When the semester started, my chapter of Student Animal Legal Defense Fund hosted an animal law speaker! She is an expert attorney for big cats! I met her last year when I went to an animal law CLE. She came to speak about captive wild animals and the laws (and their insufficiencies) surrounding them. After her talk, my chapter provided refreshments. During the summer, I had contacted many vegan and cruelty-free companies and asked for them to support us with donations. So many businesses were on board that I still have boxes of stuff that was donated to us which means that I am covered until the end of my time as president of the chapter. Anyway, one vegan cheese company which has the most delicious cheese sent so much delicious cheeses for the refreshment table. So we had vegan cheese and crackers, vegan brownies, a fruit tray, and a veggie tray. We were also given humane eating guides by a farm sanctuary which we also displayed on the table. From this talk, a phenomenon happened that is nothing short of a miracle.
First of all, only a handful of students generally attend these kind of talks; however, between 40-50 people came to hear about animal abuse and animal law. Additionally, people in my state are usually very uneducated about veganism and living a life of kindness and compassion. (Our chapter is required to serve only vegan food because we do not eat our clients and we are definitely not hypocrites). In spite of the ignorance about vegan life, people were open to it. They enjoyed the vegan cheese! They loved the vegan brownies. They were taking vegan eating guides and asking questions. Even professors and faculty were on board with the vegan life! Weeks after, I was asked by so many people how they could get involved in animal law and how they could be more vegan. It was a fantastic event. Education about animal suffering and animal law is the key to ending the problem and this day was a win for the animals for sure!
Also, I recently just finished planning a volunteer day at our local rabbit rescue. In a few weekends some of our chapter members will be going to volunteer to take care of the little homeless bunnies. We will be feeding them, brushing them, cleaning their cages, helping them get exercise, etc. I am so excited about this event! It will be a great way for us to have a little fun before finals are upon us. I will be writing about our day once it happens.
Next , after the first few weeks of the semester, I started my new internship. I am working with another major animal rights organization. I am getting to do some really amazing things. At first, I did a lot of legal research and writing but recently, I have been doing more creative things to advocate for animals. I would love to talk more about it; however, I am forbidden. LOL. It keeps me busy on top of all the other things that I am committed to.
I also am a head representative for Kaplan Bar Review. This little job is really convenient because I work at school for about five hours a week. I promote Kaplan products to my classmates. I also work for the magazine National Jurist. I restock the magazines in the bins at school and hand them out to my classmates. Obviously, I am a Jill of all trades. I am on the move from the minute I get to school until I leave. It does get tiring. When I get home, I can barely keep my eyes open.
When I am not tending to my little odd jobs, I am in classes. As mentioned previously, one of my classes this semester is clinic. I am in the domestic violence clinic. Clinic is where we get sworn in as student attorneys and get to practice under our professors license. It gives us a chance to gain real life practice at being a lawyer. I have had a few clients so far and I am happy to say that I went to court for the first time with one of them. I am also excited to report that I got a favorable outcome for her. The smile on her face melted my heart. That day I really learned what it means to be a lawyer. It’s a gift that so many attorneys lose sight of and abuse. I will never forget my very first client ever. She taught me so much and she doesn’t even know it. :)
Other than all of that, things are the same as every other semester, you know: go to school, come back exhausted, homework, pouting, feeling inadequate, sleep, wake up tired, and do it again. I am getting through it though. I cannot believe my time in law school is almost finished. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was starting this blog in anticipation of my first day. After this semester, I have one more semester and that’s it! How scary is that?!?!
The end of law school is super scary because the unknown is before me yet again, as it was when I left my job and came to law school. In six months, I will be getting ready to take the bar, moving to a new city, working at a new job, etc. (I do have something up my sleeve but I’m not saying what it is just yet so keep an eye out…). Ultimately, I’m scared. What if I can’t find a job? What if I can’t find a place to live? How am I going to do all of this all at once? What if I fail? I’m terrified. God carried me through law school which has been such a crazy, hard, happy, miserable, painful, etc time and I know he won’t leave me but I still worry. A lot of things will be changing soon and it’s all unknown… These things keep me up at night…
Anyway, I am really tired. I do need to go to bed. I have my night class tomorrow and I have to be at school super early so needless to say, it will be a long day. I hope you all enjoyed reading this. Also, I hope all my sweet readers understand why I have basically neglected my blog. I have just been so busy since I came back from Portland this past summer and it has only gotten worse. I do have a new exciting blog that will be coming soon. Hint: I traveled recently! (Like last weekend recent). Keep an eye out.
Til next time...
XOXO
Stay Fabulous,
LawGirl.