Posts Objectify Women at UVA Law

Friday, 16 March 2007
Out-of-Office
Hours
Volume 59, Number 20
www.lawweekly.org
page 7
INSIDE
Feature: Veterans at UVA Law........................................................ 2
Preston Hartman Gets (a Mile) High.............................................. 6
Maryland? Is That a Joke?.............................................................. 5
Mel the 3L/Faculty Quotes............................................................. 8
VIRGINIA LAW WEEKLY
The Newspaper of the University of Virginia School of Law Since 1948
Online Discussion Board
Targets Female Law Students
Law Weekly Staff
Recently, several female UVA Law
students have been targets of harassment by members of an online
message board. This harassment,
perpetrated anonymously by posters to AutoAdmit.com, carries potentially damaging repercussions for
the women: at least one has already
been contacted about it by her prospective employer, and others fear
that it will injure their professional
reputations.
The worst part, as these women
tell the Law Weekly, is that they
wouldn’t have had to endure this
ordeal if a few of their UVA Law
classmates had duly respected their
privacy.
AutoAdmit is a widely read message board that ostensibly provides
information about law schools and
law firms. The site’s many critics
are quick to point out, however, that
the nature of much of the message
board’s content is also racist, misogynistic, or otherwise obscene. Nearly
all of the people posting to the site
choose to remain anonymous, using only monikers to identify themselves.
In mid-February, several of the
site’s members organized a contest
that was aimed at naming the “hottest” female student at a “Top 14”
law school. To that end, the contest’s
organizers solicited nominations
from these schools; several UVA Law
students responded by submitting
dozens of photos of their classmates.
In all, pictures of eight UVA Law
women appeared on the “Top 14”
site. None of them consented to having their pictures posted.
Although the contest wasn’t directly hosted on AutoAdmit, that
site’s message board became home
to dozens of discussion threads
about the contest. Indeed, Anthony
Ciolli, a third-year law student at
Penn and then co-administrator of
AutoAdmit, commented frequently
about the “Top 14” contest.
Despite the fact that the “Top 14”
site purported to protect the identities of the women pictured in its
contest, AutoAdmit members soon
began to reference many of them by
name. In all, four UVA Law women
had their full names posted on the
message board. In addition to criticizing their appearances on the discussion threads, AutoAdmit members continually referred to some of
these UVA Law students as “whores”
and “sluts,” among other terms too
obscene to print.
In other representative threads,
an anonymous AutoAdmit poster
wrote about performing sex acts on
them, while another told them to
“[g]et raped.”
What’s more, nearly all of these
threads are accessible through any
Google search that includes the
students’ names. In a recent exposé
on the issues raised by similar content on AutoAdmit, the Washington
► AUTOADMIT page 2
UVA Students Honored for
Moot Court Achievements
Faulconer Takes Best Oralist
Alec Zadek ’08
News Editor
Four UVA Law students have received awards for their performance
in extramural moot court competitions. Jon Ganter ’08, Dave Mroz ’08,
and Jon Lucier ’08 won the award for
Best Brief in the International Trademark Association’s Saul Lefkowitz
Moot Court Regional Competition,
and Ryan Faulconer ’08 was named
Best Oralist in the Vanderbilt First
Amendment Moot Court Competition.
Jon Ganter, Dave Mroz, and Jon Lucier worked throughout winter break
on their brief for the Lefkowitz Moot
Court Competition. Upon returning
to UVA for the spring semester, they
were coached by Daniel Sennott and
Jeffrey Mullins at the JAG School,
who taught them strategies for effectively arguing their key points during
the on and off brief oral arguments.
David Mroz credited much of the
team’s success to their coaches.
“We had three or four practices
with Dan and Jeff, and they are definitely the biggest reason why we ad-
vanced to the next round.”
The team’s hard work was rewarded; they earned the award for best
brief, and they received the highest
cumulative score in the region for the
oral and written arguments, which
earned them an invitation to the National Final round.
The Saul Lefkowitz Competition is
hosted annually by the International
Trademark Association. The Association holds four Regional competitions; the highest scoring team from
each region is invited to Washington
D.C. for the National Final round. In
the past, the finals have been judged
by appellate court judges.
Last year, Ryan Faulconer represented UVA Law at the Saul Lefkowitz
Competition, where his team came in
second place in the regional competition and received the award for Best
Oral Argument. This year, Ryan represented the Law School at the Vanderbilt First Amendment Competition
with his partner Justin Torres, and
received the highest oral argument
score.
“As far as what put me over the top,
► MOOT COURT page 2
Kingdon Selected to Direct
Law & Business Program
Scott Dorfman ’07
Senior Staff Writer
UVA Law has announced that
Jim Kingdon, a 1998 graduate
of the Law School and Darden
Graduate School of Business,
will become part-time director
of UVA Law’s Law & Business
Program. Kingdon is currently
Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Charlottesville-based Musictoday, LLC. According to Dean John C. Jeffries,
Jr., Kingdon’s responsibilities as
director will be more in the areas of leadership, innovation,
and publicity, and will be less in
the day-to-day operations of the
program.
The Law & Business Program
was founded in 2003 to expose
students to corporate culture
and business practices, and offers classes in the areas of accounting, finance, securities
regulation, and corporations.
Professor Paul Mahoney, a
member of the committee that
selected Kingdon, said that Kingdon’s legal and business experiences will help him become an
effective director.
“My top priority was to find
someone who could communicate with and gather ideas from
all of the constituencies who have
a stake in the Law & Business
Program,” Mahoney said. “This
includes students, potential employers, executives who teach
short courses, regular faculty
who teach semester-long courses, and our alumni, who have
been interested in the program
both as potential employers and
potential donors. Jim has a wide
variety of legal and business experience and can speak knowledgeably and credibly with all of
those constituents.”
Law School Foundation Chief
Development Officer Lu Alvarez
said Kingdon’s academic background will help with donor relations.
“Jim’s standing as a graduate
of the Law School and as director of the program will give
him credibility promoting Law
& Business and involving even
more talented alumni and visitors in the academic mix,” Alvarez said.
In addition to his work at
Musictoday, Kingdon was the
founder and principal of Denver-based private equity fund
Kestrel Ventures, LLC, and was
Director of Finance and Operations for Boulder, Colorado
based regional book distributor
BroadWing, LLC. He has also
held summer associate positions
at Fenwick & West in Palo Alto,
California, Mayer Brown & Platt
in Chicago, and Lehman Brothers in New York.
around north
grounds
Congratulations to
first-year Elisabeth
Falaleev on her engagement to Todd
Miranowski!
Congratulations
to first-year Craig
Smith on his marriage to Gracie
Green!
Congratulations
to third-year Josh
Kaplowitz and his
wife Andrea on the
birth of their daughter, Evelyn!
photo courtesty of law.virginia.edu
Jim Kingdon seeks to bring experience to Law & Business Program.
Kingdon said his work experiences should help him in formulating strategy for the program.
“I have worked for the last nine
years with companies focused on
growth and performance,” Kingdon said. “At Musictoday my
role as Executive Vice President
of Corporate Strategy requires
that I understand the company’s
capabilities as well as where the
company needs to position itself
for future success. I plan to put
that experience into practice
with the Law & Business program.”
In the future, Kingdon says
he will first try to gain a better
understanding of the program’s
curriculum and then expand its
recognition.
