Spare the Rod Spoil The Child?

CA State Assemblywoman Sally Lieber is trying to pass a law that would outlaw spanking a child under three years old. Now I'm all for protecting children, but I think this is going too far. Now I wasn’t a bad kid per se, but I had my share of spankings. While I obviously didn’t enjoy the sting of the chancla (sandal in English) across my butt at the time, I can see now how those spankings gave me boundaries and kept me in line. It amazes me how so many parents nowadays try to reason and rationalize with their children when they throw a nasty fit in public. I know if my mom were handling it, that tantrum would be over in seconds. Its not like I had to be spanked all the time. I think one or two good spankings usually do the trick. Call me a child abuser, but I am pretty sure when/if I have children I will spank them if they get out of line. Ms. Lieber better stay out of my way or she can take care of my bad ass kids.

Good To Be Back

Although I would like to post more, I spent the first week of school hunting for interesting classes that fit my desire to have a four-day weekend. I surfed so many classes and scrawled my name on so many wait lists I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get my schedule straight. I was sweating it out on the wait list for about 80% of all my classes, but I just checked my status today and it looks like I am officially in all the classes I wanted. Unfortunately, many of my fellow students were not as lucky. I don't know what happened this semester, but it seemed like almost everyone I knew was on the wait list for the classes they wanted. I know a few poor souls who got stuck taking really boring classes or trying to score an externship for credits at the last minute. Hopefully prospects will be better fall of next year. Then again, as a 3L I am not so sure I will be a good student and a good class might be wasted on me. In any event, it is good to be back.

Happy New Year

I love new years day because it feels like everything is possible and you get to begin the new year with a fresh start.

This year I will work out at the gym at least five times a week, only eat healthy food, read all the reading assigned for each class before every class, start outlining more than a week before finals, go to office hours and ask well thought out questions that demonstrate my sophisticated understanding of the material, balance extracurricular activities with school well, spend more time with my family, and last but not least—have some fun.

YEAH RIGHT. Happy New Year anyway! Hope springs eternal that 2007 will be much better than 06.

Study, Surf the Internet, Caffienate

I have studied for at least five days straight living off of red bull and popcorn. Not a pretty thing, I assure you. I wouldn’t have to study so hard if it wasn’t for the fact that I did absolutely no studying during the entire semester (even though I promised myself at the outset that I wouldn’t do that again). In any event, it sure seems like people are stressed. How else can you explain the bitch fest on nuts and boalts about undergrads using the law library and the existence of piddly 100-dollar grants for students who want to go to a law related conference? Truly there are more important things in the world to worry about, but I chalk it up to people wanting an excuse to procrastinate. Where you see Boalt students debating about whether there is a lack of transparency about special programs at Boalt, I see a person trying to avoid finishing their outline. Seriously, people need to have a drink, get laid, go for a run, eat some chocolate, do something/anything to blow some steam off. We are in the home stretch folks!

Under Pressure

While I admit the finals theme on here is redundant, I have mere days left to learn entire subjects. I'm not stressed in the crazy 1L way, but I am definitely feeling the pressure build. It never ceases to surprise me how overly optimistic I am when I estimate how long it will take me to finish something. I actually told myself (and believed) that I could outline for an entire course in about two days. That could have happened if I wasn't me. Maybe if I was hooked up to a red bull IV and hopped up on Adderall I could have completed that feat, but no, I'm still my usual old self who compliments every 20 minutes of outlining with at least 10 minutes of internet surfing. I am so screwed.

Spending Money I Haven't Made Yet

Although my shopping habits have been significantly curtailed by my last minute cramming for finals, I have still been able to get out and check out some of the Christmas sales. I have to admit that the coupons I have been getting in the mail from various retailers have been singing a siren song to me. All I hear as I look at the promises of 25% and 35% off is spend! Spend! Spend! Unfortunately for me I am broke, broke, broke. However, I have started to entertain the dangerous thinking that since I have a well paying job in the summer, I can afford to splurge a little. What is another pair of shoes when I am already over 80K in the hole? The problem of course is that I don’t really need to put myself in any more debt than I am already in. Additionally, I have a bad habit of buying stuff for myself instead of the salutary act of buying things for others. In short, it is probably a good thing I will be in finals hell almost right up until Christmas because it will save me from my spendthrift ways. Maybe someone needs to do an intervention for me.

