26 June 2008

Law without ethics begets injustice; but so does one-sided media.

My last blog ranted about the need for positive news coverage on law school and the legal profession. The Baltimore Sun heard my cry this week.

According to Karen Rothenberg -- the exiting dean at the University of Maryland's law school -- the problem lies in the media's attention to rankings and financial gain related to legal education. So, in her article from the Baltimore Sun, she praises the efforts of a program that highlights professional training DURING legal education and a focus on ethics.

It's nice to know that leading administrators in legal education recognize the lack of coverage this great program has received. As I quipped in my last blog, there's no void of media coverage on the greedy, self-gratifying and (dare I say...yes I'll say it...) UNSCRUPULOUS issues in legal education and the legal profession. When insiders take action to correct the stereotypes, misconceptions and sometimes genuine faults of the field the media needs to it too.

Now, I'm a budding journalist, and I realize good news is often hard to sell. (Count the number of positive stories on the front pages of the top media websites). But...if we thoroughly publicize the good, bad and ugly...the stories will sell themselves.

So, I say, kudos to Dean Rothenberg for acknowledging the ills in legal education and offering support to programs that remedy them.

14 June 2008

Law School Static

Stanford Law, stating the obvious, has decided to abandon letter grading for a more, emotion/sanity-friendly pass/fail scoring system.

I'm torn, folks. This makes me happy, because the unnecessary pressure and hazing that occurs in many law schools has made headlines. However - comma- I'm a tad jealous that students considering Stanford Law do not have to think about the berating they might receive from fellow students that walk around with their gpa and class rank in a key chain view finder. Well, maybe that's extra, but you get my point.

Since education is central to success for most Americans, issues that face all students should make the news. But, often, when law students receive media coverage, it's for racism, classism, sexism, alcoholism and [insert your fave -ism here].

So, why am I jealous? It would have aleviated a great deal of stress in my first-year, had I only needed to grasp the material instead of concerning myself with the ellusive A. Since I don't have the frame worthy gpa or class rank, I'm not concerned with letter grades at the present; because if I've learned anything in my 2.5 years in law school its that all achievement is relative...save passing the bar.

03 June 2008

Ascared

Since I've been working on this bedbug story, I've not slept more than 4 hours straight. I'd like bedbugs to die and never return.

Have you ever worked a second job you now regret?