It’s been exactly 95 days since my last entry.  It seems like just yesterday (well, not really just yesterday, but certainly not 95 days ago) that I was trying to get to you know better.   It’s been rather quiet on my end, I know, and while I’ve still got calls to make and files to read before the day is done, I want to put all that aside and come out of my hibernation just for a bit and tell you about a very good thing that recently happened here at SLS.

When the Yellow Ribbon Program was established, SLS made a commitment to provide a match up to $3000 to all students who were Yellow Ribbon eligible.  Soon thereafter, we increased that match to $10500.  A couple of days ago we made the following commitment:  Beginning in the 2013-14 academic year, SLS will contribute the maximum amount possible under the Yellow Ribbon program.  The VA will then match this amount so that between SLS and the VA, the full cost of tuition and fees will be covered for Yellow Ribbon eligible veterans.

Hooah.  Hooyah.  Hurrah.  Huzzah.  Oorah.

Some of you have already submitted your application and are now waiting on me to do my job.  (No worries – I’m working away and not procrastinating at all.  Really.  The hydrangeas definitely needed to be cut back this past week, the bonsai plant needed immediate attention otherwise who knows what shape it would morph into, the linen closet required rearranging and the spices had to be organized alphabetically.)  Others of you are anxiously awaiting the downtime during the holiday season to put the finishing touches on your application and, for some of you, this break from classes or that project at work means hunkering down and writing the personal statement.  If you find yourself in the latter category, this blog’s for you.  The rest of you can stop reading here and go off and do something a lot more entertaining than reading my advice on personal statements.

Thinking about the personal statement oftentimes conjures up all kinds of anxiety.  Sweaty palms.  Lots of doing other things so as to not do this one last task – you know, avoidance techniques.  Skittish behavior.  Fingers tapping aimlessly on the keyboard.   Stringing sentences together in your head.  It’s a daunting task, isn’t it?  Take two-to-three pages and tell me something that will make you stand out amongst the thousands of others whose personal statements I’ll read this year – not to mention the thousands I read last year or the year before (you get my drift).  Take two to three pages and make me sit up and take notice.  Let’s pause here just for a second and allow me to set the record straight and alleviate any palpitations you may be experiencing by just thinking about the statement.  Forget standing out.  Don’t approach it that way.  Don’t think about a “wow” factor.  No need to do it up in a big and loud fashion.  Instead stop and think for a bit about what it is that you want to convey to me.  We all have stories to tell so your task is really to figure out which story you want to tell me.   If you’ve gone about this properly, you’ve been thinking about topics and have jotted ideas down on a piece of paper or on some electronic device.   You’ve then looked at that list of options and condensed similar ideas, culled out the bad ideas or the “not much to say on that topic” ideas.  The swirling sentences in your head seem a bit more manageable now, don’t they?  So, get started.  Put pencil to paper (or the electronic equivalent).  Just do it (Thanks, Nike, for the catchy phrase).  Let the words flow.  The words probably won’t be pretty on the first try, but keep at it until your voice comes through.  Keep at it until you get to the point where you feel content after that last sentence is completed and you breathe that sigh of relief not because it’s done, but because it’s good.  Read it out loud.  Ask yourself a few questions like these (or exactly these if you trust my advice):  Is this what I want Stanford to know about me?  By the end of the statement, will Stanford know more about me  – beyond how well I write – than before reading it?  Does my statement illustrate how I think, how I view my world?  If you can answer these questions in the affirmative, then you’ve done your job.  I will read your words and I will sit up and take notice.

As I read over this entry, I’m tempted to no longer call this part of the application the personal statement.  The word “statement” sounds so formal.  It should more appropriately be called the personal story.   I say switching out one word for the other makes the task less intimidating and more real.  Unfortunately, it’s too late for me to call up the powers-that-be at LSAC and beg to update our application and make the switch from “statement” to “story”.  But that shouldn’t stop either of us from thinking of it in this way.  From here on out, it’s all about the personal story.  Tap into the creative side of your personality and start writing.  Tell me a story.

