Beyond the Underground

The Weekly Law School Roundup #239

Here's your weekly list of good posts from the past two weeks by law students, some current or almost current, some recently-graduated--

Nightmare A new cover letter for recruiters. [Legal Ease]

Answers 1Ls have some questions. [law:/dev/null]

Wine More advice for 1Ls. [oh hay, it's kk]

Energy A week of screening interviews. [i don't wear skinny jeans]

Mothership A road-trip post. [Tales of a Tree-Hugging 3L]

Books How to save $1000. [The Reasonably Prudent Law Student]

Beginning Oriented to law school. [Swimming with the Sharks]

Etiquette Basic rules for fellow students. [The Corner In The Middle]

Reading First impressions, week one. [Maybe So, Maybe No]

Ritual Preliminary thoughts on gunners. [Legally Questionable Content]

Jokes Woody Allen, applied to law school. [My Legal Fiction]

Wrap-Up An account of a 2L summer. [Dennis Jansen]

Round-Up Moms in the Legal Profession #165. [Butterflyfish]

Look for next week's roundup at Thanks, But No Thanks then it's back here the week after that. You can find some other recent roundups in the "At the Law Schools 2" category, as well as sixty or so older roundups from 2004-2005 here. Finally, if you want to know how I choose posts to highlight, see "How I Write the Weekly Law School Roundup." (If you have a law-student weblog that I don't seem to know about or that isn't in my blogroll, please send me an email.)

AT MY TRIAL PRACTICE WEBSITE . . . "This Year's Supplement to My Deposition Book: A Chapter on Breach of Contract."

LONELY? . . . Read about the death of friendship  in "America: Land of Loners?" by Daniel Akst in The Wilson Quarterly. Link from Arts & Letters Daily.

The Weekly Law School Roundup #238

Here's your weekly list of good posts from the past week by law students, some current or almost current, some recently-graduated--

Incoming To 1Ls: It will be okay. [Fresh Thought Soup]

Guidance More advice for 1Ls. [Exhibit L]

New The getting-to-know-you script. [Legally Questionable Content]

Advice Tips for summer associates. [The Moonshine Project]

Book About Karl Llewellyn's Bramble Bush. [Legal Geekery]

Zombies Thinking about decedents estates. [law:/dev/null]

Next General optimism about the post-graduation future. [Fight the Hypo]

Hose Do Brits bathe? [Virgin in the Volcano]

Potpourri Paraphernalia, but not for drugs. [Dennis Jansen]

Roundup Moms in the Legal Profession #162. [Attorney Work Product]

Look for next week's roundup at Thanks, But No Thanks then it's back here the week after that. You can find some other recent roundups in the "At the Law Schools 2" category, as well as sixty or so older roundups from 2004-2005 here. Finally, if you want to know how I choose posts to highlight, see "How I Write the Weekly Law School Roundup." (If you have a law-student weblog that I don't seem to know about or that isn't in my blogroll, please send me an email.)

THE WEEKLY LAW SCHOOL ROUNDUP . . . You'll find Weekly Law School Roundup #237 at Thanks, But No Thanks. The next installment will appear here soon.

BEYOND THE iPHONE . . . . From Lifehacker: "A Guide to Organizing Your Android Home Screen."

NO COMPUTERS ALLOWED . . . In some coffee shops, electronic devices are no longer welcome.  At Jacket Copy, the question is, "Have you faced Kindle prejudice?"

The Weekly Law School Roundup #236

Here's your weekly list of good posts from the past week by law students, some current or almost current, some recently-graduated--

Advice How to stay organized in law school. [Dennis Jansen]

Mediation John and Jane fight over pennies. [law:/dev/null]

Clubs Being a joiner in law school. [Maybe So, Maybe No]

Hope Getting past a cynical attitude towards lawyers. [Tales of a Tree-Hugging Aspiring 3L]

Citation A law school ignores reality. [The Corner in the Middle]

Haters Chit-chatting behind a co-workers back. [A Paralegal's Journey to Lawyerhood]

Anniversary Reviewing a year of blogging. [Legally Questionable Content]

Week Gearing up for law school. [Swimming with the Sharks]

Happy The pitfalls of taking law too seriously. [i don't wear skinny jeans]

Roundup Moms in the Legal Profession #160. [Butterflyfish]

Look for next week's roundup at Thanks, But No Thanks then it's back here the week after that. You can find some other recent roundups in the "At the Law Schools 2" category, as well as sixty or so older roundups from 2004-2005 here. Finally, if you want to know how I choose posts to highlight, see "How I Write the Weekly Law School Roundup." (If you have a law-student weblog that I don't seem to know about or that isn't in my blogroll, please send me an email.)

