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March 31, 2006
unblague: Calling all bloggers...!
http://unblague.blogspot.com/2006/03/calling-all-bloggers.html I started completely anonymously, then about a year and a half ago I came “out” by writing a short article about blogging, using my real name as a byline, and allowing the editors to mention the name of my blog. Since that time, I've continued to post pseudonymously, knowing full well that anyone who wants to spend a minute on Google can find my real name. I think it's better in the long run to blog under the assumption that your readers know your “real” identity or could know it very easily (e.g. via a Google search or two). If you block under this assumption you will be more careful about what you say and less likely to say something that you will regret in your “real” life. Yes, this means you sacrifice the freedom to publish whatever the hell crosses your mind, but in the long run, that's going to be better for you. I think the above is the best plan if you hope to maintain your blog long-term, but even if you just blog for six months, I still think you should do so with the assumption that your identity is known or easily could be. You may never run for public office, but someone may end up digging into your past for some other reason and wouldn't be nice if you didn't have to worry about all those crazy insane things you said on your blog? And remember, even if you delete a blog, it doesn't go away -- the Google cache will save it, as will the Wayback Machine/Internet Archive. In short, the risks of pretending that anonymity is even possible are just too large for me to accept.Posted by mowabb at 10:28 AM
March 30, 2006
The Bitter Law Student: The Bulldog
http://bitterlawstudent.blogspot.com/2006/03/bulldog.html Hey, congrats on the great feedback. Whatever they want to call you, it sounds like you did an excellent job. What really matters is not what people think of you, but for whom you put your skills to work. I think the clients who are going to seek out the “bulldog” lawyer are more often those who are trying to get away with something or screw someone. If you can make sure you never work for clients like that, you're good. In other words: Be a bulldog for justice, not greed, exploitation, or other bad things. ;-)Posted by mowabb at 10:22 PM
Preaching to the Perverted : Steve Balmer: Idiot
http://www.gulbransen.net/preaching/2006/03/steve_balmer_id.html I agree that Ballmer's an idiot, but just to play Devil's advocate (and in the highly uncharacteristic role of being ever so slightly critical of Apple, no less!), some believe Apple has thrived because it doesn't listen to customers either -- it tells them what they want. Steve “Apple” Jobs is famous for saying: “It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them.” Is the iPod so popular b/c it's what people want, or do people want it b/c it's so popular? I don't know how it works exactly, but it seems that tech companies *do* need to listen to customers (and I think Apple does); they just need to be a lot better than Microsoft at responding to what they hear.Posted by mowabb at 10:14 PM
March 29, 2006
Screaming Bean - temping
http://babybean.blogspot.com/2006/03/well-im-slightly-closer-to-small-temp.html Ouch. I fear I will be joining you in the land of the temp job very soon. What about “document review” at a big firm? I've known law grads who have made some serious cash this way, but I don't know how common that is...Posted by mowabb at 09:29 PM
March 28, 2006
Blonde Justice: The Devil Made Me Do It
http://blondejustice.blogspot.com/2006/03/devil-made-me-do-it.html#comments I guess maybe I could imagine if a prosecutor let their emotions get the best of them and said, “I can't let this little girl's killer walk free. I'd rather lose my law license than this case.” Well, sure -- that must happen all the time. Prosecutors have conviction, right? ;-) I just took the MPRE last fall, and no, the law hasn't changed. You're right that prosecutors have the a clear obligation to stand up to supervisors or anyone else who encourages them to act unethically. Of course, don't you think that prosecutors commonly say the same thing about defense attorneys -- that they go too far and stretch or even break the lines of ethical conduct? We had a lifetime prosecutor come speak to a class recently who described this as a universally held attitude in the U.S. Attorney's office -- everyone there thinks the public defenders are a bunch of rule-breaking, unethical zealots who should have their law licenses revoked. My question is: When attorneys (on either side) see other attorneys acting badly, why don't they report it and press for formal discipline for the bar? I know there are reasons, but still, isn't that also one of our professional obligations? Finally, you could use Audioblogger to record and share the sound of your professor saying “dispute!” We would love to hear it!Posted by mowabb at 07:46 AM
March 27, 2006
parenthetical statement: phoenix
http://web.mac.com/washingtonydc/iWeb/parenthetical%20statement/blog/985A2BEE-7660-433C-9B23-6DBD6B867F10.html Congrats on your new home here. I'll be interested to see how things go w/iWeb and iLife for you. I've played w/iWeb and it's great for putting a cool site together quickly, but using it for a blog? May you find it to be as simple as you hope!Posted by mowabb at 08:47 PM
March 26, 2006
Blonde Justice: Destination Unknown