Dating Disclosure

Even though the pickings are admittedly slim in Berkeley, I have still been able to find a couple guys worthy of dating (outside of Boalt of course). Given my crazy schedule, nothing has evolved into anything serious and I am just having a good time. In any event, while having lunch with a friend, the topic of dating and disclosure came up which got me thinking. At what point do you have an obligation to tell someone that you are not dating them exclusively? Do you ever have an obligation to tell them? I am of the mindset that unless a guy states explicitly that he is only dating me, I assume that he may be dating other women as well. Consequently, I have never felt bad about dating more than one person at a time without letting them know. My friend disagrees. Am I the one in the wrong here?

The Finals Are Coming!

Finals are coming and people are starting to get tense. All the 1ls are scurrying around and finishing their outlines while the 2ls and 3ls are barely getting around to possibly making an outline or at least downloading one from boalt.org. Although I usually avoid the reading room at all costs, I was there recently and it was amusing how many people in there get upset when they hear sounds like the clacking of heels, the shifting of books, or the opening and closing of the door. I can’t help but thinking it is so pointless to get so worked up. People make noise when the move, get over it. Although I should be more stressed about preparing for finals, I am surprisingly relaxed. Maybe the fact that I am already employed for the summer finally sunk into my subconscious or maybe the little competitive monster living inside me has decided to take a sabbatical. Whatever the reason, I am looking forward to my two weeks of Christmas vacation freedom and spending money I don’t have. Any suggestions for books to read over the break? I might as well start my list now.

Another Reason Why It Feels Good to Win

As part of their plan to win back voters to the Democratic Party, the Dems have promised that one of their first acts will be to cut interest rates on federally backed student loans from 6.8% to 3.4%. According to this article, the Republicans really took good care of the student loan industry, and the impending transfer of party control is producing anxiety for lenders who could count on the Republicans to screw over students. One republican congressman went so far as to say (while the reps still controlled Congress), "I have all of you in my two trusted hands. At the end of the day, I believe, you'll be at least satisfied, or even perhaps even happy with the final budget bill."

Comically, the republicans also said, that cutting interest rates would not address a more fundamental problem: the rising cost of college. "The interest rates shouldn't be the major issue here. Rather, the principal — the amount of money students are forced to borrow because of skyrocketing costs — should be," said Steve Forde, a spokesman for Republicans on the House education committee. "Unfortunately, House Democrats don't see it that way and are taking a Band-Aid approach." Correct me if I am wrong, but these are the same people who wanted to give ZERO relief to students? Now all of a sudden they care how much I am shelling out for my education? Talk about hypocrisy. I am so happy the Dems are ruling the roost. I hope they can utilize their new power effectively.

Slower Traffic Keep Right

Thanksgiving was great. I tried to do some work, honestly I did, but all I really managed to do was eat obscene amounts of pumpkin pie and turkey. Although I am certainly stressed about getting ready for finals, I definitely don't feel the same panic I felt as a 1L. I love being a 2L with a job already lined up.

Anyway, on my way back from visiting my family I was forced to languish behind old people, and people who don’t understand that an open highway and clear sky practically begs a car to speed. As I passed sign after sign that says “slower traffic keep right,” I got more and more frustrated with the people who insist on doing 70mph in the left lane. At first I tried to be patient and scouted for openings in the right lane so I could weave around the dead weight, then I glared at them in the hopes they would sense my hostility and fear my road rage, and finally I resigned myself to fantasizing about ramming them, but nothing worked. I was going crazy. Who are these people, and why do they conspire to keep my odometer below 90? There is a group however, that has come up with a reasonable solution. Everyone should be given a paintball gun and when a person refuses to move over, you can shoot the offender's license plate. If a person has more than three marks on their license plate, the CHP gets to cite them. Sounds like a great idea to me.

