The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • Scheduling Lunch with a Litigator Made Me Never Want to be One

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    Ruth Carter

    All's Well That Inks Well by Chris Wightman

    When I started law school, I thought I wanted to be a litigator. It would be fun to work on cases where you have to dig through case law and statutes to form viable arguments and to go to court. I had an externship supervisor who liked to give me needle-in-a-haystack problems and I was pretty good at finding him the cases he needed. I’ve also been a performer for most of my life and watching court taught me that the courtroom is the ultimate theatre.

    And then I tried to schedule a networking lunch with a litigator.
    I think I had to reschedule it four times before we were able to meet.

    I learned when you are a litigator, your life is not your own. Your clients and the court own you. If your client gets sued on a Friday, you might be scrapping your weekend plans to work on the response or packing your bags to visit the client to do some on-site interviews and preliminary investigation.

    I think I could be a good litigator, but I don’t want the lifestyle. I don’t want my vacation plans cancelled at the last minute because I have to attend a hearing. Some people thrive on that type of excitement, but it would make me absolutely crazy. I want to generally know when I’m working and when my time is my own. And when I’m on my own time, I’m not answering the office phone or email.

    Transactional law comes with its own challenges, but so far I know well in advance what my deadlines are and I can plan for my long days and my days off. (Yes, I take days off. . . not many, but I have them.) So far in my practice, I’ve discovered drafting contracts gives me perverse pleasure. I’d rather work on the front end and prevent problems than to have to deal with the jumbled mess that results when everything falls apart because people didn’t have their ducks in a row at the beginning.

    I have friends and acquaintances who are litigators and they’re lovely people, but when I schedule coffee or lunch with them, I expect it to get moved at least once. It comes with their territory. I respect it, and I’m glad I don’t live in it.

  • Unsolicited Advice: Don’t Open Your MBE Score

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    Ruth Carter

    This was my actual MBE score, still in its envelope. I did not open until after I found out I passed the bar exam.

    It’s been about a month since the February 2012 Bar Exam. That means some people will be getting their multistate bar exam (MBE) results in the mail soon. My advice is do not open this envelope!

    The MBE is the multiple choice section of the bar exam. Each state determines how much weight it will give to the multiple choice, essay, and performance test sections of their bar exam. In Arizona, the MBE counts for 50% of your score. It is still possible to fail the bar exam regardless of your MBE score. For some, learning that their score was above average on the MBE allows them to breathe a sigh of relief.

    Arizona sends out MBE scores 5 weeks after the bar exam and posts the list of who passed 10 weeks after the bar exam. Do you want to find out that you’re in the lower half and have to wait another 5 weeks to see if your essay and performance test scores are high enough to give you a passing score?

    If you get your MBE score before you find out if you passed the bar, I recommend that you take the unopened envelope, shove it in a drawer, and forget about it. That’s what I did, and I was a lot less stressed as a result. Opening the envelope would have increased my anxiety because it would have made me think more about my bar results and would have freaked me out if I was below the average.

    My job was done when I turned my test in. There was nothing more I could do. Thinking about the results was not going to change anything.  After I learned I passed the bar, I did open my MBE envelope and saw that I performed above average. I still think I was less stressed and detached by not knowing any part of my score in advance. (I generally don’t talk about grades, but I thought I’d pre-answer this question.)

    Making the commitment not to open my score was probably easier for me than most people because I didn’t look at my law school grades for my last 2.5 years of law school. I still don’t know how I did in law school except that I passed every class.

    I made an offer to a friend of mine today who took the February Bar Exam. I told her if she didn’t want to see her MBE score when it arrives and she didn’t trust herself not to open it, she could give it to me and I would hold onto it for her.

    I’d like to extend that offer to anyone who took the February 2012 Bar Exam or who is taking the July 2012 Bar Exam. If you don’t want to see your MBE score, but you don’t trust yourself to resist the temptation to look, feel free to give or send it to me. I will hold onto it for you until you tell me to return it. Send me an email if you’re interested.

  • Top 10 Tips for LexThink.1 from Ignite Phoenix

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    Ruth Carter


    Stephanie Horn at Ignite Phoenix #7 by MoLo_trash

    Ignite Phoenix is one of the best events I’ve ever participated in. Each Ignite features a series of presenters and each one has 5 minutes and 20 PowerPoint slides that advance every 15 seconds to share one of their passions. LexThink.1 is based on Ignite, except each presenter gets 6 minutes and 20 slides that advance every 18 seconds.

    I’ve been involved with Ignite Phoenix for over two years, and it’s been one of the best experiences of my life. I had the pleasure of speaking at Ignite Phoenix #5, and I’ve volunteered at eight other Ignite Phoenix events. My usual volunteer role is assistant stage managing. I help wrangle and orient the presenters before the show and make sure the presenters are on the stage at the right time with the right microphone attached to their body.

    Here are my top 10 tips for presenting in an Ignite-style format.

    1.  Wear Clothes that Accommodate the Microphone: Wear an outfit that has a structured shirt that can handle having a microphone clipped to it. Wear pants or a skirt so there’s a waistband or back pockets to attach the transmitter to. At one Ignite event, we had a presenter wear a dress. I had to go up the back of her dress and clip the transmitter to her bra.

    2.  Limit your Message: When you’re watching the clock, 18 seconds seems like a long time, but it’s not when you’re speaking. I recently watched one of my favorite Ignite Phoenix presentations. On average, he said 3-4 sentences per slide. Don’t try to say more than that.

    3.  Use Awesome Pictures: Your voice provides the words of your message. Your slides should enhance it, not simply repeat it. Choose interesting photos that embody the message or emotion behind your verbal message. Don’t use bulleted lists and avoid superfluous words. Seth Godin recommends using 6 words or less on each slide.

    4.  Have Permission to use every Image: Make sure you own or have permission to use every image in your presentation. Select images that have Creative Commons licenses that allow you commercialize and modify the original work.

    5.  Allow Time for Laughter when you have Hilarious Pictures, Stories, or Ideas.

    6.  Memorize your Presentation: You don’t have to memorize your presentation word-for-word, but you should not need notes on stage. Your slides should be a sufficient guide. One of the worst Ignite presentations I ever saw was one where the presenter read his entire presentation off his phone.

    7.  Practice, Practice, Practice:  You cannot practice your presentation enough. Go through it multiple times per day, out loud, with the slides set to advance every 18 seconds. There is no other way to get comfortable presenting in the Ignite format.

    8.  Turn Off your Phone: You don’t want your phone to ring during your presentation. You don’t even want you phone in your back pocket set on vibrate because you may have friends who are evil enough to call you while you’re presenting just to see the look on your face when your butt starts vibrating.

    9.  Have Fun: Ignite Phoenix has one of the best audiences to present in front of. They are so supportive and excited for each presenter. I hope the LexThink.1 audience is the same.

    10.  I purposely left tip #10 blank. Dozens of people have graced the Ignite Phoenix, Ignite Phoenix After Hours, and Ignite Food stage. If you have presented at any Ignite event, in Phoenix or elsewhere, please leave a comment with what you think the tenth tip should be.

    I’m very excited to present at LexThink.1. See you in Chicago!

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