Why I "decided" to take the bar exam

I'm taking the Montana Bar Exam in February.

I figured that since I wrote a book whose ending consisted of running away from the legal profession as far as possible I probably owe everyone an explanation for my about-face.

To avoid taking the bar, I had managed to sign up for a graduate school that required classes in the summer immediately after law school. By removing any ability to practice law, I believed myself to be liberated from the legal profession forever.

I was wrong.

I don't believe that I would recommend my particular life-path to anyone. History and Political Science in undergrad, followed by law school without taking the bar, and then immediately followed by a master's in public administration and a modicum of knowledge about this super-difficult language known as Arabic. Yes, in the long run I will be able to make something out of it. But right now I'm over-educated, under-experienced, and drowning in debt. Other than the vague idea of becoming a diplomat, I still don't know what I want to do with my life. The uncertainty is aggravating.

Family and friends began encouraging me to take the bar the second I announced I wasn't going to do it. But it was basically a neighbor, who happened to be a judge, that finally put me on the path towards it. After shooting down my arguments and then asking me when I was taking it, somehow I wrote up and signed an affidavit promising my neighbor that I would take the bar. That happened about a year ago, and it looks like I'm really following through on it.

I can't really tell you why I decided to go through with it; my rationale changes on a daily basis. But I do remember some of my law school classmates telling me that I would have been a good lawyer, and that has stuck with me. My resume, unfortunately, qualifies me for legal work and little else. This public administration path didn't turn on the light bulbs in my head that I thought it would. My ability to retain my Arabic has been a complete disaster. I still want to learn it, but I just don't have the discipline to study if I'm actually not in a Middle East country and expected to use it.

I still don't want to be a lawyer, and I still don't want to make it my career. But my flight to graduate school did relieve me of my biggest fear of law: that if I took that path I would never be able to escape it. That fear is gone, the blinders are off. I understand that a legal career does not have to be the only thing I do in life, I can use it as a stepping stone to other things. And at least in Montana legal work is needed. I remember my grandfather, who had no particular interest in studying pharmacy or opening a business, and yet did both of those things. He said what he liked about the job was the interactions he had with the people. I think I can develop a similar attitude about law. Heck, I may even end up liking it a little.

I haven't abandoned my diplomatic plans of course. Far from it. I continue to apply for the Foreign Service Officer Test, and I have applied for the Peace Corps, which I do thank graduate school for helping me qualify for it. Unfortunately the earliest departures are not until November 2012, if not later, so I need to find something to do after I graduate until then, and legal work increasingly appears to be an option, although I have no idea what kind of legal work that would be.

I just wish . . . I just wish that law school had not done such an amazingly effective job in destroying my self-confidence and making me question my worth as a human being. The program was my first true introduction to the legal world, and it was so absolutely dreadful and horrifying I must have thought that was going to be my life in law forever. Even now that time brings as many painful memories as good ones. Oh well, I wrote a book about it and am making money off of it so I guess I'm the one laughing now. Ha ha.

Welcome to the Thought Box!

Hi there, and welcome to my new blog, Jim's Thought Box! I hope to use this blog to have some fun, improve my writing, and of course give all of you a chance to talk about the book! Since the book hasn't been released yet, just check out the various links at the top of the blog, particularly the "Buy the Book" one. Until then, use this post to introduce yourself and tell me what direction you would like to see this new blog go!

The expected RELEASE DATE for The Jim Report: My Life in Law School, is early December.

Edit: I'm like never editing this thing. We'll get the social media people on it once I'm rich and/or famous or whatever.