Erin Albert's Blog

I’m sorry, my 13 fans, for not writing more of late.  It’s just been that time of year again – when finals roll around, and this semester, I’m feeling it more than usual, since I actually had to write a final, and take 3 finals at law school.  Still not sure what is worse – writing them, or taking them.  Both are tough.

But, the good news in all of this is that I see a light at the end of the law school tunnel.  Today is the next to last day of classes for me, ever in law school.  I’m thrilled and find it deliciously ironic it just happens to be on Friday the 13th.  Between bar applications, final papers, writing my buns off for work and school, it’s left me little time to update my blog.

I know, excuses.  Excuses.

Just popped in to wish all of you a happy Friday the 13th.  You can either view the day as “bad” luck or “good” luck.  I’m choosing the latter route – for you and for me.

Enjoy!

This is Part IV of a VI part saga of my law school career and experience.  Parts I (Best of), II (Worst of) and III (my own epic failures) are the previous chapters posted on the blog.

So, now on to the biggest surprises for me around law school.

1.  How much the professor played a role in me liking the content – I guess with my other degrees, I didn’t feel this as much, but one of the biggest surprises for me was how much I loved (or let’s face it, hated) the content in a class was really correlated to the professor.  Not only likability of the professor, but how much passion he or she had for the content, and, knew how to teach.  Some profs are brilliant, but they couldn’t teach their way out of a wet paper bag.  Some profs loved to hear themselves talk, but really never checked in to see if the class was actually listening.  The best profs always checked in, cared about their content, always brought in the real world, and even–dare I say–cared about us as students?

Yes, I dare say that.

2.  How much redundancy there would be – this one goes back to one of my least-favorite things about law school: redundancy.  This year, in particular, my fourth of the 4-year part time evening program, I’m starting to hear de ja case.  A lot.  To the point where, I honestly feel like I’m not getting my money’s worth in some classes, because I’ve already read and re-read that case about 50 times now, and I get it.  Thanks, but do I really need to buy a $150 textbook full of cases I’ve already read so I can re-read them in another class?  Kinda silly.  I’ll talk more about this in what I’d change about law school.  (Hint: I think 3 years full time and 4 years part time is too much.)

3.  The friends I’ve made, I’ll have for life – There’s a certain…let’s say…Dante’s Inferno type of quality to law school, and nothing can bond you to your friends more than going through Hades together.  The friends I’ve made in law school I’m pretty sure I’ll have for life, in a lot of cases, because we survived law school together…and even though it wasn’t fun, and it is set up as an adversarial environment, after we leave the hallowed halls, there’s not much I wouldn’t do for my law school friends.  I hope vice versa would be the case.

4.  The lack of law gigs – One of my colleagues posted something on Facebook the other day that summed this up well.  She said that essentially, if she knew in advance that she’d have to work even harder than she did in her previous job before law school, while making less money than before law school in her job, with more law school debt on her back, she would not have considered law school if she had to do it over again.  Most of my graduating colleagues already have jobs, because we’re all in the evening division and have day lives where we didn’t have the luxury of going back to school full time.  However, she made an interesting point.  Why go to school, graduate, go into debt, and work even harder for less money?

Law schools better get this one figured out, or they’re going to be out of business.  Fast.

5.  How much my own teaching has been affected by law school – Well, I’ve always fought the realist vs. idealist inside of me, but now, I’m struck by how I try to take the best hits of my law school professors and integrate them into my own classroom.  For example, one of my professors made us read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which I loved, and now require my students to read in pharmacy law, so they can understand where IRBs come from and why we need them for clinical research.

Another law prof showed YouTube videos up front in class each class, and now I try to do that in order to set the tone for the discussion coming in class too.  Others used guest lecturers, and I’ve always done that, but I continue to do that, because my teaching philosophy is to bring THE REAL WORLD kicking and screaming into the classroom. (Which could lead me to another rant about adjunct professors–I love them, but others don’t–I’ll stay away from that debate right now.)  Let’s just say, that by watching and picking up the best hits of my law school profs, I dare say it has made me a better teacher in my own right.  (And I’m glad for it – and trust me, there’s a LOT of opportunity to make me a better teacher, because there is a LOT of room for improvement…#workingonit.)

