Archive for category Law
Lazy Sundays
For the next year – and hopefully two more! – I’ll be in law school. For that time keeping in close touch will be very hard, but thanks to iphones and web 2.0 or 3.0 or whatever they’re calling it these days you should still be able to reach me if you would really like to.
Your best bet for a timely response is one of these three, and man, I will try my damndest not to seem like I’m ignoring you.
1) bert dot forsythe at gmail dot com
2) facebook messages
3) voicemail
I’ll probably still idle on meebo for quick talks (gchat is best) but if it becomes too distracting it may get the axe. Sundays, though, will be days of rest.
Thus I hope to hear from you on Sundays. And I hope to make you proud, and see you on the other side 
Big, cool, legal issues
Vince Zampella and Jason West v Activision
As the game market continues to explode with major publishers consolidating at an equally astonishing clip, what representation will creative talent need in the industry of tomorrow? Although as they grow Activision and EA are becoming increasingly vilified by gamers and workers alike, what hard lessons and growing pains from similarly evolving industries like publishing, film, and music can be mitigated?
By now anyone who doubts the game industry’s stature beside these and other entertainment industries is like Rand Paul categorically arguing against the Civil Rights Act on national TV. Sports agent, acting agent, game dev agent? They don’t customarily have representation before employment now but they do have lawyers after incidents. Wouldn’t the former be a better alternative?
All the implications of that Internet
Within the past few days, Wikileaks has released tons of confidential US military documents. How will and can they be pursued legally (haven’t been able to load the site at all today!)? What rights to access such information are emerging in the age? Episodes like this definitely seem unstoppable within the current framework, but maybe a new and more capable one could be forthcoming. Maybe not, and if not, there will need to be new tools to minimize and control the effects.
On Facebook, etc: It seems like a privacy violation story breaks weekly after social networks make minor tweaks to their settings. Privacy is one of the most interesting and elusive legal issues (sup penumbrae) and takes on a whole new form with so much traditionally private information being digitized and transferred all over the place.
And the big monetization question ever lurks. I love how, related to my first point, microtransaction based games are proving richly profitable for networks while the results of ads, except for Google’s case, have been modest. iTunes music and apps have set a new precedent that Hulu is tweaking, yet the majority of rights holders resist and resist. New ideas cometh and helping them blossom sounds very exciting.
Telecom was a monopoly
But is it still? The business model and operations still reek of single or dual party control of the majority of the industry. We see it in high-profile, controversial cases involving iPhone exclusivity or Google Voice and voip alternatives to staggeringly priced voice plans. But it could be argued that there is much more; ingrained attitudes and corporate culture directly from the Ma Bell days lurk, creaky craft union organization is expensively applied to retail store and call center workers, and competitors like Wimax and Lightsquared are chipping away despite having a hard time before.
Hopeful that I can work on big, cool issues.
Birmingham todo list
- Hill Sprints: I already know the two hills at mom’s and dad’s that I will be using to run sprints for my main workout. Welcome back to freshman year soccer conditioning.
- Family Reunion: Aside from the explicit reunion happening July 4th weekend, I want to visit as many relatives as possible. I am becoming an uncle, which is both unbelievable and exciting. Being in school will be rough on the family life, so now is my best opportunity to reforge some bonds.
- Lean Meat: 40/40/20 Protein/Fat/Carb. Need to learn some recipes to carry into law school.
- Vacation: Birmingham itself will be a vacation, but trips are planned to Tybee Island to tan and Nashville to grovel.
- Long Lost Friends: I miss my beloved Birmingham friends, some whom I haven’t met with since around high school. If all goes well the schedule will be rife with reunions and reminiscence.
- Regimen Prep: Falling asleep two hours after going to bed at 2am on days I’ve made irresponsible sleep choices is becoming more and more intolerable. Circadian realignment is at the top of the agenda starting around the middle of July. Reading for more than 30 minutes to an hour per day is a must as well. And don’t even think about catching up on games, me.
Mens sea in corpore sano
Chicago in June with some thoughts on MMO’s
The Waiting Game
Two waitlists, one committed accept ($$) and one reserve (huh?) still comprise law school results. I ought to hear from Cornell within a week or less and may visit Nashville early in July, but I will start planning concretely to move to Boston around July 15.
