Me, LL.B.
And that's all for UWO law, folks.
My friends here like to joke that I have nothing to fall back on, due to my lackage of a B.A. Well, I've heard that joke for the last time!
WOOHOO!
2006 NHL Playoff Predictions: Round 1
Eastern Conference
Ottawa in 5.
Carolina in 6.
New Jersey in 5.
Philadelphia in 7.
Western Conference
Detroit in 5.
Dallas in 4.
Anaheim in 6.
San Jose in 6.
Overheard In The Law Library
I just overheard the most delightful exchange between 2 first year law students I had never met before.
The time is 10 am.
Law Guy 1: Hey, man - you're hardcore! Early bird!
Law Guy 2: Yeah, something like that.
Law Guy 1: (
looks at LG2's books)
You studying for criminal?
Law Guy 2: Yeah.
Law Guy 1: (
with complete sincerity)
Do you really need to study for that?
Law Guy 2: (
with equal sincerity) Not really, no.
Just for the record, the library opens at 8:15 am. I don't consider 10 am to be "hardcore". Furthermore, the criminal exam is tomorrow. Now, we're either dealing with the brightest, most prepared law students on the planet; or else the guy DOES need to be studying for criminal. At the same time, if you're the brightest, most prepared law student on the planet and you are all prepared for the exam a day in advance, you would by nature still be studying the day before.
At least, that's my 2 cents.
Best Web Video Ever
This has to be the coolest internet vid I've ever seen.
It is the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 7 of the 1986 World Series - in NES baseball. Complete with Vin Scully doing the play-by-play. Bill Bucknor's error...everything. The guy who made this has been on pretty much every sports website since.
Check it out.
MJAWL, Part II
Here's some more. Note: I have decided not to restrict these lists to Top-5's anymore. The need for disclaimers on blogs really astounds me, but nevertheless:
Professors (Although Some Are Also Doctors):5. Prof. B. WellingWelling annoys a lot of people, but he's always been good. He makes you think, and makes you work, but you're always better for it. There's nothing quite like getting told your work is "duckspeak" or that your question "does not compute". He might make you feel stupid, but it's always constructive, and you don't make the same mistake twice. And the whole "corporation is a robot" gig is still priceless.
4. Prof. G. DemeyereBeyond a doubt: the nicest professor in law school. Genuinely cares about students, and gives us DVD's and Timbits (yes, she's the Employment Law professor). And her class material is perfectly organized, and easy to follow.
3. Prof. G. HuscroftBesides teaching my favourite class (and Admin - the class I liked, but everyone else hated), I happen to agree with almost everything he says about the structure of our political sphere. Sometimes I go further than him, but that's the beauty of political discourse.
2. Prof. A. ParachinIn addition to making a boring subject (for me) entertaining, Parachin has been by far the most supportive of our CLF group at UWO, which is (for anyone reading this), a surefire way to make it to the Top-5 Prof List. And the dude can dunk on a 10 foot net. That's just cool.
1. Prof. B. HoviusMy original small-group professor (who I think hated a bunch of us for a while because we weren't paying attention in class). Incredibly smart - often too much so for us poor 1L's, organized and just an excellent "teacher" - an underrated and often forgotten talent at UWOLAW. And a very, very underrated killer sense of humour, that is made all the funnier coming from him.
Books - Biggest Wastes (Don't Worry, This Isn't Exhaustive...)5. Canadian Legislation on Intellectual PropertySimply because I never opened it. All the material for the exam was contained in the material provided, and it will likely sit on my shelf forever, thanks to wonderful websites like Canlii.
4. Law and EconomicsI enjoyed the course fine, but unfortunately it's going to be utterly useless to me in my working life. If anyone wants to buy...I paid $120 for it, and I'll sell it to you for the low, low price of $119.99!
3. Getting to YesFrom the negotiation class mentioned yesterday. There's just the one problem. Using the tactics in the books simply don't get you to yes.
