The Shark

linx: the seven most interesting things you'll read today.

[cynthia foster]

Ten days after the election and public service is It...

• Stay Focused (National Law Journal)
• A 'Bong Hit for Jesus' Costs $45,000 (National Law Journal)
• UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic Wins Habeas Case! (ImmigrationProf)
• The Ex-Donald Bren School of Law (MoneyLaw)
• California Western Law School Launches "Transition to Practice" Program (The LACBA Student Lounge Blog)
• The Five Stages of Death I Mean Law School (J.D.? ... Maybe)
• Berkeley Wants Admission Research to Go National (Cal Law - free reg. req.)

law professors, listen up: it's time to get on the oregon trail.

[abony holmes]

Call me juvenile, but I agree with Miriam Cherry at Concurring Opinions that more professors should use gaming in the classroom. Not only does it help students learn, but it keeps them engaged in the class and makes the memorization part of learning (which is unavoidable in law school) a lot easier.

The most important aspect of gaming in the classroom is that it makes learning fun. Yes, it sounds cheesy, but compare the number of times you got excited about playing Number Munchers or Bingo in elementary school versus the number of times you were excited about practicing your multiplication tables with no gaming angle. As Cherry describes, “If work is meaningless, or unfocused, it can become drudgery. Turn it into a contest, and those same tasks that were earlier a drag can become downright fun.”

I would probably have a greater understanding of Constitutional Law if Wii came out with a new game on the subject.

There are limitations to gaming in the classroom as a learning tool. The most complex ideas in the law are probably out of the reach of a game of Jeopardy. If the games become too competitive some students may check out (though most law students are competitive and would probably get really invested — this is a sort of scary thought). There is also a danger of over simplifying the concepts being taught in order to fit them on a Jeopardy card. Still, as a former high school teacher and current student, I know there is a great pedagogical value in it, and I would love to see more gaming in the classroom.

government work is the new biglaw.

[brian lauter]

It looks like the public sector is about to be flooded with young attorneys.

The other day, I read an article on Law.com about increased law student interest in public sector jobs due to the recent political campaign and, specifically, due to Barack Obama’s win.

Obama himself spurned lucrative Biglaw offers and probably a Supreme Court clerkship in favor of going into public service.  He’s also repeatedly encouraged youth to enter public service and has outlined a plan to put his money where his mouth is after he’s sworn in.

I don’t doubt Obama’s power to inspire law students to public service, but I think there also may be larger forces driving law students into government work. Namely:

With Biglaw firms going under left and right, mid-size firms trimming their ranks, and even small firms feeling the crunch, students that would have been in line for Biglaw jobs in the past may also be turning increasingly to public service.

I have several friends who, after being no-offered or having their offers rescinded for economic reasons, have been interviewing for government jobs. Others came to law school hoping to go into government work, but have been seeing increased competition for jobs they would have easily gotten a year or two ago.

For instance, District Attorney hiring, always competitive, has been hyper-competitive this year.  The Ventura County DA, for example, interviewed over 80 people for four positions last month.  I’d be willing to bet state and federal agencies have been experiencing similar upticks in interest.

Government law work has always been enticing to a lot of young attorneys. Reasonable hours, a varied practice, and excellent in-court experience make for a pretty killer combination.

If the economy continues to tank and President Obama decides to help young public sector lawyers get rid of some of that oppressive law school debt, BigGov might just become the new Biglaw.

hastings' alumni mentor program offers reassuring view of a broader legal world.

[justin gosling]

Along with the rest of you, I am worried about the sour economy and the effect it will have on my job prospects. Not only are there fewer jobs available, but firms are applying pressure even to those that receive summer offers.

This is not a time to sit idly or bury my head until springtime.

So off I went to Career services to take advantage of the UC Hastings Alumni Mentor Program, which pairs up interested students with alum that have similar interests. While the program isn't directly about finding the student a job, the process is a great opportunity to ask a practicing attorney questions about real life layering in a specific field. The mentor may reveal practice areas you didn't know existed, or may help you realize that your dream job probably won't mix well with your dream social life. All in all, the process seems very cool, and will give students a better idea about how and where to search for jobs.

The only problem is that our program is also very popular.

berkeley loves obama, and was out on bikes to prove it.

[cynthia foster]

For those of you who are curious what Berkeley (in and around UC Berkeley's campus) looked like on the night of November 4, look no further.  Our own Abony Holmes caught it on tape, as she drove around town.  Obama revelers were out in full force:

Berkeley Obama celebration from The Shark on Vimeo.

where were the law profs? prop 8 and the absence of opposition.

[brian lauter]

Do you remember when Professor Richard Peterson of Pepperdine Law appeared in that ridiculous Yes on Proposition 8 ad and lied about what would happen in California schools if Proposition 8 didn’t pass?

