Is it too late to change my mind about going to law school?

That's a question I find myself asking all too often lately. From what I can gather, it's a question the bulk of One Ls ask about this time of year - each and every year. My friends who traveled this path before me warned that this day would come. While I could intellectualize what they were saying, I didn't fully comprehend it until now.

The novelty of law school wore off a few weeks ago. At first, law school was like going off to some strange sort of summer camp. There were lots of new people to meet, social events, sporting events and more fun around every corner.

The mountains of reading came along to spoil the camp-like atmosphere. But while at first it seemed like a lot of work, it didn't take most us of too long to get a handle on it. So things were cruising along smoothly.

Around the third week of school the legal writing professors decided to foul the party completely.

On top of the hours of reading we have to do each night, the legal writing profs piled on four weeks of hell: an eight-page writing assignment, then a near-complete rewrite of that paper, a 12-hour long group library research project, 10 hours of citation exercises and now a 12-page heavily-researched writing assignment.

Suddenly the signs of the mid-semester funk are all around. The once well-coifed, finely-clad women are increasingly attending classes wearing sweatshirts with their hair in ponytails. And if some of these guys continue to skip the morning shave, they will fare pretty well at an audition for a ZZ Top tribute band. (Did that reference just date me too much?)

You start to have these doubts and wonder whether all the hassle is worth it. It's easy to slide into feeling alone and doubt-ridden, and I can see how easy it would be to call it quits.

It's a matter of perspective

As someone who spent several years working in the real world before starting law school, I've gained a fair amount of perspective. This perspective helps me to remember that, all in all, we law students have it pretty damn good. There are scads of talented people who are casualties of this bad economy, people who are now struggling to make ends meet, while all I have to complain about is how much I am learning - or, I should say, how much I am trying to learn. I've worked some hard, manual labor jobs in my life, and I know I'd rather contend with these minimal problems than have to deal with what 99 percent of the world's population goes through on a daily basis. ~

While the talk of quitting was at first just a joke, usually in response to another assignment being piled on, the reality really hit home last week when a member of our section decided to pack it in. He determined that law school just wasn't for him.

It could have been anyone of us making that same decision. That's another reason I'm glad I delayed for so long my decision to go back to school - I am sure why I am here and that I want to be here. So when the funk hits, I just wait it out.

Learned anything yet?

I figured out this morning that there is no turning back. When my alarm went off, I began my morning routine of incessantly hitting the snooze button. I started to make a deal with myself that I would do something really ambitious this afternoon, if only I allowed myself to sleep through Contracts class.

Then, out of nowhere, a thought ran through my head: Was I making a valid contract with myself? I started running through the contracts' checklist. Was there a promise? Was there a bargain? An offer? An acceptance? Was there consideration? All seemed to be present. Then my conscious self realized that contracts-speak was invading my sleep, and I bolted upright. It was enough to wake me up completely, and I ended up going to class anyway - thus conserving my perfect attendance record.

So what do you learn in half a semester of law school? The only pearl of wisdom I've learned so far is that if you want to own a transportation business, buy a railroad instead of a tugboat business. (I'm not sure why the authors of the casebooks are enamored with tugs and railroads, but every class seems to have had a case dealing with one, the other or both.) But seriously, the important thing at this point seems to be to keep some balance between school and having an outside life. Some people work out, others run, some are into concerts, some like to play sports and, while I don't endorse it, others find solace in partying. No matter your sanctuary, make sure to take advantage of it. It is your lifeline to the outside world.

My escape is enjoying a good cigar in the backyard. (In fact, I am doing that now as I write this.) But be careful because those of us who've kept an escape seem to be indulging far more frequently than we did before we got here. I've gone from a cigar every week or two to five a week. But those breaks from the daily law school grind are essential. This weekend my girlfriend visited from California and I took some time off to see a play and a movie, shop for a coat and carve a jack-o-lantern.

Running on empty

Law school is a marathon, and the key is finding the right pace. My whole life I've been able to perform as well as most in short spurts, followed by a period of coasting, before taking off on another sprint. It served me well up until this point.

I started law school like it was a sprint, turns out it is a marathon, and I've had to adjust my pace on the fly. My biggest problem is the one I've always had: I try to do too much. I'm like a first-time visitor to a Las Vegas buffet; my eyes are bigger than my stomach, and I load my plate with more than one person ever should. I am a member of two campus clubs and a student government subcommittee. I am trying to donate enough time to a public interest law club to get a scholarship for a nonprofit job this summer. I give occasional tours to prospective students at lunch. I am donating time to the school's Center on Wrongful Convictions to help convince the Illinois governor to commute the sentences of individuals on death row. I'm trying to work it out so I can be the first law student here to get joint masters degrees through the journalism school. I, along with two other students, am trying to create a media and entertainment law society. I'm also trying to reserve time for bar review - the weekly gathering of law students at a local watering hole. Seeing all of that listed out makes me wonder how I ever find the time to study.

Better get back to work now. I've got miles and miles to go.

Trevor Hayes is first-year student at Northwestern University Law School, a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a former newspaper reporter. He spends much of his time lately trying to figure out why anyone would want to run 26.2 miles when one could just drive there.