No, we're still working on our memos, but the recent decision from the First Circuit Court of Appeals holding that bloggers are not responsible for comments posted by readers is still a relief. Unfortunately, we're in the Second Circuit, so this decision is not binding on federal courts in our area (see Ma, I have learned something in law school), but it's good to see that at least one federal court has it right. The decision means we're that much closer to protection from M-I-L and Scarlet O'Hara :)
(Just kidding, please don't take Roomba back!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Open, Hostile, and Obscene
My weekend is limited to those three words. It is memo time once again which means that our apartment is turning into a catastrophe, our diet consists of cheap, frozen foods, and we had to buy more highlighters.
My memo is on adverse possession, which is one of the coolest things I’ve come across in my studies. A claimant can gain property through adverse possession. All you need is an actual entry onto the land, for the use to be “open and notorious” (such as building a fence), for the act to be hostile against the true owner (mostly that they didn’t give you permission to be there), for your possession to be exclusive (no one else is trying to do the same thing) and continuous for the statutory period (In NY that means 10 years). Satisfy all of those elements and you have yourself a nice chunk of land. So all of you who actually pay money for property are just suckers. His and I are trying to figure out how to adversely possess some nice land in the
The other subject occupying my mind is obscenity. We’re working on the 1st amendment in Constitutional Law. In fact, 1000 of our 1200 assigned pages for the semester deal with the 1st amendment. Right now we are focusing on obscenity, what constitutes it, and is it proscribable. This is an incredibly interesting topic and more and more I find myself siding with Ginsburg and Kennedy and against O’Connor. I’m still coming to terms with this.
The thing that is really bugging me about all of these FCC cases is that the only state interest being preserved is the innocence of the children. Every argument focuses on proscribing speech based upon a poor helpless child somehow switching on the TV and seeing something inappropriate. I’m sorry, but I’m a jaded law student now and you have to do better then that. And reading 20 pages of octogenarians describing v-chips and cable television is enough to drive this young whippersnapper up the wall.
That’s my rant for the day…. Back to memoing.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
More Pictures Of The Aftermath
Pictures from the parking lot of our apartment complex. One of these cars is ours.
Found it! Unfortunately, that's the easy part.
Snow was half way up the passenger's side door. Luckily, the car on the driver's side had already moved.
Sing reads Exit Only. It's almost buried in the drifting snow.
Victory was ours in the end. Looks like we'll have to go to class.
Found it! Unfortunately, that's the easy part.
Snow was half way up the passenger's side door. Luckily, the car on the driver's side had already moved.
Sing reads Exit Only. It's almost buried in the drifting snow.
Victory was ours in the end. Looks like we'll have to go to class.On The Road Again . . . Maybe
After 18-inches of snow, the storm has finally moved on (its Maine's problem now). But even though the storm is gone, wind gusts of up to 50mph are supposed to be blowing the snow back onto the newly plowed roads and yes, we have class today. The law school delayed its opening until 11:00 and noted that many of the backroads around the school had not been plowed and that could be a problem if we can't get to the parking lots.
My Crim Law class was canceled for today (before the storm) so I only have one class. Hers has two classes as her Contracts professor canceled class. So we're going to try digging out around 9:00 this morning and seeing how long it takes us to make it in.
It's not just the streets that were bad yesterday. Cars were getting stuck in the parking lot of the Mexican food place across the street.
For comparison's sake, this is why classes were cancelled yesterday:
And this is roughly the same shot today:
My Crim Law class was canceled for today (before the storm) so I only have one class. Hers has two classes as her Contracts professor canceled class. So we're going to try digging out around 9:00 this morning and seeing how long it takes us to make it in.
It's not just the streets that were bad yesterday. Cars were getting stuck in the parking lot of the Mexican food place across the street.
For comparison's sake, this is why classes were cancelled yesterday:
And this is roughly the same shot today:
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Buried
So, as it turns out, we couldn't go sledding today if we wanted to. Our car doors scrape against the snow when we open them, there's a solid mass of snow extending from the ground up over the top of the car, and the snow drift behind the car reaches to the bottom of the bumper. I don't think we could even get out of our parking space to brave the roads. And it's still coming down. We would've had a better chance making it to class this morning than we will tomorrow, so I'm thinking tomorrow will be another snow day, official or not.
