A Columbia Law Student Blog - Three Years of Hell to Become the Devil

August 25, 2006

And like that... he is gone

So that's it. RIP Three Years of Hell, June 2, 2003 to August 25, 2006. After all these words, there are only a few things left to say.

Two sites, the Imbroglio and the Volokh Conspiracy, have given me a slightly premature sendoff, and their words are very kind. (The site has received its final Kerr Package.) In answer to Ambimb's question as to why the site is closing, the answer is simply that the project is done. I don't know what my next big task will be. I've got two articles in process (much more difficult now I don't have free Lexis access). There's a few chapters written of a novel, a thought made more exciting by three friends who have already written books. The more I look at law and technology, the more I think that an open-source, XML-based framework for writing judicial opinions would bring caselaw closer to the public (as well as weaken the WEXIS duopoly). Perhaps that's a project worth looking into. Whatever the case, I'm sure I'll have no problem coming up with other tasks to occupy my (soon to dwindle rapidly) free time. This story was always meant to have an ending, and after all these months, it is finally here.

Thank you to the professors and students at Columbia Law School who made this journey such a rich experience. The same goes to the bloggers across the 'sphere who've linked, commented and otherwise spread the word. (A special note should go to Martin, who started me on this path.) My family, although asked not to comment on the blog itself, never failed to give me encouragement (and fodder for quite a few posts) throughout my years here.

And finally, of course, thank you to all of you who've read this site over the last three years and a bit. Journeys are made better with travelling companions, and I couldn't have asked for a finer bunch.

Best regards,

A.R.

Posted by Anthony at 7:09 PM | | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (1)

And for those without blogs...

Dear Wormwood:

Our correspondence over these last few years, put together, may be the single longest thing I've ever written. For old time's sake, however, I hope you'll allow me to give you one last list, a few things I hope you'll take with you in your own purgatorial journeys.

At long last, Wormwood, our conversation is at an end. Please take with you my best wishes, and may your time in law school bring you every joy possible.

Continue reading "And for those without blogs..." »

Posted by Anthony at 6:32 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Advice for 1Ls Starting a Blog: A Much Shorter Part II

Dear Wormwood:

I promised you two letters that might help your friend Scrimgouge in starting a 1L blog. The first letter focused mostly upon matters that any blogger, legal or otherwise, might find useful, be they technical or stylistic. But both you and Scrimgouge are now law student, which makes your efforts (and yes, dear Wormwood, I really am hoping that you too might start blogging) a bit different. So with the basics out of the way, I'd like to make a few quick notes and observations on what I've learned from law school blogging.

  1. Eschew anonymity: I've covered the reasons for this in one of my most oft-read posts. I know I bang on upon this, but anonymity certainly isn't as safe as you'd suspect. Besides, it's only polite that when you violate Godwin's Law, your opponent knows where to send the summons and complaint.
  2. Don't be surprised if your first year makes for the most interesting blogging: First year blogs are great, indeed positively addicting. Most 1Ls find themselves thrust into this bizarro land where Socratic Method suddenly makes sense as a pedagogical technique and everything--and I mean everything--starts being seen through the lense of law. On the other hand, 1L bloggers know that most of their readers aren't other law students, but their friends, family and associates from back in the "real world." The need to explain the pressure-cooker anxiety, and the urge to translate the experience to outsiders, makes for excellent writing.

    1L year is all about learning the game. 2L year, you merely refine it. By 3L, you're looking for another game to play because you know exactly how much class you can snooze through with minimal effect on your grades. Why do you think Scott Turow didn't write a sequel?

