Bricks on the Brain

UM Law Liberal Bias Wrapup

2006-04-12T11:37:00.000-04:00

Well friends the end is near. Final summary of the latest UM Law liberal biases on my mind:

Racism:

Prof. D. Marvin Jones continues to write about white racism towards minorities, but what about hatemongering towards white males? White males are attacked by UM student organizations, and Jones sleeps.

Republican Supporters:

Prof. M. Froomkin loves to imply that misbehaving Republican supporters proves his "point" that liberals have the moral high ground. Oddly, he never seems to notice when liberals behave like animals.

Due Process:

Liberal ex-Yalie UM Law profs are obsessed with the Padilla case, insistent that every legal avenue available to release bloodthirsty terrorists are explored and capitalized on, and that the government is chastised any time it pursues the prosecution with too much zeal. But if you're just a run-of-the-mill white boy with no ties to terrorism, if the State overzealously hounds you it seems the bulldogs don't feel its an issue worth speaking out about. Would their attitude towards the Padilla case be any different if the only evidence against him was the testimony of a stripper with a criminal past?

Labor:

Strike posts below speak for themselves. Although I will say there is something amusing about watching Komerades Fischl and Casebeer keep Shalala off balance. I disagree with their position, but you have to tip your hat when an underdog puts up a good fight. I also respect them for actually taking action, unlike most of the ivory towered liberals here who feel the way to solve perceived social problems is to pen obscure law review articles.

Conclusion:

Nothing has changed since 1L. If anything, faculty has become more liberal and more biased. Fortunately they still grade fairly, and usually give students a chance to speak and argue in class. However, I have noticed that conservative students are becoming more and more annoyed by the bias.

Every UM Law Student MUST READ

2006-04-05T10:18:00.000-04:00

A UM Law student has uncovered an issue of great importance. Read his insight here:
http://equalprocess.blogspot.com/2006/04/youre-on-your-own.html

Seriously. Take a break from strike thoughts and outlining for upcoming exams. Read what he has to say.

Nice USNWR Jump

2006-04-03T17:00:00.000-04:00

Good news. Perhaps old news to some, but I just found out. I made no effort to check the sources, but I think last year UM Law was ranked #73, and now its at #65.

There are many critiques of the USNWR rankings available online, and many law schools game the system. I know very well that UM Law plays the game just like the rest. UM Law offers scholarship money to 165+ LSAT scores like nobody's business, and those students would never have come but for the full or nearly-full rides. Many transfer out....

But employers and clients usually aren't that sophisticated when it comes to these matters, and thus in their minds 65 is better than 73. So I tip my hat to Dean V. and Dean L. and say "play on, playa.".

Do Not Support The Strike Tax

2006-03-03T08:23:00.000-05:00

I do not support the strike, and neither should you. I ask my fellow students to consider the following:

(There are now 8 updates, scroll down to see them)

1. UNICCO workers want local students to be taxed in the form of higher tuition. In 1993 President Clinton offered our nation a plan for universal health care. Our nation declined the offer. Nonetheless, understand that Congress could create such a program, and establish national taxes to fund it.

2. By national taxes, I refer to the income tax. Understand that under our present income tax system, the higher one's income the more taxes one pays. In our country if you earn $100,000, expect to pay over $30,000 in income tax (roughly 30%).

3. Hardly any students pay income tax. Why not? Because we have no income. Technically, nearly all of us are insolvent. Aside from having no income, we have few if any assets. We rent our housing and our transportation. Even after graduation, most of us will be in debt for many years due to student loans.

4. The UNICCO workers' problems are a national problem, not a localized one. Nationwide there are very few low level service jobs that offer benefits. Some argue this is a national tragedy. Others argue that it allows businesses to employ more workers, thus allowing more human beings to escape poverty. If the UNICCO workers' demands are met, it is a near certainty that some of them will be let go to pay the benefits demanded by the others. But this economic debate isn't relevant for us. This is a national debate and a national problem.

5. The UNICCO workers are striking precisely because students are an economically vulnerable population. We have no power or resources to stand up to the powerful Labor Unions behind the strike. We might whine and complain, but ultimately we'll have no choice but to pay their proposed tax (via higher tuition).

6. The term "living wage" is a cheap shot, implying that we students are heartless and don't care about helping our fellow man. To the contrary, many of us are pursuing our education for the sole purpose of bettering society. This tactic is as bad as the line that convinces low-income workers that its OK to waste their paychecks on lottery tickets (you've seen these people at the quickmarts, haven't you?) because "the money goes to school children. You don't want the kids to have books?" Educated people refer to the lottery as "a stupidity tax." Just as one can advance education without paying a stupidity tax, one can advance better working conditions wihtout paying a tuition tax.

7. Ironically, the group most empowered to make a difference is paying nothing but lip-service to the workers. The UM Professors are the wealthiest players in the picture. To my knowledge, no professor has offered a single penny salary reduction to fund the workers' demands. Not a single penny. Law professor Michael Fischl has managed to get his name in the papers by loudly advancing the workers' cause, which certainly can't hurt sales of his nationally distributed book on exam-taking. One would assume Prof. Fischl derives royalties from the book, but has he donated any to the workers' cause? I am not accusing him or any of the workers' supporters of hypocrisy. Professors are not practical people by nature. I honestly believe they haven't fully thought out where the money is going to come from, and don't realize they are supporting a tax on their own students.

Maybe someone should be taxed to provide universal health benefits to all. Reasonable minds can disagree as to the solution to the problem, but reasonable minds must agree the problem is national. Having experienced economic belittlement first-hand, our nation's founders recognized that unchecked, locally powerful groups (the Labor Unions) might abuse their strength by taking advantage of the economically weak (college students). This is why they empowered Congress with the ability to raise taxes to solve problems on a national scale. The Legislature of the State of Florida has similar powers.

I encourage the workers' supporters to take their concerns to these more appropriate forums where the issue can be discussed and resolved in a manner that is fair to everyone. What is taking place on the UM campus is the worst kind of class warfare, i.e. the poor exploiting the poor. Denying college students the services they themselves are struggling to pay for is no way to achieve equality. Americans are better than this.
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Update #1
The issue is truly national, unless UM students plan on frequenting Neverland.
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Update #2
On March 3, 1991 Rodney King was savagely beaten by LA cops with nightsticks. On March 3, 2006 a UM undergraduate invokes his memory in an email sent to all students by Prof. Fischl (surely soon to be posted to propaganda blogs). Apparently she was breaking campus rules that have been put in place to try to maintain a modicum of decorum and order during the strike. Specifically, the campus police seemed to think she was distributing flyers where she shouldn't have and asked her for her name or CaneCard. Apparently this modest request was too much for Fischl's doe-eyed acolyte and caused her to break down in tears. But wait, it gets worse:

"The tone they used with me was completely obsured(sic) and rude, and I did not appreciate them hounding me and yelling at me in my face."

A martyr? The Rodney King of our generation? Or simply a Coral Gables Drama Queen? You decide, dear reader.
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Update #3
More proof that vulnerable students are being hurt by shameful strikers. Moving class off-campus trammels rights of the handicapped (via maimisunpost.com):

According to some students, moving classes will cause problems the faculty is not taking into consideration. One student, who preferred to remain anonymous to avoid “a swarm of angry students,” told the SunPost that two of his roommates and several friends are disabled and won’t be able to travel further to attend classes. “I just know this makes me upset because my friend has been overlooked many times because of his disabilities,” the student wrote in an e-mail of one wheelchair-bound friend. “I know that these strikes are only going to overlook his situation once more.”

Let's just hope UM doesn't have to cut services for disabled students in order to pay the workers this so-called "living wage".
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Update #4
More proof professors supporting the strike are out of touch. Completely disregarding any notion of religious sensitivity, many professors have suggested holding classes in churches and synagogues (no mosques reported yet). The following exchange took place on a blog hosted by left-wing law professor Michael Froomkin:

Q: What about the minority of students who wouldn't feel comfortable in a Christian Church? Why not a Mosque or Temple?

Froomkin: Are there any such people? I've never met one. Certainly, as a Jew I would have no trouble having a class in a church or a mosque--as long as it doesn't involve a prayer or a sermon and assuming the seating wasn't too uncomfortable. Why should I?

Can a person (insert Friends Chandler Bing) beeee more out of touch? Luckily another student edumacated the Prof:

"Buster": I am in the BA class [where a move to a church was proposed], and I feel very uncomfortable having class in a church. I go to a secular university that has perfectly adequate (albeit somewhat dated) classrooms.

No reports yet of sympathetic professors opening lectures by invoking group prayers for the striking workers, but as Froomkin argues, why should it bother anyone?
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Update #5
Now its all starting to make sense. Are supporters aware that behind the strike lies the SEIU, a powerful International Labor Union? Probably not. They're probably also not aware of all the corruption charges that analysts and the union's own members have leveled against it.

According to the Labor Relations Institute:

The Service Employees International Union appears to be one of the few success stories of the American organized labor movement, and that makes this union an especially dangerous adversary. People considering SEIU representation must become informed about the real SEIU - the one behind the slick marketing and public relations.

The SEIU Report reveals a highly bureaucratic union whose number one goal is to increase membership. Despite a modern veneer, the SEIU has all the earmarks of a traditional big business union: corrupt and overpaid officials; a top down administrative style that renders individual members powerless; a history of disruptive strikes; and thousands of members who are forced to file charges against their union representatives to correct unfair treatment.

A particular New York chapter of the union has started its own website voicing its complaints about the SEIU. Their web site is telling. Among their gripes about the SEIU:

1) Excessive DUES Increases
2) Poor contracts with no money and no Pension Increases
3) Using our DUES to hire lawyers to keep themselves out of JAIL
4) Excessive spending that is draining our Treasury
5) Ignoring legitimate grievances
6) NOT being properly represented at arbitration hearings
7) Corrupt staff that won't represent our members
8) Firing staff members who voice their opinion
9) Reductions at Our Job sites
10) Lowering our standards by cutting deals and staffing buildings with 80%ers to help management
11) Corrupt Political campaign practices
12) Having our Local investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office
13) Wasting Millions of dollars on a displaced worker bill that
DOES NOT protect our wages, benefits or terms and conditions
14) Rising payroll costs and hiring of Outsiders, which Raises Our DUES
15) Misuse of our Funds for the S.E.I.U's misguided agenda
16) Allowing Non-Union buildings in the 5 Boroughs
17) Raiding smaller Locals and calling it organizing
18) Providing fake ID's and Social Security numbers to undocumented workers
19) Changing our By-law's to prohibit Democracy and suit their agenda
20) Declining services at our Union Building and not allowing members access to every floor of the building they PAY for
21) Firing unionized teachers and office workers from locals 153 & the UFT
and replacing them non-union

And this article is a must read for all of those who still think the workers will ever see a dime of the tuition increases we students will be forced to bear. I wonder if Prof. Fischl is educating his disciples about both sides of Organized Labor, or if he's sugar coating it for them to keep his name in the spotlight?
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Update #6
A web site of student activists calling themselves STAND has sprung up supporting the workers. Apparently, these students have plans beyond just the UNICCO strike. They also want to rid UM of CocaCola products?! Oh my. But what I found most interesting is their stated purpose:

We are here:
Because apathy leads to tyranny
Because Freedom is not a fair-weather friend
Because all great truths began with blasphemy
Because people should always come before profit
Because culture should not be defined by corporate logos
Because we see our planet dying
Because most people are not male, white, and rich
Because balances are not being checked
and Because change is imperative.