[P.S.  I don’t really alphabetize my spices.  Last one out, first one in.]

A couple of weeks ago as we headed to UCLA for an evening panel, I was lost in my thoughts watching the cars on I-405 creep by ever so slowly.  I was only half-listening to a conversation my travel buddies were having about interstate highways that traversed the country.  Two things dawned on me as I did my half-listening.  First, my travel buddies had a very healthy dose of interest and excitement about the topic and I did not because I have no sense of direction.  I am not good with road maps so 1) never assign me the task of being in charge of reading them when on a road trip and 2) never ask me to partner with you in an orienteering competition. Second, I realized then that while road maps are no doubt fascinating and critical to getting from point A to point B or to points anywhere else, there is also another kind of map that is equally important…your life map.  What is it that you want to do with your life?  What is the direction your life is taking?  Where are you going?  Are you on your way to a meaningful life and, if so, how are you getting there?  The turn on the map I’m concerned about at the moment is the path to law school.  Is your true north pointing to law school?  If so, have you planned out your route?  Get a pencil and a piece of paper and start jotting down some notes or flip open that laptop and start tapping away.  Are you ready to tackle law school now or is there something (or a few things) you’d like to do first?  Remember this – one rarely, if ever, regrets taking time off before heading to law school.  If thinking about other things to do is an apt description of where you are now, then your route will veer a bit before getting back on the JD road.  This is absolutely okay.  How many times have you gone on a road trip and decided to take a side trip along the way and do some exploring? How else would you have come across that little café or that fruit stand that had the coldest drinks in the heat of the summer?  How else would you have discovered that hike which led to a glorious view of a valley usually only seen by those brave (or foolish) enough to ignore the private property signs?   Or come across those wild orchids in a field yet to be trampled by anyone?  I know these examples may seem small in comparison to opportunities you’re facing or options you’re thinking of, but I bring them up only to illustrate the point that side trips can lead to wonderful discoveries. For sure, there are definitely some side trips that you could have done without, but you learn from those as well AND you can always tell a good story about it so don’t consider those wasted opportunities.  You get the picture, right?  Detours, side trips, veering off – these are not bad things.  Use them to create a fuller and richer life map.  Don’t worry so much about always staying on the path that you’ve mapped out.  Allow for spur-of-the-moment left-turns and allow for detours that may take a bit longer than a quick stop.  The nice thing about maps is that you can always find your way back.

When drawing up your map, it is important to keep yourself honest.  If you’ve taken a right turn and you realize you should have taken a left turn instead, mark that down.  That right-turn journey has told you a lot so you want to make sure it gets a place on your map.  When looking back on this map of yours whether in a year from now or twenty years from now, you’ll really want to see all the twists and turns that got you to where you are.  Leaving out that right turn doesn’t reveal your entire route – thereby disqualifying your map as being true to you – and you will have forgotten what you learned by taking that turn.  The absolute best thing about creating this life map and keeping it always with you is that it you have in your possession a most valuable treasure map and you will find your treasure – along the way and at the end.

Last year I ended my first blog post of the season with a link to a song.  Let me do the same this year and leave you with something to get you into the mood for heading to California – if you’re not already living in this great state of ours.  It’s an oldie, but goodie.  I dare you to listen to this and not twist or shimmy along. The song sounds a bit scratchy – just like listening to an actual 45-rpm vinyl record.  The Rivieras singing California Sun way back in 1964…

Well, it’s been a week since we had you over to our place.  We’ve spent time cleaning up, putting the furniture back in place and doing the dishes. All those dishes…who’d have thought entertaining 200 people would be so exhausting.  I’ve also had time to think about those few days you spent with us and here are some random musings.

1.  Will our entering class be 220-strong?  I’ve heard that this rumor was floating around over the weekend.  Unless ALL of you at the weekend accept our offer, this will not happen.  Put any concern you might have about SLS getting any larger to rest.  180 suits us just fine.