“My primary goal is to improve brand awareness for the
program with various stakeholders: existing and prospective
students, [as well as] faculty,
and alumni,” Kingdon said. “For
example, we have a good pool of
alumni with experience in the
program and we need to open
the lines of communication with
those alumni and find out how
the Law & Business classes have
affected their ability to perform
in their positions. Another opportunity is to increase the interaction between Darden and
the Law School. I have remained
in touch with several faculty
members at Darden over the last
10 years, and I hope that we can
find meaningful opportunities
for collaboration between the
two schools.”
Kingdon said that the program was skillfully founded and
managed by Professor Mahoney,
Dean Jeffries, and former director April Triantis, and its presence in the Law School community will only increase in the
future.
As for the direction of the program, “the future is very bright,”
said Kingdon. Thumbs up to the
start of softball season. Crabcakes and
softball, that’s what
UVA Law does.
Thumbs up to school
computer labs that
have staples and staple removers, but no
staplers. They are convenient
for obtaining staples for use
elsewhere and for removing
staples from things brought
from elsewhere, which is really all ANG wanted to do
anyway.
Thumbs up to Flo,
the Teeter sandwich
lady. Her deli meat
may be cold, but her
smile is warm; her sandwiches
may only fill ANG’s stomach,
but her tender, loving care
nourishes ANG’s soul.
Thumbs down to 1Ls
who write excessively long LR&W memos—over twice the
recommended length—that
their Dillards and professors
have to read. Brevity isn’t just
the soul of wit; it’s also the
soul of not being a giant pain
in the ass.
Thumbs up to the
return of bocce in
Spies Garden. Now,
when ANG lobs
heavy objects at babies, ANG
has an excuse.
Thumbs down to people who steal belongings out of students’
mailboxes. While ANG
is unsure as to why ANG stores
ANG’s One-A-Days in ANG’s
mailbox, stealing the bottle is
still a jackass thing to do.
Trains on time: Professor Hudson’s Trial
Advocacy class has
been getting out late
repeatedly, and it’s supposed
to end at 10 p.m..
2
News & Features
VIRGINIA LAW WEEKLY
► AUTOADMIT
continued from page 1
“Anonymous” Posts Objectify Women at UVA Law
Post cited a report that found about
half of all U.S. hiring officials conduct internet searches of job applicants. According to the same study,
approximately one-third of such
searches generated results used to
deny a job.
Indeed, one of the female UVA
Law students on the “Top 14” site
has already been contacted by her
prospective law firm, where her pictures and the AutoAdmit comments
about her had circulated. Although
it has not changed her job situation,
she feels that the site has already impaired her professional reputation.
“People at firms read this stuff, and
the word spreads. When I come into
my law firm, this is not how I want
to be seen.”
Another one of the women told
us that it was “invasive” and “profoundly hurtful” to have her “name
and image connected with the garbage on that site.” To prevent any
negative professional consequences,
she plans to notify her prospective
employer about the information
to clear up in advance any possible
misconceptions.
The Law Weekly spoke to several
of the eight women from UVA Law
whose pictures appeared on the
site, and we agreed to protect their
anonymity in order to prevent further harassment and threats against
them. Although each expressed
similar condemnation for the administrators of AutoAdmit and for
the “Top 14” contest’s organizers,
they saved particular condemnation
for members of the UVA Law com-
munity who participated by either
submitting pictures or by posting to
the AutoAdmit board.
More than one stated that such
actions shattered for them the sense
of trust that UVA’s Honor system is
meant to foster. One commented:
“When I first got here, everyone told me how this place was so
safe that you can leave your laptop
around without worrying about it
being stolen. You would like to think
that also means that people respect
each other enough to not invade a
fellow student’s privacy.”
Another told the Law Weekly that
she was surprised that UVA students
participated. “I would have thought
that people had more respect for
other members of the UVA community.” In addition, she resented having to walk through school “knowing that there were people here who
had submitted pictures and who
were posting about [her]” on the internet. She added that the UVA Law
students who participated should be
“embarrassed, ashamed, and guilty
about what they’ve put [the women] through.” When they submitted
pictures, they “should have known
that the tone” of AutoAdmit’s message board would engender the kind
of harassment it did.
Another laid the blame in part on
UVA’s administration. “There is a reason there were so many UVA posts,
and it’s not because we have attractive girls,” she stated. “The Stanford
community gathered together and
made sure no one submitted people.
The deans at our school should have
Virginia
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COLOPHON
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Contributor:
Columnists:
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Beth Cooper, Preston Hartman, Brian Leung,
Grace Su
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taken a more active role.”
For her part, Assistant Dean for
Student Affairs Martha Ballenger
said that she was “quite surprised
and disappointed that some students
in our community were apparently
involved in contributing” to the “Top
14” contest. When asked whether
any UVA Law students potentially
faced official action as a result of
these events, Dean John C. Jeffries,
Jr. deferred on any such issue to the
“student-generated and student-run
arbiters of student conduct,” including the Honor System and the Judiciary Committee. Whether these disciplinary mechanisms are pursued
remains to be seen.
However, more than one of the
women whose pictures were posted
to the “Top 14” site have taken matters into their own hands. Some of
the women have been able to determine who was responsible for
submitting pictures of them without
their consent, and have confronted
these students.
This was possible because a UVA
Law student (who wishes to remain
anonymous for fear of harassment
by AutoAdmit members) deceived
the “Top 14” contest’s organizers
and obtained access to the email
account through which they were
running the site. This student subsequently downloaded all of the
account’s messages, and in some
cases those emails found their way
to the women whose pictures were
contained therein. The Law Weekly
has viewed the emails in question,
several of which do indeed contain
identifying information, including
names.
The women also told the Law
Weekly that one of the more frustrating aspects of the “Top 14” events
was that AutoAdmit’s administrators refused to remove any of the
discussion from their message board
and declined to prevent the information from being accessible through
Google. In a recent Washington Post
article, then-administrator Anthony
Ciolli was quoted as saying that he
“almost never censor[s] content,
no matter how abhorrent it may be”
because he is a “strong believer[] in
freedom of expression and the marketplace of ideas.”
Similarly, some First Amendment
activists quotes in recent media reports about AutoAdmit cautioned
against censorship, suggesting instead that victims of online harassment pursue remedies in court if the
attacks rise to the level of actionable
tort or crime.
In response to this argument,
Dean Jeffries notes that “the First
Amendment protects a great many
instances of speech that is deeply
reprehensible. No one wants to
study and work in an environment
in which tort and crime are the only
norms of personal responsibility and
behavior. As members of the Law
School community, we have obligations toward each other that go beyond the commands of the law.”
Friday, 16 March 2007
Veterans Bring Service
Experience to Law School
Seth Brostoff ’09
Features Editor
To most Virginia Law students,
North Grounds and the Middle East
are worlds apart. But to an increasing number of combat veterans now
attending UVA Law, attending law
school is simply the next step in their
lives that have taken them around the
world.
They have served in Kosovo and
Egypt, and have seen combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. And while they
have a unique—nearing expert—perspective on the most controversial
news item of the last decade, most
UVA Law veterans don’t publicize
their service.
Brendan Dignan ’08, treasurer of
the Virginia Law Veterans, served in
Kosovo with the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division. He later served in Iraq
for 13 months. Dignan humorously
explains the tactical advantages of
keeping his veteran status quiet, especially when the Iraq war comes up for
debate.
“If people bring up Iraq, I usually
don’t tell people what I did before law
school so I can hear what they really
have to say.”
