Reading

People always say that law school changes you... and it's true, to an extent. I do think that the people who take the LSATs, apply to schools, then enter law school generally already have that competitive, ambitious, hard-working attitude - that's not what changes. In my experience so far, law school teaches a method of thinking and analysis - how to take the words on the page and construct an argument; how to relate the facts of one case to a set of similar yet distinguishable facts; how to see the weaknesses and strengths of a particular position; how to buttress your argument against potential attacks, and the list goes on.

This happens subconsciously - I definitely could not do this on Day 1 or probably even on Day 20. However, around Day 100 I looked up and realized that the analysis was becoming more comfortable and I was less intimidated and swamped by my assignments. I know that I have miles to go still before I can become a proper "lawyer," but I can recognize that I have the tools to get there, if I put the work in. 

On that note... funny story.

This past semester was pretty demanding and tough in terms of workload and expectations (moreso than first semester, for sure). Thus, I spent all of second semester missing and looking forward to reading for FUN. After the finals were done and the write-on was submitted, I rushed down to the library to check out some books to read before starting the externship. 

As I paged my way through the first book, I realized I was having trouble "just" reading. I seem to be out of practice reading for pleasure. I caught myself distilling the chapters into their most important points (with the voice in the back of my head saying 'remember that for later! that could be on the final!'). I realized that I would mentally skim the 'less important' parts and focus on the 'important' stuff. This approach works well with casebooks, however is not conducive to enjoyable pleasure-reading. For the first book or two I ACTIVELY had to slow my brain down, had to remind myself to stop and savor the words, focus on the 'feel' of the language rather than its content - basically, I had to remember what it was about reading that I used to enjoy and had to get back to that place.

Very funny what brains can do when you don't pay attention to it...

K