UCSD merger, grades, and new job

Dear students,

Last year we convened a student town hall meeting to share with you the news that California Western was entering talks with UC San Diego about a possible affiliation. The committee comprised of faculty members and administrative representatives from the two schools continues to meet.

On Tuesday, February 8, you are invited to a student town hall meeting to get an update on those talks, hear directly from members of the faculty committee and me about the process, and offer your questions, concerns and ideas.

While you should not expect any earth-shattering announcements, please feel free to bring your questions for the leaders of the committee and for me.

Student Town Hall Meeting
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
12:15 p.m. - 1:05 p.m.
Lecture Hall 1

I hope to see you there.

Steve Smith,
Dean

Good news: the merger isn't dead. Bad news: nothing "earth-shattering" means there probably isn't anything concrete. Either way, its exciting to see the proposal is still in the works. I'll go to the town hall meeting and make a post after.

--
I got my grades back. I actually did pretty well in Professional Responsibility. I thought I tanked it but reading and some MPRE practice problems helped.

I started working an internship. I don't do anything terribly important because I just started with this new group, but I'm hoping I can talk the boss into letting me take on more responsibility. She's a California Western Alumna and so far seems pretty cool.

New Internship

I started a new internship. Because I worked today like a responsible adult, I missed out on meeting Dave Grohl of Nirvanva/ Foo Fighters and a birthday party.

:(

So whatever happened to the possible UCSD merger?

http://lawschoolproposal.ucsd.edu/news.php

There hasn't been a new post or update since June of last year. Perhaps it is quietly dying.

Almost a calendar year went by since California Western hosted a meeting in the 350 building to announce the possibility of a merger with UCSD. The administration offered a rough timeline with results by summer of 2010 or by January of the next year.

The past two editions of the school news paper (released twice/ year) explored the possibility of merging with UCSD. The latest edition conspicuously lacked any mention of UCSD or the possibility of merger. The new edition should come out soon, but with dead silence on the website and not even a peep about the merger from the administration in almost a year I think the smart money is on the death of this idea.

This is a shame because the proposal was a good idea. It didn't add more lawyers and mutually benefitted UCSD and Cal Western.

If I'm wrong please correct me and I'll edit in a fix at the end.

Thomas Jefferson (and law schools in general) get reamed by the NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html

“Enron-type accounting standards have become the norm,” says William Henderson of Indiana University

This article lit up the screens of every laptop in one of my classes as students passed it around on gchat. I notice these things because I sit in the back of the class and can see everything. (I don't bring a computer either, otherwise I'll sit on gchat or whatever and I may as well have stayed up in my underpants)

There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Law schools love statistics. From top to bottom, law schools release shady and overly rosey reports about employment and salaries to entice potential law students into taking out non-dischargeable student loans. Are the law schools really to blame, especially a lower ranked school like TJ? Probably not.

Law schools receive more and better students by climbing the USNWR ranks (I'm not entirely sure why this weird system is worshipped the way it is, but it is the world we live in). Schools climb the ranking system, in part, by reporting high employment and high salaries from graduates. This creates a powerful incentive to 'cook the books' to win out. So, if a school wants to keep matriculating students, they have to cheat to compete. Tearing TJ a new one in the NYT probably won't bring the accountability necessary to change this system. To barrow from popular Law and Order actor Ice-T,

"Don't hate the player; hate the game."

The ABA needs to stop the way law schools game the USNWR rankings by cracking down on enron style cheating on the part of law schools to fix this type of problem. Maybe they should change the game and release their own rankings of ABA approved law schools each year.

New Blog!

My 1L blog ended up somewhat of a hit even though looking back on it I might not have included some things. I made a friend through it and a few people have told me it affected their decision about whether to attend California Western.

The blog ended up somewhat of a hit and has more visitors than anything else I created on the web. I have google analytics installed and the most viewed post ended up the "grades, the curve, and ucsd" entry (other than the front page). The blog has a few thousand visitors from 24 countries. Google, Top Law Schools, Reddit, and even a page on the California Western sites referred to the old blog. I'd call it a success.

I'm starting the 2L blog late and it will be a little different. The 1L blog I think mostly serves as a reference to people considering attending California Western. This blgo will keep track of what I'm working on as a 2l, any news about the potential UCSD merger, and light hearted posts about current events and the law.


What I've been up to (people have emailed me asking):
-I didn't do as well as I wanted second semester. :(
-I did pass my 1L
-I clerked for the Santa Barbara DA's office on felony cases. I felt like I threw myself into the deep end, but I worked with the attorneys there and they gave me a lot of really good feedback. The experience was nothing short of phenomenal and I really liked the people I worked with.
-I joined the Foxen wine club! Woo!
-I went back to class for the fall. I took Evidence, Criminal Procedure, California Civil Procedure, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Professional Responsibility.


I am now in my spring semester. I'm taking Wills, Trusts & Estates, Constitutional Law I, Torts II, Environmental Law, and Law of the Seas with a scholarly writing seminar. California Western requires all students to complete a scholarly writing. I plan on fulfilling my scholarly writing requirement through the Law of the Seas class addressing some environmental issue. It should be fun. I also joined the environmental law society. They're a great group of people and fun to chat with.

I recently applied to work for the in-house counsel at the San Diego Zoo and it appears I can intern there. The process is a little weird though. The interview is done through the HR department and not through the legal office. I showed up wearing a suit, and I'm pretty sure they expected me to dress like Steve Irwin. So I went through their form interview for zoo volunteers. I let them know I have no problem with my hygiene and I promised not to get any face tattoos.

If any readers need a law clerk for the summer, let me know!