found: lawnerds

awesome website: lawnerds.com

the tips, tricks and advice for briefing and outlining are helping me look like a real smarty pants!

orientation

first two weeks of classes at st. john's are orientation. over the next few, we'll be learning how to study and prep in the context of legal studies.

for me, this prep will be great. justice castel talked to me today about shepardizing. currently, i have no idea what that is....

bonjour paris!

some pictures from my holiday adventures. too lazy (busy) to upload anymore.

(singing) vacation, all i ever wanted!

my last day at digitas health. though i'm sad to leave, i'm excited about school and particularly excited about going to paris tomorrow!

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

prop 8.

from the la times: In an opinion written by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, the state high court ruled today that the November initiative was not an illegal constitutional revision, as gay rights lawyers contended, nor unconstitutional because it took away an inalienable right, as Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown argued.

brilliance

there are many stupendous reasons to fill your day with this man. here is another -- his challenge to john roberts' nomination:

"The problem I face -- a problem that has been voiced by some of my other colleagues, both those who are voting for Mr. Roberts and those who are voting against Mr. Roberts -- is that while adherence to legal precedent and rules of statutory or constitutional construction will dispose of 95 percent of the cases that come before a court, so that both a Scalia and a Ginsburg will arrive at the same place most of the time on those 95 percent of the cases -- what matters on the Supreme Court is those 5 percent of cases that are truly difficult. In those cases, adherence to precedent and rules of construction and interpretation will only get you through the 25th mile of the marathon. That last mile can only be determined on the basis of one's deepest values, one's core concerns, one's broader perspectives on how the world works, and the depth and breadth of one's empathy.

In those 5 percent of hard cases, the constitutional text will not be directly on point. The language of the statute will not be perfectly clear. Legal process alone will not lead you to a rule of decision. In those circumstances, your decisions about whether affirmative action is an appropriate response to the history of discrimination in this country or whether a general right of privacy encompasses a more specific right of women to control their reproductive decisions or whether the commerce clause empowers Congress to speak on those issues of broad national concern that may be only tangentially related to what is easily defined as interstate commerce, whether a person who is disabled has the right to be accommodated so they can work alongside those who are nondisabled -- in those difficult cases, the critical ingredient is supplied by what is in the judge's heart.....

The problem I had is that when I examined Judge Roberts' record and history of public service, it is my personal estimation that he has far more often used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak. In his work in the White House and the Solicitor General's Office, he seemed to have consistently sided with those who were dismissive of efforts to eradicate the remnants of racial discrimination in our political process. In these same positions, he seemed dismissive of the concerns that it is harder to make it in this world and in this economy when you are a woman rather than a man.

But what I would like to see is for all of us to recognize as we move forward to the next nominee that in fact the issues that are confronted by the Supreme Court are difficult issues. That is why they get up to the Supreme Court. The issues facing the Court are rarely black and white, and all advocacy groups who have a legitimate and profound interest in the decisions that are made by the Court should try to make certain that their advocacy reflects that complexity."

it's like doing household chores: they won't even pay us to work for free...

from the associated press. pretty scary.

MADISON, Wis. - The recession has made finding work so difficult that the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School set up a job fair to help third-year law students find unpaid work.

The law school's assistant dean for career services says more students are graduating without jobs or being forced to delay their start dates at firms that have hired them.

Jane Heymann says that means governments and nonprofits have a surplus of applicants for volunteer positions. In some cases, they can get graduates to work free for up to a year.

Steve Means of the Wisconsin Department of Justice says he interviewed 10 or 11 law students at the volunteer fair but will likely take only three.

giant steps towards that idea of "liberty and justice for all"...

this illegalist has long been a proponent of the notion that it is unjust to deem someone acting to fulfill acute survival needs guilty of premeditated, harmful activity. i know that there are many who'd disagree with me, but thankfully this week, Justices Thomas, Alito, and Scalia definitely agreed with me.

the supreme court has spoken: the federal identity theft laws can no longer be used against illegal immigrants who use false SSIDs to get jobs.

from the NYT:

“The court’s ruling preserves basic ideals of fairness for some of our society’s most vulnerable workers.... An immigrant who uses a false Social Security number to get a job doesn’t intend to harm anyone, and it makes no sense to spend our tax dollars to imprison them for two years.

"Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said in a concurring opinion that a central flaw in the interpretation of the law urged by the government was that it made criminal liability turn on chance....

"Justice Stephen G. Breyer, in his opinion for the court, said the case should be decided by applying “ordinary English grammar” to the text of the law, which applies when an offender “knowingly transfers, possesses or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person.” The government had argued that the “knowingly” requirement applied only to the verbs in question. Justice Breyer rejected that interpretation, saying that “it seems natural to read the statute’s word ‘knowingly’ as applying to all the subsequently listed elements of the crime.”

gays in the military? now there's an issue: those haircuts, those uniforms. who cares??

pretty interesting op ed in the NYT today...

good advice...

there's no such thing as a free lunch but there is such a thing as free advice. usually, the value of the advice is inherent to its cost but sometimes it's really good...

