So…I just got a cease and desist e-mail from Kenyon & Kenyon LLP telling me I could no longer blog under the name “LawSchoolBlogger.” Being April 1st, I assumed this was an April Fools’ Day joke set up by one of my classmates. Long story short: it wasn’t.

Here’s what happened: I just got off the phone with Kenyon & Kenyon attorney David Darschlaw, who told me that a guy named Phillip Roth, who owns and operates LawSchoolBlog.com, owns right to the name “LawSchoolBlogger” too.

My dad says he’s not so sure that Roth has a valid claim against me, but that this is a battle not worth fighting. So right now, I’m not sure whether I’ll continue to blog under a different name or whether this order is maybe a sign that it’s time for me to stop blogging and focus more on school, the Bar Exam, and promoting Lawyer Boy.

Either way, this will be my last post on “LawSchoolBlogger.com.” So let me say, thank you so much for all the time you’ve spent on this blog. Thanks so much for reading, and thanks so much for all your great comments. In writing them, you’ve actually helped me a lot with lots of things.

That’s all for now.

-Rick Lax

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My final trial in Trial Advocacy class is coming up on Thursday night. I just went through the problem…and I was pretty shocked by what I read.

I’m supposed to represent the United States of America in the local U.S. District Court.

I’m supposed to prosecute a personal injury lawyer named Chris Manning for criminal mail fraud.

The thing is…I don’t think he did it; I think Manning was a patsy, a scapegoat.

I mean, the evidence simply isn’t there.

I don’t know how this stuff works in the real world, but I do know that if I were working for the U.S. State’s Attorney and they gave me a case like this, I’d probably have to say something to someone. I don’t know if this sort of thing is accepted, frowned upon, or if it would spell career suicide…but I just don’t feel comfortable with this case.

I know, I know, this is a mock trial…but our professor encouraged us to treat these cases as if they were real (so maybe I shouldn’t be blogging about this?)…so I think I’m going to speak with him tomorrow (as if he were my supervisor) and tell him my concerns.

Sound like a good plan?

(Alternate Goat Pic)

Technorati Tags: lawschoolblogger, lawschoolblogger.com, lawyer boy, lawyer, boy, rick lax, law, law school, goat, united states, us, u s, america, district court, criminal, trial, scapegoat, patsy, ethical, moral, dilemma, ethics, goats, stars and stripes, red white and blue, class, mail fraud, manning, lawyer, personal injury

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Today I came across this gem of a sentence in my Business Organization casebook. A hearty congratulations to anybody who can explain, in 25 words or less, what the hell it means:

“However, rather than stating positively that exculpation can be granted to protect directors who only breach their duty of care, section 102(b)(7) is worded in the negative; exculpation is allowed for any breach of fiduciary duty other than ‘any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty [or] any acts or omissions to act not in good faith…’”

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I’m convinced I have psychic powers.

(I bent this fork using my mind. This, by the way, is my old, old myspace pic)

Allow me to explain. Today in Consumer Protection class, my professor was asking us some pretty difficult questions, and he was calling on students randomly for answers.

Then, finally, he asked an easy question, and using the power of my mind, I got him to call on me.

Okay, so maybe I didn’t actually get him to call on me using the power of my mind, but I do believe I was responsible for his calling on me.

Allow me to explain. My trick: eye contact.

When you want to be called on in class, if you make direct eye contact with your professor and raise your eyebrows as high as they’ll go, there’s a good chance you’ll be called on. This is in large part because whenever your professor asks a question, all the other student in your class bury their heads in their books to avoid being called on.

So now you can be psychic too.

Technorati Tags: psychic, powers, magic, eye contact, eyes, professor, class, law school, law, question, answer, tricks, tips

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As you’ve probably noticed by now, I try to keep LawSchoolBlogger positive and uplifting. Most law school blogs are filled with complaints and gossip…and that’s probably why they’re often so much more fun to read than LSB is.

BUT, today LawSchoolBlogger will be fun to read too because I have a legitimate complaint.

And here it is:

Last class, my professor told us to read from page 345 to page 403. Like a fool, I did. Today in class we only got up to page 365…and here’s the punch line: at the end of class, the professor said, “Try to read up to page 382 for tomorrow. I don’t know if we’ll actually get that far, but read the pages still.”