Hmmm. Arguably the highlighted language is racist and in violation of UM student codes. Of course, they would argue that it is neutral on its face and merely states a true fact. However, it is loaded with innuendo that sends a clear message to white males on campus. It is certainly offensive by any campus standards.

Color scheme for this UM student group that holds white males in contempt? Not Cane orange and green, but rather Red and pink. Hmmm. If you do support the workers that's your choice, but take a hard look at this group before you associate yourself with them.
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Update #7
More of our profs putting our money where their mouths are. Prof. Froomkin (see Update #4) above computed that to meet the workers' demands it would cost each student roughly somewhere between $165.00 and $117.00. Nice to see him admitting that students must pay. But surprise, surprise--he didn't bother to calculate what it would cost if faculty bore the burden that they themselves are advocating for. So I will:

a) Froomkin believes the cost of the workers' demands is between $2.5 and $1.7 million.
b) According to the UM website, there are 2,200 full time faculty (there are actually 9,218 full time employees).
c) Thus using Froomkin's estimates, we could also meet the workers' demands by reducing faculty salaries by somewhere between $1136 and $772 per faculty member.

Any guesses as to why Froomkin didn't provide his weblog readers with the full picture?
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Update #8
Attack of the Bulldogs! Professor Michael Freudkin (See Updates #4 & #7) has pyschoanlayzed the students who oppose the strike and want classes to remain on campus. According to him we're not driven by logic and reason. As best I can tell, he seems to think that (1) the fact we go to a 2nd tier school combined with (2) a highly competetive legal job market equals a student body instilled with fear. He says, "It's not a stretch to see how this fear translates into disinterest in the plight of janitors on the part of some." I suppose for a Yalie like him it's a stretch to consider that we might actually be as well or better informed than him on the issues. Yes, he somehow thought it relevant to twice mention that he went to Yale. Oh and by the way, he's not even on campus this semester. No mention of a degree in psychoanalysis on his UM bio page. Maybe he just watches a lot of Dr. Phil?

Prof. Vladeck has determined that we just don't get it: we pay $100,000 for a degree ergo the janitors are top o' da food chain: "... I also am responsible to and for the workers who allow me to teach, and who facilitate the means by which I do so." Well, at least he didn't trumpet the fact that he too is a Yalie.

Well guys, UM may have mistakenly recruited some shady athletes in the past, but we never admitted this character.

Symposiums Schmymposiums

2006-02-11T13:20:00.000-05:00

What is a Symposium?

1. A group hug for obscure law professors who pat each other on the back for delivering unintelligible speeches highlighting portions of obscure and unintelligible law articles, posing unintelligible questions, and receiving unintelligible answers. Oh yeah, nowadays a little Bush-bashing is thrown in for good measure. Then they drink free cocktails.

2. A chance for students to pad their resumes with claims to having organized said group hugs, and for the brave among them a chance to impose their own unintelligible question of their own after the unintelligible lecture. Usually a student asks a stupid question, but unlike in the classroom, the tradition at symposiums is for the lecturer to ignore the question and diffuse the awkwardness by giving an unrelated unintelligible answer. Bonus points for Bush-bashing. Then they drink free cocktails.

STOP THE MADNESS. Consider:

For those of us who had no clue what BarBri was as 1L's, we now face the fact its time to shell out another $2K for Bar review courses. More if you sign up for PMBR. Excuse me? Umm....exactly what did I shell out $90K for? How many law students graduate from UM? How many from Florida law schools generally? You do the math. Worse, students who can't find the money to pay for a review course will probably (or so the conventional wisdom goes) fail the bar on the first try. When that happens, UM Law looses precious ranking and we all suffer as a result.

Is there any legitimate reason why Florida law schools can't collaborate to produce free (or nearly free) bar preparation materials and lectures? I have a few guesses:

1. BarBri pays select professors to prepare materials and give recorded lectures. Those professors thus have an incentive to suppress their respective schools from offering a free alternative. I'm guessing in addition to the money they pay the lecturers, at some point there is the opportunity for drinking free cocktails.

2. Professors are too busy fawning over eachother's unintelligible blather and drinking free cocktails at all of these useless symposiums to bother with the practical needs of the students.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps we could get UM and other law schools to take action and offer a free bar prep program if we somehow combine it with drinking free cocktails.

Don't Hold it Against Me

2006-02-06T13:16:00.000-05:00

One semester of law school left...I can smell the finish line and I've finally begun peddling my resume. I've noticed that outside of Florida, many employers are not all that familiar with Miami Law. They are familiar with Miami's social and political scene, and sometimes they impute these qualities to the law school and its students. In short, there is a presumption that one leans toward liberal rather than conservative viewpoints.

Although this presumption does not apply to me, I am neither offended by it nor has it been a significant barrier to consideration by most firms. That is, unless the statements and acts of other UM students, faculty, or alumni begin having a tendency to portray UM Law as extreme left-wing.

I have said it before, and say it again, that the overall atmosphere at UM Law is what I would call "moderately liberal". However, a TINY MINORITY of professors have crossed the line into liberal lunacy, characterized by partisan character assasinations of conservatives cloaked by carefully worded legal "hypotheticals" so as to deny their true motives. These attacks have increased in frequency with the recent affirmation of Alito and the NSA wiretap investigations.

As one familiar with the zeitgeist of the Bricks (the law "quad" of buildings), I can say with certainty that the opinions expressed by these radicals are not in congruence with the general student body. UM law students have a healthy interest in the wiretap issue, as it presents relevant issues that affect our lives both as lawyers and as citizens.

Opinions on the interplay of congressional and presidential power vary among students. But whatever the legal issues, no UM Law students that I know think the President is "evil" because he thought it might be a good idea to listen in on terrorist phone calls. Reasonable minds might disagree on how it ought to be done, but all agree it should be.

So to all potential employers and UM Law applicants, should you stumble upon one of these crackpots, rest assured they do not represent the general views of UM Law. If you are one of these kinds of thinkers (as is your right), you will probably be disappointed by the lack of radical liberalism at UM Law and ought to apply elsewhere.

Alternative 2L & 3L Grading Systems

2006-01-19T18:37:00.000-05:00

Anecdotaly, after 1L it seems that GPA's and class rankings change very little, at least at UM Law. Sure, there are probably a few students that make big gains and losses, but for the most part not much changes.

If this is true, then the current exam-style grading of 2Ls and 3Ls is by all appearances quite wasteful. The stress and annoyance to the students is obvious. But even professors probably could use grading time more productively elsewhere. So why do we bother?

One solution might be to make grades optional for 2Ls and/or 3Ls. As I understand it, presently we get to elect pass/fail for at most 2 courses, and the majority of students don't use them. Why not invert the system, i.e. grades must be opted into. Such a system could be supplemented by requiring one graded writing assignment per semester.

The goal would be this: students are basically surveying legal areas, but focusing on one legal topic per semester to write on in-depth. I dare say many employers would rather judge a law student by her work on 4 intensive legal writings capable of review. What do they get now? The opinions of 16 batty law professors who spent 15-20 minutes deciphering chicken scratch in a blue book or two? Profs could basically skim all the pass-fail exams, grade the few that elect grades, then focus on a certain number of papers per semester.

The above is just a rough thumbnail sketch of what an alternative grading system could look like...but it seems most UM students and profs would agree that the current system is outdated and broken.

Neutral? Another Evil Union Should be Stopped

2006-01-18T19:32:00.000-05:00

According to a recent email we all received from UM President Shalala, the University has taken a "neutral" stance on the current effort of UNICCO employees to unionize. UNICCO is the company the University uses to maintain the grounds, i.e. janitorial labor. Neutral? Why?

How can it possibly be in the best interests of the University or its students if the UNICCO workers unionize? Unions=higher labor costs, inability to fire incompetent workers, corruption, and a whole host of other evils. Isn't the UM President's job to look out for the best interests of the University and its students?

Even if one supports unionization in spirit (i.e. you're a dopey marxist bleeding heart), from an employer's viewpoint there is nothing good about unions. One could argue that faced with possible unionization of its labor force, corporate management owes its shareholders a duty to use all legal means necessary to stymie unionization efforts.

UNICCO eployee's aren't UM employees. But, UNICCO is a supplier and the UM administration has a duty to keep costs down just like any manager has a duty to avoid waste. If one of your suppliers faces the prospect of having to raise his prices for whatever reason, it seems to me the appropriate thing to do is help avoid that outcome by whatever legal means available. It should come as no surprise to anyone that UNICCO ain't the only company in Miami-Dade that can provide inexpensive janitorial labor. Perhaps someone should remind UNICCO and its employees.

Knock knock, my fellow students. A tuition hike is calling...anybody home?

Enter the Registrar?

2006-01-07T17:15:00.000-05:00

As reported elsewhere, the Registrar knows how to use email. So instead of us checking MyUM (aka EASY) 10 times a day ourselves, why not send us an email each day listing courses with new grades? I'd much rather check my email once a day than MyUM twice or more.

I'm guessing notifications to students by course is far beyond the technical capabilities of a law school that still struggles with plumbing, let alone network printing.

UM Law's EASY Addicts

2005-12-15T22:42:00.000-05:00

Is the above image burned into your retinas yet? I know of several students who wait to hear through the grapevine that a grade came out before they go into EASY and check. I know of only 1 student who waits until all the grades are in before checking (and I think he might be full of it).