Do you also remember when Andrew K. Benton, President of Pepperdine University asked the Yes on 8 campaign to stop using the University’s name in the ad and the campaign just put up a disclaimer?

I remember.  What I don’t remember is any No on 8 commercials with law professors declaring their support for marriage equality.  I actually don’t remember any law professors campaigning for No on 8 or publicly debunking the glaring untruths propagated by the Yes on 8 campaign.

I’m not trying to pin the Proposition 8 loss on law professors, of course, but law professor participation, or the lack thereof, exemplifies the absence of grassroots campaigning that some are arguing is the main reason Proposition 8 passed.

For instance, law professors lined up to support Barack Obama.  They made public endorsements, organized, wrote articles, blogged, sang songs, and gave money. 

We didn’t see that kind of grassroots support for the No on 8 campaign.  The battle over Proposition 8 essentially became TV-ad driven, and law professors who supported gay marriage weren’t even organized well enough to combat the televised lies coming from their own ranks.

Yesterday, the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging Proposition 8 on the grounds that the initiative process itself violated the California Constitution. 

The ACLU’s argument makes some sense, but, as others have pointed out, it may depend a little too much on the courage of the California Supreme Court.

Most law students I know opposed Proposition 8 for one reason or another, and I’ve been hearing a lot of sincere disappointment and anger over its passing.  However, I don’t think the courts can save this one.

My advice to angry and disappointed law students is to start getting involved now, not in litigation, but at the grassroots level.  Facebook groups are being created, petitions are being started, and there will be many more opportunities to make sure that marriage equality in California gets the same kind of support the next time around that Barack Obama did this time around.

I also have some advice for Proposition 8 supporters, but I’ll keep that to myself for now...

us news switches print formats for second time in one year.

[cynthia foster]

According to The NY Times, US News is switching print formats from biweekly to monthly.  Just under a year ago, US News switched from weekly to biweekly, and "conceded then that the magazine had ceased to be a newsweekly competing directly with Time and Newsweek."

No doubt the company was admitting then to its now-obvious shift in focus from news reporting to consumer information reporting.  The recent rankings drama aside, US News seems to be trying to establish itself as the master printer-of-lists.

Which makes me wonder: if US News can't find a viable format for its controversial school rankings brand (and its other, less notable, information services), is it headed nowhere good fast?

edley rides obama daylight express.

[cynthia foster]

Legal Pad is reporting that Berkeley Law's Dean Christopher Edley has been named to Obama's transition advisory board.  Legal Pad notes that this is not exactly a surprise, since Edley and Obama have known each other since Obama's days as a student at Harvard Law School.

Snuggle up to Edley real tight, kids.  He may be your "in."

learn your bob dylan, cause the judiciary just loves him.

[brian lauter]

A couple of weeks ago I read an item in Idealawg about Professor Michael Perlin of New York Law School who apparently enjoys the music of Bob Dylan so much that he works Dylan song lyrics into the titles of all of his articles. 

This reminded me of an item I read this summer about U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.  In a dissent filed this summer in Sprint v. ACC, Chief Justice Roberts wrote:  “’When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.’ Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone, on Highway 61 Revisted (Columbia Records 1965).”

Although legal historians have likely ignored Roberts’ Sprint dissent, Dylan aficionados immediately objected to Roberts’ correction of Dylan’s grammar.  The actual song lyric is: “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.”

Principal among these objectors is Professor Alex Long of the Oklahoma University City School of Law.  A couple of years ago Professor Long published a study of the most often cited song lyrics in judicial opinions and legal periodicals.  According to Professor Long’s results, Bob Dylan is the most cited, followed by the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, and Paul Simon.

Professor Long blames Roberts’ error on his law clerks: “I suppose their use of the Internet to check the lyrics violates one of the first rules they learned when they were all on law review: when quoting, always check the quote with the original source, not someone else’s characterization of what the source said.”

Apparently, USF Law is now offering meditation and interpersonal skills courses to help their students with social skills.  How many more clerking errors will there be before law schools wise up and start offering music classes?

linx: love your professor day.

[cynthia foster]

The only reason I remembered that today is Halloween is because of the guy in the mullet wig with the McCain sign standing outside of Hastings this morning.

• Stanford Law School's Mad At Me (Greta Van Susteren on the Greta Wire Blog)
• Plight of Undocumented Youth Focus of UCLA Documentary (EGPNews)
• Law Prof Blog Rankings (TaxProf)
• Law Professors Decry Proposition 8 Claims (The Desert Sun)
• Is a Laptop-Free Zone the Answer to the Laptop Debate? (Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog)
• Nobody Likes a Tattletale (Nuts & Boalts)