Law Students

Is UC Berkeley Violating Student Rights in Handing Out Suspensions Over Protests?

Posted on January 24, 2010
A statement made by anonymous Boalt students takes a look at a number of disciplinary measures handed down by UCB to Andrea Miller - one of the protesters who was present when the Chancellor's house was attacked.If Miller was engaged in non-violent protest then it's unacceptable for UCB to go after her (and from what I've read, it seems like they're systematically targeting the students who were at the Chancellor's house when it was attacked, regardless of whether or not the students can be shown to have participated in the attack)...

The Shallow End

Posted on January 22, 2010
I saw about two minutes of the premiere of the Deep End last night. I'm not much of a prime time guru, but I thought it was terrible. So did a newly minted BigLaw associate, who requested a post:So I think you should post something on N&B re: the Deep End, because it seems like a lot of us newbies were morbidly drawn to watch, and there is something really hilarious about a show about first-year associates at a biglaw firm premiering the week many first years started work after months of deferral, in an economy where lawyers have been laid off by the score...

Campaign Finance Deform

Posted on January 21, 2010
I hope someone who knows more about this will soon post a more thoughtful analysis, but in the meantime, yuck.Sound off in the comments.

A Call to Arms

Posted on January 20, 2010
Word on the street is that Zeb is going to begin instituting a $5 minimum for credit card purchases, destroying the utility to a coffee-only purchaser. Where are the protestors when we need them?

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Good! Win!

Posted on January 20, 2010
The Daily Journal is reporting (behind password protection) that Obama is "poised to nominate" Professor Liu to the 9th Cir:Jan. 20, 2010: Three Californians Up for Federal Bench (Daily Journal) "The Obama administration is poised to nominate three Northern Californians to the federal bench, sources have told the Daily Journal...

Is the Book Store Open or What?

Posted on January 19, 2010
As some of you probably noticed, neither the temporary bookstore nor the normal bookstore seemed to be open today.What's the deal with this? How will we buy overpriced books in order to support crap student groups like the Federalist Society?

Sometimes Even a Federalist's Heart Can Bleed

Posted on January 15, 2010
I recently saw a video on CNN.com (unfortunately it was Nancy Grace, so I had to look for a better source). EDIT: The story is about a school in Oregon refusing to allow a third grader with autism (it sounds like a relatively severe case of autism) to bring his service dog to school...

Wow!

Posted on January 14, 2010
Just watch...no introduction needed.Steve Benen compares this performance to Bart at the Model UN session talking about Libya:He stood up, cleared his throat, looked at the blank page in front of him, and winged it.  "The exports in Libya are numerous in amount," Bart said earnestly...

Donate Lexis Points To Help Haiti

Posted on January 14, 2010
Apparently the American Red Cross takes donations through Lexis points. As you're all probably aware, there is a huge humanitarian crisis in Haiti due to the earthquake and I'd say your Lexis points are worth more to the Red Cross than they are to your coffee budget, but that's just me...

Robertson, You Are a Disgrace to Patricks Everywhere

Posted on January 13, 2010
If you have a pulse, you know that an estimated fifty- to one hundred- thousand people died in Haiti this week.What deaths have already occurred were caused by the combination of a massive earthquake and dilapidated infrastructure, and what deaths have yet to occur will be attributable in part to lack of medical infrastructure in the impoverished country...

Your Guide to the Late Night

Posted on January 13, 2010
If you've been following the kerfuffle over at NBC regarding their 10 PM prime time and late night programming, well then you too must read the HuffPo.*  I think an overview of the cast of characters is helpful.Jay Leno -- Ex Officio Member of the Homeowners' Association...

CAFE ZEB TAKES CARDS NOW!!!!!

Posted on January 13, 2010
This is a truly momentous day.

"We're Going to Take a Commercial Break, and I'm Going to Put My Head in Ice Water"

Posted on January 12, 2010
Open thread for discussion on Professor JY's appearance on the Daily Show.I guess my thoughts on this have been replayed over and over and over . . . With respect to tonight, I thought JY was commendably calm, collected, and intelligent. So was Stewart -- I really appreciated that at those times it became clear that Stewart wasn't following, he stopped and listened...

Separate but Equal?

Posted on January 12, 2010
Two Boalties are doing all of us a favor by blogging the initial challenge to Proposition 8. As you probably know the proposition, which was passed last November, made gay marriage illegal in California.One of the things I find interesting is that the gay marriages before the proposition was passed are currently still legal in CA, while additional marriages have been barred...

Housekeeping - No, Really, Housekeeping

Posted on January 12, 2010
We all know about the budget cuts and how they've required custodial services to be sliced.I also presume that when we were all little, our parents and/or guardians taught us that when one makes a mess one cleans it up.Instead, someone at Boalt feels it's appropriate to throw a New Yorker on the mess and walk away (maybe it's an N&B poster, who knows)...

