The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • Top 3 Money Savers for Law Students

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    Ruth Carter

    Law school is atrociously expensive. Not only is tuition expensive, you still have to pay for your rent, utilities, books, supplies, and your living expenses. Besides only buying things when they are on sale, having roommates, and keeping your apartment a few degrees colder in the winter, I want to share my top 3 tip money saving tips.

    Spare Change
    Image by kayaker1204 via Flickr1. Used Books

    1. Used Books
    When I started law school, I thought it was important to have pristine books so I wouldn’t be distracted by a previous owner’s marks. With new books, I could highlight them using my own 6-color system and fill the margins with my own notes. I also thought I’d keep these books forever because they were a resource for my new career.

    After one semester of believing that, I switched to used books. They were so much cheaper, and other people’s highlights and notes weren’t distracting at all.  If anything, they enhanced my reading experience.  I sought out books that had more highlighting and dings because they were cheaper.

    One time, I was looking at the listings on Amazon for a particular used text book. One was $40 cheaper than all the others because the owner accidentally spilled coffee on the book. I bought it. The coffee was only on the first page and the edge of the subsequent pages.  It didn’t even touch any of the text. Thanks clumsy guy!

    At the end of every semester I turned around and resold as many books as I could on Amazon, including my study guides. The only downside to this system is a lot of books have new editions every year so you have a small window in which to sell your used ones.

    (cc) Bede Jackson from Flickr

    2. Free Lunch
    My law school had lots of lunch time events and networking functions. Usually my first question wasn’t, “What’s the topic?,” but “What’s for lunch?” It was a win-win situation. The club got a big turnout for their speaker, and I got a free lunch. Even better, sometimes clubs would order too much food and at the end, they were giving the leftovers away to anyone, including non-attendees.

    Another way to get free lunch is to network. Most attorneys understand that law students are poor and will pick up the check. For many of them, it’s a business write-off. However, you should always offer and be willing to pay, and you should only ask an attorney to lunch if you’re genuinely interested in getting to know them. The free lunch is a bonus, not the goal.

    3. Free/Cheap Parking
    I think parking on campus is one of the biggest rip offs of education.  My school has a big parking structure that is a 5-minute walk away from the law school. Parking there costs $720/year. Do you know how much ramen I can buy for $720?! There’s a campus parking lot that’s only 5-10 minutes further away.  A permit for the lot costs $210/year. This is where I parked my first year.

    When I was in school, students could get a light rail pass for the whole year for $80. For my last two years of law school, I opted for this. I parked for free at the park and ride, rode 5-15 minutes into campus, and walked for 5 minutes from the station to the law school. If I needed my car on campus, I paid the $8/day for visitor parking. At the end of the year, it was cheaper than buying a parking pass.

    The super frugal student can park on the street for free.  The only issue is they have to get there early in the morning when space is still available or possibly the afternoon after the morning students have left. Sometimes you have to be willing to drive around looking for a space.

    These are just my top 3 money saving tips. There are plenty of other ways to save money while going to school. If you want to share your tips, please leave them as comments. I’d love to hear them.

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  • Sponsor A Law Kid – The Recap

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    Ruth Carter

    Well, that’s all she wrote – Sponsor A Law Kid (SALK) is in the books!  I was petrified when I initially announced this program.  I didn’t know if it would be a success or if I would fall flat on my face.  I never could have imagined how incredible this experience was.  I wanted to share some final thoughts about SALK.

    Photo by AJ Grucky

    What Have I Learned From This Experience?
    This experience taught me that sometimes your opposition becomes an asset.  I don’t think I would have had so much support for this program if I didn’t get such negative backlash initially from the legal community.  My supporters would have probably thought, “Cool idea,” and moved on, but because I was confronted with venomous negativity, they stood beside me and supported my idea and efforts.  SALK taught me that innovation will always be met with opposition and the best thing to do is to let the haters hate and focus on the task at hand.

    If I Could Go Back and Do It Again, What Would I Do Differently?
    SALK went from a passing idea in my head to the initial announcement in about 72 hours.  I didn’t fully commit to the idea until about 12 hours before the blog went up and I wrote that post was written in about 20 minutes.  I wish I had had more time to completely flush out my ideas and proofread that initial post.  It was written very much in my stream of consciousness.  People who knew me completely understood what I was saying, but others who didn’t, took offense because they didn’t get it.  If I could go back, I’d take a little more time before making the initial announcement to make sure that I conveying the message in a way that would be better received by my readers.

    If I could do it again, I would have announced SALK about 2 months earlier too.  It was hard work getting SALK going and soliciting sponsors in such a short period of time!

    How Did I Find Sponsors?
    I started out by posting the initial SALK blog and posted links to it on Twitter and Facebook.  I also made a post about it on the Phoenix Professionals Group on LinkedIn.  Then I made a list of all the products I use and the stores I patronize on a regular basis.  Unfortunately, I use a lot of national brands and chain stores, so they usually ignored my requests for sponsorship.

    I looked for ways to reach out to some of these businesses in person.  For example, I had to get my oil changed in December.  While I was waiting for Toyota to be done with my car, I spoke with a marketing person at the dealership and walked out with a check and 2 more sponsored days.

    I also reached out to every business that advertises in local magazines that I occasionally read and I sent emails to every major news station in the Phoenix area to see if any of them would be interested in running a story about SALK.  I was pleasantly surprised when ABC Channel 15 called back 10 minutes later asking if they could send a reporter to my house that afternoon.

