Fall Breaking (pictures)

I got bored on the train so I took some pictures of familiar sites. 

Above: George Washington Masonic Temple in Alexandria

Below: Philadelphia train station

As a property nerd, I saw this and wondered why anyone would want to put a high-rise above that. Go eminent domain?

 Lunch speaker: John Lithgow

 Carly and I broke out the bubbly for the start of basketball season while we watched Late Night with Roy at her casa

One of the many Southern-themed Brother Jimmy's signs

Fall Breaking

Right as life was beginning to settle down around Charlottesville and I was getting (mostly) caught up on my classes, I decided to shake it up once again and head back to the Big Apple for the ABA Conference on Sports and Entertainment Law. A day and a half of talks about bankruptcy, antitrust, and financing in relation to S/E clients and networking with people in the biz, it was a dream for a sports gunner like me.  I particularly enjoyed the antitrust talk, as this is a major interest of mine, and my VSLS president and I asked some of the speakers on the panel to attend the symposium we are co-planning with VASE in March.  I also met some Philadelphia lawyers, which will be helpful, since I have now accepted a job there for next year (!!!).

I stayed with my college friend Carly on the Upper East Side and we were able to go out on Friday night.  We started at the stumble inn but ended up at the Brother Jimmy's near her apartment for most of the night. Brother Jimmy's is the chain of restaurants/bars in New York City and Florida (and one to come in Puerto Rico?) owned by a couple of southerners, one a Miami grad and one a UNC grad.  They have mainly ACC/Southern/North Carolina decor and are frequent hotspots for the Carolina Club in NYC. It was funny that we spent the majority of the evening there since our plans for the next day were to watch the Carolina-Miami game at a different Brother Jimmy's, near Madison Square Garden. Although we lost, it was fun to be surrounded by Carolina blue in the big city, there were even other alums that I knew there! Lessons learned: Brother Jimmys is awesome, and Carly basically knows everyone in the whole city.

I hopped on the Bieber bus from there to head to Allentown for the rest of break.  Scott's parents generously agreed to host me since a plane ticket home just didn't seem logical.  We spent the weekend playing games and trying to continue catching up on homework. It was so nice to have home cooked meals and get away from Charlottesville for a few more days. PS, if you're ever in Allentown, try White Orchids, the thai place there. It's amazing.

Coming soon: my explanation of the Tebow pile (EDIT: this never happened).

San Diego - Day Three

The last day (not counting the early Monday flight) of the trip involved the final round of the competition, for the two highest scoring competitors and a sports law symposium.  I did not attend the final round, in favor of getting some school work done, but I should have considering my fellow Tar Heel Ty Lawson was one of the players in the mock NBA trade.

I did attend the sports law symposium, however, which I found to be interesting.  The first panel was about breaking into the business of representing athletes and the second on NCAA violations.  For the record, I firmly believe that the "integrity of amateurism" is a vastly overused phrase that means very little these days.  More opinions on that should be a separate post, if I feel like organizing my thoughts on the topic.

After the symposium, I had the whole day to myself considering my teammate was holed up working on a moot court brief. I really was craving an in-n-out burger since I dont have many opportunities to hit the West Coast, but I didn't feel like paying for a cab so I decided to walk there and see the town on the way.  I should have thought to leave a bit earlier than I did since it was approaching darkness when I got the restaurant but my iPhone helped me find a trolley to take back to the gas-lamp district where I was staying.  (In the Hotel Indigo, a very modern but quite nice hotel, a Kimpton property, like the Palomar in Philadelphia).  By the way, in-n-out's fries greatly disappointed me, but the burger was just what I needed after the hike I had made.  I snapped quite a few pictures of the buildings in San Diego, I'm a big fan of the architecture style there:

Our flight the next morning was a killer 630 am flight, which meant I met my teammate downstairs at 430! Luckily I think I never adjusted to West Coast time, so it wasn't toooo painful but not exactly what I wanted to be doing at that hour.  Instead of being productive on the flight, I decided that watching a movie on-board and playing trivia would be a much better use of my time...at least I won a few times!

