9.29.2008

Exam Numbers are Ready!

From Paula Kutch, Registrar:

Exam number cards are now available to be picked up in the Registrar’s Office during regular business hours.

Students should plan to pick up exam number cards in advance of the due date of an assignment or the date of an exam. Students are not permitted to pick up exam cards for other students.

Exam numbers are needed for retrieving grades from the Law Center website at the end of the semester.

Need a Personal Assistant?

Try JOTT. With JOTT (a free service), you call a toll-free number and tell it what you what to do or remember, and then JOTT does it for you. This is perfect for remembering things for your to-do list, adding appointments to your calendar, and even updating your Facebook status.

Here's how it works:

You set up a JOTT account and sync it to your mobile phone. From there, you can sync JOTT with any number of other applications. If you have Remember the Milk, for example, you can sync it with your RTM account. Let's say you want to remind yourself to pick up ice for your organization's next meeing. Call JOTT and say, "Remember the Milk" and then "pick up ice tomorrow." JOTT will access your Remember the Milk Inbox and add "pick up ice" on tomorrow's to-do list. Or let's say you want to remember to calendar a meeting with a professor and you use Google Calendar. Call JOTT and say, "Google Calendar" and then "meet with Prof. Citron next Wednesday at 3:00 p.m." JOTT will access Google Calendar and add "meet with Prof. Citron" at 3:00 p.m. on the next Wednesday on the calendar.

JOTT is a great way to help keep you organized whether you're organized or not. You just have to remember to call JOTT each time you have something you want to remember. JOTT takes care of the rest.

9.27.2008

Too much to remember? Can't get organized?

There's a great web-based to-do list called Remember the Milk. You can add things to your do list from any computer and then access it from any computer. You can sync it with Google Calendar, your Blackberry, and your iPhone. And if you don't use any of those, there's just a regular old mobile version you can use with any phone with web access.

On RTM, you can have lists by category. You can tag the lists with certain terms. And you can invite other people to view your list. So let's say you have a to-do list for a project . . . you could share that list with the rest of your committee or e-board or whatever. As things get done, whoever does them can cross it off the list so everybody knows it's not just hanging out there. You can have a shopping list that you share with a roommate, significant other, or spouse . . . so if they get to the store before you do, they can pick up whatever is on the list and cross it off.

9.26.2008

Coping with Depression in Higher Ed

NPR story on coping with depression as a young adult getting an education. The story is interesting, but -- even more -- it tells a familiar story to anyone who has coped with a mental illness while trying to get through a degree program.

9.23.2008

Contextualizing Legal Education

Touro Law Center will be hosting a conference on October 3, 2008, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Enriching the curriculum by adding instruction in skills and values has been an important goal of Touro’s curricular reform. The inauguration of the Public Advocacy Center in Fall 2007 has expanded student opportunities to fulfill the profession’s obligation of public service and the conference will include a report on the status and achievements of the Public Advocacy Center. One aspect of our curriculum revision is the Court Observation Program. The afternoon portion of this conference
will focus on reviewing, assessing and improving the Court Observation Program and will feature a report prepared by the Center for Court Innovation which conducted a survey designed to help us evaluate the Program.

Confirmed speakers include Robert MacCrate, principal author of the MacCrate Report; Judith Wegner, principal author of the Carnegie Report; Vanessa Merton, contributor to the Best Practices Report; and Joseph Harbaugh, member of the ABA Special Committee on Outcome Measures.

9.22.2008

Exam Numbers for Midterms

If you do not have your exam number in time for a midterm exam, you should use the last 5 digits of your social security number. That number can later be matched to your exam number.

9.20.2008

NAPW Law Student Writing Competition

The National Association for Pregnant Women is holding a writing competition for law students.

Issues of concern to pregnant and birthing women have often been missing from discussion in law school courses and among reproductive rights activists. Thanks in large part to public education efforts by writers, filmmakers, and community activists, there is an unprecedented amount of attention and momentum surrounding the rights of pregnant and birthing women. To advance these efforts further, NAPW has developed two writing contests. NAPW and numerous Co-Sponsors and Supporters (to be announced) hope that these contests will leverage the enthusiasm and creativity of a new generation of feminist legal scholars and spark critical thinking about the need to address childbirth and birthing rights as constitutional and human rights issues.

