Welcome Finnegan ("Finn") Dee Pigott

William (3L) and Kamile Pigott announce the birth of their fourth son, Finnegan ("Finn") Dee Pigott, on Wednesday November 4, at 8:20 a.m.

Family Fun 10/23!

Let's meet up with our kids next Friday night (Oct 23) at Family Fun Night at the HUB! The HUB has pretty cheap bowling with super-light balls so even the tiniest of tikes can enjoy it (my 2 y.o. thought it was pretty neat my 1Lyear...). Plus, free popcorn! Bowling is from 5:30-7:30.

Here's more info:http://depts.washington.edu/sauf/hub/games/bowling.php

If you think you'll go, please respond and give a shout-out on the listserv so we have an idea who's planning to come!

Fall Meeting October 22

Parents Attending Law School (PALS) will be having its first meeting of the year at 12:30 on Oct. 22 in room 212/213. We will be electing/volunteeri ng/drafting our 1L exec board rep(s), discussing exams, jobs and Fall Festival, telling silly kids stories and anything else that comes to mind. Please RSVP to mccraek@uw.spam.edu (first scrape off the spam) so we know how much food to get.

Picnic

Alright, everyone, let's meet for our annual before-school picnic on Saturday, September 19 from 11-2pm at Cowen park. Please bring a side dish to pass; hope to see you and your families there!

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/park_detail.asp?ID=483

Congrats grads

I just noticed that a lot of parents walked with their kids at graduation this year. This link shows a lot of the happy doctors of laws and their children:
http://www.stormsphoto.com/gallery/8561115_xSo4t#574170371_NGmx2

Great photos, happy day. Congrats all!

First Birthday Party Pics

Emily Kelly sent us some pictures of Addison and Avery's first birthday party. Addison is on the left, and Avery is on the right. The top picture is of their dog, Ziva, who partied with the twins on their special day.

Congratulations Amanda!

Amanda Carmany-Rampey's adorable new baby, Elliot David, was born on the morning of June 8. Congratulations to Amanda, her husband Brent, and big brother Nathan!

Children at Graduation?

Who is planning to walk across the stage with kids at graduation? I can't decide. Any advice from parents who did it last year?
*********

From lawnews:

Children may join their parents for the walk across the stage at the law school graduation ceremony. If you would like your child/children to join you, they need to be brought up to the stage from the audience just at the point where you are going to start the walk. They then need to be picked up from the opposite side of the stage.

(There is not enough room to seat the children onstage with the graduates
throughout the ceremony. Also, please note that there is a deep orchestra pit
at the edge of the stage, so small children should be kept firmly in hand.)

Children that join their parents on stage will be handed a "honorary" diploma, so please email Francis Timlin (ft@u.wash) if you would like your child/children to participate so that they know how many children to expect. Children will need a ticket if they will occupy a seat.

UW Childcare Assistance - deadline approaching!

Below is a modified (shorter) version of a post in today's Crier:

If you have one or more children (0-12) and will be paying a DEL-licensed daycare provider to care for your children while you're in school, you might be able to get funding from the UW Childcare Assistance Program. The website is at http://www.washington.edu/students/osfa/currentug/child.care.html

The application deadline for the 2009-2010 school year is listed as MAY 29, 2009. That is only 2 weeks from today! If you have questions you can go to the Student Parent Resource Center in room 172 of Schmitz Hall or email stuparrc@u.washington.edu.

Maybe gender isn't so important, but taking time off is?

I thought that I'd post a link to this short article on the effect of having kids on career advancement:

http://www.abajournal.com/news/many_women_lawyers_with_kids_do_as_well_as_the_men_researcher_says/

It's the first study that I've seen comparing the career trajectories of parents who take time off with parents that continue working. Taking time off for children may negatively affect career advancement, but women who took time off are reported be more satisfied in their personal and professional lives. I'm interested in reading the full report once it is published. 

