Marriage is so overrated

No time for more than just a quick pic from some of yesterday's big events at GW -- Dean endorsed Kerry. As Scott at L-Cubed notes, Dean still knows how to work a crowd better than Kerry ever will. I also agree with Scott that this was the best sign in the crowd yesterday.

Posted 08:28 AM | Comments (3) | election 2004

Elle's Back

Liable returns and she's doing well:.

While I have 2 years and some odd weeks to go, [law school] has thus far been one of the greatest, most horrible, most terrifying and most rewarding experiences of my life.

I'll second at least parts of that. The good ones. Really. Yeah.

Welcome back, elle!

Posted 07:35 AM | Comments (1) | law school meta-blogging

Optimus Prime

Which Colossal Death Robot Are You?
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

I am Optimus Prime!

Vast, red and ready to turn into a lorry at the slightest provocation, you are a robot to be reckoned with. Although sickeningly noble, you just can't resist a good interplanetary war, especially when Orson Welles is involved. You have friends who can shoot tapes from their chests. Tapes that turn into panthers. And other friends who are dinosaurs. Dinosaurs who jump out of planes. Will you have my children?

Link via Screaming Bean.

Posted 07:29 AM | Comments (3) | life generally

Rockage

One thing that makes busy-ness (bisy backsons are us) better is great music, and in that area Elevator Ride will give you all you crave and more. For starters, you can't beat four free songs, especially when one of them is "Nervous Breakdown Prevention Day," which, as I mentioned before, is in heavy rotation on the iPod and iTunes. Rockage makes all the difference. If you are about to rock, check out Elevator Ride. And I salute you once more.

Posted 05:47 AM | life generally

Wait, I have to learn something?

The hustle currently consists of: preparing and practicing oral argument for moot court, attending Supreme Court oral arguments for a court-watching assignment, trying to pull the auction together (now accepting any and all donations — please!), planning that course schedule for the next two years, trying to start outlining for finals, keeping up with financial aid deadlines, oh, and maybe doing some studying and going to class where I can. Needless to say, most of this is being half-assed, at best. But this long task list explains why I can't do much more at this moment than point you to some great writing and thinking about law school, being a law student, and practicing law.

From Stay of Execution: Why Should I Stay In Law School. Great question. Possible answers: Power and because "feeling bad accomplishes as much as feeling nothing"; rockage; and because, as Musclehead puts it:

there [is] something terribly wrong with a society that places such a higher value on helping the rich get richer than helping suicidal kids get better.

Related: A symposium from De Novo about Being and Becoming a Student, including followups here and here. Yes indeedy, I'd love to read all that. Maybe someday I will.

Posted 05:21 AM | law school

Get thee to the loo!

Speaking of scheduling, GW scans every written comment students make about their professors and then puts them online as PDF files so we can try to get an idea of who we want to take our classes from. As you can see, some of the comments can be quite humorous (click image for larger, more readable version). This was an actual comment about my very own ProfessorCrim last fall, and I really only agree with the last part—he kept us on our toes and was a terrific teacher. He was also rather stern most of the time, but scary? Not so much.

Posted 06:43 AM | Comments (1) | law school

Ambivalent Scheduling and Career Imbroglio

Hi. Now seeking any and all advice about "planning a balanced curriculum" for years two and three of law school. GW offers so many options that sound good, I really don't know how to choose.

That's right, no more will all my classes be chosen for me and handed to me on a silver platter schedule (or shoved down my throat, depending on how things go any given day); instead, I must figure out some plan that will get me from here to "public interest lawyer" in two years or less. Depending on many variables (whether I make journal, how many clinic hours I take, whether I do any outside placement at any time, whether I do mock trial for credit next fall, and probably other variables I'm not thinking of at the moment), I probably have 15-20 classes left to take over the next two years. So far, the classes that seem indispensable include:

1. CrimPro
2. ConLawII
3. Evidence
4. Labor Law
5. Federal Income Tax
6. Professional Responsibility (required)
7. Admin Law
8. Corporations

So, unless some of those are not as indispensable as I think, that leaves maybe ten or so "electives" left to fill. A few high priority ideas include:

• Federal Courts
• Secured Transactions (I was told by a trusted advisor I should take at least one course focused on the UCC)
• Environmental Law
• Negotiations and/or Mediation and/or Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Consumer Mediation Clinic
• Employment Law and/or International Labor Standards and the Global Economy
• Antitrust
• International Law

Those alone would just about fill up the schedule but then I have a longer wish list that includes:

• Public Justice Advocacy Clinic
• Federal Criminal and Appellate Clinic
• White Collar Crime
• Race, Racism and the Law
• Literature and the Law
• Higher Education Law, Communications Law, Legislative Analysis and Drafting, Campaign Finance Law, Lobbying and the Law, Products Liability and/or Toxic Torts, Consumer Protection, Public Interest Lawyering, Legal Activism, and Housing and Community Development Law

See what I mean about lots of choices? I'm really just a dilettante who doesn't want to specialize -- at least not yet. At the moment I see about four different career possibilities that I might aim for:

1. Public interest/non-profit work, possibly to include lobbying, for a group like MoveOn or Public Citizen. This would likely require a longer stay in D.C., at the prospect of which I'm not exactly thrilled. Also, a variation on this would be to work for a federal agency, such as the FCC or FEC, helping draft and enforce legislation.
2. Becoming a public defender or legal aid lawyer in a small town somewhere (preferably or probably MI, MN, CA, or any of the "mountain" states).
3. Becoming a general practitioner, either with a small *gasp* plaintiff's firm, or on my own, again in a small town in one of the above locations.
4. Something completely different where my J.D. is only incidental, such as working as a legal journalist somehow. This is a pretty vague and unformed option, obviously. Getting away from direct practice of law, I could also see myself enjoying/being fairly good at career counseling for law students.

So there you go. The ambivalent scheduling and career imbroglio. Any tips, thoughts, or suggestions? Am I hopelessly misguided either in my scheduling or career thoughts, or do some of the above options sound more realistic than others?

Posted 06:23 AM | Comments (5) | law school

Cardozoian Wisdom

From City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617:

[The Constitution] was framed upon the theory that the peoples of the several states must sink or swim together, and that in the long run prosperity and salvation are in union and not division.

Right. So gated communities, private schools, private health care, and all the trappings of the grossly wealthy minority in the U.S. are unconstitutional, right? ;-)

Posted 03:57 PM | Comments (5) | law school