Law veterans are characteristically modest about their time spent in
combat, even though the group is an
unusual cross-section of the military’s
brightest. Adam Schwartz ’07, vice
president of the Virginia Law Veterans, agrees.
“I think our classmates would be
amazed by the things the Law Vet sitting next to them in class did before
law school.”
When asked, Law Veterans do give
their insights about civilian misperceptions of the current conflict. Michael Chapman ’09, a VMI graduate
who served as an Airborne Ranger
in the U.S. Army and later served in
Afghanistan and Iraq as a paramilitary officer with the CIA, questions a
widespread assumption that all soldiers share similar politics.
“The reasons soldiers fight seem to
be just as diverse as their politics or
opinions of the war.”
Chapman also commented on how
the quality of the debate has changed
since most people have by now made
up their opinion on the war.
Scott Jones ’09, a former Marine
Corps intelligence officer, has other
thoughts about civilian attitudes towards the War on Terror. Jones worries that too many Americans share a
common view that the war does not
involve them. He would like to see
more people engaging in the debate
or enlisting.
“If your country is at war, carry a
protest sign or carry a rifle.”
Jones, who has made his own share
of sacrifices, first came to UVA Law in
2002 on a JAG contract, but left in
January 2003 to fulfill his military obligations. He served two tours in Iraq
before returning to North Grounds
last fall.
Will Bushman ’08 graduated from
West Point in 1999. He served as an
Airborne Ranger with the 82nd Airborne Division from 2000 to 2003. He
participated in 31 jumps and obtained
Senior Parachutist status.
Consistent with the good nature of
UVA Law’s veterans, Bushman claims
his parachuting experience was
“nothing crazy.”
“They just put an extra star on top
of your jump wings.”
Bushman later deployed with the
82nd to Egypt and Afghanistan, patrolled the demilitarized zone in Korea, and left active service as a captain
in July 2005. Like most servicemen,
he didn’t get much of a vacation before starting his 1L year.
There is significant change moving from military to civilian life, only
compounded by the short transition
period.
“There were usually guidelines for
right and wrong in the military, and
law school is rarely that way,” Dignan
says.
Kevin Hakala ’09 enlisted in the
Army after high school, turning down
a ROTC scholarship. He served as
a linguist with military intelligence
before deploying to Iraq for seven
months. The biggest change for Hakala is time spent with his children, an
option he didn’t have when he was at
war. Family life is now a top priority
he balances with law school.
“When it comes down to having an
actual choice between finishing my
work and spending an hour or two
with my kids, it’s the school work that
usually suffers.”
The Virginia Law Veterans, a formal umbrella group open to vets and
non-vets alike, continues to foster ties
between UVA Law students and the
armed services. The group’s combat
dimension has taken on new significance since the War on Terror began,
and this has widened the organization’s scope.
“Unlike when I arrived at the school
in 2004, most members of our group
are now combat veterans,” Schwartz
explains. “[Their presence helps] students and faculty to associate people
they know with black-box terms like
‘the military’ and ‘the troops’ when
they debate these issues.”
The group will organize a JAG interest event in April for anyone interested
in becoming a military lawyer or finding out more about the JAG Corps.
They will also hold their annual Fun
Run, a 5K run/bar crawl around Charlottesville. Last year, the group raised
over $1,000 for military children
whose parents had lost their lives.
Nevertheless, the veterans still keep
a low profile. Like most aspects of
civilian life, many law students view
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a
distant controversy unrelated to law
journals, career goals, and the next
Bar Review. Dignan says this disconnect can be a source of amusement.
“I remember the first couple weeks
of school, a friend of mine was over at
my apartment,” Dignan recalls. “She
saw a picture of me with some friends
in uniform and asked if that was from
a costume party.”
► MOOT COURT
continued from page 1
Faulconer Wins Best Oralist
the first thing was my partner, Justin
Torres, and my JAG coaches, Doug
Choi and Will Brown. We had four
scrimmages where we ran through
the arguments, and they were all
very instrumental in picking out my
flaws and helping,” said Faulconer.
UVA extramural moot court teams
have had great success this year,
which may be attributed to the hard
work of the UVA Law students and
the commitment of volunteer coaches
from the JAG school.
“It was great to have experienced
advocates like Doug and Will to help
us practice our arguments,” Ryan
said.
Commenting on the important role
JAG students played in preparing him
for the competition, Ryan noted, “They
were able to get a number of different
JAG graduate students to come to our
practice arguments. Being in front of
a real panel who had read the briefs
forced us to have our arguments organized and well-prepared before we
ever went to the competition.”
Student Life
VIRGINIA LAW WEEKLY
Friday, 16 March 2007
photo courtesy of mostlyposters.com
SBA Notebook: Pong for PILA — Hit It!
Brian J. Leung ’08
SBA President
Welcome back, everyone! I hope
your Spring Break was relaxing,
thrilling, romantic … or whatever
else it was that you were looking
for. Me? I had one of the best weeks
ever, which included being accosted by the Mexican authorities,
kayaking down the river where they
filmed the last episode of Survivor:
Guatemala, and coming back with
bug bites from three different countries (I can only imagine how many
diseases I must be carrying). I don’t
know about you, but that was exactly what I was looking for.
But you’re not reading this to find
out about my personal life (if you
are, maybe we can meet up for dinner and a movie … I’m just sayin’).
The SBA has had a busy past
couple of weeks as well. This past
Monday, the new SBA met for the
first time, and we did so with much
zeal and enthusiasm. After this
first meeting, we’ve already given
out $1,200 to different organiza-
tions endeavoring to serve the Law
School as a whole. If your organization is planning an event or project
that would benefit the Law School
at large, and after planning and
fundraising you find yourselves a little bit short, I encourage you to get
in touch with Treasurer Steph Fier,
[email protected], to get the Special Funding Request Procedures.
Thanks to an active and engaged
student body and the ever-growing
scale and scope of student organizations, every two years the SBA
conducts the grand reallocation of
student organizations’ offices and
bulletin board spaces. The SBA will
appoint a special committee, the
Student Organizations Space Allocation Committee (SOSAC) to work
with Dean Bergen over the next few
weeks to maximize utility while
minimizing disruptions to existing
users.
Next week, SOSAC will send out
applications to all student organizations (whether or not they currently
have an office) asking them about
current office use and future needs.
ite
su
es
t
e
d.n




dg

fe

yo

es

number 4 seed, ACC Coach of the
Year, two All-ACC players, and one
All-American, how can anyone not
call this year a raging success? I
know I’m supposed to just be covering SBA events and the like in here,
but I figured that while I have your
attention, I should make an effort to
convert some of you to being proud
Wahoo fans (especially those pesky
ex-Cameron Crazies out there!).
Rock on, Virginia Law. Get excited about the rest of the semester
because it only gets better from here
(that’s right, Spring Break was just
sort of a pre-party to the rest of the
semester). And to all of the admitted
students visiting this week and reading this column: 1) Welcome and
congratulations; 2) Come join us at
the greatest place on Earth; and 3)
Please don’t judge this school by the
lack of creativity I had this week in
this column.
Ideas for the rest of the school
year? Compliments on what a great
job we’re doing? Please email me at
[email protected]. Complaints?
Please email Jerry Parker at [email protected].
urt


– if nothing else, for Feb Club memories’ sake.
