Read My Essay on The Am Law Daily; I’m Helping Law Schools Avoid Lawsuits

“Dear Prospective Law Students, Do Not ‘Reasonably Rely’ on Cooley’s ‘Report One’”

Also, I’m off to see former Hüsker Dü and Sugar member, Bob Mould, play in Brooklyn. Hüsker Dü was from my home state, Minnesota, so here’s some of his music.

No Bubble, Just ROCK!!! Vol. 6

It’s the Fourth of July, meaning, you get to listen to one of Galaxie 500′s best songs, which former member Dean Wareham of Dean & Britta played as an encore when they were in Prospect Park, Brooklyn two years ago. ‘Twas awesome; one of the best outdoor shows I’ve ever seen.

Good ol’ dream pop; nothin’ beats that!

No Bubble, Just ROCK!!! Vol. 5

I’m dashing off to Wisconsin later this week, so I’ll miss the first-of-its-kind panel discussion b’ween deans Ackerman (Wayne State) and Closius (Baltimore), professors Henderson (Indiana-Bloomington) and Tamanaha (Wash U), and Third Tier Reality’s Nando. Moderation provided by All Education Matter’s Cryn Johannsen. If you’re interested in legal education all five of the participants have contributed to the issue.

I’ve also found a ringer to cover for me with some guest posts while I’m out.

So, here’s some of Wisconsin’s contributions to American culture:

Boris the Sprinkler (they’re from Green Bay, not Green Day!)

Pale Young Gentlemen, a Madison band led by folks a grad school classmate grew up with (and who allegedly opened for the Clientele, which neither of us believed)

Finally, the Milwaukee-based Charles Walker Band, with a guitarist I grew up with (on the left)

No Bubble, Just ROCK!!! Vol. 4

A year ago, Forever Yours purchased Tiger Trap’s eponymous album and concluded that Tiger Trap was the band Pennsylvania punk band Weston was always pining for. And let’s be serious: the idea of a 1990s four-piece all-girl twee-pop band sells itself. The album opens with Rose Melberg punishing us for doubting true love.

Mid-January 2010 rolled around, meaning it was time to use my eMusic coin once again, and because I recently described law schools as federal debt money addicts, I have been appropriately cursed by bumbling onto Melberg’s second mid-1990s group’s first album, It’s Love by the Softies. Here’s a taste of the wistful universe I’ve condemned myself to.

Here's my spatial sequence for the days of the week.

It gets worse. Readers don’t know this but I’m blessed with synesthesia, which mainly manifests itself in spatial sequences I see in my mind’s eye when I think of numbers, time, or sides of cassette tapes. It’s more commonly known as number form synesthesia. I didn’t know I had it until two years ago, overturning an ancient conclusion that I was the only person on earth who saw the world this way. On occasion though, I experience mild sound → color synesthesia, with light blue pleasantly clouding my mind when listening to dream pop such as the Clientele.

I also tend to get addicted to new music—sometimes like love at first sight—and I can listen to a new piece I fancy on repeat for days or weeks at a time until it enters my personal pantheon of awesome.

When I first heard the next track I felt so much light blue I thought eMusic spiked my downloads. The rest of the album teleports me to whatever Melberg or Jen Sbragia are singing about. It’s quite draining, yet I can’t stop!

Well, I’m boned. When I’m out, the album’s in my head, and when I’m home, every few hours I find myself working my way to the directory the Softies are in saying:

No LSTB! Don’t listen to it again! It’ll make you sad! No! Stop! Don’t open those files!! NOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! It’s so beautiful…Aaaaaaaaagh…I hate you.

Damn you Melberg. I am enthralled to your voice and clean guitars, and I hate how you make me feel like a pitiful Title IV-snorting law school.

No Bubble, Just ROCK!!! Vol. 3

I wish I could say that I’ve been enjoying Winter Break too much to blog or that I’ve been neglecting it for a week, but truth be told I’ve been working on a small quantitative project I will roll out in 2011.  Until then, I’ll close the year with some Rock ‘n’ Roll.

I dedicate this beauty by the Dirtbombs to all the legal education reformers (young and old) I’ve come into contact with over the past year.