-Amanda

Childhaven Drive

PALS is holding the annual Childhaven drive next week Monday-Thursday during lunch (May 4-7). Please consider donating to the drive. PALS will have tables set up during lunch to collect donations. You could bring:

• New or gently used baby or kid clothes (infant - 5 years)
• New or gently used toys or books
• Unopened packages of diapers
  
• Nonperishable food items for adults and/or kids
  
• Baby food
  
• Maternity clothes

If you want to help out by collecting donations during lunch next week or by driving items downtown to Childhaven, please contact Tami Becker Gomez, one of the newly elected PALS Co-Presidents.

Most recent baby pictures

Introducing Thomas Elias Lewis Gust!

Born 4/14/2009 at 10:21am

PALS General Membership Meeting Thurs April 16

Just a reminder that we are having a quarterly meeting today (Thursday, 4/16) at 12:30 in Room 212/213. Amanda is bringing food! We're going to talk about course selection for next year, officer elections, the childhaven drive, and the work-life balance panel -- and there are probably items on the agenda that I'm forgetting. I hope you can all make it -- especially all 1L members.

More baby pictures!

Here is a recent picture of Yin's beautiful son Ethan, who is now 8 months old. (Wow!) Yin is on leave this year, but is planning to come back to the law school next year.

If you have any recent pictures of your kids for the blog, please send them!

New Baby Picture!

Congratulations to Kevin on the birth of his adorable daughter, Kady, who is now about 6 weeks old. Here is a picture of Kevin's son, Keyan, holding Kady.

2009-10 PALS board

Congratulations to the new 2009-10 PALS board!

Co-Presidents: Tami Becker Gomez, Kevin McCrae, and Theresa DeMonte
Vice President: Catherine Sellers
Treasurer: William Pigott
Secretary: Charles Gust
Board members at large: Vanessa Hernandez
Board members emeritus: Lisa Kremer, Lisa Goldoftas, Laura Arras, Peter Moreno, Pat Schaff, Ray Liaw, Louis Butler, Christine Porter, Amanda Carmany-Rampey, Michael Sterner, Pete Santos, Melissa Harwood

Maybe Baby (cont.)

Thank you to everyone who came and participated in the Maybe Baby panel and made it such a success. A PALS alumna, Laura Arras, was able to poke her head in for a few minutes, but due to time constraints, we weren't able to hear from her. Laura has a very valuable perspective on the Maybe Baby issue and she very kindly gave me permission to post a portion of an email explaining her choices here:
(From Laura)
If I were paneling, I would say this [if there is a gap to fill, feel free to read it]:

Everyone's circumstances are different, obviously. The only judges of your "work-life balance" are yourself and the ones with whom you share the "life" part.

I had a baby at the end of my 1L, and juggled her through classes for my
2L year.

I wanted to work after school/ the Bar, but I don't want my daughter in day-care more than five-or-six hours a day until she starts kindergarten. That means I can work for 25 hours a week, unless I work in the evenings from home or for a few hours on the weekends-- which I frequently do. Call it 30 hours a week. This is not partner-track, obviously. But I drop her off at 8:50 and pick her up at 2:20, right after her nap. I have time to get some good work done in the meantime.

I am fortunate in being able to afford to work part-time and I am insured through my spouse. Again, everyone's situation is different. Money is not a driving factor for me. After I pay for daycare & my student loans, I probably make minimum wage. But I have been contracting for a little firm for the last six months, logging real-world professional experience as a litigator.

When my daughter starts school, I'll have experience and references that will help me land a full-time position. Alternatively, I can hang up a shingle without the stigma of being an inexperienced new grad.

I also work part-time for the Rigos Bar Prep company-- it isn't glamorous; it isn't a "law" job. But I'm using my school/bar experience to help people, and I'm helping to expand the program & materials to the rest of the US. Most days I work in my jammies—always a plus. I may start sitting at the table once in awhile-- maybe I'll bring Allegra for old time's sake.

