Law Students

The Law Teacher Thingie

Posted on July 12, 2008
I'm posting an announcement from Prof. Harris re teaching.***Thinking about a career in law teaching? Planning to go ?on the market? this fall or the next? If you are a Boalt Hall alum and answered ?yes? to one or both questions, please send an email to Professor Angela Harris, aharris-at-law-dot-berkeley-dot-edu under the subject heading ?Law Teaching...

Karoshi!

Posted on July 10, 2008
Evidently we're all screwed.The family of a 45 year old former Toyota engineer in Japan has successfully convinced Japanese courts to declare that the engineer's death was due to working too much, a phenomena known in Japan as "Karoshi".Evidently for the two months prior to his death, the man worked upwards of 80 hours of overtime a month...

Way to Go Donny Earl!!!

Posted on July 08, 2008
Co-blogger Earl Warren's post on the California cell phone ban for drivers earned an honorable mention in this NYT piece. (Hat tip: Anon 10:47). Good job EW, your countless, thoughtful posts on the Democratic primaries are no match with a mention in the NYT in establishing a liberal bona fides.

Two Uncreative Ideas

Posted on July 04, 2008
At six weeks into my summer gig, and the beginning of a holiday weekend, today is an opportunity for repose. Unlike the gentleman in the thread below, I have kept the drinking at firm events in check. Unlike my friend [snip], I have kept my hands to myself...

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This Blog

Posted on July 03, 2008
Is among the Top 100 Law and Lawyer Blogs. (See how annoying it is to start with a to be verb?)

Crossing Media

Posted on July 02, 2008
For those of you with Gmail, you know that Gchat has a feature where you can list your status along with an "away message." For a long time, I've been noticing people using that space to mimic Facebook's "status" feature where you use the third person to describe what you are doing, e...

Moran Leaves the Village

Posted on June 26, 2008
Leiter is reporting that our very own Prof. Moran is leaving for the new law school at UCI. She's a great scholar and a ummm quirky teacher. Clearly, she has an above average sense of humor and a quick-wit. At the same time, she still has the old-school, completely Socratic, closed-book finals mind-set...

My Anthony

Posted on June 25, 2008
First, only a fool would call Justice Kennedy a liberal (frequently conservative blogs in fact do use that label). So let's not get carried away. But in both Boumediene and today in Kennedy v. Louisiana, Justice Kennedy authored a sweeping opinion enshrining the rights to habeas and the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment...

Is California?s New ?Hands-Free Only? Law a Pretext to Search You, Your Car, and Your Passengers?

Posted on June 23, 2008
Next Tuesday, July 1, California?s new ?hands-free only? cell phone law goes into effect. Drivers in California must use a headset or Bluetooth when talking on their phone; holding the phone in your hand while talking constitutes a violation of Vehicle Code § 23123, punishable by fines ranging from $76 to $190...

Ready, Set, Teach

Posted on June 23, 2008
I don't want to detract from the OCIP or grades discussions below, so I wanted to pass along some information for those interested in teaching below the fold.

OCIP Warmup, '08

Posted on June 22, 2008
A commentator below notes (in more words) that it may be a bit early, but . . . what about OCIP? He (or she) is right. It is early. And I have to say, I'm feeling substantially less than gleeful over the prospect of replacing a neurotic grade thread with a neurotic OCIP thread...

UC Stadium Decision (+ related antics)

Posted on June 20, 2008
Here's a collection of links regarding the stadium expansion project and the hippie occupation of the trees.  Please feel free to contribute your thoughts and future links you may find to an open thread in the comments.UC gym's fate could rest on support beam [via SF Chron]A bit more technical analysis of the claims [via Cal Rivals Blog]Both sides claim victory [AP Story] Judge Halts UC Memorial Stadium Gym Project [via Berkeley Daily Planet]Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

Boumediene

Posted on June 12, 2008
I have to run to court this morning so I can't say anything. Rather I'm opening this up for discussions. Habeas for Gitmo detainees. At long last, the King may not make his subjects disappear.

Graduation Speaker Choice: A Retrospective

Posted on June 11, 2008
In hindsight, choosing Judge Schroeder as the graduation speaker seems like a genius move given the revelations about current Chief Judge Kozinski. According to the LA Times, Kozinski basically peddled his own porn on his personal website. The money quote: "The sexually explicit material on Kozinski's site earlier this week was extensive, including images of masturbation, public sex and contortionist sex...

Stanford drops its formal grade system, pays $25k to study a potential change of name for the law school

Posted on June 10, 2008
Well, maybe just the first half of that title is true. But I still say they're just trying to be more like Boalt (err, Berkeley).The money quote: Stanford will switch to a system of honors, pass, restricted credit and no credit instead of A+ through F, said School of Law Dean Larry Kramer...

