I must have been totally asleep or feeling guilty when I signed up to join an orientation panel late this afternoon. Admittedly, I like and respect the faculty member who asked me to join in. Unlike the year I started UCHastings MSL program, there are more than a dozen signed up this year. I was an only which actually worked out well for me since my peer group became the incredibly interesting class of LLMs (Master of Law – non-US law degrees).
So what words of wisdom could I offer this bright eyed and shiny group of 20s and 30s who are looking for ?what?
My purpose in doing the degree was … what? To not waste my GI bill? To be challenged by a program? To learn how lawyers think? Which, since I had been married to one for 40+ years doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
In any case, I spent time late this afternoon watching faces I mostly didn’t know on Zoom. And, being an active participant – stitching and knitting were out of the question.
Bummer
Having gotten to know much of the world in great detail, and not wanting to measure the rest of your life with coffee spoons and dropped cross stitches, you needed a new challenge. And having worked as a medical professional and serving in Iraq, it had to be far more challenging than getting good at Texas hold’em or even climbing Kilimanjaro.
Getting an MSL degree meant learning a whole new way to think, speak and write. You’ve gained a better understanding of how our world works. And you can now discuss legal matters with lawyers (including your husband) at a more fundamental level.
You chose well.
The real question is: what next?
Ron