OK. I have to admit: I LOVE FANTASY. There. I've said it. I have spent maaaany hours of my life with RP and fantasy material. It feels sooooo good to find that high again. I never finished the DragonLance Chronicles in high school. Half-way through the 3rd volume I just picked up. Mmmmmm.....

Ever feel like a fool when you look around to see if anyone noticed that you spilled an audible giggle while reading?

Things I've done to prep over the past couple of months:

(flashback to the "Random Walk" v. technical analysis debates)

1. Purchased and started perusing commercial study books (Aspen "Examples and Explanations", etc)

2. Purchased "Sum and Substance" tapes and CDs (through all but 2)

3. Read "Planet Law School" (6 months ago so I need a re-read)

4. Read "Getting to Maybe" for exam strategies

5. Read half of "Eight Secrets Of Top Exam Performance" by Whitebread

6. Purchased and have gone half way through "LEEWS"

7. Read "Learning Legal Reasoning" by Delaney

8. Read "One L" by Turow

9. Watched "The Paper Chase"

10. Watched "A Civil Action"

We'll see how worthwhile this all is.

In an effort to produce yet another law school blawg, I embark upon a new adventure: Patent Defect.

Why add to the myriad of law student blogs already existent on the web? Probably an effort to obtain feedback from those in the know. Perhaps to provide a forum from which I may vent about impending confusion and unavoidable panic. Perchance… nah. Just a way to express what I encounter while I change my career mid-life.

I am leaving a full-time position in a technical field. Sure, the money is truly nice. The subject matter is wonderful. Why change? I am one of the unfortunate schleps that actually still believes that a career in law can provide a means to actually contribute to society in a capacity that matters.

Funny thing is, I will most surely end up with a job that makes less money than the one I now hold. (Maybe I can excuse myself under the pretense that this positions me better for a socially responsible job as a public interest lawyer. You know, ACLU, GreenPeace, etc. ...sure! that's it!) This is due to the fact that I will be attending a lower tier school this fall with little to no prospect for biglaw opportunities. Why this school? Maybe it is because I am 33 and a relatively late arriver on the product life cycle of a legal career. Possibly (actually most definitely) it is due to a 156 LSAT and a 3.49 undergrad GPA. I would have fared better had the admissions policies from most law schools included my GPA from my MBA and had I not wasted $1,200 and three months of my evenings in an LSAT prep course. (yes, I am proposing that future JD wannabees simply buy the previous exams, prep books, etc. on their own and cram your way to a 180)

I’ve managed to save up a chunk o’ change to try and stay afloat with a mega mortgage and not feel like I’m mooching off my wife for the next three years. We lived off $7,500 between the 2 of us our first year together (college loans be praised), so I’m hoping that we can make do well enough under these circumstances. At least well enough to where it won’t interfere with studies. Oh yeah, in addition to her full-time job, she’s a full-time doctoral student. More debt for us to play with, but hey, it sure is fun getting into movies with 2 student IDs. :)

E-mail me if ya like and you get a chance. patentdefect@yahoo.com

Anyhow, here we go.