"I aint passed the Bar but I know a little bit - enough that you won't illegally search my sh*t!"

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has taken a bit of inspiration from rapper/hip-hop mogul Sean Carter (more commonly known as Jay-Z) – but did you know that the best rapper alive actually has a bit of decent legal advice to offer? A friend of mine in law school posted this on her facebook wall recently: “How Valid is Implied Legal Advice Given in Jay-Z’s  ’99Problems‘ “?

It turns out that most of the Hova”s implied legal advice in the song is fairly sound! While I doubt the Jigga man will be looking to make a career change any time soon, I’d love to see the God MC in the court room – closing arguments would flow as effortlessly as a track from The Blueprint. Alas, for some, swagger in the courtroom is frowned upon.

Earlier this week, senior editor at Slate Emily Bazelon (who also teaches fantastic op-ed writing workshops at Yale Law School, by the way) published an op-ed in the Times on how the application of civil rights laws has become too far-reaching. Young people who act meanly, but not violently, are being prosecuted under these broadly written laws and, in turn, receiving sentences that are disproportionate (she argues) to their offenses. (Here’s the full article).

What do you make of this?

No doubt, many of you engage in discussions about issues like this one outside of law school. Say, at your family dinner table:

Uncle Frank: Did you hear? Some kid got 10 years for using a web cam!
Aunt Lucille: What’s a web cam?
Aunt Gladys: He didn’t GET 10 years, Frank. He COULD get 10 years. Read.
Uncle Frank: Whatever! Just because he doesn’t like gays. He’s entitled to his own opinion.
Aunt Lucille: More potatoes, anyone?

You get the idea. These conversations can become real wild, real fast.

In law school, the perspective is a little different. You’re looking at a question like the one Bazelon presents from the perspective of someone whose future career is to interpret–and perhaps shape or challenge–the law. Here are a couple of ways in which this issue might arise in conversation at law school among students and/or professors.

1. Bazelon writes, “Because [a Massachusetts civil rights statute] was broadly written, like New Jersey’s, prosecutors could seize upon the law because it ‘sent a message’ about bullying.”

To what extent should prosecution of individuals be used to “send a message”? If the purpose of the criminal justice system is deterrence (arguable in itself), and “sending a message” deters, are we comfortable with singling out individuals to prosecute as symbols? Or is it better to appropriate punishment solely in reference to an individual’s crime, apart from whatever society, at large, may need to learn?

2. Bazelon ends with the recommendation, “States like New Jersey and Massachusetts should narrow their civil rights laws so that [the kid she talks about] is not the first of many stupid but nonviolent young people who pay a too-heavy price for our fears about how kids use technology to be cruel.”

What are the risks of more narrowly written civil rights laws? Are there ways in which confining such a law, for example, to include only violent crimes could fail to provide a grounds for prosecuting cases that should, in line with civil rights policy and theory, be prosecuted?

If these sound like fun questions to debate, you have a lot to look forward to in law school!

Mary Adkins is one of Manhattan LSAT’s 99th percentile rock star instructors based out of New York City. She’s also available for Private Tutoring, both in NYC and Live Online.

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The Commander in Chief does not have the authority to pardon poor LSAT score (we checked!)

So much has been written in the mainstream media this year about the decision to go to law school: is it a waste of time and money given the current state of the economy?  As I theorized recently, it seems that each time the economy goes in to the tank, the number of law school aspirants rises. I’m assuming the reasoning is something like this: why NOT avoid the increasingly difficult job market by spending time furthering one’s credentials?

While I could certainly poke holes in that logic all day, I thought this recent article that I came across on the jobs section of the AOL (yes, AOL still exists) website made an interesting case for why it is not a smart decision to go straight to law school from undergrad.

Here’s hoping that everyone enjoys their turkey, football, and time spent with family and friends – and may logic creep stay clear of your Thanksgiving table!

They are letting them in to law school younger and younger these days..

Browsing the headlines of the law school related world today, I came across a very interesting report from CNN. It tells the story of a law student in Spain who took his parents to court in an attempt to force them to resume paying his allowance of $588 per month.

And you thought you really stuck it to Mom and Dad that time you came home 4 hours after curfew!

In a fortunate decision for the well being of the human race, the judge ordered the man to find a job and leave his parents house within 30 days.