So, why did you go to law school?*

It's 1 a.m. in my current location of the 46th floor of the Michigan Avenue Four Seasons in Chicago. I have at least 3 more hours of work to do tonight, which is bad because I'm very tired and have an alarm set for 5 a.m. tomorrow morning. The only thing going for me right now is that I'm in a suite (free upgrade!) so I can't actually see my bed from the living room desk.

[I just realized I re-typed the same sentence 2.5 times before noticing that I was re-typing it. I am even more tired than I thought...]

I'm here for the on campus interviews at the University of Chicago. It is all kinds of conflicted that I'm promoting the firm that is stealing all my sleep and family dinners, while being tempted to warn law students away from this crazy job, while also being truly honestly happy to have it. It's nice to think that 6 years after I started law school, I really do like being a lawyer. And I particularly like being a BigLaw lawyer. I like our cases and clients and resources and whip smart colleagues. I also really like talking to law students, which is why I'm still happy to be here, even though this non-billable excursion is costing me a whole lot of sleep tonight.

So tomorrow I'll meet with 22 rising 2L's for 20 minutes each. These are the so called "screening interviews" before you decide who to fly back to one of our offices for a set of 8 interviews before the hiring partner and committee of that office decides to give that person a summer associate offer. (Then they come for the summer to be evaluated over 6-10 weeks before the office decides whether to give them a post-law school associate offer.) I remember sitting on the interviewee side of the table 5 years ago, nervous and naively excited about my future career. I had no idea what I was getting in to, but no matter what happens over the next year, I wouldn't change anything. Through some combination of meticulous research, interviewing skills, and blind luck, I've ended up at a firm I can whole-heartedly endorse.

Also, walking through the city to dinner with the 3-attorney interview team after our pre-OCI cocktail reception (really, the first interview in this process, no matter how much we pretend it's an informal social gathering), I was hit anew with Chicago love. I miss Chicago more than I ever missed Austin and it doesn't seem to fade with time.

(Also, also, I miss these two little ones.

Hopefully I'm nearing the end of all this travel, though I haven't been sad to miss the Austin August weather. It's going to make me move sooner than anything else will.)

(*I actually never ask that question. Mostly because I still don't have an answer for it myself.)