Chapter 6

My First Year of Law School

My first day of law school was very similar to my first day of kindergarten. Karen inspected me to make sure I met her expectations and made me show her that I had money for lunch and bus fare. She checked that my messenger bag contained my laptop, pens, pencils, and notebooks. Karen stood by the door and kissed me as I left. It was definitely the same experience as when I went off to my first day of elementary school. Now, instead of my mother standing by the door, it was my wife/roommate saying goodbye and wishing me to have a good day.

I didn’t want to deal with Chicago traffic or battle finding a parking spot, so I chose to use public transportation. It wasn’t far, and I could usually get to campus about thirty minutes after leaving my apartment.

My time on campus was spent in class or at the library reading the assignments we were given. If you fell behind in your classwork, it was your own fault. There was no one here to tell you to do your homework. Either you did it and stayed current, or you washed out of law school. After the first week, there were noticeably more empty seats during the lectures. People realized that this wasn’t for them, so they simply dropped out and went home.

I spent most of my time outside of class reading, writing papers, and doing research on “suggested” topics that the law professors would mention in class and expect you to know. It was a difficult schedule, but not one I couldn’t handle. I learned that in law school, you had to be prepared for the unexpected. You could be called upon to defend a certain principle or explain the basis of an important court decision. No one wanted to be called on and answer with, “I don’t know.”

Unfortunately for Karen, I had very little time to spend with her due to my reading and class preparation. I tried to eat as many meals at home as possible so I could spend time with her and avoid making her feel neglected. Some nights, I would host the study group I was part of, and while the group studied, Karen would act as the hostess, keeping the coffee and snacks coming. Sometimes, she would make homemade cookies and muffins to serve during study breaks. I made sure to compliment her and later express how much I appreciated the sacrifices she was making for us.

Karen didn’t spend her time watching daytime TV while I was at law school. Instead, she landed a part-time position in the marketing department of her father’s company, which was a great opportunity for her. She learned about the products the company produced and who the products were sold to. If, in the future, she wanted to take on a bigger role in the company, she would have a solid understanding of its products and customers.

It was after Karen started working at her father’s company that I came to recognize my true feelings for her. Most of my time was taken up by reading law texts, studying, and writing volumes of pages for class assignments. I believe I wasn’t giving Karen the attention she needed, and several men at the company saw her as an opportunity to improve their position. All they had to do was remove me from the equation and climb up the corporate ladder—or so they thought.

One night, I got home from class earlier than Karen and had been home for two hours before she finally came through the door. At first, I didn’t think much of it, but then I got up from studying to help her prepare supper. That was when I noticed alcohol on her breath and confronted her about it.

It seems that a couple of people from work decided to go out for drinks after hours and invited Karen to join them. Wanting to fit in, she went along with the group to a bar. She told me that one of her coworkers was really friendly and kept her supplied with Long Island Iced Teas. A Long Island Iced Tea is a potent cocktail made with several strong spirits, whose potency is masked by the sweetness of cola and a sour mix, which conceals the strength of the alcohol and sneaks up on you.

It hadn’t been that long since I learned the reputation of Island Iced Teas on campus. It was a drink favored by frat boys looking to seduce innocent college coeds. I smelled a rat trying to poach my turf. It was surprising how jealous I had become. A year earlier, I would have thanked the person trying to steal Karen away. Now, I realized I actually loved Karen—and it was a lot. I once read about why arranged marriages in India were so successful. In those relationships, matrimony came first, and love came afterward. You slowly learned to love each other. In my case, that was how my love for Karen had developed, and I had too much invested in her to lose her now.

I didn’t confront her or make a scene. Instead, I asked Karen the name of her friend. She was still feeling the effects of the alcohol and gave up the name without any confrontation or incrimination. I simply asked who her friend was, and she told me without suspicion. That night, I moved my clothes out of the spare bedroom and into hers, and we officially started living as husband and wife. The next morning, I noticed that Karen was happier now that we shared a bedroom. There were no more visits to the bar after that, either. Her friend though, was suddenly transferred to Hays, Kansas, and appointed sales manager for the automated feedlot ration division of Olson Industries. It wasn’t Siberia, but it was as close as my father-in-law and I could find while still being in the continental United States. Word had gotten out, and there were no further attempts to make a run at Karen.

The rest of the year unfolded much like the first few weeks of class. The curriculum had stuck to the basics—contracts, torts, civil procedure, criminal law, property, and constitutional law. I figured I’d eventually land somewhere within the Olson Industries umbrella, so when the time came to pick a specialty, corporate law seemed like the obvious choice. Still, even though I planned to focus on that, I knew it was important to have a solid grasp of the other areas, too. Worst-case scenario, I could always handle my own annulment if it came to that. And if Karen ever caught wind of me even joking about that? Let’s just say, I’d be a dead man.

As I’d mentioned before, marriage came first, and love grew afterward. The same was true for Karen and me. Each day, I found myself loving her more than the day before. She made sure I had everything I needed to get through the day, and I’d remind her how much I appreciated her, telling her she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

Unfortunately, things didn’t stay all rainbows and unicorns for us. As my first year of law school came to a close, I had to sign up for the classes I wanted to take in my second year and secure an internship at a law firm that aligned with my chosen specialty. Since I was aiming for corporate law, that meant I needed to intern or clerk at a firm specializing in corporate law. I was fortunate to land a position at a prestigious law firm in Chicago, renowned for its corporate law expertise and for representing some of the largest corporations in the U.S. and internationally.