The NGSL, especially Directors
John Bates and Kelli Scheid, has
been busy gearing up for the great
Spring Invitational at the end
of this month. It’s fun
– you can go out there
and cheer for your
’Hoos, work on
that post-Spring
Break tan, and
bask in barbeque glory. If
you would like
to be a Field
Marshal
(meaning you
get to
do all of the
above
plus
get a free T-shirt
and tickets to posttournament events),
please contact Leota
Tennant, llt3v@virginia. edu.
Speaking of the tournament, how
’bout them ’Hoos? I’ve been here
for six years, just waiting to finally
make it to the big dance. With a
co



er, no outside drinks are allowed in
the building, and no drinks are allowed in Caplin Auditorium at all.
The policy will be strictly enforced,
and there will be people who have
the job of making sure the audience complies with the rules—be
nice to them! Give them little to
do to begin with, and please don’t
hassle them if they do have to remind you of the rules.
to



Libel Show
Libel Show is one of the oldest
traditions at UVA Law (this year
is its 99th), and one loved by students and professors alike. The
show performs for three nights
(Wednesday, March 21 through
Friday, March 23) in Caplin Auditorium and includes a short-movie,
hilarious skits, and some impressive dancing/singing numbers.
The most popular night to attend is
usually professor response night—
this year it will be Thursday, March
22—since following intermission
professors take to the stage with a
few songs of their own. That said,
the Show is usually well attended
all nights, and is a great way to
spend the evening. Tickets for Libel Show went on sale this week,
and will continue to be on sale until the show sells out. To buy tickets, go to Hunton & Williams Hall
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The last big
thing you need to know about Libel
Show is that there is a strict alcohol policy for those attending, and
audience members need to bring a
photo ID showing your age if you
want to drink. Libel Show generously provides the audience with
beer, soda and snacks before the
show and at intermission. Howev-
o
ph


It will also hold an information session later that week with Dean Bergen to help answer any questions
groups may have. After applications
are in, SOSAC will be available to
meet with any organization that
wishes to discuss its office and bulletin board needs. Hopefully the process will be as smooth and painless
as possible for all involved parties.
Until SOSAC has been appointed,
please feel free to contact me with
any questions you may have.
This weekend is chock full of good
times. Race Judicata, a 5K benefitting ABLE, will
take
place
bright and
early Saturday morning. There
are literally
a ton of prizes
(okay, not literally – but a lot
nonetheless) to be
given away, including
top finishers, middle of
the pack finishes, most-green
runner, and so on. Huge props to
Katie Schleeter, who has poured
her heart and soul into making this
event successful. Later in the afternoon, PILA will have the finals of
their annual PONG for PILA event.
Immediately following that will
be the big St. Patrick’s Day party,
complete with green beer and great
costumes. Both of these events will
take place at 1700 Rugby Avenue
and will begin at 5:00 p.m. Hopefully you can all make it out to this
3
Peer Advisor Applications
As we hope you all know, PA applications have been distributed by
email via Dean Ballenger and the
Office of Student Affairs. There
was also an optional information
session with Annie and Stephanie
this week—if you couldn’t make it
or have more questions, feel free
to ask your Peer Advisors. In addition, Annie and Stephanie will
be writing next week’s column to
make sure everyone knows what is
going on.
Admitted Students
There are a lot of admitted students here today, getting a feel
for the atmosphere of UVA Law.
Please take some time to answer
their questions, and talk about
your experiences here so far.
Letter to the Editor:
Another Side of William Minor Lile
The article on Dean William
Minor Lile in your March 2 issue
prompts me to offer some corrective comments and observations. The first home especially built
for the Law School, Minor Hall,
was completed around 1911, not
1932. Minor Hall was replaced as
the Law School's home by Clark
Hall, which opened in 1932. Clark
Hall, in turn, was replaced by the
present Law School home on the
North Grounds in 1974. Throughout much of the 19th
century, Law School classes were
conducted in Pavilion X, as the
article states, but in the last years
of John B. Minor's professorship,
Law School classes were held in
the Rotunda and continued there
until Minor Hall was occupied.
Concerning admissions standards
at the Law School, they were not
unique to Virginia in Lile’s early
time, but were the prevailing
practices among American law
schools generally. The Moot Court competition
was named for Dean Lile because
of his strong interest in preparing students for the practice of
law. My guess is that he would
have thoroughly approved of the
use of his name in this connection.
The article also fails to take note
of what was seen by many to have
been one of Dean Lile's strongest
attributes: his insistence on high
standards of ethical conduct in
the practice of law. I knew lawyers who had studied here under
Dean Lile, and his insistence on
ethical conduct had made a lasting impression on them. One little story I heard several times as
illustrative of his strong ethical
sense was that, while in the practice of law, he would not plead
the statute of limitations as a
defense to a suit on a promissory
note where the client had signed
the note and did not deny its execution. As a lawyer, he would not
assist a client in avoiding a moral
obligation to pay what he owed. —Daniel J. Meador
James Monroe Professor of
Law Emeritus
4
Columns
VIRGINIA LAW WEEKLY
Friday, 16 March 2007
Life Is Not A Sitcom: Youth Is Still Wasted on the Young...
I’m not paranoid. I’ve seen your
stares in the hall. I’ve even heard
you question aloud: “Who is he?”
Archie L. Alston II '07
Columnist
“Is he registered
here?” “I thought
he graduated?”
Well I didn’t
graduate, I am registered, and I
used to be kind of a big deal in Charlottesville. That was in my youth.
Oh how I once owned these halls—
the charismatic, well-dressed big
man with the dimple (just one, left
side). Professors loved me, the janitors and cafeteria workers knew me
by name, guys envied me, and girls
envied my wife. I walked the halls
with the type of swagger that only
comes from knowing that the world
is your oyster and you have a mean
sword. Oh to be young and filled
with promise!
You must surely be confused by
now. You are probably asking yourself, “If you truly had that much
juice in the Law School, then why
are you now a ghost?” Well when
last we spoke, I introduced you to
the ills of pregnancy as I starred
in the Tyler Perry version of Nine
Months. (I’m prettier than Hugh
Grant, of course.) Now it's time to
bring it home for you.
You think you know what fatherhood is like. Many of us were blessed
to have fathers and they sure made
it seem easy enough. To fill in the
gap, we ’80s babies had Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable (The Cosby Show),
Dr. Jason Seaver (Growing Pains)
and Steven Keaton (Family Ties);
you ’90s babies had Karl Winslow
(Family Matters), Al Bundy (Married with Children) and Dan Conner
(Roseanne). They juggled running
families and working, all while entertaining a studio audience. Well
it was all a lie. Fatherhood is much
harder then all those buffoons led
us to believe. The reality is that real
fathers have it tough. To hammer
this point home, I will share a day in
the life of a Law School dad.
It’s Tuesday morning and I have
a 9:00 a.m. class. If I am lucky, the
day begins at 6:00 a.m., when I
have to shower and get ready for my
commute. Just as I step out of the
shower I hear my son screaming at
the top of his lungs. I scamper into
the bedroom soaking wet to see my
wife feeding my daughter and she
looks up just long enough to say,
“Get your son.” I throw on a pair of
gym shorts and a tank top and grab
my son. It’s now 6:30 a.m., and by
7:30 a.m. I need to be groomed,
dressed, and pulling out of my garage—in addition to changing my
son’s pamper, washing him, feeding
him, and having him strapped in
his car seat in the back of my wife’s
truck. I’ll save you the drama that
ensues during the next hour, but by
the grace of God I manage to be sitting in my car at 7:40 a.m. (The additional ten minutes was to change
the shirt that my daughter threw
up on as I gave her a goodbye kiss
before I left). So now I have 90 minutes to be sitting in my chair in class.