Then there's the rest of us. I'm actually not as bad as some...I'll light up once in the morning and then again in the afternoon, just to take the edge off. Others have it really bad...they need a hit five or six times a day until that last grade gets posted. And then there's the 1Ls......

Liberal Law Professors

2005-12-14T11:21:00.000-05:00

A good read on law.com today about liberal bias in law school academia that plagues our system:
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1134468310342

And Miami? Infested. Big time. But tolerant of politically incorrect views like mine.

Frankly the more serious problem is the garbage articles spewed out by the overabundance of Law Reviews. I'm not even talking about biases here, I'm talking about so many articles so poorly written and edited that the reader can't even discern what the author is saying. Authors just make up words like Jesse Jackson does, thinking readers are fooled into thinking they know what they're talking about by adding the suffixes -ation, -ing, -ance and -ism to every other word and sprinkling in latin phrases: "Marbury v. Madison was the extrication of the exhuberance irreplausibly presenting the Court endeavoring to triangulate, per se, the ramification of the politicization of racism, novation, and baptism."

In other words, the liberal bias in law school is of little consequence because most of the time nobody knows what the hell they're talking about.

ADD, Law Exams,The Bar, The Public

2005-12-10T20:45:00.000-05:00

Regular readers of this blog can no doubt surmise my view on allowing law students more time to finish an exam simply because they claim to have ADD. Some evidence that UM Law follows this practice is in the previous post, and several other lawschools post their policies as such online. The MPRE and Florida Bar web sites do not say so explicitly, but they seem to imply that ADD is grounds for more time on those exams as well.

I know students that claim to have it, both medicated and unmedicated. I don't know any that ask for special accomodations during exams. If they truly do have a challenging disorder and have to work a little harder then everyone else--more power to them. A description of the "disorder" can be found here.

The Bar justifiies requiring (in nearly every state) that applicants receive a JD from an accredited law school by the need to "protect the public" from unqualified hacks. Indeed, we all remember the the Barry fiasco, where despite having undergone rigorous legal training, initially those students weren't even allowed to sit for the bar--supposedly under the auspices of "protecting the public" (Barry U is now provisionally accredited). Apparently passing the bar post facto wouldn't have settled the question. An applicant has to do it the "right way" by attending an accredited Law School and earning that school's stamp of approval. The Bar relies heavily on the law schools for approving applicants to the bar, by "certifying" that the applicant is up to snuff.

So why does it seem that nobody in the legal community is concerned about "protecting the public" from lawyers who by their own admission can't pay attention or focus on the task at hand? Lawyers in Florida are required to take action if a collegue's substance abuse appears to interfere with his ability to service his clients. So what if a collegue with ADD is billing at a market rate, yet taking twice the time to finish a task because of his "disability?" What if he seems to zone out in court?

I don't really have any objections to accomodations being made to those coming to law school merely to study the law. If any person has the time and money to do so, then so be it. But becoming a lawyer is another matter. How can the legal community be doing right by clients by sweeping ADD under the rug?

Clearly ADD should in and of itself not be grounds for deeming a lawyer unfit to practice law. But where that person has asked for and received special accomodations throughout the process of becoming a lawyer, what assurances does the public have?

De-effeminization of UM Law?

2005-12-01T21:39:00.000-05:00

Many seasoned lawyers comment that law school has become too "soft" on students. They point out that professors once not only called on students randomly, but they ridiculed them for incorrect answers. If a student had a panic attack, or better yet started to cry, so much the better.

Today things have changed, and keeping with leftist notions of entitlement and accomodation, law schools bend over backwards to make everyone "comfortable". Professors are encouraged to allow students to "pass" when called on, and to be given advance notice of when they will be called on and what will be asked. The result? Its not uncommon for four or five consecutively called-on students to "pass", or for students given notice they will be "on call" to simply not show up for the session. It makes a mockery of a time honored tradition that also serves as very practical training for communicating in court with impatient and demanding judges.

The Socratic method is constantly written about and discussed in literature directed towards law students, such as the ABA's Student Jouranal and the National Jurist. Although I don't have the cite handy, within the past few years the UM Law Review published a student authored "comment" filled with the usual liberal blather about how law school should treat every student's shortcomings as a "disability" and make special accomodations, i.e. if being called on causes the student undue stress then that student has a learning challenge to be accomodated by the school no less than if that student were blind.

On a slightly different but related issue, I was pleasantly surprised by the email we all received from Assistant Dean Fajer, wherein he politely gives the finger to all the nancy law students whining about the possiblity that laptop and bluebook users will (gasp!) share the same exam rooms. I can just imagine the torture it put him through to read all the lengthy emails from students sobbing about their "learning disabilities" verified by psychologists and insisting that the clickity-clack of a laptop, as opposed to the scratching and shuffling of papers, would doom their law school careers. Now, of course, Dean Fajer couched his sentiment in feigned concern. But coming from him, that response is good enough for me.

I've made my criticisms of law school exams known on this blog, but one thing I do like is their tendancy to test a student's ability to think under time pressure. Do these complaining students think that when they are pressed for time a law office is going to hush-up for them? Will co-workers turn off their laptops and whisper with their clients while the whiner works on that assignment for the senior partner due in two hours?

I suppose the lingering question is whether or not Fajer's stated reasons for denying the request for separate exam rooms (lack of rooms) is legitimate, or if his real reasons are because he feels students ought to tough it out. Interestingly, Professor Fajer is an old-school practioner of the Socratic method, and while he'll stop short of pushing a student to tears, he's not afraid to embarass someone who obviously isn't prepared. I find it hard to believe that it is literally impossible to accomodate the whiners, so I think Fajer just doesn't want to. Good for him.

Discriminatory Recruitment

2005-11-18T18:27:00.000-05:00

Tortious has provided some thoughtful commentary on the job/scholarship that has been discussed in previous posts:
http://tortyum.blogspot.com/2005/11/race-discrim-part-ii.html#comments

I would just like to clarify that my original "beef" was the inconsistency with which the UM Law administration applies its policies. I would not ban the firm from campus, nor would I ban the military. I wouldn't ban anyone. The policy is simply a bad one.

How odd it is that they teach us the importance of proper representation of all clients, regardless of their political views or the crime they have comitted. Why shouldn't the KKK, ACLU, ADL, Nazis, Commies, or whoever else wants to recruit be allowed to do so? I certainly don't need Dean Lynch to babysit me with regards to my employment choices. Consider that many of us may go on to criminal work, and find ourselves defending child molestors and embezzling CEOs. They deserve representation too. But a Marine charged with disorderly conduct resulting from a bar fight doesn't deserve a UM Law student representing him? He doesn't deserve one of us helping him to prepare a will before he ships off to Iraq? Phooey.

The military isn't the KKK or the Nazi party. Their reasons for descriminating are not out of animus towards particular groups, rather for practical needs of defending the nation. Even assuming, arguendo, their policies to be unwise, they are rational. The law firm in question has a rational reason for discriminating as well.

So why the double standard? Let them all come.

PAD and other UM Outline Nonsense

2005-11-18T17:56:00.000-05:00

In the preamble to the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Responsiblility:

As a public citizen, a lawyer should seek improvement of the law, access to the legal system, the administration of justice and the quality of service rendered by the legal profession. As a member of a learned profession, a lawyer should cultivate knowledge of the law beyond its use for clients, employ that knowledge in reform of the law and work to strengthen legal education. In addition, a lawyer should further the public's understanding of and confidence in the rule of law and the justice system because legal institutions in a constitutional democracy depend on popular participation and support to maintain their authority. A lawyer should be mindful of deficiencies in the administration of justice and of the fact that the poor, and sometimes persons who are not poor, cannot afford adequate legal assistance. Therefore, all lawyers should devote professional time and resources and use civic influence to ensure equal access to our system of justice for all those who because of economic or social barriers cannot afford or secure adequate legal counsel. A lawyer should aid the legal profession in pursuing these objectives and should help the bar regulate itself in the public interest.

I don't know what PAD charges for its outlines (the email we all received today is silent on price) and whether or not their outline bank is profitable. But it seems to me that charging anything more than a nominal fee for archiving outlines is not keeping within the spirit of a lawyer's ethical obligations. Other law schools have online outline banks (Harvard's being one of the best and open to the public) and charge no fees. I have noted in the past my distaste for organizations that horde outlines, and how doing so ought to be a violation of the honor code. (and here) Outlines should be a way of enhancing the sense of community among UM Law students, not as a way of profiting off of nervous 1L's or of protecting the ranked elites.

Although I personally do not create outlines, I freely share the ones I find with classmates. I do not accept outlines from others if they insist I share it with no one else.

Law school is competitive, and I suppose the moral code I propose should leave some room for the maker of an outline to keep it private up until the point he finishes a course. After that, he ought to give it away freely with no restrictions so that for better or worse he adds to the advancement of the legal profession. Under no circumstances should an organization, particularly the law reviews, exclude non-members from their outline banks.

To my knowledge, professors who write law review articles do not pay to get them published ("payola") and the law reviews certainly don't pay for contributed articles. So why don't law students hold themselves to similar ideals of intellectual community? Perhaps the more opportunist among us can answer this.

Outrageous Discriminatory Recruitment II

2005-11-11T10:07:00.000-05:00

I recently discussed what I perceived as a discriminatory hiring practice nonetheless endorsed by the UM Law administration. Essentially, a law firm is taking applications for a paid clerkship, the winner also receiving a monetary scholarship (a.k.a. signing bonus). Applicants are limited by race, and whites need not apply.

Apparently other schools are in the DOJ's cross-hairs for very similar scholarship/work-study discrimination. As I commented on a collegue's blog posting, these types of scholarship/employment practices may run afoul of Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The most outragous aspect of this controversy is the fact that UM Law only grudgingly allows the military JAG corps to recruit on campus, disclaiming support for their "discriminatory" practice. Apparently it does not matter to the administration that the military's hiring practices have been deemed legal. The majority of Americans support the military's policies regarding women in combat roles and the "don't ask don't tell" policy with regards to sexual orientation. But a firm that denies opportunities to students based on race is welcomed on campus with open arms. What's next for UM Law...a minority-only or gay-only law review?

I wonder how the "winners" of these scholarships/internships in question must feel, knowing that but for naked racial discrimination, a more qualified candidate might have won instead.

Outline Time? Read this First

2005-11-09T14:54:00.000-05:00

Many law students (including 2L's and 3L's) assume they must create an outline to do well in a class. This is not so. Some will benefit from doing so, others are wasting valuable time.