POLITICS IN ST. LOUIS . . . According to the St. Louis Business Journal, "Civic leaders and tourism officials hope tonight's free Chuck Berry concert at Kiener Plaza will help boost St. Louis' chances of being picked to host the Democratic National Convention in September 2012."

THE WEEKLY LAW SCHOOL ROUNDUP . . . As previously announced, for one week only, you'll find the Weekly Law School Roundup at Blawg Review. Thanks to the anonymous Editor of Blawg Review for guest-hosting.

Next week, the roundup will return to this space, and the week after, to Thanks, But No Thanks.

HOSTING SWITCH-UP . . . In a change from the usual procedures, the Weekly Law School Roundup will be hosted this weekend by the anonymous Editor of Blawg Review.

I'll put another post here when the roundup is up in a few days at Blawg Review.

SPAMMING LAW FIRMS . . . I've noticed a striking similarity in some emails I've received lately, all of them seeking legal assistance--

Dear Counsel, My name is Jenifer D.Williams. I am contacting your firm in regards to a divorce settlement with my ex husband Raymond K. Williams who resides in your jurisdiction. We agreed in 2009 for a $320,000 payment as part of the terms of our out-of-court mutual CPLA separation plus legal fees. I am hereby seeking your firm`s assistance in collecting this payment from him. He has agreed already to pay but it is my belief that a Law firm like yours is needed to help me collect/enforce payment from my ex-husband or litigate this matter if he fails to pay as promised. If this falls under the scope of your practice, get back to me at your earliest convenience with your details so that I can send you further information.

Dear Counsel, My name is Kim Cheng, I am contacting your firm in regards to a divorce settlement with my ex husband, Randy Cheng, who resides in your jurisdiction. I am currently on assignment in Japan. We had an out of court agreement (Collaborative Law Agreement) for him to pay $448,450.00 plus legal fees. He has only paid me $44,000 since. I am hereby seeking your firm to assistance in collecting the balance from him. He has agreed already to pay me the balance but it is my belief that a Law firm like yours is needed to help me collect payment from my ex-husband or litigate this matter if he fails to pay as promised.

Dear Counsel, My name is Miyoko Kazuo. I am contacting your firm in regards to a divorce settlement with my ex husband Naoki Kazuo who resides in your jurisdiction. I am hereby seeking your firm`s assistance in collecting the balance from him.

So what's the point? What are the spammers after? They already have my email address.

The Weekly Law School Roundup #234

Here's your weekly list of good posts from the past week by law students, some current or almost current, some recently-graduated--

Silence Justifying law school. [My Legal Fiction]

Rules Advice for summer associates. [Moonshine Project]

Deception Stories from the family-law beat. [J.D.? ... Maybe]

Average Class rank, sliced and diced. [law:/dev/null]

Surprise Life on the other side of a transcript. [Tales of a Tree-Hugging Aspiring 3L]

Case Opaque/translucent. [New Kid on the Hallway]

White The neighbor's laundry. [Dennis Jansen]

Panic Maybe you'll fail the bar. [Thanks, But No Thanks]

Despair A paper test can't kill you. [Legally Numb]

Roundup Moms in the Legal Profession #158. [PT-LawMom]

Look for next week's roundup at Thanks, But No Thanks then it's back here the week after that. You can find some other recent roundups in the "At the Law Schools 2" category, as well as sixty or so older roundups from 2004-2005 here. Finally, if you want to know how I choose posts to highlight, see "How I Write the Weekly Law School Roundup." (If you have a law-student weblog that I don't seem to know about or that isn't in my blogroll, please send me an email.)

THE WEEKLY LAW SCHOOL ROUNDUP . . . You'll find Weekly Law School Roundup #233 at Thanks, But No Thanks. The next installment will appear here soon.

LISTEN  Audio of David Foster Wallace talking with David Lipsky--the conversation that's transcribed in Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace.  (Link from HTML Giant.)

OVERRATED . . . "It's time to stop pretending that To Kill a Mockingbird is some kind of timeless classic that ranks with the great works of American literature." From the Wall Street Journal (link from Arts & Letters Daily).

