Betting on Corps.

Prof. Talley said the final's fact patterns will come from the Wall Street Journal. Well, I've been doing my reading and have my first prime candidate for a fact pattern that we may see on the final:

Desperate for a Cure

In particular, the craziness of forming the company, floating the money to keep the company going, and forming the partnership with the other manufacturer are fantastic facts for creating a sprawling issue spotter. Between the business man and the scientist, we could get a number of great agency questions. What if one promises free medicine to the kids who come in to talk? And how do all the private donations affect the company when it goes public? Are those prior claims? What share of the company do they own? Any? As the semester goes by, I imagine this article could only spawn a thousand more hypotheticals.

Note how well this fits to with Talley's hint that he may ask about ratification, and that funny first element of existence. Ratification by Novazyme cannot occur until it formally exists, even if the scientist and business man are running around making promises. This fact pattern would make it really easy to slip this question in.

So, there you go. You heard it hear first. The story of Novazyme Phamaceuticals will be appearing on the Corporations final. Current odds, 3:1.

OCIP Advice (cont'd)

UPDATE: Moving up in light of OCIP 2006. I will move up the OCIP 2006 thread next week to allow posting of callback offers.

Please use this permanent thread to ask and answer questions regarding the entire interview process during law school and beyond. This is in addition to Disco Stu's pearls of wisdom regarding OCIP. Please read that thread first, before asking any questions here.

7 Days Later

For the 1Ls, it is now 1 week down and about 89 to go...how does it feel? Questions? Expectations met? Still can't figure out how Zeb makes any money with its rock bottom prices?

2Ls, when do you want me to move the OCIP posts to the forefront? Please let me know.

3Ls, clerkship, offer acceptance, trip to Bermuda...what's up?

Emmy predictions?

Don't Tell Mom the White Female's Dead

I wrote about this around the time when Halloway dominated the news, but now with JonBenet, I am still sick and tired of coverage of a case that is at best just another killing. What the hell is the media fetish with crimes against upper class white females? And I can't stand Mark Klaas yapping away. Gaaaaaaaaaaaah.

There's really nothing much to this post. I'm just sick of all the Karr coverage.

In The REAL Beginning

I was going through my first posts on this blog (and I strongly urge everyone to do the same just for the sheer hilarity of it) and I found a post that I think today's 1Ls will appreciate.

Setting: Tilden Park for a BBQ put on by the Enviornmental Law Review. Three of us 1Ls from the same module are eating and having beer.

Cue snobby 2/3L: "You know I really wish there's something to say to people other than, 'Hey are you a 1L?'"

Cue asshole but slightly witty 1L who doesn't take guff from anyone (me): "'Hi, what's you name?' might be a start."

Next week I shall rush check out the International Law Journal. I'll let you know if it's a bunch of guys (as Tom said) "sitting around in a smoke filled room saying, 'Uh, I'll give you Cambodia for $80 billion. Yeah I think we can write that up.' Whereas here the people are like, "Um I like animals???"

In the Beginning

Share your first week 1L stories here.

Personally I saw one with TWO copies of the Bluebook.

First Day Derek Jitters

Sit back, take in the information. You won't cover anything that is meaty. Don't be the ass who's first to raise his or her hand. But if someone is like that, don't think you're better than them for sitting in the back of the class, too cool to say anything. Before you know it, you'll be soaked in beer thanks to a headbutting partner on a bus.

So offers are rolling in . . .

Not really sure if it would help people to post the names of firms that have made them, as perhaps people are notified immediately when they don't receive an offer too. DS is just happy he doesn't have to (he's not saying he won't) go through OCIP.

Death to Dockers

An associate who regularly abandoned business casual for a more buttoned down look forwarded me this LA Times Article. As an aside, I've also ordered this book thanks to him.

I don't even know where to start...

The Bay Area's minority migration
POPULATION SHIFT: Inner cities shrinking as nonwhites seek better schools, life
(link)

One could take the easy route and beat up on overcrowding (and Berkeley), but I think the real culprits in this article are the San Francisco Chronicle. The real story should be "Data from 2005 study so bad we can draw no responsible conclusions." Too bad that doesn't sell papers. But seriously, look at the Oakland numbers - either the city lost 10% of its population, or it lost less than 0.5%. That's a big difference, and if that really was a confidence interval, it's dubiously significant. And to then compare Oakland and San Francisco, despite marked differences in the demographic shifts!

