Spring Break Law School visits, part I: Lewis and Clark

I visited Lewis and Clark Law School on Friday. Thursday night, we celebrated Joe's birthday and the end of finals in Corvallis with a little drinking and a lot of Warcraft III. Alex and I went in on a "White-Russian experience" for Joe. We brought together Kahlua Especial, Ciroc Vodka, and rbst-free 1% milk to make some damn tasty White Russians. After I sobered up, I left for Portland but I didn't get home until about 1:30 AM.

When I arrived at Lewis and Clark at 8:45 AM, I was still feeling the effects of my late night. Luckily, they had a nice breakfast prepared for us where I was able to fill up on black tea. During the reception breakfast, the dean of the law school sold us on L&C for about 30 minutes and, I must admit, he was very persuasive. His main points were the strength of the law faculty as well as their willingness to engage with students, the collegial atmosphere, the beautiful and dynamic legal setting, the top-ranked environmental law program, and the emerging focus on international law. He is an accomplished litigator who has argued many cases and it showed. He was impressive.

After the breakfast, the prospective students (about 150 of us) separated into two sections. One went to a mock Criminal Law class and another went to some tax law thing. I went to the Criminal Law class, so I don't know very much about what the other group did but I think I got the better deal. The mock-class was amazing. I realize that L&C probably broke out their most likable professor and a particularly sexy topic for this the preview day and that most classes won't be as much fun as this one. Even so, if law school is ANYTHING like that Crim Law class, I will have a blast. We discussed cannibalism on the high seas and Professor John Perry was bright, witty, and engaging. The hour allotted for the class passed in what felt like a heartbeat.

Next, we split up into several small groups and toured the law school campus. Everything was so beautiful. Looking at the law school, I got the impression that it is an organic extension of the beautiful natural environment that surrounds it. All of the buildings were aesthetically impressive, inside and out, particularly the Legal Research Center where the reception was held. It has these huge two-story windows that show a spectacular view of the adjacent Tryon Creek State Park. It is funny; I was so focused on mingling with the people around me and the dean's speech that I didn't even look out the windows during the reception. Walking above the reception area during the tour, however, on an open sort of bridge/walkway on the second floor of the Legal Research Center, I finally got a glimpse of what was outside those windows. My jaw dropped. "My God, look at that!" I exclaimed. I think the others in my tour group thought it a little weird that I was just noticing the view for the first time.

After the tour, I attended an hour-long forum on the law school curriculum with three instructors in one of the classrooms. The people to my immediate left and right were a girl from Dallas who taught grade school in Texas for three years after graduating University of Texas at Austin and another from Massachusetts who worked for AmeriCorps as a sort of park ranger/tour guide in Cape Cod after graduating Michigan State University. They were fun to talk with and this brings me to another point about the whole experience. I don't think I have ever been surrounded by so many interesting, engaging, attractive people. I talked with a lot of the other students and, almost universally, they were amazing.

Next, we went to a lunch where one instructor was placed at each table. Perry's class was such a hit that many students clamored to sit with him. Luckily, I was one of the first ones through the food line and I was able to get a spot at his table. He was just as engaging in this more personal setting and he did his level best to sell us on the school. During lunch, the dean reappeared and introduced each of the more than forty faculty members who were eating with us. Then, as dessert was served, the dean invited us to move around and talk with any of the faculty that interested us. I left an interesting discussion Perry was having about one of his foreign policy law classes and went over to a legal writing professor and then to an adjunct who was actually a Lewis and Clark graduate and teaches classes on environmental justice.

After lunch, we had a couple more short sessions with law school employees, one with career services and another with financial aid. Then we went to a student organization fair and, in addition to sampling some tasty vegan cupcakes at the animal law table, I met a charming, pretty girl who is a grad student at Oregon State. When I asked her the other schools she is considering, she reeled off some impressive names. She also said something interesting that resonated with my own experience. "I had pretty much written off Lewis and Clark before today but now I have to reconsider," she said. I feel the same way. Though L&C gave me a nice scholarship and would probably be the best option for me if I stayed in Oregon, I had subconsciously eliminated the school from serious consideration in favor of the more "prestigious" schools to which I have been admitted. I almost didn't even attend the preview day. That is no longer the case. The Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark is now, for all intents and purposes, my top choice, though I am reserving final judgment until after I attend the other preview days I have this week and until I get letters from Loyola, Washington and Lee, and Vanderbilt.

My Dad raised an interesting point about another possible benefit of choosing Lewis and Clark I hadn't thought of. I have been wait-listed at Cornell and UCLA, both top 15 law schools, as well as William and Mary, a prestigious school in Virginia that has a legal philosophy that aligns with my own conception of a lawyer's social duty. If I accept Lewis and Clark's offer with the caveat that I will attend either of those schools if they eventually accept me, it will be a much easier transition than if I had already made housing plans in another city. I had written off the schools that wait-listed me because of probable logistical difficulties of waiting around for those schools to make a final decision but choosing Lewis and Clark would bring the possibility of those dream schools back into play.

After the preview day ended and most of the prospective students left, I headed for the Boley law library and, to see what it would feel like, I just sat and read for about an hour. It was a pleasant experience with so much beauty, both natural and man-made, surrounding me.

L & C put on a great show. They have vaulted themselves to first place in my informal ranking-system and worked my excitement and anticipation for law school to a fever-pitch.