Monthly Archives: July 2007

New Endowed Scholarship Fund

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

I don't blog most donations to the law school — this isn't a PR blog — but these guys are longtime supporters of the local NPR station and it feels like I've heard their sponsorship announcement a million times on morning radio. It's nice to learn they are our alumni and that they remember us fondly and that they are supporting our students.

University of Miami School of Law Alumni Support Scholarships for Students: University of Miami alumni Jay Shapiro and Robert Weissler presented the School of Law with a generous gift for an endowed scholarship recently. Shapiro and Weissler are shareholders at the Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson Endowed Scholarship Fund.” Each scholarship will be provided to a rising second year and third year student based on merit and financial need on an annual basis.

The scholarships will be named the “Jay B. Shapiro/Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson Endowed Scholarship Fund” and the “Robert I. Weissler/Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson Endowed Scholarship Fund.” Each scholarship will be provided to a rising second year and third year student based on merit and financial need on an annual basis.

“I'm very pleased to be able to give something back to the UM Law School, to which I owe a large part of my professional success,” stated Shapiro. “It is important for all UM law alumni to support the law school in its efforts to attract and retain the highest caliber students.”

“Our firm's many graduates of UM Law School exemplify the exceptional quality and creativity in the legal work that is afforded to our clients,” said Weissler. “I am committed to support and financially provide for the success of future graduates of the Law School.”

Messrs Shapiro and Weissler, we thank you.

Posted in U.Miami | Comments Off on New Endowed Scholarship Fund

Best Wishes to Bar Exam Takers

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Best wishes to all UM students taking the bar exam today. It's a rotten experience, but unavoidable if you want to practice law.

I recall a few aspects of the two-day New York Bar exam vividly, although most is now mercifully forgotten. I remember on day two, the essays, discovering that I suddenly couldn't recall which way the mailbox rule worked. Fortunately, all the questions about it had been on day one. (Why I was thinking about it, if there wasn't a question, I don't now recall.)

And I remember my joy on day two when the complex, but do-able, wills and estates question concluded with the instruction “FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS ESSAY IGNORE ALL ESTATE TAX QUESTIONS” — a great source of happiness as estate tax was the one (minor) subject (of, I think, 17 “minor” subjects and six “major” subjects) where I had completely failed to understand the review lecturer or the books, and one that remains largely undiscovered by me to this day.

And I remember thinking as I walked out — “I may not have to take another test ever again. Unless they make me take a driver's test again when I'm 70.” Strangely, it did not occur to me that had I failed this would not be true, even though I had no strong sense of how well or badly I had done, other than I had felt prepared for the questions.

And indeed, I passed. And so, I trust will my former students.

So far, I have avoided having to take any further tests, although I have not at all avoided further forms.

Previous relevant postings: Anyone Can Fail the Bar Exam — but really, don't panic — and Bar Pass Rates are Over-Rated As A Measure of Law School Quality.

Posted in Law School | Comments Off on Best Wishes to Bar Exam Takers

Everybody’s Doing It

Posted on July 21, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Bill Clinton has a blog.

Posted in Blogs | 5 Comments

I’d Really Rather Hear About Her Healthcare Plan

Posted on July 20, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Much that is rancid about the state of mainstream American journalism is exemplified by this article in today's Washington Post, Hillary Clinton's Tentative Dip Into New Neckline Territory, which begins,

There was cleavage on display Wednesday afternoon on C-SPAN2. It belonged to Sen. Hillary Clinton.

It's enough to make you shrill.

Posted in Politics: US: 2008 Elections | 4 Comments

I Get The Oddest Emails

Posted on July 20, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

In addition to the hundreds of spams with foreign character sets and/or random texts designed to overwhelm spam filters, in addition to the phishing and the pills and the various ads, I also get a lot of mail from PR and advertising lists I never subscribed to. Much of it is political, created by people trying to push info to bloggers. Some of it, the more welcome part, is academic — calls for papers or conference announcements. But some of it is inexplicable. Take this example from today's inbox:

Attached, please find CAPWIP's Invitation and Information Sheet for the forthcoming 8th Training on “Making Governance Gender Responsive (MGGR)”, which will be held on November 12-19, 2007 in Manila, Philippines.

How, I wonder, did I get on that list? It's a good cause, I'm sure, but I'm not going to Manila for a week of it.

Posted in Internet | Comments Off on I Get The Oddest Emails

Internet Radio Hangs by a Thread

Posted on July 20, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Copyfight: the politics of IP has the gory details at When is a Reprieve Not a Reprieve..

The music didn't die last week. But now it's being subject to carefully calibrated extortion.

Posted in Internet | Comments Off on Internet Radio Hangs by a Thread