It's Official
SNOW DAY!
A quick check of the email this morning made it official: no class today. We could use the extra time to get ahead in our reading, begin our outlines, and start our research for our next big lawyering assignment, but as Hers indicated, we have sleds. So I guess we're going to celebrate the fact that the law school has canceled classes so as not to make students and facility drive into town in dangerous weather conditions by, well, driving into town in dangerous weather conditions to go sledding in a park four or fvie blocks from the school.
Between our upcoming yearbook pictures and snow days, I feel like I'm back in high school (I would say elementary school, but we didn't get many snow days in SoCal).
A quick check of the email this morning made it official: no class today. We could use the extra time to get ahead in our reading, begin our outlines, and start our research for our next big lawyering assignment, but as Hers indicated, we have sleds. So I guess we're going to celebrate the fact that the law school has canceled classes so as not to make students and facility drive into town in dangerous weather conditions by, well, driving into town in dangerous weather conditions to go sledding in a park four or fvie blocks from the school.
Between our upcoming yearbook pictures and snow days, I feel like I'm back in high school (I would say elementary school, but we didn't get many snow days in SoCal).
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The Snow is Coming the Snow is Coming!
Our remission into childhood continues:
A huge blizzard is heading this way which should dump 5 inches tonight, 10+ tomorrow, 12 or so the next day. In other words, we might just be looking at a snow day! My Con Law professor has said in no uncertain terms that unless something drastically changes we won't have class. So that just leaves Crim Law for me, and, well I'm not such a big fan of that class so....
Anyway, you might be asking how His and I have prepared for the upcoming blizzard. We went out and bought some sleds. Yup, we're having a sledding party tomorrow. A large group of us have decided that regardless of the class situation we're going sledding. We are so excited; however, I suspect that this sledding trip will probably turn into a mixture of 6 year old humor and a discussion of the liability of the sled manufacturer. Such is the life of a law student.
A huge blizzard is heading this way which should dump 5 inches tonight, 10+ tomorrow, 12 or so the next day. In other words, we might just be looking at a snow day! My Con Law professor has said in no uncertain terms that unless something drastically changes we won't have class. So that just leaves Crim Law for me, and, well I'm not such a big fan of that class so....
Anyway, you might be asking how His and I have prepared for the upcoming blizzard. We went out and bought some sleds. Yup, we're having a sledding party tomorrow. A large group of us have decided that regardless of the class situation we're going sledding. We are so excited; however, I suspect that this sledding trip will probably turn into a mixture of 6 year old humor and a discussion of the liability of the sled manufacturer. Such is the life of a law student.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Boring
Yes, we've been slacking a bit. Part of it is that they're not easing us into this semester the way they did last semester. Hers has had two Lawyering assignments involving significant time and I've had one and been assigned a second. Plus, we have our regular reading to stay up on and in some classes, that's significantly more than last semester. In other words, all our professors who told us the first semester was the worst semester in law school appear to be dead wrong.
But there's another reason for the lack of posts. We've realized we're really pretty boring people. Our life right now revolves around law school. All of our stories are law school related and we're aware that there is only so many law school related stories our readers can handle. We live the law school life and we know how boring it is, we can only imagine how painful it is to read about.
Well, maybe the posts will pick up when we visit Africa this summer. I mean, there has to be something interesting going on over there right?
But there's another reason for the lack of posts. We've realized we're really pretty boring people. Our life right now revolves around law school. All of our stories are law school related and we're aware that there is only so many law school related stories our readers can handle. We live the law school life and we know how boring it is, we can only imagine how painful it is to read about.
Well, maybe the posts will pick up when we visit Africa this summer. I mean, there has to be something interesting going on over there right?
Point/Counterpoint: The Idiot Edition
Last Friday the Dean sent out an email to let us all know that tuition was going up 6% next year. Of course, the email contained the obligatory disclaimer that such decisions were never reached lightly. The primary reason for the increase was to cover annual expenses such as financial aid expenses, library expenses, and utility costs. In addition to covering annual expenses, the school is investing in a joint recreation center to be used by Albany Law and Albany Pharmacy School. In an attempt to placate everyone, the administration also mentioned that they'd no longer charge for parking (hmm, thousands more a year in tuition in exchange for $100 in parking fees, sounds fair).
