Summer Stories

Perhaps you've heard about the antics that some summer associates get up to over the summer- here's one notorious story:

I'm sure by now you have all heard the summer-associate most embarrasing-moments stories from past summer classes at your respective firms. See if you can beat this: the other night hundreds of new york summers, including myself, were ata very snooty charity benefit at Pier 60 in Chelsea Piers, put on by a bunch of law firms. Drinks were served in abundance, and it was only a matter of time before some summer associate with a low tolerance made an egregious social faux pas in front of the partners of their firm. What actually took place was better than any of us could have hoped for. In a drunken stupour, a girl from Cleary Gottlieb suggested to those standing around her that they all go for a swim (keep in mind that this was at a restaurant with a deck sitting over the Hudson River, and that once off the deck it was 500 feet back to shore in pretty rough swells of very polluted water). Everyone around looked at her as if she was joking, or crazy. Despite the fact that nobody was willing to join her, she took off her shoes and dress and jumped half-naked into the River, causing, as you can imagine, widespread panic amongst everyone at the party. The coast guard was called in immediately and apparently she was arrested. One can only wonder if that is the sort of behavior that might prevent one from getting an offer at the end of the summer.

Another emailer adds:

...the girl is indeed a summer at Cleary. She goes to UVA law, and her name is Clara Vonderich. Google her for images and you'll find 2. Below I've pasted an account sent to me by a buddy, who is summering at Davis Polk, who was there that night:

I did indeed see this live and in color. The girl apparently handed her clothes to someone (I actually missed the strip) and jumped in. I saw her as she entered the water, and she didn't appear to be worried at all, she was doing the backstroke, sidestroke, all strokes. The guy who was holding her clothes was much older, looked about the age of a partner, for what its worth. The funniest part is the actions of the staff at the party. About 4 of them began throwing life buoys to the girl saying "cmon honey, take the donut". She obviously refused, as she was thoroughly enjoying her swim. She then made a swimming dash for the inlet harbor, which was a ways away...man could this girl kick, she was auditioning for the 2012 Olympics in NYC with her strong crawl. But she tired, so she just hung out for a while longer while the staff played a game of who could get their life buoy closer to her. I went inside to relay the news, when I came back out, a police boat was there with a huge spotlight. That was the last I saw of the girl...conscious...I later saw a figure on a stretcher being put into an ambulance, I assume it was her. I have no idea where the girl was from, but she was the highlight of the night at the Sanctuary for the Families.

So, like what classes should I take?

Finally, the class schedule is released and we get to register for classes in a week. Registering for law school classes is an interesting balance of determining which profs to take, which time slots look good, will I have a final, and what do I need for the bar.
Profs: This comes down to personal preferences, although Chesney seems to be a top choice among most students and he has a new offering this year in "National Security Law". It's rumored that this class will fill up very quickly(as in sorry 2Ls, you'll have to wait until next year to get into this one). Some people have personal favorites, like a certain 3L who is insisting on taking every course taught by Walker a.ka. Mad Dog. I loved Castleman, Reynolds (see below), Green (although he'll be visiting out this fall, he's very animated-don't sit in the front row-and very knowledgeable-he's working the latest Rest. of Torts), Collins(very nice, very fair, and super smart). There are also those profs that some of us tend to avoid for personal reasons, like they kicked our ass first year or they require expensive, badly edited textbooks that we would rather not have to purchase and lug around.
Time Slots: Again, personal preference-are you a morning person or an afternoon person, do you like having loads of Friday classes(silent no with head shaking), do you enjoy two hour lunches
Finals: It seems to be the goal of many 3Ls to have as few finals as possible, especially Spring Semester. This means classes like Clinic, Law Practice Management, and paper courses. This may also entail front-loading the year with the harder, non-paper courses in the Fall.
What do I need for the Bar: Family Law, Tax, Law and Economics, Sales, Dead People-these are all things that I'm hearing out of former 3Ls now in Bar Review Courses. Personal recommendations-if you can manage it Reynolds for Family Law(I mean, she wrote the book on Family Law in NC and has been interviewed by major networks for her expertise, plus she's the sweetest thing ever) and Castleman for Dead People(He's plain-spoken, will not kill you with RAP, and tells entertaining jokes and stories during class)