The Shark

save some time, make ms word work for you.

[justin gosling]

I was scrolling through my usual list of blogs when I came across this tidbit on Above Supra: "why doesn't MS Word auto-correct 'judgement' (with the E) into 'judgment'? Do you know how many times I've typed that wrong?"

My SNL computer nerd instantly kicked in and said it was totally easy to add an AutoCorrect option that would automatically change "judgement" (with the E) into "judgment." For the uninitiated, AutoCorrect in Word is the function that turns your typos into real words. I'm sure you knew it existed, but I bet you didn't know it's very easy to add and change AutoCorrect triggers. Poke around in Word and you'll find an area where you can add new entries to AutoCorrect. For added fun, log onto a friend's computer and add an AutoCorrect option to replace "court" with "your mom."

In addition to typos, you can use AutoCorrect to save time. I use AutoCorrect to streamline my note taking.

When I first started briefing cases I typed out "Plaintiff" and "Defendant," but that lasted one whole hour before I decided it was taking too much time. I could have used capital P and D, but where is the fun in that? The raw thrill of using Greek letters is much more my style and I used AutoCorrect to facilitate my awesomeness. Typing "dd" creates Δ; typing "pp" creates Π; and typing "ss" creates §. That's right, I've even made citing statutes a breeze. While I used the Δ and Π shortcuts more frequently, the § shortcut probably saved me the most time because I didn't cite statutes very often and when I did I didn't want to jump through hoops to get that darn section sign on the page.

What time saving typing tips do you have up your sleeve?

building a better worldview.

[abony holmes]

I know I said I wouldn’t be controversial, but I have something I need to get off my chest. It’s about Building a Better Legal Profession. Now that they are “itching to grow” and targeting my law school, I think it’s time I speak up about how I feel about the “movement.”

First, some background. BBLP’s mission is “to ensure that practicing law does not mean giving up a commitment to family, community, and dedicated service to clients.” Sounds nice.

But something is missing. BBLP admirably wants “a renewed and meaningful commitment to real, measurable improvement in gender and racial equity and diversity” and wants “firms [to] replace billable hour systems with transactional billing.” However, nowhere on the website does BBLP call for lower pay to ensure a higher quality of life.

And herein lies my problem.

earth shakes, so do bar-takers' nerves.

[brian lauter]

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake interrupted the World Series.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake interrupted television and movie production.

The 2008 Chino Hills earthquake interrupted... the bar exam.

That’s right, you paid tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars for law school, then a few thousand more for a bar review course, you studied for two months straight, you’re in the middle of day one of a three day exam, and the ground starts to shake.

To be honest, it doesn’t really sound like a big deal to me. But, given how particular many law students are during regular old finals (I’m talking about you, guy with ear plugs, three red bulls, eight sharpened pencils and a ream of scratch paper), I wouldn’t be surprised if it threw a few nervous test takers off their game.

As an avid childhood Giants fan I’ll always remember how the ’89 quake ruined the Giants’ impending comeback. I hope this year’s bar takers end up with more positive memories of the Great Quake of ’08.

the psychology of class schedule selection.

[justin gosling]

I thought everyone registered for their fall schedule a while ago, but it looks like Berkeley Law kids have their second round of class selection today. In honor of selecting a class schedule I've compiled a list of possible schedules, and what each one says about that particular student. While I realize that some classes fill quickly and it's not always possible to cash in on your ideal schedule, everyone enters the registration fray with a schedule in mind. Schedule breakdowns go a little like this:

The Front-Week Load (FWL): The FWL is a dedicated student that has an eye on their weekend plans. They don't want a pesky one hour Friday seminar to come in the way of their kayaking trip; Friday must be free for travel to the nearest patch of wilderness. The FWL focuses mainly on extracurricular (and granola) activities.

The Back-Week Load (BWL): The BWL is a lot like the FWL, except their goals are 180 degrees apart. Where the FWL focuses on travel, the BWL is a massive party animal. While it may seem counter-intuitive to pack all your classes in the end of the school week, and possibly impact drinking on Friday, the BWL knows that they have a full weekend of drinking ahead of them and need Monday (and maybe Tuesday) to recover from the unavoidable debauchery.

