UNDERSTANDING LAW SCHOOL

     Before invading law school I had snapshots of memories prior to the realization that soon enough I'll be facing deadly encounters. A month before enrollment, I browsed over my friendster since it was for ages that I had last opened my account. Suddenly, my senior political science "ate" who was also taking up law sent me a comment saying that "Mitchie you're taking up law? Think about it. Are you really sure?". I was a bit shocked and my mind went sporadic as the word "SURE KA!3X?" kept on flashing & popping out of my braincells. Indeed, was I really sure enough to proceed on the so-called deadly life of a law student? Hahaha.. I would have taken my senior's comment as an insult for not believing in my capabilities but it was also more of a warning, a thorough consideration or rather a wake up call. 

  

And here comes the month of June, the noisy chit-chats of upbeat stories of students, the daily grind of walking to and from classes, the usual tambay at “himantayon avenue” and just the feeling of being back to school. But this time in a more serious level-LAW SCHOOL. Then, my civil code professor threw a question with regards to why I wanted to become a lawyer.  Indeed, why? I responded to a question without any doubt that not only was this a choice but it was a dream. An opportunity to attach the letters A-T-T-Y to my name, to bring honor to my family, to provide assistance to those people who can’t afford to seek for legal services & to be deviant among the members of my family for in the first place we are a family of teachers, engineers & police but  never, not even one of  my siblings dared to choose the field of lawyering or even medicine.

 My first week at law school was so nerve-racking & I was a bit culture-shocked. Before enrolling myself to law school I believed my life then was slacker & had less reading to do. I was having the time of my life- a little bit of gigs, fun & the crazy stuffs. It was the classic case of the Peter-Pan-syndrome where I didn’t want to grow up just yet. But here in law-school, you need to be disciplined, patient, serious, to be more likely a NERD I think (haha..) and to be mature enough.

 

Law students have to do a lot of studying, reading, memorizing (verbatim) on articles & not a whole lot of partying or male-hunting (hihihi..). We tend to oblige ourselves to do those things for us to enhance our analysis & to increase the capacity of our memory. Sometimes, when there are oral recitations where most of us has the fear plastered in our faces, how we wished that we had electronic chips inserted on our brains so we could easily utter the right provisions or maybe wished that we can be able to summon a dead chief justice’s spirit and let them in to our bodies so we may think & act like them. But these are just stupid wishlists because the gritty truth is that here in law school – you need to eat stress..

& read a whole lot of books with volume upon volume regardless of how thick or costly it is. 

Law students also need to read fast & comprehend easily by clocking in a lot of extra hours from evening till dawn of reading, reading & reading. But mere reading does not only necessitate skimming a page or jumping mindlessly from article to article. Law students are milking each page of every case being digested and when prior to enrolling yourself at law school you have to be determined for there is no room for the faint-hearted.

    It’s tough being a law student, sometimes I feel like giving up and there are times when I begin to see the likeness between my life & Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events” but come to think of it this is still my first year & there are still lots of things I need to learn. I have to be strong & do lots of adjustments. If before I would have enough time strolling around, goofing with my friends & checking my inbox for an inordinate amount of time. Now, all of those need to be minimized or maybe withdrawn. And I thought that if I had just paid attention on my senior’s warning it would have saved me from entering such a lawful life. But this is my dream & for me to test my limits I need to sacrifice even in the love department per se. After all, lawyering is not a trade nor a craft but a profession, a privilege & a channel to render public service as well as to secure justice for those who seek its aid.

This is the unforgiving reality of law school..

but after passing the bar, it is also very rewarding.