Law hasn’t taken up too much time thus far this summer. A History of American Law is still in the works but I should be finishing up very soon. A lot of it is interesting, some parts are spinachy. Most of my to-do list going in has more to do with habits and discipline than reading over subject matter, but I’ll definitely go for one or two more law books before August.
June in Chicago
Andrew has left and most everyone is working or studying, so things have been quiet this week. Earlier I raced Gilbert to 242 stars on SMG2 then, to fill a gap, chased down victory on Shining Force 2 off a tip from both him and my brother.
New Game List
All this gaming has inspired me to reorganize my favorite games, especially because what’s come out recently has started to shine like the old school hits. In molding and discussing it I found three key distinctions.
First, over a long time some games lose their appeal (Age of Empires, Cyber Speedway, Fifa World Cup 2002) while others do not (Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger). The properties of games and design decisions that go into them that ensure timelessness are very nebulous and can vary from person to person, time to time, and genre to genre, but personally, in the present they include some or all of these four qualities: 1) Sentimentally memorable or storyline-rich 2) Rich in shared personal experiences or meaning multiplayer episodes 3) Masterfully and memorably scored 4) Brilliant by toying with the boundaries of a genre or experimenting with new mechanics.
Second, getting started with the list pretty much revolved around my Final Fantasy order. I used some rough subjective input followed by averaging for the lower 60 games, and hand ordered the top 30 or so. VI (1), IV (3), T (4), VII (6), XI (12), VIII (15), I (24), IX (27), XII (59), XIII (82), X (83), V (93), II (99), III (100) was the outcome. X-2 didn’t make it.
Third, I had a tough time deciding where MMO’s fit in. Previously they were all easy to jam at the top because of my utter enchantment a la Everquest. At that time I had not fully plunged myself into one for an expansion or two worth of content. Now that I have they are no longer the greatest thing in the world as I have learned there are dire tradeoffs involved in playing.
MMO’s are thus demoted from the indisputable lead and enshrined roughly between the pantheon and the legendary games. During their peak I traded intellectual stimulation, job security, and amazing friends for a very satisfying gaming experience, the opportunity to be the very best at something, and another pool of amazing friends. Sadly, I must have judged that that trade was worth it at the time.
Now, years later, I have little to show for the gaming experience, realize that to be the very best at something that isn’t financially productive is a crushing mistake, and my pool of amazing friends has dwindled below where I wish it could be. That last one is the one that really matters, but I realized something when comparing COD4 and Halo 3 to MMO’s. All my friends from those FPS’es (finite, escapable console game) are still great friends and are doing fine or exceptionally in life. On the other hand, many from WoW, FFXI are either still involved and thus have no reason to talk to me, or have lost touch.
Based on my experience, then, I’ve really begun to think that MMO friendships built around hardcore play are illusory and ultimately destructive.
Anyhow
Check out the list and let me know what you think. Not sure if I’ll be writing extensively for each game like the last one but it feels good to have the new order hashed out.
The Summer of 10
Back in high school I’d fold a piece of loose-leaf into a thick rectangle and write my to do lists on them: “get permission form signed,” “math team 7am,” “read chapter 16 e. history,” etc. Fun fact: these 3×3 converted squares not only saved me money and clutter in silly planners, often required by OCD teachers whose mottoes resembled”GET ORGANIZED/GET CREATIVE!!!” but they were reusable up to 17 times, which gave that warm environmentalist feeling at an early age.
Anyway, I see a correlation between the time these went into use and my rise to success in that era. They really worked. And so I began this summer with a series of to-do lists on Evernote – easily the best free notepad that syncs across mobile platforms. Free version seems fine for text, just don’t do photos or videos or your monthly data quota will quickly expire and you’ll be asked to pay.