San Diego - Day Two

The next day in San Diego, we headed to the TJSL for the competition.  It worked out such that the two teams of two would sit across from each other and try to negotiate a deal, knowing certain facts and having certain interests and the judges would score them based on criteria like listening to the other side, teamwork, advancing your client's interest, etc.

My teammate and I each chose a round to really research and try to have the most information on, and then take the lead in the negotiating.  This worked well since we didn't have time to do much prep, but in the future we should probably both prepare more.  The first round was an endorsement deal for an athlete, with our team representing FRS, an energy drink company.  I have heard of this company thanks to the Tim Tebow ad that I plan to write a later blog post on (edit: this never happened).  I did some research, thinking if the Q score (a number representing the name recognition plus likeability of certain athletes) of their endorsers went up after the endorser, we could basically prove the deal was good for the athlete we were courting.  I found an increase in Tebow's score, but the other team did not find it too convincing.  I think we did fairly well in this round, due to be fairly well prepared and not caving on our required minimum time range for the contract (I nearly abbreviated this K, as I did in my law school notes, but I'll spare the shorthand here).  We did quabble about minor details a little too much early on, but in real life we would have had more than an hour, so we just need to learn how to work a negotiation in the time we have allotted.

The second round was a little more complicated, as we were representing the city of Los Angeles trying to get a stadium deal set and the numbers were much more plentiful.  The deal had to do with revenue sharing and cost sharing and city politics, and I should have known the numbers a little better going in, but as anyone who knows me understands, numbers are not my forte.  The team we were against was a well-organized ADR (alternative dispute resolution) team, complete with negotiation outline and a coach from their school with them.  We ended up with a deal without caving on our requirements, but we probably could have negotiated a little more out of them.

All in all, we went 3-3, as 2 judges in the first round declared us the "winner" (a contrived concept, since the whole point of negotiation is that everyone wins) and 1 judge in the second round said we won.  Our overall scores were not impressive, but for having no training and little prep time, I'd say batting .500 was a good consolation prize.

That night, the school organized a mixer for all the competitors at Double Deuce, a half top-40 bar, half country bar, complete with mechanical bull.  When we got there, they were showing a UFC fight, which meant typical UFC fans (not my usual crowd) filled the bar, and I was only one of a handful of women who didn't work at the bar.  There was also some sort of charity bar crawl there, with all these people in ridiculous wigs and flannel.  The bar wasn't all that fun, so my teammate and I went back to the hotel bar to watch more college football after a short time.

San Diego - Day One

Since I apparently had not missed enough class from callbacks, I decided I wanted to go to San Diego for a sports law negotiation competition the weekend after my last two callbacks.  As vice-president of the Virginia Sports Law Society, I am in charge of finding sports law-related events and signing people up to go on them.  After a slightly chaotic preparation process, a fellow 2L and I headed off to CA.

Neither of us had done such a competition, or been involved in really any kind of negotiation, nor did we have much time to prep, but at the very least I figured it would be a good experience in a beautiful city.  After a long flight from Atlanta (I wrote the last post on that plane, thanks to the wonders of modern technology allowing in-flight wifi), we landed in San Diego and went straight to the suite that the host school, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, had provided at the Padres-Dodgers game.  This was exciting, not only because I enjoy baseball, but also since the Padres have a player from my hometown in Cam Maybin and the Dodgers have a former Tar Heel in Fed Ex (whose actual name I will not attempt to spell).