6.  How ridiculously expensive the law school textbooks are – Dear law school casebook publishers–I hope your day of exorbitant money-making is a thing of the past, and that e-Readers cut your profits down to a reasonable amount, because paying $150+ for your casebooks is insanity at its finest.  Your day is coming, and soon.

7.  How law school really doesn’t teach you how to be a lawyer, at all – And this one, I honestly was warned about going in to law school.  But coming from a background of practical degrees (like pharmacy and business), I have to say that I was really surprised at the degree to which law school doesn’t prepare you to actually be a lawyer.  I see now why a lot of students are suing their schools and demanding their money back, because not only can they not get law jobs, but they really haven’t been taught how to set up their own shops and be a lawyer day one after passing the bar.

I think this is the biggest injustice that law schools have done to their profession and their newbies, and it is closer to hazing than anything else.  Why would you teach someone how to NOT be something?  I guess more than anything, I’ve been disappointed by this, which surprised me.

Dear law schools, you must, must, must stop all ivory tower teaching and do more practical work in order to set your students up for success.  For example, in pharmacy, the entire 4-year program contains some practical-working-in-a-pharmacy hours each of the 4 years now, and the last year is nothing BUT practical experience out in the real world.  Why aren’t you offering this too, dear law schools?  I know you have clinics in some case, but it is optional, not required–and, for those of us with day jobs, it is impossible to participate in your 9-5 clinics.

There.  I could go on, but I won’t.  You now have my top surprises from law school.  I hope it helps, and I didn’t post this to be snarky.  I posted it so that others can go on with eyes wide open and reset their expectations about what law school truly is, so they don’t get blind-sided….like some of us in the past.  And to law schools themselves, I think you honestly could do better by your newbies entering in to your profession.  We can ALL do better.

First, this advice is technically only good in the state of Indiana – because I’m only an Indiana Licensed pharmacist. If you don’t live in Indiana, I encourage you to stop reading this post.

But, God forbid I give you, all 13 of my regular readers, an actual, practical post with semi-useful information.  Here goes.

Yesterday, I took my geriatric cat, Bob, to the vet.  Again.  Let’s just say he’s been quite the little health care saga.  He’s a regular at the vet.  I’ve spent more on his healthcare than my own for the past few years.  But, he’s also nearly 17 years old, and in cat ages, he’s nearing Methuselah.

Anyway, he’s also arthritic.  So, had to get his blood tested to make sure he’s OK with his anti-inflammatory drugs, and of course get a drug refill.

After the blood test, his vet and I started a wonderful round negotiations on drug pricing for pets.  In order to save you some grief (since, really, most if not all pet meds out there are cash pay only–it’s not like we have drug coverage for cats yet), here are some rules to play when it comes to getting affordable, yet authentic and reasonably-priced drugs for your pet:

1.  As the vet gets out her script pad – ask what the prescriptions will cost you if you fill them AT THE VET, if they offer dispensing as a service at your vet.

2.  Then, take your smart phone out, go to Google, then do a search on whatever drug(s) your vet is writing for your pet.  You need to have dosage, strength, and quantity to do this search right.  You can also use froogle.com.  Then sort by price – lowest to highest.

3.  Look for online pet pharmacies that carry the Vet-VIPPS sign – that means they are legit and checked out by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.  If they don’t have this – the pharmacy isn’t verified.  Not good.

4.  Find the best price online at a Vet-VIPPS pharmacy.  Then show that price to your Vet and ask him or her if they can match it.

5.  Then they’ll go do their own search and see if they can match your price.

6.  If they can, or if they can come close (remember shipping with online stuff) buy it there.  If they can’t, get the written prescription and go elsewhere.

7.  Check local pharmacies for your pet’s meds.  Some may not readily stock it, but they can get it in a few days.  See if they’ll match prices too if they too are over what you find online.  (Costco did the trick for me on one of Bob’s latest meds…)  But there are other deals out there where your pet’s meds might be more affordable.  NOTE: most online price shopping sites will not give you vet med pricing – you’ll have to call the pharmacy.  (I know, pain in the butt, but this may save you a lot of cash….)

8.  If all else fails, try the online pharmacy route.  Again, just make sure it is Vet-VIPPS certified, and that you’re not going to get hosed on shipping (which may be a hidden cost that puts you over what the Vet was actually going to charge you.)

Drugs are expensive.  I totally get it.  And we all have to make a profit to stay in business.  I get that too.  You just have to know when it comes to your pet, that cash is king–that means price is king too.  On Bob?  I bought one of the two drugs from the vet, and took a script on the other.  In all?  I saved around $30 on the transaction.