Then last night in quiet reflection before going to bed on time, a state I think I was afforded by the happy prospect of no plans to go into work, I decided to slightly alter the model into one of summer school. After all, my primary objective this summer’s to get ready for school. You know, avoid attachments to games, build up stamina to stay awake and alert in class, etc. Each thing I want to do is classified as a “course,” and the main function of this is to prevent overload by thinning out and making decisions to cut back when the amount approaches six or seven. So, in priority order:
1) Law
Books, books books. On the list are Getting to Maybe, A History of American Law and Takings, but I’d like to find a few more. And discovering something other than reading books that would productively and directly prepare or psych up would be lovely. Still though, there’s a limit to take into consideration here; I’d like to avoid things like prep classes and metagame heavier than that outlined in Getting to Maybe.
There are also some administrative things here that are a top priority: find a place, make sure there will be enough cash tucked away going in, plan the move, and on and on.
2) Exercise
Every day, no excuses. A couple of sessions with the personal trainer have thus far been amazing, and although it’s a very unsustainable practice financially, I’m thinking of seeing him two or three more times before Alabama in July to really hit it home.
3) Food
Oh how long has cooking been an object of my unattainable desire. Thanks weak excuses, you can leave now!
I’m organizing a list of mains, sides, desserts, lunches, breakfasts, and restaurants that I’d like to – no, WILL – complete this summer. Objectives here are very diverse: health-related, social, and budget are the keys.
4) Japanese
“Fluency or it didn’t happen.” This will be hard. Five-year plan. Starts now.
5) Rabidly Consume Media
Richard gifted me with a month of Netflix that I’m already almost positive I’ll be keeping. I’m also buying a WSJ iPad sub for June and July. There are also a few games like Red Dead Redemption (red alert) that look enjoyable. Lumping in the Chicago experience here will likely work – I’d like to make up for the nine months of living in the city yet spending more total time in the suburbs.
The rest?
Have you ever taken five meaty classes in one semester? That’s where the pressure always started for me, so I’ll have to make piano and golf and whatever other fancy things distant once-in-a-while doings.
Travel
05/12-06/24: Chicago
06/25-06/28: Vancouver
06/29: Chicago
06/30-07/14: Birmingham
07/15-08/01: Chicago, maybe
08/01: Law school town… ehh
Apartment space and time / inhaling the city
Having my own place in a great neighborhood in a wonderful city has not quite been the dream I imagined. But I would attribute the shortcoming not to choices I made on location and amenities, rather one small figure has made it a drag: free time/square feet.
I’d argue that for whatever reason, less free time and more space are mutually repellant; I feel like I’d be fine in a studio. I desperately want to have 1-3 months in this place to live, to make up for the 10 free-hour-weeks I’ve endured since leaving Westmont and the Honda.
Perhaps this setup prepares me well for school, because ideally I’ll read, write, and socialize away from home and merely use it as a place to crash.
By the way, law school is now a certainty. I am beginning to build the mental committment by breathing in Chicago to remember a huge motivational spark from the past year, discussing issues with mentors, and picturing myself there.
Know where yet? Should within a month, two tops.
Slight update, new RSS
Life
Weather has bottomed out, work has continued to flatline, law school news is still in limbo with both definitive defeats and incremental victories, gaming has moved back toward single player after BG WoW was saved (thank you Veri, Bus), health is embattled on sleep, gym, and diet fronts, and most importantly…
Family is great – I was able to visit my parents while on a visit to UA Law and had a really good time catching up and talking things over with them.
Subscriptions
I just added a few feeds of note to my RSS reader. Two are for the exploration of sensible economics, and one is for a new “gamer lawyer” track I am trying to envision and construct.
Chicago’s Becker-Posner Blog
Richard Epstein’s Forbes column
Lawyers in a Gamer’s World blog
Review/Reaction: The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court
On November 29, 2009, I finished my reading of Bob Woodward’s The Brethren, which I set out to read in order to form a more perfect understanding of law. My interest in the courts has grown enormously, therefore, I am immediately preparing a draft review for circulation.
Woodward
Knowing of Bob Woodward from his involvement in Watergate and then from his recent Bush book, I knew I was getting into a quality piece of writing. Woodward pieced together all of his sources to form a beautiful, descriptive narrative that flowed sequentially from the Warren-Burger transition to the resignation of Douglas and appointment of Stevens in the 1975 term. The author’s slant is obviously anti-Burger, but some of the suggestions that made him look like a dope seem to have been originated by the other Justices rather than Woodward himself.