I am about 30 minutes into the trip
before the reality of having to wake
up three times between 12:00 a.m.
and 6:00 a.m. begins to hit me­—in
other words, I’m sleepy. I stop at
McDonalds and grab a steak, egg,
and cheese biscuit combo (carboloading…great idea, huh?). I have
my second wind now and begin
the cruise again. Man, am I making great time. It’s 8:30 a.m. and
I have made it to the outskirts of
Charlottesville. What’s that honking sound? Whoops, I fell asleep at
the light again. I gotta lay off those
steak biscuits.
It’s now 8:45 a.m. and I am in the
blue lot. Man, am I making great
time! I have 15 minutes to spare—
just enough time for a 10-minute nap
in my car (you see where the story
is going). When I wake up from my
10-minute nap it’s now 10:15 a.m.
(what an idiot). Okay, gotta get to
my 10:30 a.m. …made it…Then it’s
on to my 12:00 p.m., my 1:30 p.m.,
and my 3:00 p.m. Five classes, no
break, no lunch. Okay, it’s 4:20 p.m.
now and I have to be back in Fredericksburg by 6:00 p.m. to meet my
wife with the babies.
I pull in the garage at 6:05 p.m.,
just enough time to get into the
house and start dinner. You see, my
wife and I have from 6:00 p.m. to
7:00 p.m. to eat dinner and then it’s
the kids’ bath time. We have from
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. to get the babies washed, fed, and then down for
the night. Mission accomplished.
Now it’s time for me to clean the
kitchen while my wife puts away all
the kids’ toys, gets their bag ready
for tomorrow and pumps a fresh
supply of milk. It’s now 10:30 p.m.
and my wife goes upstairs to bed
while I retreat to the office for about
two hours of reading. I drag myself
upstairs at 12:30 a.m. and slide in
the bed only to hear crying through
the monitor 10 minutes later. I first
pray that the baby will go back to
sleep. No dice. Next, I feign sleep
hoping my wife will spare me from
having to get up. Then I remember
that she has a job and I am the deadbeat she’s been supporting through
school for the last three years, and
I drag myself across the hall to the
kids’ room. This time it’s baby girl. I
give her a kiss, tell her I love her, and
give her a bottle. Not to be outdone,
my son decides this is as good a time
as any to wake up and shortly thereafter my wife drags herself into the
room to scoop him up.
So here we sit side-by-side, feeding babies at 1:00 a.m. I allow my
mind to drift, I think of easier days,
like staying up all night to study
for an exam and writing a paper in
two weeks that I should have been
writing the entire semester. Man
this truly can’t be life…I’m soooooo
sleepy.
“Goo-goo.” I look down and baby
girl has finished her bottle and is
looking up at me all smiles and
gums. I lift her up and burp her all
while she serenades me with googoo’s, ga-ga’s and coo’s. I try to fight
back a smile but she is determined
to make more and more cute sounds
until I give in, and as if on cue, my
son has now chimed in with a baseline. I smile. Being a daddy is cool.
I get the baby back to bed and
drag myself across the hall to my
bed. Heathcliff never had to do this.
Can I fast forward to when the kids
put on my clothes and dance on the
steps to oldies tunes? But seriously,
for those of you who made it this
far I’m not trying to scare you away
from fatherhood, but I do want you
to know what you are getting into.
Life is not a sitcom. Growing up is
hard work—enjoy your youth, travel, blow money, eat poorly. Do not
waste your youth, and have some
fun for me.
Email: [email protected]
photo courtesy of greendiary.com
Reviews
VIRGINIA LAW WEEKLY
Friday, 16 March 2007
5
NCAA Tournament Preview
Ryan Dougherty ’09
Reviews Editor
Craig Smith ’09
Associate Reviews Editor
college mascot images courtesy of wikipedia.org
Midwest Region — Craig
Expect a wild, wild Midwest this year—
the top two seeds look vulnerable heading
into this weekend. Number One Florida has
played a Detroit Pistons brand of basketball
this season, cruising through the regular
season and expecting to elevate their level of
play this month. Don’t let their SEC Regular
Season and Tournament championships fool
you—the conference collectively had a down
year. But the other eleven teams don’t have
future lottery picks Joakim Noah, Al Horford, and Corey Brewer, who have the talent
and possibly the motivation to lead the Gators to the first repeat championships since
Duke in ’91-’92.
Number Two seed Wisconsin has landed
its plum position more for lack of losses than
for impressive wins. Only the Big Ten had a
more disappointing season than the SEC this
year and the Badgers looked progressively
worse each time they played their only good
conference opponent, Ohio State. Alando
Tucker scores nearly 20 per game for
Wisconsin, but does nothing else well,
and the remainder of Wisconsin’s
starting five probably couldn’t fill
an intramural roster at many
other tournament schools.
Watch for Old Dominion
in the first round, as Vegas
has the Monarchs only
+1 in their first round
game against #5 Butler. Winthrop could
also make some noise
The West is the
anti-Midwest, with
both #1 Kansas
and #2 UCLA
strong candidates
to win the entire
championship. Had
UCLA shown up for
the Pac-10 Tournament, the Bruins
likely would have
taken the top seed,
pushing Kansas into
the Midwest #1 and
Florida down to a #2.
Quickly looking at the remaining 14 seeds, Kentucky
and Villanova looks to be an
intriguing match-up between
two underachieving teams in the
8-9 game, and #7 Indiana and #10
Gonzaga similarly present an exciting first-round game between teams
that will bow out 48 hours later. #3 Pittsburgh and #6 Duke have both struggled with
high expectations this season and whichever
team’s unathletic center—Pitt’s Aaron Gray
and Duke’s Josh McRoberts—decides to stop
destroying his NBA Draft stock will advance
to the Sweet Sixteen. Southern Illinois completes the set of fourth seeds that are better
than every three seed except for Texas A&M.
None of those teams actually matter, as
Kansas and UCLA are both better in terms
of talent and performance this season. The
Jayhawks own a December win over Florida
in Las Vegas and two wins against Texas—including the Big 12 Tournament championship
game. Kansas is young, with five sophomores
and freshmen leading the team in scoring.
Swingman Brandon Rush draws the most attention for his ability to score both in the half
court and in transition. UCLA lacks the exciting athleticism of Kansas, instead relying on
East Region — Ryan
out of the 11 slot, comparing favorably to #6
Notre Dame and #3 Oregon. Speaking of Oregon, the Ducks cannot advance far led by
Aaron Brooks; look at his record as quarterback for the Oakland Raiders last fall.
Who will come out of the Midwest? I like
my alma mater, fourth-seeded Maryland.
(Rumor has it Ryan’s school, William &
Mary, fielded a team this year too.) The Terrapins closed the season on a seven game win
streak that included a sweep of Duke and a
hard-fought comeback win over North Carolina. The guards—seniors D.J. Strawberry,
Mike Jones, and freshman Greivis Vasquez—
can all score at will, especially when the athletic Terrapin front court
stays active and
takes good
shots.
In case you missed the memo, we’re in
ACC country, and this bracket probably
represents the conference’s best chance
of getting into the Final Four or even winning the whole thing.
Topseeded North Carolina seems to be
hitting its stride at exactly the right time.