It is always important to know who your advice is coming from. I would prefer not to reveal too much about my own exam performance, but I have booked more than 2 courses and have the GPA to take advantage of any opportunity not otherwise closed to UM Law students.

I strongly recommend the use of commercial outlines and finding free outlines off the Internet. I have never created my own outline. At most, I have cut and pasted together portions of several outlines. I do not take notes in class.

By taking this approach, I can immediately start studying for exams without wasting enormous time by composing one. I find that commercial outlines help to structure and organize the material in ways the professor usually fails to, and ensures that I will be aware of blackletter law that the professor assumed the students to know on their own. They also expose me to arguments and lines of cases the professor did not cover, but I can use those arguments nonetheless on the exam.

All of the arguments against canned outlines lack merit. I have heard many from my collegues over the years. "Errors": A nice theory, but in practice I have never experienced that problem i.e. all of the outlines I have used correctly stated the law. On the contrary, I have seen errors in the outlines my collegues composed themselves. "But prof has a unique spin": Again, a nice theory but in the end most profs end up testing the law of the topic generally, not their own interests they highlighted in lecture. "I won't remember as well": Exams are not about memorization, they are about understanding. True, you will have the benefit of the physical act of typing to help you remember what you wrote. That advantage is nullfied by the fact that in October I already have my outlines and will have read and re-read them 20 times by the time you finish your outline in late November. I also usually have time to reread the entire casebook, an invaluable excercise if time allows.

As far as exam writing goes, I strongly recommend the treatise available from http://www.leews.com/ The web site is cheezy, but the materials themselves are excellent. Also, practice using the Examples & Explanations series is essential.

To 1Ls: Of course there are students who do well by creating their own outlines. To the 1L's who are not quite sure what to do just yet, I would recommend they use a commercial outline to supplement any they create on their own. Next semester you can decide if going naked is the best thing for you. I know many 3L's who started getting A's after their 1L year C's and D's. They made the mistake of ignoring commercial outlines and treatises. Keep in mind, many of your 2L and 3L profs will make commercial outlines and treatises (like Examples & Explanations) required or recommended reading. While I still have mixed thoughts about Book Horizons, today is the day to march over there and ask them for help. Remember, next semester you can resell any study aids on ebay or half.com and recoup your investment. I remember the high and mighty 1L cliques that considered canned outlines the equivalent of playing with a corked bat. C's have a way of humbling those folks.

To 2 & 3Ls: If you get stuck on a particular topic, get on Westlaw or Lexis and look for law review articles or treatises (PLI, ALI or Practice guides) that cover the topic. The easiest way is to put in the relevant cases and look at the citing references that explain the case implications. The briefing tools offered by Westlaw & Lexis are excellent for extracting the black letter law you need to know. Copy and paste into your outline, you're good to go.

Outrageous Discriminatory Recruitment

2005-11-02T15:11:00.000-05:00

As UM Law students know, when the US military JAG corps attempts to recruit on campus, emails begin by announcing their presence with a disclaimer:

Notice Re Military Discrimination and

Law School Nondiscrimination Policy

It is the policy of the University of Miami School of Law not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation in its education programs, admissions policies, employment policies and other school administered programs and to refuse access to employers who refuse to sign nondiscrimination statements and/or who otherwise discriminate in violation of the nondiscrimination policy. By statute, the United States Armed Services discriminate by gender by refusing to employ women for certain positions. In addition, by statute, the United States Armed Services will not employ for any position those whom it deems to be lesbian, gay or bisexual. Because of the conflict between these policies, in the past the University of Miami School of Law has refused access to recruiters from the U.S. Armed Services.

Recently, the U.S. government has decided to cut off federal work-study funds and certain loans to educational institutions, which deny access to the Armed Services. Because of the government's threat to this important source of student financial aid, the University of Miami School of Law has reluctantly decided to allow access to military recruiters. This step is being taken solely to ensure our students access to federal financial aid and in no way represents approval of the Armed Services policy or a withdrawal from our firm commitment to our non-discrimination policy. Anyone with information that any other employer discriminates should contact the office of the Dean of the Law School.

Dennis O. Lynch

September 20, 1999

So imagine my surprise when a recent Career Planning Center update email notified students of the following scholarship opportunity:

Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLP Diversity Scholarship (1L)
Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLP is committed to diversity in the legal profession, and to continue its ongoing efforts to increase the diversity of the attorneys recruited, hired, retained and promoted to Shareholder status at the firm. To assist BDB with its recruitment of minority attorneys, in 2005 we established the Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLP Diversity Scholarship Program. During 2006, the inaugural year of the scholarship, we will award $5,000 to help defray the education expenses of one first year student. In 2005, first year students from the following law schools are eligible to apply: Capital University Law School; Case Western Reserve University School of Law; Cleveland-Marshall College of Law; The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law; the University of Akron School of Law; and the University of Miami School of Law. The scholarship will include a paid clerkship position in the summer following the first year of law school in one of BDB’s offices.

First year minority law students of African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native-American descent are eligible to apply. The scholarship will be awarded to the candidate who best meets the following criteria: Demonstrated Leadership Skills; Commitment to Excellence; Service to the Community; and Academic Excellence.

Interested students must submit the following items with a completed application: A current academic transcript (if not available at time of application must be submitted when received); A college transcript; A current resume; A written essay up to a 1,000 words on the following topic: What distinguishes you from your peers? Please include in your essay a discussion of the life influences that have contributed to the person you are today. Essays must be type-written, single-spaced, in Times New Roman 12 font format.

Completed application materials should be submitted to: Tami Whiteleather; Legal Personnel Coordinator; Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLP; 50 S. Main Street; Akron, Ohio 44309.

Applications must be received by January 10, 2006. Students considered for the scholarship award will be requested to interview with firm attorneys. Those selected for an interview will be notified by January 25, 2006.

Yes, that's right...WHITE PEOPLE NEED NOT APPLY FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP. So why is BDP allowed access when their scholarship/recruitment program blatantly discriminates by race?

In light of the stated policy, allowing this sort of opportunity access to the students is extremely difficult to defend. Whether or not such a scholarship/recruitment practice is legal is hardly relevant, because the military's policies have been deemed legal and yet remain condemned by the UM Law administration. Thus by UM's standards (where race, gender, or sexual orientation is the deciding employment factor), this scholarship/clerkship is just "wrong" and ought to be banned or disclaimed in the same manner the military recruitment efforts are.

However: I am not a lawyer, and what I'm about to say should not be taken as legal advice. But if this scholarship/recruitment were a hypo on an exam, I would likely conclude that such an employment practice is illegal. It might be legal under some sort of affirmative action plan, but there aren't enough facts here to know if an affirmative action plan can be sustained.

I for one find the scholarship/clerkship offensive, even if it is legal. Minority students at UM Law are perfectly capable of competing for employment in the legal field without handouts and preferences.

Book Horizons...friend or foe?

2005-07-02T14:19:00.000-04:00

At the time of this posting, there are about 6 weeks until classes begin. None of the professors have posted the required texts for their classes. Most won't do so until a few days before classes begin. Some won't post required texts at all, and will simply assume that Book Horizons will serve students' needs.

Book Horizons is a book store on Ponce. They have a great selection of new and used law text books, as well as large selection of study aids. You can walk in with your class schedule and tell them you want new or used books. In response they'll hand you a pile of books, ask you for a few hundred bucks, and you'll be on your merry way. For 1L's it removes 100% of the stress of getting ready for law school's first day.

The only problem is that Book Horizons sits on prime Gables real estate, and I suppose they've got to pay the rent somehow. Although their new book prices are fair, their used book prices are seemingly 2 to 3 times on-line prices from ebay.com, half.com, amazon.com or other purveyors of used books. For law students forking over $100K+ for their legal education, every dollar saved is a dollar earned. Collectively, the UM law student body probably spends tens of thousands of dollars more than if there were more time to order books online.

Savvy 2 and 3L's will simply wait for the first day of class to figure out what books are really needed. They'll order on-line used books and wait the week or two for delivery. If that means cases don't get read until then, c'est la vie. Of course many 3Ls won't even buy the books, opting instead for the High Court briefs. But pretty much all 1L's and the A-type 2 and 3Ls will head over to Book Horizons and pay the piper.

Clearly, requiring profs to post their required texts well before classes begin would save the law student body thousands of dollars by giving students time to buy texts on-line. Will it ever happen? I doubt it.

By the way, if you are a 1L and reading this: DO NOT BY NEW BOOKS. DO NOT BY NEW BOOKS. SELL YOUR BOOKS ON-LINE, YOU WILL MAKE MUCH MORE $$$ THAN SELLING THEM BACK TO BOOK HORIZONS. If you take care of the used books you buy, you might even be able to break even on them when you resell them on-line.

My Law School Selection Strategy

2005-05-15T11:35:00.000-04:00

This is a follow up to my series addressing the question of whether or not I think Miami's stock is on the rise, immediately preceding this post.

I put a lot of stock in the notion that my LSAT and undergrad GPA would be good predictors of my performance in law school. I was accepted in the top 25 (by USNWR), wait-listed in the top 15. I guessed that at top schools I'd get average or below average grades. In the second tier I figured I'd do better than average, maybe top 10%. I didn't even want to consider third tier possibilities, although some would be very cheap tuition-wise. So I had to decide:

1) Option 1. Get into DEEP debt for a top 25 name, and most likely freeze my ass off in the process. The result would be some resume "prestige" regardless of whatever grades I get. Given the GPA's and LSAT's of the other kids, I wasn't sure how I'd fare there.

2) Option 2. Accept a lower ranked school, but still high enough where excellent grades from that school might achieve the same resume effect as mediocre grades from a school ranked 25-50. Many schools put a little scholarship money on the table, and thus I would only have to take on a MODERATE debt. Possibly be nice and warm all year round.

3) Option 3. Go to very low ranked school for almost nothing, get outstanding grades. I just never felt that top grades could make up for a school's lack of reputation, no I never really put much thought into this one.

Many students think long and hard about these very same choices. The biggest caveat given by those-in-the-know is that you make an ass of u and me when you assume you're going to get the grades. If the grades aren't there, then you only achieved half your plan.

In my case, my grades fell short of making Law Review (I was too lazy to try, but at UM you can write-on and I think somebody does every year), but I picked up an A here and there to make up for the real stink bombs (C's) I dropped. My rank isn't quite in the top 10% range, but good enough to be competive. My summer job offers were competitive with what my friends at other more prestigious schools were getting. My final job prospects remain to be seen, but I'm confident I'll be fine.

