Law School Lesson #2:

There is a well-known phenomenon entitled "Call Day" that law students dread across Canada and it was today for anyone applying to jobs for Toronto law firms.

Students apply to law firms for summer positions and are then told that the firms will be calling after 8:00am on October 28 IF (and only if) an interview is being offered. And so, Toronto hopeful law students wake up early on this day and begin the wait. They pace, they check for a dial tone, they remind housemates not to use the phone... and hopefully the calls will begin shortly after 8:00am.

My first call came in at 8:01am. Nervously, I answered the phone...It was from a principal in Ancaster asking if James had a job for this morning. I hurried him off of the phone as quickly as I could.

So the wait continued.... almost as soon as I hung up the phone with the principal, the phone rang again. North York Crown's Office! This call was not much of a surprise, because this office had sent me a letter explaining that they "intended" to offer me an interview. This letter was a relief when I received it last week because at least I knew that someone wanted me. The interview was schedule for November 7 at 9:00am, my first interview during interview week. (Sidenote: Interviews are held from November 7 to November 9).

But when I got off the phone with North York, a horrible feeling came over me. What if North York was the ONLY office that wanted to interview. My chances would be pretty slim at getting a job... sure I've worked at a highly respected defence firm and the Scarborough Crown Attorney's Office, but in the eyes of a government office position, that means nothing.

I continued my wait....

At 8:04am, Jean called me from the downtown Crown's office. Thank goodness, they want an interview! I schedule them in for 3:00pm on November 7 because that was the time they offered me and I was available. Who was I to suggest that an earlier time might be better for me?

I get off the phone and there is a message waiting on my voice mail. I quickly check my voice mail, thinking "please don't let anyone else call while I'm checking"! It is Lenora, from the Scarborough and Etobicoke Crown's Offices... they are interviewing together. She wants me to call her back. I hang up and dial immediately.

Voice mail. I leave a message.

Then I sit and wait. Aside from Scarborough and Etobicoke, I'm still waiting for two more phone calls.

8:08am - still waiting.

8:10am - phone Lenora again. Still voice mail. No message left.

8:13am - still waiting. Another phone call to Lenora.. more voice mail.

8:18am - more waiting. At this point I have called Lenora about 10 times and got voice mail each time. Now I'm starting to think that Scarborough and Etobicoke have changed their mind. They DON'T want an interview anymore. And as for the other two places I've applied... I just don't have a chance.

8:20am - I call Lenora AGAIN and AGAIN I receive her voice mail.

When I hang up the phone, there is a voice mail message FOR ME! Oh no! I'm way to eager! I quickly check my voice mail. It is Amanda! From the Crown Law Office - Criminal. They do appellate work for the Ministry of the Attorney General. I'm ecstatic.

First I dial Lenora, one last time. (Ya right, we all know that I would keep dialing that number until I got through to SOMEONE!). Fortunately she picks up the phone. The interview is scheduled for November 7 at noon. I now have three interviews on November 7: 9, 12 and 3. There is no way I can schedule another one.

I call Amanda, she picks up right away. She wants to offer me an interview (no kidding!)! I tell her that November 7th is booked, but I can do November 8th. The interview is scheduled for 9am (I'm a morning person!).

At this point it is 8:25am - the world of Call Day is very fast paced.

I'm still waiting to hear from the Constitutional Law Branch of the Ministry of the Attorney General. As some of you may know, Constitutional Law became my love last year. Sure, it may have been because of the little crush I had on the professor (not that I thought he was cute - but his lecturing voice was pretty easy to listen to). My love for this area of law was a surprise to me and everyone who knew me, because I've always had a plan to go into Criminal law. When I applied last year to this office, they did not offer me an interview, even with my stellar grade in the course. I figured at this point, when it was 8:25am, they had passed over me again.

I begin to regain my composure after the exciting morning... my heart rate must have been at least 80%, which is a work-out level! No need to go to the gym today!!

But what is this? It is 8:28am and the phone is ringing.
-Hello?
-Hi, can I speak to Courtney West please?
- This is she.
- Hi Courtney, it's Mary from the CONSTITUTIONAL LAW BRANCH.
- Oh hi. (I'm trying to sound like I completely expected the phone call...)
- Courtney, we'd like to offer you an interview with our office.
- Okay.
- The only date we have available is November 9, are you available?
- (Am I available!! YES! YES!!) Let me just check and see. Yes I have some availability. What time were you thinking? (so smooth...)
- We have noon available on the 9th...
- Sure that looks fine to me.

And so, I had six applications out, and I have six interviews. What a morning and all of that before 8:30am!

I thought I would post some pics from our honeymoon in Italy... This is a picture of us at one of the many night time cafes we ate at while we were there. The food was so good! Always incredibly fresh and I even found myself liking tomatoes and other foods I normally detest. This was our very last night in Rome before flying back to Toronto.

This is James in Florence. You can see Ponte Vecchio in the background, a famous medieval bridge. What a beautiful view! We're just outside of the Uffizzi Gallery. The line up to get into the gallery was going to take us about 3 hours. However, my bright husband had to the idea to check and see if we could reserve tickets for later in the week. We ended up returning the following day and bypassed the entire line!


I'm standing in front of the Arch of Constantine and to its right you can just see the Coloseum! All the streets in Rome were cobblestone, which was a pain for stilettos! Needless to say, I didn't wear stilettos... I wore flip flops!

We have really come so far since that day, though it still feels like yesterday.

I thought since I was a newlywed, I should have a least one picture of the wedding day on my blog, and this one is by far my favourite. I think that it really demonstrates what our wedding was, the beginning of a walk down a long road.

I've always been a fan of walking. I think my mom has instilled that in me, as she is a walker herself. Whether with the dog, for exercise or "just because", my mom really enjoys walking. And I've enjoyed going on walks with her, either at the cottage or around our neighbourhood. It is a good opportunity to catch up.

James and I enjoy our walks too. For us it is a good time to slow our lives down a bit. There is always so much to do and walking has allowed us to spend time with one another away from the noise of the television, the distractions of school or the long list of "things to do" around our apartment. In London there are many great places to go for walks, as the Thames River flows through almost the entire city and the downtown is filled with lots of great shops and cafes. And so, I'm fairly certain that James and I will continue to have many long walks over the next two years that we spend here.

And though I enjoy walking with others, I do value my time walking alone as well. Our apartment is about a 40-45 minute walk from the law building and on occasion, when I need some time of contemplation, or rather "a breath of fresh air", I walk. Most people who live in the area think I'm nuts, but I'm fine with that! Last year I normally walked to school. The walk was much shorter, probably about half the time. I especially enjoyed my walks to exams or home from them. For me, those were times to put aside thoughts of all of the legal terms, principles, ratios and judgments I needed to know. Often I used that time as a way to build on my relationship with the Lord. Exams are such a crazy time, there is little time to eat or sleep, let alone pray. Usually I'd just be praying to keep my sanity! Those short walks during exam times and conversations with God allowed me to keep my sanity. I miss those walks.

I have a midterm this afternoon.... I think I'll walk to school.

I have exciting news!!

I'm going to HALIFAX in February!

The greatest part is that I don't have to pay a single cent and I'm going with Marcia! Let me explain... in mid-September I was in a "mooting competition".

LAW SCHOOL LESSON:
Definition of "Mooting Competition" - Mooting is the exercise of arguing questions of law. In my case, we argued a hypothetical case, involving forest fires, before a fake court consisting of 5 judges (other students, lawyers, professors).

I was on the respondent side with Marcia. There were also the appellants who were basically appealing the decision of the lower court judges. As the respondent, I was required to argue against the appellants. So in essence, a mooting competition, is a fake appeal, before a fake panel of judges.

The long and the short of it is that Marcia and I did pretty good in the preliminary round. We ranked high enough to gain access to an external moot. External moots are moots in which you compete against other schools, rather than an internal moot, where you compete against your fellow students.

So in the end we both chose to do the Laskin Moot, which is being held in Halifax from February 17-19! Everything is paid for by the school and our sponsors! I love free trips!! I think James is a little jealous because unfortunately, they do not include spouses... but it is only over one weekend, so I think he'll be okay!

My first blog as a married woman! The wedding was great! I will definitely post some pictures at a later date. You will most likely notice some changes to my blog in the next few weeks! Since I'm not planning a wedding anymore, I'll try to make the "look" of the blog a little bit more relevant to my newly married status!

Married life has been so great! James is so awesome and our apartment is working out wonderfully. Except that, unbeknownst to me, I'm actually a big slob. I always thought I was just a slob in my bedroom, but apparently, I'm just messy everywhere! I'm working on it and James is a very patient husband!

James has been doing much supply teaching which has been awesome. It seems that the schools in Hamilton cannot get enough of him, which isn't surprising to me! James has been getting a lot of teaching jobs and so it seems that our uncertainty in the area of finances is put to rest for at least the time being. This is a huge answer to prayer. For James' sake, we are now praying for a supply job that is more of a long-term contract (e.g. teacher on sick leave, or pregnancy, etc.). This would allow him to work with the same students every day and really develop his teaching skills and abilities.

In any event, we are doing really well here in London. School is pretty busy for me already, not only with my courses, but also with applying to jobs, competing in mooting competitions and participating in other extra-curriculars. I am definitely looking forward to some relaxing in Pickering this weekend for Thanksgiving!

So I promise to be more regular with updates... (easier said than done) and I hope that you all will be regular visiters and leave comments!