The Light at the End of the Tunnel

This week I started my seventh of nine quarters of law school. I am, officially, a 3L. I should be excited. I should be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. In some ways, I am. I am aware that we are nearing the 250 day mark in the countdown until graduation. I know that in a year from now I will know whether I passed the bar or not. But there’s one big hitch that’s dampening my excitement about being a 3L. You see, at most schools, the 3L year is a year of relative ease, filled with many golf games and other relaxing activities. At the vast majority of schools, the most difficult times are behind you. The majority of your remaining classes are electives, so you get to set your own schedule with the classes that you want to take. The problem is, I’m not at most schools. I’m at BLS.

My eighth and ninth quarters will be filled by Practice Court (PC), that mandatory hell-on-earth experience that all BLS students get to participate in. Hundreds of pages of reading a night, the constant threat of additional work for giving a bad performance in class, and the general erosion of health and well-being. It’s basically the BLS contribution to the zombie invasion. There are definitely aspects of it that I’m looking forward to; I think the exercises will be a great experience and I’m thankful for the fact that we get actual practice at all of this stuff before being kicked to the curb. Everyone who goes through it also always says that it’s totally worth it. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s coming and it will be hard. So for me, the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the freedom that it is for everyone else.

The light at the end of the tunnel is a freight train, and it’s headed straight for us.