NEW ORLEANS, 2011, for the FORUM
By Prof. Derrick A. Carter

This is Valparaiso law school’s 8th trip to New Orleans to work in the public defender office. This year the students worked during spring break, from Monday, 28th of February 2011 through Wednesday, the 9th of March, 2011. The visit this year was intense, helping with the thousands of arrests and immediate research needs for the attorneys. There are approximately 50 public defenders in New Orleans and 115 prosecutors. The public defender office is a relatively new office, being formulated as a centralized agency in 2006, after Hurricane Katrina. The public defender office is housed in a congested building at 2601 Tulane, under Director Derwyn Button and Coordinators Benjamin Plener and Nate Fennell. The building conditions are old, with scratchy furniture, where two attorneys share small offices.
Prof. Derrick Carter, a former public defender from Michigan and current law professor at Valparaiso University School of Law, has led a team of law students since 2006, to work in the office during spring break and during some summers.
The initial visits in 2006 started as gutting flood damaged homes. The Lutheran church association spearheaded a tent city of volunteers to gut and rebuild damaged homes from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A 1-L law student, Anne Abrell (now an adjunct law professor), saw a picture of a student working in the New Orleans public defender office and suggested to Prof. Carter, a former public defender, that we spearhead a bigger drive to do the same thing. Soon, Prof. Carter and 24 students joined the public defender office, which was newly created. Since 2006, approximately 142 students have accompanied Prof. Carter to work in New Orleans. Many students repeat their visit.
Prof. Carter also invites a team of students to work in the Legal Aid office in New Orleans and in the Juvenile Defender Office. Over the years, several Law Professors have accompanied the team on visits. Professor Paul Brietzke wrote on the inequities of the legal system and explored the engineering projects concerning the levees, Professor Alan White helped with the Legal Aid work and conducted a works in progress with some Tulane Law Professors, and Prof. Geneva Brown helped with the Juvenile Defender work. In the evenings, the students discuss their daily experiences with the attorneys, Professors and citizens of New Orleans.
For many years, the students covered their entire expenses: travel, food, and hotel. In the last couple of years, the law school has helped immeasurably with hotel expenses, and the law school has spearheaded a fundraising campaign to help students with their travel and food expenses. The students receive pro bono credit. Prof. Carter compiles all the written work submitted by the students into a comprehensive Brief Bank.
This year, the team of 22 students prepared bond hearings, interviewed clients, obtained bail releases, researched and prepared immediate briefs and motions, engaged in long term projects, monitored the crowded court docket, watched trials, motions, death penalty cases, helped investigate discovery requests, and monitored caseloads.
Valparaiso’s expertise is bringing experienced students proficient in Criminal Procedure, trial skills, and appellate skills, to file briefs, citing Louisiana and federal law, within a 24-hour period. And then turn to the next assignment. Students are teamed with two trial attorneys and accompany those attorneys on the daily court runs and jail visits. Students also discover the value of team work, as they assist each other if there is a lull in their assignments, and help emergency situations. Experienced 2-L and 3-L students instruct the 1-L students.
The day starts for some at 8:00 a.m. and go til 6:00 p.m. There is an orientation session where the students are briefed with life in New Orleans by Benjamin Plener and Nate Fennell, the student coordinators, who orient the students to life as an attorney in a beleaguered city, with compelling ethical dilemmas.
In the evenings, Valparaiso students frequently engage in group activities to discover the uniqueness of New Orleans. Several students visited the 9th Ward, which is slowly re-developing. The students met some of the ministers, who have churches in the lower 9th Ward. It is mostly a vacant area, but there are a few scattered homes and several churches. The grass is cut and there seems to be some promise of eventual development.
The trip is extremely important, even five years after Hurricane Katrina, because the poverty conditions in New Orleans remain the same. There are lengthy jail terms for small drug offenses, poor people unable to make bail, or are denied attorneys if they are able to make bail (some judges view that if a person makes bail, then that person is not indigent for 6th Amendment right to counsel purposes). There are immigration and deportation consequences, language barriers, and grave issues concerning prosecutorial misconduct in refusing to deliver exculpatory evidence during discovery proceedings.
This year, the students saw several prosecutors held in contempt of court for being unprepared or for refusing to hand over discovery information. The students met Judge Linda Van Davies, who held sessions with them in her chamber and took pictures. The students interviewed several murder suspects. One arrestee was in tears because he shot his older brother. This interview left a powerful impression on several students.
There are also humorous experiences, such as the 18 people arrested for pick-pocketing. But most present sad stories. The students listened to jail house tapes of inmate’s phone calls, and heard the urban realities of hopeless people caught up in the criminal justice system.
While the conditions in New Orleans are improving, one sees the same dilapidated buildings throughout most of New Orleans. One sees the abandoned factories across the street from the public defender office, one sees wooden, abandoned homes near the courthouse, and one sees much poverty. It’s a total, high-octane experience and nearly every student has thoroughly enjoyed their commitment. The following students attended this year in New Orleans: Ryan Rowan, Jim Dillon, Megan Steiner, Michele Angelo, Benjamin Young, Brian Park, Christopher Erickson, Elizabeth Hollingsworth, Jonathan Carlson, Keiko Yoshino, Tom Little, Ndeto Mwose, Marlon Smikle, Marlena Ragland, Luisa Oviedo, Priscilla Puente-Chacon, Megan Barbara, Lucas Shoemake, Nelson Pichardo, Peter Fadul, Yjimizia Jones.
There were many fun and delightful moments. I started calling our White Suburban, “Big Baby.” Memorable Moments: Marlon Smikle and da cute Judge; Michele Angelo and the weeping murderer – alleged; Ryan Rowan and Jim Dillon commandeering the discussion about the realities of the Bail system during orientation; Benjamin Young – our Seth Brogan; Keiko – we won’t say; Peter – no sleep Pete; Marlena – VIP; Luisa – poor Luisa; Elizabeth – hmmm, common sense, but a little sickly; Nelson – $40 on a trashy flood-stained print; Yjimizia – actually, she played it pretty cool; Lucas – assisted the big dog; Megan Barbara – inmate phone calls – they know how to treat women; Priscilla – on her good behavior, besides, “nobody messes with me;” (or something like that); Ndeto – dancing the freak (being sandwiched too); Megan Steiner – plays it very cool; Brian Park – a quick study and entertaining; Christopher Erickson – early morning jogger; Jonathan Carlson – quiet, reliable; and Tom Little – relaxed, very helpful, and mentor. It was a great trip.

