One of the things I love most about Loyola is their commitment to helping students network, learn more about various areas of legal practice, and connect them to established lawyers in those fields. I have found so many of the events at Loyola extremely helpful to helping me narrow down which area of law I’m interested in practicing, and helping me to make meaningful connections with lawyers who have experience with that particular area of law.

For me, one of the most helpful things that I have done was signing up for an Alumni Mentor. Prior to law school, I didn’t know a single lawyer. One of the first questions I asked my mentor was what I can do now, as a law student, to prepare myself to be a great lawyer, aside from the obvious things like studying and attending class. My mentor stressed the importance of gaining legal experience while in school, and after several conversations offered me a job at his law firm for this Spring.

As a 1L, much of the what we’re learning can often feel isolated from the “real world.” While it’s easy to relate the subject material of classes like torts or criminal law to common life experiences, it’s much more difficult to relate classes like civil procedure to things that we actually experience in everyday life. This has been one of the most useful advantages of working that I have experienced. Not only have I learned very practical skills like sorting and filing pleadings and other documents, I am also gaining real world experience doing legal research and connecting civil procedure rules to actual on-going cases. The rules of civil procedure have become less of a foreign idea and more of a familiar concept.

I’ve also attended several of the guest speaker lectures during the lunch hour and I’ve found that it’s a great way to be exposed to new and interesting areas of the law and to get perspectives that I might not otherwise be exposed to. Overall, I would strongly recommend taking advantage of as many of the programs as possible. While law school can be difficult, and the job market can be daunting, Loyola is a school that definitely does not take a “sink or swim” approach to things. They help out every step of the way.

Law school has been a roller coaster so far. It has been exciting, tiring, challenging, and, most of all, humbling. Sometimes, there are moments when I ask myself it it’s worth it. These mostly occur when I’m up at 7am driving to school, during a cold-call when I’m not quite sure of the answer, or when I’m working on what feels like a never-ending paper. And, occasionally, there are moments that make everything worthwhile.

They say that if you enjoy what you do, then you’ll never work a day in your life. While I’m not naive enough to think that having a passion for the area of law that I will ultimately practice will be enough to make everything exciting and fun, I do believe that passion can make the hard work, long hours, and mundanity that I will doubtlessly experience worthwhile. If you’ve been reading my blog, you’re probably aware that I have many passions. But how do I tie my passions in with the law?

That is exactly the question I approached one of my professors with. As a 1L, thinking about electives and summer jobs can be overwhelming. The law is so diverse, and there are so many areas that I haven’t been exposed to yet. In previous conversations with my professor, I had told him of my strong interest in women’s issues and how they intersect with the law. My professor gave me an incredible opportunity to join in on a conference call with another incredible student, and two fantastic ladies from the LACBA. The lawyers were interested in putting on an event at Loyola for the women law students and, after two conference calls, the idea of a mentoring event became a tangible plan complete with a name, a logo, and a date.

The end result of the event was incredible. It was one of those moments that I mentioned where all of the hard work feels worthwhile. Twelve fantastic women lawyers came and spoke to about sixty students, mostly 1L women. I’m sure that many of those discussions blossomed into mentor relationships that will help these women students navigate the often-challenging employment climate, myself included. That was satisfying.

This semester has been the semester of opportunity. From helping to organize the Women’s Law Collaborate event alongside such inspiring ladies to being able to choose my first elective, Alternative Dispute Resolution, to starting my first legal job this past January, the opportunities have seemed endless. I am grateful to have worked with such inspirational ladies, and I excited for what the future of what it means to be a lady in the legal profession. I hope to work with them and women (and men too!) of similar drive and ability for years to come!

There are a lot of ways to answer that, but the simplest way to put it is, “A lot!” It might seem like “love” is too strong a word, right?

WRONG. I absolutely love Loyola and all of my classes. And, to be perfectly honest, I do love Loyola. Despite, or perhaps because of, the stress, the exams, the complex subject matter, and the long hours that I have to put in if I want to learn as much as I possibly can and perform to my full potential, I absolutely love Loyola.

(Just kidding about the “despite,” Loyola, you know I love you.) It’s because of the exams and because of the long hours that I love Loyola. I love the fact that the stress, when it does happen, is the kind of stress that comes from growing as a person and a professional. I love the fact that the exams come after a semester of support and feedback that points out where I am strong and where I need to work. I love the fact that the complex subject matter is made understandable by professors who obviously care about it. I love the fact that those long hours are hours well spent. I love that fact that I know that Loyola will prepare me to be the best lawyer that I can be.

I love Loyola because I am being challenged like never before and, every step of the way, I am being given the support, both from students and from faculty, that I need to succeed.

I am one of those people who has always been shy when it comes to building relationships with my professors. Before I came to law school, the mere thought of “having” to meet with a professor outside of class made me nervous. It’s not that they were mean or anything like that, just that “I need to see you after class” were words that I never wanted to hear. They were always an indication that something was wrong, not a sign that I had an opportunity to build a new professional relationship.

Some of my reluctance came from a cycle that I think is very common – someone doesn’t understand a concept, so she or he becomes too nervous to ask about it as time goes on because, beyond a certain point, having to ask about it indicates that you are “behind” and “behind” is a place that you never want to be. Of course, that was all in my head, and the secret to getting out of that cycle was in my head as well – I had to remind myself that law school is called that for a reason and that reason is because the professors are there to help you learn.

During my time at Loyola, that is exactly what they have done. My experience with my professors has been nothing short of fantastic. They are always there when I have difficulty understanding a difficult point. They are never intimidating, and they never look down on me, but it is always obvious that they know what they are talking about, having an extensive background in their specialty, and are willing to share everything that they know with me.

That was exactly what happened during my torts class that I took last semester. I was new to law school and I was unsure how to approach all of the work in this class. After midterms, I arranged to speak to the professor about my performance in the class and find out where I did well and where I could improve. Going in, I felt worried and intimidated but, after a clear, honest, and open assessment of my performance on the exam that lasted thirty minutes, I left with a very clear sense of where I did well and where I could have done better. Because I reached out of my comfort zone, my grade on the final exam improved significantly. Needless to say, my relationships with my professors have improved as time has gone by. Meeting with my professors is now something that I look forward to, and I look forward to strengthening those relationships as time goes by.