In this episode... Judge Lisa Margaret Smith , Magistrate Judge, Southern District of New York and Professor Michael Mushlin , Elisabeth Haub School of Law share their experience jointly teaching their 1L Civil Procedure class with a courtroom component. The program gives the students a flavor of the practical aspects of civil procedure and a context within which to grasp doctrinal concepts. Their approach supplements the traditional casebook materials and typical Socratic teaching method used i...
Dec 17, 2019•33 min•Ep. 92
In this episode… Ryan Williams , of Mitchell Hamline School of Law and a member of the Kaplan Bar Prep faculty, explains subject matter jurisdiction. About our guest… Professor Williams is a Yale University and Georgetown Law graduate, specializing in Civil Procedure, Torts and Bar preparation. He currently teaches at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, and as a bar exam expert lecturer for Kaplan. He has also published numerous articles on national security, and in 2014 was named one of the top law...
Dec 10, 2019•19 min•Ep. 91
In this episode… Today’s episode is a viewer request. I was asked to create a podcast on summary judgment and went right to the expert, Ryan Williams , of Mitchell Hamline School of Law and a member of the Kaplan Bar Prep faculty. In this episode, he clearly explains summary judgment in a way that will be sure to help you excel on exams. Some key takeaways are: 1. Summary judgment is a tool for courts to dispose of a case without holding a trial. 2. A party is granted summary judgment if in ligh...
Dec 03, 2019•22 min•Ep. 90
In this episode... We speak with law school observer and law student Kayla Molina , a 2L at the University of Oklahoma School of Law. Kayla tweets under the handle @canpanicnow . Her tweets are clever, very clever but are also encouraging to law students. As a 1L Kayla tweeted about issues that concerned her. creating a community beyond that of her law school. As a first-generation law student, she took to Twitter to expand her community. And it has truly expanded, with lawyers, professors, and ...
Nov 26, 2019•26 min•Ep. 89
In this episode... We speak with Los Angelos based attorney Gordon Firemark, about the practice of Entertainment Law. Some key takeaways are... Network with entertainment lawyers to make key connections Build your brand by posting about interesting entertainment law topics Take tax law! Mr. Firemark offers a great internship opportunity to work with him on his podcast. Listen for details at the end of the show. About our guest... Gordon Firemark helps artists, writers, producers, and directors a...
Nov 19, 2019•23 min•Ep. 88
In this episode… Professor Allen Rostron , the Associate Dean of Students, William R. Jacques Constitutional Law Scholar and Professor of Law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Law, explains the First Amendment as it relates to freedom of speech and provides an outstanding analytical framework for those challenged with answering a free speech question on an exam or the bar. Some key takeaways are... Speech is both verbal and non-verbal communication and includes images, instru...
Nov 12, 2019•30 min•Ep. 87
In this episode... Michael Morley , Associate Professor of Law at Florida State University College of Law , explains the essentials of election law. This episode is a must listen to for any student of election law and incredibly informative for those who just want to learn a little bit more about our electoral process, our electoral history and the meaning of Citizens United v. The Federal Election Commission . Some key takeaways are... The right to vote is not absolute. If the burden on the rig...
Nov 05, 2019•37 min•Ep. 86
In this episode... Ann Lipton , the Michael M. Fleishman Associate Professor of Business Law and Entrepreneurship at Tulane Law School explains how to evaluate whether a financial product is a security and therefore subject to securities law regulations. Some key takeaways are... 1. Stocks and Bonds are securities. 2. Securities are subject to disclosure regulations unless they fall into legislated exceptions. 3. To avoid securities regulation requirements companies and individuals try to disgui...
Oct 29, 2019•16 min•Ep. 85
In this episode... I speak with Pamela Davidson, Esq ., Director of Legal Recruitment with Special Counsel, about her book, 100 Days to Your Next Job for Law Students and New JDs Some key takeaways are... Shop for your dream job on Indeed.com or other recruitment sites. "Law is a career of service and lawyers love to give back." Take advantage and Network. Ask for Help. Check out the Ted Talk on How to Ask For Help and Get a Yes. About our guest... Pamela Davidson, Esq. is a Director of Legal Re...
Oct 22, 2019•28 min•Ep. 84
In this episode... Marjorie Kornhauser , the John E. Koerner Professor of Law Emerita at Tulane Law School, gives her top reasons why every student should take a tax class while in law school. Some key takeaways are... You don't need to know math to excel in a tax class. There are tax implications in almost every area of law practice. Without tax our government can't provide any services to its citizens. About our guest... Professor Marjorie Kornhauser is a renowned tax scholar who has published...