The Free Evenings: Mr./Ms. Free Evening takes whatever smattering of morning and midday classes available so that they are able to spend their evenings free from the law school world. While you might think that free evenings translate to free evenings of fun and adventure, it's more likely that they are just matching their schedule with small screen entertainment. Yep, this is your reality TV junkie that will not miss American Idol, What Not To Wear, or one of the several hundred Law & Order spin offs under any circumstances.

The Early Morning Only: The Early Morning Only schedule is your gunner. Their one dying wish is to schedule classes even earlier in the morning so that deadbeat (read: normal) law school students won't bring down the level of conversation. The Early Morning Only student didn't drink a triple vanilla soy latte to gloss over every possible outcome in a rule against perpetuity hypo—they want rigor and nuance.

The "Time Between Classes:" The "Time Between Classes" schedule is the dark horse of the potential law school schedules. This student might be the smartest around because they don't pack classes back-to-back. This allows them time to prepare for the upcoming lecture, which means they won't be caught off guard in Socratic purgatory.

The Whatever My Love For Environmental/Tax/Immigration/Etc. Law Will Allow: Ahh, the dedicated student. This student is so focused on their one concentration of the legal world that they really don't care when a course is offered. While their dedication to one area of law is admirable, the potential for a chaotic schedule to take its toll at the end of the semester is huge. Beware of this student around the middle of October.

The Night Owl:  One word: lazy.

show me the class registration slot!

[abony holmes]

NYU law students aren’t technically supposed to be exchanging cash for spots in particular classes, but they do it anyway .

Some would say it’s unfair to poor students to give rich students spots in a particular class just because they have the cash to pay for it, but what about the poor student with a class schedule that’s in high demand? Rather than rely on ramen, that student can use her spot in Environmental law to buy groceries for the week.

Considering Berkeley Law has serious registration issues that leave alot of students shut out of the most popular classes their entire law school career, we may want to resort to the free market for Evidence with Swift or Con Law with Liu.

facebook may make your job a little easier. and not in the way you think.

[brian lauter]

It turns out those hours of class time spent messing around on Facebook (R.I.P. Scrabulous) may actually help you do your job. In the last few weeks I’ve read two articles about Facebook evidence being used by prosecutors during sentencing.

Both cases involved drunk driving accidents. Pictures of the defendants partying and talking about drinking surfaced on Facebook soon after the accidents. 

In one case the defendant wrote that she was feeling “breezy” in a Facebook status message. In another, the defendant dressed up for Halloween party in a black and white shirt and orange jumpsuit labeled “Jail Bird.” In both cases, the prosecutors used the Facebook evidence to show that the defendants were not remorseful and deserved longer sentences.

I’ve written before about the importance of watching what you put on Facebook. While I don’t think anybody would argue that the defendants in the two cases discussed above didn’t get what they deserved, some are concerned about the privacy implications of using social networking information to prosecute lesser crimes.

As Facebook continues to add features and our lives are increasingly documented on the internet, the importance of controlling your internet identity is becoming more important. Like I said, its not just for kids any more.

michelle obama, on the limiting experience of law school.

[abony holmes]

If you are a political junkie like me (and a recovering Obamanic) you’ll love interview of Michelle Obama by the Telegraph. There’s quite a few interesting tidbits about Ms. Obama and her relationship with Barack, but particularly revealing is her attitude toward law school and corporate work.

Obama regrets not taking time off between college and law school, a sentiment I can relate to. My senior year of college I had taken the LSAT and signed up for the LSDAS, but at the last minute decided to do Teach for America. While that experience was the most difficult in my life (and most short-lived - I lasted a single semester), I am exceedingly grateful for the perspective it gave me. I’m constantly being praised for being calm and laid back, but when you’ve been in charge of 120 inner city, under-privileged 16 year olds, being on call in Property Law doesn’t seem nearly so scary.

Obama’s beef with the straight to law school from undergrad experience is how it limited her perspective.

“The thing about these wonderful schools is they can be surprisingly narrowing to your perspective. You can be a lawyer or you can work on Wall Street; those are the conventional options. They are easy, socially acceptable, and financially rewarding. Why wouldn't you do it?”

