Affirming The Consequent

Arbitration

2009-07-12T21:00:00.000-05:00

Arbitration is the rare elective that I took for a reason other than my interest in the subject. I took it because it is the only opportunity to take a class taught by Professor Noley Bice. I was not disappointed. Some characterize the class as merely storytime, and the review session is a great summary of the course, so maybe you can simply drift through. But if you pay attention, you will have an excellent grasp of the law pertaining to arbitration agreements.

Professor Bice will require you and a partner he assigns to present a case to the class and provide a handout for it. You also need to have two lawyer jokes ready at any time in case he calls on you to share one. Part of the grade is class participation, so read the cases and have questions to ask your classmates when they present.

Most students will agree that you can do without the assigned text as all the cases are on Westlaw and Lexis.

Secured Transactions

2009-07-10T20:49:00.002-05:00

Secured transactions is toward the negotiable instruments end of the spectrum.

Professor Bates called on a few people, but only the students he knew best. The reading is not at all onerous, but don't take that to mean the class is easy.

All the points were on the final, in which you are allowed a copy of the Uniform Commercial Code. Any copy is acceptable so long as it doesn't have explanation beyond the official commentary and your own annotations.

Advanced Legal Research

2009-06-22T19:54:00.005-05:00

Advanced Legal Research is hard work and time intensive. I "billed" just over 70 hours, and that doesn't include the considerable time I put into research logs, self analysis, and billing statements.

Professor Cordon allows students to work individually or with a partner. Partners are supposed to do all the work together, which should mean it takes as long as the slowest partner plus the time it takes to coordinate. What actually happens in most (if not all) cases is that partners eventually divide assignments between them in order to get everything done. If you tell someone who's taken it that you don't have a partner for ALR, they'll probably indicate you're crazy.

The class is graded on research, research logs, self evaluation/cost-efficiency analysis, and billing statements for (1) the 10 assignments from the second quarter of Legal Analysis Research and Communication, except that this time you create the questions as well as answer them; (2) 20 advanced assignments; (3) a final project; and (4) an additional project. Advanced Assignment 1 is a memo that is due a few weeks into the quarter. All of the other assignments are due at the end of the quarter. Professor Cordon allows an extension on the final due date, but it is a bad idea to rely on it.

If you dare to take the class, at the end of it you will by necessity be cozy with resources you had not before known existed. And, at least in the past, the curve has been good.

Reducing Ambiguity

2009-06-19T21:17:00.005-05:00

I have a two piles of paper that I don't want to confuse. One stack I have already read, so I put a note on that one which said, "read."

The other stack I have yet to read. On that stack I put a note instructing myself: "read."

Troublesome Elected State Court Judges

2009-06-08T20:57:00.005-05:00

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Caperton v. A. T. Massey Coal Co. I became aware of the decision after reading this headline: "In a 5-4 ruling the Supreme Court finds that an elected judge who received $3M in campaign contributions should have recused himself from a case involving the donor." With the issue framed that way, the only interesting thing is why the majority wasn't greater.

Upon finding the opinion, I found the dissent makes some excellent points. To correct the injustice in this instance, the majority extended Due Process to introduce a new and difficult standard into an area of settled law. Having judges decide cases involving their campaign donors is obviously problematic, but the states can pass legislation to address bias in those situations.

I am curious to see what effect the opinion will have.

Boom! Dinosaur!

2009-06-05T17:41:00.002-05:00

The discussion of Sonia Sottomayor's qualifications for Supreme Court Justice brought my attention to the best argument for the election of state court judges I've yet encountered: state court judges have the ability to "discover" new common law, so the citizens of a state should determine who has that power. On the whole, I still think justice would be better served with judges a step removed from direct election, however.

Rankings Malpractice?

2009-05-08T15:08:00.003-05:00

Despite its many flaws, the U.S. News ranking of law schools is the dominant one. Dean Toben sent all students an email in response to the fact the school dropped ten places. But it turns out that maybe we didn't have to drop all ten places.

Focus

2009-04-30T13:46:00.009-05:00

Nobody can effectively study every waking hour of the day. Nobody has enough time to do everything possible to prepare for a test, either. So no matter how effectively you study, at some level you're evaluating your efforts against those of everybody smarter and harder working than you (at least I am). And if there aren't enough people smarter and harder working than you, you make some up to compete against. You begrudge the time it takes to do laundry and feel guilty for every break, no matter how necessary it is to your sanity. Baylor law has many high achieving people who believe themselves to be slackers (though to be fair, there are a few who are slackers).