The first contest asks for a critical analysis of the absence of birthing rights issues from gender discrimination and feminist jurisprudence textbooks and curricula (in fact, none of the top three casebooks used in law school courses dedicated to gender and the law address the issue of childbirth or midwifery). The second contest asks students to develop legal theories that can be used to challenge policies banning pregnant women from having a vaginal birth after a prior caesarean section (VBAC). This topic will encourage students to address a growing problem that has received very little attention from the feminist legal community both in academia and within the leading women's rights legal advocacy organizations.

Submission Guidelines

Other questions about the contest?
Send Inquiries to: writingcontest@advocatesforpregnantwomen.org

Exam IDs hit a snag

A snafu with the Touro database has caused a delay in getting exam numbers generated. Unfortunately, you need the exam numbers to sign up for computer exams. I'll update everyone next week on when exam numbers will likely be generated. Thanks to everyone for their patience and for letting me know there was a problem to look in to. TMc

9.17.2008

Amended Graduation Requirements

As you settle into the fall semester, you may have started to think ahead about how to use your remaining semesters at Touro to satisfy your graduation requirements. The following two changes impact many Touro students, and you should be sure that you understand these changes and how/whether they apply to you.

1. Advanced Writing Requirement. Effective Spring 2009 for all students who have not yet satisfied the Advanced Writing Requirement: Fall 2008 is the last semester in which the Advanced Writing Requirement can be satisfied by an upper-level course, e.g., Pre-trial Litigation, that results in a package of practice documents of at least 20 pages. Beginning Spring 2009, a package of practice documents of at least 20 pages will be accepted in conjunction with only a clinic.

2. Intermediate Skills Requirement. All students who began law school Fall 2007 or later must fulfill the Intermediate Skills Requirement to graduate. This requirement can be fulfilled in one of the following ways:

a. Practice Module in Business Organizations, Trusts & Estates, Family Law, or Criminal Procedure;

b. Introduction to Law Practice/Transactional Law (under development) in Contracts, Property, or Torts; or

c. Simulation course such as, but not limited to, Settling Legal Disputes.

If you have any questions, please feel free to come by the Office of Student Services for clarification.

9.16.2008

Write to Win MCLE

A highly sought-after lecturer with an engaging, witty style, Judge Lebovits has taught legal writing for the New York Court System for more than a decade. His legal-writing presentations, CLEs, and lectures for judges, lawyers, educators, and law clerks have been featured at the New York State Court of Appeals, the Massachusetts (Flashner) Judicial Institute, and the American Inns of Court.

In 210 entertaining and informative minutes, Judge Lebovits will share easy-to-remember and simple-to-understand methods of persuasive writing that will make a difference in your next court case.

Come see why so many consider Judge Lebovits New York’s finest speaker on legal writing.

Register today and guarantee your seat at the program.

Registration Fees
Members - $95.00*
Non Members - $175.00*



Agenda
8:30-9:00 a.m.REGISTRATION (outside of the meeting room)
9:00-9:10WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
9:10-9:35I. Getting the Job Done: Outlining Through Editing
9:35-10:00II. Controversies in Legal Writing
10:00-10:25III. Legal Writing Do’s
10:25-10:50IV. Legal Writing Don’ts
10:50-11:00COFFEE BREAK
11:00-11:25V. Legal Style: Writing Clearly and Concisely
11:25-11:50VI. Elements of Persuasive Writing
11:50-12:15 p.m.VII. Brief Writing: Questions Presented, Facts, and Argument
12:15-12:30VIII. Legal Method, Citing, Quoting, and Ethics
12:30-12:40IX. A Touch of Class: Winning Rhetorical Devices
12:40ADJOURNMENT

Wednesday, October 15, 2008—Melville—Melville Marriott
www.nysba.org/writetowin-melville

9.15.2008

Evening Hours in OSS

There's a dean in the Student Services office after regular business hours Monday through Thursday. On Mondays and Thursdays, someone is here until 8:15; on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, someone is here until 6:30. So if you can't get here during regular business hours and you need advising, counseling, etc. come on by!

