I’m wearing a feather jacket from Winners (similar feather jacket here), black dress from Kate Spade New York, glitter booties from Hudson’s Bay (similar glitter booties here), and a Chanel Jumbo bag from Luxe Touch Designer Consignment.
Yesterday, I had my last law school lecture. It’s crazy that law school is coming to an end, and it has been an incredibly challenging but rewarding time. I’ve forged many relationships with my peers and mentors, that have pushed me to be curious, hard-working and kind. Just yesterday, I learned about a new legal area – artificial intelligence in the employment law context, and one of my peers told me all about Electronic fibre computers and their military applications. Law school is a really cool place. It’s easy to get swept up in all the readings, assignments and 100% exams, but for the most part, I’ll remember inspiring guest lectures, cross-examining witnesses, making closing statements in a courtroom and talking about nerdy things at my CIPPIC clinic placement. I am so excited to be done, but it’s all starting to get a little bittersweet.
I’m moving back to Toronto on April 30, and packing away this segment of my life. My law school journey started with me researching employment law when I found myself in a shady post-journalism-graduate internship. I then studied for the LSAT for a year (and took it three times!), applied to several law schools and agonized over the wait. I applied to Interior Design School, and as I was about to pay my application fee, I got the call from Ottawa U in early summer 2014 and jumped! I went to J. Crew that day and bought two blazers… I’ve since tripled my collection.
First year was tough, as it is for most students. I was mostly clueless and just going through the motions. I didn’t know how important grades were, but I managed to be mostly happy and spent time with friends, my boyfriend and travelling a bit as well. Second year was the hardest for me. While I had a nicer apartment (my beautiful loft, which I can’t wait to share in a room tour!), I was dedicated to fulfilling my requirements, getting high marks and participating in extra-curricular activities. This was all happening when my blog started to grow. New opportunities were coming my way and I had to learn to start to say no. While I love balancing this blog and social media with my education, studying and assignments always came first. I’ve never stayed up all night working on a sponsored post, but have lost count of all the nights I stayed awake writing a paper, memo or summary.
Third year has been my favourite year yet. I’ve gotten to take more exciting courses and fulfill my requirements for a program option in Tech Law. I’ve interned at a really cool public interest clinic, CIPPIC, where I got to write a draft motion to the Federal Court of Appeal and interact with really cool lawyers and students. In January, I got to do my own research paper, where I spent a whole month on intellectual property trolls. All of this has been inspired by my blog and interacting with technology and social media. Because of my blog. I’m grateful that I have this side interest to keep me on my feet, grounded and open to new trends in interaction.
Now, I’m here. Finish line is in sight. I’ve dealt with the roller coaster that is articling recruitment… and I’m still on it. Many of my incredibly talented friends are still looking. Many of us with side hobbies; yoga, photography, etc, and are being told they need to shut that part of them out. How can I be an advocate for my client when I no longer know how to represent myself? I’m really struggling with this now, but I hope it will all work out. Everyone has worked so hard at this point. I’ve seen sexism in an interview setting, and I really hope that when I’m a lawyer on the interview panel, 5, 10, 15 years from now, we can value different qualities and women can go into interviews with their engagement rings on.
