Thought I'd briefly blog about the interrum progress:

Finished the prepatory videos the week before last.  The last item remaining before I could take cases is an orientation, which was supposed to be automatically arranged at the conflict administator's convenience at some later date.  Of course, no orientation appointment was arranged until I called and called until someone finally made one late last week.   And then the administrator wasn't able to be there, so some assistant gave me a rudimentary overview.  Bottom line:  I can now receive cases.   The other bottom line:  this conflict panel pays as you go, meaning you don't have to wait until the case is finished before you get paid like you might in other panels.

Unfortunately, the panel had no cases available for me in the couple of days leading up to Christmas, which was ok.  I had to do a bunch of stuff for various family gatherings anyway.  Plus, we had a lot of work to prepare for the "launch party".

The Launch Party is, apparently, a staple among emerging city lawyers.  It is not unlike Vorenius' launch party in the Rome HBO series.  We put together a bunch of food and invited a bunch of friends, family, etc. to celebrate what is still, to me, terrifying.  Of course, most of the people we know are career public defenders, so optimism for me was, shall we say, guarded.  Another issue with the launch party was that most of the attendees were more properly characterized as my girlfriends' friends than my friends.  In reality, it was better characterized as my girlfriend's holiday party.

No matter.  I have launched this ship and there is no turning back, especially in this economy.  Fortuna, bring me success!