The Weekly Law School Roundup #232

Here's your Independence Day list of good posts from the past week by law students, some current or almost current, some recently-graduated--

Words A list of almost 1L blogs. [KatieLuper.com]

Apple An appreciation. [law:/dev/null]

Explanation Understanding Foursquare. [Dennis Jansen]

Lost Defeated by passwords. [Fresh Thought Soup]

Bumpy Friends getting divorced. [The Corner in the Middle]

Employment Resume tips. [Thanks, But No Thanks]

List Bar exam v. TV addiction. [Virgin in the Volcano]

Out Anonymity busted, nominating posts for deletion. [i don't wear skinny jeans]

Roundup Moms in the Legal Profession #156. [Attorney Work Product]

Look for next week's roundup at Thanks, But No Thanks then it's back here the week after that. You can find some other recent roundups in the "At the Law Schools 2" category, as well as sixty or so older roundups from 2004-2005 here. Finally, if you want to know how I choose posts to highlight, see "How I Write the Weekly Law School Roundup." (If you have a law-student weblog that I don't seem to know about or that isn't in my blogroll, please send me an email.)

FROM THE ARCHIVES . . . Six short years ago at Beyond the Underground: "Types of Lawyers #5: The Lawyer Who Brings Her Breast Pump to the Office."

Bonus: All the Types of Lawyers posts.

THE WEEKLY LAW SCHOOL ROUNDUP . . . You'll find Weekly Law School Roundup #231 at Thanks, But No Thanks. The next installment will appear here soon.

A Concert Review, Plus News About a Book

It’s been a long time since anyone accused me of being cool. Yesterday, however, that door slammed shut completely: I'm now officially uncool forever.

Last night, the Eagles played at Busch Stadium. I attended the concert. I even made sure to get there in time for the opening act, The Dixie Chicks.

Embarrassing as it is, this is my report.

Before I begin, however, I want to apologize in advance for some digressions I'm going to make along the way. They have to do with my new work-in-progress, Be Rich Like Me! A Memoir, by Evan Schaeffer.

Read on. All with be explained.

* * *

The evening began at a downtown restaurant called the Terrace View. I turned my car keys over to my wife, Andrea, and ordered a couple of vodkas on the rocks, doubles.

It's a pre-concert ritual I don't recommend to anyone who likes to enjoy a concert sober. For me, it works.

I also ate a little food. With that out of the way, we walked with some friends toward the stadium.

FEED MAGAZINE ARCHIVES: BACK ONLINE . . . You'll find the archives to the old web magazine FEED here, with this introduction--

Launched in May of 1995, [FEED] was among a handful of "webzines"--as they were once called--in existence then. FEED tried to re-imagine how we would read and write in the digital age even as we dedicated ourselves to the craft of writing, a craft we were perfecting as green writers and editors ourselves.

Link from Mark Athitakis’ American Fiction Notes.

DRIVING IN BUENOS AIRES . . . I've rented cars in Mexico, Uruguay, and Costa Rica.

In Argentina, I said no. 

If I ever change my mind about driving in Argentina, I'll take a look at this post first: "The Joys of Driving in Buenos Aires."

As they say, "lanes are just suggestions." Good to know . . .

Related Post: "If You're Going to Spend a Month in Buenos Aires."

WHAT TO DO WITH THE REST OF YOUR SUMMER . . . You could read a biography of Marcus Aurelius, keeping in mind that "Stoicism Is Just So Yesterday." (Link from Arts & Letters Daily.)

The Weekly Law School Roundup #230

It's the weekly list of good posts from the past week by law students, some current or almost current, some recently-graduated--

Jobs Being foolishly quixotic about jobs for lawyers. [KatieLuper.com]

Mystery A tale of intrigue and Similac. [Thanks, But No Thanks]

Stuff Beauty-product roundup. [Legally Fabulous]

Home Qualities of country music. [The JE Guide to Life]

Advice How to choose a law school. [Maybe So, Maybe No]

Argument Advocacy versus puffery. [Exhibit L]

No Flirting at law school. [Dennis Jansen]

Mix A soundtrack for the bar exam. [Virgin in the Volcano]

Networking Pushed to the brink. [I Don't Wear Skinny Jeans]

Police Government showing force. [The Corner in the Middle]

Prep Non-law-related advice for 0L's. [Legally Questionable Content]

Roundup Moms in the Legal Profession #155. [PT-LawMom]

Look for next week's roundup at Thanks, But No Thanks then it's back here the week after that. You can find some other recent roundups in the "At the Law Schools 2" category, as well as sixty or so older roundups from 2004-2005 here. Finally, if you want to know how I choose posts to highlight, see "How I Write the Weekly Law School Roundup." (If you have a law-student weblog that I don't seem to know about or that isn't in my blogroll, please send me an email.)