Heading For Self Destruction

As finals are rapidly approaching I seem to be incapable of reading for more than 30-40 minutes at a time. I am so behind and yet I can’t seem to break myself of my full-blown TV addiction. I’m starting to think that maybe I do have adult ADD. How else can I explain why I have cleaned my apartment from top to bottom to avoid reading when I hate to clean? Maybe I’ll ask my abuelita to get me some unregulated, dispensed without a prescription Adderall on her next trip to TJ.

I guess the bigger question I should ask myself is why I even care about grades now that I have a cool job to look forward to for next summer, and potentially after graduation. Somehow I am just unable to purge the competitive streak I have from my personality. Something about the whole P=JD outlook (to the non-Boalt people, you get a "P" if you passed) has never resonated with me even though I don’t always get good grades. Its sick, I know.

What A Beautiful Morning

After experiencing some bruising mornings after an election (like Nov 2004) I wasn't sure what kind of morning I was in for. As I woke up and turned on the TV today, I was greeted with some of the best news I have seen in years. Finally, Democrats won and won big. Not only do we have control of the House, but we also have a woman as the Speaker of the House. Now I just have to keep my fingers and toes crossed that Senate control will fall to the Democrats as well. Today is a good day.

One of a Kind

I blew off all my responsibilities for today and even turned down an invitation to go somewhere fun in the hopes of catching up in at least one class. Instead, I am surfing the web and doing random blog quizzes (hat tip: life far away). I am such a procrastinator.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Glad I Picked Boalt

Below is an email that has been circulated by UCLA's La Raza Law Students Association, and it details a recent incident that occurred, which was blatantly racist. To add insult to injury, the Dean of UCLA law sent out an email to all students that didn't whole-heartedly express how the legal community at UCLA would not tolerate such behavior. Instead, he focused the bulk of his letter expressing his belief that what happened was "unintentional." Even if you concede that what happened was unintentional (which I find hard to believe that no one thought a moot court fact pattern based on offensive racial stereotypes was a bad idea), I don’t see the point of focusing a letter of this nature on how the actors in question were not culpable rather than focusing on what is and is not acceptable at UCLA law school. Although I obviously have no real way of knowing this, I have a strong feeling that Dean Edley and/or Dean Ortiz would never circulate an apology for racist behavior that consisted of so many excuses for the guilty party. In short, although Boalt has its problems too, I am so glad I didn’t end up at UCLA.

*****************************************************************************

Dear Alumni,

Greetings to you and yours from the 2006-07 Raza Board at UCLA Law. We hope this e-mail finds you well and happy! Though we as a board are excited about the work we have done thus far (especially the People of Color Workshop which was a great success!) and looking forward to a productive rest of the year, we unfortunately are writing to share a negative experience we recently faced.

On October 3, 2006, Moot Court handed out its problem for this year's competition. The fact pattern implicated an undocumented latino from the "State of Patron," named "El Guapo," who was a child-molester and deported for entering the US illegally at a port called "Beefeater."Upon re-entering, he was interviewed by INS agent"Jack Daniels." After conviction, he was sentenced to 16 years in state prison. While in prison, an INS agent in his "infinite wisdom" decided to deport "El Guapo" once again with the understanding that if he ever re-entered, all charges would still be applicable.

The issues for the Moot Court participants were: 1)the judge made findings of fact without a jury that increased "El Guapo's" maximum sentence-should this be OK? 2) Can the fact that the Grand Jury left out an essential element of the crime from the indictment constitute harmless error?

As you can guess, Raza, other student of color groups and Raza allies were outraged by the gross use of stereotypes and offensive language. We immediately drafted a letter addressed to the Moot Court Board and cc'ed it to Deans Schill, Cheadle and Carbado, Moot Court Advisor Professor Holm and Raza Advisor Professor Holmquist. The letter we sent is attached to this e-mail. After articulating the problems with the fact pattern and how it affected us, we called for three remedies: 1) a public apology 2) a re-written fact pattern 3) implementation of a policy that would ensure this doesn't happen again.