During the game we even met the Padres owner, who came into our suite to say hello!  I, however, had forgotten that San Diego tends to cool down significantly at night and my teammate doesn't like baseball (inconceivable!) so we did not stay for the whole game.  Pictures:

Fed Ex

Cam Maybin

Padres owner

Eating My Way Through NC

My most recent trip involved two North Carolina firms: one in Raleigh and one in Greensboro.  Since my mom got to meet me in Charlotte, my dad won the rights to meet me for this trip.  He had a lunch in Raleigh the night before I got there and scheduled some meetings the next day, then drove me home after escorting me to Greensboro.  I got down to Raleigh on Monday night and we got dinner at the Fox and Hound in North Hills.  That way, we could stay close to the hotel and watch Monday Night Football.  Although dad's favorite baseball team, the Orioles, lost, my football team, the NY Giants (led by former Tar Heel Hakeem Nicks) had a victory over the Rams. If anyone heads that way, I'd recommend the mild wings, they have a hint of garlic that really makes it delicious!

I had my interview at 10 the next morning and had lunch with two of the attorneys at Sitti in downtown Raleigh. I had eaten there before but enjoyed the return trip.  Their menu has a symbol for all of the gluten free items which is quite helpful for me. We started with the baba ganoush and then I had the falafel.  It was too much for me to finish though, after such great appetizers! It came out during lunch that one of the attorneys went to law school with Jay Bilas, which I found entertaining, even though that meant she (and the other interviewer) went to Duke law. 

Dad and I went to Southpoint to watch The Help, through which we both cried (shh) then drove to Greensboro for dinner.  We went to a steakhouse in Friendly Center (Flemings) which was pretty pricey and I didn't want to bill too much for the firm.  Instead, we got small plates, which may have the best choice ever.  I had a filet kabob dish with gorgonzola dipping sauce and a tomato and mozzarella salad, while dad had an ahi tuna dish.  Both were amazing but the gorgonzola sauce made mine the best. 

The next day I had the interview and drove back to Charlottesville.  I bought some French tapes to keep myself entertained, but I still managed to get a little bored, so I had to stop and get some candy. Thus, I probably ate during 75% of my three-day trip, hence the name of this post.

Next stop, San Diego!!

EDIT: I talked about all the food I ate, but not where I stayed! Raleigh was the Renaissance North Hills, beloved among the Young family for the TV in the bathroom mirror:

And in Greensboro was the Proximity Hotel.  It was nice, and a LEED certified Green hotel, but I'm against it because it was way too hard to find both the coffee maker and a place to plug it in. Plus, it brewed four cups for one packet! I like my caffeine but not THAT much :)

You Had Me at Godiva

Yesterday was my last Philadelphia callback, at redacted firm name. I took the 3:50 flight out of Charlottesville, which was delayed a few minutes, as always.  Firm also put me at the Palomar, the place I stayed last trip, but this time I had a better view:

 Yes, that's from my hotel window

I couldn't resist snapping another picture of the strange art

I was slightly disappointed with the hotel placement, not only because I had stayed there before, but I had heard another hotel had their own chocolatier.  Redacted.  However, I wasn't too disappointed when, upon checking into the Palomar, I was given a box of Godiva and a similar note.  It wasn't locally made, but it was still chocolate, which I think is such a sweet touch that is unique thus far in my experience.

I met a friend from UVA, Esther, who also had callbacks at firms to dinner.  Since it was restaurant week, it was hard to find a restaurant that wasn't full of reservations already.  We decided on Audrey Claire, because they didn't take reservations and headed over.

First of all, we didn't expect that Fall would hit Philly so soon, and with such a vengeance so we were underdressed for the brisk winds.  Secondly, we didn't exactly understand what restaurant week meant, when the front desk clerk tried to explain to us.  We were given a prix fixe menu, which was $35 per person.  I later found out that most of the time, you can ask for a normal menu to save some money, but we had no idea about this and all of the venues in the area were participating in the promotion.  We did get a lovely 3 course meal, however.  I started with an arugula salad with goat cheese and figs, went on to a potato crusted ahi tuna with mashed potatoes and green beans, and finished with a cinnamon rice pudding.  The waitress was very knowledgeable about what was gluten-free, and with her suggestions it was a great meal. My dessert options are always limited, so I decided to be adventurous and get the rice pudding. The texture was not my favorite and it wasn't sweet enough overall, but the combination of cinnamon and pieces of fruit inside added some good flavor.  After getting our doggy bags (three courses is far too much), we headed back to our respective hotels.

