Sunday, June 27, 2010

Long-awaited

Wow, two full weeks without posting - you'd think I didn't love you guys or something! In fact, I love you so much that I'm using what little battery I have left after leaving my laptop charger at work over the weekend (I know, I'm an idiot) to write this post.
To be frank, though, I'm not sure what I have to add to the things I've already written about work and life in Austin. Things at both offices are going smoothly. After working full-time for a few days at one (because the other hadn't started yet) and then nearly two weeks at the other (because of a death in the family of my boss at the first) I'm just now hitting a rhythm with splitting my time between the two.

It is a little awkward paring down my portfolio at both places to reflect my part-time schedule, since I got my hands in so many interesting things when I was there every day. For instance, a client I've been interviewing for legal aid finally got her eviction notice on Friday, with a court date set for next Wednesday. But I won't be back at the office until next Tuesday, so I may miss most of the preparation for a case I've been pretty involved with until now.

I think my boss actually wants a postponement for other reasons, so it may all work out, and even if I had to bow out of this case it'd be okay since there are so many other interesting ones. But that's an example of the funny consequences of splitting.

Fortunately, the benefits far outweigh the costs. It's almost bizarre how well my work at these places dovetails - like when, after a week talking about how immigrants should create powers of attorney for their relatives in case of deportation at one job, I wound up drafting (albeit for completely different purposes) a power of attorney at the other. Most of all, being involved in poverty law both on the ground and at the policy level is suiting me so well that I worry about having to choose one or the other after graduation.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to take full advantage of Austin in summertime with lots of time by the water and warm nights outside with drinks and friends. Tomorrow evening I may be hammering out a work trade arrangement with my yoga studio to help squeeze more classes into my tiny student budget. And Russell will be here to visit in less than three weeks, thank goodness.

I think that's all the news that's fit to print, but I'll try to be more diligent with the updates from now on. Take care, dear readers, and thanks for listening.

3 comments:

Aniseed said...

I'm a soon to be LLM student at Harvard and came across your blog through a link from another law student blog - just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading about your experiences at Harvard and living in Cambridge. Its made me very excited about coming there!

I also had a question - if you possibly had a chance to answer I'd really appreciate it. I noticed your bf came with you and managed to get temps jobs in Cambridge. My husband hoping to do a similar thing (we're from New Zealand) and I was wondering whether you could give any advice on how easy this may or may not be to do - I'm a bit worried he'll not be able to find anything, stretching finances!

Thanks!

ivy lea said...

Thank you so much for the attention and feedback! I'm thrilled that you're enjoying my posts.

For Russell, finding a job in Cambridge was really hard at first. He sent out tons of resumes for jobs he was more than qualified to do, then rarely if ever heard back.

So after about six weeks in Cambridge, I visited the Dean of Students Office hoping to hear how other law spouses seeking work had been more successful. Instead, they gave me an e-mail address for someone at the temp agency that staffs Harvard, who hired my boyfriend on the spot!

So my advice is very simple - ask HLS for help! They have tons of connections and love using them to help law students out, even through their spouses. I can't promise they will come up with the same thing for you, but I'm sure they will help somehow.

Good luck! I would love to hear how it goes!

Aniseed said...

Thanks so much for your reply!

I will do that! Temping type work is exactly what my husband is hoping to get (his visa conditions won't let him work in his profession anyway), so hopefully he will have similar luck.