http://blondejustice.blogspot.com/2006/03/destination-unknown.html#comments It seems to me that the only way in which being a public defender is a “starter job” is that it requires a lot of energy and dedication -- things that tend to wane a bit for most lawyers over time. I very much respect and admire the “lifers” I've known in the office where I interned and during my clinic experience b/c these are the people who know the most about what they are doing. They have accomplished things I can only dream of and they have what appear to me to be very satisfying and high quality lives. I don't know if I will be a public defender for three or 30 years, but I know I could do much, much worse than to have a life like those “lifers” have. (Of course, I need to get a job as a public defender before I can worry about how long I can keep it, but I'm trying to remain optmistic about that part....)Posted by mowabb at 05:39 PM
3L Epiphany: Taxonomy Work Thus Far
http://3lepiphany.typepad.com/3l_epiphany/2006/03/taxonomy_work_t_1.html#comment-15428052 This is looking very interesting -- much more helpful than I'd initially thought. One suggestion: I would not put Blonde Justice into the “humor” category. Yes, some of what she writes is very fun, but that is balanced by quite a lot of serious and very informative commentary on criminal defense law and what it's like to be a public defender. Lots of blogs make readers laugh once in a while, but I really don't think it's fair to Blonde Justice to suggest that is its main goal.Posted by mowabb at 05:32 PM
March 25, 2006
MA criminal discovery & V for Vendetta
http://tonguebutnodoor.net/monica/archives/2006/03/post_12.html 1) That MA decision just blows. I wonder how common the FL approach is v. the new MA rule. I'd never heard of either extreme before this. 2) I still have to see “V for Vendetta” and I definitely will, thanks to your recommendation. I was excited about it when I first heard of it, less excited when I heard some of the initial reviews, and now excited again....Posted by mowabb at 01:52 PM
March 23, 2006
Arbitrary and Capricious: Trying times
http://skellywright.blogspot.com/2006/03/trying-times.html I just had that co-defendant plea problem, too. Twice. My client had two terrific cases but once his codefendants took pleas and gave statements, suddenly our good cases were up in smoke. I hate it when that happens!Posted by mowabb at 09:59 AM
March 21, 2006
3L Epiphany: Question on Alphabetizing Blogs
http://3lepiphany.typepad.com/3l_epiphany/2006/03/question_should.html#comment-15259448 I gotta say I agree w/“some guy” here. You see blogrolls alphabetize with “the” only b/c the software is doing the alphabetization and it's not smart enough to ignore articles. If you're going to arrange the blogs in your taxonomy by hand, alphabetize like a human (ignore articles), not like a machine.Posted by mowabb at 07:02 PM
March 20, 2006
buzzwords: beach books
http://tonguebutnodoor.net/monica/archives/2006/03/post_10.html Well, I understand that South Beach isn't what you would call paradise, but I can't help pointing out that you're still technically in law school and yet you're in a place where you can just casually say “I was sitting on the beach last Saturday....” Sorry, I just can't feel too badly about the dearth of coffee shops. ;-) As for books, I'm sure Amazon delivers to SoBe. I tried to read Galapagos a few months ago and got about 1/3 of the way before something else grabbed my attention. It was interesting, but... One of my friends thinks it is one of the best books ever so I'll probably get around to reading it at some point. Zen and the Art was a transformitive book for me in H.S. I don't remember why I loved it so much, but love it I did. I think it was just the whole mood and tone of the thing -- the whole existential exploration deal. I expect now it would seem narcisistic or overwrought to me, but who knows? I'll look forward to hearing what you think if you end up reading it.... I do think most of us don't stop often enough to ask what we're doing with our lives and why, and I think ZatAoMM encourages you to do that. In fact, right now might be the perfect time for a little soul-searching and self assessment as you finish school and transition to a career. Can you tell I really wish I could go to the beach and read a good book or two?Posted by mowabb at 09:20 AM
Audacity: One Conviction
http://audacity.typepad.com/index/2006/03/last_night_i_ca.html#comment-15195665 What I like about the first story is that it shows what tools prosecutors are. If you're a prosecutor, you can't follow your “conviction” -- you have to do what your boss tells you to do, and generally that will be to nail people to the wall whether they're guilty of a crime or not. I like this b/c I think it will discourage people from becoming prosecutors. Maybe. I mean, who wants to be such a tool?Posted by mowabb at 08:29 AM
divine angst: i knew it wouldn't be easy; now I'm sad about it, too
http://divineangst.blawgcoop.com/archives/2006/03/i_knew_it_would.html Don't be sad, K! Give the firms the finger and go do something else! Non-profits and other forms of public interest practice (i.e., gov't work) are much more family friendly -- no billable hours! You might not make a mint, but if satisfaction in your work is important to you, you apparently already understand that a law firm is not the place for you. p.s.: For those who are not subscribed to the NY Times, the article is still available here.Posted by mowabb at 06:59 AM
March 19, 2006
buzzwords: juvenile section