The whole article's a house of cards. If it wasn't way past my bedtime, I'd rant in more detail. As it is, read the article for what not to do. 0Ls, use it as a test of your critical reading ability and a first step to developing a healthy distrust of the San Francisco Chronicle.

I've always wondered why our loan money doesn't get sent to our personal bank accounts until a week after classes start? We have very real expenses related to school (notably the roughly $300-500 in textbooks) in the run-up to classes. Our Federal loans are disbursed generally around August 1. Our private loans -- around August 10. All of our fees must be paid to the University by August 15. Why can't the university wire the remainder (if any) on the 16th? Why do they wait another ten days after the fees are due to begin rendering unto us money that is rightfully ours (or at least that we, not they, are on the hook for for years down the line)? Are all of the briefly witheld aggregated student funds sitting in some university account generating interest for them or something? Anyone? Bueller?

ATLA and the English Language

LA Times Op/Ed on the American Trial Lawyers Association proposed name change citing Orwell.

Nuts!

I can't think of a more apt response to an absurd proposition. What am I talking about? Well it's sort of two things. First, it's the WSJ Editorial and second it's the fact that VC is turning into Instapundit.

I mean I saw it coming a mile away..."AH HA!!! See, if we respected civil liberties then we would have had planes blown up." Actually the WSJ is not much more eloquent than that. They write:

Let's emphasize that again: The plot was foiled because a large number of people were under surveillance concerning their spending, travel and communications. Which leads us to wonder if Scotland Yard would have succeeded if the ACLU or the New York Times had first learned the details of such surveillance programs.

This sets the tone. You can figure out where it goes from there ("He fixes the cable?"). Lest the talking points take a hold too quickly, I want to make the folloowing points.

First, IT WAS TRADITIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT THAT NETTED THESE GUYS. Are we clear? British citizens living in England captured by local law enforcement. There were no air strikes, there were no tanks rolling into Liverpool, and the UN Security Council wasn't haggling over how to end the conflict.

Second, surveilance is nothing new. Large-scale surveilance is nothing new. In fact, if the British wanted to, they could have sent Johnny Depp undercover to unfoil the plot. ("That c*******er Sonny Red"). Quite the contrary, what this illustrates is the ability of law enforcement to net the information they need without resorting to extra legal practices.

There's about a billion other things wrong with the editorial, but I'll leave some gems for the commenters.

UPDATE: At least the Guardian is reporting that the Brits may have had an inside man. Ahh, good old Donny Brasco...no one ever believed he was a Fed. Again, in case the point is lost, here in the US we have a long and proud history of using surveilance to take down organizations that don't like to be surveiled. The Fourth Amendment and FISA can stay well in tact while we wage a successful fight to stop those who aim to attack us.

UPDATE 2: Professor Jack Balkin has a more eloquent version of my thoughts.

Politics and the English Language

Via Yahoo:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Muslim groups criticized President Bush on Thursday for calling a foiled plot to blow up airplanes part of a "war with Islamic fascists," saying the term could inflame anti-Muslim tensions.

Sixty years ago, George Orwell wrote in his famed essay, "Politics and the English Language":

The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable." The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another. In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using that word if it were tied down to any one meaning. Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different. Statements like Marshal Pétain was a true patriot, The Soviet press is the freest in the world, The Catholic Church is opposed to persecution, are almost always made with intent to deceive. Other words used in variable meanings, in most cases more or less dishonestly, are: class, totalitarian, science, progressive, reactionary, bourgeois, equality.

Incidentally, I recommend all incoming 1Ls, and anyone else who has an interest in improving his or her writing, to read the essay.

What, It's OUR Fault? Can't We Just Blame Global Warming Instead?

This summer marked the tragic departure of Cody's Books from Berkeley because of the city's miserable business climate (see Nuts & Boalts coverage here.

Well, the losses aren't over. Now Clif Bar is departing for lovely Alameda. Why, you ask?

"A few years ago, the company moved its bakery to an off-site location, leaving its space at 1610 Fifth St. for offices. But when the company wanted to build a "modest" expansion, it encountered "Berkeley's convoluted, miserable zoning regulations," said Dave Fogarty, the city's community development project coordinator. [ED: The city's own coordinator called its regulations convoluted and miserable!!] The West Berkeley Plan, which took 10 years to adopt, dictated that the neighborhood be zoned for manufacturing and because Clif Bar's space was offices, not manufacturing, the company could not expand. To keep Clif Bar in town, the City Council said it would update the West Berkeley Plan to allow office expansion, but by then Clif Bar had hired a consultant to find a new location..."