When her father and best friend died, Obama began to struggle with her decision to practice corporate law.

“It made me realize that I could die tomorrow. I had to ask myself, is this how I want to spend my time? I knew I would never feel a sense of passion or joy about the law. I was on a conveyor belt. Law school had just been the next step.”

She sounds like a few of my friends who have already decided they won’t be practicing law after law school. Still, when I’m honest with myself, I realize that if I knew I was dying tomorrow, the very last thing on my mind would be drafting the position statement for the hearing I have on Monday.

freedom is fleeting, relax now while you still can.

[justin gosling]

Sorry to break the news for those of you that are enjoying your summer vacation, but we only have one more month of freedom before returning to law school. Relish those last few summer associate lunches or cushy research assignments, because our days are numbered. Soon we will be back in the trenches chipping away at new and (hopefully) exciting areas of law.

That, or we'll jump back into our old habits of trying to rack up Lexis points while avoiding eye contact with the professor. I'm going to try and make my last month memorable, but in the back of my head I can only hear "One more month... One more month...." In my mind this mantra is more of a mash-up of Bach's Toccata and Fugue and Daft Punk's One More Time.

If that image isn't birth control law school enrollment control for the incoming 1L class then I don't know what will knock sense into them.

With school starting in mid-to-late August we have to make intelligent use of our remaining hours.

• Plan a nice trip to the mountains or beach before you sit in the same chair for three months.
• Take the relaxing trip to the store so you can stock up on six-hour energy drinks (and don't you even dare mention that five-hour energy garbage).
• Go over all those little things that you won't have time to think about in about three weeks... you know, things like your locker combination.
• Make sure you review your class schedule and think long and hard about the wisdom of taking that 8:00 AM class with the really cool professor. I mean, is he or she really THAT cool?
• Most important: remember that it's just law school and it's not going to determine anything in your life... except for your future income and happiness. Er, something like that.

prof. zittrain: the internet is quashing your creative freedoms, guys. FIGHT BACK!

[brian lauter]

About a month ago I mentioned my boy JZ in an item about law professors on The Colbert Report. This week the legal hov is back in the news, this time talking about the future of the internet on Lawyer 2 Lawyer of the Legal Talk Network. 

Jonathan Zittrain, as he’s known within the stodgier circle of legal academia, is a professor of Internet law at Harvard Law and faculty director of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. He recently wrote The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It.

On Lawyer 2 Lawyer he talks about the trend toward tethered devices such as the iPhone, which are completely controlled by the vendors from whom the phone is purchased. Zittrain does note that Apple has announced the introduction of a software development kit which allows users to write new code for the iPhone. However, in order to share code with others, users have to go through the Apple store.

Thus, JZ laments the tetherization of the internet, noting that it stifles revolutionary technologies in the mold of peer to peer networking. These technologies usually arise when users have the ability to develop and market their own ideas. As the internet moves toward tetherization, users are given less freedom to develop these technologies.

I don’t have an iPhone because I value my freedom (the freedom to use a 5 year old cell phone), but, JZ’s thesis makes a lot of sense, and hearing him carry it to its logical conclusion is slightly alarming. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to get an iPhone. But first, I need to get an iJob.

law school: not teaching you how to deal with those less fortune-ate.

[brian lauter]

Poor people suck. You’ve seen them –walking around with Walmart shopping bags, standing in line at check cashing places, rummaging through your garbage to steal your recyclables, fighting each other for a few measly dollars.

Thank god we have people like this guy, we’ll call him Atticus, who are willing to get into the trenches and deal with them.  That’s right, while we count our stacks of money (I prefer “columns of money”), Atticus is out there in the sticks kicking ass and taking court appointments.

We can learn a lot from the techniques Atticus has developed for dealing with the lower classes, though. When forced to converse with the serfs, Atticus sticks to weather, football, or "the fact that jail sucks."

Interestingly, I recently wrote an item for this very blog recommending similar techniques for talking to fellow bourgeoisie in the elevator. 

Now I’m wondering if I am, in fact, a member of the lower classes. I often talk to people about the weather and sports. And, although I’ve never been to jail, I think I might be fairly content discussing the fact that jail sucks with somebody who has.

Just call me Hobo Joe.