What the hell?

Okay, LSB readers, let’s say I sue my professor for Negligent Assignment Giving and she comes to you to defend her. What argument do you make on her behalf?

Technorati Tags: law school, law, school, lawyer, education, class, professor, blog, lawschoolblogger, rick lax, study, lawyer boy, lawyerboy, rick, lax, class, assignment, annoying, professor, prof, complaint, blogs

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Last night, before Trial Ad II class, I got a salad at Cosi.

I brought it to Barnes & Noble, picked up an Entertainment Weekly, and sat down in the café area to eat and read. When I had finished half my salad, I realized that there was no chicken in it.

So I returned to Cosi and had the following conversation with the guy who made my salad:

“There’s no chicken in my salad.”

“Which salad did you get?”

“I got a ‘make your own’ salad with green onions, red peppers, cucumbers, and chicken. And there’s no chicken.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, boss. I remember making that salad a few minutes ago, and I remember putting chicken in.”

“Do you SEE any chicken in here?”

“There’s no chicken in here NOW…”

“What are you getting at?”

“I’m just saying-”

“You’re suggesting that I ate the chicken?”

“I’m just saying-”

“You’re suggesting that I came back in here to try to get free chicken out of you?”

“I’m just saying that I definitely remember putting chicken in your salad, and you’re not getting any more.”

I walked out of the store and got a protein bar. Never going back there.

So….sounds like a pretty straightforward breach of contract case to me—yes? But even if I had kept the salad, how would I prove that there was no chicken in it to begin with?

Technorati Tags: law school, law, school, lawyer, education, class, professor, blog, lawschoolblogger, rick lax, cosi, salad, contract, contract law, case, trial ad, trial law

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Don’t join one—not if you want to get any studying done. Studying in groups is fun, but studying isn’t supposed to be fun and it isn’t supposed to be social. That studying in groups is so palatable should tell you something.

You know how you prefer the elliptical machine to the treadmill? Thats because it’s easier and doesn’t burn as many calories.

You know how you love having muffins for breakfast? That’s because muffins are cake, not a legitimate breakfast food.

The reason studying in groups is fun is that it’s not studying.

But what harm do study groups do? They eat up your time. Every hour you spend “studying” in a study group (i.e., gossiping about your classmates and criticizing your professors) is an hour you could have spent actually studying the law.

Has anybody reading this actually gotten any work done in a study group? Has anybody learned a single thing except for how useless study groups are? I suspect not.

Technorati Tags: Study Groups, Joining a Study Group, Studying Law

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#1) CONSIDER YOUR SEATING CHART PENMANSHIP
Most professors employ do-it-yourself seating charts, and most professors call on each student only once per semester. If you want to be called on towards the beginning of the semester, write your name in large capital letters and use a felt tip marker. If you want to be called on towards the end of the semester, write in cursive and use a dull pencil. If your last name is Smith, Jones, or Brown, you’ll be called on during the first month no matter how illegibly you write. If your last name has four or more syllables, four or more consecutive consonants, an umlaut, or any sort of clicking sound, don’t bother doing your reading until the last week of class because you won’t be called on until then.

#2) VOLUNTEER YOURSELF
Some professors randomly call on students on some days and ask for volunteers on others. When prepared, always volunteer in these classes. That way, if you ever get called on when you are unprepared, your professor won’t see you as an unprepared student; she’ll see you and a sometimes-unprepared student. Plus, if you volunteer yourself, you might not get called on for the rest of the semester.

#3 PREPARE FOR BEING UNPREPARED
When unprepared for class, the absolute worst thing you can say when called on is, “I’m unprepared,” or “I didn’t do my reading.” If you think law professors appreciate that kind of forthrightness, you are wrong. When law professors call on you, they want to see you perform; they’re preparing you for a courtroom environment in which you’ll be expected to put on a show. Acting as if you’ve done your reading when you haven’t, may be unethical—outright lying about the matter surely is—but in my experience, teachers will forgive whatever you say in class, as long as you said it loudly and with gusto.

Technorati Tags: Classroom Survival, Socratic Method, Getting Called On, Law School Classroom

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