So in the end, I think I made out well, taking on a lot less debt than I would have had to in order to pay a prestige premium. But there are students who loose the gamble, and end up with poor grades. They would have been better off getting poor grades at a school where it wouldn't have mattered so much. There are also students who thought they'd get a free lunch by accepting free rides at third tier schools. I know a couple people who are in the top 10 of their class at those schools who wish they could go back and just do mediocre at a 2nd tier school. I got lucky, I figured I'd do just a little better than average grades-wise, and that's how it seems to have worked out. Combine the grades and the school's rank, and I'm right where I'd be at a higher ranked school with below average grades, just less debt.

But gambling on your grades isn't for everyone. If you're risk-averse, then follow the old addage and you'll never go "wrong": "Go to the highest ranked school you can afford." Do that and you'll never have terrible regrets. You won't be making the best decision, but you're certain to make a good one.

So what about faculty, student organizations, Moot Court performance, bar passage rates? Did I look at those things? Nope. I really didn't know much about those things in the first place, and it was all too much to keep track of. It was just much simpler to use USNWR as a guide, mindful of the ranking system's strengths and weaknesses. Even knowing what I know now, I'm not convinced its such a terrible way to do it. Its not perfect, but there aren't many other practical ways of doing it.

So I hope this helped by giving you my thoughts on Miami. Maybe others will post their comments as well. The purpose of this series was to save myself some time by not having to repeat myself over and over to the people that get sent my way. But I'm still happy to talk to anybody thinking about coming to UM Law or law school in general.

P.S. The last thing I'd advise you of is to be aware that most students are going to sound less than thrilled with law school and their law school in particular. Law school is very demanding, and it has a tendency to wear students down. Expect a little bit of an edge to everyone's answers. When I first started asking around, I got the impression that the first law schools I investigated were terrible because the students I talked to seemed pretty indifferent. But later I realized that all law students talk about their schools that way. But I could never shake my initial impressions of those first schools. Keep that in mind. Law school is fun! Really.

P.S.S. 70 degrees in the middle of December. For real.

Is UM Law Losing the Prestige Game? Part II

2005-05-15T09:01:00.000-04:00

What is "it" that draws attention to a law school? As you're probably beginning to notice as you shop around for a school, rankings are usually one of the things that get a law school noticed. Some schools make active efforts to "play the rankings game" and change the way they do things to move up. They try to "beat the system" so to speak:
http://writ.corporate.findlaw.com/dorf/20021225.html

But aside from this form of "cheating", there are other things that law school faculties and administrations do, by intent or accident, that makes the world think well of them.

The Flagship
One of the more powerful things that draws attention to a school, in my opinion, is the fact that the school has a "Flagship" area of law that it tries to "corner the market on." The idea is that if the right area is focused on, it can act not just as a flagship, but a rising tide that raises all the ships. This strategy is often employed in the business world, where a company makes certain that they have at least one product that the public perceives as best in its class, and that goodwill will hopefully spread to the rest of the products in the line.

A number of products come to mind to illustrate this concept. Ford for example puts a bulk of its energy into marketing its F-Series trucks. They make dozens of cars, but they put most of their marketing muscle into the F's. When people think Ford, they think tough, rugged trucks. When people are looking for other classes of cars, such as a sedan or SUV, they tend to use the flagship F as a way to judge Ford. People tend to employ the mental shortcut of using the characteristics of Ford's trucks as a proxy for all of its cars. It isn't entirely rational, but that's how people think. Another example is Nike. Nowadays the Nike brand sells not just shoes, but baseball bats, apparel, hockey sticks, you name it. But their flagship is shoes, specifically the Jordans. AirJordans have always had some sort of mystique, so much so that people get shot over them. So intentionally or not, when people buy a Nike brand sweatshirt, in their mind they're buying a quality pair of shoes.

The Style
Another way that a school distinguishes itself is to be know for a certain "style." That is to say, the school is known for subscribing to a particular "school of thought." For example, the school might be known for many of its scholars who focus on the economic implications of law. Another school might be known to focus on how the law affects minorities. This way at looking at the law permeates everything they do. These types of distinctions are less common than "flagship" distinctions.

Cars come to mind again, this time BMW. BMW doesn't really have a flagship model (but arguably the M3). What they are known for is great handling cars. If you've driven one BMW you've driven them all, because they all have the same tight, firm, super-glued-to-the-pavement handling that their loyal purchasers have come to expect. Even their SUV the X5 has that sporty feel, and some say it handles better than other manufacturer's standard sedans. So BMW doesn't so much rely on a flagship car, but rather it sells a certain way of driving.

Why this Happens
I don't know. I guess because there are only so many hours in a day, and there is a limit to how much information and analysis we can all handle. So we look for mental shortcuts, I guess psychologists call them "hueristics". If Ford makes tough, rugged trucks then we tend to think they make tough rugged economy cars (not true at all). If Michael Jordan swore by his Nike shoes, then maybe a tennis racket with their logo on it will help my game too. Marketing firms make millions by studying and helping their clients to exploit the sometimes-irrational way that human beings shop around and form opinions about the product lines available to them.

Law Schools
So if you're like I was, with all the schools you're looking at you can at best remember three things about each one. For me it was rank, location, and then one X factor. The X factor was typically something like, "they're strong in Civil Rights", "they're strong on Constitutional Law", "they're big on Technology Law", "they're ultra-liberal", "they're ultra-conservative", etc. I'd rather not reinforce this way of thinking by giving you specific X factor examples, as I'm sure you're already "discovering" many on your own. If you're like me, you didn't know much about the rest of the curriculum at the schools you gave a special X factor to. You figure, well if they're reknowned in one area then they're probably not shabby in the rest. Is that true? Who knows. The point is that this is basically how many candidates, law students, and practicing professionals think. Call it what you will, "X factor" or "Flagship" or "niche", one strength makes up for a lot of sins and goes a long way towards creating prestige. Rational? Maybe not. But to me its how the game works. It isn't something that can be put into a formula or measured in a mathematical sense. Its like a nice bright smile that makes you think the person is an overall good person because they have shiny teeth. You don't wonder about their cholesterol levels or schizophrenia.

So what about Miami?
Tax
Having shopped around for schools, and now having spent a few years here, in my mind Miami has one niche that the world has noticed. Tax. Excited yet? Well take a look at this, and you'll see what I mean:
http://www.law.miami.edu/publications/facpub.html
What do you notice? A lot of tax professors. Miami's Tax LLM (go look up LLM) program is considered one of the country's best. Even better, you can do a joint JD/LLM in tax in just four years, a process that usually takes 5 elsewhere. That's an awesome deal if you want to get into tax. Most of the students here know we have a great tax program. You hear students toss around the word "genious" when describing some of the tax professors.
The problem is that a strong tax law program isn't a rising tide that raises all the ships. Be honest, at this stage in the game, do you want to end up doing tax law (my advice is to have an open mind, as tax law may not be what you think it is)? Of course not, no candidate does. You want to be Perry Mason, Alan Derschowitz, Holmes. But aside from what candidates think, there are reasons why a tax program doesn't serve as a proxy in the minds of the legal community. Tax law doesn't tend to contribute to other areas of law, but rather it relies heavily on other areas of law to help resolve its thornier issues. The practice of tax law is generally seen as a way to make money, not so much to help cure injustices or keep the fabric of society held together. Who can afford tax lawyers? Usually people and corporations that already have enough money to just pay the taxes. Of course this is true about many areas of law, but for whatever reason, tax isn't "sexy" in the way that Constitutional Law, Technology Law, Civil Rights Law, Medical Law or others are. For whatever reason, tax just doesn't get people excited. Make no mistake, the tax program at UM is a great asset, but something more is needed to really get the school noticed.

International
There are also a lot of professors specializing in International Law. There are definitely a lot of foreign students on campus. International Law is one of the "sexy" flagships that help build the brand. It is quite possible that if UM becomes more and more visible in this area then this focus bould be the school's ticket to the big time. Every semester, there certainly are many International Law related courses to choose from. But there are a few i's to dot ant t's to cross first.

The school's focus on international law was something they talked a lot about in their marketing materials and at orientation. They said in effect, "you'll notice that international law will be integrated in many of your 'standard' classes, helping you gain a broad perspective. This is truly a unique feature of UM Law that distinguishes it from other schools. UM is truly an international law school" Well that turned out to be a load of BS. An international "perspective" has never been discussed in any, and I mean any class that I've taken. So I think the school needs to make up its mind. Is International Law going to be a Flagship, or a Style?

The Rest
Notice that Dean Lynch (a nice guy) uses the term "breadth" to describe the faculty's work. Breadth indeed. In my opinion, breadth doesn't foster prestige. All law schools have breadth. One example that comes to mind is UM's Technology Law program. As far as I can tell, there isn't one. At orientation, we were told about Professor Froomkin and his being a leader in his field. That's well and good, but unless I'm mistaken, he's the only one that teaches technology law related classes. Which means at best, you'll get one or two tech-law classes before you graduate. Given the realities of scheduling, you'll be lucky to get one. There are plenty of other examples of UM Law Professors who are big dogs in their field, but there isn't the depth of faculty in that area to really foster an "atmosphere" that draws students and other faculty to them. If you look at Professor Froomkin's comments to my last post, you'll see that this explains the apparent paradox that Leiter's rankings expose about Miami. Breadth but no depth. Everybody is off doing their own thing. One professor can only hire so many student assistants. He can only take on so many student independent study papers. Its hard to create a buzz in a field with just one or two faculty specializing in it.

From the outside looking in, one standout in a field doesn't necessarily help a school's prestige. Every school has its standouts. Miami has the disadvantage that the legal community might just assume that the superstar is at Miami for the weather. But when a school develops a reputation for being strong in a field, when several strong professors are there representing a particular field, then its got to be more than the weather. People notice strong teams, not necessarily strong individuals.

So that said, if you think I might have a point about how a school's faculty can create prestige for the school, you need to ask yourself these questions:

1. What are UM's "Flagships"?
2. Do those fields have the potential to give the school more prestige?
3. Are they "sexy" fields? Are they being managed well?

To summarize my answers, I identify Tax and International. I don't think Tax will help much with overall prestige even though its a great school for tax, maybe the best. International Law could have great potential. I should probably let you know that maybe my skepticism about the International Law program is jaded because I don't care the slightest about other countries or their laws. My feeling is one day we'll rule them all, but that's another post. The point is you may want to ask around. I feel that maybe it would be better to have another strong "domestic" field. In any case, smoke and mirrors aside, the International niche is emerging as a flagship, not a style. It doesn't permeate everything the law school does.

