the daily snivel

  Life is pain; pass the Advil.

I honestly thought that when I handed in my last paper and formally finished law school forever, I would have all this lovely time in which to write and update my journal and generally stay on top of things. Unfortunately, this has proved (like so many things in my life) to be a woefully misguided assessment of things as they really are.

Last Monday, I formally began the Law Society of Upper Canada's Bar Admission Course, which is a four-month educational phase involving daily classes and 8 licencing exams in the areas of professional responsibility, real estate law, civil litigation, family law, criminal law, tax law, commercial law, and wills and estates. Each module lasts several weeks and is followed by a 3 1/2 hour exam. In fact, I just finished the professional responsibility exam, which was unusual in the sense that it came after only a week, was closed book, and is the exam you're more likely to fail than any other. "They," of the they who say "that's what they say," do say many things, but among those things is the apparent fact that the failure rate of the professional responsibility exam is between 30-40%. I found it long and tiring but not actually tough or filled with surprises, though in fairness the questions often referred to tricky subjects like trust accounts and professional indemnification insurance, and you were required to know how the Rules of Professional Conduct and By-laws applied to situation, and not just realize when something was obviously unethical. Additionally, I don't actually have my results back yet, so I can't even say how successful I was and will only have to assume for the time being that I am, in fact, both ethical and professionally responsible. While exams are judged on a pass-fail basis, you still get a score, and the tricky thing is that the pass/fail point varies from exam to exam depending on how well the group as a whole ultimately performed. So, for one exam the pass point could be 50% correct answers; on another exam, it could be 60% or 65%.

Meanwhile, we also begin practical assessments of professional skills like interviewing clients, negotiating with opposing parties, drafting, and making submissions in court. This week, we began interviewing exercises as a component of the new real estate model that also commenced this week after our exam, and I have to say it's frustrating to be forced to re-learn skills I've been practicing for the past two years in my work with clients at the legal clinic. I'm trying to content myself with the fact that you can never get too much practice at such essential skills, and even though I do things a certain way this doesn't mean it's the right way, and so on. But for now it seems a little, oh, redundant, especially when I go back to the clinic where I'm actually dealing with real clients, and not just a law student pretending to be one. Although I started off with such mock interviews when I began training at the clinic, it's still silly that we all end up play-acting on the basis of handouts listing some basic facts that give a lot of details, but not enough, so sometimes the "client" ends up having to guess at the answer of a particularly probing question. It's like the episode of the Simpsons when Homer tries to intercept a letter sent to Mr. Burns by pretending to be him, and when asked for his first name, he has to stupidly respond, "I... don't... know."

As I said earlier, I'm working part time at the legal clinic this summer as well, which is really the high point of each day. I'm loving it. I get my own little office, am kept frantically busy (I'm helping with memos, policies, caseworker training, and of course wrapping up my own client files and working on the website) and the students working there this summer are always dropping by to have questions answered and to chat. I like being helpful and enjoy having an open door for anyone and everyone, and I'm planning on putting out a dish of candy on my desk as bait to attract passers-by. It worked really well last year when our articling student (who helped supervise the criminal division) did this, and the only thing I might change is the selection (he liked putting out Werther's toffees and hard candies; I prefer the idea of offering chocolate or fruity candy...).

Of course, another great part about working is that eventually you get paid, and after three years of law school I'm sorely in debt and need every drop of income I can get right about now. The past two months in particular have been very lean; all the credit has been expended, I couldn't work during the school year, and as a consequence the pantry was getting awfully bare and I was getting more than a few friendly phone calls from computers that believed (correctly) that I owed their companies money. I even had to write my landlords a not asking them not to cash my rent cheque until I got paid, which (mercifully) finally happened today. It's comforting to think that, now that I'm finished law school, there's no reason I ever have to be in that position of hardship, hunger and poverty again. I'm working now, I'll be starting my articling in September, and after my Call to the Bar in July 2006, I'll be a full-fledged lawyer. Making, one hopes, some of them big lawyer bucks. You know, I actually don't want or need much -- just enough to pay the bills, have a roof over my head, and be able to order in some yummy Thai once in awhile -- but protracted periods of costly education have meant that these are truly luxuries to me. In fact, the signs of success for me will be humble. I'll need to own a car, but I have no desire for a big or fancy car. Personally, I know I'll really have made it when I have a fireplace, even if it's just a fireplace in an apartment.

In the meantime, you've doubtlessly noticed how busy I am. I come home even more exhausted at the end of the day than I did during the school year, and I'm on the go so much that there's so little time for myself. Things will calm down, though. I mean, they have to.

So: here's the good and the bad.

The GOOD

• I got a B+ in Administrative Law, murkiest and most cunning of all the areas of law!
  
• I got paid this week in real, honest-to-goodness money. Not magic beans or even blowjobs, but sweet, exchangeable-for-goods-and-services money, in cheque form.
  
• This means the rent is paid, the messy hair (source of my sworn foe, helmet head) has been cut, the bills are not so threatening, and I can afford to book a driver's test.
  
• One of my dearest friends is going to the University of Ottawa law school next year (you know who you are!).
  
• Several of my dear friends are getting married.
  
• Graduation is less than a month away.
  
• Finally, I am so full of cake right now.
  

The BAD

• Celibacy, celibacy, celibacy.
  
• I broke a spoke on my bicycle riding home yesterday, so I'm stuck taking slow, hot, crowded buses until my ride is properly pimped out with a less broken spoke (yo).
  
• They killed off Commander Tucker on the last episode of Enterprise and I cried like a baby whose parents are losers, though in fairness to myself they were partly tears of anger that such a great character would die for such a pointless plot point on a holodeck recreation with fucking Counsellor Troi Exposition telling us that "He had no idea he wouldn't make it back."
  
• Still forced to tolerate my roommate and boyfriend-of-roommate with barely concealed seething rage and clenched teeth.