I read the entire internet during this round of finals when I should have been studying (which is to say that I studied mostly effectively and kept myself sane by browsing the internet from time to time). This led to a happy discovery: A joke exists that (1) I know, and (2) is nowhere else on the internet yet (which is to say it wasn't on the first page of results when I Googled the punchline). So here is the world internet premier:

What is the difference between a man looking at Niagara Falls, a man not looking at Niagara Falls, and a ham sandwich?

I will reveal the answer in the comments after there has been sufficient time for guessing.

Elsewhere on the internet, an article talked about drugs that might make people be able to effectively study every waking hour of the day. That was disturbing to read in the middle of finals.

Dean-Elect

2009-04-17T19:02:00.003-05:00

One day during my sophomore year at TCU, I was complaining to a friend that "someone" should do something about my annoyance of the day, when my subconscious had had enough of listening to me. The thought popped into my head that either the problem was serious enough that I should step up to address it, in which case I should quit talking and step up, or it wasn't, in which case I should stop worrying about it and be quiet. I tend to think a great many things are important, so I keep myself busy.

Today the members of the Alexander Senate of Delta Theta Phi elected me Dean. Notably, the wisdom of leading the organization while in practice court in the fall was not an issue, as my now former opponent will also be.

I'm Not A Rocket Scientist, But I Played One For PC

2009-04-13T21:24:00.002-05:00

I reversed my previous decision not to witness for practice court. For some people, the karma argument--if you don't witness you won't be able to find any witnesses when it is your turn--may be effective, but not for me. I find the Ecclesiastes worldview--good things sometimes happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people, and there's no point to it--much better conforms to my experience. Maybe you get reincarnated as a fly if you don't witness for practice court, but that doesn't do anything to the witness supply when you're in need.

Why then the policy shift? I think it's because I feel guilty for not undergoing moot court again.

Revisiting 1st Year Property

2009-04-07T12:44:00.003-05:00

I met up with Kendall this morning at the courthouse to observe this month's foreclosure sales in McLennan County. The auctions we observed were actually part of a commissioner's sale. The moral to the story is that if you're going to buy property at a foreclosure auction, be prepared to stand outside the courthouse all day. Trustees will show up "between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m." or "no earlier than 1 p.m." or whatever.

The SBA's Leadership Award

2009-03-25T09:04:00.002-05:00

In past years, SBA officers were either ineligible for the award or removed themselves from consideration so that SBA could determine who received its award. This year, SBA decided to abdicate that responsibility so that its officers who applied for the award would still be eligible.

This decision was reached by taking a vote as soon the issue came up. Then SBA discussed it for a minute and a half before moving on to the next agenda item without further action.

Baylor Law students: if this policy direction or decision making process bothers you, you should complain loudly to every SBA officer you see.

Improved Social Skills

2009-03-17T13:11:00.004-05:00

One of the hazards early on in law school is that even when you have spent the entire week struggling to understand the law, and you go out Friday night, and desperately want nothing to do with the law for a few hours, you still end up talking about it. The only people you've had time to meet are other law students and it is one thing that is guaranteed common ground.

Eventually, however, you get to the point where you can discuss things that are not directly related to the law. For example, today my friends and I conversed about desirability of a machine that would replace both a washer and drier. There are front loading washers, and driers are front loading, so why not have a single machine and be done with it? One downside is that you can't wash and dry different loads of laundry at the same time; with multiple loads, it would take longer to be done with laundry with this combined machine. Then there are probably some engineering reasons too.

I'm not sure how comforting this "progress" is. It means we're so busy that we begrudge the time it takes to move laundry the few feet from one machine to another.

Spring Break

2009-03-14T15:14:00.005-05:00

The famous, bell-shaped facade of the Alamo's chapel was added by the US Army long after the Texas War of Independence.

(Amy and I were in San Antonio for part of the break)

Play Intramural Softball (Because You're Not Already Busy Enough)

2009-02-26T09:08:00.004-06:00

The 2007 summer starters' team walked off the softball diamond victorious last night. There were a few fumbles, but our game was mostly solid. I think the most impressive show was Utah's inside-the-park home run. We should try to have the bases loaded the next time he does that.

Playing catcher, I somehow caught a foul ball one-handed in my un-gloved hand. Believe me, I am as amazed as everyone else.

Now A Notes & Comments Editor

2009-02-24T17:41:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I got the email notifying me of my promotion.

Waco Burgers

2009-02-21T18:13:00.006-06:00

The SBBA rankings of Burgers in Waco:
contribute to the rankings

All Hail The Editor-In-Chief

2009-02-13T19:50:00.003-06:00

Seventeen people voted in the "tracking poll." It had Patrick with 52% of the vote. In second place, Camille had 29%. Lauren and Bill had 11% and 5%, respectively.

The only information available from the actual election is the winner: Patrick Scott.

