1L: First Week of Law School

I did not expect to be back at my alma mater. I went into the law school application season with high hopes¹. I applied to Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Notre Dame, USC, UCLA, Pepperdine, and Loyola.

Rejected by 7, waitlisted by 1², and accepted into 2.

Just like my undergraduate decision, it came down to Pepperdine and Loyola.

Do I choose Loyola and the Frank Gehry campus?

I am a sucker for good architecture.

Or do I choose Pepperdine?

I guess Malibu is fine.

I was leaning Pepperdine, but having some trouble deciding. So, I met with my friend’s dad who works at the school. He has a nice office overlooking the ocean and we talked for an hour about faith, purpose, and vocation. It reminded me what a special place Pepperdine is–one where conversations like these are commonplace.

I felt determined to put down my seat deposit.

But, it’s kind of cringe to be a double wave³.

Whatever, I love being back in Malibu. It’s cool to run into Hung Lee, P-Cho, Kyle, Jenn, and other people from undergrad. I like looking at the ocean each day and riding my bike along PCH.

I like that the School of Law feels separate from the undergrad. My only interactions with Seaver students are while I’m riding up Seaver Drive and they stare at me (sometimes they cheer). On one hand, it’s embarrassing. On the other hand, I love the attention.

^ Speaking of attention, did I mention I was in Spain this summer?⁴

Okay, back to the blog.

I feel like I’m able to have a new, original experience from my time in undergrad. And this new, original experience has been awesome so far.

I love the reading, the classes, and my cohort. All of the cases we’re looking at are so strange. It’s like reading a new language. It’s so interesting.

My professors are all funny and make me laugh. Although I love each of them, Professor Jarvis is my favorite.⁵ I’m liking civil procedure. It reminds me of the rules of baseball. All the tricky, strategic things you can do within the bounds of the game.

Contracts is fun, but Professor Helfand⁶ is a menace. He’s the law school professor archetype–brilliant, Yale-educated, loves to cold call. Professor Helfand will tell people they’re dumb, and the entire class (including the student who he called dumb) will burst out laughing.

I honestly get it. He gets so many ridiculous hypo questions. But, he brings it on himself! He has a personal policy to answer every question.

It’s actually very sweet.

Couldn’t be me though.

Criminal Law is fun. Professor Graffy is a Pepperdine legend. On the first day of class, she casually mentioned that she started the London program (“it was a good real estate investment”), worked in the Bush administration, and was the voice of America to English people in the 2000s. So cool.

Professor White (Legal Research and Writing) overheard me tell Zara my nickname was Goose and he was like, “I’m going to call you that from now on.”

I laughed and asked him what his nickname was and he said, “the Puppeteer”.

I will never cross Professor White.

Okay, enough academic talk. These are some of the cool people I’ve met.

Greta: USC Grad, from Austin, Swedish. Kind, high energy, Elle Woods embodied.

Rachel: SLO Grad, Arizona⁷ girly, arranges flowers. Jackie Kennedy style, silly, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Michael: From Atlanta, USC grad, 6’4. Surfed his way through Central America this summer.

Other cool folks (not pictured): Amanda, Andres, Max, Megumi, Kelly, Sarah, Susie, + MANY MORE

It’s been nice to meet everyone. A lot of California folks coming back from out of state; lots going Kindergarten-JD. I don’t know how they’re doing it. I would not be in a good headspace right now if I came directly from undergrad.

Here are some more photos from the BBQ.

Josh (left, fellow cyclist) mean mugging. Sarah rocking the prison Mike look. Christian with the party shades.

Well, thanks for reading. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.

Here’s what I’m listening to:

1. Gaucho by Steely Dan
2. Zuma by Neil Young
3. Zach Bryan by Zach Bryan

Follow me on Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/59644037

1. Delusional. ↩︎
2. Weirdly, Vanderbilt. Not even Notre Dame smh. ↩︎
3. But it’s still not as bad as my friend Kathleen, who just got her JD from Notre Dame (becoming a Triple Domer). ↩︎
4. Walked 220 miles of the Camino de Santiago with my best friends. ↩︎
5. I forgot a suit for picture day. He lent me his blazer. ↩︎
6. He interviewed me for a program in Israel when I was at Seaver in 2017. I was not prepared and he terrified me. I did not get to go to Israel. ↩︎
7. We both went to high schools named “Xavier”. ↩︎