The Evidence Prof Blog is a new blog in the Law Professor Blogs Network. I only discovered them last Friday, though the blog has been up since October 2. They recently posted regarding Rhoades v. Avon Products, Inc., case no. 05-56047 (9th Cir. Oct. 15, 2007), which applied Federal Rule of Evidence 408 in a trademark declaratory relief action. Issue: Whether a letter from counsel proposing settlement of a trademark dispute (and containing threats of litigation absent settlement) can be admitted to establish that a plaintiff seeking a declaratory judgment of non-infringement of the sender’s trademark has the requisite “real and reasonable apprehension that it would be subject to liability”…
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A Call to Law Professors and Those Who Know Them
Prawfsblawg posts Are you now or have you ever been a member of a debate team? It is a call for participation by law professors in a worthwhile project. (For that reason, this post incorporates almost the entirety of the linked post. I’m sure Prawfsblawg won’t mind if it helps get the word out, but I’ll feel less guilty about it if you click the link to the Prawfsblawg post.) Jim Speta , a law professor at Northwestern, is trying to identify law professors who debated in high school or college. He’s seeking to make the case that debate provides skills and interest that lead students to consider law school,…
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Published Order Granting Extension of Time for Government to File Brief in Death Penalty Case
Professor Martin at California Appellate Report serves up some comments, with his usual good humor, on a Ninth Circuit order granting the government more time to file a brief in a death penalty appeal. Yes, even an order in a death penalty case can be humorously analyzed, and without violating good taste.
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“. . . up with which I will not put.”
That’s the end of a sentence allegedly uttered by Winston Churchill to demonstrate the absurdity of a grammar “rule” we’ve all heard. There are several variations attributed to Churchill, but the one I like best is at Thinkexist.com: “The rule which forbids ending a sentence with a preposition is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put.” Professor Wayne Scheiss refers to this as a “mythical rule” and has a good post about it at legalwriting.net, which demonstrates how you can improve your writing by ignoring the rule. I confess I did not know this rule was mythical (I had it drilled into me by my high…
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The Last Law Professor without a Blog?
University of Colorado Law School Professor Paul Campos had a piece in our local paper yesterday morning in which he thought out loud about starting a blog. Confessing that he is “attracted to the prospect of being the last law professor in America without one,” he gives a tongue-in-cheek pro vs. con analysis about starting one. Among writers in general, and bloggers in particular, alcohol and narcissism go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Psychologists define narcissistic personality disorder as involving a grandiose sense of self-importance, and an overwhelming need for the constant attention and admiration. What better example of this can there be than bloggers obsessed with how many…
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Teaching Legal Writing to Lawyers
I don’t teach legal writing to lawyers. But Professor Wayne Scheiss apparently does, and has some amusing thoughts on it. I agree with his observations about the typical class participants (for the most part), but I disagree with his contention that it’s a dry subject.