Bring Your "A" Game

When I started law school, I received the usual advice:

-cut out all non-essential activities (movies, TV, sleep...you get the idea)

-map out a timeline/plan for your studying

-make studying your priority over other things

At the same time, I developed an avid interest (some might say addiction) to "bad" reality TV. My 1L year it was Next Food Network Star and Iron Chef America. 2L brought with it Next Iron Chef and Food Network Challenge. Dancing With the Stars accompanied the beginning of my 3L year, and 4L has brought with it the worst (and therefore most compelling) series of all -Project Runway. I also flirted with Celebrity Apprentice and a second season of Dancing With the Stars before succumbing to the pressure of deadlines and law school assignments. Even though I definitely violated the first and third rules of surviving law school, I found that these reality shows provided me with a new and different perspective on surviving law school that other activities did not. Let me share them with you:

1. Law school, like any other creative activity, is a full-contact "sport." Law school changes you. It is fiercely competitive both internally as well as externally. Law school will beat you down, bruise your ego, and dash your hopes. Only by focusing on the next task and doing it to the best of your ability will you survive and move forward. Add to that the sense of never quite measuring up, that your best is merely second-rate, and that at any time you will hear the dreaded words "you're out," and you have a sense of the type of ego beating that law school inflicts. As a result, I found an odd kinship with the competitors on shows like Dancing With the Stars, Next Iron Chef, and Project Runway. Each week a cadre of individuals put forward their best efforts that were then scrutinized and picked to pieces by a panel of expert judges. Each week I saw one competitor singled out and sent home because they weren't quite "good enough." I also began to have more empathy for my professors as I watched Tim Gunn and Alton Brown seek to offer realistic mentoring as well as consolation to struggling competitors who were ultimately sent home. Reality TV might not have improved my grades, but it made me a better law student because it provided a road map of how to survive in a seriously competitive environment without losing myself in the process.

2. You can't win if you don't play. Early on in each of the competitive reality shows, it became clear who came to win. Everyone who came to win showed up and worked hard. Every day. Even during Dancing With the Stars when H1N1 flu was at its peak, dancers and celebrities intent on winning showed up in surgical masks and gloves and continued to train. Derek Hough showed up running a temp and only went home when he couldn't see straight any more. Did they all win? No - reality TV doesn't work that way and neither does the FYLSX. However, Concord students who passed the FYLSX show the same dedication. They show up. They work hard. They don't quit even when things get tough. Do all of them pass? No. But they can be proud of the fact that they played. They showed up. They trained hard, and they did their best.

3. Winner's bring their "A" Game. Alton Brown said it best. "Sometimes good chefs have bad days." That is true for everyone. Tim Gunn said to one designer "Get something out on the runway. Move on so that you can do better on the next challenge." Anyone can have a bad day. Winners learn to work through their bad days so they can consistently bring their "A" game to every situation they encounter. You can pass the FYLSX on a bad day - but it will be easier on a day when you've brought your "A" game with you.

4. Remember, that it is just a game. When I was at WMCL for Advanced Advocacy, Professor Songsteng, the director of the program, told us students that this was our chance to take risks and fail so that we could learn how to play the game. "No one is going to jail. No one is losing a million dollars. Take a risk. I'm offering extra credit for the person who steps outside the box and takes the biggest risk this week." Did we take risks? Sort of. But it helped to remember that even though law is serious, it is also a game and in order to play it well we first have to learn how to play - even though that sometimes means taking risks and failing. And even though it is serious, law school is at its heart a game. So take some risks. Have fun. Failure isn't final or fatal - its just a way to learn.

So now I am heading into the homestretch - the end of my 4L year. I have had highs and lows, triumphs and defeats. But law school has not beat me. I look toward the last hurdle - the bar exam - and look back at all that I have learned. Some of my best lessons haven't come from a law book. They came from those who showed up.

The SBA "Motivational"

It is not actually called the "motivational" but it might as well be. Its official title is the "SBA President's Welcome." I'm one in a semi-long line of speakers whose job it is to encourage the students who will be subjected to what I affectionately call "Demon Exam I" (Not to be confused with Demon Exam II - eg the CBX).

This exquisitely designed torture device - aka the First Year Law Student Exam (FYLSX) or "baby bar" as it is better known as - is a required hurdle for any 1L from a non-ABA-accredited, California registered law school. Students must pass this exam before any further law classes are credited toward their total number of required hours beyond the three 1L foundational classes - Torts, Contracts, and Criminal Law. The weekend before this hell-on-earth 7 hour exam, Concord hosts a three-day boot camp style review session geared toward preparing students to take and pass the exam. Saturday evening they recognize students who have gone above and beyond academically. They also feature small speeches from various VIPs - including the SBA president (that would be me). The goal of the program is to encourage students to go into the test and "give it hell." However, speaking as a survivor, many of us that have taken and passed the exam agree that taking it is like standing on your own 1 yard line, throwing a "hail Mary," hoping that it makes it far enough up the field for a first down, doesn't get intercepted, and that you don't get sacked. Miriam - my upperclass mentor (who has now graduated - wail!) says that the best thing about the FYLSX is when you receive your passing score and know that you NEVER EVER have to take it again. Taking the "baby bar" is not for sissies.

This will be my third motivational - my second in official capacity as SBA President (I gave the first one along with then SBA Secretary and later SBA President Miriam Billington). I usually try to keep it light, upbeat, and under 5 minutes in length. So far my longest has been 4 and change. I try to keep it somewhat humorous and engaging because everyone is tired, hungry, and looking forward to dinner and relaxation before the last long day of review on Sunday. The hardest part about the motivational is keeping it appropriate for a mixed audience. No one has had enough to drink to allow for a roast (that was Friday evening's program), no-one wants to hear that it is worse than a 4th down on your own 1 yard line (no pressure), and you definitely can't say that everyone in the room is likely to pass (the pass rate is abysmal and the October exam has a reputation for being harder than the June exam). Instead the tone must be cautiously optimistic, upbeat, with the reminder that there is always next time - but only as a last resort.

So I'm off to watch another few hours of bad reality TV (Project Runway, Chopped) in search of inspiration.