16 February 2004

Holiday Blahs

Well, not so much for me. With the kind of clientele I have—authors who mostly must have a day job—I can't keep normal "office hours." At least half of my client contacts are by phone during evenings and on weekends, and that's not even counting the handful of overseas clients I have who contact me during their business hours (when I'm probably working or available anyway).

What holidays do mean is extra days off from school for the kids. As a single parent, that's always fun and exciting, or at least exciting. At the moment, he's off communing with the dogs watching a movie (imagine two large dogs and one eleven-year-old in an armchair). It won't last.

The other blah is that I'm starting to get clerkship applications from law students again. The USPS holiday does not eliminate e-mails with attached resumes! Every year, I get six to ten of these things, usually from first-years who want exposure to IP stuff. Leaving aside that I'm a solo practitioner, the applications reflect some real ignorance in career-services offices. It is especially difficult to get clerkships in IP, for some good (and other not-so-good) reasons. Then there's the whole issue of whether solo practitioners would be interested in blind applications. So, guys, save yourselves at least one stamp or e-mail attachment: I'm not looking. I won't be looking this year. And, for confidentiality reasons, I doubt that I'll ever be looking—and even then, I will work through the College of Law (at least as long as I'm in this area) and will probably want assistance with a specific task only.