All good things come to an end…
In a case of déjà vu all over again, I went ahead and stepped down from my internship with the Durham County District Attorney’s Office earlier this afternoon 
I really enjoyed the job — especially after winning my first “real” trial — but after praying about things this weekend and talking things out with MDG earlier today, I realized I’d kick myself for a good long while  if I graduated a hair’s breadth under a 3.0 and didn’t at least try to make it above.1 The staff was very understanding during our conversation about my decision; my hope is they’ll have me back at some point down the road if I end up heading in that direction professionally.
In the meantime, I plan on using my newly-recovered free time to put some real effort into my classes and flesh out this proposal for the Small Practice Incubator & Collaboration Environment idea. I’ve been marinating on it over the past couple weeks and really think I could turn it into something awesome 
 Fingers crossed.
That’s it for now, lots going on this week then heading to New Orleans this weekend for the ABA Midyear Meeting. More soon!
- Can any of you imagine 1L version of me ever saying that?
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Good call… sounds like you’ve made the right decision (for whatever that’s worth…)
:-)
So grades matter after all. I win!
@Phil: LOL not quite — 1L grades still don’t matter, and the only reason my grades matter here is because I’m at a 2.934. Had I been at a 2.8 or some other number where I couldn’t mathematically get to a 3.0, it wouldn’t matter at all
Unfortunately Nan’s expectations trump pretty much everything
I know it was a regrettable decision, but given all practical consideration, right for the circumstance. Doesn’t make it any easier nor does it enjoin with joy in future decisions that will have to be made. So the slam dunk is for the last semester and then… the world!
WHAT??? Dropping pretend trial club makes a hell of a lot more sense than dropping real trial opportunities, especially if you’re thinking of going solo… I’d rather hire the dude with *some* experience over the dude who went to some CLEs at the ABA mid-year meeting and helped some 1st years win a contest…. too late now, but this was a total fail in prioritization…
FWIW, I think SPICE is a great pursuit (having sent some of the reading your way!); I just think you should’ve given up one of your 8,000 OTHER responsibilities to focus on that and DA gig.
I’ll admit my obvious bias in this, but I’m gonna have to adamantly beg to differ with Va on that one. I don’t see how mentoring the 1L trial teams was a “total fail in prioritization,” especially considering that competition was over and done with the first weekend of the spring semester. And I’m not sure I follow the rest of the argument, as the internship was a weekday thing, but “some CLEs at the ABA mid-year meeting” are weekend networking and educational growth opportunities. It’s physically impossible to be in several places at once and still stay atop a 3.0. Even if the DA gig were retained, could it really be interned to the best ability, with everything and its mother on your plate? I completely support your decision; you don’t need a half-hearted foot-in-the-door if you head SPICE.
I was being snarky with my examples, but clearly I think that TGreg overvalues student organizations and student government in comparison to gaining actual legal work experience of value to a legal employer. Even if he wants to go it on his own as a solo, he should focus on gaining as much real experience (and anything with “moot” or “mock” in it is inherently not real experience!) as possible to best serve his future clients. Also, it’s a drag on the resume if you can’t put down two internships you started but didn’t complete, burns two professional opportunities, and demonstrates some negative time management and prioritization trends that could be a huge problem for clients and/or employers. The key is prioritizing BEFORE you overcommit, and then you don’t disappoint yourself or anyone else.
@Va: I knew you were gonna say that
I respectfully disagree though (of course). If I’m going to get SPICE off the ground myself, it’s going to depend on having solid relationships with the law school faculty and staff. That gets advanced more by following through on my school-related commitments (and trying to make the school look good where I can, competition- and SBA-wise) than being one of a half-dozen interns doing traffic court each week and an occasional misdemeanor charge.
Either way: no way to change it now, so no point in stressing about it
It’s OK, I need a good head-to-keyboard moment every few weeks from you!