    What Was The Biggest Challenge?
    The biggest challenge was creating quality content every day.  After writing blogs for 23 consecutive days, I was grateful for a day off.  Some days I wouldn’t get done with my school work until 9pm and I’d still have a blog to research and write before I went to bed.  If I did not know the person or company well, it took longer because I wanted to be sure that I wrote a thoughtful and accurate blog.

    How Much Money Did I Earn With SALK?
    I earned over $3,200 by doing SALK.  This includes the days that were sponsored and people who purposely overpaid the days they sponsored.  The total also includes Bashas’ Grocery Stores.  I asked them to sponsor a day, and they responded by offering a $1,000 scholarship.

    Would I Do It Again?
    Yes!

    Should Other Law Students Do This?
    Absolutely!  This was a great way to make a national name for myself in the legal community and to network with other professionals while offsetting the cost of my education.  Besides the fact that I was more tired than I otherwise would have been, there was no downside to this program.

    With SALK, I offered every day for sale between January 1 and July 27.  That’s a lot more days than a typical academic semester, and thus, I had the potential to make a lot more money.  If I only sold the semester, I could only sell about 115 days, including weekends.  That would not have covered the entire cost of a semester of school.  If anyone wants to have their own SALK program, I suggest doing the math to see how much you might make if every day sold.

    Thank you to all my sponsors who made SALK a success:  Darvin and Jane DeShazer, Amanda Ellis, ThinkGeek, Donna McGill, Vincent Cannizzaro, Debbie Walker, Camelback Toyota, Tyler Hurst, Henry’s Hope, Sara Shea, Tyler Allen, Michael Vincent, The Foster Group, Nancy Smith, Jana Knapp, K Royal, Jane Ross, Katrina Holland, Brand X Custom T-shirts, the Ferreira Family, Fred Von Graf, Bev Wolf, Sheila Dee, Bristol6, Two Men and A Truck, Pam Gibson, Michelle Diaz Cannon, Stephanie Green, Micah and Danielle Larripa, Aaron M. Kelly, Linda Day, Kerry Mitchell, Matt Hollowell, and David E. Mills.  I couldn’t have done this without you!

    Please see all my SALK posts here.

  • Recap of the July 2011 Arizona Bar Exam

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    Ruth Carter

    I survived the July 2011 Arizona Bar Exam!   I never want to do that again.  I’m grateful for the love and support of my family, friends, and professional mentors during this time.  I wanted to share my top 5 tips of what I’m glad I knew or wish I knew going into the test.

    1. An assortment of Jolly Rancher candies
      Image via Wikipedia

      Eat a Filling Breakfast: We had to be at the convention center at 6:45am on Day 1 of the test and we weren’t going to break for lunch until 12pm.  In the week before the exam I did a breakfast experiment and found that oatmeal made with ½ cup water, ½ cup milk, raisins, sliced almonds, and brown sugar kept me full all morning.  I was so nervous on both mornings of the test that it was hard to force myself to eat, but I knew that would be better than getting half way through the morning and being starving.

    2. Sleep:  I’ve heard it takes the body 2 days to feel tired after a bad night of sleep so the night that really mattered was 2 days before the test.  I often have insomnia, especially when I’m nervous.  I took a sleeping pill 2 nights before the test to ensure that my body and brain would get adequate rest.
    3. Take the Free Lunch:  ASU did a very cool thing and provided lunch for us during the bar exam.  It was nice not having to worry about getting lunch in just over an hour and having to deal with the general public.  ASU even humored a superstition that many people in my class have and provided Jolly Ranchers for us.  It was also nice to see some friendly faces from the school.
    4. Prepare for Arctic Conditions:  When the Arizona Bar Exam is in Phoenix, it’s held at the convention center, and it’s freeeeezing.  I heard about this and wore jeans, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt on Day 1.  By lunch, my lips were blue and I couldn’t feel the tips of my fingers.  I asked a proctor if we could raise the temperature in the room and she dismissed my request saying that “It’s always this cold.”  For Day 2, I wore a thicker fleece and I was more comfortable, thought by the end of the day, my feet had started to go numb.  I should have brought an extra long-sleeved shirt, fingerless gloves, and a lap blanket.
    5. Do What Works For You:  When I’m running in a race and being passed by other people, I often remind myself that I need to run at my pace.  The same idea works for the bar exam.  It didn’t matter how fast or slow the people around me were going.  There was no need for me to freak out when someone finished and walked out of the room with an hour left on the clock.  All that mattered was that I was thinking clearly and answering the questions to the best of my abilities, and ultimately passing.
    Standardized Test
    Image by biologycorner via Flickr

    I gave it my all on this test.  When I walked out, I had no brain power left.  Since the test, I have been sleeping a lot and slowly been regaining my cognitive functions.  I’m glad that I’m spending my first week after the test on vacation where I don’t have to see anything related to law school or the bar exam.

    To the loved ones of people taking the bar exam:  The best thing my family did for me during my bar prep was to give me space.  From the time I graduated until the bar exam, my family never called me.  I occasionally called them to let them know I was alive.  They knew to leave me alone and let me do what I needed to do.

    I need to give a special shout out to the woman who went into labor during Day 2 of the New Jersey Bar Exam.  She calmly finished her exam, walked across the street to the hospital, and delivered a healthy baby boy 2 hours later.  You are a phenomenal person.  I hope the labor pains didn’t interfere with your ability to pass the test!

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