The second one, courtesy of Guided by Voices, is to all you law students.  Here’s what you should do this year, if you’re not snowed in.  You can also see GbV play on New Year’s Eve in Manhattan, if you have $80 to burn.  I don’t.

Third one, by Screaming Trees, is for this blog’s readers.

A happy 2011 to you all!

No Bubble, Just ROCK!!! Vol. 2

Folks, I said I’d be busy for a few days, so here’s some music to keep your thoughts focused.  Actually, I thought I’d be putting these up more often!

Okay, meditate on these truths, primates:

This Byrds psychedelic instrumental is my new theme song [sorry for the redirect ].

Not to be outdone, the Soft Boys give us the best arthropod-based rock & roll song since the Who’s “Boris the Spider.” [You might wanna listen to this on YouTube; the audio is better.]

When you send me to CLEs, I will doodle!

Finally, your love(less) song of the day, courtesy of another band worthy of special mention for getting me through law school: Mr. Airplane Man.

No Bubble, Just ROCK!! Vol. 1

This sitar-sploitation by the Ceyleib People is my new theme music:

Now for the Shins’ bleak anthropology:

And to cheer you up, a love song by one of the bands that got me through law school, the Clientele.  Their mini-album Minotaur came out earlier this month; I recommend.

Reformers, Futile Gesturers, Blamers, and Loss-Cutters: Adventures in Anger, Personal Responsibility, and Positive Thinking

I open with sources; doodles to follow.

Heather Diersen, “Dear Law School: It’s All Your Fault. Signed, Recent Grad,” in JDs Rising

Mary Beth Marklein, “Grads Taking Law Schools to Task for Poor Job Market,” in USA Today

Don Peck, “How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America,” in The Atlantic

Susan Carter Liebel, “Don’t Be a Victim of the ‘Victim Mentality’,” in Build a Solo Practice at Solo-Practice University

Diersen’s post represents a typical response to legal education’s critics, for example:

[I]f I were smart enough to get into law school, I should be smart enough to know that there have always been too many lawyers.  There are too many lawyers because private (and some public) law schools are money-making businesses…While I sympathize with the recent grads on the job hunt and agree with the criticism against law schools’ admittance and career service practices – law school was my choice, every loan I took out was my choice, and the job market…well, it is tight in nearly every field.  I cannot blame the schools for failing to put a warning label on their applications stating: “Likely to cause debt and unemployment.” [Emphasis Original]

Marklein’s article is somewhat similar, referring to scam bloggers, Zenovia Evans’ hunger strike, and Roger Gordon’s litigation attempt to gain bar admission after only two years of law school to avoid adding more to his $175,000 of student debt.  Kelsey May, a 2010 Tulsa grad who wrote a book, What the L? 25 Things We Wish We’d Known Before Going to Law School, is loosely quoted, saying, “[T]he anger is ‘misplaced. … There should be some level of (personal) responsibility.’”[i] [ii]

There’s a lot going on in this mess of anger, responsibility, and the future.  Thinking on the subject prompted me to create a typology of who’s who in these disagreements.  There are four groups, each with their own audiences and goals.  I call them: Reformers, Futile Gesturers, Blamers, and Loss-Cutters.  These terms are an observation and aren’t meant to be exclusive or exhaustive.

Strawberry Rankings Forever

I prefer "Here Comes the Sun," then again, I'm an unabashed George-o-phile.

Incidentally I listened to Magical Mystery Tour recently.  Great songs, but the concept rehashes Sergeant Pepper.

Bob Morse’s comments on the ABA’s and law schools’ responsibility for rising tuition caused me to completely rethink my opinion on the U.S. News rankings.  I gave y’all a paragraph of that two weeks ago, but allow me to expand on it.

Links for Sale–Tenure, Bimodality, & Big Star

Re-emerging from the depths, here’re some links.

(1) Scott Jaschik, “Law School Professors Tenure in Danger?”

Dean David Van Zandt of Northwestern has been spearheading policy changes in ABA accreditation requirements that leave tenure systems up to law schools’ discretions, and so far it’s meeting with success in the ABA’s draft proposals.  The article quotes various instructors as horrified at the prospect of getting fired for publishing work that is too radical for the university community and the public to tolerate.