Point: Summer Covid sucks.
Ryan Moore ’25
Law Weekly Historian
In 1997, the Scottish director Jim Gillespie released the horror-slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer. Starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and a young Johnny Galecki (of Big Bang Theory fame), a group of teens accidentally run over a pedestrian, leaving him for dead after dumping his body in the ocean.[1]
For many returning 3Ls who spent their summer at a firm, everyone knows what you did last summer: free lunches, free drinks, and maybe some legal “work.” For some KJDs, last summer was their first taste of “work” experience. For older, wiser law students, this summer was a much needed return to the workforce and a reminder of a happier time. But I do not want to hear about the legal issues you worked on, I do not want to hear about how many free lunches you had, and I definitely do not want to hear about how you “totally messed up in front of this partner” and thought you would get “no offered.”
I am not here to write about the summer associate experience. Instead, I take this opportunity to sympathize with the pedestrian in I Know What You Did Last Summer. Much like the pedestrian,[2] I also was abandoned.
While my classmates spent their post-summer job period traveling the world and lounging on the beach, I spent it sick with my third bout of Covid. I had to lie there, coughing and suffering on my couch, while all my friends posted Instagram photos of them living it up in Hawaii, Albania, Ireland, and even Florida. If I hear one more 3L’s story about how great their beach vacation was, I will seek an injunction through Law Weekly’s Court of Petty Appeals.
You have been warned.
Counterpoint: Boy did I have a great summer!
Andrew Allard ’25
Editor-in-Chief
Being a summer associate was a breeze. And what better city than New York to embrace brat summer? Not to mention the paychecks! While I refuse to identify myself as an older law student, I am certainly a wiser one. So, much like Ryan, I thoroughly enjoyed my brief return to the workforce—and my bank account’s even briefer return to a positive balance.
Early in the summer, I also got hit with Covid… and it was great! I worked from home for a couple days and hardly missed any of the big law wining and dining experience. Sure, I had a bad fever and headaches, but who doesn’t enjoy working from home in their PJs at market rate? Eventually, I healed up and returned to the office. I sure hope I didn’t spread Covid to anyone else… what are the CDC guidelines again?
Anyway, after recovering, my summer just kept getting better! I wrapped up my internship in New York and headed home to New Hampshire for a little beach vacation. There was swimming, fishing, grilling—I can’t remember another time I’ve felt so relaxed! The worst thing I can say is that I got a little sunburnt one afternoon. That healed up after a couple days, though.
Most amazing of all was the hot streak of perfect beach weather. I’d never seen anything like it. Sunny, warm, and the cooling mist of the ocean… It was as if August was calling for me to stay at the beach just… one… more… day…
Man, I sure am glad I got Covid out of the way early on in the summer. It would have been a real bummer to suffer indoors and miss out on all that summer fun!
[1] Remember this because it becomes relevant later.
[2] Spoiler alert: he lives!