I had an 11 am callback, which I originally thought was 10.  I probably should have kept thinking it was 10 because I let myself have too much relaxation time in the morning and missed out on any breakfast.  But I headed over to firm for exactly a 10:50 arrival. My tour guide was a 4L (a common term for the most recent UVA grads), which was interesting, redacted.  I'm not sure if this was a conscious choice on the part of the recruiters, but my first interviewer had a similar choice that I did before law school: whether to go into sports journalism or go to law school.  It was interesting going back over that decision with him.

Lunch was at the Continental, a cute place nearby.  I got the crab pad thai, which was delicious. I enjoyed the associates that took me out to lunch because they had little expectation of telling me anything about the firm or their job so we spent most of lunch talking about Philadelphia or the fashion choices that come from the interview or the work dress code. While I appreciate the other firms that are really trying to get any questions I have answered, it was nice they realized I probably had a good idea of the firm culture and we never had those lulls in conversation that come from both parties trying to come up with more questions.

I went back to the hotel for some work and Esther met me for some coffee and to let me use her phone charger.  I must have taken my phone cord out of my bag at some point, which is a pity because I use my phone way too much to not have one in my suitcase at all times.  I was debating being lazy all day but decided I should go to the museum and walk around in my last trip to Philadelphia for a while.

I took the Schuylkill river trail, an underrated part of Philly to the museum, walked around the Rembrandt: Faces of Christ exhibit for a while, then walked back through town.  I really enjoyed the exhibit, as well as the American art that was also in the museum.  It was interesting to me how much biblical and historical research Rembrandt did to make his scenes of Christ and how many different times he experimented with the head and face. Some scenes from the afternoon:

 The IRS building and the Amtrak station from the Schuylkill trail, with the skyscraper in the background.  Scott and I once tried to walk into the IRS building when I had an early morning train.  The buildings are next to each other and have a similar color/shape, but luckily we were stopped because we didn't have the correct badges.  We may have been seriously confused had we gotten inside!

 A cute scene near the waterworks building

 The art museum has a Friday after 5 program with jazz music and drinks. Here is this week's band, At Your Request (or something like that)

Walking back, the view of the city 

I headed back to the hotel, after a stop at B&N to buy MORE thank you notes.  I grabbed a cab to the airport and went to the US Air club lounge.  My family apparently hoarded day passes to the club back when we traveled more, so whenever I use one, the front desk attendants look awed by my vintage pass. I was having a lovely time eating dinner and chatting with the bartender about How I Met Your Mother, the TV show that was on.

I was about to head to my gate, around 30 minutes from what I thought was my departure time when I looked at my ticket and realized my flight was set to leave about 5 minutes from the current time! I sprinted to the gate without so much as a goodbye to the bartender but the doors were closed and I got to watch my plane taxi away :( The poor desk attendants had to help me change my flight as I was sobbing from exhaustion and the feeling of pure ditziness. They even lent me a phone charger so my phone wouldn't die before I could book a hotel.

I ended up spending the night at the Days Inn in Chester, PA, which wasn't as bad as it could have been for sure.  The friendly flight attendants that were also staying at the hotel suggested that I take the 7 am shuttle, instead of the 730 shuttle in case of a long line at security.  While I appreciate the suggestion, the airport was deserted this morning and I went BACK to the US Air Club. I'm pretty sure I deserved free coffee and fruit for the $69 hotel room that they cost me last night (I am positive that when I was younger, they kept track of who was in the club and when their flight would leave to try to make sure everyone got to the gate on time).

Since my flight is in about an hour, I will be heading over there soon, just to make sure that I don't miss another flight!! I'm headed to NC next week, so I will journal about those soon!

