Happy Holidays!

And enjoy the New Year! The only thing I have to post about is a unique gift wrapping idea. All my presents were wrapped in old law school practice exams - and my family still loves me. However, tragically, I did not get one present that I really wanted.

Law Professors Hate Rules, Too

Actual text of an e-mail from a shall-remain-nameless professor:

"I regret to say that Law School and American Bar Association regulations require that I make some sort of assessment of your performance in this class. To this end, I have prepared an exam for the course."

Last Exam is Tomorrow

And today I read this quote:

At any rate, the entire Guidance, from beginning to end - except the last paragraph - reads like a ukase.⁶

FN 6: [Ed.] For those who (like some of the editors of this casebook) are unacquainted with the word "ukase," it comes from czarist Russia and means fiat, an order by absolute and - by connotation, arbitrary - authority."

My question is: which editors of the casebook were familiar with the term "ukase"?

Picking Classes: Help Requested

I have a (relatively short) paper due at 4pm tomorrow/today. Instead of doing the pre-reading necessary to write the paper, I am procrastinating. By picking possible classes for next semester.

Some of my "maybe" list, generally listed in order from "most black letter law-like" to "this is not actually a law school class, right?":

* Criminal Law (the one class I still have to take)
* Evidence
* Trademarks & Unfair Competition
* Trial Practice
* Business Organizations
* Family Law
* Elements of Effective Legal Writing
* The Book of Job & Injustice
* Ethics in Literature
* Economics of Education (this is actually not a class offered at the Law School, but in the Economics department...still, I can get Law School credit for it anyway)

I have to pick two of these, basically, to fill my spring schedule. Any suggestions? Course descriptions available here.

**

Welcome to the Class(es) of 2013!

YLS admissions officers made some hearts skip beats by announcing via Twitter: "The first admissions offers will be made at the end of this week!" By now, the first few calls - with a tell-tale (203) area code, of course - have gone out. We might not work as quickly as the HLS admissions crew, who, following tradition, made their first offers before Thanksgiving, but I like to think that the element of surprise (with no pre-screening "interview" call) makes up for the relative delay. :)

Welcome to our newest readers who seem to have found our blog upon their recent acceptances to HLS and/or YLS. We're happy to have you!

OK, I Lied

I will post this.

Posts to the Blog Will Resume as Soon as Exams End

Unless, of course, SB with her single exam in January feels like posting. Man, I am jealous . . .