THE WEEKLY LAW SCHOOL ROUNDUP . . . You'll find Weekly Law School Roundup #229 at Thanks, But No Thanks. The next installment will appear here soon.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND IN THIS WEBLOG'S ARCHIVES . . . Here are just a few of the items that once appeared at the top of this weblog, but which now appear only in its archives:

A simple formula for escaping the law by writing a legal thriller

An annotated federal-court decision in which a law clerk hid names of Talking Heads songs

A bit about The Lawyer Who Brings Her Breast Pump to the Office

A prayer for trial lawyers

A letter from a lawyer on the run

Lots of podcasts

A set of instructions for finding a modest lawyer, if such a thing exists

A blow-by-blow account of my trip with another lawyer to Prague in the Czech Republic

A description of some of my favorite things: the Fender Jaguar guitar; Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing; and computers.

An explanation as to why everyone needs to develop their own "a circle of advisors"

A description of lawyers who advertise on TV

The Legal Underground Official Tort-Reform Glossary

The best way to learn the skill of issue-spotting on law-school exams

A short story about law-firm partnership

A little more advice about law and literature

An anecdote about the time I stayed out all night drinking with Christopher Hitchens

A post about the way that riverboat gambling shook up the monotony of my BigLaw lawyer's life in the early 1990s 

My advice to a senior law partner who was having trouble connecting with the younger generation

A short note about Richard Nixon and why I became a lawyer

That's just a few of the things you'll find among this weblogs 2,852 posts (which also feature 6,306 comments). If you don't want to stop there (though I won't blame you if you do), you can also find many of my posts arranged in a chapter-by-chapter form here: "The Sixteen Types of Lawyers, and Other Observations from a Lawyer with a Weblog."

CONUNDRUM: SYNONYMS FOR "TWEET"  . . . At the New York Times, they've made a decision: they're not using the word "tweet."

In a memo to staff, a Times editor suggests alternatives, e.g., "write."

From The Awl.

CREATE YOUR OWN LITERARY iPAD APP . . . Or maybe not. Says Scott Lindenbaum of Electric Literature--

It takes hundreds of hours, with a typical development team, you could be paying hundreds of dollars an hour per developer. It can be very, very expensive. We got lucky because we had this team that's working for literature, rather than development, purposes. So we were able to build it sort of on the cheap. But even so, it cost us thousands of dollars to develop the thing.

From GalleyCat.

The Weekly Law School Roundup #228

A list of good posts from the past week by law students, some current or almost current, some recently-graduated--

Advice For law students, continued. [law school ninja]

Awkwardness At work, version one. [Legal Ease]

Awkwardness At work, version two. [J.D.? ... Maybe]

Civ Pro In real life. [Really? Law?]

Comedy Courtesy of the bar-exam writers. [Virgin in the Volcano]

Extra Credit An illusion, when grades are curved. [Law School: What's the Big Deal?]

Blogging Longer than is humanly possible. [Oh Hay, It's KK]

Bar/Bri Where the dorks are. [Legally Fabulous]

Music Compliments of Wal-Mart. [Rants. Raves. Ridiculous]

Roundup Moms in the Legal Profession #153 [Attorney Work Product]

Look for next week's roundup at Thanks, But No Thanks then it's back here the week after that. You can find some other recent roundups in the "At the Law Schools 2" category, as well as sixty or so older roundups from 2004-2005 here. Finally, if you want to know how I choose posts to highlight, see "How I Write the Weekly Law School Roundup." (If you have a law-student weblog that I don't seem to know about or that isn't in my blogroll, please send me an email.)

FROM THE ARCHIVES . . . "The Collected Four-Part Examination of the Lawyer's Briefcase, One of an Ongoing Series of Essays on 'Things Important to Every Lawyer.'"

THE WEEKLY LAW SCHOOL ROUNDUP . . . You'll find Weekly Law School Roundup #227 at Thanks, But No Thanks. The next installment will appear here soon.

