Laura Bergus

While it is definitely the cool thing for law students (like most students) to hate on their professors, I’m actually pretty psyched for next semester.  It’s true that the driving force behind this post is avoiding studying for this semester’s finals, but today was the last day of classes, so cut me some slack.

First, there will be Law in the Muslim World (*love* the website design).  I don’t think I’m interested in international/comparative law, which is precisely why I’m looking forward to this class.  I’ve found I learn more in classes I know less about, so this should be fun.  The professor, Adrien Wing, once wrote a paper called “Brief Reflections towards a Multiplicative Theory and Praxis of Being.”  I expect to be challenged.

On the flip side is Law of Electronic Media, taught by former FCC commissioner and public access (television, that is) super-advocate, Nick Johnson (again with the awesome website!).  Due to my background in local access TV and telecommunications generally, I will walk into this class thinking I know something.  Chances are, Professor Johnson will prove me utterly wrong.  Having read and referenced  several of Johnson’s writings over the years, I’m looking forward to being in this small class.

Then comes the one-two IP punch of Copyrights and Antitrust.  [Wait, are those both IP?  I thought IP meant "internet protocol"??]  These classes are back in the I-know-nothing-except-what-minimal-exposure-to-popular-culture-and-NPR-has-taught-me category.  I was excited to read the abstract to Professor Christina Bohannan’s recent paper and realize she’s interested in looking at how intellectual property law limits freedom of expression.  My perception is that a fair number of my classmates are more interested in learning how to protect (read: lock down, profit from, or stifle competition in the name of) IP of their future clients.  I’m interested to see if they or I end up disappointed.

Antitrust is taught by giant of the field (and Bohannan’s husband) Herbert Hovenkamp.  He was my Torts instructor last fall and was awfully nice to students.  Bohannan and Hovenkamp are also working on a book about how complex IP laws actually discourage innovation.

While I’m a bit sad to be leaving the pack of fellow students in Section 7 (they’re mostly taking Con Law II and Evidence), I’ll have the chance to make new friends.  Or, to sit in the front row and not meet anyone, like I usually do… But I honestly am looking forward to it.

By now everyone knows about the Iowa Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion invalidating our legislature’s gay marriage ban. This decision makes me proud to be an Iowan and reaffirms my inherent faith in humanity (and I say neither of these things lightly). While plenty in our state are already calling for a constitutional amendment (which Democratic governor Chet Culver said he is “reluctant” to entertain, and which is a rather drawn-out process, especially compared to California) and lamenting “activist judges,” I’ve been running across a fair amount of support for the validity of Varnum v. Brien [pdf] as the appropriate exercise of judicial discretion and a model opinion in its clarity of purpose. Some examples:

Constitutional Law Prof Blog
New York Times editorial
Religious Dispatches
Wall Street Journal “Why Gay Marriage Matters”
Since the Iowa ruling, Vermont and D.C. also took steps to recognize same-sex marriage.

A statement by Iowa’s Senate Majority Leader perhaps best sums up why I still stick up for Iowa:

“Iowa has always been a leader in the area of civil rights.

“In 1839, the Iowa Supreme Court rejected slavery in a decision that found that a slave named Ralph became free when he stepped on Iowa soil, 26 years before the end of the Civil War decided the issue.

“In 1868, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that racially segregated “separate but equal” schools had no place in Iowa, 85 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.

“In 1873, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled against racial discrimination in public accommodations, 91 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.

“In 1869, Iowa became the first state in the union to admit women to the practice of law.

“In the case of recognizing loving relationships between two adults, the Iowa Supreme Court is once again taking a leadership position on civil rights.”

Finally, as a law student, it was pretty awesome, albeit a little nerdy, to read an opinion of such historic relevance and 1) understand what’s going on from a procedural standpoint and 2) recall that I had a chance to meet the opinion’s author, Justice Mark Cady last fall at a dinner party at a professor’s house. Sweet.

I recently discovered that my school is one of only five ABA-accredited law schools that doesn’t belong to the consortium called CALI. CALI is the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction. Sounded right up my alley, so I looked a bit deeper and ended up feeling… pretty jealous. Thousands of law students – my peers across the country – have access to a steady stream of interactive lessons on many topics. Online, any time of day or night. From following CALI on Twitter I was introduced to more content– this free for anyone: webinars and online articles on seriously relevant topics like “Engaging Laptop Users” (for profs who know students spend more time on Facebook and IMing than on typing notes…) or using MediaNotes (a CALI program for tagging video for evaluation of mock trial, oral argument, etc.). Check out the Spotlights on their homepage for more.

Granted, CALI’s website looks like it was created in 1998 (oh, color scheme!…[though I should talk, since this blog's contrast is only readable on 1/2 of all LCD monitors]), and there seem to be two competing main sites? But what they’re doing and attempting is amazing: leading law schools along the path to adopting and utilizing modern technology in the classroom. Not for the sake of technology (like every PowerPoint presentation I sat through in college in the late 90s), but for the sake of more effectively delivering content and engaging participation with users who are eternally hunched behind their screens. I’m impressed and I hope my school and the other holdouts will see the value ($5,000 per year = <$9/student at my school) and give it try. We’re only about three decades behind the times, since CALI was incorporated in 1982…