1. if it sounds too good to be true…it probably is.

impulsiveness!! i'm never at a loss for things to spend my money on. but sometimes it's best to put your money back into your pocket and step away from the botkier...

2. waste not….want not.

i used to buy fruits and veggies in bulk, because i lived down the street from wal-mart. now, when i buy more than i can eat in 2-3 days, it goes bad in the fridge. since i'm about to be an unemployed student again, i'll have to plan even more carefully...

3. it is better to save a penny than earn a penny.

a penny saved can actually earn you money whereas a penny earned incurs taxes and most likely will be spent. i'm better off figuring out where i can cut back than figuring out how i can earn a little on the side...

4. live within your means!

argh!! the hardest thing for me to do! no matter how i try and no matter how frugal i am, it always seems that i'm living just a few dollars above the floor!

5. have an occasional treat.

ok, i'm through tips 1-4... finally, a tip i can build a habit around!!

the breaks

my uncle hubert told me in february that the decision of where to attend law school would be a difficult decision for anyone. he could not have been more on point: i now have my master list of schools i've paid seat deposits for fall matriculation -- boston college, georgetown, st. john's university, cardozo school of law.

there's no right answer of where to go to school. no matter what you may think of us news' law school rankings, each of these schools has a number of distinct, personal pros and cons.

st. john's university -- the pros are the NYC location, the strong regional reputation, the alumni network, and the fact that i'm a full scholarship recipient. the cons are that st. john's is located in jamaica queens and that there's a broad mix of students and faculty of high merit and mediocrity.

boston college -- the pros are the strong national reputation, the alumni network, and the strong academic program. the cons are that i would have to be in boston for 3 yrs and that i only got a partial scholarship.

georgetown -- the pros are the strong national reputation, the alumni network, and the strong academic program. the cons are that i would be in DC for 3 yrs and i got no scholarship monies, homey.

cardozo -- the pros are the NYC location, the strong academic program in IP law, and the fact that i'm a full scholarship recipient. the only con i have is that i haven't seen as many cardozo grads as partners or even associates at big law firms in my research.

so while i already know that i'm going to excel no matter where i end up, and i do recogize that i'm very blessed to have a lot of choices and options, i'm still undecided as to where i'm gonna be in the fall....

another one bites the dust...

orlando opera is shutting down:

"The recession of the past 18 months has resulted in lower ticket sales, reduced contributions, and defaults on pledged donations," said Jim Ireland, President & CEO of Orlando Opera. " In spite of significant cost reductions, Orlando Opera has not been able to break even on operations nor has it been able to eliminate its long-standing accumulated operating deficit."

hofstra LGBT fellowship

so... just to be clear, i had (what felt like) a horrific interview for the hofstra LGBT fellowship. my interests in LGBT family law were really raked over the coals... one interviewer went so far as to say, "since you, an attractive black female, have so much interest in family issues, why don't you focus on the family issues concerning black families? personally, I think of LGBT family law issues as white, upper middle class issues." he was totally serious... even though the majority of LGBT families in america are black, latina and asian lesbian households.

i'm guessing you can imagine my surprise that i got called this afternoon with the offer to come to hofstra as the CO'12 LGBT fellow....

i think i'll just leave this post at that.

schlemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated...

i just arrived to milwaukee for the interview with godfrey&kahn. these guys make a pre-law feel like a wall street recruit (i'll post pix later)! g&k paid for my flight out to milwaukee, put me up in the city's coolest hotel, and left me a late night goodie basket of wisconsin's choicest snacks!

quite a cool position: g&k is a large firm (almost 200 attorneys, mainly in wisconsin but with a few pocketed in dc and abroad) with a very attractive fellowship program. the g&k fellows at univ of wisconsin and marquette university have their full tuition paid by the firm *and* guaranteed summer associateship positions in their choice of practice area!! pretty swanky...

one major headache, this big -- and it leads to an amputated arm and multimillion dollar lawsuit...

working in a pharmaceutical advertising agency, you hear a lot of acronyms tossed around. ISI means "important safety information". PPI means "patient prescribing information". one term that's used a lot is CHC - "clear health communication". clear health communication basically means that the safety, efficacy, and warnings about a drug must be communicated to the public and to HCP (that's another one - "health care providers") in a way that is clearly understood by the average person.

the level of understanding is a bit lower for consumers; on average, drug companies assume the average consumer can read at a 5th grade level. consumer facing materials are often stripped down to share the basic information about a drug. the level of understanding is a bit higher for HCPs; on average, drug companies assume that health care professionals can read at an 8th grade level. HCP materials usually go into more robust detail about the chemical structure, proper administration and expected adverse effects associated with a drug.

