Songs About Law School Part 5

The next installment in the Law School Songs series is Texas Wesleyan law student, Danielle Rupp's, submission for the Access Group's "One Less Worry" Contest. What I like about Danielle's unique expression of her law school experience is that it reminds prospective law students that they are stepping out of the cozy confines of their undergraduate cocoons and entering a place where there are other people from the "real world." When I was a law student I had the greatest respect for people who worked all day long and then went to class and somehow found time to prepare for the next day's classes. Yes, law school is hard; and it is harder for those juggling work and family and other real world responsibiities at the same time. But, LIFE is hard and the juggling act never really ends once it begins. Remember, students, to steal a line from Rudy Baylor in The Rainmaker, "There are all kinds of lawyers." And there all "all kinds" of ways to be involved in the practice of law or use of your law degree after law school. You don't need to throw yourself into the "Big Business model, 3,000 billable hour/year, owe your soul to the company store" type of law firm just because other law students are pursuing those positions. You need to be true to yourselves and the things that are important to you in your lives. Money is a poor substitute for peace of mind and a life richly shared with family.

Kudos to Danielle for her creativity and talent and the best of wishes for juggling law school and life.

Primary Sources for First Amendment Cases

Have you ever wondered exactly what was contained in the "Left Wing Manifesto" that Gitlow was distributing when the State of New York busted him? While the majority of the Supreme Court thought it had a "bad tendency," Justice Holmes, in dissent was dismissive of it stating, "[W]hatever may be thought of the redundant discourse before us it had no chance of starting a present conflagration." Here is an opportunity to read the original Left Wing Manifesto for yourself, along with the original documents that were the subject of a couple of dozen First Amendment cases. The site "First Amendment Online" is hosted by the University of Minnesota Law School. The link here is to the home page. Click on "Primary Sources" to see the Left Wing Manifesto and other documents. Credit should be given to the Volokh Conspiracy Blog which is where I found the link. I hope that readers will find theses resources helpful in the classroom.

The International Sale of Goods Song

Professor Harry Flechtner at the University of Pittsburgh Law School performs a song about the United Nations Conference on International Contracts for the Sale of Goods. While it is not my area of expertise, it strikes me as quite a good song (pun intended). This is not, strictly speaking, a popular cultural representation of the law. Although Prof. Flechtner's song is clever and catchy, it isn't likely to capture the attention of those outside of law circles. It is, however, the kind of song that can be used in the classroom - similar to the Law Lessongs available on my web page. Thank you, Prof. Flechtner for sharing your creativity and providing another valuable and innovative resource for the law classroom.

Glimpses of Human Failings Harm Legal Legitimacy

Judge Alex Kosinski, Chief Judge of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, sitting as a trial judge on a case involving distribution of obscene material may have to recuse himself as he himself has been a regular contributor to a website containing questionably pornographic material. The NY Times article is available here . The article, and those put out by the wire services contain some unfortunate quotes from the judge (i.e. “It’s not a porn site. There’s some funny stuff on there.”) According to the Times, "the site, now disabled, included a video showing a sexually aroused animal, a photograph of naked women painted to look like cows and images of masturbation and public sex." Ouch!!

The legal system does not need this kind of publicity. Yet, as a legal educator, I see this incident as another opportunity to help students see judges as people, with all the capabilities and failings that are inherent in humanity. These types of incidents damage the legitimacy of the system by exposing one of its inherent potential weaknesses - it's humanity. One of the reasons why we retain certain traditions in our system, like robes for judges and the strange language of court openings ("oyez, oyez . . .") is an attempt to disguise the court's humanity in mystique. A college educated person should understand this.