Law Students

Pleaded v. Pled

Posted on February 22, 2008
My UC-writing-teacher-friend shares:Hey Patrick,I regret to inform you that the difference between "pleaded and "pled" is that "pled" is not a word. The past tense/past participle of "plead" is "pleaded." Spell-check says its a word and maybe some dictionaries, but ask the OED and it's a no go...

Own (and drive) a piece of history

Posted on February 22, 2008
In late December of last year, a local politician was a victim of a violent crime. While sitting at the intersection of 51st Street and Shattuck, California State Senator Don Perata (D-Oak) noticed a man with a ski mask approach him. Before he knew it, a handgun was pointed at him "gangster style" and he was being asked to remove himself from his vehicle...

Preventing Future Tragedies

Posted on February 21, 2008
Sadly, school shootings appear to have become a regular part of our society. Beginning with Columbine (to my recollection at least, though it probably wasn't the first), there have been a number of successful and unsuccessful attempts by mentally ill individuals to end their lives while taking a number of others with them...

Living In The Wild, Wild West

Posted on February 21, 2008
Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies are no longer listed as endangered.One would think that, as a supporter of wolf re-introduction, I would be thrilled by that news. And I would be, if I thought it was the product of a candid assessment of the animals' recovery in the western United States instead of just another road sign in the back-and-forth political wrangling that is wolf politics...

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Losing to Idaho

Posted on February 20, 2008
When you are from the state -- make that the great state -- of Idaho, you take every chance you can to trump up your communal moment in the limelight.  Especially if it is a moment that doesn't involve a hate crime, a fundamentalist political organization of dubious genealogy, a US Senator, or potatoes...

9th Circuit Day, Part II

Posted on February 20, 2008
9th Circuit Day made law.com via analysis of fajita-gate's possible effects on municipality liability for off-duty employee conduct.Or, more accurately, 9th Circuit Day made law.com via analysis of the Judges' behavior at oral argument in fajita-gate...

10 Things I Wish I Knew About Berkeley & Boalt

Posted on February 19, 2008
Whether the ominous looking paint marks in the courtyard will turn into jackhammers, heavy equipment, and scurrying dudes in hardhats and suspenders before, during, or after my final examsWhat is being built at Oxford and Allston, and how tall it will be when it is doneWhether I will, or will not, be caught if I blow through fastrak on my motorcycle, and whether the experiment is worth four bucks and a brief journey to the paying side of the legal systemWhat the reading room in the library would feel like if the north wall were anything other than coldly blank and barrenB0b Berr*ng's range of visual perception, in feet, and whether he navigates by sonarThe location of a green dry cleaner in BerkeleyThe name of the monkey and the location of the hat that determines grades, and whether said monkey wears a fez and carries a watchWhat Robert J...

Registrar's Office: Brace for constructive criticism

Posted on February 18, 2008
Here's an informal poll: how many times have you read the BBB so far this semester? Me: Zero. You: likely batting less than .500.I find this a serious problem. The BBB was a very important tool my first year. I'd receive it via PDF in my email and I would read it all the way through...

Zero Tolerance

Posted on February 15, 2008
Rumor has it that a certain K professor has instituted a zero tolerance policy as regards students coming late to class.Rumor also has it that a certain N&B admin has instituted a zero tolerance policy as regards comparing those who characterize people who support the troops as war-mongers...

Better to know (when for the hell of it)?

Posted on February 15, 2008
Dean O has announced that class rankings (for the Class of 2009) are available per request. From her email: Please remember that disclosure of your class rank is permittedexclusively for applications for judicial clerkships for aftergraduation. You may also disclose it if you are applying for a lawteaching job...

Dildos Now Legal in Texas

Posted on February 14, 2008
Permit yet another non-Boalt diversion from yet another non-Boalt student...Just it time for Valentine's Day, the Fifth Circuit helps the public learn to help themselves. In this opinion, the Fifth Circuit strikes down Texas's "obscene-device statute" as unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment...

Sharing the spotlight

Posted on February 14, 2008
I apologize. This post has absolutely nothing to do with law, our campus, or even the city of Berkeley itself.Rather, I'm posting it because we, each as a college, a town and a school of law, have looked ridiculous to the outside world for a number of things recently and I think it's time to share the spotlight with those students across the bay...

Alito Tunes in, Dissents

Posted on February 13, 2008
Only year after the show went off the air, Justice Alito has discovered The Sopranos. And now he is pissed off and speaking out -- apparently the image of Italian-Americans as portrayed by the show conflicts with a strict interpretation of the textual history of our country's Italian immigrants...

/Something Relevant to Boalt Here/

Posted on February 13, 2008
I had a BLAST at 9th Circuit Day, today. I thought it would be interesting, but I had no idea it would be fun. Please enjoy these quotable moments -- not verbatim by any stretch -- from the arguments:Judge Quotes:Attorney: "The Immigration Judge does not believe the petitioner says who he says he is...

Photos from yesterdays protest, counter-protest, and counter-counter-protest

Posted on February 13, 2008
Crazies on both sides.

