The Archives
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Legal Theory
Mental States
While all the morning talk(ing heads’) shows were focusing on last night’s self-congratulatory industry awards for excellence in the field of excellent filmmaking results, I’ve been catching up on Depression Watch 2009. As proof that law school irredeemably changes the way you think, I offer my train of thought.
I keep reading about the people in charge of investing all kinds of money into what the media continues to call “toxic assets” – securities that aren’t worth nearly what investors were betting they’d be worth. This bit from today’s New York Times struck me:
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Legal Theory
Death and Whackings
02.09.09 | Permalink | 3 CommentsI have to confess to being completely ignorant of how income taxes work as recently as last month. I’m still pretty ignorant, but I’m law school ignorant, which is a fair sight more educated than the guy who smells like cheese and dances for nickels on the subway. Or investors who think that a 240% interest rate signals “safe bet.”
<sidebar> The people who lost their savings were, by and large, operating through brokers. If ever there were a time when judges should consider sentencing someone to serve as the aggrieved party’s butler, (like that show within a show on Seinfeld) I think this is it. It’s not nice to throw away other peoples’ money.</sidebar>
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A Day in the Life
Law & Order: Switcheroo
One of my professors used to be a federal prosecutor. Actually, a lot of them were prosecutors. (Old trial lawyers never retire, they just adjourn more often.) Now they have moved into academia, and they bring fantastic stories from the world of lawyerdom. Now I relate one to the internet.
When you’re trying to convict defendant of a crime, one of your goals is probably to prove that he was at the scene of the crime. In the old days, before security cameras were everywhere, and cell phones could track your movements, this was done by putting an eyewitness to the incident on the stand. Then the prosecutor would get up and do his best impression of Perry Mason.
“Mister Witness, you claim to have seen the brutal attack on the victim at the pier. Do you see the person that attacked the victim in this courtroom?”
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The News
Get in Line, Buddy
Will the economy fall apart? Will it grind to a halt? Slow to a crawl? I have absolutely no idea. But I do know that I’m really glad I didn’t go into finance. As for people that did? The New York Times has a nice article called “Finance Students Keep Their Job Hopes Alive.” Hey, good luck guys. But what’s this?
Mr. Murray described the mood at Princeton as cautiously optimistic. “No one I’ve talked to is worried about moving back home yet,” he said. “But everyone I know is studying for the LSATs right now, people who a month ago had no intention of ever going to law school.”
Boy, am I glad I didn’t put this law school thing off. I get a nice little head start on the folks who are abandoning the financial sector and moving into the legal field.
Almost Legally
As (almost) seen on TV
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Just got my first email addressing me as Professor Mauro. Oh, I don't think I'll be correcting this person just yet.
