Odds and Ends: November 20, 2007

A brief interlude again…and I promise that I will regale you all with my favorite story from my childhood (The Broken Closet Door Incident). Since this is supposed to be a blog from a law student, I thought that a law school centered post might be in order. In 2 weeks, classes will be over and I will enter my final semester of law school. It is hard for me to believe that the end of the trip is almost here. I often joke with my (much) younger classmates that I have been an eternal student. I tell them that I can just pay off my students loans with the SS checks I will be collecting soon after graduation, that my next stop is business school for my MBA, that an LLM would not be a bad idea. The truth is that I have reached the end of my educational goals. The goal of law school was formulated when I was in my second year of graduate school. While I knew that I enjoyed the scientific aspects of what I was doing, I also realized that society is not kind to scientists with respect to lifestyles. The career scientists I knew were married to their bench tops, and the competition for research dollars was frightening. When I considered that few grants ever get funded, and the government’s allocations for science spending (already shrinking prior to the military actions and military occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq) would only be getting ever smaller, I started to look for another way.

I enjoy patent law. It provides me the opportunity to engage the science part of my mind while at the same time providing me with a more secure occupation. I have found a wonderful firm to work for. I enjoy the atmosphere, the mentorship, and the assignments that I receive. I cannot describe the elation that comes with FINALLY being able to do what I enjoy. Before law school, I had no idea that I would enjoy the work as much as I do. Now, I look forward to a lifetime of becoming a better patent attorney.

So what is ahead for me? Well, I am now looking for places to live after law school. My (VERY GENEROUS) older brother allowed me to live in a garden apartment in a building that he owns rent free while I was in school. I am looking for my first real home. Not an apartment, but my own space. I have the job that I want, so I know where I want to buy my home. While the collapse of the sub-prime market has not been kind to many people, it has opened the door to people like me who can now buy less expensively in a depressed market. I will also continue to clerk at my firm until I finish school. I only have 2 more classes to complete before the end.

Should I continue the blog after graduation? I will leave it up to you. Leave feedback! If I do not see feedback on this blog, I might just have to start another one under a different name.