Matthew Curtiss, Esq

Bar Review Stress Release - a bit bedlam

Bar Review Stress Release - a bit bedlam.

ahhh, the summer of BarBri. 

I forget what a July filled with outlines and audiotapes was like.  Its not fun, and I sympathize with every prospective attorney out there.

BarBri will drive you insane, it will cause you to doubt everything you've ever learned as a law student as well as hammer some things home that you never could learn in school (RAP, anyone?).

This guy in the link above has found his way to deal.  You will find yours as well.

p.s. Where's my BarBri class action settlement check anyways?

A Most Famous Law Review Note

As reported by the Legal Blog Watch recently, the author of one of the most celebrated law review notes passed away at the age of 60.

William S. Stevens, as a law  student at the University of Pennsylvania, published "The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule"-an analysis of whether the rules of baseball were shaped by the same factors which shape our common law.  It's an interesting read, especially for baseball fans.

After reading the note, I have to admit I pulled out my old Jurisprudence textbook and wondered what H.L.A. Hart would have thought of it.

The full article can be found here.

Be Kind to Law Students

I love this time of year...especially now that I have a two-year old who loves everything Santa.

Of course, this time of year reminds me of something else:  law school exam period.  Thanksgiving is that last little time of rest (if you dare to take it) before the push towards exams.  For those of you with a law student as a loved one, be kind.    And definitely don't steal their laptop.

Last month, a burglar broke into an Arizona State law student's apartment and got the guy to hand over his cash and credit cards.  The perp then demanded his laptop.  The student replied,   "Dude, no -- please, no!" he said. "I have all my case notes…that's four months of work!" and proceeded to club him while the cops came.

There's a Crim Law exam question in there somewhere.

Greatest Case Name....ever

United States v. 11 1/4 Dozen Packages of Articles Labeled in Part Mrs. Moffat’s Shoo-Fly Powders for Drunkenness, 40 F. Supp. 208 (W D.N.Y. 1941)

Props to Supreme Dicta and Lowering the Bar.  Check out the comments for even more great casenames.

Let the Craziness Begin

I will be blogging more about this in days to come, but so much is going on at my office that I will not likely be able to post daily entries over the next week or so.

If you need your blogging fix, try my links.

Courthouse Confessions

The Volokh Conspiracy has a great posting on a blog based out of Manhattan Criminal Court called Courthouse Confessions. 

Very interesting reading

Ubuntu: Ready for the Law Office

Lots has already been written on Ubuntu, the free open-source operating system that is rising in popularity.  I won't go too in depth about the OS itself as there are tons of resources already out there.

I would like to continue the meme, so to speak, of Ubuntu in the law office.  In the last year or so, Law.com ran an article on "Lawbuntu" and whether Ubuntu was ready for the law office.  I can't link the original story as it requires a subscription, but essentially, it asked the question, and gave compelling answers why it was ready.

The subject then got much play over at Ubuntu Forums (original article posted here as well).  Some didn't like that someone wanted another "derivative" of Ubuntu (much like Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu CE, etc), but others liked the fact that efforts were being made towards getting Ubuntu ready for law applications.

Myself, I already used Ubuntu at home.  I love its speed, efficiency with computing resources, and the abundance of free applications readymade by the Ubuntu/linux community.  I also really like OpenOffice , which if you're in the market for a new productivity suite, you'd be insane not to give it a try.

I have started to rethink the "Lawbuntu" concept again as I will be involved in a new office setting soon.  While we won't be in the position to adopt Ubuntu as our office's OS of choice, I have come to realize that the ability to run Ubuntu is closer than most think, and my reasons are below: 

1) Web Based Apps:  Time and billing software invariably seems to be Windows-centric.  Quickbooks runs on Linux servers, but not as a desktop app.  Quickbooks TimeTracker, at the user level, is web-based.  Even with one windows accounting machine, the Ubuntu lawyer could still log time on files and work within the Windows office.   

2) Linux Apps are better if not equal:  OpenOffice, Scribus, Evolution, Thunderbird, Firefox.  All available on Ubuntu.  All just as good as the Windows apps they replace

3) Stability:  Lawyers love stability.  Ubuntu, in its current LTS (long term support- 3 years) format, can handle wifi, networking, video and other things that incarnations in the past would struggle with. 

Again, this is just a continuation on a meme.  I know that Ubuntu has some rough edges to work out.  I also know that lawyers as a group are creatures of habit and that adoption of a totally new system would be a tough sell.  But as the Ubuntu platform matures, I 'm sure that lawyers will begin to look to it as a viable option in the office.

Good Luck, CT Bar Exam Takers

The Connecticut Bar Exam starts today in Hartford at the Expo Center.  For those who have never been there, imagine an immense almost barn-like structure with large fans blasting warm air from the outside and birds flying overhead in the rafters.  When I took the exam in 2005,  I think the temperature outside was close to 95 or so. 

I survived.  I passed.  I even wrote an essay where I couldn't even identify the legal topic that was covered.

Today and tomorrow may suck, but believe me, Friday will feel like Christmas day.

Under the Weather

There's a mean stomach bug going around and I seem to have gotten it.  After a night of little sleep, no serious blog postings today.

If you need your fix, check out the ABA's Blawg Directory. 

25 Greatest Legal Movies

Robert Ambrogi has a posting over at Legal Blog Watch on the 25 Greatest Legal Movies as determined by the ABA.  The list has all of the usual suspects:  To Kill a Mockingbird, 12 Angry Men, Philadelphia, The Paper Chase, even Chicago.

I like a lot of the list, though I haven't seen them all.  Perhaps its time to update my Netflix queue! 

My top 3, if I had to choose my own, would be:

1) To Kill a Mockingbird: Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch was No. 1  on the American Film Institute's Top 100 Movie Heros list...for good reason.

2) The Verdict:  Paul Newman lost out to Ben Kingsley for Best Actor.  I haven't seen Gandhi; but I think that's a travesty considering how great Newman was.

3) My Cousin Vinny:  As funny as this sounded at the time (and it still does), one of my law school professors suggested watching this movie as a primer on how to introduce evidence at trial.   I saw it on TNT last week and it still endures as a darn funny flick.