Law Students

An iPhone is Like Having ___ in Your Pocket*

Posted on January 24, 2009
After a protracted internal debate, which I managed to externalize to almost everyone I know, I recently chose a BlackBerry over an iPhone.[cue hateful comments]The response from my 'friends' was impressive both for its volume and its venom. I was amazed; I'm aware that nobody does passive-aggressive spite like Democrats and Mac users (I know because I dabble in both) but this time I was floored...

Beats that are "jaw-droppin', ear-poppin' fresh"

Posted on January 23, 2009
Stanfurd's Lessig had a thing or two to say about updating copyright law when he appeared on the Colbert Report last week.Over the course of the interview, Colbert warned his viewers that he would be "very angry and possibly litigious" if someone remixed the footage of the interview with a "great dance beat" and allowed it to be played in dance clubs across America...

We Have to Stimulate Something

Posted on January 23, 2009
First, from the department of childish humor:?How can you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives?? Boehner asked. ?How does that stimulate the economy?? Boehner said congressional Republicans are also concerned about the size of the package...

New Student Center: Reactions and Thoughts

Posted on January 22, 2009
The new student center is [finally] open! Please use this thread to post your comments...[For non-current students: it's the student journal office area that now resides in the west basement.]Access to the student center is limited to law students only - controlled by our student ID cards...

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April Showers Bring May Outlines

Posted on January 21, 2009
. . . and right now it's only January. In other words, it's the wrong end of the semester to talk that kind of shop. But here goes: the editors of this page are engaged in a project similar to Boalt.org, and have emailed N&B soliciting contributions from Boalties...

How Bar Czar

Posted on January 21, 2009
A question regarding livescan fingerprinting for the moral character app from a current 3L reminded me that co-blogger Max Power has put considerable effort to collect relevant information regarding the CalBar applcation process. His posts are here and here.

Some Things, You Just Can't Make Up

Posted on January 20, 2009
VP-for-a-few-more-hours-Dick Cheney, who broadened the scope of Vice Presidential power in fantastic and unprecedented ways, and who repeatedly asserted that the Vice President is not part of the Executive branch, will leave a legacy that is either formidable or feeble...

"Obama" Street, San Francisco

Posted on January 20, 2009
Sorry to post two in a row, but this is just too good.Update: more photos here.

The Death of DRM

Posted on January 20, 2009
I debated whether this is topical enough to post, but I figure most of us use iTunes, and we have a lot of IP lawyers-in-training, so here you go. It appears iTunes will be DRM-free as of this Spring. I'm not a fan of DRM, but I don't plan on making a living in IP...

EXTRA! EXTRA! Condi First African American and Female President

Posted on January 20, 2009
Ok, this madness about the oath of office is getting ridiculous now. But I just had to bring this little bit of hilarity to your attention.Professor Ken Katkin has a theory that Condoleeza Rice, and not Barack Obama, was the first acting African American President...

"So there it is. We?ve done the lawyerly thing"

Posted on January 19, 2009
If (when?) I write a legal disclaimer for my law firm's website, I hope it reads like Valorem Law Group's. (HT: Legal Antics.)

Do You Remember Where You Were When Obama Was Inaugurated?

Posted on January 19, 2009
So tomorrow history will be made. Just like election night last November, I'm pretty sure tomorrow morning will be another one of those moments for our generation in which we will always remember where we were. We haven't had many of such moments, and I'm glad that this one will be mixed with "happy" unlike some of the other memorable moments we've had...

Who Could Have Predicted This?

Posted on January 19, 2009
An e-mail went out today informing us that the new student center will not open on Tuesday, as planned. Shocking, I know. Although we're assured that the mysterious problems causing the delay should be resolved "very quickly," the school has given no indication when this might be...

Harvard Law School Is a Good Start

Posted on January 18, 2009
Why does everyone try to paint Barack Obama with their personal brush? Hawaiian? Urban? Community organizer? Smoker? Ivy league education? Single mom? He's your man. That strikes me as a setup for disappointment; the discovery that he may not share your values (e...

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Posted on January 17, 2009
This morning in front of the law school I helped an elderly woman with a walker, who was thwarted by the construction, step off the curb and cross to the south side of Bancroft. If the sidewalk is is going to be closed for the next two years, we need crosswalks...