I love how the book travels around the bench at key junctures at least once per term. That frequent exercise illuminated the way Justices operate, the way their ideologies are involved (or not) in decisions, and the way legal reasoning works in general.
History
The Brethren attuned me further to Nixon era history in that, for example, I watched the Nixon resignation speech for the first time. I saw Vietnam from an angle other than the protest or war zone settings that have comprised the extent of my exposure thanks to popular movies and documentaries. Perhaps most importantly to my future, I saw a slice of Court history almost completely ignorant of the surrounding eras. Sowell talked about the Warren court quite a bit so I had a conservative taste of Burger’s predecessor, but now I have my sights set on The Nine, the news, and any other recommendations you might have for a more complete understanding.
Court Practice
For all the times I’ve heard SCOTUS referred to as “a club” and for all the calls for its reform or abolishment I wasn’t too surprised at some of its secretive inner workings. But I was still shocked by how much power over the outcomes of so many lives a man like Earl Warren held. This influence, the impassioned opposition to it of court colleagues among any set of disagreeing justices, and then their camaraderie afterward and in general was hard to digest.
With respect to the rules, both de facto and de jure, I see many opportunities for FDR-like exploitation. Depending on some unlikely but possible circumstances some crazy outcomes could possibly be reached. Most notably, had Nixon stayed around and Douglas and Marshall both retired at the same time, say, Nixon would have had six appointees! In a more general sense the fluid and unarticulated nature of many of the court’s internal regulations is suspicious.
Issues
The main issues highlighted across the terms included are segregation enforcement, abortion, obscenity, the death penalty, Watergate and executive privilege, and mental illness. Not sure what may have been skipped over but these seemed like a representative sample of what mattered in the early seventies.
Key Takeaways
Number one: Supreme Court Justices, while they usually arrive at their station via a fiercely political process, seem to be some of the most independent-minded people in Washington. My major support here would have to come from Hugo Black, the deep south justice who tended to vote heavily on the left. Despite his already surprising, effectively anti-deep south philosophy, he still remained to what would politically be considered “the right” on issues like busing, a stance he took for actual, logical, legal reasons. Other polar justices doing the same on other issues and the centrist justices’ unpredictability confirm the feasibility of cultivating a flexible set of beliefs. I like this.
Number two: this stuff is cool. My desire to participate in the courts either as an appellate lawyer or clerk has risen ten-fold. Maybe approaching this aspiration with Vince Lombardi’s “strive for perfection settle for excellence” in mind could propel me a long way.
In any case, I’m happy for the recommendation given by Tom at Alabama Law’s Career Services and would recommend the book to anyone interested in either law school or what happened in the judiciary in the Nixon era.
My dastardly commute
Couldn’t really get a good plugin going for a sleek embedded slideshow so I ought to just link this. But will this link even work? Let me know!
(quickly, bump the seconds’ delay up to about 5 or 6): A few points along my commute
The route I took in these photos is my standard weekday morning commute. It usually runs from 7:45 to 9:30 and involves one express bus and one train. All the amazing reading I’ve accomplished thanks to this elongated trek along public transit has made it bearable, but it’s getting pretty grueling now that the cold has arrived.
Beyond the inconvenience and the weather lies what could have been and, more happily, what could and will be. Along this route and others I see places I aspire to live and work. 10 minutes in I pass the Diversey store, 15 the Sedgwick one, and 25 all of the loop locations. A few stops down the brown line, at Merchandise Mart, I once got off to interview with a Vandy alum at Kirkland & Ellis, a massive Chicago law firm. Their building is breathtaking. Accompanying this highly likely lovely possibility(!!!), on the La Salle bus I know I’m just a block away from Sidley Austin’s Chicago office as well.
Perhaps as the highest object of my aspiration, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals is right along my walk when I take weekend routes via Red.
All I have to do is dream,
dream,
dream,
and get into/kick ass at an amazing school. No pressure, man!
