Redheaded Jill

Part 1: Law School, an introduction.

I wanted to be a lawyer. Or so I told people. I was pretty argumentative in school, I was full of hubris, and I wanted to make my parents proud. Since I graduated from my Christian University unmarried and in loads of student debt I thought, “What better way to pay off debt than becoming a high power attorney?” “Someday I’ll join the supreme court!” “I’ll go back to my hometown and make the people on my black list suffer, muahahaha!” (I was a tad dramatic.)

I had two separate professors in undergrad tell me I shouldn’t be an attorney. I ignored them. I took out the loans. I took the LSAT twice, and I applied to law schools all over the country, though mostly in Kansas, Texas, and Alabama. (There was a sister school to my undergrad in Alabama…)

I wanted so badly to move to Texas and live with my best friends (at the time) from University. I thought I would live a dream. Well… the dream was dashed. I’m glad it was, but at the time I was devastated. I didn’t get into any schools in Texas. Turns out most people attending law school have been preparing for years. I didn’t take school seriously. I assumed I’d get married and be rescued from having to have a career outside of wife/homemaker/mother. When that didn’t happen I tried to study, but I’d never had to study before. So my LSAT scores were dismal.

That Alabama school though… they accepted my score. They were a small school and newly accredited so their standards were… lower.

I did NOT want to live in Alabama. Alabama was so far away. Alabama was hot. Alabama didn’t have four seasons. People in Alabama drove like maniacs. Alabama was my personal nightmare. But not being one to suffer alone I convinced a college friend to move there with me!

My parents helped me find an apartment, and one very hot, sticky, summery day they moved me in. Dad bought me a small TV and helped me assemble my cheap walmart furniture. They drove away and I sat in my living room and cried.

The first day of classes I was terrified. I do not make friends easily, I am shy, I had serious imposter syndrome as I walked through the classroom doors. I walked up to a girl who was sitting by herself and introduced myself. The Lord gave me courage for ten seconds, which was long enough to make my best law school friend. Her name is Ryan, and she is a successful attorney in AL.

I also saw two acquaintances from undergrad, which was a pleasant surprise. They are also successful attorneys now. That first week was intense. They warned us that 1L year is the hardest because they don’t want people to waste 3 years of their life only to fail at the end. They were a lot more realistic than undergrad about finances and did their best to weed out the people who shouldn’t have been there. (Obviously I made a mistake and stayed… but a lot of smart people backed out and saved themselves tens of thousands of dollars.)

One thing I still appreciate about law school was how kind people were. There was a rivalry, but because I was not a threat to anyone academically people were pretty nice to me.

To be continued…