  3. Give your fellow students (and professors) some space: TYoH followed two pretty simple rules. First, don't mention a non-blogging professor by name. Refer to them instead as "Prof. Contracts" or "Prof. CivPro." It's not much, but it does mean that your blog entries won't end up as Google hits for their name. Secondly, if you have a story to tell about a fellow student, even if you're not mentioning them by name, shoot them a quick email with a draft of the post before you publish. They may not want their lives appearing online. Most of the time, no one will care, but it's a good habit that saves trouble later on.
  4. Blog about what fascinates you: Your text really comes alive when you have an interesting story to tell, or when you're passionate about an issue. All law student bloggers eventually create their own niche. I've posted quite a lot on gay marriage, for instance, but also on the appropriateness of professional status for legal practitioners (much more obscure) and strange tax issues. The Ambivalent Imbroglio should be one of the first reads for any law student thinking of becoming a public defender (or a prosecutor, for that matter). You don't have to comment fully on everything. If you find something interesting but don't have anything to say on it, an entry with a quick link is perfectly fine. Write in depth on those issues you care about.
  5. Engage others: Yesterday I wrote about connecting to other bloggers, but focused mostly on law professors or major players. Yet the real and lasting relationships in blogging will come from your own cohorts, your peers out there on the great wide internet. I've copied fair amounts of code from Heidi's effort. I've made fast friends with Chris. I've pimped Jeremy's book. These are the things I smile about when I remember TYoH, and I'll bet I do so a decade from now. Your cohort will be a source of support when things go wrong, both scholastically and technically. They'll also be something you'll carry away from law school.
  6. Keep a sense of humor: All too often, you'll be inspired to shout. When you do, put the post in "draft" and leave it to the next day. Remember that at the right moment and you'll thank me later.
  7. Keep in touch: Perhaps not advice, so much, but if there's a 1L out there starting a blog and they need a bit of help, don't hesitate to ask. I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun reading your work in the years to come.

And that, dearest Wormwood, is that. I hope that Scrimgouge finds the next three years as exciting as I did.

Posted by Anthony at 4:45 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Welcome to the Continuum! or Passing the Torch

Say hello to Luis Villa, a 1L at Columbia law school. He's another coder turned lawyer, and his musings on code and law strike a cord.

If there's any other Columbia Law School bloggers who would like to tie their blogs into the Columbia Continuum, feel free to email me. (I will be keeping that site working, and maybe even improved, after this site goes quiet.)

UPDATE: Welcome also to Legal Economics, another Columbia 1L. This guy will have no trouble in Reg State. Too bad it's not a required class anymore, eh?

(Please note that the Continuum requires an RSS feed, so if you're on Blogger or Blogspot, you should get a Feedburner account.)

Posted by Anthony at 4:21 PM | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Down to the Wire

Right... self-imposed deadline of tonight to finish this thing off, and still four or five posts that I need to complete. Right now all that quick typing in exams is coming in handy!

Posted by Anthony at 4:17 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

August 24, 2006

Advice for 1Ls Considering a Blog: A Very Long Part One

Dear Wormwood:

Who is this Scrimgouge whose email address you've forwarded me? It's certainly very flattering that he's asking you to ask me for advice on starting a law school blog. Nevertheless, there's no good reason for him to ask me at one remove. [1] You know full well I'd speak at the opening of a Doritos bag, and give away advice just as profligately.

Since your friend has asked, I'm happy to oblige. This particular project has run for over three years, and I'd like to think that in that time I've learned a few things that might help out a beginner. Of course, with the start of the fall semester, there is currently no shortage of advice for new law students, and I'm sure that similar wisdom about blogs is a dime a dozen. Hopefully your friend Scrimgouge will find one or two chestnuts here that he hasn't managed to gather elsewhere. Sadly for him, however, whatever angels generally look over my shoulder and force me to be brief have taken a tea break. What follows is quite lengthy indeed.

To help out a bit, I've divided the post into five sections that continue after the cut:
First, the commonplace.
Second, decide what you want to do.
Third, learn a bit about the technology.
Fourth, connect, connect, connect (to the Web).
Fifth, connect, connect, connect (to other bloggers).
Finally, have fun.

I hope it helps.

Continue reading "Advice for 1Ls Considering a Blog: A Very Long Part One" »

Posted by Anthony at 6:51 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Could Be Worse

A friend of mine just gave me a "post bar exam gift": a copy of Ichisada Miyazaki's China's Examination Hell: The Civil Service Examinations of Imperial China. From the first page:

Competition for a chance to take the civil service examinations began, if we may be allowed to exaggerate only a little, even before birth. . . . Prenatal care began as soon as a woman was known to be pregnant. . . .

Legal education system take note: you have something to aspire towards.

Posted by Anthony at 3:01 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Grumpy Old Man Alert: "In My Day, We Didn't Have the 'SONI' System Like You Youngsters. We Read Two Hundred Spam Emails From Every Society Imaginable, And We LIKED It."