2. Income Tax Act, 2004Not sure why people don't just use the online version. $90. Ouch.
1. Principles of Canadian Income Tax, 12th EditionThe only thing worse than the ITA...is of course the casebook with cases about the ITA.
Books - Best Values (Yes, They Do Exist...)5. Corporate Law in Canada: The Governing Principles 3rd Edition, WellingUnfortunately, this book wasn't out when I took the course, but I guarantee it's a good value. The only law school book I will likely go out and buy, and read - just for learning value. It's that good.
4. Cases and Materials on the Law of Torts, BrownBest organized book in 1L. And that alone made it the best course in 1L - meaning it definitely deserves to be on this list.
3. McGill GuideI'll actually use this again. And it was one of the very few books that you actually NEEDED in paper format - the rest were all easily done online.
2. Family Law, HoviusThis was the best-written book I've read in law school. A casebook that you actually learn the principles from, while still getting the synopses of the important cases. It's all there. Family law in 500 pages or less.
1. Black's Law Dictionary, 7th EditionReally, this is simply because it's a beautiful red hard cover book that sits menacingly on my desk, daring anyone to open it. The one book from law school that I think will look fabulous on my official lawyer book shelf. And it's a surprisingly interesting read.
My Journey at Western Law, Part 1
This series will hereinafter be referred to as "MJAWL".
With my very last week ever at UWO winding up, I thought it might be good to drop some Top-5 lists. So that's what I'll be doing for this entire week. Feel free to leave *tasteful* suggestions as to other lists that I can make, and please remember that this blog is public. And yes, those of you who feel like this disclaimer is directed at you - it IS directed at you.
On to the first few Top-5's.
Best Summaries I Personally Created (IMHO)The implication, of course, is that this list does not include summaries that I got from others, all of which were far better than the ones I created (Trusts and Constitutional Law are the first 2 that come to mind. If either of you who created those is reading this, thank you so much once again.)
5. Torts, 1LOne of the first ones I made, and surprisingly, looking back, one of the best. Probably had something to do with the fact that I was scared to death and made it extremely professional looking. Apparently, however, my first term one was better than my second term one, if my marks are any evidence.
4. Contracts, 1LThis was largely due to the fact that I had something fall into my lap that summarized every single case in the book. It made doing my summary very easy.
3. Family, 3LFamily is going to come up several times on these lists, I am sure. I think the reason I liked my family summary so much was because I felt I really understood the material backwards and forwards, and really enjoyed it. The book was amazingly written, the professor was phenomenal, and the summary was just a logical extension of that.
2. Law & Economics, 2LThis was my 2L January term course, and the summary was so good because we had all kinds of time to do it (Jan Term is generally either pretty slack, or pretty intense, and both years I lucked out with slack courses). Unfortunately, the summary didn't help with the mark, although I blame that on the professor, of course.
1. Admin, 2LI think I might have been the only student who actually liked Admin Law. Furthermore, since I had zero people I knew in the class, I was attending every lecture and really stayed on top of the material. As such? Voila! Good summary.
Least Favourite Courses (And That's Putting It Mildly)These classes were not fun. Although, thanks to the wonders of MSN Games and various news websites, that did not mean that fun was not had in them.
3. Criminal Law, 1LIf any class is going to be at 8:30 in the morning so the prof can go out and golf starting at 11 am, it better be really good and the prof better be amazing. This class was neither. The cold-calling didn't help.
2. Civil Procedure, 3LThis was an excellent course, and the material was presented in a very clear and straightforward manner. But a 3 hour class in my last term of school on a Friday afternoon, that is all technical and mindless boilerplate copying? Please spare me. (Side note: I DO like litigation, and am looking forward to practicing lots and lots of civil procedure. Learning it though? Ugggh.).
1. Income Tax, 2LTrue story: I played a full game of Madden 2003 during one tax class. Thanks to the magic of "ALT-TAB", I still took notes in the tax lecture, and finished with more notes than my friend who was sitting next to me reading SI.com for the whole lecture. That pretty much sums up tax for me.***
My Favourite Courses (UWO Law Only)These were the 5 classes that I enjoyed almost every day, regardless of whether or not the internet was down. If you have a chance at any point in your life, take classes 1, 2, and 3 on this list. Even if you're not in law. Trust me.