Oct 15, 2019•34 min•Ep. 83
In this episode.... Steve Schwartz , LSAT tutor and author of the LSAT Blog shares the 5 Myths about studying for the LSAT and explains the proper approach to assure LSAT success. Some key takeaways are: Five to six months is the ideal amount of study time to ace the LSAT. Take the LASER approach to studying for the LSAT: Learning, Accuracy, Sections, Exam and Review. Practice with real official LSAT questions. About our guest… Steve Schwartz is a full-time author, teacher, and founder of the LS...
Oct 11, 2019•17 min•Ep. 82
In this episode… Lawrence Levine , Director of the Summer Program in Salzburg and Professor of Law at McGeorge School of Law explains the Tort concept of Res Ipsa Loquitur. Some key takeaways are… Res ipsa loquitur is a type of circumstantial evidence for proving negligence. To prove res ipsa loquitur one must show: The harm would not have happened but for a negligent act The defendant most likely had control over the instrumentality that caused the harm Do not get intimidated by latin phrases. ...
Oct 08, 2019•23 min•Ep. 81
In this episode, Christine Coughlin , Professor of Legal Writing at Wake Forest Law School , shares tips for success on the open memorandum of law. Some key takeaways are... Clear thinking will lead to clear writing. Research is a recursive process Set a personal due date a few days before the final due date Your grade on the closed memorandum does not necessarily predict your grade on the open memorandum or on your exams About our guest... Professor Coughlin is a multiple-award winning teacher,...
Sep 24, 2019•26 min•Ep. 80
In this episode... Professor Leslie Garfield Tenzer explains the four levels of intent within the Model Penal Code ("MPC"): Purposeful, Knowingly, Recklessly, and Negligently. It goes one to provide context for understanding their differences. Some key takeaways are... One is purposeful when it is their goal to accomplish the harm One acts knowingly when it is not their goal but they are pretty darn certain their conduct will cause the harm. One acts recklessly when they are personally aware of ...
Sep 24, 2019•15 min•Ep. 78
In this episode... John Humbach , Professor of Law at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law discusses the notion that crime is caused by culpable mental states (such as intentions) and describes how criminal justice could be different if we stopped focusing so much on assigning "blame" and paid more attention to how we can best prevent crimes from happening in the first place. Some key takeaways... 25% of American adults have criminal records. 30% are of young people are arrested by the time they are...
Sep 24, 2019•37 min•Ep. 79
In this episode... Andrea Armstrong , Law Visiting Committee Distinguished Professor of Law at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law explains how to evaluate the constitutionality of a stop and a frisk. Professor Armstrong centers her discussion on Terry v. Ohio and provides an essential understanding of both the law and its background. Some key takeaways are... Police may not detain persons absent reasonable suspicion. Courts define reasonable suspicion as specific and articulable facts ...
Sep 17, 2019•36 min•Ep. 77
In this episode... Chris Fromm, Executive Director of Institutional and Supplemental Programs at Kaplan Bar Review and Kaplan Bar Review and adjunct Professor at Hastings Law School explains Hearsay law. He has passed the bar exam in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon and Hawaii. Professor Fromm heads all educational aspects of Kaplan’s Institutional Programs, from hiring and training new lecturers to developing curriculum for more than a dozen schools and over 1000 st...
Sep 10, 2019•44 min•Ep. 76
In this episode... Mike Cohn, Founder and President of Berkley Development shares his own journey out of the law. He begins with a fateful phone call that took him out of the litigation practice he spent three years preparing for and into real estate, a practice area he knew nothing about, but ended up being ideal. Mike has the benefit of perspective and shares with us his first-hand understanding that one’s first job out of law school is likely to look nothing like the jobs you hold down the ro...
Sep 03, 2019•40 min•Ep. 75
In this episode... Ellie Margolis , Professor of Law at the Beasley Law School at Temple University discusses some common pitfalls students face in their legal writing and analysis classes. We share a deep respect for legal writing and agree that legal writing courses are among the most important and most relevant classes you will take while in law school. Some key takeaways are: Don’t wait until the last minute to write your paper. A good memorandum requires revisions. Don’t be adversarial, be ...
Aug 27, 2019•33 min•Ep. 74
In this episode... Michael Mushlin, Professor at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, responds to one of the most perplexing issues for law students: How do the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure fit within the Civil Procedure class framework. This episode is essential for any student studying Civil Procedure. Some key takeaways are: The Rules Cover the Waterfront (that they apply to everything) The Rules are Indecipherable (that you can't read them even if you try) The Rules are D...
