Bar Interview

Today was my interview for the NY bar.  This "interview" lasted all of 8 minutes.  I trekked 20 blocks south in the pouring rain (well, more like the subway +4 blocks in the elements).  I feel like my interviewer was taking things too seriously.  From the war stories I've heard from my other friends (I'm one of the last to be admitted), it's a perfunctory exercise where they basically just check if you have a pulse.  I was asked where do I see myself in 5 years?  Answer: Practicing law.  I guess I was caught off guard...  Looks like I'm out of practice.  Second question: Do you own a car in the city?  Well, at least that one was easy.  Third: If there was one thing about American law that you would change, what would it be?  Me (to the 70+ year old retired judge who seems rather conservative): To be honest, I would legalize same-sex marriage.  I have many friends that demonstrate the epitome of love in a caring relationship and they are denied what my husband and I have.  At the same time, I see straight couples who have no business getting married.  Now, I know it's kind of silly but I was really proud of myself for saying that.  I don't know why I hesitated but it probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm a people-pleaser and knew that he was, well, old and probably not as progressively-minded as the people in my generation.  But, no, he didn't immediately revoke my stamp of approval.  He said that in his informal survey, 5-10% of applicants had my answer.  The majority?  Immigration.  Fair enough.

The real kicker: Him telling me that "for future reference" I should not chew gum in an interview.  Right... duh.  I guess as far as he knows because he was taking it so seriously, he felt like I should have too.  And that's a fair point.  But really?  Nice parting words.

At any rate, the good news is.... I've been approved! SO, I'm getting SWORN IN tomorrow.  Yep, as of 1pm tomorrow (EDT), I will be an actual, honest-to-goodness attorney.  Granted, my life won't really change at all except that now I'll get business cards from my firm (really nice engraved ones at that) and be able to remove the oh-so-embarrassing "Not Yet Admitted to the Bar" disclaimer in my signature line of emails.  I guess I'll also be able to sign things with "Esq." after my name if I'm feeling super cheesy/pretentious.

The highlight of today: A strawberry milkshake from the infamous (and original) Shake Shack.  Normally, there is a several hour (not joking) wait for this place.  However, since it was 2:30pm on a Tuesday in the pouring rain, there was no wait!  Lucky me!  Too bad I had already had lunch or else I would have bought an infamous burger too.  Verdict: The milkshake, while tasty, did not rise to the $5+tax milkshake level.  It was hard to taste the strawberry flavors from the creamy-goodness of vanilla flavor. That being said, I'm just happy to say that I finally got something from Shake Shack!  If I manage to wake up early and go to the gym tomorrow morning (like I did today, go me!), I may get an actual burger after my swearing in tomorrow, which is conveniently also located by Madison Square Park.