So right now, I don't see our prestige taking any leaps or bounds forward in the short or medium term. That said, I don't see it slipping much either. Maybe stagnation has a negative connotation, but nowadays I suppose keeping prestige is as important as gaining it. I guess I didn't choose the best title for this series, unless you think that not moving forward is "losing".

If I were a gambling man, and was going to place bets on faculty prestige gains, I'd put my money on schools that are carving out niches in areas like Medical Law, Technology Law, and Military Law. I have a feeling that some of those schools are flying below the radar right now, but will soon have big prestige gains due to increased relevancy of those fields.

But hey, if Miami is on your menu then don't rely on just my views. Call the deans, I'm sure they'll make time for you, they're all real nice. Ask them what their plans are. What kind of faculty do they see developing in the next few years? Is there a strategy to develop some areas more than others? Does the Dean disagree with me, i.e. that its better to cherry-pick top people and build breadth rather than depth? Such a view isn't irrational, so find out why some schools take that approach.

In the end, keep in mind that I'm here. I've concluded that there are things more important than potential gains in a school's prestige...or atleast that was what I believed a few years ago. And like I say, I'm pretty sure that our ranking won't slip much in any case. In my particular case I decided that prestige wasn't worth paying a premium for. My strategy was to compensate for prestige by getting the grades. I will discuss this in a separate post.

Is UM Law Losing the Prestige Game? Part I

2005-05-14T19:39:00.000-04:00

My friends and acquaintances often pass my email along to law-students-to-be, and this is the time of year when I get the most inquiries. For generic questions, I usually pawn people off on the plethora of blogs and law school discussion boards that answer "what its like to be a law student."

But now and again a more sophisticated shopper wants to know about UM Law and why someone who could go somewhere more prestigious wouldn't. These are usually students with LSAT scores well above UM Law's average, who have already been offered significant scholarship money or anticipate it. UM is their fallback school, or maybe it would be cheaper than their first choices because of scholarships. What they really want to know is this: will UM Law's prestige rankings rise? Will I make out like a bandit if I sign on now, and four years from now UM's prestige is on par with first tier schools?

Unfortunately, I usually tell them not to bet on it. To save myself some time, I'll put my reasoning up on this blog, which will also give shoppers a chance to see any comments that the 2 or 3 people that read this thing might leave. I'll try to confine the rest of Part I to defining some terms, and maybe a few basic assumptions that will carry forward into later installments.

What is Prestige?
I'm a commonsense type of person, so I know what prestige is. If you don't, then you lack common sense. But seriously, prestige is something that everyone knows but only poets can describe. It sometimes goes by the name of "goodwill", or the value that a brand name alone adds to an otherwise fungible commodity. Law students consider it to be the difference in the way that the marketplace would treat them, all else equal, just because they graduated from law school A versus law school B. Its something that is impossible to quantify, varies from region to region, changes with the times, and about which no two people will have the same opinions. At the same time, everyone knows which law schools are prestigious and which ones are not. Reputations are truths unto themselves, even if the reputation hasn't been justly earned. That's life, welcome to it.

Although the subject of much debate, US News & World Report compiles a "ranking" of law schools which more or less reflects the legal community's sentiments with regards to the prestige of each school. The biggest criticism of the USNWR ranking is that it doesn't measure "quality", but is grossly skewed by prestige. That's bad for purists, but good for our analysis here, because we're talking about smoke, not fire.

What influences a school's prestige?
Two simple factors:

1. The prestige earned by the graduates, which is usually correlated with praiseworthy accomplishments. If a lot of successful people come from a particular place, eventually that gets noticed. Rationally or not, people assume that the school must have played some role.

2. The prestige earned by the faculty, which is usually correlated with praiseworthy scholarship. If a lot of influential and intelligent professors are known to roam the halls of particular schools, then rationally or not, people assume that some of those smarts will rub off on the students.

What about history?
Of course. Prestige is perception, and old ways of thinking about things die hard. But law schools can and do experience changes in prestige. It doesn't happen overnight, and its easier to gain prestige than it is to loose it. Particularly for "second tier" and "third tier" schools, large swings in USNWR rankings are common.

So where does UM go wrong?
My feeling is that UM Law has created an atmostphere that tends to appeal to certain types of faculty members (factor #2). Those faculty members, even if respected in their specialties, are not producing the kind of academic work that lends itself to universal "prestige-generation". This atmosphere in turn gives bright potential students no particularly compelling reason to join us. Without bright incoming students, it makes it harder to pump substance into factor #1.

So, in a nutshell, its my opinion that UM Law is pretty stagnant. The administration has expressed much joy about the qualifications of the incoming classes of late, but this is a phenomenon shared by all lawschools of late, and well documented in all the admissions related blogs.

In the next installment (if I get around to it), I'll talk about the atmosphere at UM Law and what is or is not being done to improve it.

Peak Performance in the Legal Profession

2005-04-28T15:18:00.000-04:00

A collegue recently took it upon herself to ask the SBA secretary to forward all of us an email promoting her new book.

I have read the excerpt available online and I have read the author's bio (assumedly self-authored) on the same website. From what I have seen, I am not particularly impressed with this project, and I feel it reflects poorly upon UM Law students. As she is not yet a lawyer, I will reserve my judgments as to how such things reflect upon the community of lawyers.

First and foremost, the author is not a lawyer. She has not even officially graduated yet, nor has she taken the bar. It is not at all clear why she is qualified to profess a means of achieving "peak performance" in a profession in which she has yet to officially serve.

Secondly, as I understand her bio, she has yet to serve in any profession. It seems she went straight from college in 2002 into law school. One wonders why she didn't take it upon herself to write "Peak Performance in Law School" or "Peak Performance in Academia", the field where her actual experience seems to lie. In her defense it appears from the bio that she did have some sort intern-type job during law school.

The bio is filled with other statements that fail to pass my smell test:

It purports, "Over the last decade [the author] has conducted independent research on the psychology of human peak performance." However, judging by the picture, graduation dates and the average law school grduation age, she is probably 25+/- 2 years. That would mean that "research" on this project began in high-school.
A second smelly sales ploy is an attempt to associate with other successful people, such as "Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Ken Blanchard, Paul Brown, Donald Trump, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Ferraro, David Roehrs, Joseph Moriello and Richard Branson" all of whom it is claimed are her "mentors". The dictionary defines a mentor as "... a trusted counselor or teacher, especially in occupational settings." This implies some sort of interaction. Has the author interacted with all of these "mentors?" Or did the author of the bio "accidentally" confuse the term mentor with "role model" in an effort to employ the sales tactic of celebrity association, aka presumptious name-dropping?

After reading the sample chapter, Chapter 5, there is hardly anything distinguishing the book from the stacks of motivational books littering yard sales and used book stores accross America. It contains a rehashing and recycling of tired sports and business analogies. The strategies are nothing more than common-sense strategies that most law students have already mastered. Of course the book does distinguish itself from other works with the author's apparant mastery of prose: "Herb Brooks made the difference with his vision, tenacity, and quite frankly, “balls” to push this team beyond its limits to achieve what he set out to do" Ahhh genious. Pure genious.

It seems to me that a law student ought to spend their time writing scholarly case notes and comments for academic publication, not on some naive attempt to cash in on the motivational literature racket. It makes no difference to me how a girl makes her living, just don't bring down the good name of UM Law in the process.

Elementary School

2005-04-24T13:01:00.000-04:00

I recently had a very brief exchange of views with the Lawfool about a course that is taught to UM 1L's called 'Elements'.

Exactly what Elements is, and what it is intended to accomplish often vexes 1L's to the same extent as the question, "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" A number of observations come to mind.

First, after the 1L rite of passage, interest in resolving that question fades exponentially. Elements becomes just another class in a long string of questionably useful classes, and it quickly fades into the hazy mush of memories that make up the 1L experience. The students who once adamantly protested the need for Elements and advocated its demise find other things to occupy themselves with, easily finding new gross injustices within legal education to complain about.

But secondly, many students change their views over time, and as some 3Ls reminisce they often articulate new found appreciation for the Elements experience. Often you hear that the student now feels that if they could do it again, they could easily coast into A. They now see how simple the class really was, childs-play almost, and the only barrier to success in the class was themselves.

My own opinion is that three courses in particular are vital for every student to take: Elements, LRW, and Lit Skills. The reason I think they are each vital is because only by taking those classes will the student be exposed to his own strengths and weaknesses. As a whole, they let a student know if his strengths lie in analysis and argument of law, or analysis and argument of facts. Few people are good at both.

In my view, almost all substantive exams at UM are primarily tests of the student's ability to remember black letter law and then argue facts. Unfortunately for many students, they don't realize this until its too late to improve their GPA. On the other hand, Elements and the LRW memo and brief test the student's ability to analyse and argue law without the aid of third party study guides and hornbooks. Lit Skills tests the student's ability to communicate and make a presentation, an entirely different animal altogether.

Lastly, Elements is a quaint tradition that binds generations of UM Law alumni, giving every job-seeking student an ice-breaker when faced with an interview with an ex-Cane.

Grade Inflation at UM?

2005-03-09T23:25:00.000-05:00

Recently there has been much discussion regarding the possibility of adding B- to the grading scale used at UM Law. As I understand it, the SBA has voted to recommend this approach to the administration.

In her January 24 State of the Campus Address, SBA President Monica Segura articulated the following support for the B-:

The post-graduation job market is highly competitive and we, the students, deserve a Student Bar Association that will lobby the law faculty to help us overcome the competition. There are currently other law schools, like Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, that have grading scales which recognize a 2.5 quality G.P.A as being a “B-” as opposed to “C+.” The use of the current grading scale has created a slight handicap for UM students competing with law students from other schools. We, as future UM law alumni, deserve a support structure that will enable us to compete with students from those schools.

I don't know that Harvard or U.Penn. are relevant examples (if you're not 3.8+ at UM don't bother trying to compete with a Harvard grad), but certainly there are plenty of schools on par with UM that inflate their student's grades and thus edge out UM job applicants on this basis. Employers have limited information and time, and tend to use GPA measures incorrectly. GPA is a statistic that is only meaningful when viewed in light of statistical measures describing the GPA distribution of the entire class. While these numbers are available, few employers bother to seek them out and use them. Rankings are perhaps more usefull, but suffer from not describing the differences in GPA between any particular ranks.