Aug 20, 2019•31 min•Ep. 73
In this episode... We speak with legal writing authority, and professional treasure Bryan Garner about his most recent book, Garner's Guidelines for Drafting and Editing Contracts , published by West Academic. Some key takeaways... Unlike most legal writing, contract writing is about the future; it guides parties about what will happen next in their relationship with each other. Precision matters in contract writing. Precise writing will create unmistakably and help to avoid conflict in the futu...
Aug 13, 2019•28 min•Ep. 72
In this episode… Renee Allen, Assistant Professor of Legal Writing at St. John’s School of Law, explains the most fundamental concept of exam writing; IRAC. IRAC stands for Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion and it is the ideal framework for thinking about legal issues, writing legal memorandum, and most important to law students, Some key takeaways are: 1. The A in IRAC gets the most points on an exam 2. When answering an exam, always explain the “why.” Why does this fact matter to proving your ...
Aug 06, 2019•27 min•Ep. 71
In this episode ... Katherine MacFarlane, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Idaho School of Law explains the importance of securing necessary accommodations in law school and how to make certain your needs are met. Some key takeaways... "There is a place for students with disabilities within the law" Law School accommodations are awarded prospectively not retrospectively. Students are encouraged to ask for accommodations, your school will decide if the accommodation is reasonable. ...
Jul 30, 2019•30 min•Ep. 70
In this episode... We speak with a former student, Mani Tafuri. Now as a new attorney, Mani found himself in the middle of a very personal legal fight. Police in upstate New York charged one of his closest friends for the murder of the 12-year-old son of a former girlfriend. The legal challenges that followed were remarkable, both the racial bias that grew from the case and the constitutional violations. The case was of such import and interest that it is now the subject of an HBO documentary, W...
Jul 23, 2019•29 min•Ep. 69
In this episode... Margaret Hannon , Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Michigan School of Law discusses the all-important case brief, including the parts of the brief, how to brief a case, and the relationship of the case brief to the court system. Some key takeaways are: Case briefs are personal to the person briefing them, no judgment Cases for law school are edited, briefs found on the internet might not reflect the edited version of a case in the case book. Reasoning i...
Jul 23, 2019•32 min•Ep. 67
In this episode ... Orin Kerr, Professor of Law, Berkeley Law School, explains how to read a legal opinion. The episode is an exploration of Prof. Kerr's essential article, How To Read A Legal Opinion: A Guide For New Law Students , 11 Greenbag 2d 51 (2007). Professor Kerr discusses the parts of a brief, what aspects of a case matter to a law professor and emphasizes the need for learning the new language of the law. He acknowledges his own struggles with case law reading when he began law schoo...
Jul 23, 2019•25 min•Ep. 68
In this episode... Abigail Perdue , Assistant Professor of Law at Wake Forest University School of Law discusses her new book, The All-Inclusive Guide to Judicial Clerking, from WestAcademic Publishing. A review of her book is available here. Some key takeaways... A judicial clerkship offers law graduates a life-changing opportunity to gain a unique, behind-the-bench perspective about judicial decision-making. Many clerkship opportunities exist, so you can still obtain one even if you don't atte...
May 21, 2019•29 min•Ep. 66
In this episode... Lawrence Lessig , Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School discusses his newest book, Fidelity and Constraint: How the Supreme Court Has Read the American Constitution. In his book, Professor Furman discusses the challenges Supreme Court Justices face when interpreting our "ancient' Constitution in modern times. In this discussion, Professor Lessig explains what he means by fidelity to the role of judicial decision making and explains that Supreme Co...
May 14, 2019•27 min•Ep. 65
In this episode... We speak with Pace Law Review Editor in Chief, Samantha Mumola, and rising Charleston Law School 2L and member of Resolve: The Law Journal on Dispute Resolution, Ainissa Proctor, acknowledging the hassle of participating in a law journal competition at the end of 1L exams yet enthusiastically endorsing the importance of joining a review or journal when possible. Some key takeaways... You only have one chance to try out for a law journal, don't miss it. When deciding who to cho...
May 07, 2019•21 min•Ep. 64
In this episode... Dean Michelle Simon interviews Leslie Garfield Tenzer, on Products Liability. Both of whom are professors of law at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. Some key takeaways... Plaintiff has three different causes of action for claims when a product harms a consumer or user: Negligence Strict Liability (402a) Breach of Warranty Design Defect Manufacturing Defect Failure to Warn - As always, if you have any suggestions for an episode topic, please let us know! You...
Apr 30, 2019•12 min•Ep. 63
