Looking Ahead

Well, I survived (arguably) my appellate brief presentation. I suppose it wasn’t a complete fiasco but it definitely qualified as “severely impeded in the general execution.” Basically I was nervous and jittery while performing from my prepared script, but all three judges said I absolutely nailed all the questions they threw at me, and one even noted that I brought up a response that he hadn’t heard from any other student that made him examine the issue in a different way. So... you win some, you lose some, I suppose.

I also managed to weasel my way into all the courses I wanted... kind of. They made a few last-minute adjustments to the times that left me with a major time conflict. As a result, I won’t be taking Patent Law as previously planned, but I suppose that’s good because I will have the opportunity to take an entire semester of Intro to Intellectual Property, thus enabling me to form an educated decision on whether I actually wish to pursue that specialization. I don’t want to box myself into something prematurely, as I did in undergrad.

So, here’s the lineup. I played it safe and signed up for five courses, so I’ll be able to select which to drop at my leisure after intense deliberation:

- Introduction to Intellectual Property: a thorough introduction and survey of intellectual property law regimes in the United States. The course will focus on the major statutory and common law schemes for protecting intellectual property, including patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret law. Although these protection schemes will be discussed sequentially, the course will highlight the common structure, principles and rationales that apply across these fields.

- Civil Procedure II: This course covers basic material regarding jurisdiction and conflict of laws and provides necessary background for many advanced litigation courses. Subjects covered include personal jurisdiction, subject matter jurisdiction, removal, supplemental jurisdiction, Erie doctrine, and federal common law. Introductory conflict of laws issues, such as the problem of what law to apply when a case contains out-of-state elements or has some connection with another jurisdiction, will also be covered.

- Income Taxation: This course provides a survey of the federal income tax. The materials focus upon the following problem areas: (a) the constitutional, statutory, and judicial standards for determining gross income; (b) determination of allowable deductions for both business and nonbusiness expenses; (c) methods of accounting for income and deductions; (d) determination of gain or loss upon the sale or other disposition of property and the classification thereof as ordinary income or loss, or capital gain or loss; and (e) the identification of the taxable person in situations where attempts are made to split or shift the burden of the income tax within family groups.

- Business Associations I: the foundational course in the corporate series. Topics include a general introduction; creation of agency and partnership; formation of the corporation, including limited liability and veil piercing; introduction to partnership governance and dissolution; close corporation governance and dissolution; introduction to LLCs and other business entities; governance of the publicly held corporation, including proxy regulation; authority of corporate managers and partners; and fiduciary duties of managers.

- Evidence: Evidence is a prerequisite for several courses, and therefore generally should be elected in the second year. This course examines the principles that regulate the process of proving facts at trial. The course begins with an examination of relevancy, and with the limitations upon the receipt of relevant evidence, which are imposed for purely practical reasons or for reasons of extrinsic policy. The limitations include, for example, rules about the admissibility of character evidence and rape shield laws. The course then examines in great detail the Hearsay Doctrine, with consideration of its constitutional underpinnings in criminal cases. Also considered at some length are the more important exceptions to the Doctrine, which permit receipt of hearsay evidence that is considered for one reason or another to be reliable or essential. The course also examines the competency of witness and the process of testing witness credibility, taking up cross-examination and the detailed and complex rules that permit and also restrict impeachment. The course typically also considers certain aspects of the adversary process that allocate the burdens of production and persuasion or obviate the need for proof. These include judicial notice, presumptions, and the conventions and Constitutional doctrines that allocate burdens of persuasion in criminal cases. Finally, the course considers the presentation of expert testimony and scientific evidence, authentication of documents and other physical evidence, and the Best Evidence Doctrine. Some sections of the course also take up briefly the subject of privileges, especially the ones governing the attorney-client and spousal relationships. Some sections include a brief study of the constitutional privilege against self-incrimination as well.

So... we’ll see. All the guide books say the first semester as a 2L is absolutely jam-packed because you spend most of your time trying to procure a position for the upcoming summer, which usually turns into the job you maintain after graduation; thus, you’re supposed to take general courses for which a plethora of study guides exist, enabling you to miss classes on occasion to visit firms and such. Just thinking about the whole process makes me sick to my stomach, although lately it doesn’t take much.

In other local news, spring has officially sprung. The emerald-hued glass is now completely saturated with proud little yellow pufts of dandelions, and all the cherry (or apple, or whatever) trees have popped to life in massive, bright clouds of brilliant cotton-candy pink and rich magenta. At 1:30 it’s already 79 and last night we didn’t reach peak temperature until 5:30...