The Tar Heels finished the regular season
with a convincing win over disappointing Duke, plowed through their first ACC
Tournament opponents by a combined 30
points and then took care of the almostCinderella NC State Wolfpack.
Unfortunately for Carolina, one of the
hottest teams in the country is also in their
bracket—the Georgetown
Hoyas. Despite
the loss of
now-
Maryland
Texas
(Biased?)
Final Four Predictions
Ryan: Ohio State
Craig: Kansas
Kansas
Ohio State
to u g h
The
defense to
South Rephoto courstesy of 3dvalley.com
carry the team.
gion features this
The Bruins are also
year’s other super-frosh,
young but compare favorably with Kansas
Ohio State center Greg Oden, who, even as
on tournament experience as UCLA reached a freshman, looks like a man playing with boys.
last year’s Final Four. If that wasn’t enough, The top-seeded Buckeyes certainly have an
Kansas coach Bill Self seems to have caught impressive resume coming into the Big Dance,
Roy Williams Syndrome, coaching tal- including a 15-1 Big Ten record, a strong Odenented Kansas teams out of the last two first less performance at UNC, and a 17-point drubrounds.
bing of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament
Aside from Texas-UNC, this is the tough- championship.
est call in the draw. UCLA has a better point
More importantly, however, the South is
guard in Darren Collison but has taken some also where you will find UVA seeded fourth in
puzzling losses since January. In the end, the bracket. Although they have been in a bit
I can’t ignore Kansas’ superior frontcourt of a slump lately by not beating the teams they
scoring and rebounding, though, and will were supposed to beat —Wake Forest to clinch
pick the Jayhawks.
the ACC regular season and NC State in the
West Region — Craig
1L Amadou Kilkenny-Diaw, the Hoyas
have won 15 of their last 16, including
their first Big East Tournament championship since 1989.
To even get to the Hoyas, however, UNC
will also probably have to go through the
best player in the country, Texas’ superfreshman and likely National Player of
the Year Kevin Durant. After a tough loss
in the Big 12 Tournament championship
game against Kansas in which Durant
scored 37 points and grabbed 10 boards,
the #4 seed Longhorns could be a tough
match for North Carolina in the Sweet
Sixteen.
As for possible surprise teams coming
out of the East, you can never count out
a Bobby Knight team, meaning #10 seed
Texas Tech could send Boston College
home early.
Vanderbilt has been grabbing some attention out of the SEC and, given their
tougher conference schedule, could
upset Washington State in the second round.
Given my inherent ACC bias,
I am inclined to lean towards
UNC coming out of the
East, but Kevin Durant is
enough to give any team
nightmares, and I think
that Texas could make
a surprise showing in
Atlanta for the Final
Four.
tournament—they
have one of the best
1-2 punches in the
country with their
backcourt of J.R.
Reynolds and Sean
Singletary.
Their
solid play should
guide the ’Hoos
into a second round
match-up with latecharging #5 seed Tennessee, fresh off an impressive late-season SEC
Tournament win against
Florida, the top seed in the
NCAA Tournament. Watch
for Volunteers junior guard
Chris Lofton, averaging over 20
points-per-game, to fill the stat
sheet and possibly upstage Singletary and Reynolds.
Memphis and Texas A&M, which are
both in the “lower” half of the bracket, could
make for an intriguing match up in the Sweet
Sixteen, but look to A&M to take that one as
they have played well against tough Big 12 opposition, including wins against Texas and Kansas. Memphis also has to get through a tough,
tournament-tested Nevada team, which is led
by senior forward Nick Fazekas. This Nevada
team could be the surprise lower seed to make it
into the second weekend of Tournament play.
Another potential upset is #11 Stanford over
#6 Louisville. Stanford had early-season wins
against Virginia, Washington State, and UCLA,
and Louisville looked less than impressive in its
last loss to Pitt.
In the end, however, look for Ohio State to
make it to the Final Four out of the South, as it
is likely that they can cruise through their half
of the bracket, while the teams in the lower half
wear themselves out just trying to get to the
Elite Eight to play the Buckeyes.
South Region — Ryan
6
Columns
VIRGINIA LAW WEEKLY
Friday, 16 March 2007
If God Wanted Me to Fly, He Would Have Given Me Wings
Before I began my soon-to-be
fabled career at our Law School,
the only situations I knew of in
Preston Hartman '09
Columnist
which one could
publicly throw
back a shot of
1800 and a Dos
Equis at 9:00 in the morning
without appearing a bit odd
were the tail end of a very successful bachelor party and in
any airport bar where pesky
blue laws hold no sway. I’m not
telling you this to set up a catchy
theme, or even to play on a certain facet of our sparkling reputation that is sure to get laughs.
I’m just saying I wrote this in
an airport bar.
As many of you who
traveled
over
spring
break know from recent
experience,
airports
are strange places, and
flying is a minor head
trip at the very least.
Hurtling through the
sky in a metal tube
doesn’t strike me as
particularly
natural.
Plus, if God had wanted
us to fly, he would have made
our legs much shorter and our
patience much greater. For my
part, the latent weirdness is more
than I can comfortably handle.
In the same vein as B.A. Baracus
of A-Team fame (although I’m
not nearly as fanatical), I assiduously avoid flying. I don’t have
to be knocked out and carried
to the plane, and I don’t wear
17 miles of gold chains around
my neck, but other than that we
are pretty much the same person. While I’m sure there is a
pharmacological solution to my
problem, I haven’t found it yet.
As it stands, the only thing that
gets me through a flight is pressing my face against the window
and taking it all in.
***
That is exactly what I am doing as I near my Spring Break
destination. I am one of
only three passengers listening to the propellers whir
a few thousand feet over the
most desolate country I
know, just after sunset.
The world below spreads
out to an
impos-
plainly evident. A glow falls
on plains where nothing grows
high enough to cast the darkest of shadows, those created
in bright moonlight. I can touch
none of this, nor can I see most
of what surrounds me. But with
everything here pressing on me,
everything at once, I feel closer
to all of it than I do to the plastic, upholstered chair supporti n g
me. Ironically, flying
brings
a tall Navajo man, no longer exist. The walls of the fuselage
around me lose their realness as
they fade from sight. There is no
other human being with me on
my journey through the night.
The wall between me and the
entire world is gone. Ironically,
this solitude assuages my loneliness.
I land and spend time on the
ground. On my next flight—on
the other side of the night—pink
peeks over the horizon in the
southeast
sky,
lead-
rmuseum.com
sy of wonde
image courte
sibly
long,
mountainous horizon, where
the broken land long ago gave
up straining for the sky, exhausted. The evening star is so bright
its twinkle is a pulse above the
crimson pool where the sun has
already set. On the other side of
the airplane, the moon is fixed
in an impossibly clear sky, the
texture of her tortured surface
me down to earth.
The pilot must be a kindred
spirit, because he turns off all
of the cabin lights, erasing the
perceptual barrier between the
inside of the aircraft and beyond. Save a sprinkle of fading
cinnamon in the southwest sky,
the only lights I see are the stars,
the moon, and a blinking light
on each of our wingtips. My two
fellow passengers, a soldier and
ing
a procession
of
hues.
Rosy peach and orange appear,
then vermillion follows, as if
the blood of the earth is spilling
into the twilight. Wisps of cloud
near the horizon blaze into view
one by one, their dark bellies
warmed by a coming day they
see before anyone else. The sun
inches closer and closer, seemingly more slowly every second.
