General - Noto Law School

Student Sues Law School

February 6, 2011 Alejandro Calderon General, Law School

Law school is a one way street, and it doesn’t go in the student’s direction. David Powers was admitted to St. Johns School of Law (a toilet in New York), and when he filled out his application form, he included that he had been convicted of drug possession back in 1999. The school not only accepted him, they gave him a $20,000 scholarship. At the end of three semesters, he was third in his class.

He also is a CPA, and received a job offer from a prestigious firm and took a leave of absence. He had intended to go back this semester and also filled out his application to take the bar. He requested a letter of support from St. John’s about the prior conviction, but not only did they refuse to help one of their students, they rescinded his admission. Yep, they kicked him out for something they had known about. He is suing for a reversal of their decision to be total fucking hypocrites to rescind his admission.

Here’s what the University told him:

The University’s Assistant Dean of Students, Katherine Sullivan informed Powers in an email that, “information that you now provide in your [application’]…was not included in your [admission] application.” The university claimed he omitted the original charges for selling LSD and ecstasy to an undercover cop, according to the suit.

So, because he didn’t give the details of the charges he gets kicked out? Powers was a licensed CPA for Price Waterhouse, which is one of the best accounting firms in the world. He passed their background check and they knew about his conviction.

David’s real crime is that he forgot the most important rule about law school. If you’re a student and you made a mistake in the past and you’re honest about it, you pay for it the rest of your life. But if you’re a law school, like say, Villanova, and you “fudge” numbers to steal more money from students, you can lie for years and stay in business. One way street, David, and unfortunately, not going in your direction.

Dean Admits Inaccurate Data

February 5, 2011 Alejandro Calderon General, Legal Profession

John Gotanda, the dean of Villanova School of Law, has admitted the school “knowingly reported inaccurate admissions data” to the ABA for YEARS.

He claims in a letter that he wasn’t aware of the problem until a couple of weeks ago. The school has started a “comprehensive internal investigation.” Kind of like a rapist going out and getting condoms after the rape. Won’t really help, but I guess there should be some points for effort.

Villanova said that it “appears the lies inaccurate information was limited to LSAT and GPA scores.” They have not said why they lied their asses off reported incorrect information. For years and years. No idea why.

I can think of a reason. Could it be they were trying to skew their rankings? So they could get more lemmings to go there? But that would be dishonest, and aren’t all law schools models of integrity?

Jail For Insults

February 2, 2011 Alejandro Calderon General, Legal Aspects

When your wife asks you if she looks fat, be sure to say no if you’re in France. This story came out last year, but I just found it and thought it was fascinating. There’s a new French law that makes “psychological violence” a crime, punishable for up to three years in prison. Could have used a similar law here for my last relationship…

The bill, which has been unanimously approved by French MPs, defines mental violence as “repeated acts that could be constituted by words,” including insults or repeated text messages that “degrade one’s quality of life and cause a change to one’s mental or physical state.”

With the new legislation, couples can call witnesses to testify including using doctor’s records that show depression as a result of the rude comments.

“The judge could (also) take into consideration letters, SMSs or repetitive messages, because one knows that psychological violence is made up of insults,” she added.

However, French judges don’t seem to want to get in on the party and were “deeply sceptical” about the new law. Even though the law was modeled on worker’s sexual harassment judges fear that witnesses in domestic case won’t be objective.

True, one man’s fat ignorant slut is another man’s skinny smart dream girl. There’s really no accounting for taste, so who is going to judge whether someone is being insulted or just told the truth?

Wall Street Rapes And Profits

February 2, 2011 Alejandro Calderon General, Legal Aspects

New lawyers need a bail out for student loan debt, but since we can’t pay lobbyists five billion dollars like the Wall Street whores investment banks can, we won’t be getting one. Paying off lobbyists is why they got 700 billion dollars of TARP money to bail their asses out for making incredibly risky and stupid investments that anyone who had and ounce of common sense would have known not to do. But the big boys need to play…

Add in that our government supports usury by banks and allows them to commit crimes that ordinary Americans have to serve time in prison for, and it’s easy to understand why these greedy mother fuckers bankers raked in $135 billion dollars in pay in 2010. The average Wall Street employee made $141,000 last year. Most of them do not have advanced degrees; all that is required is college, white skin and a penis.

How’s this for unfair?

• Goldman made over half of its 2010 revenues from trading. Many Wall Street firms borrowed as much as $30 for every $1 of capital it traded. And, according to PBS, Goldman often uses what it knows about clients positions to place its own bets.

•The U.S. government cushions its losses. As we saw in 2008, when the financial crisis hit, Washington (aka taxpayers) bailed out Wall Street with the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and a total of $23.7 trillion in cash and guarantees. After pouring $5 billion into the coffers of Washington politicians and lobbyists between 1998 and 2009, Wall Street got a great return on investment.

This pisses me off so much I can barely type right now. Obama promised change. There’s been no change. NADA. Banks are still screwing over Americans, and the government is still helping them do it. I think it’s time to walk like an Egyptian – let’s take this to the streets. I’m sick to death of living in The United States of Goldman Sachs.

Alcoholic Attorneys

January 31, 2011 Alejandro Calderon General, Legal Aspects

Debt isn’t the only downside to getting a law degree; many lawyers ending up turning to booze because of loneliness and stress. Eric Tindal, an alcoholic and an attorney, warned University of Iowa law students about yet another risk in pursuing a JD.

In a speech to law students about substance abuse, he warned that alcoholism is common among lawyers. Nearly 18% of lawyers are alcoholics, compared to 10% of the general population. No surprise, it starts in law school:

The competition with other students ends up as stress. And that develops isolation because the other students are enemies — it creates a breeding ground for addiction.

Many attorneys are high functioning alcoholics, they can show up and get through the day. I knew someone who was able to work 12 hours a day and hide his “secret” from his employer, but went home and drank a gallon of booze a week. You would never have known except that he had a very difficult time remembering events from even a day ago.

While an alcoholic attorney can function, the danger is that an attorney’s work can determine the outcome of a client’s life; their divorce, criminal case, even a will. It all keeps coming back to how badly the law school experience is both financially and as an academic environment. If schools were limited to admitting only enough students to fill jobs, it wouldn’t be so competitive and hostile. Of course, some law schools would have to close, so really, it’s a win-win solution.