What's The Deal, Heather Steele
So Long, Farewell
Heather Steele
Issue date: 4/17/07 Section: Columns
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Well, folks, this is it. My last hurrah here from our beloved student newspaper. We've laughed together, we've cried together, you've used pages of the Docket to mop up spilled coffee. It's been a good run. For all the legal learning I've done here at school (and my blessedly-curved transcript might tell you it hasn't been all that much), I've learned eons more about non-legal things. I suppose this article could alternatively be titled "Things Law School Taught Me That Have Nothing To Do With Law School." But that's kind of a long title and we were short on space.
I showed up at law school that first day terrified. I thought for sure that I must have been the dumbest person in the room. These people were typing furiously on their computers, they were flipping through their books, they were highlighting like crazy. I looked around, stunned, wondering how on earth I managed to fool enough people to get here. And it was at that moment I learned one of the finest lessons that law school has taught me. It goes something like this: "When you're scared to death, just fake it."
Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that you should feign knowledge that you don't have - I'd be setting myself up for the world's fastest malpractice suit if I did that. No, no....this lesson is much more basic. I use it when I'm in an intimidating situation (which is pretty much all the time at law school... you people frighten me). When I start to feel myself shaking in my shoes, I grin, I look around, and I swagger. If I have to speak, I speak slowly and deliberately (mostly to give myself more time to figure out what the heck I'm going to say), and I act like I'm completely certain of myself.
Sometimes it works-and people say positive things about your confidence and poise-and sometimes it doesn't (like the time in high-school when I mispronounced "infra-red" as "in-fray-erd"). Misprounouncing words is a good way to kill your swagger. Another good way to lose your swagger is not knowing about historical events. For instance, its probably not a good idea to ask "What's Chappaquiddick?" (Trust me on this one.) If you are confronted with a pop-culture reference that catches you clueless (or if you just didn't watch the news until 1999 or so), may I recommend my secret weapon: Wikipedia.
I showed up at law school that first day terrified. I thought for sure that I must have been the dumbest person in the room. These people were typing furiously on their computers, they were flipping through their books, they were highlighting like crazy. I looked around, stunned, wondering how on earth I managed to fool enough people to get here. And it was at that moment I learned one of the finest lessons that law school has taught me. It goes something like this: "When you're scared to death, just fake it."
Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that you should feign knowledge that you don't have - I'd be setting myself up for the world's fastest malpractice suit if I did that. No, no....this lesson is much more basic. I use it when I'm in an intimidating situation (which is pretty much all the time at law school... you people frighten me). When I start to feel myself shaking in my shoes, I grin, I look around, and I swagger. If I have to speak, I speak slowly and deliberately (mostly to give myself more time to figure out what the heck I'm going to say), and I act like I'm completely certain of myself.
Sometimes it works-and people say positive things about your confidence and poise-and sometimes it doesn't (like the time in high-school when I mispronounced "infra-red" as "in-fray-erd"). Misprounouncing words is a good way to kill your swagger. Another good way to lose your swagger is not knowing about historical events. For instance, its probably not a good idea to ask "What's Chappaquiddick?" (Trust me on this one.) If you are confronted with a pop-culture reference that catches you clueless (or if you just didn't watch the news until 1999 or so), may I recommend my secret weapon: Wikipedia.