round spongebob

You know that SpongeBob meme where he’s all shiny and rounded and looks so uncomfy and polished?

Yeah, that one. That’s how it feels being a summer clerk/associate/intern after 1L. Like my first day I walked in, three days after my last final, and was given a list of things to do, including some research memos, drafting petitions, drafting various motions, etc. All normal now, but I was like “what does ANY of this mean!!” and that is when it fully hit me – law school does not prepare you to practice. 

Which, like, duh. Everyone says it. And I objectively knew it going in. But being handed a to-do list and realizing I had no clue how to do anything was slightly terrifying to say the least. Thankfully, I have amazing lawyers and partners at my firm, and they not only welcome, but highly encourage, all questions. I cannot imagine figuring it all out without that support.

Actually, the assignment that made me crash out the most was something we hadn’t done in this firm for YEARS. We were appealing something to the state supreme court, and had to file both an application to transfer and motion for rehearing. All of our past filings were outdated and I had no clue what to do, but I tried. And then got a message from the partner – “Yeah, let’s meet tomorrow. You definitely have a Frankenstein’s monster going on here.”

TERRIFYING. 

But also glad he said Frankenstein’s monster rather than Frankenstein?

Anyway, queue the next four days spending countless hours revising and editing, each time thinking “this is it, I got it” only to receive more edits. But in the end, it was so thrilling. Knowing we filed this super time sensitive project. Hoping to get justice for our clients. Working on something that no one here knew the exact specifics of because, again, we hadn’t done it in ages. And I realized all the edits and back and forth wasn’t me failing, it wasn’t me being stupid, it was just bouncing things off each other. He edited my work, I edited his, and we filed a polished document I thought I would lose my sanity over. It was rather satisfying. 

At the end of the day, I still feel like that SpongeBob meme. But, I think maybe everyone does, to some extent. 

Song of the day: Questions, Maisie Peters