Forwarded from a current Columbia Law Student, from one of Student Services' fantastic new staff members:

We have put in place a new system, the Student Organization News and Information (SONI) System, which allows student organizations and journals to email students directly and allows you to select to which student organization and journal email lists you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe.
We hope that you find this system a helpful way to receive information from student organizations, and a good way to cut down on your email traffic.

The SONI system works as follows. All students in the Law School are initially subscribed to each student organization's email list. You may choose to unsubscribe from any list, at which point you will no longer receive email from that particular organization or journal. If you wish, you can later choose to resubscribe.


What a fantastic idea! I'm sure this entry will attract a lot of groans from the Class of 2006 and older, though. They can take heart: scuttlebutt is that you still can't avoid the daily deluge of emails from the public interest folks.

Posted by Anthony at 10:36 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

August 23, 2006

New York Pungent

Strange circumstances conspire to bring me back to New York just before the blog ends. I drove through Jersey late last night. A blind man could smell his way up the Jersey Turnpike. My memory of New York will be forever mixed with the smell of garbage. Tokyo has its sweating salarymen with natto-breath crowding the subway. Summer winds blow stinging road dust into your eyes in London. But the smell of rotting dinners sets New York apart, simply because it's always there, and especially strong in the summer. No part of Manhattan escapes it. Walk up from a Times Square subway exit, the cleaned-up area for tourists, and spoilt meat assaults your nose. Walk down Broadway for a romantic meal and you're certain to pass at least three corners reeking of fish. Take a badly air-conditioned cab through slow traffic to a job interview on 54th street and you have a choice: roll up the windows and sweat or arrive with your suit smelling as if you cleaned a drainage ditch in it. Maybe as the years go by I'll grow nostalgic and I'll forget. But for the present, summer in New York is remembered with my nose.

Posted by Anthony at 8:33 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

August 18, 2006

The Beginning of the End

Dear Wormwood:

The bar exam is over. I've moved away from D.C. to Another State. [1] And today the last signs of law-student living left me: my free Lexis account no longer works.

I feel I shall soon have withdrawal symptoms.

In any event, it's about time for this project to end. After all, Wormwood, while your journey through law school is beginning, it's time for me to go on about my life. There's still a little left I have to say, mostly about blogging, school, and a few observations to send you on your way. But even of that, there's not much. I'm going home to visit my parents this weekend, but I should be back to writing on Monday.

So by way of forewarning, Wormwood, you can expect the final entry of TYoH to appear one week from today, on Friday, August 25th. Now I just have to get everything in order. There is, of course, a project plan.

[1]: Incidentally, if I hadn't believed it before, this move would have convinced me that the Scion xB is great value for money. Over 30 miles to the gallon and I can fit massive amounts of cargo in the back.

Posted by Anthony at 1:07 AM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Giving The Devil His Due

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BULA: It’s Fiji Time

By on Jan 09, 2010 in Blog, Featured Posts, Fiji, Laura's Blog

F 0041 300x200 BULA: It’s Fiji TimeAfter a tearful goodbye following our time home for the holidays, we took off on the second leg of our around the world adventure. Leaving behind single digit temperatures and promises of snowfall, we began our journey to the South Pacific. Two layovers and 26 hours later, we arrived at the much anticipated destination of Fiji.

Everything you’ve heard about the natural beauty of the romanticized Fiji Islands is absolutely true. Deep in the Pacific Ocean the 333 Fijian isles stand tall, perched above turquoise waters lined with exquisite beaches. The size of each island differs greatly. Some look no larger than an enormous mound of sand while others are palm-studded with dense rainforests and mountains rising to magnificent heights. Uniform to every island are the surrounding crystal-clear waters and incredible coral gardens lining the ocean floor. The views are as dramatic as they are stunning.

Fiji 032 300x200 BULA: It’s Fiji TimeTrue to our laid-back travel style, we arrived at 4 a.m. without a plan, map or reservation. Typically, we like to be a bit more prepared than this, but with the hectic holiday calendar and last-minute errands, we placed planning our Fiji holiday on the backburner. Luckily, we were greeted at the airport by vultures disguised as travel agents clad in traditional Fijian garb (long skirts and flower-printed shirts) with the sweet-smelling frangipani flower in their hair. They greeted us with a warm “BULA!” (Fijian for hello or cheers) and helped us orient ourselves and plot our stay.