So... what is Berkeley's response to this issue? (just wait, this is truly amazing)

"We're sorry to see Clif Bar go," said Mayor Tom Bates. "We tried hard to keep them. But it seems to be Berkeley's role in life to incubate small companies and see them grow and then move elsewhere."

NO!!! It is not Berkeley's role in life! It is eminently fixable by simply making life in Berkeley more possible by burning every damn zoning regulation in the book!

Ack. My apologies for the overuse of exclamation points. And here, the denouement:

"The loss of Clif Bar is especially painful for Berkeley because the city is trying hard to attract and retain environmentally progressive businesses..."

Not hard enough apparently. Maybe the Berkeley City Council should be forced to see Talledega Nights to get an attitude adjustment.

--

In other news, some preppie clown just won the Democratic nomination for senator of Connecticut. Too bad I used up all my exclamation points on Berkeley city government. All I can say is, history will find it far to easy to mourn the irrelevance of the Democratic party with a pun by swapping out an 'o' for an 'e.'

The Queen and her Dundees

I noticed this story on Yahoo. So the Thai are banning a brand of condoms named "Tom Dundee" because Dundee in Thai means good penetration. And this is the country with Bangkok as the capital?

Advisory Opinions

I just saw this advice for incoming law students (HT: EV), as well as Prof. Kerr's essay on "How to Read a Judicial Opinion" (as opposed to my upcoming essay on "How to Read a Blogger's Bloviation"). First I want to pass them on to any incoming Boalties who have already started pawning themselves off as law students. Second, there need to be some caveats that go with both.

Advice for Incoming

All three are very important and very good advice. For example, I definitely treated law school like work. I had crappy attendance, I felt uninspired, and I never got anything done until really I had no choice. (I'm not exaggerating when I say that I began outlining well after I'd enjoyed many a turkeys and sweet potatoes).

Likewise, exercising keeps your mind clear and your body in optimal shape for the rigors ahead. I routinely walked down to Strada to get a large mocha bianca with an extra shot and enough sugar to satisfy 3/4 of the ant colonies in the Amazon for 6 weeks. Your exercise routine might vary slightly, but there are plenty of opportunities around Boalt and Berkeley to keep your legs pumping (those sources don't make their own way back to the journal offices from the undergrad libraries...hit the bike 1L). If you're not the cardio type, and just wanted concentrate on building upper body strength, then I highly recommend utilizing the Alameda County Transit...you pay for it, afterall. Unless you drive down to Oakland (or the Marina) to catch the 51, YOU WILL NOT GET A SEAT. This means you have to hang on for dear life from the handlebars...that is...if you get a spot with handlebars. Oh, you thought all parts of a bus have handlebars? Not so with VanHool buses. About 1/3 of the bus towards the rear has no place for you to grab onto. This means you have to squeeze into the remaining 2/3 and hang on tightly enough to avoid giving the freshman with the oversized backpack a concussion. If you are in the front, just try to avoid crashing into the windshield. Some people can do it. I wouldn't recommend this workout unless you've had beginning courses at other mass transit districts...only then will you be ready for the big leagues of reckless and inertia defying driving that is the AC Transit.

Outside interests...TV, surfing the net during class, youtube during class, aim during class...etc.

How to Read a Judicial Opinion

Carefully! By the second semester the answer changes to..."Gilbertly." No but seriously, the essay is great and it's a perfect indication of how a law professor EXPECTS you to read an opinion. No one does. Or no one admits they do. Anonymously they might even claim they translate the opinions to Senegalese to get a more perfect understanding.

Addicted to Lunch

This blog needs to be lightened up. So, at lunch, DS ran into Nuts & Boalts co-blogger Earl Warren yesterday at a well-established San Francisco restaurant. The clash of firms began, as the associates DS was with immediately wanted to know what firm EW was with and whether they knew anyone there.

More importantly, though, this meeting got DS thinking about other summers' lunch experiences. Any good stories out there? Gone over the allowed limit and had to cover it up by saying that others were in attendance when they weren't? How much was your most expensive lunch? Most awkward lunch moment involving a partner and Boaltie summer associate wins a kiss from Armen. Anywhere you want it.

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