My first semester in the MJ-LEL program was quite an adjustment to undergo. It had been about 6 years since graduating from my undergrad. I was feeling rusty at being a student in general> Then tack on the fact this was one hundred percent online, so I had to be disciplined in getting my work done. And I was reading legislation and cases for the first time in my life, which did feel as though I was learning a new language (which you very much are doing). There were many times that I thought to myself, “What have I done” or “I am out of my league, this is TOO much for me”. However, I did not quit. I showed up to class, listened to Joel “yell” about answers that are too “shrmy” and I kept moving forward. I pushed myself to try and I found my professors were right there, helping me along the way.
As the end of the semester neared, I was terrified of taking Prof. Friedman’s final. I had no clue what to expect and I was full of self-doubt. The day came when the hypo was opened up to us, and I spent the next 13 hours hammering out IRAC. Formulating my thoughts, reading over what I had written, editing sentence after sentence. Finally feeling like my brain had nothing left to give and submitting just for the sake of it being over and done with!
Not long after submitting, certainly sooner than I expected, I received a message that my final had been graded. This is the comment Professor Friedman wrote on my very first legal writing for the MJ program. Proud is an understatement. Shocked is probably more appropriate. I went back and read the paper again and I thought , you are not lying! I did knock this out of the park! I was so excited, I could not wait to share the paper with my CEO. He is an attorney himself and a long time mentor of mine. This program has reminded me that feeling that I can do whatever I put my mind to. I have often thought about going to law school since joining this program. I am married to a lawyer and I have admired him for working his way through law school and helping me raise our first born while preparing for the bar. I couldn’t imagine at the time what that was like, I only knew that everyone said how difficult law school is. Now here I am, not quite on the same track, but in a Law program with kiddos and work and a pandemic and monkeypox and killer hornets, just knocking it out of the park..
MJ - LEL, First Semester © 2022 by Jasmine Lair is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0
Comments