Happy 2018!\u00a0 Since this is my first guest blog, I thought I might introduce myself a bit as a Marquette Lawyer, as the Dean likes to call us.<\/p>\n
2018 marks the ten-year anniversary of my graduation from Marquette University Law School, a fact that I am reminded of by the flurry of communications sent by the law school to \u201cSave the Date\u201d for the upcoming tenth reunion in June!\u00a0 I attended law school as a \u201cnon-traditional\u201d student, having graduated from my undergraduate college in 1981. I began as a part-time student, but I switched to full-time for my second and third years once I realized that, if I didn\u2019t goose this along a bit, we would be paying for two children in college on top of my law school tuition!\u00a0 But, although I started as a part-timer and could have attended the evening classes designed for the part-time students, throughout my tenure at Marquette, I almost always took classes during the day with the more traditional \u2013 and by that I mean younger \u2013 students.\u00a0 I did so primarily so I could be home in the evenings with my husband and three children, who were in middle school and early high school.\u00a0 I wanted to be available for homework and swim meets and choir concerts and school plays and all the other activities attendant to children of that age, and my (then) part-time job was flexible enough for me to attend day classes.<\/p>\n
I really enjoyed taking classes with those energetic and earnest 20-somethings, many of whom were in undergraduate colleges and universities just the semester before starting law school.\u00a0 A story I\u2019ve told often over the years illustrates the age difference between me and my cohort: One of my first semester law school classes was Criminal Law with Professor O\u2019Hear and we were scheduled to take our first midterm exam. I hadn\u2019t taken an exam of any sort since my senior year in college, and I was slightly anxious but, hopefully, prepared.\u00a0 I sat down in class and turned to my neighboring student, a smart and nice young man named Luke whom I\u2019d sat next to throughout the semester.\u00a0 I told Luke that I\u2019d realized earlier that morning that it had been 23 years<\/em> since I\u2019d taken a midterm exam.\u00a0 Luke\u2019s eyes opened wide, and he exclaimed, \u201cThat\u2019s how old I am!\u201d\u00a0 I laughed (and have enjoyed the memory ever since), but it brought home to me just how long my \u201cpause\u201d had been between college and law school.<\/p>\n I ended up doing just fine on that midterm, and, in doing so, I realized that my brain still worked and, as importantly, I could manage the rigors of law school with the demands of my family life.\u00a0 Often, when I told friends and acquaintances that I was going to law school, they would tell me that it was very \u201cbrave\u201d of me.\u00a0 While I never doubted the sincerity of their sentiment, I thought they were wrong about that. I entered law school at a time in my life when most of the big questions of life had already been sorted out.\u00a0 I knew where, how, and with whom I wanted to spend my life; I knew, in the important ways, what I wanted to do with my life. The decision to go to law school had been mine, and my family supported me whole heartedly.\u00a0 In fact, my husband absolutely delighted in my going to law school and found all the case law and doctrine fascinating.\u00a0 He always said he got to go to law school without writing the papers or taking the tests!\u00a0 And I thought I was so lucky to get the opportunity to learn about the law.\u00a0 Yes. . . .I was a real law nerd.<\/p>\n So, no, I wasn\u2019t brave, but I felt that my young classmates were, to the extent that they still had to navigate through life\u2019s big milestones while incurring mountains of additional<\/em> debt, unsure if this \u2013 becoming a lawyer \u2013 was even something that they really wanted to do.\u00a0 They perhaps didn\u2019t see it that way. One of the lovely things about youth is that one tends to be blissfully unaware.\u00a0 But I was impressed with them, and I am sure that 10 years later they have become successful Marquette Lawyers and<\/em> successful adults.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to see them at the reunion!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Happy 2018!\u00a0 Since this is my first guest blog, I thought I might introduce myself a bit as a Marquette Lawyer, as the Dean likes to call us. 2018 marks the ten-year anniversary of my graduation from Marquette University Law School, a fact that I am reminded of by the flurry of communications sent by 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