Tag: law school

Law Art Show Idea

I have this idea for an art show based on the law. I would display in clearly legible printed text various clauses of the United States Constitution, statutes, and case law. The laws displayed would vary in their difficulty of interpretation. It gets tricky at this point. My initial thought was to have a pad of paper underneath each “law,” but I’ve since wanted the idea to be more dynamic. Merely obtaining the observers’ interpretations would be interesting, but implementing their take on the law would bring the event to life. Perhaps their interpretations could be entered into a computer program with an algorithm that would weight them and change the original law accordingly. Then, at the end of the event (if it were to have an end), a new constitution, set of statutes and case law opinions would be released. In a way, it would be a microcosm of what happens in the legal system everyday. (Except the interpretation would be left to the people and not to highly trained judges and lawyers.)

Two things inspired this idea. First is the method of approaching problems taught in law school. Seek the issue. Find relevant law if it exists. Apply the law. At times, the process is a routine application of pattern. I.e., does my problem fit within the grid of a problem that has previously been heard? Second is the fine line between “the absurd” and “the clearly logical” in many cases — and the application of logic to the absurd.

Thus two of the things I would hope to learn from the law-art interactive show would be what methods of interpretation did the viewers use and how did they apply logic to the absurd. Or, if they didn’t use logic, what drove their decision.

The Quiet Justice

“Two years and 142 cases have passed since Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas last spoke up at oral arguments.”

He says:

One thing I’ve demonstrated often in 16 years is you can do this job without asking a single question.

If part of my grade in law school is based on oral participation, shouldn’t a Supreme Court justice be required to speak up every so often?

Criminal Law TV Shows

I’ve been watching old episodes of The Practice and Murder One on Hulu non-stop. I haven’t even turned on my TV, except to watch golf coverage over the weekend.

I’m taking Criminal Procedure at school this semester. It’s the only exposure to criminal law I’ve had to date. Criminal procedure, not to be confused with criminal law, is the “legal process for adjudicating claims that someone has violated criminal law.” (Cite) I never thought I would be interested in criminal law, however the cases in my Procedure class are some of the most interesting I’ve read. There is no shortage of drugs, death or other allegedly illicit illegal activity. When compared to 50-page antitrust cases where the highlight is the court finding that company A orchestrated a horizontal merger among companies B and C, criminal law is a thrilling read.

Anyway, the shows are interesting, and it’s always fun to relate what I’m learning to a television show.

(Last semester it was applying my newly acquired common sense Professional Responsibility knowledge to pick out moments when the lawyers crossed the line of ethics on Boston Legal.)

First Day Back

Two of my three classes were canceled due to heavy snowfall on my first day back from winter break.

My courses this semester are:

* Antitrust
* Federal Courts
* Criminal Procedure
* Wills, Trusts & Estates

The only class held today was Antitrust, which has to do with the regulation of anti-competitive activities in the free market. As is common, the first day was a general overview of the topic. Notes were taken, but nothing that will likely be tested.

The real learning as well as the full schedule will begin on Wednesday!

Law School Is Half Over

The end of my Evidence final came at 11:28am today. I am now chronologically halfway done with law school. (I think I’m a bit ahead credits-wise.) So, time to review my life.

Making the decision to go to law school was one of the hardest choices of my life. It didn’t seem like it at the time, but when I look at the time-line of my application process, it spans years and takes a few pit stops.

I took two years off after graduating from the University of Michigan in 2004. During those years I worked for two start-ups. The first, Ruckus, was a blast and forever changed my expectations for what I want out of a job – both good and bad. I was able to be creative and had very few limitations, but the down side of that was semi-chaos that left me anxious and beat at the end of the day. The second was K12, a start-up that was further along. It was more “corporate,” but still had a newness to it.

It wasn’t a complete coincidence that both Ruckus and K12 were education related. Ruckus provided digital entertainment to college kids (a slogan I’ll never forget) and K12 is a virtual curriculum. The people that helped me into those companies felt strongly about the importance of education and expanding education.

I can’t say with certainty what 1.5 years of law school has given me. There have been plenty of highs and lows. I’ve been to China to study, something I never took the time to do in undergrad. The coursework is becoming more interesting and application of it comes with more ease.

What I still lack is the notion of how to bring together prior experience, my undergrad studies and what I’m learning in law school. And then, once it’s together is some loose metaphysical ball secured with mental twine and spare post-it notes, how to apply it.

I look forward to figuring that out. Meanwhile, I have a month-long break before I start in on Law School: Part Deux.

Copyright Final Exam

I’m about to take my Copyright Final. It’s a three-hour essay examination. I’m stoked. OK, not really. But, for the first time in my law school experience, we’re allowed to write an in-class exam on our laptops.

It will be interesting to see how this goes. We can only use Microsoft Word and we can’t use any of the drop-down menus, spellcheck, etc. I think we can use bold, italics, and underline.

We had the option to choose to write in a bluebook. Several people chose this, but I’m not sure why. Either (1) they don’t have a laptop or (2) they’re weary of a new and different testing experience.

I say, “bring it on.”

Bring it on!