Homecoming

Posted on January 11, 2010
Last night I watched the final episode of The Wire, and without spoiling anything, let's just say a lot of things/people found their home.  This morning, Boalties are looking at first day assignments, asking about winter break, buying textbooks, etc...

Way to Go 2009

Posted on January 11, 2010
Commenter asks for a separate thread on the just released stats on the July 2009 exam.  We're at 93%, tied for 1st among California ABA law schools.  Out of staters that beat us include Harvard, NYU, and Yale.  All in all, great results...

A Modest Proposal

Posted on January 11, 2010
Seriously, people, stop flipping out about the seating charts. You don't need to fill it out ahead of time. You don't need to have intra-mod email chains (tres, I'm looking at you) debating what the appropriate etiquette is because I'll make it very, very simple:Go to class, sit in a seat...

Dean Edley's Large Role in the Obama Campaign

Posted on January 10, 2010
Marc Ambinder has an early read of Game Change, the new book on the 2008 campaign by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, and finds out the following:Harvard prof. and Obama friend Chris Edley played a much larger role at key moments in the campaign that has been previously reported...

Question of the Day

Posted on January 07, 2010
WN (Boalt '07) asks, "Why isn't there an Obama poster of Hope with 'Red' from Shawshank Redemption?"  I hope this isn't the last thing that goes through my head. 

Me Fail Typing? That?s Unpossible

Posted on January 06, 2010
Mrs. Werner, the gradeschool keyboarding nazi-marm of my youth, used to tell us, ?You are entering the computer age. The future for you is exciting and unknowable, but the one thing we do know is that you will all need to become skilled typists.? 1She uttered these and other prophetic threats (?if you do not know how to format a business letter you will never find a job, your parents will die, and you will have to beg for your food?) as she paced the rows of circi-1989 IBM computers, correcting students? posture, pointing, pecking, and giggling, and good moods...

Said Post

Posted on January 04, 2010
I've been in love with Mark Twain for a long time now.  In fact, if I didn't rely on The Simpsons or The Big Lebowski as tools of communication, I'm sure I would use Twain.  This is just an excuse for introducing one of his most brilliant essays titled "Ye Sentimental Law Student...

The Constitutionality of Health-Care Reform

Posted on January 04, 2010
As it becomes increasingly clear that some federal scheme to regulate the health insurance industry will soon go into effect, Conservatives appear ironically poised to seek help from those activist judges they're always whining about. See, for example, this article in the Wall Street Journal by Orrin Hatch and Kenneths Blackwell and Klukowski...

2010 Banned Words

Posted on January 01, 2010
Happy New Year, everybody. It is December 31st, which means (like every December 31st since 1975) Lake Superior State University has released what is now its 35th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness...

In Hindsight...

Posted on December 30, 2009
As the decade comes to an end (a year from now for the purists and math majors out there), it's always fun to look back.  This will come as a shock to a lot of the readers, but I did not get a cell phone until I was a sophomore in undergrad.  Internet? Got it while in HS and even then it was dial-up...

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2009
My end of the year "list of things that piss me off" is getting ever longer.  I really wanted to gripe about how much Delta sucks (hint:  you know a merger is not going well when you see palpable tension between Northwest and Delta crews).  I am beyond annoyed by faux "the individual health insurance mandate is not constitutional" arguments that fail to explain how that can be true in light of 70+ years of mandatory social security participation (not to mention medicare)...

The Snow That Ate Manhattan (and most of the Eastern seaboard)

Posted on December 20, 2009
I'm coming at you live from New York City, where I was lucky enough to land a job interview this week, so I can't complain too much. Nonetheless, the storm that blanketed most of the East with lots of fluffy white cold stuff has grounded every flight out of the city, and it looks like I won't be getting home until maybe Christmas Eve (or the 13th day of Hannukkah, equal rep!)...

Q: What Are These?

Posted on December 18, 2009
A: They are Nuts & Boalts word clouds, generated by wordle.net.

SCOTUS Bling

Posted on December 18, 2009
There is all kinds of SCOTUS junk out there, from baseball cards to bobbleheads. Generally, if it can be made, molded, and sold, then it can be SCOTUS-ified. No, really. It's true.Wall-mounted bling is a nichier category. Traditionally, it has been dominated by Supreme Court bar membership plaques, which are awarded to that highly select group of 300,000 attorneys who are licensed to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States...

Something is Awesome in the State of Denmark

Posted on December 15, 2009
From yesterday's Daily Journal (sub req'd) (PDF of story, h/t anon):Two Berkeley Law students will push for more awareness of the human rights implications of climate change policy as they join the thousands of people gathered in Copenhagen for the United Nations climate change summit ...

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