Saturday, April 29, 2006

I've finished my last class. When I say "last class" I mean it in the sense that this is the last class that I ever will go to because my scholastic career has come to an end. I've got some finals and the filthy, stinking, bastard child of a whore of an A paper, and then I graduate. I'm released on the street to fend for myself. Just me, my bar card, and the desire to litigate the crap out of everything I see.
It's spooky stuff. I was in court the other day and I realized there's only a test and a couple of months between me and the attorneys in the court room. My clients are going to expect me to know and I won't be able to say, "I'm just a student, let me ask my boss and do some research and call me next week." Crazy.
So if anyone is nursing a grudge maybe we can sue someone. I've got some student loans to pay off.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

There was a rep on student loan consolidation on campus today. He sat at a table completely surrounded and explaining the new program for at least two hours. I left at that point, but there were always at least 5 students asking questions and 3 or 4 waiting near by. It's not a job I would have liked because we literally had him surrounded while we shouted questions at him. I assume it went on like that for the next 3 hours with no breaks.
Almost the entire student body is anxious about how we're going to deal with our loans. What they ought to do is make the ABA send out reps to field these sessions. If the reps had to hit 30 law schools in 15 days I bet they would start rethinking their requirements for law school accreditation. We might have some option other than wasting a year racking up debt while we wait to take the bar.
We might be better lawyers if we could divert some of our anxiety from student loans to what the phrase "in the interest of justice" actually means to the community.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Antonio versus the A paper

I just got an idea. I should have written my paper on pirates and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). To be a pirate you can apparently be missing any one of your limbs, have sight problems, alcohol issues, or scurvy. You can have any one, or actually multiple, these disabilities and still be a pirate.
What would constitute unqualified for a pirate. I would think both hands b/c fighting with a cutlass and pistol seems to be a common pirate job duty. But then you've got Captain Hook who was able to excel as a pirate, even becoming captain.
Many a pirate's had an eyepatch and because pirate's use spyglasses instead of binoculars it's apparently no hindrance. Depth perception would seem to only matter on land.
I guess the only really universal pirate job duties involve things like parrot care. Then you have to ask would be considered a reasonable accommodation for someone who was too disabled to be a pirate. Maybe a lowered crow's nest for pirates with vertigo.
I bet I could have got at least 40 pages out of that and my footnotes would have been cool stuff like Pirates of the Caribean instead of Harvard Review of Criminal Law and Procedure Law Journal.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Students who walk out

The National Lawyer's Guild put this site up to help students who are having problems because they walked out to participate in immigrant rallies.

Estudiantes unidos jamas seran vencido

http://schoolwalkouts.info/

The National Lawyers Guild and other legal organizations have established this web site in order to assist students, teachers and parents who have been affected by the recent student walk-outs in Los Angeles and the surrounding area.

Before you do anything else, go get any papers you have related to an incident (truancy ticket, suspension, or other) and put them in a safe place. You will need them!

This web site is designed so that you can both learn about your rights regarding school matters, and also let us know of problems you may have had because of the recent walk-outs. We cannot promise to represent you, but for WALK-OUT related matters we can try to connect you with an attorney who is available to help you handle your truancy, suspension or other school discipline matter.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

I haven't posted in forever. I know it. I just don't know what to post about it. There have been huge marches for immigrant rights, a major war protest, and a roller derby match. I still can't think of what to post. Law school has killed my brain.
I can give y'all helpful tips about getting arrested. If you're going to lie to the judge and say a prior offense was done by some guy who stole your I.D. make sure that the person didn't show up for multiple hearings. No I.D. thief in the history of the world has shown up to complete conditions of a sentence for the benefit of some person whose I.D. they stole. Think about it.
There's a new judge on Criminal Procedure Court. Every judge has their own personality. There are a couple of days as we all adjust. Those days are painful. Every judge has different parts of the rules procedure. The judge sprang a couple on us the other day. Hard, salty, experienced criminal defense attorney's were stunned as they tried to figure out what to do with the new judge. I wonder if this happens every 3 months when the CPC judge changes.
I had a paper to work on. I thought I would have been posting a lot more to avoid working on it. Maybe when I study for the bar I'll be more prolific. I'm also trying to read non law books and see if I can reignite that little part of my imagination where funny things are born.