QT in the QC

This post will be significantly shorter than the last one (/three).  Today was my interview with redacted firm name in Charlotte.  This banking firm has just this year reinstated their summer program at the Charlotte office and are looking to hire 2-4 2Ls.  They are a purely transactional office, so my previous litigation experience (which is limited either way) could not help me.  I think I would need a major crash course in finance if I got the job, but it would be an interesting experience for sure.

We ate lunch at a new (?) sushi restaurant in the Epicenter, which reminded me of previous bowl game outings.  This callback was the first time that I truly had some understanding of the landscape of the town (even more so than Philly, although I am gaining that slowly) since we visit my aunt and uncle there every year and take the kids to discovery place, a science museum near the firm. After lunch, my mom drove down to visit and we mostly played around southpoint.  We hit up Barnes N Noble, where she was nice enough to let me nap for a few minutes in the comfy chairs. Apparently the naps on the airplane down and the cab to the firm weren't sufficient to make up for my 5 am wake-up call! Then we ate dinner at Firebirds before she drove me to the airport.  A definite plus of NC firms: getting to see my family more often. Apparently Mary Victoria was quite disappointed that she didn't get to make the trip with mom!

Since I knew the city too well to really be a tourist, I didn't take any pictures this trip.  In lieu of that, and in honor of MV's absence, here's what dad calls "the best dive of the year"

Three, Three, Three Posts in One: Snoozing in the City That Never Sleeps

My final escapade of this week was to my favorite city of all, New York City.

I only had a short turnaround (1030 pm one day to 5 pm the next) so not only was I exhausted, I was finding it difficult to get everything done (two classes included) and packed back up.  As a result, I was sprinting to the airport at 4:45 for my 5:15 flight.  As I'm running into the airport, the kiosk won't let me check in so I asked the guy at the counter help.  He was around the slowest typist I've ever seen and as I'm tapping my foot in nervousness, the guy next to me asks if I'm headed to LaGuardia.  I had told the USAIR rep I was on the 5:15 flight, and this was the only flight at that time (Charlottesville is tres petite) so I assumed he knew that I meant that flight but when I answered in the positive to the fellow traveller, the counter guy looked surprised.  There's no telling how high my blood pressure got when he said "oh really? oh. ok"  He then said the flight wasn't leaving until 5:45 or 6 but the screen still said it was on time so my anxiety had not lessened much.

Then security stopped me for a while because my ID no longer looks much like me.  I had long blonde hair and contacts then, and I was wearing my glasses along with my short brown hair so two people were required to ensure that it was me.  Major panic at this point, but I made it to the gate right before they started boarding.  At this point, after traveling extensively for most of my life, but particularly the last few weeks, my luggage is easily taken apart to minimize my time at x-rays.  As I got to the gate, I realized about half of the plane had to be UVA folk, particularly from Section A (for whom Scott was a PA) and my good friend Esther.  So it was nice to catch up on the plane, the only form of socializing many of us will do in the next few weeks.

I checked into my hotel at the Hilton Times Square, after sharing a cab with a fellow Wahoo who was also interviewing with redacted firm but staying at a different hotel.  Fashion Week and the US Open were all in NYC at that time so accommodations were hard to come by. I grabbed dinner at a deli nearby and met my friend Carly from undergrad who is living and working in the city.  Since that night was Fashion's Night Out, many of the stores were open late and if we had gone up 5th a bit further we could have met a few celebs.  Alas, my hotel was between 7th and 8th and even the part of 5th that we made it to was not the busy section so we had no Bieber or Glee cast sightings.  Maybe next time :)

The callback itself was at 2 the next afternoon so for once I got to sleep in.  I found it ironic that in the center of Times Square, I slept in later than I had in probably a month.  The heavy curtains served me well in that hotel room.  My hotel was literally next door to Madame Tussaud's and nearby to the theaters of the Mary Poppins and Spiderman musicals.

When I was leaving for the interview, I was a bit concerned that the "credible terrorist threats"would delay me either in the interview or on the plane so close to the 10th anniversary of 9/11 but they didn't seem to bother much (I was in walking distance of the firm).  It was interesting to me how legitimate businesses were in the height of touristy Times Square.  It really reminded me of the song 42nd street from the same-named Broadway show.  Where the Underworld can meet the Elite, 42nd Street.