5 day, 5 week, 5 month, 5 year plan
One choice for a law school essay instructed applicants to describe how the particular school’s program would fit into their “five year plan.” I chose a separate essay, but ruminating on this question along with multiple other obsessive short, mid, and long-term plans inspired me to write this post. Being able to take stock of your plans on multiple dimensions like this can help stabilize your life if you ever feel that it’s random, chaotic, or otherwise directionless.
Five Days
Get my wind back, succeed in November at work
A couple of weeks ago, to avoid the winter lung attack and to get into shape Andrew and I committed to Lakeview Athletic Club for a year. So far every day has been a mix of struggle and victory, leading to feelings of wondrous exhaustion the following mornings. I’ve talked to many people about my goals and can’t really articulate them that well. But among them:
-Fit into a medium tee
-Lose the geek frame; reduce my thickness below the belly to thickness above ratio
-Have enough physical strength and energy to spill over into boosts for mentally exhausting tasks
Anyway, more concretely, for the next week I’d really like to get my wind back, get past that initial hurdle that makes you sickeningly sore every day, and start on an upward climb to some seriously ambitious goals.
With respect to numbers at work, last month was incredible. So far this month we need to pick it up as we’re hovering around a 100% (just meeting goal) trend, but my personal goal is to hit at least 110% for November and December so as to be competitive for a downtown transfer directly after the holidays.
Five Weeks
Survive the onset of winter, start climbing the wall, hear from more law schools, get a new job
Winter is going to be hell for me on days that my dear and generous coworker can’t give me a ride. It will indeed be the winter of my discontent. As another prolific wordsmith once said though, I will survive.
By climbing the wall I mean to gain enough upper body strength to effortlessly perform 10 pullups, or boulder a few pegs on the climbing wall. Should I hit this target my upper body should be on its way to shredded!
Anxiety is taking over re: law as two key letter writers have not yet sent their LORs. Once they’re in I’ll be submitted everywhere, but right now I’m only accepted at AL and pending at UT and BU. This is nerve wracking as the applicant pool almost certainly will be jam-packed. I don’t want to go to T14 for Biglaw, completely, rather I’d like to maximize my options geographically and with respect to sector and field.
Then, on the job front, I’d like to either be tutoring full-time or transferred to within an hour’s commute for AT&T. Either way, I hope that the holidays help me to amass cash to give me some freedom for the months leading into law school.
Five Months
Continue to develop a love for law, bench 250, meet new people, travel the country
Bob Woodward’s The Brethren has begun to radiate, and Toobin’s The Nine along with many more books and podcasts should follow. This stuff is very cool.
I moved downtown to meet new people, and although that end was crippled by my denial of transfer, the post-December outlook ought to allow for a lot more goings-out. In addition to meeting new people locally I’d love to move around and meet new potential classmates while visiting law schools, visit new and old friends before the onslaught, and stay connected with my dear family.
Five Years
Ah, the challenging one.
Here, overall, I’d like to reverse two trends: 1) apathy and lack of accomplishment academically and professionally 2) visions of grandeur with leisurely endeavors, like games (a sort of moderation in all things thing).
Attacking #1, I’d like to compete and thrive in law school, and find a calling that lends itself to adding value to society. Possibilities abound: environmental law, international trade/tax/relations, financial institutions, digital rights, and many more. Short-term, finding a few specific jobs that would match these arenas would be lovely.
On #2, I’d like to keep my ambitions for greatness in games buried as they have been for a while. Spreading the gaming royalty house over the next 25 or 30 years will keep things sustainable I suppose. Playing WoW sparingly if at all and finding reasonable, finite substitutes should keep the irresponsible play in check too. These are neatly intertwined: sacrificing FFXIV in law school should be a confirmation of my commitment to #1.
Of all these…
Everything is pretty firm save for a few things. I’ll definitely have to think more about the five year component, and may be considering a run at poker (with less than 5% of net cash as risk capital!) I want to game when it is valuable – with friends and at milestones like FFXIII. I want to cook. I want to get a piano and get into it. I want to not only brush up on but re-master Japanese as well. All the usual wishes reoccur, there’s just the problem of making time.