As we predicted, Fiji is not ideal for a budget traveler and trying to make the most of our time here on a tighter budget proved to be quite challenging. The majority of accommodation options include high-end resorts, and the strong monopoly on transportation and island activities has prices skyrocketing. Begrudgingly reminding ourselves we aren’t on vacation and have a budget to stick to, we opted for a cheaper backpacker resort on the string of islands known as the Manamuca Group.

Fiji 047 300x200 BULA: It’s Fiji TimeWe arrived by boat to the beautiful island of Mana and settled in to the budget resort which would serve as our home base for the next few days. I had grown quite accustomed to the comforts of home over the holidays so readjusting to this traveling lifestyle, and in this case sharing a bathroom with 15 other people, was not easy. A quick look around, however, at the stunning views, abundant sunshine and blue waters, proved to be just the wakeup call I needed.

Just as I began to readjust to this basic travel style, we hit the jackpot. We got word of a resort on the neighboring island of Malolo offering free upgrades to their guests to the private beachfront villas dotting the coastline. Off we went on the first boat we could find to take advantage of this offering. Here on Malolo we found a little bit of heaven waiting for us in our one little bamboo roof hut overlooking the turquoise waters.

Both accommodations offered all the amenities of nice resort.They had snorkeling gear and kayaks to rent and arranged a variety of excursions, including fishing, sunset cruises and diving. We partook in an island hopping adventure, which gave us the chance to explore nearby islands like Mandriki (where the movie Castaway was filmed). Lucky for us the island still maintains the remote appeal characterized in the movie. So isolated, in fact, that our arrival broke up a nice little nudist gathering on the beach.

Fiji 052 300x200 BULA: It’s Fiji TimeWhat sets Fiji apart from all other exotic locales I’ve had the chance to experience in my twenty seven years of existence is undoubtedly the water. Still, green and clear, the vast ocean looks more like an aquarium, providing a look into a richly exotic underwater world.

The large banks of coral made water adventures activities a real treat and a daily dose of snorkeling and kayaking became standard. Swimming with schools of brightly colored red, yellow and rainbow-colored fish and coming face-to-face with blue starfish and brilliant coral reefs will always be my Fijian highlight. It certainly made the long flight more than worthwhile.

pixel BULA: It’s Fiji Time

Comments (10)

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  1. roundwego says:
    January 24, 2010 at 12:39 am

    The water is that amazing! Photos don’t lie. I want to go back. Thanks for following our travels, Greer!

  2. Greer Goings says:
    January 20, 2010 at 11:22 am

    Ok, the pictures of the water in Fiji look fake! Are you sure you didn’t photoshop:)??? Enjoying living vicariously through you!

  3. Shannon OD says:
    January 16, 2010 at 10:15 pm

    I’ve only been in Fiji as a layover, and this post makes me really wish I’d had the opportunity to stay! It sounds like a little piece of heaven to snorkel and kayak every day! Gorgeous photos :-)
    .-= Shannon OD´s last blog ..A Little Recap & Plan…Ah, Saturday =-.

  4. Mom Keller says:
    January 13, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    Sounds like you both are back in the swing of things.
    Always enjoy reading your blog and getting jealous at the same time. Enjoy, enjoy. Love you, mom K

  5. roundwego says:
    January 13, 2010 at 6:31 am

    Fiji is a must. It’s actually not a bad flight – nine hours direct from LA and there are some really nice rates from there, too.

  6. Greg Dawson says:
    January 12, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    Fiji is definitely on my list!

  7. roundwego says:
    January 12, 2010 at 1:44 am

    Glad you enjoyed reading about our Fiji adventure! It was truly paradise. We’re so lucky to have had the chance to experience it. It was quite a treat.

  8. Dad Keller says:
    January 11, 2010 at 2:42 pm

    Loved reading about the islands and the beach. You two just manufacture goof fortune, don’t you? Love you both.
    DAD

  9. Amy Wellington says:
    January 10, 2010 at 4:47 pm

    Wow, Loll – what a fantastic description of your stay in Fiji! I feel like I was right there with you. Everything sounds incredible! I’m so glad you all made it safely. Enjoy the rest and keep the updates coming! Love you!

  10. Brigid Pritchard says:
    January 9, 2010 at 11:12 pm

    Loved reading about a place I know!! Hope you guys enjoyed paradise!! Cant wait to hear what you think of the Kiwis and Aussies!! safe travels! xoxo