9.14.2008

Out of the Darkness Community Walk

On Sunday, October 5, 2008, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention will host its fifth annual 5K Out of the Darkness community walk on Long Island. Students and faculty from Touro Law Center are invited to walk either individually or as a team.

A major goal of this event is to show support for the families and friends of the 32,000 American who die by suicide, and the 20 million people who suffer from depression, each year. Support of the community walks also helps to raise funds for suicide prevention research and educational programs, erase the stigma surrounding suicide and its causes, and encourage those who are suffering from mental illness to seek treatment.

To learn more about this walk and to register online, you can go to www.outofthedarkness.org. If you are interested in walking and/or forming a team, you may contact Dale Camhi at dcamhi@afsp.org or 516-869-4215.

This year, walk organizers are offering a special "booster sign" with the name of your school, posted along the walk route for a sponsorship of $150.

For additional information about AFSP or the Long Island chapter, please consult thew ebsite at www.afsp.org/longisland.

9.13.2008

Intellectual Property Writing Competition, Prizes up to $2,000

The Intellectual Property Law Section of the New York State Bar Association is p leased to announce its Tenth Annual Law Student Writing Competition. Cash awards, sponsored by prominent New York law firms, will be presented to first and second place winners at the Section's Annual Meeting at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on January 27, 2009. In addition, the article will be published in the section's publication, "Bright Ideas," which will be distributed to over two thousand Intellectual Property Law attorneys. The deadline for submissions i November 6, 2008.

For additional information, please e-mail Tracy McGaugh or come by the Office of Student Services.

9.12.2008

Should You Be a Faculty Research Assistant?

This article originally appeared in the ABA Student Lawyer Magazine. You can access it through SSRN (the Social Science Research Network) here: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1265844

You may need to register your e-mail address if you haven't used SSRN before. But once you've registered your e-mail, you'll have learned about a cost-effective research tool.

The article discusses (1) why students should want to be faculty research assistants, (2) how to go about getting hired as a faculty research assistant, and (3) how to be a good faculty research assistant once hired.

9.11.2008

Computer Exams for Fall 2008

The opportunity to take exams on a laptop is available for all final exams during the exam period, December 11-23, 2008. This option is not available for midterms. Please check your Touro e-mail and Touro mailbox for detailed information. You may access the Electronic Examination Form online at http://tlcweb.tourolaw.edu (choose Electronic Exam menu option).

Important volunteer positions for lawyers: help protect the election!

The presidential election is fast approaching and lawyers are urgently needed to help protect voters' rights. With the expected high turnout in this year's critical and highly-contested election, there's an increased risk of problems at the polls and your help is needed now more than ever. If you are a lawyer, paralegal, or law student, please consider volunteering with our friends at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights or Advancement Project, and share this email with other attorneys who may be interested in participating.

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is seeking legal volunteers for two critical tasks — answering the Election Protection hotline and serving as mobile legal volunteers. The hotline will provide live assistance to voters who have questions or need to report problems with voting, and mobile legal volunteers will work in teams of two to respond to incidents reported through the hotline and assist voters at polling places.

Click here to get more information about the Lawyers' Committee's election protection volunteer opportunities and to sign up.

In response to the disenfranchisement caused by poll worker error, confusion, and misadministration of election rules in recent elections, Advancement Project has drafted poll worker palm cards to assist poll workers in understanding and adhering to key election rules on Election Day. The palm cards are easy-to-read, easy-to-use guides to the top ten issues of election administration that a poll worker will likely face on Election Day, and lawyers are needed to help review and disseminate these cards.

Click here for more information about Advancement Project poll worker palm cards and instructions on how you can help.

We hope that you will take advantage of these opportunities to use your legal skills to protect the 2008 election. Please volunteer and help make sure that every voter is able to cast their vote this year.

Thank You for working to build a better world.

Leah Donahey,
Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets