Week One Recap

So the Preview Course is over. All I can say is I'm glad I came. It was basically a primer to how classes are taught, how to brief cases, and how to really approach the questions asked.

It was kind of nice to see that my gut reactions on many of the legal questions involved were the "correct" answers. (I'm also slowly getting acclimated to the fact that there really is no correct answer, just answers more likely to succeed in court.)

The biggest boon has most definitely been a social one - it was a tremendous opportunity to really get to know a terrific group of people that I can tell will be quality friends and colleagues.

The city has been a little alien to me... Everything is brick, and coming from Seattle that's just not something you see very often. The heat is actually kind of nice; it's been 90+ since I've been here and I love it. They weren't kidding about the altitude though. It's getting better, but those first two staircases I went up... winded. Embarrassingly so.

We have a few advance assignments that I've started on, and I can say unflinchingly that I'm not intimidated. The reading is clicking, and I'm done second guessing myself.

My one lingering trepidation about becoming a lawyer has been, what I perceived, the complete and utter lack of a work life balance once you get out in the field. I have no issue with hard work and longish hours when it's something that fascinates me. I just don't want to be consumed by the work. Thankfully, I've been hearing that the areas of law that interest me aren't as go-go-go-go as some of the others, and I already know that working for a big firm doesn't appeal to me. And earlier today, I received probably the most helpful words yet.

I got my professional mentor earlier in the week (a local judge who ran a successful practice for many years), and I asked him about this very concern. His (condensed) response: "The ultimate answer is not only is it possible, it's mandatory.  One has to make it happen."

So to just be succinct: Bring it, DU.