http://tonguebutnodoor.net/monica/archives/2006/03/post_8.html Well, I was meaning to comment on this before but now that you've called me out... I've been representing a few juveniles in my clinic and it's a lot like what you describe. One of my kids was brought into the system for the very first time for nothing more than a schoolyard fight where no one even suffered more than a bruise. I can't help thinking when I see stuff like this that it's a real failure on the part of the school to allow kids to get a criminal record for something that has always been part of growing up. But the law is in these schools every day -- many of them have full-time police officers walking the halls and patrolling the grounds every day so that if anyone gets into trouble it's not just school trouble, it's criminal trouble (so long as they can file it under some criminal law, e.g. assault). This is awful b/c then these kids get records, plus many spend time in juve and come out ten times worse than they went in. It's painfully sad. I can't help thinking that crap like this doesn't happen outside of cities (meaning in smaller towns). I mean, is this universal, or is it just a city thing where we are criminalizing childhood? It sure as hell wasn't this way when and where I was in school, but maybe it's changed everywhere... Plus, talking to these kids about their options is another painful experience. It's one thing to tell an adult client “you can do X or Y” in this situation. The choice is theirs and since they are adults you have to assume they are making rational decisions. Not so w/a 14-year-old who may not even have the ability to think beyond what happens tomorrow, let alone five years from now. How does someone like that really assess the ramifications of a plea offer? All he wants is to get home out and of jail; he'll do *anything* to make that happen. And yet, as attorneys we're supposed to do what our clients say, right? But I'm pretty much w/womanofthelaw -- as hard as it is working with kids, I really like it. You can't always do much for them, but in those cases where you can make a difference, that difference can have much more lasting consequences on their lives b/c they are so young. That's the theory, anyway. Plus, I much prefer the attitude of the juvenile system which is, theoretically, “we need to do what's best for this child” (as opposed to the attitude for adults, which is basically “lock the bastards up!”). Your arguments about rehabilitation and the potential improvement of your client can go a lot farther in juvenile court.Posted by mowabb at 02:49 PM
The Great Change: Turning Cathy into a Lawyer: Meaningless assurances
http://www.cathygellis.com/mt/archives/000701.html Yeah, I saw this, too, and thought it was totally lame. Maybe that's because I know how effective ethics training for lawyers seems to be. The question isn't really so much whether people in these professions must complete training, it's whether they actually behave ethically. Teaching ethical behavior does not necessarily produce it and I think most people realize that. I wonder how realtors are regulated. What happens if they are caught doing something unethical? Can you find out before you hire a realtor whether he/she has had any ethical complaints or problems in the past? Why don't they talk about that in their ads? And why don't lawyers do the same? of course, I know why -- neither profession is probably proud of what people would discover if they started looking into those records. Still, making these records more public might be one step toward encourging more ethical behavior in these professions.Posted by mowabb at 11:54 AM
March 17, 2006
Concurring Opinions: Should Silence Be Free?
http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/03/should_silence.html “No person shall be . . . compelled in any crimenal case to be a witness against himself.” U.S. Const. amend. IV. The Constitution does not “celebrate” silence for any purpose; rather, it guarantees the right of the accused to remain silent. It contains no qualifiers or caveats. The argument here seems to be that we should allow law enforcement to compell the accused to speak (even via torture!) simply because “the overwhelming majority” thinks the accused's right to remain silent has a limit. If that majority feels so strongly about that, perhaps it should use the political process to amend the Constitution; short of that, it seems the defense argument here is on very firm Constitutional ground.Posted by mowabb at 08:42 AM
March 15, 2006
Woman of the Law: ATTN: DEFENSE BAR
http://womanofthelaw.blogspot.com/2006/03/attn-defense-bar.html#comments That's bad. Is there some way to challenge this in federal court on Constitutional grounds? Yikes. The link to the case didn't work for me but I found that the cite in Westlaw is Commonwealth v. Durham, 2006 WL 589386. Possibly people w/out Westlaw access can still access the case through the court's site (click “opinions” under “Supreme Judical Court”). Goddamn I hate Westlaw!Posted by mowabb at 01:04 PM
Gideon's Guardians: passed, grrr
http://gideonsguardians.blogspot.com/2006/03/passed-grrr.html It sounds like your intern is getting some excellent experience, which is probably why she got that job. As a law student, I'm jealous!Posted by mowabb at 12:48 PM
March 13, 2006
Arbitrary and Capricious: WA: 5th, 6th Amendments overwhelm harried prosecutor
http://skellywright.blogspot.com/2006/03/wa-5th-6th-amendments-overwhelm.html Wow, I really feel sorry for that poor guy. Not. Here's hoping the BOC doesn't fall for his little sob story.Posted by mowabb at 08:49 AM
March 11, 2006
blackprof.com: Crime fighting ticket cheats?