Negotiable Instruments

2009-01-27T21:00:00.002-06:00

At one end of the spectrum of law school courses you have those classes where you hop from one more or less discrete topic to another. Torts is a good example of that kind of class. At the other end of the spectrum are classes where the topic stays the same, you just spend the quarter getting deeper and deeper into it. Negotiable instruments is that end of the spectrum. I've never poured molten lead into an anthill, but that is the metaphor that suggests itself to me.

Final grades are based one-third on the midterm exam and two-thirds on the final exam. There are a few cases in the text, but the focus is on the problems. Professor Swenson methodically goes down the rows calling on students to answer the problems and variations on it that he provides. There is one notable exception to that method, so any guy who sits near a lot of girls should take care not to let them distract him.

I got by with the old edition of the text without major problems. Any copy of the UCC is acceptable.

Editor-In-Chief Tracking Poll

2009-01-25T16:43:00.001-06:00

Vote for your favorite candidate in the poll at the top of the right hand column. Post a comment saying why your favorite candidate should win. Rally your friends to come and vote for your candidate.

This poll is open to everyone who cares to express an opinion, regardless of law review membership. The results won't be a reliable predictor of the outcome, but they might still be interesting.

Supreme Court Seminar

2009-01-23T21:00:00.000-06:00

I would imagine the quality of this course varies considerably depending on the other students enrolled in the class. The instructors take a less prominent role than in most classes, mostly playing devil's advocate as the seminar does not have adversarial parties providing oral argument. Professor Serr splits the students into courts in such a way as to maximize ideological conflict and thereby foster the best debate. I think we did have a couple 4-3 decisions (we had two courts of seven students last quarter).

There is no final. Grades are based on the majority opinion you write--and you will write the majority regardless of the side you land on--and up to three concurrences or dissents for extra credit. Because they are optional, you have some influence over when the concurrences or dissents will be due. Your majority opinion will be due the week after you discuss the case, however, so you can expect the assignment to be due randomly between about the third week of the quarter to the first week of the next quarter. Mine fell right in the middle of moot court. Professor Serr tries to assign cases in such a way that each student gets one of their top three choices.

Articles Editor's Handbook § 3.3.4(B)

2009-01-22T21:17:00.000-06:00

I came across this yesterday and felt the need to share:

The Senior Articles Editor and Senior Notes & Comments Editor shall keep a log of socialization activities, recording points (on a scale of one to one-hundred) for the amount of socialization that occurs. At the end of each quarter, the log of socialization points shall be given to the Editor-in-Chief for purposes of formulating a curve based on the points. The higher the person is on the curve, the more likely that person will be assigned to Alumni Relations. The bottom four people on the curve shall be demoted. The last person on the curve shall be kicked off law review.

The fascism is somewhat mitigated by section 3.3.4(C), which reads: "Just kidding."

Business Planning And Drafting

2009-01-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

This is another Professor Miller class. Unlike business organizations II, she called on some students this time.

The class has no final; grades are determined based on two projects. On the first, Professor Miller let us work with a partner. On the second, we had to work individually but got to choose among a few alternative projects. The classroom discussion also focused on a few involved hypotheticals. The end result was to really clarify and bring together concepts from business organizations I and II (but note II is not a prerequisite to planning and drafting).

Family Law

2009-01-19T09:00:00.000-06:00

Family law reminded me in many ways of criminal law, and they both remind me of reality television. The fact patterns often made me disgusted with humanity, but some people found them interesting. I don't know that it impacts your grade either way.

There is frequently no clear answer in family law. The obvious example is how the "best interest of the child" standard gives a trial court wide latitude. Consequently, Professor Wilson had the class debating public policy quite a bit.

Professor Wilson tended not to call on students to develop cases, although in one instance students argued a mini moot court round based on a case. There was a day's advance warning for that, however. [edit: Sterling reminded me Professor Wilson also called on students to give answers to assigned worksheet problems.]

One of the rare virtues of the class was how it showed the interplay of concepts from other classes. You get to see how marital privilege in torts, public policy in contracts, equal protection from Constitutional law, and marital property from trusts and estates fit together within the field.

Of course, that virtue also means that many of the concepts have already been covered, at least to some extent. In that way, it is not the most horizon expanding class in the Baylor Law curriculum. Though it is a bar class, I would have to say that if your schedule is tight, you can probably safely do without family law.

Wealth Transfers

2009-01-17T09:00:00.000-06:00

By the time wealth transfers is an option, you will have already taken trusts and estates from Professor Featherston, and therefore be familiar with his style. In wealth transfers he called on students to answer questions and hypotheticals, which could be complicated, but he did not call on anyone to develop a case. Also unlike T&E, Professor Featherston did not provide old tests to study in preparation for finals.