Missing some of the arts in your legal education?

(Cross-posted here.)  In this post, Prof. Sue Liemer reviews a book that was based on a conference at the University of Edinburgh.  The conference focused on using the arts to better understand the law.

Want some great tips on writing?

See here.

My latest proofreading affidavit.

Is here. 

Thanks, Above the Law, for mentioning our book!

We were tickled pink to see this mention of our Law School Survival Manual today (check under "Books"). 

For folks who are interested in moving to law school from community colleges, an article that discusses the possible paths.

We're touting our companion book, Law Firm Job Survival Manual, as part of this interview (here).

Another reason why you should work out.

See here.

Summer associates--some really good etiquette advice from Corporette.

Here, from a cross-posting on the Law Firm Job Survival Manual blog.

Don't treat the USNWR rankings as gospel.

Here's a nice point of view, written by someone who got his JD at the same school as my husband.

Depression is more common than you'd think among law students and lawyers (and law professors) [UPDATED].

And I applaud Prof. Brian Clarke for "coming out" about his depression (here).  My students (and probably my colleagues) at the various law schools at which I've taught know that my family and I have dealt with depression for years.  As I tell my students, I'd rather they wake me in the middle of the night and tell me that they need help than read about their suicides in the morning.  I think that having them know that I can talk openly about my depression helps them.  I also point them to articles like this one by Susan Daicoff. 

So, bravo, Brian Clarke--and here's to law students who can ask us how we cope. 

UPDATE:  Prof. Clarke finished his post trilogy with this one and this one.  

Before you get all bent out of shape about the rankings, take a look at this chart.

I played around with the info in the USNWR rankings, and barring some transposition of numbers on my part, here's what I found.

The bands had roughly the same number of schools in them, although band 3 (51-72) had a few more schools than the others.  Is there a big difference between the 1-24 group and the 79-100 group?  Of course there is.  There's even a big difference between schools in the 1-24 group and schools in the 26-49 range.  (Please don't yell at me, schools in the 26-29 range--I know that you just missed the cut-off.)  But there's not a big difference between the schools in the 51-72 range and the 79-100 range.  For those of you trying to choose between schools in the third and fourth groups, just remember this Ellen DeGeneres clip.  

And don't get me started on how the various components of the rankings are rated.  I could go on for hours about why I disagree with the way that the methodology works.

The differences in various clusters in USNWR's rankings are about as small as the difference in sitting on a plane with your seat in the upright position and sitting with your seat "reclined."  So pay more attention to the financial package that you're being offered, the job placement and bar passage rates of the schools you're considering, how helpful the alumni of the school are, and where in the country you think that you'd like to live.  Those are the real factors to consider, no matter what any particular year's rankings say.

Some thoughts on what you should wear for your summer jobs (and for your interviews).

Here's a post that we did over at our companion site, Law Firm Job Survival Manual, about what to wear.

A great explanation of why law professors care about writing and compliance with rules.

Over at the Conglomerate (here).

Why are we professors so curmudgeonly?

Possibly because we're trying to transition you from learning for the sake of learning (college) to learning because you're likely to represent clients later.

Why you don't want to tick off a law professor by doing a poor job of editing her article.

Here. 

Wise advice from my buddy Jack Ayer.

Here.