The Shark

space law at ole miss: is it worth it to get that specialization certificate?

[justin gosling]

The space (law certificate) race is officially over, and a University of Mississippi graduate is the winner. Technically it's a "Certificate in Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law" but let's not split hairs. Slashdot posted the news last week, but I guess it didn't make headlines because everyone was consumed with exams.

Well, exams are over, and here it is. Space law. I remember when I was researching law schools and people would throw out a sarcastic reference to X law school's phenomenal space law program... I guess they'll have to mock something else in a post-space law certificate world.

I don't know of any other schools offering such a unique specialization, but most schools offer some sort of general certification program. For instance, my school has a few, including the newly approved IP Concentration. I'm jumping on board with the IP concentration even though my impression about specializations is that they offer great guidance for course selection, but are not going to make or break your career. It's all about grades, then law review or moot court, and then... yeah, that's pretty much it.

february bar results: IN

[cynthia foster]

As some of you descend into the pit of bar preparation, Cal Law offers up the February 2008 results names, model questions and answers (helpful for study prep!), and three associates' reflections on their first year of employment.  All this can be found here (no registration required).

john yoo protesters descend on berkeley law commencement

[abony holmes]

It’s true that I’m remaining mum on my feelings about the John Yoo controversy, but since the protesters were sure to cause a commotion at commencement ceremonies Saturday, it was my blogger duty to head out and get the low down.

Protester counts range from 50-150, but many turned out with signs and placards:

Others agreed to be interviewed.

In two parts, a Code Pink member reveals why her organization thinks Yoo's employment should be terminated and that he should be disbarred.

And another protester on the ("mostly positive") response the protests received from students, family members attending commencement, and faculty.

same-sex marriage: a long-time in the making, according to berkeley 3L

[abony holmes]

In this installment of our “law student on the street” interviews, I offer evidence that law students don’t live in a law school vacuum.

Angela Clements, a newly-minted 3L at Berkeley Law, discusses the monumental California Supreme Court decision on gay marriage. Angela is so connected to the real world that she actually attended the press conference in San Francisco in the middle of her 2L final exams. For this, I give Angela mad props. Justin, Brian, and I have barely had the time to make blog posts these last few weeks, much less head to the California Supreme Court to obtain a court decision and read it.

Ed. note: for a hard-hitting look at the alumni affiliations and "doability" of the California Supreme Court justices, check out Above the Law.

newsom rides wave of civil rights success to king hall

[brian lauter]

In 2004, religious groups protested when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (left) was selected to give the commencement address at USF. Earlier that year, the newly elected mayor had set off a national firestorm when he ordered the San Francisco County Clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

On Saturday, two days after the California Supreme Court struck down California’s ban on same-sex marriage, Newsom ignored a lone booer as he spoke at the King Hall commencement, and received a standing ovation. A lot can change in four years. 

In an inspirational and personal speech (webcast available here, Newsom starts at 52:00), Mayor Newsom began by framing the same-sex marriage issue in historic terms, comparing Thursday’s decision to Loving v. Virginia, which overturned Virginia’s ban against interracial marriage, and comparing the civil union/marriage dichotomy to the separate but equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson.

However, the best moments of Newsom’s address came later as he discussed several themes that have pervaded the same-sex marriage debate, including power, humanity, public opinion and moral authority. Newsom clearly believes in the universality of the rights and arguments the same-sex marriage movement is founded on, and he underscored that universality on Saturday by arguing that, if the graduates considered these themes in their lives and careers, they would find happiness and success.

As encompassing and insightful as Newsom’s address was, he was still able to find some time, in the last five minutes or so, for a slew of classic commencement clichés. My top five:

1. Find your bliss
2. Live your life authentically
3. Double your rate of failure
4. You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take
5. Live out loud

The general consensus, as far as I could tell, was that Mayor Newsom and the faculty speaker, Professor Jennifer Chacon (30:15 on the webcast), were excellent. Congratulations to the Class of 2008!

the ramp-up to the yoo protests: who's going to be there, and why

[petra pasternak]

Getting up at the crack of dawn to drive to Berkeley on Saturday isn’t Daniel Mayfield’s idea of fun. But that’s what the San Jose criminal defense lawyer plans to do tomorrow, to be in front of the Greek Theater in time for “a dignified and lawyer-like protest with pointed questions” addressed to John Yoo (left), Dean Chris Edley, and the Boalt Hall faculty, students and alumni about why there isn’t an investigation of Professor Yoo.

