The Wine Mess has been a campus institution for more than 30 years. It allows students and faculty to unwind every Friday afternoon after a long week of classes, studying, papers, and work. Drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and food are served based on the theme of the week; for example, the "Oktoberfest Wine Mess" features a wide variety of German foods, and beer is abundant (students are also encouraged to break out their lederhosen, dirndls, and other types of German garb), while the "007 Wine Mess" features James Bond's drink of choice. As the organization's president, Busch is responsible for purchasing food and drinks. He is also in charge of advertising for the weekly event, getting support from other student organizations, budgeting the money that is earned each week, and helping out on Friday nights.
According to Busch, the Hemingway Society (which is not the one established by the famous writer's widow) is "a wine-tasting society which brings in great wineries from around the world and provides students with valuable exposure to a wide variety of wines." As one of six co-chairs, Busch helps find interesting wineries to feature at their events. The co-chairs are also responsible for making sure all of the tables are set up for a proper wine tasting before their events, as well as cleaning after each event.
Every spring, members of the law school's softball team attend the University of Virginia School of Law Spring Softball Invitational in Charlottesville, VA. This year's tournament will take place March 30 through April 1, and Busch is hoping his team will enjoy the sweet smell of victory. As a co-captain of the team, he is in charge of finding hotel rooms (which often proves difficult since the tournament "draws nearly half of the school"), setting team rosters, and providing rental information.
Many students think this level of involvement in extracurricular activities would be detrimental to their studies. While he initially began law school believing that he should not participate in student associations in order to focus on his studies, Busch now believes otherwise and said that he is more organized and productive due to the fact that he is constantly busy.
"Staying involved helps me remain focused because it forces me to use time efficiently," Busch said. "If I didn't have so many student activity obligations, I would have substantially more time than I need and wind up wasting most of it. Since nothing motivates like deadline pressure, adding more deadlines makes for more productivity. Although it's worth mentioning that I'm far from overwhelmingly busy, there is still plenty of social and relaxation time."
Busch credits his desire to become a lawyer to a summer job he held in high school. He said that he spent two summers working in the conflicts and records departments of a San Francisco law firm. Despite the tedious work, Busch was able to familiarize himself with the legal profession.
"The job gave me a chance to observe the lawyers and the intelligence, excitement, and creativity they brought to their jobs on a daily basis," Busch said. "At the time, I had no idea how unique this was in a workplace, but future experiences repeatedly demonstrated how special law firms are. They made it clear to me that I would be happiest working around the kind of motivated people I knew I could find within the legal profession."
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"The USAO was a spectacular opportunity for the first summer," Busch said. "It was one of the public interest jobs recommended by career services, and I am grateful to them for emphasizing it. The summer consisted of a number of substantial assignments with individual Assistant U.S. Attorneys and provided me with valuable experience in both legal writing and the federal litigation process."
This summer, Busch plans to work in the San Francisco office of the international law firm Bingham McCutchen. Upon graduation, Busch plans to start out in the private sector but is not entirely committed to any particular area of law.
"As far as a specific practice area, it is too soon to really know, as the USAO isn't structured like a private law firm, so I don't really have any idea what the real benefits are to work in specific areas of the law," he said.
While many students say that they have been most influenced by professors or attorneys who helped them during internships, Busch said that his biggest influence has been his roommate. Busch acknowledged that law school is a time for growing up and said that he might never have made some of the necessary changes had it not been for his roommate.
"He is much more disciplined than I am—in nearly all aspects of his life—and it has been a great experience for me to observe and, quite frankly, leech off," Busch said.
Busch's favorite law school memory so far is of a Monday night tradition he participated in last year. Every Monday, a group ranging in size from four to 10 people would get together at a local pub known for its hot wings and talk over the wings and a couple of pitchers of beer. During the fall, they would stick around for the weekly football game. During the winter and spring, games like shuffleboard, darts, and pool replaced the football games.
"Because people tend to move to the north side of Chicago after 1L year, we haven't been able to replicate last year's Wings Night, but it was such a good thing that we keep talking about trying," Busch said.