2.  I was asked an interesting question about our admissions policy.  Will Dean Kramer’s departure signal a change in the way we review files and make decisions?  Specifically, will we become a school that places a great deal of emphasis on the numbers rather than looking at the entire file?   My initial reaction to the question was one of curiosity.  Why the concern for policy when you’re in and all is good?   But, then I put on my big picture glasses and realized why the question was being asked.  The student wanted to be a part of the community that our admissions process had put together and a change to those policies could signal a change in the kinds of students who were admitted and who chose to attend.  Well, no need to worry.  I’ve worked closely with three deans (Brest, Sullivan and Kramer) and not once in all the years of collaboration did we ever think about doing things any differently.  I have no doubt that the incoming dean – from inside SLS or from outside SLS – will see any reason to change our course.  What do we have to gain in comparison to all that we’d lose?

3.  This dovetails nicely with a question I was asked dealing with change.  As many of you may have heard, Dean Kramer is leaving us to become the head of the Hewlett Foundation.  With his departure, will the school rethink its direction or back away from the reforms that have taken place during his deanship?  Dare I say that the changes at SLS are bigger than the man himself?  As he would be the first person to tell you, these were developed and implemented by and with the support of the whole community—faculty, alumni, students, and staff—after an engaged conversation about what we could and should do to keep SLS at the forefront of legal education.  SLS remains fully committed to its interdisciplinary focus.  We remain fully committed to the idea of collaboration and cross-pollination with other departments and schools on campus.  We remain fully committed to experiential learning, to fostering innovation among and by and with our students, and to doing all this in the unique ways we do.  Dean Kramer leaving will not alter this course.

A good question to ask is what will we do between now and when his successor is named?  A search committee is being formed, and that committee will include student representation.  Students are right now in the process of selecting their voice for the committee, which is expected to start meeting before the summer.  We’ll have the benefit of Dean Kramer’s guidance through the end of the summer, and an interim dean will take over his responsibilities if a successor has not yet been chosen.

Another good question to ask is whether you’ll get the chance to interact with Dean Kramer down the road?  Guess what?  He’ll be back to teach – not in your first year, for sure, but he’ll be back and rumor has it that he’s branching out and will teach other things in addition to Constitutional Law.

4.  Some of you have inquired about being assigned to particular professors for fall quarter classes for a variety of reasons – you went to their home for dessert, you hit it off in a discussion after a panel, your area of interest overlaps with theirs, etc.  Sorry to say, assignments are all done in a somewhat random fashion.  Of course, I do a balancing act to adjust for gender, age, backgrounds and other factors.  Imagine if we ended up with all the hard science PhDs in the same small section or all the Duke undergrads (insert any college name here) congregating in one group.  And, you know what?  It doesn’t matter if you’re not assigned to your dream professor’s section.   You will make the connection without my assignment.  That, I can guarantee.  So, just to be clear, no need to send me books by my favorite author, a case of Diet Coke or anything else you think I might enjoy – there is no need for them.

5.  Who in the world is Ryan Lee?  He showed up on Sunday at the registration table and asked to sign in.  We did not have a packet with his name on in it, but no problem on our end.  We always make up extras for those few admits who show up without RSVPing.  We didn’t question him when he said who he was – who signs in as an admit if they’re really not an admit?  Well, apparently Ryan Lee does.  He picked up a blank nametag, wrote his name on it and then headed off to a panel.  Go figure.  So, for those of you who are planning to walk through our doors come August, be on the lookout for Ryan.  He might just show up for a class.

6.  Deadlines are approaching and you’ve got some thinking to do.  I’ll leave you alone to your thoughts and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that you’ll choose wisely.

Years before the economic crisis hit us and years before the media turned its attention to the problems facing law schools and legal education, SLS started charting a new course for legal education.  In looking back, we now know that the economic crisis not only accelerated the pace of changes to the profession but, as well, accelerated the pace at which legal education must adapt to these changes.  Today, as we reflect on all that has taken place, what we are most certain of is that the course we charted years ago is exactly on target.  Read through this and see for yourself.