Gobama!

Posted on June 04, 2008
I'd be negligent in not mentioning the historical primaries that just ended with the contests in South Dakota and Montana. I also can't hide my displeasure with Hillary. You want thoughts on what to do next? Here are mine: Exit. Stage left. I hope her supporters watched Obama's speech last night...

Three Articles

Posted on June 03, 2008
Although I am somewhat removed from the Bay Area these days, I enjoyed these recent Berkeley/Boalt articles:Esquire's full JY piece -- nuanced and interesting look at who JY is. Also has some rather charming transcriptions of professor/student dialogue, as perceived by a non-law-school-type...

First Our Professors, Now Our Grades

Posted on May 29, 2008
The imagination-less automatons across the Bay have decided to copy our grading system (ht: ATL). Maybe soon they will adopt our method of assigning enrollment times, Krushchev era Communist architecture, and tree sitters to accompany their crappy mascot (which got a shout-out last night on Colbert)...

Nothing to Lose and Everything to Gain

Posted on May 28, 2008
The California Horse Racing Commissioner noted yesterday that because the gay marriage ballot initiative will not be retroactive if passed, marriages performed in the next five months will be protected. Consequently, he has some legal advice:"You have everything to gain and nothing to lose...

In Other News

Posted on May 23, 2008
Haven't had an open thread in a while. Summers are learning/relearning Civ Pro. 3Ls are learning/relearning Civ Pro and 13 other topics. Rising 2Ls are imagining their CLR Exec Board stump speech and/or faux connections to east coast legal markets...

The Call For Stupid Behavior (Firm Summer Edition)

Posted on May 19, 2008
My first day of firm summer "work" was today. And I'm sure I'm not the only one that is wondering what crazy stories people have about fellow summer associates* losing their offers (hopefully stories about someone ELSE---wait, nevermind...about yourself is even better...

Get Inn

Posted on May 15, 2008
John Steele wants everyone to know that the Inn of Court is looking for law students to join this great networking organization:Priority goes to 3Ls with aspirations to be Bay Area litigators -- and Bay Area wannabe PDs and prosecutors are first among equals...

Worst Legislation Ever?

Posted on May 15, 2008
It's not everyday that you see Congress pass a bill that:1. Gives billions to wealthy corporate agri-businesses...2. ...in a time of skyrocketing food prices and shortages3. Consigns third-world farmers who have cheaper, better products to continued poverty4...

In re Marriage Cases

Posted on May 14, 2008
I'm getting word through the grapevine that the Supreme Court of California will announce its decision in In re Marriage Cases tomorrow at 10 AM. List of briefs, including one by our own Prof. Choper here. Thoughts? Predictions? Personally, while I'd love to be pleasantly surprised, the present court is far too conservative...

Bad News From Top Dog

Posted on May 13, 2008
So today just before 4:00 as I strolled home from Boalt, chewing my lip over that Con Law take-home, I bumped into Berkeley Fire Department on Durant Avenue. They looked pretty busy. Which is understandable, because they had CPR in progress on a gunshot victim in the parking lot next to Top Dog...

Have Feith but Verify

Posted on May 13, 2008
I watched with great interest the Jon Stewart interview of Doug Feith last night. (Part 1 and part 2). I am now firmly convinced that this administration, more than any other, uses the withholding of information to shape the public mind.The technique is commonly used by dictatorships that want to convince the population of their general benevolence...

Graduation, Act I

Posted on May 11, 2008
Borris asks in comments:Any thoughts on this year's commencement speaker - The Honorable Mary M. Schroeder? Also, is the faculty speaker - Anne Joseph O'C*nnell - chosen by the 3L class as a whole or by the graduation committee? Those questions are as good as any for the seeding of a graduation thread (though I have my fingers crossed for some kind of tell-all graduation exposé from the likes MRP and EW)...

Bar Bar Bar

Posted on May 09, 2008
Today the Cal bar results come out for February takers. Good luck to all Boalties, and really anyone else. And congrats to the Boalties who passed the NY bar.

Q & A With Our Soon-To-Be ASP

Posted on May 08, 2008
The Shark has posted a Q & A* with our new ASP hire.No bones about it, she's here to help with the bar exam. And part of her plan will be to talk about teaching, with teachers:What I have proposed to [Boalt] as an idea, and what I?d very much like to do, is to start thinking about teaching colloquia...

The Twain Effect

Posted on May 07, 2008
Mark Twain wrote in 1872, "We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don't know anything and can't read."Yesterday, an Oregon jury announced a $300 million verdict against Payless Shoes in a trademark/tradedress infringement case brought by Adidas...

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