While I reluctantly support this measure, I think there are more far-reaching things that can be done to better the school's reputation and thus increase everyone's job prospects. I think this type of grade inflation is only going to help students in the lower GPA tiers, and indeed these may be the students who need the most help. But it certainly won't change the way Miami is perceived in the legal marketplace, which is really what counts come job hunting time.

Worse, high-GPA grads might conceivably be harmed if employers begin questioning whether or not a high GPA from UM really means anything. UM may not have the best rep, but local employers in particular are somewhat aware that most UM profs are stingy with A's. If we acquire a reputation as having joined the schools that inflate grades, those elite students might themselves suffer when compared to other schools' grads. By adding a B-, we might be merely robbing Peter to pay Paul.

What will the UM administration decide? That's easy enough to predict--it all depends on how the USNWR ranking would be affected.

Vindicated

2005-02-11T20:45:00.000-05:00

Its nice to know that at least one respected member of the faculty ("X") shares my low opinion of one of her collegues ("Y").

X leveled her criticism against Y out of the blue during a lecture, and only a handful of us knew what X was talking about. But the gist of it was that Y distorts her teaching of the law to suit her own liberal agenda.

On Y's exam I was faced with a dilemma when one question raised a particular point of law that I knew Y had grossly distorted during lecture. Do I put the correct answer, or the one that Y wanted to hear? Exacerbating the problem was the fact that I felt that the correct answer was far better policy than Y's fancy. So I stuck to my guns, and in the end "earned" my lowest grade thus far in law school.

Aside from the personal satisfaction of hearing my nemesis held out for ridicule, it was comforting to see that the faculty polices itself. As I have previously written, there are definitely some far-left leaning profs at UM, but they generally present a fair and balanced view of the law and policy in their classrooms. They welcome conservitive argument and do not punish students for raising it. The few outcasts are well-known among students, but I never suspected the rest of the faculty knew or cared.

Pomp for the Points = Spreading the Wealth?

2005-01-20T17:32:00.000-05:00

With just about all of the Fall now grades in, many 1Ls are likely wondering what special accolades are in store for those who did exceptionally well. Dinners with the Deans? Special reserved parking? Gold plated gavels?

The answer, in a nutshell: If you did well, don't expect much. If you didn't, there's nothing to be jealous about........yet.

Here are the lengths that the UM adminstration goes to when congratulating its outstanding scholars, based on informal survey:

* Dean's List - Not sure where GPA cutoff is. Your prize will be a certificate in the mail, hot off the laser printer, with Dean's signature stamped. That's right, stamped. Last time I saw him, his hand worked fine.

* 4.0 - Yes, it has been done. Nothing more than Dean's List. Certificate is still stamped.

* Book a Class - Certificate in the mail, hot off the laser printer. Again, stamped signature.

Consensus on the certificates: cheap, tacky, not suitable for framing.

However, if you continue to do well then over the summer you might be given more certificates, only this time the stamped signature will be that of the Secretary of the US Treasury. The Dean's Merit Scholarship money flows generously in an effort to both reward those students who did well, and keep them from transferring out. I imagine that these funds are finite.

So the question raised is this: could the Deans get more bang for the buck if they made more signifcant non-monetary gestures to students who excel? The idea is that if you've sufficiently pumped up the egos of top students, you need not offer them as much scholarship (bribe) money to congratulate them and keep them from transferring. You could thus either spend less, or give scholarships to a greater number of students.

My answer to the question is YES. Having certificates professionally printed is not very expensive. Signing them personally is free (note I don't put much opportunity cost on the Dean's time...). Would a cheap dinner in the lounge be too much to ask? A week of reserved parking? Football or basketball tickets? A personal meeting in the Dean's office for a pat on the back and a handshake?

Isn't this basic negotiation and settlement strategy? Give a little, take a little?

UM Law Complaint Blog Found - "Anonymous" Unwelcome

2005-01-08T11:55:00.000-05:00

A fellow student brought this blog: http://umlawcomplaints.blogspot.com/ to my attention. So far there are only two comments. My suggestion is that posters use a consistent alias, and not use blogspot's "Anonymous". Otherwise, the blog will be useless.

I have become highly skeptical of UM's anonymous student reviews and opinions of professors. The library maintains records of all the student reviews for each professors, and some students actually peruse these before scheduling their classes. The sources of my skepticism can perhaps be overcome by the blog, but only if students give more information than they currently do under the UM system of student reviews.

One problem the blog might overcome is reviews that do not identify other professors that the student liked or disliked. Obviously the reviews must be anonymous, but it is useful to know if the reviewer and the reader agree or disagree about other professors. If the reviewer and I agree on five other professors, I will be more likely to give weight to her opinion on the sixth. If however she hates every professor I liked, then her opinions aren't going to be valuable to me. If posters to the blog use consistent aliases, or include a line naming other professors they liked/disliked, this problem can be overcome.

The other major flaw with UM's student reviews is that they are filled out before the students have received their exam grades in the class, or even taken the final. Student opinions have the potential for a complete 180 once grades are released, so the reviews tell only half the story. Reviews on the blog need not suffer this deficiency, and posters might even reveal their grade in the class and overall GPA so as to allow readers to get a better feel for the reviewer.

Theoretically the UM administration could create a short list of suspects by simply cross referencing the comments an alias has made against the historical records of student schedules, but I doubt they would do this, even for the most profane and defamatory reviews.

In any case, I'll probably just rely on the review method that has served me well thus far: word of mouth.

Is UM Law Review too Exclusive? Part 2

2004-10-26T07:44:00.000-04:00

Judge Richard Posner brings up a few points that apply to my proposal to expand the number of students on UM's Law Review. I believe that by enhancing the nationwide marketability of more UM Law graduates, more grads will be hired by elite out-of-state firms and thus help UM's reputation. Posner agrees that putting Law Review on a resume tends to open doors because it "signals the quality of particular students to prospective employers. The law review editors tend to be the elite of the student body; prospective employers know this and so the elite students tend to be sorted to the elite firms."

However, he also tends to believe in an inverse relationship between the number of students on Law Review and the quality of the publication.

Suppose we are both right: Assume we can help more UM Law grads get elite out-of-state jobs by expanding the number on LR, leading to a snowball effect of greater respect for UM Law in the national legal community. The price would be some loss of LR publication quality.

Would this loss be noticed by anyone? Would it lead to a loss of respect for UM in the national legal community? I seriously doubt it. Either nobody would notice, or the effect would be so slight as to justify the tradeoff.

Is UM Law too Theoretical?

2004-09-21T09:09:00.000-04:00

In Florida legal circles, UM Law is known to emphasize theory (a.k.a. policy) to a greater extent than other Florida law schools. Assumedly theory is emphasized at the expense of practical skills. I have never known anyone to disagree with this assertion, and back when I was researching law schools, I never found a dissenter. I heard all kinds of anecdotes about well-ranked UM Law grads needing their hands held during the first year of practice, while Florida and FSU grads hit the ground speed-walking (as in not quite running, but not crawling either).

From my own observations, I find it hard to believe otherwise. Classes at UM Law incorporate very little real world discussion. Often this fact will be admitted by the professor on day one. Very few of the professors actually practice law. Among those that have practiced, several had remarkably short careers of 5 years or less. UM Law professors rank quite high on Leiter's Scholarly Impact rankings, a fact that in a roundabout way tells us where their priorities are (i.e. publishing). Want a smoking gun? Try Elements: A full semester course of studying useless cases for analysis sake, required of every 1L without exception.

Other Florida law schools have many practicing adjuncts, some quite prominent in their fields. Several have extensive practical seminar programs, often involving off-campus work in real law offices and courtrooms. Sure, we have Lit Skills I & II, but the general consensus seems to feel that it pales in comparison to the scope of some competing programs.

So is this state of affairs good or bad, and for whom? Have I painted the wrong portrait altogether?

A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?

2004-09-15T15:37:00.000-04:00

Today UM Law students received a mass email:

The eyes of the nation will be on Florida between now and election day. Are you interested in learning more about why people are concerned? Would you like to become more involved in the process?

The week of September 27-October 1 will be filled with events and learning opportunities here at the Law School.

SAVE THE DATES for the opportunity to view two documentaries and a panel discussion about Florida voting and the events leading up to the 2000 election, as well as the events following and become trained to work as a poll-monitor.
...
View the film “Unprecedented.”

This documentary provides a brief history of the events leading up to the 2000 Presidential election and documents the months following the November election through the January inauguration.

Bring a brown-bag lunch and stay for an informal discussion following the film.
...
View the documentary “Trouble in Paradise- Two Years in Florida Politics—

A People’s History of Election 2000 and Beyond

Following the screenings ... meet the “Trouble in Paradise” film maker and participate in a panel discussion featuring UM Law School professors, community leaders, elected officials and election reform activists.
...
Attend a training to become qualified to work as a poll monitor on Election Day.

These events are being planned and sponsored by a coalition of law students and Law School organizations, including The Society for Peace and Justice, BLSA and SBA.

Why do I have a sneaking suspiscion that an ulterior motive of this "coalition" is to advance the notion that Republicans "stole" the last presidential election?

Hmm. Here's a review of one of the featured "documentaries", "Unprecedented", taken directly from its web site:

Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election is the riveting story about the battle for the Presidency in Florida and the undermining of democracy in America. Filmmakers Richard Ray Pérez and Joan Sekler examine modern America's most controversial political contest: the election of George W. Bush. What emerges is a disturbing picture of an election marred by suspicious irregularities, electoral injustices, and sinister voter purges in a state governed by the winning candidate's brother. George W. Bush stole the presidency of the United States… and got away with it. " …the movie highlights those on the front lines —from the African-Americans who were turned away from the polling booths for assorted reasons. In one memorable scene the filmmakers freeze-frame a 'protest' against the ballot recount, identifying participants as staff members of Republican elected officials." --Elaine Dutka, Los Angeles Times

It's not that I agree or disagree with their motive. Rather, I find it extremely annoying and distasteful that the political issues to be discussed by the "coalition" are distorted in the email. Come on guys, don't hide your partisan intent behind a "get out the vote" facade.

Who was Soia Mentschikoff?

2004-09-14T07:49:00.000-04:00

99.99% of UM Law students are introduced to that name during the admissions process. It is the name of the full-ride scholarship that is not awarded to them. So the first assumption we make about that name is that it belonged to some rich philanthropist.

Later in Elements, that name appears in the very first introductory chapter of our book and tells us how to study law. The name tells us we need to study 60-70 hours a week, and brief our cases atleast twice. So the name then becomes associated with a sick feeling in our stomachs.

