Monday, January 30, 2012

MBA or JD?

One business executive makes a compelling case for B-School.  (Apparently, it's too cumbersome to say "business school.")  Click here to see the hilarious video.       

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Book Review—The Management Myth: Debunking Modern Business Philosophy

As far as employment went, I somewhat enjoyed financial analysis and accounting-related work.  But what drove me out of the business environment and into law school was the intellectually hollow corporate babble that seemed to invade most aspects of the job.  There was the constant talk of “driving the business,” the prodding to “think outside the box,” and even the brilliance of “management by walking around.”  (They seriously called it that, and management gurus made a fortune selling it to brain-dead business leaders.)  And of course, any employee who refused to place his faith in the latest management buzzwords and catchphrases, and instead questioned the underlying thinking, was not being “a team player.”  Fortunately, in response to all of this stupidity, Matthew Stewart has written what should be mandatory reading for everyone in the corporate world: The Management Myth: Debunking Modern Business Philosophy.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Keep your hands off the meat

Criminal defendants are often shocked when they wind up in jail or even prison for minor transgressions.  In such cases, their crimes run the gamut from negligent and strict liability crimes (where there is no criminal intent and often no direct or indirect harm to anyone) to small-time property offenses (where the financial harm is very minimal).  The best example of harsh punishment for property crimes can be found in California, where the Golden State’s infamous three-strikes-and-you’re-in program often puts petty shoplifters behind bars for decades or even for life.  But Wisconsin is no slouch either, as one criminal defendant recently found out the hard way.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Tic Toc, Pro Se Defendant

If you're interested in criminal law but you're not yet following Michael O'Hear's Life Sentences Blog, well, tic toc.  Check out his latest post describing how a pro se defendant got caught up in a maze of state and federal law and narrowly missed a filing deadline with disastrous results.  The post -- titled Delay in Criminal Procedure: What's Good for the Goose Is . . . Well, Never Mind -- has a nice ironic twist, too, which makes it well worth the read.  It is also cross-posted here on the Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog.  

Saturday, January 14, 2012

A satirical take on college bowl games: Area doctor launches “Don’t Overeat Bowl”

Bowl games aren’t just for the big corporations and not-for-profits anymore.  Area doctor Joseph Mathew has just announced the Joseph Mathew Dont Overeat Bowl, which will be played next year after the PoppaJohns.com Bowl and before the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.  The Dont Overeat Bowl will be held in Springfield Memorial Park Stadium, located in Dr. Mathews’ home town of Springfield, Illinois, and will feature the sixth team from the Big Ten "Leaders" Division versus the fourth team from the Sun Belt Conference.  

What if the BCS was more like the ABA? Goodbye ACC; hello BSU.

Two of my favorite subjects are legal education and college football.  And, as it turns out, the two might have an interesting commonality.  In legal education, membership in the American Bar Association (ABA) makes or breaks a school.  If a school is an ABA member, its graduates are qualified to take the bar exam of any state, and the school has a chance to be a national player in legal education.  Similarly, in college football, membership in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is the gold standard.  Why?  Because when a school wins a BCS conference’s regular season title, it gets an automatic bid to a BCS bowl game—the Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Rose, or national title game.  This translates into incredible prestige and, possibly but not always, money.  So what does all of this mean for schools that are not ABA or BCS members?  Simply put, non-ABA and non-BCS schools are second-class citizens in their respective peer groups and find themselves on the outside looking in.  But what would happen if, with regard to membership, the BCS was just a little more like the ABA?     

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Prosecutor babble and double-speak

By now, most people have heard of the Wisconsin prosecutor who threatened to criminally charge school teachers for teaching sex-ed classes, even though parents could opt their children out of the sex-ed program, and even though the sex-ed program itself had been approved by the state legislature.  But not all prosecutors take this anti-legislature approach; some will justify their acts, no matter how absurd, by attempting to align themselves with the legislature.  That is, if the legislature fails to specifically forbid the bizarre, unimaginable thing they want to accomplish, then, they reason, their actions must be acceptable.  That’s the tactic a different Wisconsin prosecutor used to justify charging a six-year-old child with felony sexual assault for "playing doctor" with a five-year-old.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Technically, That’s Illegal: A Blog and a Book

Ridiculous laws can be interesting and fun to read about.  But the fact is that they are not anomalous; rather, they engulf us all.  From people being detained for taking pictures of law enforcement officers or pictures with “no aesthetic value” (as determined by law enforcement officers), to people being imprisoned for failing to sod their lawn, to teenagers being forced to register as sex-offenders for typical teen shenanigans, author Ann Sattley demonstrates that we’re all at risk for detention, formal arrest, conviction of a crime, or even worse.  If you want to be entertained—or possibly infuriated—by our multiple levels of overreaching government, check out her blog, “Technically, That’s Illegal,” along with her book by the same name.  You’ll be happy—or possibly angry—that you did.

Monday, January 2, 2012

The Law School Tuition Bubble: A Blog

Happy arbitrary point in space-time—or, if you prefer, happy New Year.  While aimlessly surfing the web yesterday, I stumbled across a true gem: “The Law School Tuition Bubble: An Amateurly Illustrated Think Tank of One.”  This blog is published by fellow Marquette University Law School graduate Matt Leichter.  (I don’t know Matt, and he graduated several years after I did.)  Matt does a tremendous job covering a wide range of issues including, obviously, the law school tuition bubble.  In two of my favorite posts, Matt explains why law school is so expensive, and also points out the flaws with a recent New York Times editorial on legal education.  His blog is a must read for anyone interested in law school or the legal profession.  Enjoy!