Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground

AT MY TRIAL PRACTICE WEBSITE . . . "Oral Argument Tips from Someone Who Does It a Lot."

HAPPY HALLOWEEN . . . Here's the annual Halloween shot of Sam Schaeffer, the youngest Schaeffer child--

Though still only two, it's Sam's third Halloween. He's also appeared here as a tiny lawyer and a giant pumpkin. Thanks to Sam for putting up with it all!

Below the fold: More pictures of Sam (for family that's reading, of course).

THIS WEEK'S ISSUE OF BLAWG REVIEW. . . The Halloween-inspired Blawg Review #81 is up at Denise Howell's Bag & Baggage. For information about next week's host or instructions for getting your blog posts reviewed in upcoming issues, see the Blawg Review weblog.

DEFENSE LAWYERS DEFEND MADISON COUNTY . . . At a press conference last week, a group of defense lawyers who practice in Madison County, Illinois, reportedly "bristled" at the description of Madison County as a "judicial hellhole."

Said one, "When you hear this judicial hellhole discussion, you've got to remember who started it. These are people who don't like being sued by anybody for any reason, whether the lawsuit has merit or not. So you need to keep in mind that the drumbeat about Madison County has not been beat by people who have legitimate injuries and go to have their day in court."

The press conference was called to show support for a Democratic judicial candidate.

Related posts:

1. "Madison County Judges Respond to 'Judicial Hellhole' Slur"

2. "Weekly Report #26: Report from a 'Podunk' County"

3. "Hey, Senator Hatch: Read My Weblog"

The Weekly Law School Roundup #42

This Week: The Giving-Jeffrey-Toobin-What-He-Wants Edition. -- As detailed here, the legal commentator Jeffrey Toobin has a complaint about weblogs. "[T]hey are too much opinion and not enough facts," he says. "You tend not to learn anything other than the blogger's opinion." In keeping with the notion that too much opinion is something to avoid, we'll give Jeffrey Toobin what he wants in this week's roundup--lots of facts and scant opinion.

Wrong! A law student reports on the way her professor rudely interrupted her before she finished answering his question. [think like a woman. act like a man.]

Boy Shorts A law student reports on a complication with her underwear. [Legally Blonde]

Actual Idiocy A law student reports on what it means to be "constructively absent." [Butterflyfish]

How to Hold Your Liquor A law student reports on a new type of law-school curriculum. [Naked Drinking Coffee]

Small Pleasures A law student reports on this weekend's time change. [From Malibu to Waco]

Things Not Considered A law student reports on opportunities for 1L summer employment. [Nuts & Boalts]

Teach to Others A law student reports on a method of remembering what you learn. [Chris Blog]

Remaining Hidden on the Internet A law student reports on weblogging anonymity. [Life, Far Away]

Twitchy = Bad A law student reports on the importance of colored tabs. [My So-Called Internet-based Life]

Keep It Down! A law student reports on a possible 1L freak-out. [divine angst]

Pork-Flavored Toothpaste A law student reports on brushing dog teeth. [Dagny's Law Blog]

You Can Be a Partner A law student reports on what all the law firms are saying in callbacks. [Mel Woods]

Nothing Is Secret A law student reports on a meeting with the bar authorities. [The Law School Transplant]

Things Will Work Out A law student reports on the job hunt. [looking out the fishbowl]

Look for next week's roundup at divine angst, 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 pick posts to highlight, see "How I Write the Weekly Law School Roundup."

GADGET UPDATE: The Lentek IO-51G Ionic Waterless Pet Bath and Massage Brush . . . Are you a lawyer with a smelly dog (or a dog with a smelly lawyer)? Then perhaps you need this--

It's the Lentek IO-51G Ionic Waterless Pet Bath and Massage Brush. Using space-age technology, it gets your dog (or your lawyer) finally smelling good by bathing him in "trillions of super-oxygenated molecules and negative ions every second." Those awful odors are pulverized away in just five minutes, leaving only fresh oxygen behind. Runs on a 9-volt battery; also recommended for elderly senior partners. Only $27.20.

AT MY TRIAL PRACTICE WEBSITE . . . "All You Need to Know About Electronic Discovery."

"I'M NOT A POLITICAL NERD. I'M A LAW NERD" . . . So says blogger David Lat, the proprietor of Above the Law, in a long profile titled "Lawyer-Turned-Blawger Sensation Rises 'Above the Law'," by Nathan Carlile.

Related post: "A New Legal Gossip Weblog."

THE WORLD'S BEST LAW-RELATED BLOGROLL . . . If you'd like to see a list of hundreds of law-related blogs on a single page, take a look MyHq Blawgs. It's maintained by the Editor of Blawg Review, who posted about it here.

A NEW LAW JOURNAL SPECIALIZING IN LEGAL NONSENSE . . . The new law journal called Consortium: The Journal of Legal Nonsense. Here's what its editors are saying--

If things go as planned, by mid-January, Consortium will publish its first edition. It will contain articles written by law students, attorneys, professors, and maybe even some folks who served their obligatory three years and then decided never to look at another case. Our authors will avoid legal analysis like the plague, but will have much to say about professional life, social life, law blogs, the state of legal education, and more.

With a little luck, the journal will sound a lot like how the legal blogosphere would if bloggers kept the wit and sarcasm, but spent a little more time developing their ideas and had an extra set of eyes to proof them.

The journal will publish quarterly on the web with a print edition each year. The editors are Pete Holiday and Charlsie Paine. If you'd like to get involved, there's more information at the website.