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The Once and Future Lawyer

Observations from a 3L law student on the East Coast.

Post Frequency: 0.8/day

Last Entry: July 01, 2010 at 16:35:00

Some thoughts on big government

Posted on October 09, 2008
For a quick jump at humor, I note that I still am getting humorous comments to my thoughts on this Obama citizenship lawsuit. Today's thoughts, however, turn back to the economy for a moment.Last week the Congress passed, and the President signed into law a massive "bailout" (or "rescue", depending on how you spin it) plan to save the planet, or economy, if you will...

Things for a clerk to negotiate when weighing their post-clerkship options

Posted on October 08, 2008
Obviously there are a lot of things to consider after you have your post-clerkship job lined up, but here are two to give serious thought to: start date and payment of the clerkship bonus (if any). Most of the clerks I know were able to get a start date sometime 4-6-8 weeks after the end of the clerkship and probably 3/4 were able to get their clerkship bonus either in full or in part upon completion of their clerkship...

The VP Debate, or why the cable media is continuing to distort common perceptions

Posted on October 03, 2008
I watched the debate with some moderate interest last night, not because it was a debate between the vice presidential candidates, but because it was the first and only live uninterrupted and unedited coverage of the choices the candidates had made. After the first twenty minutes of the debate, it became clear (to me anyway) that the Democrats have the stronger ticket by far...

Is the media being too hard on Palin? Or being less hard on McCain?

Posted on October 02, 2008
Certainly, this debate is going to be heavily scrutinized and spun in ten different directions for the next few days, if not the next month. Setting aside any worthless speculation on that issue, I think I have figured out at least one underlying reason why Gov...

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A little jetlagged, and financially stable...for now

Posted on September 30, 2008
Luckily for me (and most other recent law school graduates), my debt far outweighs whatever losses I may or may not have taken in the stock market's latest see-saw (or dead cat) bouncing. Anyone who graduated from professional school in the last three years will likely still be working in a decade, so it's not going to be too bad in the long run (fingers crossed)...

A quick point from an airplane terminal regarding this bailout plan

Posted on September 29, 2008
I only have a few minutes between flights, and I must admit that I could not have picked a worse week to stop watching the news for the last of my pre-work vacations, but I am torn between whether this bailout plan passing or not passing is a good thing...

Maybe it's time for another New Deal

Posted on September 18, 2008
I do have some thoughts on this Palin email hacking debacle, as well as a growing concern that legislative subpoenas (e.g., Rove, Palin's husband) have absolutely zero power, which seems troubling. In the meantime, however, I will simply comment on the recent financial whiplash experienced by our economy...

Berg v Obama citizenship TRO lawsuit

Posted on September 08, 2008
Someone asked me whether I had heard about this lawsuit over Sen. Obama's citizenship. I told him I hadn't, but that it was unlikely to go anywhere in any court for lack of standing. Because this news story has some legal crossover, however, I figured I would get a more informed opinion over it...

Soon off to vacation, but first, a comment equating Gov. Palin to the Miers selection choice

Posted on September 02, 2008
I am not going to wade into these political waters at this time, mainly because I am going to get away for awhile and will be away from the internet. But with John McCain's selection of relatively novice governor Sarah Palin, it instantly reminded me of when President Bush selected White House counsel Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court...

One week to go in clerkship

Posted on August 25, 2008
I have only a few things left to do on my list of things that need to be done by Thursday or Friday, so it certainly continues to be busy as I get things ready for my replacement. And with Biden getting the surprise (sort of) nod for vice president, the news has been filled with plenty of things to keep me busy...

Less than two weeks to go, and probably less if i use the last of my vacation time

Posted on August 19, 2008
It has been incredibly busy, which I still think is kind of odd, but mainly because I have been trapped with the school mentality that August is the end of summer where everything is comfortably slow, and I guess I'm just going to have to get used to the fact that the answer is "not necessarily...

Right to privacy and strict constructionism

Posted on August 16, 2008
Sadly, I am doing work on a Saturday night with two weeks to go in the clerkship. In the background, I am listening to Pastor Rick Warren attempt to grill the candidates on various "hot button issues" at the Saddleback Civil Forum. See Obama and McCain Try to Woo Conservative Voters at Forum; McCain and Obama cite moral failures; O...

Olympic glory

Posted on August 16, 2008
Despite what I said earlier regarding the Olympics, and the various oddities that have emerged with the coverage (the lipsynching girl, the children used in the opening ceremony, the potentially forged passports of the gymnasts, among others), I have been watching most of the events at night, which has been taking a surprising amount of time...

The site that purports to invite people to litigate

Posted on August 07, 2008
There are so many more pressing issues to write about, but I wanted to take a few minutes and write about this "who can you sue" website that has been over the news lately. I may have written about this idea earlier in the year, but my point with this report and "service" is more in what it does than what it does not...

Less than a month of the clerkship to go

Posted on August 05, 2008
With what little time I have left in my clerkship, I must confess that I am going to miss it. I certainly recommend it to anyone, and I believe it's reasonable to assume that anyone who took a clerkship would agree that it's a wonderful experience. I've written about clerking a few times over the past few months, so here are some more thoughts about it...

Too fit to be president? Has our country become this lazy or has the media through its 24-7 coverage?

