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Two terrific articles about New Orleans came to my attention in the last week or so.  One, in the Huffington Post, is here.  The other, on the Be NOLABound website, is here. Both were written by professionals who are not from New Orleans and don't live here, but who visited at the same time. 

I think New Orleans is wonderful and exciting, but I live here full time (although I do travel to other parts of the country a lot and do have the opportunity to compare other cities to this one).  So when I say New Orleans is unique and quirky and rebuilding itself in the most interesting and exciting ways, one could wonder whether I am objective.  Read the impressions of Mike Hatch and Yvahn Martin, and get the perspectives of people who don't live here full time (but who sure sound as though they'd like to).

from Senior Admission Coordinator Carol O'Hea:

As spring approaches, we in the Office of Admission are preparing to welcome prospective students to the law school for our second admitted students’ program on March 23^rd and 24^th. Students from all over the country have been invited for a two-day showcase of all the wonderful opportunities TLS has to offer. We stress to admitted students how important it is to visit the schools they are considering attending and make an effort to give them a taste of Tulane’s unique atmosphere and curriculum during their stay. Many of the attendees will be experiencing New Orleans for the first time!

Friday’s highlights include sitting in on a first-year Constitutional Law class, lunch with current TLS students and faculty, a presentation by our Career Development Office, and a panel at which current students offer candid discussion about law school and living in New Orleans. Admitted students can also attend sessions on our clinical programs, on financing a legal education, and on the wide array of student organizations and activities available at TLS. Saturday gives our visitors an opportunity to explore Tulane’s beautiful campus, learn more about the first-year curriculum and certificate programs, and tour the uptown neighborhood where our students live. For our staff, visiting days are a special time in the admissions process when we are able to put faces with names and meet the students we've come to know on paper and via e-mail throughout the application process.

While posting a list of our January Intersession faculty, I had occasion to read some of the comments from our second- and third-year students who participated in one of the three tracks:

From the Civil Litigation Track:

•  “Overall, I thought the program was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC.  I have already begun to recommend to other students to participate in the program. . . . I commend all parties involved in the planning and execution of the program. . . . Job well done.”

•  “Overall, the program was a great experience.   . . .  [T]he program proved invaluable because there is no better training than actually doing the things we discuss theoretically in class.  This class validated my decision to become a civil litigator.”

•  “Learning the practical aspect of law, as opposed to the theoretical, was extremely beneficial.  I feel as though this class arguably prepared me better for practice in a firm or other legal setting than three years of class participation.”

•  “All of the instructors were genuinely interested in showing us how to do this stuff, giving us good tips that have value, and redirecting our work in a constructive way.  SO GREAT to have practitioners!”

•  “It was great.  Really.  Keep it. . . . I would do it again!  Especially arguing in the federal district court – it still gives me goosebumps.”

From the Criminal Practice Track:

•  “I wish I could have taken all three intersession courses.  It was a GREAT learning experience (possibly the best in law school other than Legal Research and Writing).”

•  “I thought the program was very beneficial.  It really taught us how to be a lawyer, which regular law courses don’t do.”

•  “Wonderful inaugural course – I learned a lot about the real world practice of criminal law and greatly appreciate all the hard work and time that all the instructors, practitioners, judges and facilitators put into the course.  It is a wonderful addition to the Tulane curriculum.”

•  “The subject matter covered was ideal and offered the sort of useful, practical, real-world information I had hoped the course would offer.”

From the Transactional Practice Track:

•  “I feel so lucky that I had a chance to attend this program since I am a 3L and I think it will be one of the most important courses I have had at Tulane.  The simulation of the transactional process, the lectures from practitioners, the teamwork on the assignments we did – they were a very helpful experience and gave me a good understanding about the future work I will do.”

•  “I really enjoyed the program . . . Just getting an early exposure to the mechanics of transactional practice made me feel more confident about beginning work in the fall.  I would enthusiastically recommend the program to other students and I hope the program continues and grows.”

•  “I can’t say enough about how awesome this bootcamp was.”

•  “This program was among the best experiences that I have had in law school.  All of the practitioners  . . . did an outstanding job.”

Makes me very proud to be a part of Tulane Law School.

Last Wednesday I hosted one of my favorite annual events, the Judicial Clerkship Program.  I love to have TLS alumni on campus who are current or former judicial law clerks because they always give such great advice about hiring, applications, and the day-to-day life of a judge's clerk.  This year, I had a current clerk from our home federal court, the Eastern District of Louisiana, as well as two local firm practitioners who clerked previously, one with our neighbors to the North, the Western District of Louisiana, and the other in the far-off (but very cool-sounding) island of Guam.  All three had advice about how to stand out in the application process, and all resoundingly agreed that working as a law clerk was the best job they'd ever had.  One of the alums mentioned that he would go back to clerk in a heart-beat if he could, and the current clerk said he was already feeling sad about leaving the court this summer.  With all of the emphasis Tulane Law places of post-graduate clerkships (Class of 2011 included 21 state and federal law clerks), it's nice to have our alums echo my sentiments about the value and amazing experience that is clerking.  I'll be meeting with our Class of 2013 students interested in pursuing clerkships on April 2, and I'm already excited to see where they will go.