The notice included a general invite to a meeting with Dean to discuss any concerns about the proposed increase. Hers and I attended the meeting last Tuesday.
You can probably imagine many of the questions. Some questioned the need for the recreation center, others pointed out areas that needed addressed (such as poor wireless connectivity in the library and poorly insulated windows in the library study rooms). Then a concerned 3L a few seats down introduced himself and asked how the school could justify charging tuition on a par with NYU, Columbia, and other highly ranked law schools. I have to admit, I was wondering the same thing myself, but it took this 3L fifteen minutes to frame his question.
The Dean's answer was reasonable. Albany Law is a private law school and as such, incurs greater expense than a law school that's affiliated with a major university. Fair enough. But the 3L continued pressing. Several minutes later, the 3L went on for another fifteen minutes about how unfair it is to charge us the same tuition as top tier law school. The Dean once again pointed out that we were competitive when compared to other private law schools.
"It just seems like you guys can make this decision so easily because it doesn't affect you at all." The 3L responded.
"I can assure you that I know how this affects our students and I am sympathetic to the position students are in. Tuition and the financial burden to students is something that worries every law school. I understand that if you buy a cup of coffee for a $1.25 today, it'll cost you $4.50 by the time you pay off your loan. We do not make these decisions lightly."
"Well, with all due respect, I don't believe you're being completely honest . . ."
"Now hold on. There is one thing I require if we're going to continue this conversation. You can say whatever you want, but I have to insist that you do not call me liar."
"I didn't say you were a lair, I just said you weren't being completely honest . . ." Ah, an example of the semantics that make people hate lawyers so. The guy could not form a valid question and didn't really even seem to think before he spoke. After the Dean managed to convince everyone else in the room that the 3L did, indeed, call him a liar, the 3L packed up and left.
It wasn't until we left that I realized just how brilliant the administration was. The 3L wasn't there by accident. He had been planted by the administration to sway our sympathies. By the time that guy left, I would've been OK with any tuition increase that would result in a better legal education than that 3L got.
The notice included a general invite to a meeting with Dean to discuss any concerns about the proposed increase. Hers and I attended the meeting last Tuesday.
You can probably imagine many of the questions. Some questioned the need for the recreation center, others pointed out areas that needed addressed (such as poor wireless connectivity in the library and poorly insulated windows in the library study rooms). Then a concerned 3L a few seats down introduced himself and asked how the school could justify charging tuition on a par with NYU, Columbia, and other highly ranked law schools. I have to admit, I was wondering the same thing myself, but it took this 3L fifteen minutes to frame his question.
The Dean's answer was reasonable. Albany Law is a private law school and as such, incurs greater expense than a law school that's affiliated with a major university. Fair enough. But the 3L continued pressing. Several minutes later, the 3L went on for another fifteen minutes about how unfair it is to charge us the same tuition as top tier law school. The Dean once again pointed out that we were competitive when compared to other private law schools.
"It just seems like you guys can make this decision so easily because it doesn't affect you at all." The 3L responded.
"I can assure you that I know how this affects our students and I am sympathetic to the position students are in. Tuition and the financial burden to students is something that worries every law school. I understand that if you buy a cup of coffee for a $1.25 today, it'll cost you $4.50 by the time you pay off your loan. We do not make these decisions lightly."
"Well, with all due respect, I don't believe you're being completely honest . . ."
"Now hold on. There is one thing I require if we're going to continue this conversation. You can say whatever you want, but I have to insist that you do not call me liar."
"I didn't say you were a lair, I just said you weren't being completely honest . . ." Ah, an example of the semantics that make people hate lawyers so. The guy could not form a valid question and didn't really even seem to think before he spoke. After the Dean managed to convince everyone else in the room that the 3L did, indeed, call him a liar, the 3L packed up and left.
It wasn't until we left that I realized just how brilliant the administration was. The 3L wasn't there by accident. He had been planted by the administration to sway our sympathies. By the time that guy left, I would've been OK with any tuition increase that would result in a better legal education than that 3L got.
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