As of 5 pm on December 16, the university officially closed down for our winter break.  Every year our Facilities and HR people keep telling us that we’re not supposed to be in any of the buildings if at all possible.  Stay home, take a break, rest, relax, etc., etc., etc.  Bah, humbug, I say.  Whoever made the decision to shut this place down clearly does not understand the intricacies of the admissions cycle.  Could there be a worse time for us to stay home, take a break, rest, relax, etc, etc. etc?  Well, just between us, we actually arranged to work one day last week and we’ll be doing a little bit more this coming week.  Sure, we’re ignoring the phones and emails for now, but applications are being processed.  And right now, that’s what matters most.  I’m still keeping busy with my file reading and trying really hard to get caught up.  In fact, I made some calls this first week of the shut-down and will make some again this coming Tuesday and Wednesday.  After that, though, we’ll really turn everything off and stay away from the office until January 3 so there will be silence on my end when it comes to making new offers.

When I woke up this morning to feed Malcolm (my golden retriever and not my husband or son who are capable of feeding themselves although you’d not always know that if you met them), it was freezing outside.  I know my idea of freezing is probably quite different than yours, but it was still really, really cold – all the way down to the low 30’s.  My iPhone said 28 degrees but my rule of thumb is to add on about five degrees to whatever I see.  But, why am I bringing up the weather?  Yes, it’s cold for me – maybe not for you – but you should revel in the fact that I’m shivering because this means I have no plans to do anything but sit here with my computer reading files.  The house is cozy.  I’ve got a cup of hot tea nearby.  I’m reading files and perfectly happy doing so.   And that’s a good thing – you want me happy as I read!

I can now only wistfully recall the warmth last Christmas when I was in that small town on the Big Island – my ancestral home as one of my colleagues here told me I should say in order to distinguish Waimea from Palo Alto.  He claims he gets confused by my usage of the word “home”.  Do I mean here or there?  So, ancestral home it is.  As you might imagine, it was a bit harder to read files in Hawaii last year.  Family and friends beckoned, Hapuna Beach called out to me, old haunts yearned to be visited, but I still managed to read.  That is, until my sister told me to take a couple of days off.  Her reasoning?  I was home for a visit so what I really needed to do was take a break, rest, relax, etc., etc., etc.

Funny how that message keeps popping up.  Maybe there’s a lesson here for all of us.  Take the time to enjoy the season.  What’s left undone with your application will wait for a couple of days.  What could you do instead?  Go see a movie.  Browse the shelves in your local bookstore and find some books to read.  [My stack includes The Boy in the Moon, The Buddha in the Attic, The Last Werewolf, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness and In the Garden of Beasts.] Cook a meal that takes more than 30 minutes to put together.  Bake some cookies and pay a visit to your neighbors with some in hand.  Flip through your old photo albums and reminisce about people far away and moments long gone.  Take a breath and just be.

My fall travels are O-V-E-R and I don’t need to get on a plane again until mid-February.  No more checking weather.com to learn how to pack that suitcase.  No more trying to decide whether to layer or just take that winter coat.  No more perusing Google maps to figure out how to get from my hotel to wherever it is that I need to be.  This is especially difficult as I have no sense of direction – all I needed to know growing up in Hawaii was whether someplace was mauka or makai.  No more putting my life in the hands of NYC cab drivers.  No more wishing and wishing for that upgrade to first class.  Has anyone else noticed that since the United and Continental merger these upgrades are harder to come by?  No more cursing those passengers who can’t figure out when they should board.  No, Seating Area 3 does not board immediately after first class.  No more trying to trying to unlock my hotel room door only to find that it’s not my room.  Right, that was last night’s room number.  But, why should you care about all of this?  Well, this means I now can devote my full attention to your application.  No more reading an application here and an application there.  The reading season is now fully underway and it’s full steam ahead.