the overarching regulator of both consumer facing and HCP materials is the FDA. for both groups, the FDA enforces the rules stipulating that drug companies create informative materials that clearly communicate the safety, efficacy and adverse effects of any drug. if drug companies fail to do this, they can face hefty fines and damages.

if this preamble hasn't already given you a headache, imagine that you've gone to see your doctor because you suffer massive migraines.

your doctor prescribes a new anti-migraine medication that is administered intravenously, and assigns his assistant to complete your treatment. your doctor has read the ISI and the PPI on this drug and realizes, "OK, this drug has to be administrered as a drip or intramuscular injection," but he gets called away by something urgent and forgets to tell this to his medical assistant, (for the sake of argument) a 20-year old girl fresh out of Stanford Medical Assistant Vocational Training school who has no idea what an ISI is but knows that the office is running behind schedule and, in a well intentioned, proactive attempt at time management, administers the anti-migraine as an IV push rather than as an IV drip. imagine that this administration is wrong, and because of it you lose the arm the anti-migraine drug was injected into.

unfortunately, the above scenario is real: diana levine, a vermont-based musician, recently developed gangrene and lost her arm due to the improper administration of phenergan, a wyeth anti-nausea/ anti-migraine drug. since they can't order wyeth to give her her arm back, a jury ordered wyeth to pay levine almost $7 million in punitive damages. wyeth appealed the judgement, saying the drug label (or all the ISI and PPI information that apparently nobody read) was in full compliance with FDA regulations. last week, the supreme court ruled 6-3 in favor of upholding the lower court's decision, stating that the federal compliance of the drug label does not bar lawsuits under state law claiming inadequate warning of the potential health risks.

"one potential caveat"...

at work, this has become my favorite new phrase:

"one potential caveat to your (fill in with suggested project or idea) is (fill in with predicted catastrophe)."

feel free to try it sometime. i highly recommend it. this phrase makes even my opinionated ramblings and bullshitting sound like considerable and lofty advice -- mwahaha!!

kidney for his broken heart? don't think so!!

if you haven't heard, the court officially tossed out the case brought forth by Long Island physician Richard Batista, who was suing his estranged ex-wife for the return of his kidney.

i've been very interested to know how this case would be decided. albeit, the case is stupid and the doctor's premise is outlandish. but i love daydreaming that i am the judge hearing this case (what can i say? i love drama!) these would have been the issues that came to mind:

• was there truly a meeting of the minds, and an agreement on the terms? no matter how sick and in need, i can't believe that Mrs. Batista, in good faith, agreed to 1. know forseeably that she would love Dr. Batista forever and 2. that if she did ever stop loving him, she would give him the kidney back or $1.5 million dollars. the risk that she might be wrong and lose the kidney or the cash far outweigh the likelihood of her being correct. in this instance, a meeting of the minds is difficult to prove, particularly with the complicating issues of bodily organs and pre-op agreements. and if there was no meeting of the minds, there was no additional contract beyond the marriage contract. anything given during the course of a marriage is, generally, a gift.
  


• how much of the kidney is Dr. Batista's property and how much is Mrs. Batista's property? let's say that there was a meeting of the minds and Mrs. Batista did agree to Dr. Batista's terms to return the kidney if she fell out of love with him. unfortunately, a kidney is not a car -- once Dr. Batista gave or loaned the kidney to his wife, it became a part of her in a tangible way, and her body began the care, upkeep and maintainance of the kidney. because Dr. Batista is a physician, it is reasonable to expect that he had prior knowledge that this is the way the body works, and an understanding that, should the kidney be returned, it would be returned in better care and condition than he loaned it to Mrs. Batista in. how should Mrs. Batista be compensated for the work and care she has given the loaned kidney? additionally, cells in the body renew themselves at regular intervals, and eventually, the cells of the loaned or gifted kidney would have a significant percentage of Mrs. Batista's own cells supporting it. if Dr. Batista is due his kidney back, is not Mrs. Batista owed the portion of kidney that was renewed and regenerated in her body?
  


• even if Dr. and Mrs. Batista did have this agreement and the court can roughly determine how much of the kidney is still Dr. Batista's and how much is Mrs. Batista's, is this agreement even enforceable? isn't it illegal to buy and sell organs? and does not the stipulation of give me my kidney back OR pay me a million dollars make this an illegal and therefore unenforcable agreement?
  

according to the NY Post, Judge Jeffrey Grob, who dismissed this frivolous case and wrote a 10-page summary of the decision went with my third point. Judge Grob suggested Dr. Batista may have committed a crime by trying to extort money from his ex with his "a million dollars, or your kidney" tirade. at the day's end, i think it just makes him sound like one of the villians from those old 1950s horror films. however, i am definitely wondering if the former Mrs. Batista and her legal counsel will pursue Judge Grob's suggestion...