Feels Like Two First Weeks
What a first week. The first in a while that feels like two.
Let's hope it's not a trend.
All my classes are great. I am particularly interested in International Criminal Justice and Section 1983 Litigation. There is so much to learn in every class I'm taking, but those two in particular strike a reverberating chord. Section 1983 Litigation, for the un-indoctrinated, refers to the federal law (42 U.S.C s 1983) that allows a person to sue officials (generally, the police or local government entities) for violating their civil rights while acting "under the color of law." The latter means, in short, that the official violated the rights while acting as an official agent (even if s/he wasn't authorized to do so). A common (and inflammatory) example is police brutality and the excessive use of force (e.g., Rodney King). The class is taught by a NUSL alumnus, the widely renowned civil rights attorney Howard Freidman.
I have also met with the 1Ls who I will assist this year as they learn legal research and writing. I blew through much of the first instruction at top speed, as I was given limited time with them. So, I look forward to working more with them. Legal research and writing are vastly, hugely, Grand Canyon-like important in the law. They are, of course, not everything, but they go a great deal into the ability to communicate effectively within the legal industry and make accurate, successful arguments. Thus, employers are bent on finding law students who can research and write really well.
Nothing new on the clerkship job front. Just more turning in of applications. Just more waiting.
We also had the first meeting of the Law Journal yesterday, and, as the Managing Editor, I spent a great deal of time talking to the interested 2Ls and 3Ls about the commitment the Journal requires. And it does. We are still hoping to publish the next issue (our second issue!) before the year is out, and have a great deal of work on the articles to make them publication worthy. Also, we are simultaneously planning next Spring's Symposium (and thus, next year's issue), which will be on Second Amendment Issues after the 2008 Supreme Court decision in Heller. That opinion determined that the right to bear arms is an individual right, and not one (as understood and argued by many) merely pertaining to membership in a militia. I'll talk more about that as we develop the topic.
More to come.