International Moot Court Members Compete in Oxford, England
John Bayard
Executive Editor

From March 30th to April 2nd, members of the International Moot Court Team will be competing in the International Media Law Moot Court in Oxford, England as part of the Price Moot Court Competition. As part of the competition, members will have the chance to meet leading experts in International Media Law and will have an informal discussion with Jennifer Robison, who is working as part of the defense team for Julian Assange, the founder of wiki leaks. I had a discussion with George Catanzarite, the captain of the team that is heading to Oxford.
How many teams will be competing in this year’s competition and how were the teams selected?
Catanzarite: We don’t know many teams will be there at this year’s competition. We will get our itinerary when the competition begins on March 30th. Last year there were over 25 teams that competed in the written round and only 8 advanced to the oral arguments round in Oxford. These teams were from all over the world and last year only one team came from the United States.
What do you hope to achieve (besides winning) during this competition, whether it be for the team, International Moot Court, or the Law School in general?
Catanzarite: First off, as a team we are hoping to win. Going to an international competition is a great thing for both the International Moot Court and the Law School. We have sent other competitions to Chicago, Miami, and even Niagara, but this is the first competition we have gone to that is overseas so it’s huge to us and everyone else. The competition also has an award for the best oralist, so I think everyone is reaching for that.
How did the team prepare for the competition?
Catanzarite: We have weekly meetings on Tuesday, but also practice between 2-4 times a week. We work on content and style, but also need to think about timing since we give judges the amount of time we will be speaking before each round. The biggest thing we have been doing is research on our topic, which is Media Law. Our case is about a government dealing with a crisis within its own borders and attempts by the government to impose a licensing law to all broadcasters. All the broadcasters had to move their hosting sites. Our cases are important because the issues relate to what is happening right now with the protests in the Middle East as well as the crisis in Japan. It is applicable to both sides of the argument. In our research we have been looking at a variety of international sources including the BBC and Al Jazeera.
How will you use your experience in International Moot Court in your future career?
Catanzarite: It is an overall good experience both for International Law matters and the law in general. A lot of the panelists at our competition are leaders in their fields and wrote decisions on the cases we are arguing about. We are arguing for 25 minutes in front of very knowledgeable judges. If you are planning on doing work internationally, there are a lot of facets for you to meet practitioners in different areas of International Law.

