lawyerpunks-in-training...?

[Steve Furlong]

Dave Smith asked about law schools for Cypherpunks.

I've been in law school for the past year. I work as a programmer and am interested in c-
punk issues, so I guess I'm a cypherpunk.

I signed up for Concord University School of Law 
(http://www.concordlawschool.com/default.htm) mostly because it seemed cool to get a law 
degree over the web, not because I had any use for it. After I signed up, I thought of a few 
things I could do with a law degree, such as beat up on lawyers who were beating up on free 
software projects. The program takes four years of "part time" study if you wish to take the 
bar afterward, or three years if you just want a JD.

As regards my plan to provide pro bono assistance to small, belabored free software teams, 
it turns out it's not that simple. As best I've been able to determine, If I'm living in 
State X and I'm licensed to practice in State X and the team is in State X, I can defend 
them. If the team is in State Y, I could get nailed for unauthorized practice of law in 
State Y. Even if the Evil Corporation which is beating up on them is in State X, I might not 
be able to legally (no pun intended) help. This is based on discussions with my professors 
and deans and with questions asked of the bar offices in several states.

Concord is not an ABA-accredited law school, so at the moment you can take only the 
California bar exam. Once you pass the Cal bar, you can practice in Cal, Vermont, and IIRC 
Wisconsin. You can also practice, even without a law degree, in Arizona. Since I have no 
desire to live in California, using my example above I'd be living in State X and licensed 
to practice in State Y, and for the most part I wouldn't be able to do any legal services, 
though that varies by state of residence.

I can discuss the pros and cons of Concord vis a vis brick and mortar law schools if anyone 
is interested. Short summary, Concord has the advantage of flexibility (study when and where 
you like) and cost (approx US$5K per year rather than $18-30K for a b-and-m); disadvantage 
is lack of ABA accreditation.

I've been working as a programmer while in school. The amount of time required for studies 
was greater than expected, but doable. The problem I've found is the loss of creative mental 
energy on the job. I can do the rote work with no problem, but don't have the mental energy 
to come up the innovative solutions I'm paid for. Caveat: I'm a single parent of a 6 year 
old boy; that'll suck the energy out of anyone, haha. If you're going to go to law school 
full time, that shouldn't be a problem; look at some of the chowderheads who have made it 
through, after all.

As for the broader issues Dave brought up:

Yes there is a need for lawyers with a technical bent. There's a well-known link between 
lack of mathematical ability and entry to law school, and the innumeracy of the typical 
lawyer is often a problem when technical issues come up. (ref, the judge in the DVD CCA v 
2600 case)

Law school is usually very expensive. Including living expenses, figure on adding US$100K to 
your debt burden if you go full time. You said you won't want to be an ambulance chaser, but 
odds are you'll have to take a job with a firm for several years and work on what you're 
assigned, just to pay down the debt. You might also want to consider that there is a glut of 
lawyers in the US. First year associate salaries at top firms are still good, but if you 
don't get into a top firm the pay might not be that great. There are also a lot of 
unemployed lawyers out there, despite the best efforts of the Lawyers Full Employment 
legislative and judicial teams.

Most law schools now have courses on intellectual property and internet law, so they're 
sorta c-punk friendly that way. Law professors tend to be quite liberal on political and 
economic issues, and the libertarian bent of most c-punks is a serious irritant to them. 
I've heard of that being more of an issue in a brick-and-mortar school, where you sit in 
class and get interrogated by the prof.



Regards,
SRF