I recently had a conversation with a friend about the top three characters in literature we each identified with and felt sheepish to report that mine were Holden Caulfeld from Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Scout Finch from To Catch a Mockingbird, and more recently, from George R.R. Martin's Fire and Ice Series, Arya Stark.

Right around this time of year, I hear from scared first-year law students after their grades are posted. Shocked and horrified, they question whether law school is the right place for them. "I've never gottten a B- in my life!" they tell me. It spirals from "I'll never get a clerkship, I'll never write onto Law Review" to "I'll never pay off my student debt" to "I'll be living in the street begging for change...." and usually by then, they start to laugh a little.

Upon meeting people, what face do you show them? Do you tell the truth about yourself? I find myself at events and dinner parties talking about the same old stuff. Most people want to know what I do for a living.