A Few Things I Have Been Reading (While I Have Not Been Writing)

It's been a busy past few days, so I am a little behind on my posts. One thing I have been doing this fall is searching for additional sites that discuss law career issues, as well as some law students posts that may be worth checking out. The following are a few interesting things I have found recently.

2L student blog Shelley's Case has a nice response to a question I posted on this blog on September 26, 2006--namely, what your thoughts on law school might be. Shell's survival tips for the Socratic Method and comments about the classroom being like a courtroom are very good indeed--the latter especially. Like many things in life, interactions in the law school classroom can be thought of as roleplaying, which not only makes the experience more fun (or less awful at least), but perhaps more meaningful as well.

On a sidenote, the graphic design of that blog has changed. If I remember correctly, last year it was all in pastel colors, but this year it is monochromatic grayscale. A legal blog in shades of gray--somebody must have a sense of humor.

Second year associate blog Lack of Scienter. Visually very nice, and contentwise it is refreshing to hear the views of a junior associate who is not miserable or angry at her law firm. (At least not yet.) Good recent posts include one on the "Working Mothers" List (Sept. 26, 2006) (query: is there such a thing as a "Working Fathers" List?) and another on associate mentoring programs (Sept. 25, 2006), which is a favorite topic of mine. But read this blog's posts soon, since there are no archives, and old posts just get deleted.

The New York Lawyer. This is not a new site, but I only started reading it regularly this fall. It has lots of online articles relevant to newbie lawyers and people considering career changes within the law. Favorite recent article: Large Firm Life: Managing Junior Associates (Oct. 6, 2006). Note: You need to register to have access to this site, but registration is free.

Other Stuff? To be honest, this post was supposed to be about interesting new law student blogs, but frankly I haven't found any good new ones. (Check out the ones I already had listed on my blogroll, though.) Maybe it's because a lot of them say much the same thing: I'm overwhelmed, everyone IMs in class, exams stink, I'm drunk (again), etc. Those that seem more original don't necessarily discuss the kind of behavior I'd like to encourage--like the blog posts I found about how to sleep with half the attorneys and staff at the firm where you are a summer associate and still get a permanent offer (I'm definitely not dignifying that one with a link).

Maybe I am just turning into a cynical, crabby old geezer a decade or two before my allotted time. But I don't see much out there on the student side of things that catches my eye as worth reading. If anyone one sees something I missed, though, please post a comment and tell me about it.