You decide if that’s worth messing with.  I think it is.  But then again, my elderly cat’s health care is insanely expensive to begin with.

This may be the one and only most useful post I’ve ever written on my site.  Don’t get too used to it….

So I read this article today on why we’re so fearful of successful women.  Tonight, I’m watching Notting Hill tonight on TV.

Some of you can probably already guess where I’m going with this – but this is the PERFECT movie to understand what to do with powerful, amazing, successful women.  Yes, I know it is fiction, but Will (not highly grossing book shop owner and divorced) does a good job in balancing his love for Anna (a superstar) with his own equality in the relationship, methinks.

He’s not really scared of Anna.  She’s really OK with him owning a mere tiny travel bookshop.  They had their ups and downs, but at the end of the day?  They fictitiously figured it out.

Now, my question for the rest of the universe is: if they can figure out how to treat each other, why can’t we all learn how to support, celebrate and NOT be afraid of the fierce successful woman?

This post is part III of my VI part dedication to law school, now that I’m only a few weeks away from graduation. Best things about law school (part I) are here.  Worst things in Part II, here.

This part on my most epic failures around law school?  So easy.  Why?  There’s so many failures to pull from (just like the rest of my life), it will be hard to narrow them down!  I’ll do my best to be brief.

1.  Moot Court – I didn’t do it.  I probably should have.  It is supposed to help you figure out if you’d like to be a litigator or not.  I don’t have any strong feelings about litigation, and I made law review, so I ditched it.  Again bad idea, since so many students said it was their favorite experience of law school.

2.  Jurisprudence, an Environmental Law class, and Tax – I didn’t take these classes.  I would have loved to take Jurisprudence class, as I’ve heard some students say it was the best class of the bunch in law school.  We have another amazing prof in Environmental law at our law school too, but I ran out of time and couldn’t get one of his classes in either.

As for Tax?  Well, I’m certain my avoidance of that course I’ll pay handsomely for on the upcoming bar, but 4 hours of tax law class just wasn’t and isn’t for me.  Besides: I’m a firm believer in staying away from bad and negative energy, and friends? There’s just nothing good at all about taxes. There are other classes I wish I had time to take–like secure transactions and commercial paper–because I’m nerdy like that.

3.  Biggest class disappointments – classes I took that I was grossly disappointed with, because I WAS excited about taking them..that is, until I took them.  Closely held businesses was one.  Nonprofit law was another.  I was expecting so much more from both classes as an entrepreneur that I never got – like social business forms, like learning how to PREVENT problems from happening for business owners and NFP leaders, like CHOOSING between for and not for profit businesses rather than just studying train wrecks (more on that in how to fix law school).  And yes, there is a hierarchy of courses in my mind of best to worst, but I’ll spare you from a breakdown of the entire 90 hours of courses…

4. Not getting Uncle George back online – I ran for evening division graduation speaker on two grounds: a. I wanted to remind everyone at my law school that it was founded as a part-time evening law program, not as a full-time day program (sometimes, I think some people at my school forget that.  I wish they wouldn’t.) and b. I was going to campaign one last time to encourage Uncle George to get back on Facebook.  I didn’t win as class speaker.  But, our school has some challenges with keeping alums engaged.  Uncle George, when he was on Facebook, did a fantastic job with this.  He’s also a great professor.  If anyone at the law school really wants to get alums on board, they’ll clear the way and support UG getting back online.  (And I realize this may mean absolutely nothing to most of you, but it means a lot to someone who is about to become an alum of the school.)

So, Uncle George, if you’re reading this – this may be my final plea.  Don’t be one of my most epic law school failures.  Help a sister out and please get back on Facebook–the world needs your gentle reminders about world leaders’ birthdays and that Mercedes Benz fashion week is coming!

5. Not studying more in Evidence, Civ Pro and Trusts & Estates – for obvious reasons.  See the ‘worst of‘ list.  I’ll also have more on this under ‘biggest surprises’ – in that in law school?  It really, really, really depends much more on the professor teaching the coursework rather than just the content that matters.  I’ll spare you of that rant now.