The Co-Chairs of APILSA and BLSA signed the letter. SALSA sent a letter of their own and other groups have mentioned that they may do the same. On Friday October 13th, we received an e-mail from Dean Cheadle with two attachments. The first was acover-letter and the second a re-written hypo from the Moot Court Board in which they had removed all proper names alluding to alcohol name brands and the defendant's ethnic background. We've also attached both of those documents with this e-mail.

As you can see, their letter falls short of a direct apology in that the board attempts to hide behind the "no intent" defense. Also, the letter was ONLY handed out to Moot Court participants as they received the second version of the fact pattern. The Moot Court Board never directly communicated with us (Raza) and has not addressed the law school community.

Dean Schill sent out the e-mail posted below on Monday October 16th, 2006 to the greater law school community. At this point, we are still disappointed, hurt and frustrated but can give this matter no more attention. As students of color, we already spend too much of our time addressing issues of "diversity," race and class consciousness, and outright ignorance. However, we wanted to share with you so that you can be properly informed. Thanks for taking the time to read. As you know, law school is a terribly isolating experience and it is incredibly meaningful to know that you support us.

En lucha siempre,

Raza Board 2006-07

p.s. Please feel free to forward to other Raza who may be interested.

**E-mail from Dean Schill to UCLA Law

Dear Members of the UCLA Law Community:

One of the great strengths of our school is our diversity. Within our extraordinary student body and faculty are men and women from a variety of races,
ethnicities, nationalities, income groups, religions,sexual orientations and ideological perspectives. One of the principal benefits of diversity is the opportunity for us to learn from each other. Part of this education is learning to see the world through another's eyes. This understanding of different viewpoints and perspectives is important for one to become an excellent lawyer; it is also important to become a good person.

Given our diversity, it is an unfortunate reality that from time to time members of our community will say or do things that will unintentionally offend or hurt one another. In the past week, we have experienced one such incident when the Moot Court Board created an exercise that included racial stereotypes and then compounded the problem by using a jocular tone. Understandably, many students were
deeply offended that a formal law school academic activity would include undeniably offensive stereotypes.

Based upon our conversations with members of the Moot Court Board, I am convinced that there was no intent on the part of the Board to offend or belittle our students of Mexican heritage. I also believe that members of the Moot Court Board now understand and feel deeply sorry about the hurt that they have caused to their classmates. Indeed, to avoid this sort of situation from recurring, the Moot Court Board has suggested and I have agreed that future exercises will be read by a faculty advisor.

Before we move on from here, I would like each of us to take a moment to reflect on this incident and learn something. Each of us is part of a community here at UCLA. As an intellectual community, it is incumbent upon us to defend the right of each member to express his or her views honestly and forthrightly. At the same time, because we are a community we should also encourage each other to consider the impact of what we say and do-- intentionally and unintentionally-- on our fellow students and faculty members and to hold each other accountable when we fail in that regard.

Thank you.

Michael H. Schill
Dean and Professor of Law
UCLA School of Law
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90095
(310) 825-8202
***************************************************************************

Tongue-Tied

I've noticed how precarious discussions have become with casual law school friends when the topic turns to OCIP. When someone brings up OCIP, I have become the master of carefully unearthing clues about how someone is doing without directly asking. I almost feel like asking any direct questions is akin to asking a woman her weight or a man the size of his unit. Some questions are just never polite. I almost wish people wouldn't bring it up at all because you never know if that person did incredibly well or didn't get any callbacks at all. Still, I guess its the innate nature of law students to want to know how they measure up to their fellow students, which constantly creates these awkward conversations whether it is about grades, CLR, or now OCIP. I am looking forward to the day when there is no longer anything else to compete for. Oh wait, I’m gonna be a lawyer; I guess that is never going to happen.

Questions I NEVER Want to Hear Again

1. So, tell me about yourself.

Hmmm....I am really lazy, like reality TV, and would prefer not to do morally repugnant work.