We're Moral Idiots

Posted on January 16, 2009
This is several days old, but it keeps nagging at me. See, it turns out that even senior officials at the Pentagon admit we tortured at least one Guantánamo detainee:"The senior Pentagon official in the Bush administration?s system for prosecuting detainees said in a published interview that she had concluded that interrogators had tortured a Guantánamo detainee ...

Sucks To Be Us

Posted on January 16, 2009
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported today that job losses have been disproportionately suffered by Generation Y."For workers under 29, the unemployment rate jumped to more than 11 percent in December, compared with under 9 percent a year ago, according to Labor Department figures...

Never Been Happier to be Wrong

Posted on January 15, 2009
A while back, I agreed in the comments with Toney about the instructions for a water landing being unnecessary because planes rarely end up in tact after colliding with water. I am happy to admit my error as it looks like all passengers of US Airways 1549 survived.

Who Sets Our Priorities?

Posted on January 15, 2009
I've been wondering how Boalt decides what courses to offer, and whether students' interests and demands play any significant role. Here are some interesting stats from Tele-BEARS website:Evidence Section 1:Enrolled: 153 Waitlisted: 21 Enroll Limit: 161 Evidence Section 2:Enrolled: 82 Waitlisted: 25 Enroll Limit: 91 Topics in EvidenceEnrolled: 23 Waitlisted: 2 Enroll Limit: 26 The Evidence Advocacy classes all have similar waitlists; that's right, every single evidence class at Boalt currently has a waitlist...

Best timekilling websites for class

Posted on January 15, 2009
Everyone needs to zone out once in a while during class, usually when that annoying jerk in the back keeps asking the least relevant questions humanly possible. Since I've mastered the art of zoning out, I figured I'd share a few weapons from my arsenal...

Nerds, Rejoice!

Posted on January 15, 2009
For the Watchmen case is settled!

The Global Economic Holocaust Hits Home

Posted on January 14, 2009
BHSA sent an e-mail to student organizations explaining how Berkeley is requiring additional information from BHSA before funds already requested by student groups will be distributed. Apparently they imposed these new requirements post-hoc, which has caused delays in the usual funding schedule...

BART Shooting Update

Posted on January 14, 2009
I suppose everyone has already heard that the former BART Officer was arrested in Douglas County, Nevada. As a well-placed source said, "well when they say they arrested someone in a given county, you get the idea that it's rural." Apparently, this is around the area of South Lake Tahoe...

Visiting Professors

Posted on January 14, 2009
Part of the law school culture is to allow visiting professors, law firm partners and associates, and professors from other departments to teach. This has some obvious advantages: it promotes collaboration among law schools, professors and students; it exposes students to different perspectives and teaching styles; and it gives students a chance to take courses not otherwise taught at BLaw...

Real-Life Rory B. Bellows*?

Posted on January 13, 2009
You be the judge.* AKA Krusty the Klown, AKA Herschel Shmoikel Pinkus Yerucham Krustofski.

Colorado Dreamin'

Posted on January 13, 2009
Let me say straight away that I love California. I have never been happier anywhere else, and I am just plain not leaving. The trend for Boalt grads seems to be to stick around as well, which people back east can never seem to understand. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "Well, you shouldn't go to Berkeley, because they don't put people anywhere besides California," when I was deciding whether to come out here...

Back 2 Skool

Posted on January 12, 2009
The official welcome back thread. Welcome back!-------------[Update (Patrick): I would like to piggyback onto Dan's thread (permission, Dan?) part of BB's latest email:The long-awaited mail slots are now in place. You will find them just outside the Computer Labs in the Law Library...

More Good News for Bay Area Law Firms

Posted on January 12, 2009
Oh wait, I meant that other adjective, "bad."Headline: "Bay Area Firms See Profits Drop Up to 21%, Revenues Flat"The lede: "A tanking economy and frozen credit markets struck a double blow to Bay Area-based Am Law 100 firms in 2008, causing slower revenue growth and a drop in profits, according to The Recorder, a sibling publication of The Am Law Daily...

Greatest Hits

Posted on January 12, 2009
Thirteen journalists with the Center for Public Integrity took what had to be a sobering look at hundreds of inspector general reports, Government Accountability Office assessments, congressional oversight investigations, and news stories to compile this list of 128 of the greatest failures in federal government under the Bush Administration...

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Oil

Posted on January 12, 2009
A professor explained this morning that business students are more engaging than law students. To combat our apathy, he announced a plan to base twenty-five percent of the course grade on "class participation." *Yes, you heard right: not "contribution," but "participation...

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