6. Not having enough time on courses to really study them well – and this is one is totally and 100% my fault.  I just ran out of time each semester to really study hard, ask great questions, and perform at a level of immersing myself in something utterly and completely.  Life got in the way, and while I know that is not a valid excuse for my less than stellar academic performance, in defense?  This was the only way I could have gone to law school in the first place.  I don’t have anyone bankrolling me as a single woman, so stuff like a day job and bills to pay don’t stop just because I want to further my education.

7. Not reaching out enough to explore the profession of law during law school – Again, see #6.  Ran out of time.  The good news (and the equally frightening news) about a law degree is that you can do a LOT of different things with it.  What are those?  Well, beyond practicing as a lawyer, many – but I can’t articulate all of them here, because I didn’t explore them as much as I should have.

While I try not to live a life of regret, I do reflect upon and study my failures.  Above are some of my failures from law school.  And failure isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Failure is great, because it is an awesome teacher.  It teaches you a LOT of lessons that you’ll never get with mere success.

So, I raise a glass to all my epic failures of law school, and I hope you will right along with me.  Because we all must fail, fail fast and learn from our failures.  And failure?  It was and is one of my very best teachers in law school, and in life.

So, I’ve actually been studying for my one closed-book law school final coming up in Higher Education Law.  And with that, I’ve been reading about the outcries of college education failing our students in America – the controversy around The Spellings Report, etc., and honestly?  I think they’ve all got it wrong.

Let me explain.

There are several key skills that every student really should walk away from college with fully polished, and here are the skills high on my list–regardless of major:

• writing well
• thinking critically
• problem solving skills
• speaking skills
• listening skills

Every day, both as a student and as a teacher, I see some students struggling with part(s) of these key skills.  Some, for example who might be “book smart” can’t communicate their way out of a wet paper bag verbally.  Others, while they can memorize important points, can’t get out of the box problem-solving skills on if their lives depended upon it.  Said another way – if “the answer” isn’t in the textbook or on the Powerpoint slides, they’re lost.

I’m going to go out on a limb here – as a student (accepting responsibility for 95% of my own learning) and as a college professor and say this:  I think the key skills I mentioned above should be developed BEFORE college.  College is way too late to learn these skills, and to put the majority of learning of these skills on a college just isn’t fair.

I learned writing from my high school English teachers, eleventh grade with Mrs. Drapek, if I had to nail down one teacher.  Love of reading didn’t hurt either (and my very first library card I still remember – it had a metal plate of numbers on a paper card that came with its own envelope holder).  I learned critical thinking at home with my parents, although I can’t really point to one date or moment in time where I felt like I was thinking for myself.  (OK, maybe it was arguing with my father about the role of women in society, or politics…but that still happens to this day.)  I also learned problem solving at home.  For example, if I wanted money for something, I just worked for it. Problem. Solved.

Speaking was picked up for my love of theater in high school.  Nothing like being on stage in front of a few hundred people to polish the skills of articulating one’s thoughts clearly and concisely.  As for my listening skills?  Well, that may have just been an after-shock of being a total introvert as a kid.  I usually let others do the talking, and that gave me time to work on my listening skills.

Did I go to private grade school, middle school or high school?  Nope.  Did my parents have 4-year college degrees?  Nope.  I’ve also blogged here that some employers ask the question, “So, what were you like in high school?” because high school behavior can often times predict how students will grow up and perform as adults.  (And yes, in case you are wondering, I was involved in about 50 things in high school, just like I am to this day.)

Am I masters of any of these skills while working on my 4th degree now?  Absolutely not.  However, I can tell you where and when with some precision where the skills started – and most of these skills began at home and in high school.  And while I fully realize that not every kid has the luxury of two parents that are fully checked in and care about said kid’s development, and not every school and every teacher are the best for that kid and her learning style, I do think that the key skills above for any successful budding professional MUST START BEFORE COLLEGE.  By the time the kid hits the ivy covered buildings?  The skills mentioned above should already be there – it’s just up to the college or university to polish the skills that already exist.

Now a few educators might argue with me about this, but honestly, I don’t care.  These are my own opinions.  And I went to a university that emphasized LAS education first.  In the end?  I don’t really care what major you choose, and I don’t really care what grades you earned.  I’m more interested in the skills above–because frankly, those the skills that employers are desperately seeking, and I think THAT should be what college is about–preparing the next generation for the workforce, not just contemplating their navels and understand the inner workings of beer pong.

My rant about US higher education is now over.  I’m headed back to the books now.