Fire the NYT!

Posted on February 12, 2008
Speaking of the increasingly unreadable Paul Krugman, is it just me, or is the whole stable of NYT columnists about two months past the drink-by date on the milk carton?Tom Friedman has been writing the same column since 1997 ("Globalization: Wow!"), Nicholas Kristof is the guilty conscience I don't want to hear from at 8:15 AM, Bill Kristol's new column is generated entirely from a robot stored at the RNC, Bob Herbert is right but boring, and Maureen Dowd is now completely indistinguishable from one of the Heathers after losing a student council race...

"Nixonland" and "Clinton Rules"

Posted on February 12, 2008
Not to step on the toes of our Election Wizzard, I share what I think is a very well done editorial from Paul Krugman.As he points out, supporters of each candidate should have no trouble rallying behind the other if he or she gets the nod.Why, then, is there so much venom out there? (Not from Boalties, of course!)

Berkeley City Council v. Marines - Part Deux

Posted on February 12, 2008
Have you had the privilege today (as I have) to see Berkeley at its finest?From the Chron:Anyone going tonight? Discussion is supposed to start at 9:00. It's sure to entertain.Anyone have a prediction re: action(s) of the city council when the entire nation is watching? Resulting aftermath?

Yes We Can, Iran!

Posted on February 12, 2008
The comments to Patrick's post below suggest the best test of your feelings about Obama is whether that Will.I.Am video inspires hope or creepiness. In the interests of party unity, I found a similar video everyone can rally around (except for the 1.5 Republicans who read this blog).

PI/PS Day Blues

Posted on February 11, 2008
Despite all the criticisms of CDO that I've seen here, I've been offering them the benefit of the doubt since August. When a meeting with one of the counselors didn't answer any of my questions, I figured it was just that I hadn't known what to ask. Now, after PI/PS Day, I'm about ready to give up on the CDO...

"Work Spouses"

Posted on February 10, 2008
Time for a somewhat light-hearted reprieve from the recent string of more serious blog posts.I stumbled across this article about platonic work flirting and found it amusing because I think it applies to our law school more than most work environments...

Representatives who ride the short bus

Posted on February 06, 2008
This is really chapping my @$$. I consider myself a fairly reasonable, moderate political individual. Yet I live in a town that's hell bent on letting everyone know it can out-liberal the next town. The most recent example of our wonderful city council's antics is the anti-Marines resolution...

A Little Hillary Never Hurt

Posted on February 05, 2008
A quick interruption of the EW lovefest [An aside: Apparently EW didn't realize that his TNR bookmark was actually directing him to N&B these past few weeks, but his confusion has been rewarded with heaps of praise from the commenters. I'm enjoying the EW posts myself, but I can assure you, anonymous commenters, that if you ever met the myth that is EW, you would never again seek him out for advice on anything]...

Final Predictions?

Posted on February 05, 2008
Here's mine:California: Obama 47.1, Hillary 45.4Nationally: Hillary 13 states, Obama 9 statesTotal votes cast: Hillary +610,000Media storyline: David (aka Obama) fights to an impressive near-draw with Goliath (Hillary). She wins this round, but he has the momentum and the favorable schedule...

"Don't Blow It Obama" Update

Posted on February 04, 2008
The campaign figures it out. From a memo from campaign manage David Plouffe (reprinted at the Atlantic's blog). They need to keep pushing this -- you already see the ludicrous, last-6-hours-only reframing that Obama is now the favorite tomorrow...which just isn't true (yet; check back in 12 hours)...

California Dreaming

Posted on February 04, 2008
Speaking of the tightening race in California, there's a host of polls out today showing what a lot of us have suspected for some time: California is a toss-up for the Dems. We've got Suffolk (Obama +1), Rasumussen (Obama +1), Reuters (Obama +4), and Mason-Dixon (Hillary +9)...

CA Q&A w/ EW

Posted on February 04, 2008
A commenter to my post below asks a couple of sharp questions, and, easily flattered, I can't resist answering.What indications are there, if any, of who will win the mail-in ballots on Tuesday? The CW is that Hillary's position in CA is stronger than it seems, because almost a quarter of the state has already voted through early absentee balloting and has thus "missed out" on the Obama surge...

Schadenfreudengland

Posted on February 03, 2008
Schadenfreudengland (n.) (shäd'n-froi'd-ing-land) The act of taking pleasure from the no-good, cheating, classless New England Patriots finally getting what was coming to them.

Is Obama About to Blow It?

Posted on February 03, 2008
Like the Dude dealing with Walter as they make the hand-off of his dirty undies, I'm deeply worried Obama is fucking this up. Yes, he has the momentum, the newspapers, the money, the endorsements, the press, and the pundits working in his favor. But there's one thing he doesn't have working in his favor: the numbers...

The Networking Dilemma

Posted on February 01, 2008
I keep hearing from CDO, the professors, and the LRW/WOA instructors, that my best resource for finding a summer job is the student body. This makes a great deal of sense - other students are much more likely to give us the lowdown on what a particular employer is like...

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