Food Review
John Bayard
Food Critic
Asparagus

There is an old saying in regards to food. Why have 64 flavors if you can’t get vanilla right. Unfortunately this seemed to be the problem with Asparagus. I could tell the place did not seem right when I walked into the restaurant. The atmosphere seemed flat and dry, which is not saying that the staff was unfriendly, instead the restaurant did not feel like a restaurant.
The restaurant was Asian fusion which immediately made my eyes roll. Asian fusion restaurants can in fact be very exciting, if the chefs are focused on a particular set of items. Asian fusion can mean many different menu selections, but the more menu selections there are the less likely the chefs particular skills will stand out. Another old saying is jack of all trades and master of none.
Now the appetizers were alright. Their avocado rolls were a great mix of traditional spring rolls with a mixture of avocado and vegetables. Full disclosure, I am a huge fan of avocado. Most of the appetizers on menu were also not too filling, which is good because you don’t want to be too full before eating your main course.
It was the main dish that was disappointing. I picked chicken with pineapples and cashews because it is a regular dish that is not too difficult to make. However the full error of having an Asian fusion restaurant came to fruition when they couldn’t even get that right. The presentation itself was very uninviting. The way you present a dish, not just placing it in some stupid un-ergonomic post modern bowl which any self-respecting person would have in their homes, but the actual positioning of the food is important. It should be presented like a work of art, not just dumping where ever. Unfortunately it was the latter in this case.
For a dish that was supposed to include chicken, pineapples, and cashews, it contained little of any of those items. While the mix of vegetables and, in particular, the peppers were actually delicious, the biggest problem with the dish was the insane amount of soy-sauce in the dish. Soy-sauce is supposed to bring forth the flavors in the food, but when you place four tons of it on a meal it becomes too salty to bear. Let’s put it this way, the dish was like California. A little flare on top, no substance foundation, and they charge an absurd price for a mediocre item, which they claim is amazing but everyone else in the country can tell you is crap.
Now the saving grace was the curry dish, but even that was bland and had effort placed into it. While I don’t mind paying a high price for really good cuisine, it needs to be that, good cuisine. Fifty dollars for a meal for two must be worth every penny. At Asparagus it is not worth half that price.

Wisconsin’s state Capitol Building is one of the most beautiful structures in the United States. Inside, the Rotunda opens into the largest granite dome in the United States, with Fighting Bob LaFollette holding court from the East Wing.  Between the dome’s four arches are four pendentives: Legislation, Government, Justice, and Liberty.

Under the watchful eye of the four pendentives, for the past seven days, the people of Wisconsin have stood together to protect the collective bargaining rights of Wisconsin’s public union workers.  On the ground floor, a drum line beats out an endless rhythm to fuel chants and songs rising up to the upper levels filled with people holding signs and American flags, echoing a deafening chorus: “This is what Democracy looks like!”

Until the mobilization of the people of Wisconsin against Governor Scott Walker’s proposed budget, it appeared that the GOP, the Tea Party, and their billionaire backers were in the ascendancy.  Twenty-six state attorney generals filed suits against the 2010 Health Care Reform bill.  Immediate cuts for social safety nets were outlined.  Mitch McConnell’s goal was nakedly clear: to make President Barack Obama a one-term executive.

