Only 8 more weeks untl school starts…
I can’t believe it’s almost April! Law school orientation is in mid-May and classes start at the end of May. My classes will finish by 8 p.m. each night which is great news because it means I can get home by 8:30 to read books to Pumpkinhead before he goes to sleep and then study afterwards. I can’t wait! I’ve been having lunch fairly regularly with a girl I met at Admitted Students Day and we’ve really hit it off. I think law school will be a really interesting social experiment because it seems, at least in terms of those people I’ve met so far, that we’re all Type A kind of people. The girl I eat lunch with has a very similar worldview to mine and the others I’ve met have made comments about things they are doing to prepare that, in the real world, might seem a bit crazy but to me seem completely rational. Sign of a sick mind or a good law student?!? 
I still can’t decide if I want to be a public blogger or an anonymous blogger. There are several people in my school who blog with pride but I wonder about the consequences. I’d like to be able to speak my mind and talk about things going on in my life without fear of judgment or censure (at least by people I know - I can always delete the nasty comments from random anti-immigrant trolls). I’d love to hear from other law school/attorney bloggers on how they made the choice either to be open with their identity or to keep it on the down low.
March 30th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Well…I originally started out anonymous, but my family and friends knew who I was. Then a co-worker/good friend blabbed to some other co-workers and the next thing I knew, half my friggin firm was reading my blog. I avoided discussing work in detail anyway, because I didn’t want to end up in a situation like Opinionistas, constantly in fear of being outed & fired. At that point, I had written a guest-blog under my real name for the On Balance column in the Washington Post & Leslie Morgan-Steiner, the author, linked it to my blog (with my consent).
So now, if you just happen upon my blog you can’t tell who I am, but if you read it in excruciating detail, you can find links to my name. And, if you know me & google my name, you will eventually find links to my blog.
My advice would be this - just remember that anything you write under your real name will be found when you are looking for a job, up for a clerkship, political post, or whatever down the line and govern yourself accordingly. If you write under your real name, you have to be very careful about the details you reveal about your life and the people around you. I just make it a habit to never write anything in my blog that I would be uncomfortable saying in public, in front of a crowd of people.
Does that help at all?
What law school will you be going to? I’m a GWU law grad myself & I practiced in the DC area for awhile before moving down where I am now. Drop me an email or comment on my blog if you’d like.