I have been interested in Firm for some time now, having done research on them (a big redacted practice area firm) and they did not disappoint.  I was expecting, and definitely got, some questions making sure I knew there was actual law involved in so-called practice area (not actually a practice area, just denotes the kind of clients involved) but I am still incredibly excited to hear back from them.  While I was in the recruiter's office, her phone rang canceling the recruiting committee meeting for that night, but that means my thank you notes (a Southern girl requirement) will get to the firm before they make a decision about me.  I am not letting it upset me that I know friends with offers, because my firms have been on different timelines, but I keep having to tell myself that so I won't freak out!

The flight back was equally inundated with UVA future lawyers, including some new ones, like my teammate from the NOLA baseball competition, Denise, a dear sectionmate, Galen, and Scott's roommate's ladyfriend. It makes for a relaxing flight, even with delays and extra security, when you are surrounded by people you know.  One particularly humorous 2L was cracking jokes when we had to sit on the tarmac for a while, like suggesting we play I SPY while we wait.  It is always nice to defuse stressful situations with people you know and love :)

Pictures from my hotel window:

Three, Three, Three Posts in One: Philadelphia

After getting back from Alexandria on Monday, I almost immediately turned around and flew to Philadelphia (after an awkward video conference with redacted firm in NC, home of well-known sports personality). I had an interview with redacted firm (former firm of person I know) on Wednesday.  I really enjoyed meeting everyone there. It is a top-ranked redacted practice area firm, which is what I'm looking for overall so I am looking forward to hearing back from them.

While there I stayed at the Palomar, part of the Kimpton hotel chain, which was nice, but a little too modern for me. Here is a sampling of the artwork in the hotel:

 Ben obviously cheered for the Phils

All the elevators were made to look like fireplaces and this one had a lovely lady with a mustache 

 This one was located near the restaurant where I ate breakfast, which I would have enjoyed a lot more if it weren't for the French techno blaring the whole time

The outline of this was all words, then the "my, she was yar" ending. So confusing.

After my interview and lunch at Matyson with some associations (I'd recommend the mussels), I again decided to tour around Philly some.

I had wanted to tour city hall last time, since the Phlash tour had advertised it. However, the room to sign up for the tours was very hidden so I spent a lot of time walking through the courtyard of city hall a lot trying to figure things out. Another PSA: Philly City Hall Courtyard has a distinct smell that someone recently urinated there. Ick. I did eventually figure out the tour, but I had an hour until the tower tour began so I went to Reading Terminal Market, which was recommended by two of my interviewers.  When I got back, I couldn't find the door they told me to go in, of course! So I was late but luckily the elevator man took pity on me.  I was with a group of native Pennsylvanians and some French friends of theirs that were visiting.  I desperately tried to understand what they were saying on the rides up and down but all I understood was when they let me off the elevator. The man said "apres vous" (after you, a phrase my mom utilizes frequently) so I at least got to respond with a nice "merci" but that was the extent to which I practiced my French.  I determined that the next road trip I have (a callback to Raleigh), I will find some French tapes to practice :)

The tour took us up to the very top of the tower of city hall, which is high above Philadelphia and right in the center so it was fun to see all around and try to find places I had been. Some scenes from the top:

 The exhibit talking about city hall showed the disparity between opinions of the building. This one calls it "perhaps the greatest single effort of late 19th century American architecture"...

 And this one calls it "an ugly monstrosity" and "the most disreputable and direspected building in Philadelphia"

 Leading up to the Philly Museum of Art

 Gazing up to William Penn, the statue at the top of city hall

 Various game pieces decorate this square

Part of city hall's outside

On my way back down the elevator to the bottom, I saw this scene (stairs of city hall), which was frequently shown on the show Philly as a hub of activity, but definitely saw less action the day I was there. (You mean everything isn't exactly as seen on TV?!)