Now that I’m reading in earnest, let me tell you a little bit about my reading process and my reading habits.  I get numerous distractions in the office over the course of the day and I sometimes find I cannot make the desired dent in my electronic reading stack so I actually do a lot of my reading at home. The hubby is watching football (insert any other sport here) or some History channel show (yuck – still don’t understand why he’s not a Criminal Minds fan) and the only child is off at college.  All this equals no distractions.  If I’m in the zone and have had a marathon reading day, I probably am not going to do the same thing again the next day.  If you ran a marathon today, you’ll probably not run a second marathon tomorrow – you might instead take the day off from running or do a light workout.  Ditto with file reading for me.  Reading takes concentration and focus and it needs 100% attention.  Some files are easy to read and the decision comes easily – there is depth to the application and everything ties in together.  Things are connected and I am able to get a really good sense of who you are – how you think, what you think.  Others, however, I labor over because I’m not able to easily put together the puzzle pieces and have to really dig to get to know you.  It just depends on the file.  Sometimes I can’t quite put my finger on it, but my Spidey sense starts tingling and those files take longer as well.  Sometimes I come across a personal statement that is enthralling and that makes me push the file into the admit group.  Sometimes I come across a personal statement that is appalling and that makes me push the file into the deny group.  Sometimes everything falls into place and I jump up and down and start clapping – not literally, of course, but I will smile and you know which group this file ends up in.  My critique of applications could be visualized, I suppose, along the lines of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Little Man icon for movie reviews .  And, yes, sadly, there are times when an empty chair is appropriate.

Let me ask the same question I asked in the first paragraph of this posting.  Why should you care about all of this? Three reasons.  First, I want to highlight the importance of having that thread in your application that unifies things.  Remember this – it is your responsibility to make sure that thread exists.  It is your task to weave that thread in and to make sure it is there for me to discover.  I will find it, but only if you have put it there to begin with.  Second, excellent writing skills are so important and this comes through most significantly through the personal statement.  Your task is not just to tell me a story, but to tell me a story in a well-written and compelling fashion.  You may have one heck of a story, but if it’s not written well you can imagine which Little Man icon most accurately portrays my reaction.  Finally, and perhaps most importantly for you as you wait out the decision process, I hope you will see that it’s not a simple and cursory review that takes place.  You’ve put a lot of time into your application and I want you to know that I put a lot of time into reading what you have to say.

A Brief Reading Assignment…And Lucy Reigns…

As you embark on the application process this year, there is one very important document you should read now, then read again when you begin to see admission offers appear in your mailbox (or in-box).  This 4-page Law School Admission Council document is titled The Statement of Good Admission and Financial Aid Practices and is a statement that all law school admission officers are expected to adhere to and abide by. Take the time to read through the document.  Print up a copy and keep it handy.  I’ve done the same – there is a copy always within reach on my desk.

The statement outlines the principles that guide our work as admission officers.  It keeps us honest and focused on fair practices concerning you rather than our own need to outfox or outwit other schools and climb the rankings ladder.  Admissions is a business – I get that – but let’s put the games aside and really help you make the best decision you can based on your own sense of “fit” and not by having law schools twist your arm and force a decision before you are ready to make it.  Hold us to the tenets expressed in the statement.  I hate the next statement I’m going to make because I shouldn’t have to say it, but I’m going to say it anyway.  Keep us honest.

When I hear from an applicant about a situation they’re facing, I silently say “Tsk, tsk, tsk…” and brace myself for the ensuing conversation and say “There is a statement you need to familiarize yourself with.”  When you read the statement, you will discover that a school cannot ask you to make a decision prior to April 1.  You will discover that you may accept any new offer even though you’ve accepted a scholarship elsewhere and paid a deposit.  You will discover that a school at which you’ve placed a deposit or confirmed your enrollment cannot require you to remove your name from another school’s waitlist.  Really?  Yes, so you need to take an active role if you find yourself in a situation that just doesn’t feel right.  Reading the statement is a very good way to start.  Now you know, but how do you go about “reminding” an admissions dean or director of this pesky issue?  I am keenly aware that this act of reminding is an awkward and uncomfortable situation.  I understand and I feel your pain, but you need to find your voice and be heard.  Take the bull by the horn, bite the bullet, etc., okay?