He teases the dreaming earth,
pausing his ascent to sweep the
stars back into space. The first
blue appears as the black of
night is banished, and it must be
soon now. The sun’s coming does
not occur as the high tide, which
is built gentle wave upon gentle
wave. No, he bursts over the
horizon with brilliant violence,
forcing new life onto a ball of
cold rock. I look obliquely at this
ball of yellow flame, now rising
faster and faster into the morning sky. How many
thousands of
times have
I, lying in
bed unaware
or
preparing
for work unaware,
missed this miracle? Ironically, this rebirth I have just
experienced makes me feel
older.
I think I have made some headway on my fear of flying.
The secret seems to lie in
tapping into the primal
awe we all experience
before the world around
us when we shut up and
pay attention. In the face of
the fullness of being, tiny fears
scurry away. Who knows, some
day I might find that just being,
wherever I am, for a single moment is more rewarding than
anything else I do. That’s not
ironic, as far as I can tell.
Email: [email protected]
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VIRGINIA LAW WEEKLY
Friday, 16 March 2007
Out-of-Office Hours
Professor Moran
Mike Lecaroz ’08
Business Editor
CD
DVD
Someone once said that if Thomas
Jefferson were alive today, even he
would not know what to do with his
parents when they visited Charlottesville. He should have spoken with
Professor Karen Moran, Co-Director
of the Legal Research & Writing Program.
As the mother of two young children and a former litigation attorney
for Fulbright & Jaworksi, Professor
Moran appreciates getting the most
out of one’s free time. This week she
shares with us what she does in Charlottesville to entertain the whole family.
What to do outside (in warm
weather)? Nature hikes. “The best
hike for families is the Ivy Creek Nature Trail on Earlysville Road by the
[South Fork Rivanna Reserve] reservoir.” Though a flat trail that can
be completed in 45 minutes, it offers
an idyllic scene of a creek lined with
trees cut down by beavers and turtles
lying on the rocks, “at least until the
kids run by and scatter them.” Also
recommended: Humpback Rock off
the Blue Ridge Parkway. Its summit, which offers a 360-degree view
of the mountains, “is gorgeous…the
best bang for your buck.”
What to do outside (in colder
weather)? Tubing at Winter Green,
especially for the non-skiers: “It’s impossible to hurt yourself.”
Best activities for children?
UVA’s “other” sports, such as baseball, lacrosse and soccer. “Particularly soccer or lacrosse, because
kids watch, then get distracted and
can run around.” She also recommends the Frontier Culture Museum
of Virginia on Route 64 in Staunton,
which recreates four different farms,
each featuring design and livestock
appropriate for a farm in England,
Germany, Ireland or the United
States.
Where to eat with children?
Bizou on the Downtown Mall. “It is
surprisingly family friendly.” Their
menu of “comfort food” includes
meatloaf, mussels, and her favorite:
vegetarian burritos. “Those are fancier than they sound.”
Where to eat with just parents?
X-Lounge, Ten, or Mas for a taste of
Charlottesville’s “hipper, more New
Yorkish places, especially if they’re
not from a city.”
Where to drink with your parents? “Here’s something people
don’t know: The Melting Pot has really nice wine and they barely mark it
up. Tastings is another good option—
you pick out your wine from their retail store and then pay a corkage fee.
C&O also has an interesting, different
wine list that is reasonably priced.”
“Out-of-Office Hours” is a new recurring reviews feature that will explore the interests and opinions of the
Law School faculty about food, music,
movies, and leisure activities.
Reminiscences from an LL.M.
Law School from an Indian Perspective
Shilpi Bhattacharya LL.M. ’07
Guest Columnist
“You graduate in May, but
didn’t you just get here last August?” you ask, thinking there
must be some mistake here.
Yes, and I am a part of this
Law School and no, I am not a
1L, 2L, 3L or exchange student.
I am a LL.M. student.
“Who or what is that, and how
in hell can you get a law degree
in just one year?” you mutter under your breath.
Well, we are the people you
will often find bunched together
in small groups in Withers-Brown
with
the
unpronounceable
names and the strange accents.
We are at the Law School for
what I will proudly describe as
an advanced degree in law. We
try hard to make a place for ourselves in the Law School. Do we
succeed? I can’t lie. There was a
time when I felt that on the one
side there was the entire Law
School, and on the other side
of this big trench there was me
and maybe the rest of the LL.M.
class. I have since found out that
in fact it is not so.
Law school in India was so
different. No one took notes on
laptops, or for that matter took
notes at all. We addressed our
professors as “Sir” or “Ma’am.”
And of course we did not have
wireless or any form of internet
in the law school or anywhere
within a couple of miles of the
law school. Instead of surfing
the net in class, I chatted with
my friends, often turning to say
something that couldn’t wait
till after class to my roommate
sitting behind me; others slept
(some snored), or read the paper and actually spread it out
in front of them for the professor to see. We also passed what
we called “chits” to each other—pieces of paper which were
active and acceptable methods
of flirtation. People’s popularity was judged by the number of
chits passed to them across the
different rows of class.
Since law school was five years
straight after high school, no one
was married or engaged—and it
remained that way till graduation. This meant that practically
everyone had something going with a member of their law
school class, cheated on them
with another member of the
class, and subsequently found
someone else within the very
same class to repeat the cycle
with.
High-quality legal research
was conducted by going to the
library and actually physically
searching for books and flipping
through journals on the stacks.
The only way to access LexisNexis was by going to the American
Library, part of the American
High Commission—a good hour
away from the law school—and
quickly trying to find relevant
articles to surreptitiously email
to specially created accounts,
since the library required us to
print only, no downloading.
Lunch was at the roadside
vendor; we didn’t have a cafeteria until much later. Really good
food, as long as you didn’t notice
the grime around his makeshift
cart. Those were the days I actually could afford to have a good
lunch.
Oh, and floods. We regularly
had floods during the monsoon,
which is the rainy season in India. This means that I have often taken an exam after wading
through thigh-deep grimy water
to get to the law school.
Yes, life in law school in India
was hard, but always full of excitement. Life here is so much
easier and yet it has its own
challenges. But it is every bit as
enjoyable. There are the same
kind of people not paying attention in class and to my delight I
have even seen some sleeping.
The same struggles to get to
class in the snow, the same gossiping in the corridors, and the
same complaining about lunch
at the law school. Life is pretty
much the same at law school
and so are the people, no matter
which part of the world the law
school is in!
Title
Summary
Pro
Con
Casino
Royale
Release: March 13; $24.98.
The 21st movie in the Bond series,
Casino Royale is the last original Ian
Fleming Bond novel to be translated
into an action film (the 1967 comedy
doesn’t count). It is a new beginning
for Bond: a new actor playing one of
the most well-known roles in popular
culture, and the plot takes you back to
Bond’s first days as 007.
A chance to own the best
Bond movie since The Spy Who
Loved Me, and Daniel Craig’s
first (and impressive) outing
as Bond, in which he makes
Brosnan’s Bond look more like
an English butler than a spy.
Even if you’re not a Bond fan,
you’re still sure to enjoy it as
just a great action-adventure
flick.
There is a lack of special features, especially given the fact
that this is a two-disc set. One
feature, however, should provide an interesting look into
how Craig made the Bond role
his own. Also, it comes with
neither a martini nor an Aston
Martin.