Best wishes,
Laura

Maybe Baby Panel

PALS presents: The Maybe Baby Panel.
Wednesday, March 4th 12:30 in Room 117

Thinking about having a baby in law school or beyond? Please come to the Maybe Baby Panel and hear from people who have had a baby at different points in their legal careers. Panelists include law students, a professor, and partners in a mid-sized law firm. Pizza will be provided!
Questions? Contact Amanda acarmany@u.washington.edu or Christine porterc@u.washington.edu.

Does anyone have good questions for the panelists? If so, please leave them in the comments.

Bar Prep Courses

In her post about the February 2009 bar exam questions, Lisa mentioned her post from last summer about bar review courses, in which she compared her Barbri experience to what she'd heard about the Rigos experience. I found that post (and the comments) to be very helpful -- before reading it, I was set on taking Barbri, but now I'm not so sure. I need to decide soon. Does anyone have advice for me about bar prep courses, or for other 3Ls (and even 2Ls)? Any Barbri defenders out there?

Winter bar exam

Hi folks, just talked to a friend of mine who took the winter bar this week and he had some news that might be of interest to 3Ls taking the Washington bar this summer. Primarily, there was no Indian law question on the Winter bar. That means there will surely be one this summer. They only added Indian law a couple of years ago, and since then, there was a question on the 2007 summer bar, none on the 2008 winter bar, a question on the 08 summer bar, and none on the 09 winter bar. Notice a pattern? :-) As you'll find out in bar prep, Indian law usually is half a question, combined with Civ Pro.

My friend said there was no commercial paper question, but there were Sales and Secured Transactions. Last summer we had sec trans and comm paper, but no sales. Draw your own conclusions about that.

He said there were a lot of crim pro questions. I had heard this wasn't a heavily tested subject in the past, but last summer we had three (3!) crim pro questions. I would also note that crim pro with Hardisty was one of the more helpful classes I've taken in terms of bar prep.

He said there weren't that many property questions, a lot of torts and contracts, and a straightforward will question. Evidence was half a question. There was an odd question that was a combination of contracts and agency. The con law/admin law question sounds like it was confusing.

This may be more detail than you care about, but bookmark this for later, you'll want to know this summer! Good luck, cheers...
Lisa

p.s. you can click the little label "bar exam" under this post to see everything we've posted about the bar exam in the past. There a long post with a lot of comments about Barbri v. Rigos. It's the only place I've ever seen anyone make the comparison, which would have been nice to know when picking a bar prep program!

Donate a book for PILA

This year PALS will be donating a collection of children's books as our contribution to the PILA Auction. Please bring in a copy of your favorite children's book geared for ages 1-5. Vanessa Hernandez will be collecting the books in the remote learning room. A huge thank you to Vanessa for the fabulous idea and volunteering to organize the donations!

PALS General Membership Meeting Wed Feb 11

PALS will be having its general membership meeting Wednesday, February 11th at 12:30 in room 117. Lunch will be provided. Please contact Amanda Carmany-Rampey (acarmany@u.wash) or Christine Porter (porterc@u.wash) with questions.

Disco Baby

The quarter has barely started and I'm already looking for a good study break. That means it is time to disco, Baby Loves Disco that is. Baby Loves Disco is a monthly dance party for the diaper and juice box set. Check out the website at:
http://www.babylovesdisco.com/locations/seattle/
Nate and I went last year and had a blast. We'd have even more fun if we could make it a law school parent outing. The next disco date is February 21rst, their valentines party. Tickets are $12 (for each walking human) if you buy in advance and $15 at the door. If you would like to go, I'd suggest buying tickets soon, since they tend to sell out. Baby Loves Disco is held at club Heaven downtown, a real dance club, just like the kind you used to go to before kids. Aside from the disco floor, there is a "quiet" room with a nice assortment of toys for the kids to play with and comfy chairs and benches for the parents. There were also several vendors there handing out freebies, I remember that some sort of baby leg warmers seemed to be a huge hit.
Anyway, let me know if you are thinking of going. Nate and I would love to see you there.
Best,
Amanda