Send Law Students, Idealists and Grant Proposals. Was: Re: Lawyers, Guns, and Money

[dmolnar]

On Wed, 22 Aug 2001 r.duke at freedom.net wrote:

> the Internet & law? There are a few such groups, I think. I'm pretty sure
> Harvard has
> one. Do things like that only make a difference if you manage to publish

The Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/

The name always takes me aback, because I automatically think "Alexander
Berkman" whenever I read it. They run online courses, which sometimes
accept Internet participants. See
http://eon.law.harvard.edu/trust/
for one such course on defining "trust."

They also have a newsletter, "The Filter," which is sometimes interesting.
This year they started running a 5-day "Internet Law Program of
Instruction,"  if you happen to have a spare $2500.

(Tangentially, who attends MIT's 6.87s? and what do they do
with it afterwards? I've received solicitations to attend via mail for the
past couple of years; I suspect because I am an ACM SIGSAC member.
http://web.mit.edu/professional/summer/courses/computer/6.87s.html
If *anyone* could get the material across in 4 days, it would be those two
-- but I'm not sure that this is possible...)


> >yourself in a foursome for 30 minutes then get up when you hear the next knock
> >and prepare to turn your next trick 30 minutes later.  Lather, rinse, repeat.
>
> You mean it wasn't like in "The Firm" where all the firms chase after you,
> offering you
> wads of cash? That's a bit disappointing.


Maybe if you're a top student who's clerked for Supreme Court justices. I
expect the reality for middle-of-the-road students is different. Richard
Kahlenberg wrote a book called _Broken Contract: A Memoir of Harvard Law
School_.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558492348/104-7768652-1425537

Part of it describes his interviewing process at the end of law school.
Now, he has an axe to grind (and he's upfront about this, so much so that
at times it's distracting) - he believes that Harvard Law, as an
institution (should I put scare quotes around that?), pushes its graduates
away from the public sector. So take it with a grain of salt. What he
describes is a system in which middle-level students are so thoroughly
crushed and insecure by the time they've finished comparing grades, who
made it to Law Review, and which offers they have, that they'll jump for
the first job that makes them feel important again. It's a disturbing
read.

-David