http://www.blackprof.com/archives/2006/03/crime_fighting_ticket_cheats.html I like your optimism that the honor system on the St. Louis metro is some sort of conscious choice by local government to help mitigate the negatives of poverty and racial segregation. You may very well be right. However, the cynic in me says that this may also be a great way for the local gov't and the middle and upper class citizens of St. Louis to make sure the lower class has a way to get to work every day in order to serve the privileged who don't ride the metro -- to make and serve their food, clean their houses, pick up their garbage, and perform all the other myriad services the middle and upper classes require. I don't really know anything about St. Louis, so I could be completely wrong. And like I said, I prefer your optimism....Posted by mowabb at 02:50 PM
divine angst: mechanical woes
http://divineangst.blawgcoop.com/archives/2006/03/mechanical_woes.html Ooh. Icky. Bad Apple. Very. Bad. This is when Apple's whole “our way or the highway” attitude really really sucks. I guess maybe this is also why they put that new magnetic release on the new MacBook Pro, eh? I hope Apple just decides that this is one of the kinds of repairs it's going to cover. Speaking of which, it's about time for me to decide whether to fork over the $200 for 2 more years of Applecare coverage. Stories like this make me think pretty seriously that it's not worth it. If Apple decides not to cover this, don't you feel like you deserve a new machine, anyway? I mean, you've had a rough few weeks lately, maybe a shiny new MacBook Pro is exactly what you need.... ;-)Posted by mowabb at 07:09 AM
March 07, 2006
Gideon's Guardians: Niche Marketing
http://gideonsguardians.blogspot.com/2006/03/niche-marketing.html OMG! Those cards are painful to look at -- both because they *are* so clipart cliche, but also because of the situations they evoke. Ouch.Posted by mowabb at 09:28 PM
Blonde Justice: Give Yourself a Clean Slate
http://blondejustice.blogspot.com/2006/03/give-yourself-clean-slate.html#comments Man, I've got that kid client right now who just wants to plead to get out of juve. He doesn't have a record at all yet and we have a relatively good chance of keeping it that way, but he just doesn't care. “Plea” seems to be the only word he knows. It's killing me!Posted by mowabb at 12:45 AM
March 06, 2006
3L Epiphany: Question about Links and New Windows
http://3lepiphany.typepad.com/3l_epiphany/2006/03/question_about_.html#comment-14714700 You can control this behavior by setting the “target” attribute on an anchor tag to “blank.” I'd give you examples but you've set up your blog to reject HTML in comments so any examples will prevent me from submitting this comment. (BTW: I may be missing it, but I haven't found an email address on your blog, either. Such an address would allow readers to send you stuff that won't fit in comments for some reason and might therefore be a good idea.) Others will disagree w/me, but I encourage you to avoid making links open in new windows. This is annoys me no end b/c it puts the page author's preferences above my own as a reader. I prefer to respect my readers' intelligence and preferences and allow readers to decide whether to open a link in a new window, or a new tab, or whatever.Posted by mowabb at 06:32 AM
March 04, 2006
Not Guilty: That book is awesome!
http://notguiltynoway.blogspot.com/2006/03/that-book-is-awesome.html It's cool to hear about setting up your own firm -- please continue letting us know how it goes! Also, I wonder if you're aware of My Shingle, a blog by a solo practitioner for solos. I think you're starting up a small firm w/a couple of other people so it might not completely apply, but she does have a cool Guide to Setting Up a Law Practice that might have some good tips in it.Posted by mowabb at 09:03 AM
March 03, 2006
Audacity: Blogger Code of Ethics
http://audacity.typepad.com/index/2006/03/blogger_code_of.html#comment-14595284 Well, I dunno. If the blogger posted it, he/she must expect people to read it, and he/she must know that people often like to talk about things they read, right? If it's online, it's fair game for links and comments, isn't it? Sure, you might not want to be too mean or snarky if this person is a friend, but still, linking and commenting should be fine.Posted by mowabb at 12:29 AM