Modest
Mouse:
Release: March 20; $18.98
This is the band’s first album since
their 2004 break-out album Good News
for People Who Love Bad News, which
included the smash “Float On.” Since
then, the alt-rock band from Washington state has added a new guitarist,
Johnny Marr from The Smiths, who
also co-wrote some of the album’s new
material.
A chance to see another side
of the band after it became so
mainstream that even Justice
Souter mentioned Modest
Mouse in MGM v. Grokster.
Also, the first track from the
CD, “Dashboard,” is a catchy
hook that is sufficiently different from “Float On” to not
make you think of the 10,000
times that you heard it back in
college.
Probably not your cup of tea
if you’re looking for 14 cuts of
“Float On,” or if you’re Justice
Souter looking to bust a filesharing website.
We Were Dead
Before The
Ship Even
Sank
7
Columns & Reviews
Grade
A
B+
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8
The Back Page
VIRGINIA LAW WEEKLY
Forty Days and Forty Nights:
Sacrifices for Lent
I’m Roman Catholic. Being
Roman Catholic means different things to different people.
Ulrick Casseus '07
Columnist
To me it means
that among other
things, I wear
a crucifix every
day, Jesus is my homeboy and
Mary is my homegirl, an hourlong church service is 15 minutes too long, and if I do any unnice things I can confess to an
old man in a robe and be okay.
Another component of being
Roman Catholic is observing
Lent. During Lent, we are asked
to give something up for 40 days
or add something beneficial to
our lives, like community service. I’m a glutton for punishment, so I always opt
to give up something.
People ask me why
I never make New
Year’s resolutions. I
tell them that New
Year’s
resolutions
are for chumps. Think
about it—all the time
we hear about people
failing on their resolutions in less than two weeks
and sloughing it off: “I’ll just
try again next year.” With
Lent, there is no next year,
just fear of what will happen
if you do fail. Go ahead, grab
for that piece of chocolate you
gave up for Lent. You will hear
a voice in the back of your head
saying, “Don’t do it. Do not
test me. Remember that flood
back in the day when Noah was
scrambling to find two of every
animal? Yeah, that was me.”
This year I decided to give up
fried foods, cursing, and wireless during class. Why? There
are perfectly good reasons for
all.
Fried food was a last minute
addition; I always had my sights
set on cursing and internet usage. On Fat Tuesday, BLSA had
an event that was catered by
Raising Cane’s. I wanted to limit
myself to only three chicken
tenders, but they were rather
tasty and rather free, so three
turned into fourteen. Anyone
who knows me understands that
my system can only process sunflower seeds and organic tree
bark, so I was in a bad situation
for the rest of the night. It’s been
pretty easy abstaining from fried
foods except the one time I went
to McGrady's for their half-off
appetizers special and all 13 appetizers were fried. They have
good tap water though.
I don’t curse like a sailor; I
curse like a Marine. Luckily, I’m
pretty good at code-switching so
I avoid cursing at the wrong time
. . . so I thought. My mom called
me one afternoon complaining
about her co-workers. I said,
“Oh well,
g ra p
hic d
es
my normal word usage to ensure
success. Swearing has given way
to more Lent-friendly words like
shoot, gosh, frikkin, and dag
nabbit. Yes, I say dag nabbit. Be
jealous. I thought I wasn’t going
to have a problem not cursing
for the next month or so, but I
forgot how much I rap along to
hip-hop music. Case in point,
last week I played a lyrical landmine of a song called “Murdergram” in my car. About halfway
through I found myself pulling
into the parking lot of the nearest church and
asking if they
had any
o l d
ign by Michael Seelig
f^%# ’em.” Instantly,
flashbacks of my mom whupping (not spanking, or whipping, but whupping) me with my
pop’s belt came to mind. That’s
when I decided that I needed to
give up cursing. I have modified
Mel the 3L: by Josh Kaplowitz '07
s on
dudes in robes who
wanna chat.
Some people use their wireless during class to IM friends,
check emails, shop, YouTube,
and send pokes on Facebook
to undergrads. I use my wire-
less to stay awake. This is not to
say that what the professors are
saying is not important. In fact,
there are about 40,000 reasons
why what they are saying is important. I fell asleep during The
Godfather; does that mean it’s
not one of the top five movies of
all time? I think not. Since this
is my last semester and I wanted
to test my willpower, I decided
to give up wireless during class.
In retrospect, I don’t think going
cold turkey was the correct approach. I caught myself drooling
as I stared at my IM login and
Outlook Express desktop icon.
I have marks on my arms from
pinching myself to stay awake. I
have lost some friends. I thought
this decision would only affect
me, but some other people are
upset that I’m not online during
class anymore—“Ulrick, this is
our last semester here and you
want to get all principled on me
now? I hate you.” Others have
taken it back to sixth grade
and started passing notes.
That, too, came to a
screeching halt because
it seemed like cheating and I doubt the
(wo)man in charge
tolerates cheating.
I’m far from an
expert at picking
what to give up during
Lent, but for anyone, Catholic
or not, who wants to join in on
the fun next year, here are some
tips I’ve picked up along the way.
Don’t give up sex if you know
you’re a nympho. Constantly
muttering “Sorry, God” while
you’re doing the do will ruin everything.
If your sweet tooth is more
like a sweet mouth, don’t give
up candy. You’ll just find yourself constantly trying to reason
with God.
“Listen, listen, a gummy bear
is not candy in the traditional
sense. It’s more like sweetened,
solidified goo.”
Be practical—giving up water
is just stupid. Be realistic—saying you’re going to give up
smoking when you know you get
the junkie itch first thing in the
morning is not going to work.
Lastly, challenge yourself—giving up going to class is just a
smidge too easy.
Email: [email protected]
Friday, 16 March 2007
faculty quotes
J. Harrison: “You may have never
lived in a place crass enough to have
a dimmer switch. As a crude tool of
seduction, it’s just one step removed
from the Lava Lamp.”
G. Mitchell: [calls on a student’s
mother sitting in on the class] “What
was the basis for the objection?”
Mom: “Um, no comment.”
G. Mitchell: “You obviously don’t
know the rules. If you could just be
quiet on your way out, please.”
K. Abraham: “This point of law is
very important to clients. In fact, it
paid for a wing in my house.”
K. Forde-Mazrui: “I learned [that
every 1L section has a female professor] when I tried to trade classes once
and they told me that I couldn’t. I said
‘But my name’s Kim! I’ve got a hyphenated last name! Everybody just
assumes...’”
G. Mitchell: “This is for those of
you who are going to be parents... that
is, if you can find someone to have sex
with you.”
D. Leslie: “If I were a judge, I would
like to be reversed about a third of the
time. That means I’m innovative…If I
were never reversed, it would be like I
wasn’t even there.”
J. Setear: [pointing to student with
hand raised] Yes?
Student: I have a question.
J. Setear: Didn’t you read my faculty quote in the Law Weekly? If you
raise your hand, I’m going to assume
you have a question.
around north
grounds
Thumbs up to Daylight
Savings Time starting early this year. ANG usually
wakes up at 4 p.m., so ANG
needs all the daylight ANG can get.
Thumbs down to 1Ls who
wrote their name on journal tryouts. Somehow ANG
doesn’t think you could
have mastered the 1st Amendment
if you couldn’t grasp the concept of
blind grading.
Thunbs dwon to 75% of
the Law Weekly staff for
shoqwing up drunk to production this weejk. Whose
going to proofreed the issue if everyones passed out??