years. They are all excited, happy, and bubbly. In two weeks, they will no longer be happy, excited, or bubbly. They will most likely be tired, grouchy, stressed, addicted to coffee/alcohol (it's amazing how much law students drink, I don't get it), and sleep deprived. I love this transformation. It's hilarious. Mainly because I know exactly what they are going through.

The transformation after your first year of law school is unreal. It takes you forever to do the readings, and when have finally finished them and you feel prepared for class, you get called on and you kind of freak out a little, especially when the professor won't lay off. Needless to say, this gets so much better after your first year. You kind of feel like a pro. You can do the readings quickly, you don't have to "brief" anymore (I just book brief), you know what to look for in the case, and how to take notes. It's amazing how quickly you learn what works and what doesn't.

I started the fall semester today, and I'm actually excited to get back to my schedule. I'm taking six classes and interning again. You should see my calendar. In order to spend my time wisely without getting behind, I have had to schedule the entire semester. I know when I am going to study, when I will be going to the gym (the only way to survive law school), when I am going to eat, and when to go to work. I'm not to the point where I have scheduled bathroom breaks, but it's nearing that.

At the rate I'm going, I will graduate a semester early. I think I want to do tax law/estate planning. I took an estate and gift tax class this summer and fell in love with it. Literally. I thought about that class ALL OF THE TIME. I love it. However, the problem with tax law, and I know this sounds crazy, is that most people practicing in the field have an LLM, a masters of law that is earned after law school. I've talked to a lot of lawyers in the area, and done TONS of research, and you can't really get far in tax without an LLM. Which kind of makes me mad, because in all other fields, you don't need one. I'm planning on doing a couple internships in the tax area (that's what my fall internship is in), to make sure it is really what I want to go into. If I still decide that I love it, then I think I'm going to add another year of school on after law school. However, it kind of works out perfectly in that I will graduate a semester early, hopefully I will be able to start the LLM program in January, still take the bar in July, and by the time I find out if I passed the bar (in November), I will have an LLM degree (in December). It's either now or never. Once I'm out of school, I'm not going back so I'm just going to get it done now.

That's the plan for now. It could change. It's just been on my mind constantly for the past few weeks. Let me just throw out this fact...since I will graduate a semester early, that means I will be done with law school (the JD) in 1 year 4 months. Crazy! It's really true when people say that law school just flies by. It feels like tomorrow, I will be done. I just have a buttload of work between today and tomorrow.