Posted on August 01, 2008
This headline makes the article almost worth reading for its ridiculousness. See WSJ's Too Fit to Be President? Facing an overweight electorate, Barack Obama might find low body fat a drawback. Now there have been some poorly marketed commercials coming out of both sides lately, and the only effect it is having is on the mental acuity of the nation...

Cell Phone Termination Fees Illegal under California Law

Posted on July 31, 2008
I haven't read the case, nor will I have time to, but I saw a headline that sparked at least enough interest to read the article. See California Judge: Sprint's Early Termination Fees Illegal. I'm sure this will make for a much more interesting read on appeal (assuming they don't reach some settlement, which is equally likely), but the gist of it is that the contracts that basically put a $150-200 termination fee if you decide to get out of your cell phone contract early violate a California unfair practices law...

The Chinese Olympics

Posted on July 29, 2008
I can't say I'm overly excited about the Olympics. I should be, but I'm not. I have noticed, however, that there is much more news about the weather conditions and press access than the athletes themselves. Maybe that's part of it. At least the world will get a peek at the emerging Chinese market and see exactly what all the fuss is about...

Ah, the joy of not having to take a bar exam

Posted on July 29, 2008
A great many people across the country are sitting down over the next two or three days and taking the bar exam. I wish them well, and I will temporarily rest on my laurels because thankfully, I am not in the same boat.

YouTube Divorce case ends rather abruptly

Posted on July 26, 2008
I followed this only in passing and only to the extent that it emphasizes my disinterest in family law. Nonetheless, I saw that the husband who was vilified by his ex-wife on YouTube was the victor in their divorce proceeding. While her rant became national headlines and entertainment news fodder, in the end, the neutrality of the law and the prenup did her in...

Web networking photos and the effect on litigation strategy

Posted on July 22, 2008
This headline jumped out at me the other day. See Eric Tucker, Web Networking Photos Come Back to Bite Defendants. Basically, these pictures are being used as evidence in various trials (likely personal injury cases) and, at least in my take of the article, are invoking from the jury (or better, the judge at sentencing) the opposite of what the defense is trying to portray: antipathy...

Batman Dark Knight movie review

Posted on July 19, 2008
I saw the new Batman movie, and I'll say it was pretty good. Kind of long for me and (notwithstanding the suspension of belief already required), some of the storylines were pretty out there (sneaking an airplane into Hong Kong, for example, to extradite a foreign national)...

JibJab posts a new ad

Posted on July 16, 2008
As any reader of this blog can figure out after a few entries, I appreciate intelligent humor above most other things that make me laugh (although I freely admit that I find many more things funny now than I did a few years ago). I speculated last year on the growth of user-generated content on the internet and its effect on political campaigns and the public generally...

Texas Joe Horn's "make my day" killing

Posted on July 08, 2008
I've only paid loose attention to this news story other than to get the gist of it. I see it now as an issue of "good state, bad state" (which varies depending on who you are talking to), but more of an issue of individual state rights. For context of my entry, see Commentary: Was Burglary Worth Killing 2 Men?, Texas Law Helped Clear Man in Prowler Shooting; Discussion from Anderson 360 with Jeff Toobin on the case; Texas Man Cleared of Shooting Suspected Burglars...

Hancock movie review: Worth seeing, not only for its originality, but for its entertainment value

Posted on July 05, 2008
I saw the movie Hancock this weekend and since I am taking it easy tonight, I thought I would give a quick review as to why I think it's one of the better movies I have seen in a while. Credit to Will Smith for picking another great movie.Admittedly, the reviews I had read made this movie out to be sort of a let down...

Pundits with Law degrees - there are only two!

Posted on June 26, 2008
Having watched the news in the background to some briefing I feel compelled to work on, I am surprised by the number of people who can speak intelligently in such stark contrast to the Supreme Court's gun ban decision, which came out a mere twelve hours ago...

Locks, Stocks, and Two Smoking Barrels

Posted on June 26, 2008
Between guns and oil/stocks, today was a pretty impressive day. I have only begun to wade through this gargantuan opinion, and will likely just skim it because it is unlikely that I will be working on anything over the next two months that will be affected by this ruling (one would hope)...

DC Gun ban/second amendment case out shortly

Posted on June 26, 2008
As the world will soon find out, the so-called "DC Gun ban case" is due out today. See SCOTUS; Washington Post Supreme Court Blog. I, for one, am interested to see how it will be reconciled within the strict constructionist theory. Some initial (and incomplete) thoughts were posted in March...

Failing grades blamed on Wikipedia instead of at themselves

Posted on June 22, 2008
According to a recent headline that caught my attention, Failing Exam Passes Blamed on Wikipedia 'Littered with Inaccuracies.'. Without reading anything in the article, I am inclined to think that the online encyclopedia isn't to blame for the bad grades, just the person stupid enough to use it...

West should move to a CD/DVD system for its hard copies

Posted on June 18, 2008
Regional reporters sure take up a lot of space, don't they? And in today's cost and affordable prices for both online research services, it seems odd that the regional reporters continue to pump out book after book, practically on a biweekly basis. Here's a thought? Why not put the all the regional reporters on a 1 or 2 DVD set, containing folders of the PDFs? And since most people print from the online systems anyway, you'd probably have as many people copy the DVDs as you would those who copy the books in lieu of printing from online...

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