5. Intellectual Property, 2LAn interesting topic, with an interesting prof, taught in an interesting way. Straightforward, and just a lot of fun. The fact it was on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6-8 pm was also nice (Jays games live webcasts on MLB.com started at 7 pm every night, and then the playoffs after that!).
4. Negotiation and Mediation, 2LA very useful course, even though I think I took all the wrong things away from it. The prof wanted us to get to the position that "interest-based, conciliatory, gentle-approach" negotiating was the best way to go. After I got absolutely mercilessly slaughtered by a fellow CLF member the first week while trying to use this method, I quickly refined my skills so that would never happen again. By the end of the course, I learned how to use hardball negotiating to its full advantage, while still appearing nice. The poor prof would have a heart attack if he ever read this...
3. Family Law, 3LAll things considered, I think this was the best course in law school. In terms of balancing everything - from workload, to retention of material, to teaching style, to method of evaluation, etc. I would very, very highly recommend this course, even if you are not interested in family law. It is a true winner.
2. Employment Law, 3LI really enjoyed the subject matter of this course, and it was very clearly taught by an excellent prof. And what other class do you win DVD's in for correctly answering questions? Answer: None. But in Employment Law, I won OfficeSpace: The Special Edition with Flair! and we had Timbits almost every day, courtesy of the prof.
1. Advanced Constitutional Law, 3LIn what other class can you say truly outlandish things (things I can't even repeat, due to classroom confidentiality), and get your marks raised for it? Again - answer: none. Always entertaining, and one of the few law school classes where the focus is on critical thinking, evaluating various ideas, and creating a mindset through which to view the world; rather than simply cramming ideas down your brain.
That's all for today. Stay tuned!
***UPDATE: I won the Madden 2003 game. My Miami Dolphins (who else) defeated the Baltimore Ravens at home, 31-0.
Last Day Of Law School Classes
Today is the last day of law school classes.
Mine was cancelled, so it was actually yesterday for me, and one of yesterday's was cancelled, and I left the other one early because my computer power cord got cut in the desk.
So really, this post should have been written on Monday, when I had my last full class.
But anyways.
Dez does a nice job of wrapping up the last day for him. It was a little weird to realize that his first day of school ever (Sept 5, 1984) was one month to the day
before my birth. I'm not sure what exactly that means, but it's pretty weird/cool/strange.
Like Dez, I really only have positive memories of school - I think all the bad ones generally blur out. Getting nicknamed "Spice Girl" in Grade 9 by the one-and-only bully in our homeschooling group was pretty embarrassing, but that was only because I schooled him at basketball (the one and only time you will ever see "me" "schooled" "basketball" in the same sentence). But on the scale of traumatizing memories, that's gotta rank pretty low.
One thing is for sure. It will be nice to receive the degree on June 12th. As everyone here at LS always reminds me: I still don't have anything to fall back on.
Well, as of June 12th, boyz and girlz, that'll change.
Thanks all. It's been a heckuva ride.
Electoral Lockdown
So Manitoba now decides to
ban floor-crossing by MP's.
I don't like this idea.
I never supported it when certain Tories called for it after the Belinda defection, and I didn't support it when certain Liberals called for it after the Emerson defection.
The only thing that this is going to do is strengthen the grip of party discipline in Canada, and increase the importance of political parties (which I think most people agree is a bad thing).
MP's and MPP's should be allowed to properly support their constituents, and if that means that crossing the floor is in the best interests of their constituents, they should have that right. If, at the following election, the electorate decides to turf the MP/P then, that is their prerogative.
A certain fellow named Winston Churchill crossed the floor and back again several times, and it never really hurt him. Would it have made sense for him to run in a byelection every single time? I highly doubt it.