In reading over this post, I’m beginning to feel that it’s kind of a heavy topic.  Right?  So, let’s see if I can turn this around and end on a happy note.  Click here – Lucy is always good for a smile and she’s headed in the right direction, don’t you think?

I was surprised by one question I was asked during our Admitted Students’ Weekend, which was whether our international law program was as strong as the program at some other schools.  It shows you how slow reputation is to change, because we’ve developed an amazing program in the last decade or so.

It starts with a substantial group of faculty whose expertise is in international law—all leaders in their respective subfields:  Al Sykes in international trade, Jenny Martinez in public international law, Allen Weiner in public international law and national security law, Amalia Kessler in comparative law, John Merryman in comparative law, Tino Cuellar in international criminal and administrative law and in national security law, Josh Cohen in international jurisprudence.  Plus, faculty in a variety of arenas teach international courses in their areas of expertise, such as Paul Goldstein’s courses in International IP Law, and Michael Wara’s in International Environmental Law.  There are, as well, visiting faculty each year from Europe, Latin America, and Asia teaching comparative courses.  In most years, SLS offers more than 25 international law classes – so many that our problem has been not spreading the students out too thinly.

But classes are only one part of SLS’s international program.  There are, for instance, joint degrees in International Policy Studies and in East Asian, Latin American, Eastern European, and African Studies—all capable of being completed in three years.  The school has also recently begun a program in and about China that has several basic courses taught by Mei Gechlik and that will include courses taught by visiting faculty from Peking University, Tsinghua University and possibly even the Central Party School.  Mei and/or the China Law Student organization oversee a variety of other activities, including several annual conferences, travel to China, and a new project in which SLS students will work with Chinese faculty and students translating and generating commentary about the Supreme People’s Court’s new “guiding cases” (the Chinese version of precedent).

Clinics and experiential learning are a key part of our international program, as they are of everything at SLS.  We just hired Jim Cavallaro from Harvard Law School, who will come and enlarge our international human rights clinic, spreading its reach from Africa to include Latin America.  And, remember that students at SLS do not take other classes while taking a clinic, which enables us to send them to work in-country for upwards of 10-11 weeks—something no other law school does or can do.  Similarly, the law school’s development/rule-of-law projects in Afghanistan, Bhutan and East Timor give students an opportunity to work on projects with lawyers and political leaders in these countries.

Stanford being Stanford, research opportunities naturally abound.  Most of the law school’s centers include international projects in their portfolio, and with Cavallaro’s arrival, we will be launching a new center on international human rights that will complement and work with similar centers in the medical school, the business school, the education school, and with the Program on Human Rights at the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI).  Law students and faculty similarly play key roles in other FSI entities—including the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), the nation’s oldest and most important center on security, which is co-directed by Tino Cuellar; the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), which includes the law school’s Rule of Law Program; the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation (SCICN), which is directed by Allen Weiner; and various other centers both in FSI and across the University.  The law school then supplements all this with a steady stream of visitors from other countries to teach classes and participate in programs, conferences, and other special events.

On top of all this, we have created a plethora of opportunities for law students to study abroad in countries ranging from Mexico to Germany to Italy to Japan, China, Singapore, and more.  Just as important, or even more so, our Office of Career Services has a staff person dedicated to helping students find work abroad, whether for a summer or permanently.

Just so you know, this quick description just skims the surface of what is happening at the law school—and it scarcely touches the truly limitless opportunities available to law students in the rest of  Stanford University (as Dean Kramer says, at SLS “the University is the law school”).  Do we have the best international program in the country?  We think so.  At the very least, there is more here of high quality than any law student could realistically hope to take advantage of—even under our flexible program.