Category: Law School

My thoughts on the law and law school.

Haidian District Court

We took a field trip to the Haidian District Court in Beijing, China a few days ago to view a criminal proceeding. Despite being labeled a field trip, it wasn’t that exciting.

The court room was large and had an abundance of comfortable audience seating. The judge sat behind the bench and two men who I’m told are like jurors sat on either side of him. To the left and right of the judges bench were desks for the respective councils. The defendant sat alone, facing the judge.

Before I get into the details of the trial, here is the link to the pictures I took outside and inside of the court.

The young woman on trial had worked as a cleaning lady for an electronics company and was accused of stealing 46,000 RMB from her employer. She had taken the keys and opened a safe with 60,000 RMB in it. She may have taken rings worth about 80,000 RMB, but I’m not sure because the translation device wasn’t working very well.

The prosecution put forth evidence such as a bank deposit slip showing that the defendant made a deposit of 41,000 RMB, a receipt for the purchase of a plane ticket, and a cell phone bill.

The defense council, who was appointed by the Court, basically argued that her 23-year old client had lived a tough life. Her father had left at a very young age. The girl was cared for by her grandmother after her mother ran off with another man, and the girl had to start working at the age of 13.

We were asked to leave when the proceedings took a recess, so I don’t know the outcome. The experience was interesting despite the technical difficulties of not hearing well through the translation device. There definitely seemed like there was less respect for the defendant and less advocacy. The defendant was situated in a very vulnerable position – on display in from of all council and the judge. Perhaps this is more common than I think, I don’t know. But it seemed biased.

Me in China Lately

Well, I’ve taken four one-hour exams in two days and they have been a blast. Not really.

The first exam yesterday was Intro to Chinese Law, which would be better named Intro to Chaos. It asked us to briefly describe the Chinese legal system and then talk about a case that pertained to the Chinese Constitution. The main thing you need to know about the Chinese Constitution is that it does not carry a great deal of weight. It’s more of a supplementary document than a preemptive one.

The second exam yesterday was Technology Licensing & IP Management. This was my favorite class, and taking the exam wasn’t so bad. Our first fact pattern prompted us with a patent licensing issue in which we were to play the licensing expert and guide our clients, Gina and Sam, through the negotiation and licensing process. I don’t remember the other questions.

I was least looking forward to today’s first exam, World Trade. The course was difficult to follow and covered more material than should be covered in a ten-course class. While the material was potentially interesting, it is difficult to convince myself I got anything from it.

This afternoon’s Contemporary Issues in Copyright exam was almost enjoyable. The first question asked if we thought a court would find that Google’s use of copyrighted wroks for its Book Search Project would be found to be fair use under §107 of the U.S. Copyright Act. I say yes, I think so. The second question asked us to differentiate between the principles of two major cases regarding contributory infringement of online service providers. This wasn’t bad, either.

The lask exam tomorrow morning is Intro to Chinese IP. Can’t wait to be done.

Other than studying a bunch, I’ve managed to watch all of Clark and Michael – a ten-episode series about and by Clark Duke and Michael Cera trying to get a show picked up. Michael Cera played George Michael on the hilarious “Arrested Development,” which was unfortunately canceled after just three years. Clark is his best friend.

I’ve also joined Pownce, which is like the Twitter service I already use, but has more features I don’t really like.

And I’m looking forward to having time to watch the cheap DVDs I’ve bought over here, including Transformers.

CHIPSI Classes Over

Summer CHIPSI classes ended today, which is a good thing. I wasn’t as pleased with them as I had hoped to be. The subjects had potential, and some came through. But there is / was definitely room for improvement.

We have a day off before exams start on Wednesday and end on Friday. After that, we’re free for the rest of our stay here in China. And free to enjoy the remaining few weeks of summer back in the U.S.

Closing dinner tonight. Despite the difficulties of getting situated over here, I feel like it was just yesterday that we were trudging through the rain to the opening dinner.

Happy Fair Use Day

Happy Fair Use Day, which was apparently today or yesterday. It’s tough keeping track while living a day ahead of what I’m used to. (Link)

This is §107 of the U.S. Copyright Act, which provides a for exception to an author’s exclusive rights that come with copyright. Fair Use is generally what allows you to reproduce limited amounts of an author’s work for “purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research” without infringing on an his copyright.

Be careful, though. If you use the “heart” of the author’s work (E.g. – A passage from a book that is so compelling as to be the only reason to buy the book.) then you could be found to be infringing.

University of Michigan Admissions

In 2003, three years after I had been admitted to the University of Michigan, the constitutionality of the points based admissions process was challenged. The case, Gratz v. Bollinger, reached the Supreme Court. The admissions process was held to be unconstitutional because it was not narrowly tailored enough to not violate the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the United State Constitution.

You need 100 points to be admitted.

Academic factors (100 points):

  • 80 – High school GPA
  • 12 – ACT or SAT score
  • 10 – Quality of high school
  • 8 – Strength of high school curriculum

Non-academic factors (40 points):

  • 10 – In-state resident
  • 4 – Alumni relationships
  • 1 – Outstanding essay
  • 5 – Personal achievement
  • 20 – Other, including
    • Socioeconomic disadvantage
    • Underrepresented minority
    • Athletic recruitment
    • Provost’s discretion

Looking back, I spent way too much time on my essay.

What About the Kid?

I’m reviewing for my Constitutional Law final and I’ve just gotten to Personal Liberties: Abortion under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Specifically, I’m briefing Roe v. Wade, which for the handful of people who don’t know, is a case concerning whether a Texas law that banned abortion under almost all circumstances was constitutional. The Court held that the law impinged on the woman’s right to privacy as a fundamental right.

That’s all old news. I’m just wondering who Roe’s kid is and how he/she feels about not only almost being aborted, but also about being the outcome of such a landmark case.