Or what if a person leaves the governing party because they believe that that party broke a promise (see David Kilgour). Should that person have to face a byelection? Something about that doesn't seem to make much sense. We are only really concerned when a person leaves an opposition party and joins the governing party. Which seems to me to be a bit of a two-faced and wrong approach to take to the issue.
Pammy On The Seal Hunt...Yes, Again...
I should have known.
Pamela Anderson is urging Harper to take up that US businesswoman's offer that I was talking about
yesterday.
But you really have to read what she says to fully understand why she should just stick to doing...well, whatever it is Pamela Anderson does when she's not rambling about the seal hunt:
Anderson, who has accused Harper of being "in the back pocket of special interest groups rather than the leader of the people," says the offer is an example of growing support for the anti-sealing campaign.
The "back pocket of special interest groups?" What? Canadians on the whole strongly support the seal hunt. Maybe if Pam actually, you know, lived in Canada or, you know, read a newspaper or something...
"People of all walks of life are coming out of the woodwork all around the world to stop this senseless slaughter," Anderson told eTalk. "Canadian taxpayers should be outraged...since it would save the millions of tax dollars that currently support (the) hunt."
Oh wow - now Canadian taxpayers should be outraged?? Over the seal hunt? Of all the things we should be outraged about as CDN taxpayers, I think that "monies donated to the seal hunt" should probably be low on the list. At least it is actually helping Maritimers, rather than simply giving lots of nice dinners to already rich people.
Making Sense of the Bad Math
In a tongue in cheek response to
this post, Abe...
...I direct you to
this story. (h/t
Nealenews)
If they're going to be spending $5.49 for dinners, instead of $939 (5.49, according to my handy-dandy windows calculator works out to 0.58% of $939), we might be able to make up those lost GST monies pretty darn quickly.
:P
Sorry. I couldn't resist. :)
Seal Hunt
I have never been in support for the seal hunt as strongly as I am
after reading this.
Isn't it sad that she's all gung-ho to spend $16 million on saving seals?
Maybe this world would be a little bit better off if we committed that $16 million to, oh, I don't know - feeding children in Africa.
I think seals are cute just as much as the next guy, but this is ridiculous.
A hearty thumbs up to the governments of Newfoundland and Canada for not backing down in the face of ridiculous, hypocritical, outlandish pressure from uninformed celebrities.
Bible Thumping
I have (quite rightly, I suppose) been labelled a Bible Thumper on several occasions. I'm sure it happens more behind my back, that's fine. I've never been one for slamming religion down anyone's throat, and quite disappointed with those that do.
But this
news story disappointed me.
I'll pull out clips:
"I thought schools were neutral zones," said the 36-year-old graduate student and mother of a Grade 1 pupil. "I thought schools were secular, and organized religions didn't have a place in public schools."
Basically, this mother is concerned with the practice of the Gideons giving Bibles to students. Back in the day, the Gideons would come into the schools and distribute Bibles to every Grade 5 student. I assumed, based on this mother's objection, that this is what was still happening. I can understand concerns with that (understand, not necessarily agree, but understand).
The Richmond board's policy is to place a notice in school newsletters, and Grade 5 pupils may take a form home for their parents to sign if they want a Gideon Bible. The children return the form to the school, which relays the request to the Gideons, who bring the Bibles to the schools.
The Gideons no longer automatically bring Bibles to schools across the country every year, but wait for requests.Whoa, okay then. Maybe not.
So the school puts a notice in the school newsletter. Based on this, the grade 5 pupil has to go request a form, get their parents to sign it, and then return it to the school.
Regardless of the ridiculous assertion that a school is a "neutral zone" (whatever the heck that means), this hardly means that religion is taking over our "secular" schools (another poorly chosen word. Just as a thought - does secular include the whole sexualization of society as discussed in yesterday's post?). Unfortunately, they continue to poll the public in the article, which just makes things more confusing:
B.C. Civil Liberties president Jason Gratl said he was surprised to learn that Bibles are still being distributed.
"It carries no threat of undermining the secularism of our school system, but it's a practice that ought to be quietly ended," he said yesterday.