Next we come to learn that the name belongs to a woman, who was married to the other name that wrote our Elements book. So now we hate two names, and pity their children.

Eventually, we stumble upon a portrait of the name in the library, which for some reason hangs next to the computer services room. We learn the name belonged to a female dean of the school.

I am usually irreverent towards legal scholars ("Who is she without me?"), but after reading this, and finding nothing but the basics on Google, I think I'd like to know more about who Soia Mentschikoff was.

Is UM Law Review too Exclusive?

2004-09-13T16:14:00.000-04:00

The current size of the UM Law Review is not in the best interests of the student body as a whole, and probably not even for those who make it on. ALL students would benefit in their nationwide job searches if the Law Review headcount were doubled.

I may not have this exactly right, but to make Law Review as a 1L at UM you have to:

1. Be in the top 7% of your class, or
2. Be in the top 7% of your section, or
3. Write on.

This year, about 30 or so students made it, with only 2 writing on.

Is it an honor to make it on? Yes. Do they do a good editing job? Yes. Does the school benefit as a result? Yes. Do employers take notice? Yes. Is the fact that employers take notice good for everyone? No. Is it good for Law Review Members? Maybe.

In the national legal job market, Miami suffers the same perception that many so-called "second-tier" schools share. Namely, that 2nd tier schools produce a handful of excellent lawyers, mostly mediocre ones, and quite a few terrible ones (along with students who struggle to pass the bar). In the local job market, Miami's perception is somewhat better, and a student with a mediocre GPA has a better shot here than say, New York.

The perception, in Miami's case, is false. The school produces far more than a handful of excellent graduates who ought to be competing for the same jobs sought after by Ivy League or other "first-tier" law graduates. The national legal job market is irrational and or inefficient in this regard. As I've said, the local situation isn't so bad, due to better information posessed by the local firms through experience and outreach.

Now I will assert something that hopefully not even Law Review members would contest: it is doubtful that the student who barely makes the top 14% is any significantly more or less skilled to handle Law Review membership than the #1 ranked student.

If my assertion is roughly true, and unless there are administrative difficulties, the quality of the Law Review would not suffer if its membership were doubled. Further, given that 60 is still a relatively small percentage of a 1L class, it would not make membership any more or less prestigious in the eyes of employers if the headcount were doubled.

What would this mean for Miami grads in the national job market? It would mean that twice as many graduating 3L's would have Law Review on their resume, which would increase the number of Miami graduates landing the prestigious jobs they truly deserve. More national employers would be exposed to the quality UM produces, and they would therefore be more likely to hire more UM grads in the future, even those lacking Law Review credentials.

Law Review members loose nothing (well, perhaps a de minimis dillution), have more bodies to share the work of publication with, and indirectly benefit from the long term improvement of UM's perception in the legal community.

In case anyone is curious as to my possibly being biased, my proposed change would have no effect on whether I not I would have made Law Review. It is also highly doubtful that I will seek employment outside of Florida.

UM Law Library NOT Haunted

2004-09-13T08:08:00.000-04:00

A 1L wonders if the UM law library is haunted. I can assure him it is not, for the simple fact that our library has no soul.

The UM law library is uninspiring and reflects poorly on us.

A law library should make an impression on those studying within its halls; inspire the self-doubting, and humble the proud. It ought to live up to all the stereotypes: hardwood floors or lush carpets, hardwood shelves, brass door handles, ornate light fixtures, portraits of prominent alumni, etc..

Our library features industrial carpeting with a pattern that makes you dizzy if you stare at it. The chairs are metal or wood with upholstery from the 70's. Portraits and display cases are strewn about with no apparent rhyme or reason, plaques honoring achievement are cluttered in an elevator bank. Tables are wood or metal with some sort of puke-white countertop material. Bookshelves are metal, painted some sort of hideous green. Oh yes, flourescent lights everywhere--just what eyes that will be studying for hours on end need.

Do we need the pomp and circumstance of a library, like say, Harvard's? There one finds towering portraits, finely crafted busts, rooms dedicated to memoribilia, and study tables with built in chess sets. Well, we don't need those things. But might there not be something to the old addage, "The clothes make the man?" Does not architecture and interior design play a subtle role in how we view ourselves, and how others view us?

Even if we as students have a frugal, utilitarian, and perhaps spartan spirit, who else might be visiting our library and judging us by it? Certainly top law school applicants won't be impressed, and given the complexity of choosing a law school, every little bit in our favor would help. And what about employers who come to campus for OCI? Many of them are alumni of schools with real law libraries--what does ours tend to say about alumni of UM?

Just so there are no misunderstandings, our library is clean, well organized, and the staff is superb. But aesthetically the library here is no different from most affluent high schools, the only difference being that here I fearlessly use the lavatories.

Outlines/Honor Code Pt. 2

2004-09-11T16:14:00.000-04:00

Today I spent a few minutes with the Honor Code, and concluded that it is probably not a violation for most student organizations (as proxy for their members) to maintain exclusive outline banks.

The Code does not speak to the practice, neither directly nor indirectly. However, there is one section that I find applies to a broader policy discussion on the practice:

Section 1.01 Purposes and Objectives
b. Protecting each student's right to study in an environment free from unfair and dishonest competion;

If a student organization maintains an outline bank exclusive to its members, does this create an unfair environment for non-member students? Probably not, because most student organizations allow anyone to join at any time.

But Law Reviews might be on shaky ground. The law school administration takes an active role in fostering these elite groups, and membership is limited by both academic achievement and limited windows of time. Thus, it would seem that a non-member student has a good argument that his lack of access to a Law Review outline bank is unfair:

1. He may not be allowed to join, and
2. The law school has effectively segregated the best students (grade-wise), and these superior students are, by act of a sanctioned student organization, denying other students access to their "superior" shared information/work-product. In effect, the "rich are getting richer." (As an aside, when I told two collegues that the Law Review maintained an exclusive outline bank, both non-members immediately voiced the "rich get richer" complaint)

The law review would counter that every 1L had a fair chance to join by performing well in their classes (but what about 2L transfer students?).

But taking a step back, and considering what the Code is really all about, its tough to conclude that the Law Review or its members are committing a violation. If they are, it is de minimis. If I were on the Honor Council I would not find that a violation had occurred.

That said, it doesn't change my opinion that the practice of student organizations maintaining exclusive outline banks is a negative for UM Law. Student organizations should be stewards of banks, but in a collegial spirit for the entire student body, not their exclusive memberships. I find my views amplified by a fact mentioned in my previous post, i.e. that most organizations are organized around religious, racial, political, and even sexually-oriented premises. Clanish behavior is not a good thing on a law school campus.

My views do not extend to individuals controlling their own outlines outside the context of student organizations. Personally, I have always shared my resources with everyone. But if you have an outline you only want to share with a select few, then that's your own choice subject to your own moral/ethical guidelines. My views and these posts are centered on the practice as it relates to student organizations sanctioned by the administration/SBA.

I would vote in favor of an amendment to the rules governing student organizations disallowing the practice of maintaining exclusive outline banks.

Do private outline banks violate the UM Law Honor Code?

2004-09-10T08:53:00.000-04:00

Many law student organizations at UM maintain "private" outline banks. "Private" means that members are not to share outlines from the bank with non-members.

I find this practice offensive. To give the issue background, consider the following:

1. Many of the organizations are organized around ethnic, racial, political, or even religious premises. For example, Black Law Student's Association or Cardozo Legal Society, Christian Law Student Society. Granted, anyone may join any organization, but as a practical matter the students segregate themselves willingly.

2. Some organizations, in particular law reviews, are purely merit based, and not all students may join.

What irks me is the fact that exclusive outline banks essentialy create a situation where a class of students are sharing information with some collegues, denying it to others.

Over the weekend, I plan to peruse the UM Law Honor Code and see what I can come up with.

BTW: I am a member of organizations with exclusive banks. But I get my outlines from the net, mostly from the Harvard bank which is excellent. I also buy commercial outlines. My gripe is the principle; access to more outlines would not influence my grades.

Is UM Law too Liberal?

2004-09-10T08:21:00.000-04:00

My friends and collegues know that I take an above-average interest in politics. I am often asked my estimation of the leanings of UM Law faculty and students. Most outsiders have the impression UM Law is a haven for liberal academics. I usually give the following answers:

Without a doubt the majority of UM Law professors are left-leaning. But usually politics are kept out of the classrooms, and policy issues within the law receive balanced coverage. During socratic excercises, even liberal leaning professors challenge classes with conservative views on an issues and defend them well.

This is not to say that there aren't exceptions. I have had one class where I felt the professor's bias (liberal in this case) was so extreme that the quality of the course suffered. His interpretations of cases were not consistent with other commentaries I read. That is not in and of itself bad, except for the fact that he did not expose the class to the alternative interpretations. He clearly had an agenda. I felt my outside work overcame his shortcomings and gave me a balanced view of that area of law. As for the rest of the students--they were short-changed.

To summarize the faculty's impact on students:
1. A conservative student would not feel uncomfortable at UM Law. To the contrary, a few conservative-leaning students I know enjoy the good natured sparring that most professors are willing to entertain.
2. A liberal student would be very comfortable, and could make marvelous use of office hours.

I find it very difficult to guage where the student body is, despite the many politically-centered conversations I have with a variety of students. The reality is, most law students have little if any time to devote to political thought. Many are at an age where political views are developing and in a constant state of flux.

I have never seen any protests or other nonsense on the Bricks. Students at UM are very respectful of eachother's political and religious views. With one exception, I have never seen any flyers I felt were objectionable, inflammatory, or in bad taste. For political discussions on the Bricks, civility is the norm.

To be sure, not everyone will agree with my views. In fact, one top student transferred after 1L to get away from what called a "communist den".

Jumping in the Mix

2004-09-10T08:06:00.000-04:00

I recently stumbled across a few UM Law blogs, one by a professor, two by students. I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring.

The two by students seem to be both written by 1L's (first year law students). Both students seem to be on the right track:
http://lawfool.blogspot.com/

http://www.jasonwolf.net/

The professor's blog appears to have little to do with school. I have never met Professor Froomkin, but recognize the name and associate it with the IP and technology classes here. His blog seems to have little to do with those topics either. Rather, his blog focuses on politics. He clearly does not like president Bush.
http://www.discourse.net

In fact, his blog inspires me to create a separate post regarding the political leanings of UM Law professors, in the hopes that other students might comment.