Andrew Sinclair has tortfeasor shirts. Buy a shirt and wear it to your first day of torts class. Yes. Do that. Please. UPDATE: You can also get this law school blogger on a t-shirt. So many choices....

What does a law school blogger write about during the summer? Now that school's out, I'm having a difficult time finding some direction. Unlike the 1Ls who are all wrapped up in their writing competitions, 2Ls have nothing more to do for school except grade those damned submissions. We're not as lucky as the 3Ls that are looking forward to...

My vacation has taken its toll. My liver is barely alive and I have hundreds upon hundreds of blog posts to read. I'll be back as soon as I recover. By the way, if anyone can read this page, please tell me what it is and why they are linking to me!...

I'm on vacation. I'll be back soon....

Law Professor David E. Bernstein is blogging. This is happy news, because his take on Lochner v. New York, Only One Place of Redress, is probably the most eloquent piece I've read on the subject. (And there's some awfully written stuff. I won't name names, but if you've read it, you should know what I'm talking about.) I am even...

I have completely lost my faith in the secondary meaning doctrine of trademark law. Half the time I go to the grocery store I buy the wrong brand of popcorn. Why? Because both Pop Secret and Orville Redenbacher* make "HomeStyle" varieties of microwave popcorn. Pop Secret's is vastly superior to Orville Redenbacher's. Obviously my lack of association of "HomeStyle" with...

Brad at [Blog Goes Here] likes to have exam fun and throw in funky words in his answers. Guess what? I do too! [Yeah, big surprise people.] I drive my friends crazy soliciting words for inclusion in my tests. As Brad says, if you're not done yet, there's always time to play this ever-fun game! p.s. Defenestration is so over...

Finishing this paper sure would be easier if I would stop procrastinating on blogshares....

The Duke Journal of Law and Contemporary Problems contains an article by Yochai Benkler entitled Through the Looking Glass: Alice and the Constitutional Foundations of the Public Domain. I haven't read it, but the section headings for part one are immensely cute: A. The White Rabbit B. Off with His Head! C. What, Exactly, Is Your Problem? You may remember...

In addition to the books I have on my first shot at a summer reading list, I am adding the following: An Odyssey in Print: Adventures in the Smithsonian Libraries. How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It, Arthur Herman. I was skeptical of Lane's...

The Oxford English Dictionary is looking for a few good words. The Editors are engaging in the first complete revision of the Dictionary and need legal specialists and word hounds to help redefine the legal terms in the OED. If you're an English legal historian, you're likely to be able to help find the first recorded use of a word....

A blogger makes a plea to her professors to refrain from emulating Satan: Do not attempt to be entertaining when writing exam questions. Do not use "silly" names (e.g., Kirk and Picard, har har) or the names of your students. Do not provide bizarre fact patterns with "amply bosomed" women or horse copulation patterns. Exams are not funny. Chances are,...

Why is a raven like a writing desk? "Have you guessed the riddle yet?" the Hatter said, turning to Alice again. "No, I give it up," Alice replied. "What's the answer?" "I haven't the slightest idea," said the Hatter. "Nor I," said the March Hare. Alice sighed wearily. "I think you might do something better with the time," she said,...

bursting at the seams i marvel at your unhuman ability to bring forth unto the world your constant prolixity. how appealing your proclivity for obscure music, words, and judicial garments. elevated to deity status the heretofore downtrodden and ignored appellate universe your influence is unmatched. o, for a search button that i might sift and plunder your voluminous archives....

In case you are as unobservant as I -- the Dictionary.com Word of the Day is now at the bottom of the page. You don't have to sign up for the email list to get the word....

And you thought law school was bad... While all lawyers and law students know what the Socratic method is, I've not yet seen such a thorough discussion of using it to completely decimate a student's will to go on. Doctors, apparently, like to write all about the medical analogue to the Socratic method. And how could they not? They call...

I don't have a summer reading list! Not yet, anyways. So while you all are procrastinating from working, take two seconds and tell me what I should include. Legal, non-legal, fiction, non-fiction, book, not book, it's all good. So far on my list is the following: Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer. The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed...

Larry Solum really really really doesn't want you (that is, judicial clerks or law students) to read his most recent post. Apparently we're too immature, we don't have enough time, and we should be doing other things than worry about high and low politics. God forbid we lowly little students worry about such silly things like what makes a justice...

It seems as if everyone is currently in exam frenzy mode (too many to link -- you know who you are). I have only one short take-home exam. I tell this to you only to taunt you....

I noticed while reading the Globe this morning that today is Law Day. The White House says it's about judicial independence. So, it's kind of funny (in a very dark and twisted way) that Judge Maria Lopez insists that her behavior is being targeted because of her judicial independence. Lopez has done such lovely things as castigate a state prosecutor...

While preparing a recent piece for publication (that should send you all into a frenzy!), I've done a complete 180 on my thoughts about citations. Don't want to bother with an esoteric Blue Book citation? Leave it for the editors. Feeling tired and don't want to look up another article to find support for a statement. Leave it for the...