Huh? So this dude admits that there is no threat...but says it should be ended. At least he realizes that it's not a big deal - I guess half-right is better than all-wrong.
Executive director Paul Mercer of Gideons International in Canada said that throughout Canada, 250,000 to 300,000 Bibles a year are requested by students. Years ago, schools and the Gideons decided Grade 5 was the appropriate age to receive the Bible, he said.
"It's been done since the mid-1940s, and the offer is made. Some can say no and some can say, 'we want one,' " Mr. Mercer said. "We just simply believe that everybody should have the opportunity of owning a Bible."
And really, when worded this way: what IS the big deal?
Surprise of the Century...
.....
no kidding.
Do we really need studies done to tell us this?
2006 MLB Preview and Predictions
Maybe this will get me onto the Yahoo searches again - we'll see. Being the first hit when you did a yahoo search for "NHL Predictions" was pretty darn cool.
Anyways, without further ado. Parentheses indicate number of wins, brackets indicate league ranking, and asterisk represents wild card winner.
AMERICAN LEAGUEAL East
New York (93) [3]
Toronto * (92) [4]
Boston (82) [8]
Tampa Bay (74) [10]
Baltimore (64) [14]
Any of the top 3 teams here could easily win the division. I don't think Boston is as good as in previous years. NY has health risks, the Jays have inexperience, Tampa Bay could be a lot better than people realize, and Baltimore is really, really bad. A whole year like their 2nd half last season wouldn't surprise me, and that should be cause for concern.
AL Central
Chicago (96) [1]
Cleveland (88) [5]
Minnesota (80) [9]
Detroit (74) [11]
Kansas City (68) [13]
Chicago went out and got better, even though I hate Posednik and his hype. Cleveland lost some pitching, which concerns me. I don't totally understand their moves this summer - trading Crisp will likely prove to be a mistake. Minnesota's offence looks bad, really bad. Detroit could make a bit of a move up. KC should be able to avoid losing 100, barely.
AL WestOakland (94) [2]
Anaheim (87) [6]
Texas (83) [7]
Seattle (72) [12]
Oakland has a lot of starting pitching, but I'm not sold on their bats. Anaheim needs some bats as well - and they desperately need Guerrero to stay healthy. Texas improved again, but they need more SP (what else is new). Seattle's still got a long way to go, more pitching required.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
NL East
Atlanta (92) [2]
New York * (91) [3]
Philadelphia (90) [4]
Washington (73) [12]
Florida (70) [15]
This, not the AL East, should be the tighest 3-way race in the league - Atlanta should have just enough pitching, as usual to hold off the rest. New York sacrificed pitching for hitting. Philadelphia will be close again, but losing Wagner hurts. Washington overacheived last year, and Florida is not as bad as everyone thinks.
NL Central
St. Louis (94) [1]
Milwaukee (88) [6]
Houston (86) [7]
Chicago (81) [9]
Pittsburgh (74) [11]
Cincinnati (71) [14]
St. Louis is the class of the league again, but they look like they've taken a small step back. Milwaukee, though unable to expect the same production from the pitching as last year, should improve enough to make it interesting. Houston desparately needs Clemens back, but even so, they can't expect another 2nd half miracle. Chicago looks ripe for a downturn. Pittsburgh is slowly improving, but they're still a ways out. Cincinnati will be lucky to hit 70 wins.
NL West
Los Angeles (89) [5]
San Diego (82) [8]
San Francisco (77) [10]
Arizona (72) [13]
Colorado (66) [16]
The real LA team is the class of a weak division - improvements all around. San Diego should be involved in lots of low scoring games at home, but will get beat up on the road. San Fran's fate is in Barry's hands, and I'm not liking those chances right now. Arizona's infield defense is improved...and that's about all. Colorado will be battling with Baltimore for the 29th overall spot in the league all year long.
PLAYOFFS
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Blue Jays over White Sox
Yankees over Athletics
Blue Jays over Yankees
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Cardinals over Mets
Braves over Dodgers
Braves over Cardinals
WORLD SERIES
Blue Jays over Braves