The Boalt professor is widely known now for writing controversial memos on interrogation while he was a lawyer at the Justice Department; he has agreed to testify next month before a congressional subcommittee that’s investigating the Bush administration's interrogation policies.

Mayfield will be one of an undetermined number of protesters, some in costume, who plan to bring up the matter of torture as Berkeley students file into the Greek Theater tomorrow to celebrate their new JDs.

linx: everything and more, from finals to commencement and on through clerkships

[abony holmes & cynthia foster]

In honor of final exams, we bring you some grades/exam-related linx:

• Why Are Grades Private? (PrawfsBlawg)
• What Happens When a Professor Writes a Predictable Exam? (PrawfsBlawg)
• Problems With the A in "IRAC" (law_students.livejournal.com)

And for those who have a little hope for the future left, on commencement:

• A Law School Graduation Gift That Really Rocks (PRWeb)
• At Law School Commencement, Grads Urged to Chart Own Paths (Stanford Report)
• O'Connor Urges Law Grads to Protect Judicial Independence (William & Mary News)
• Newsom to Speak at U.C. Davis Law School Graduation (San Francisco Business Times)

And the general knowledge portion of the exam:

• Top 10 Law Student Books of the Moment (Law Vibe)
• Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dildo? (Feminist Law Professors)
• Estimated 2009 "Yes-Points" for Law School Applicants (Prelawadvisor.com)
• Harvard Law Faculty Articles to be Free Online (Legal Technology via law.com)
• Federal Appellate Judicial Clerks 2009 (lawclerkaddict2009)
• Loyola Law School Launches Weekly Legal Podcasts (L.A. Legal Pad)

why NOT to run and hide in law school during the recession

[abony holmes]

I’m expecting more than a few fresh from college 1Ls looking for shelter from the abysmal job market in the hallways of Berkeley Law. Apparently this isn’t a new phenomenon.

Setting aside the obvious irony of taking oneself off the job market for three years (and amassing hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt) in order to escape a bad economy, this strategy still doesn’t strike me as a particularly prudent one.

For one thing, law school is not a catchall graduate school. In fact, many people (and I mean a lot of people) hate law school and wish they'd never applied. Just as college students are unlikely to start applying to medical school to delay the job search, it’s not wise to apply to law school for that reason — unless you actually think you might like it.

We have a lot of lawyers in this country. If I were picking a graduate school based on the demand of the job post graduation, I’d think dentist or orthodontist before lawyer. I have never met a dentist who had to do temporary dental record review because the market was soft.

gigantic drug bust in san diego, legal futures of the arrested up in the air (hmmm)

[abony holmes]

A UC San Diego student about to graduate with a degree in criminal justice will learn more about the system the hard way.

Police have arrested seventy-five students at San Diego State University on drug and weapons charges. The undercover operation began when a 19 year old San Diego State student, Jenny Poliakoff, died from a lethal combination of cocaine and alcohol.

Her brother, soon-to-be law student Nate Poliakoff, is happy about the outcome of the undercover investigation.  "The biggest thing is that I’m glad something came of it," he said in an interview with FOXNews.com.

jfk gives hope to new college students and faculty

[petra pasternak]

Although New College law school has technically ceased to exist, a measure of optimism has returned to faculty and students there.

This week, professors and staff are interviewing at John F. Kennedy University School of Law for jobs at its proposed new public interest program in Berkeley, Ed Roybal, who has been New College’s acting faculty chairman, told The Shark yesterday afternoon.

Not all the final approvals are in yet, and the exact nature of the program needs to be ironed out, Roybal said, but he expects that hiring decisions will be announced next week.