The Weekly Law School Roundup #226

Here's your weekly list of good posts from the past week by law students, some current or almost current, some recently-graduated--

Blawging How to do it. [Legally Questionable Content]

Mix Lump of proto-attorneys. [law:/dev/null]

Harvard A Christmas wish. [Virgin in The Volcano]

Options Lawyering v. social work. [My Legal Fiction]

Ranch BarBri in Dallas. [katieluper.com]

Oil Caring about the future. [The Corner in the Middle]

Cartoon How to. [The Reasonably Prudent Law Student]

Best Outline of a 2L year. [Dennis Jansen]

Roundup Moms in the Legal Profession #151. [Butterflyfish]

Look for next week's roundup at Thanks, But No Thanks then it's back here the week after that. You can find some other recent roundups in the "At the Law Schools 2" category, as well as sixty or so older roundups from 2004-2005 here. Finally, if you want to know how I choose posts to highlight, see "How I Write the Weekly Law School Roundup." (If you have a law-student weblog that I don't seem to know about or that isn't in my blogroll, please send me an email.)

THE WEEKLY LAW SCHOOL ROUNDUP . . . You'll find Weekly Law School Roundup #225 at Thanks, But No Thanks. The next installment will appear here soon.

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH . . . On this week's New York Times Book Review Podcast, lawyer-novelist Scott Turow had this to say about how the practice of law has changed in the past twenty-five years--

I still think being a lawyer is about having a part in trying to do justice. And it doesn't work out a lot of the time. But it's still a really noble enterprise, compared to the alternative of not trying at all. Too many lawyers lose their sense of alliance with those higher purposes and that's a lot of what's happened in the last twenty-five years, as firm profits have become the driving engine for a lot of what goes on in the practice of law.

The rest of the podcast was less clichéd (and more comprehensible), as Turow talked about his new novel, Innocent, which is out this month.

A RETURN TO MEXICO CITY? . . . Here's the Mexican flag flying at the National Palace in Mexico City---

 

In the past few years, I've been to Mexico City twice -- and blogged about both trips. For those in the mood for travel-blogging, links with additional photos are here: trip one and trip two (posts one and two).

Now I'm thinking--is it time for a return? For now, I'm undecided . . .

UMBERTO ECO AT iTUNES U . . . On the way to the office this morning, I listened to Umberto Eco's lecture "How I Write." Anyone who thinks about fictional technique will find it enjoyable, as will fans of Eco's novels. It's available at the "iTunes U" part of the iTunes store. If there's a direct link, I can't find it.

Eco's lecture took place at Emory University, which was responsible for getting it onto iTunes. Last year, Emory stated that its various iTunes lectures have accounted for more than a million downloads.

You can find some contemporaneous notes about Eco's lecture here. They're from Mark Larson, who attended.

The Weekly Law School Roundup #224

It's the weekly list of good posts from the past week by law students, some current or almost current, some recently-graduated--

Contest Popular law-student weblogs. [i don't wear skinny jeans]

Bucks What it costs to be a lawyer. [Wild (North) West Litigator]

Pithy Ready to be a 3L. [Legal Ease]

Need Law-student stuff. [law:/dev/null]

Advice Tips at the end of 1L year. [t14]

List Things to get you through exams. [Catatonic Storm Clouds]

Relationships Up for bromance, not for hockey. [oh hay, it's kk]

Read A few good law-school blogs. [Law Student At Last]

Found Someone's pet bird. [dogsburger]

Exams Torts, property, rally songs, etc. [Rants. Raves. Ridiculous]

Look for next week's roundup at Thanks, But No Thanks then it's back here the week after that. You can find some other recent roundups in the "At the Law Schools 2" category, as well as sixty or so older roundups from 2004-2005 here. Finally, if you want to know how I choose posts to highlight, see "How I Write the Weekly Law School Roundup." (If you have a law-student weblog that I don't seem to know about or that isn't in my blogroll, please send me an email.)

THE WEEKLY LAW SCHOOL ROUNDUP . . . You'll find Weekly Law School Roundup #223 at Thanks, But No Thanks. The next installment will appear here soon.

INNOCENT . . . At Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, Sarah Weinman writes about the "media blitz" leading up to Innocent, Scott Turow's sequel to Presumed Innocent. Weinman links to some profiles and includes some material from her B&N Review interview with Turow that was cut for space. Meanwhile, Turow is also profiled in the new issue of Poets & Writers, but the article isn't available online.

NEW FICTION . . . I have a new story up at Staccato Fiction. Title: "The Accident." Theme: The unreliability of childhood memories.

In trying to make this story as unpretentious as possible, I believe I failed to follow many of the rules I recently set down for myself in another recently-published story, "How to Write Damn Good Flash Fiction." This one appeared in Right Hand Pointing's 2010 Humor Issue. 

Please take note: the humor issue. In reality, I have no idea how to write damn good flash fiction. All I can do is try my best.