National Jurist - September 2007 - (Page 6)

DISTURBINGTHEPEACE Why am I in law school? Let me see So, I’m starting law school. I’ll spend the next three years in a library. I’ll accrue dizzying debt. And ultimately, I’ll be subject to lawyer jokes. Hi, I’m Jon, and I have a problem. My therapist tells me that admitting the problem (i.e., desires to attend law school) is the first step toward recovery. The next is searching my soul to understand why I think and act in ways that support or otherwise encourage the problem. To that end, I shall psychoanalyze myself. Question: Why law? Answer: Because it’s hip to popular culture. For example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit once noted, “The trial transcript quotes Ms. Hayden as saying Murphy called her a ’hoe.’ A ‘hoe,’ of course, is a tool used for weeding and gardening. We think the court reporter, unfamiliar with rap music (perhaps thankfully so), misunderstood Hayden’s response. We have taken the liberty of changing ‘hoe’ to ‘ho,’ a staple of rap music vernacular as, for example, when Ludacris raps, ‘You doin’ ho activities with ho tendencies ’” Question: How ‘bout the chance to serve the greater good and to preserve civil liberties? Answer: Good question — and one that’s easily answered. I have a curiously strong moral compass, particularly for an old hockey player, and so I hope to use the law to right some wrongs, essentially to leave the world a bit better than I found it. Now, an example I could represent clients like David Flood, a Tampa radio personality who challenged in 2001 the constitutionality of a Florida ban on “dwarf tossing.” According to the St. Petersburg Times, Flood, a dwarf, said the prohibition violated his equal protection rights and that he should be allowed to “decide for himself whether to participate in the barroom contests.” Sweet lord, that lights my fire. Question: Have you considered the prestige of the profession, namely the dignity and honor that attend resolving society’s most pressing issues? Answer: Absolutely. I could flounce before a judge and jury, pounding my fist on a handcrafted cherry table, and win the day with the passion, power and pageantry By Jon Peters Student Editor abroad at one Study comparative and international law ue programs. of Temple University Law School’s uniq ers from the U.S. law professors are joined by practition courses with real-world relevance. host country to teach Field trips build on in-class learning. FULL SPRING SEMESTER 2008 IN TO PR EPAR E LAW PR AC TI CE IN THE 21ST CENTURY Temple Law Abroad TOKYO January 9 – May 2, 2008 law at the only • Study Asian and international ABA-approved semester in Asia national and • Choose from more than 12 inter U.S. law courses . in • Earn credits towards our J.D./LL.M Transnational Law Beasley School of Law International Programs 1719 N. Broad Street, Room 710 Philadelphia, PA 19122 Phone: (215) 204-1448 Fax: (215) 204-2282 E-mail: Intllaw@temple.edu ROME 2008 SUMMER ST UDY IN Check our website for more information of my closing argument. Or I could settle the matter swiftly and decisively out of court, following the formula once ordered by a Florida judge: “counsel shall engage in one (1) game of ‘rock, paper, scissors.’ The winner of this engagement shall be entitled to select the location for the 30(b)(6) deposition…” Still and all, the most dignified use of my legal education would be to serve on the Fourth Court of Appeals of Texas and to rewind to 1996 when it decided the previously “undecided question of whether the act of defecating in one’s pants upon being informed of a pending criminal charge is a relevant fact for the jury.” Question: To what extent are you attracted to the law’s emphasis on writing? Answer: Pretty attracted. Where else can I overcome the pedestrian tendency to communicate clearly, cultivated during four years of journalism training? Instead of writing that real-world considerations will affect duties owed from defendants to plaintiffs, I could take my prose to another level by invoking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It wrote of the same issue, “The duty owing from defendants to plaintiffs in the abstract will vary . . . relative to the juxtaposition of the real world environmental encasement of the two sides.” Question: Is your joking an attempt to obscure your uncertainty about surviving and thriving in law school? Answer: Probably. But that’s between my therapist and me. All kidding aside, I do have an abiding, genuine respect for the profession of law, and I’m looking forward to the next step, albeit anxiously. It should be a challenging, rewarding three years. OH, ONE MORE THING: Should you have any comments or questions, please send me an e-mail. I’m happy to review it for $250 an hour. Jon Peters, Student Editor of National Jurist, is a Phi Kappa Phi Fellow and Leadership Scholar at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. E-mail him at peters.402@osu.edu www.law.temple.edu/study_abroad 6 THE NATIONAL JURIST September 2007 http://www.law.temple.edu/study_abroad http://www.law.temple.edu/study_abroad

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of National Jurist - September 2007

National Jurist - September 2007 Contents Free Speech Disturbing the Peace For the Record Judge Approves $49 million BAR/BRI Settlement Law School Causes Emotional Stress, Study Finds New Textbook Breaks the Mold Southern Illinois Settles Lawsuit with Christian Legal Society Ave Maria Law Professors Protest School’s Move The Firm Report Student Hoax Shuts Down Hastings Law NCCU Grad Expands Her Program for Troubled Kids Hawaii Grad Finds Excitement in Saving Whales Diversity Hampering Whittier Accreditation? The Paper Chase Chronicles The Supreme Court: An Insider’s View Detroit Mercy’s Innovative Changes Pay Off Career Hotline The J.D. Files

National Jurist - September 2007

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