2. Why do you want to work at a law firm?

I like money.

3. Why do you want to work at our firm?

Refer back to my answer regarding why I want to work at a law firm.

4. What is your greatest weakness?

Big law firms that will pay me an obscene amount of money even though I am clueless. Bonus points for a summer program that will give me absolutely no sense of what it will be like to work there fulltime, and has a low ratio of socially awkward associates.

5. What is your favorite law school class?

The one where I did well even though I did online shopping most of the time, and almost never came to class anyway.

6. Why did you go to law school?

I'll give you a hint, it wasn't to be a lawyer at a big law firm.

7. What do you do in your spare time? Do you have any hobbies?

Helping the little guy stick it to the man.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years?

Not at a big law firm.

(Feel free to add any other non-favorite OCIP questions.)

Maybe a Lady Justice Piñata?

The rejections from OCIP have continued to roll in via mail, albeit a little slower now. I can't believe I still haven't heard a peep from a couple firms that interviewed me during the very first week of OCIP. I know its sick, but I have been keeping all of my rejection letters and am waiting for the last few to come in before I make scales of justice piñata or something with them. Each hit of the piñata could be a cathartic whack for every stupid question I had to suffer through. What is something I want you to know about me that isn’t on my resume? Well, if I wanted you to know it, I would have put it on my fu*king resume! I am boring and have no hobbies that would help me make a connection with someone who is obviously a shell of a man. Satisfied? Why a firm given my public interest background? Well, if you want to make me say it, I will. I like money. I like the way I can pay rent with money. I like the way I can buy things like food, new clothes, and chocolate with money. Is that a sufficient reason, or did you want me to offer to clean your house too before you consider giving me an offer? On second thought, I could always use the letters as kindling for the next carne asada. So many rejection letters, so many choices. I am just glad that I don’t have to wear another suit for at least six months.

You're Hired!

Well, I did it. I tap danced for the man and it finally culminated in getting some offers. Yay! Luckily I have enough offers to institute my rigorous test of choosing between the firm with associates who made me jog in heels, and the considerate associates who actually walked a little slower and talked to me. Now I get to read five weeks worth of reading which has piled up. Despite the need to catch up on all the work I neglected, I feel incredibly lucky. I have an offer from a firm that is as good as a big firm gets, and was my first choice. Life is good.

Check Please!

The worst part of callback interviews for me has been the awkward lunches with the associates. So far I have been unlucky enough to be accompanied by people not wearing heels at every lunch. How they have failed to realize that speed walking in heels is not comfortable is beyond me. One time the two associates taking me to lunch actually walked at least fifty feet ahead of me and talked to each other instead. Needless to say, unless that place is my only offer I am not going to work there. Its not like I am a diva; I just expect a little consideration for the fact that I am wearing three inch heels, not running shoes. Also, once you sit down the uncomfortable silence begins. While I try to keep the conversation light and not too law related I have unfortunately encountered more than one associate that insists on asking the lame law interview questions that I have come to hate after doing OCIP. Do you really need to ask me “why your firm” before I have even gotten a chance to nibble on something from the bread basket? Really? Although the lunch is free I have paid dearly with minutes of my life I will never get back.

Return from Hiatus

Hello again. With school back in full swing and the stress of OCIP, I didn't have much extra time to blog. I have to admit that I don't really have any good OCIP horror stories. With the exception of being bored to death in a few interviews where I could hardly get in a word edgewise, my interviews occurred without incident. Although I could live without ever going through OCIP again, it was a positive experience in that I got to bond with all my classmates while nervously waiting in the halls of the Durant hotel. There was a real sense of camaraderie as we all pilfered highlighters and free Starbucks cards from the hospitality suites and waited for the next interviews.

This week the callback process is more individual and I miss being able to talk to fellow Boalties before heading into yet another interview. Although I am generally a people person, the callback interviews seem to be more difficult in that you are meeting so many people in one shot. In any event this process will hopefully be over soon and I can get back to reading my casebooks, which have been collecting dust for weeks now.