The Cornell Law School was back in the blogosphere yesterday, and not for a 52-percent jump in applications.

As the recession lingers and law school applications skyrocket, applicants should pause to consider just what sort of beast law school is. Out of all graduate school options, law school seems like the cheap and effective one. Most Ph.D.

This week's advice column focuses on post-graduation strategies to use in today's trying economic climate.

With consistently stellar performances at regional competitions over the past three years, the University’s Mock Trial Organization was ranked 4th in the nation by the American Mock Trial Association.

Law school applicants without experience in a professional legal internship still have hope for admission into law school, according to a recent Kaplan survey. The survey, which was conducted in July and August, indicated that 61 percent of the 152 law school admissions officers surveyed said that law internships fail to provide students with any significant advantage in the admissions process.

But at Cornell, two-thirds of the current entering class has at least a year of work experience.

“I would’t say it offers no advantage,” said Sarah Busse, associate director of admissions at Cornell Law School. “It doesn’t really make an impact one way or the other, but as a general rule it is part of one’s experience. We look at everything.”

Despite the military band playing out of tune, and ludicrous salutes directed by the authorities and the audience at film images of F-16 fighter jets blazing through the sky, signaling perhaps that war constitutes the highest of American democratic values, my parents and I shed tears of joy during my wife’s citizenship ceremony. We cried for all that we had been through together as a family and we cried because, with all its flaws, America is our home and we believe sincerely in the redemptive potential of the American dream.

Law school final exams start a week earlier than the rest of the University’s, so, as you read this, I’m likely either taking my Trusts and Estates exam or furiously preparing for my Federal Courts one. As a result, this column, my last one, is going to be short and sweet.

Graduating Sun columnists’ swan songs generally contain two traditional elements: one relatively mandatory, and one technically frowned upon.

The mandatory tradition: explaining your column’s moniker.

The illicit one: thanking every single person you met during your time on The Hill.

If you’re thinking about becoming a lawyer, one of the first things you’ll hear as an incoming law student is something like this: “First year, they scare you to death. Second year, they work you to death. Third year, they bore you to death.” True? More than a little.

Law school is like nothing you’ve ever done before. This becomes apparent on the first day when it takes one intense hour to read 10 pages. Then you go to class and a professor starts with the Socratic method: question upon question about a particular case. That’s why it takes an hour to read 10 pages. You have to be ready for anything the professor might ask. And then the professor stumps you on the third question anyway.

Trial lawyer John J. Kenney regaled his audience with tales of his life’s work at the Cornell Law School yesterday as part of the Henry K. Korn Lecture Series in Art, Commerce and Ethics of Contemporary Law.

When speaking about the motivation behind his lecture, Kenney stated on the Cornell Law School website, that he would like to instill in his law students the excitement he feels every day when he gets up.

The lecture, titled “Wanted: Dead or Alive, and Other Tales of a Trial Lawyer,” consisted of several exciting experiences from Kenney’s 38 years of work as a litigator in state and federal trials and appeals.

Henry K. Korn ’68, the benefactor of this lecture series, was also present to introduce the lecturer. Korn explained the purpose of this lecture series.

This is the second article in a series examining the effects of the recession on budget and admissions policies in Cornell’s graduate and professional schools.

Likely the result of the current economic downturn, the Cornell Law School has seen a surge in applicants this year.

Richard Geiger, associate dean for communications and enrollment, explained that the economy has a countercyclical effect on law school applications, meaning that when the economy is down, the number of law school applications goes up. He anticipates that next year will be the time that applications increase most dramatically.