That was until Governor Walker pushed to end collective bargaining rights for Wisconsin public union workers, which include public school teachers.  That was the case until fourteen bold Wisconsin Democratic Senators, following in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln circa 1840, left the state of Wisconsin to prevent a quorum.  That was until the people of Wisconsin converged on Madison, packing the Capitol Square.  They understood that if the public unions in Wisconsin fell, then all other unions would face elimination of collective bargaining rights from Wisconsin to across the United States.

Governor Walker attempted to support his bill as a means to balance Wisconsin’s budget, facing a $137 million budget gap.  But commentators have noted that eliminating collective bargaining rights for public union workers will not help bridge the budget gap.  Public unions were not the catalysis that led to the collapse of the US economy in 2008, leading to massive unemployment, which led to severe reduction in tax revenues, which contributed to the huge budget deficits in states across the US.

Just in case anyone didn’t know, that was courtesy of your benighted Wall Street Bankers.  None of which are in indefinite detention in some torture camp out of public sight.

Wisconsin prior to Walker pushing massive tax breaks to businesses within two days of his inauguration was looking at a $120 million surplus.   Walker claims that he must strip the public union collective bargaining rights in order to close that gap.   Those unions that supported Walker’s candidacy, the public safety unions who have higher salaries and benefits are exempted.

The public union workers of Wisconsin mobilized, joined by University of Wisconsin students, by their fellow citizens: both union and non-union, from across the US.  Well-wishers from across the US and the world purchased pies from Ian’s Pizza to sustain the energy of the protesters.  Union workers handed out bratwurst and water to protesters.  Egyptian Trade Unions issued a statement to Wisconsin: “We Stand With You as You Stood With Us.”

It was an honor to stand alongside my fellow badgers to protect worker’s rights in Wisconsin three days this week.  From the union worker handing out bratwurst to marching with other veterans to the bagpipers bringing down the house on the Capitol Square, it is a historic occasion that cannot be ignored.  Wisconsin is the first stand against the breaking of labor and the unchecked regressive policies of the Right Wing, brought to you by the Koch Brothers.  We cannot fail.

On Tuesday, February 15, 2011, WLSA hosted the first annual Night with the Professionals.  The event was held at the Harre Union Ballroom and began with a networking session followed by a formal dinner and a discussion panel. The theme of this event was “Success and Strategy, Women in the Law.”

Guests of honor at the event were Geneva Brown, Katie Garza, Barbara Johnson, and Kathryn Kintzele.  These four female attorneys from various legal backgrounds shared their stories, offered advice and responded to student questions.  Also participating in the discussion panel were female Professors Whitton, Schmidt, Vance, Dooley, Levinson and Lind.

After the featured guests shared some information about themselves and their legal background, the discussion was opened  for questions.  The women answered a variety of questions relating to family, stress, balance, and empowerment.   Each woman stressed the importance of doing what you love, adding that they all know “many women and men who have left the legal field because they didn’t like what they were doing.”  The attorneys encouraged students to try new things and to always keep an open mind to new things.

The female professionals shared enlightening and empowering stories and provided a wonderful opportunity for female law students to gain perspective on the role of the woman in the legal world.  The students who attended the event regarded it as an eye-opening, inspirational experience and were grateful for the female professionals’ candid and inviting presence.

Clinic Open House and Registration

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

11:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Heritage Hall

The Clinic is hosting an open house for students interested in enrolling next year.  The open house is an opportunity for students to talk with current clinic students, supervisors and staff, and complete a pre-registration application.

To become a legal intern certified to practice in Indiana, a student must have completed ½ of the credits required for graduation and have taken, or be taking, Legal Profession.  Applications will be available beginning Monday, March 21, 2011 at the Clinic office.  Students interested in Criminal, Juvenile, Tax, Mediation, Sports Law, Domestic Violence, and Post-Conviction Clinics must also sign up to interview with the supervising attorney before the application period is closed.  Students interested in the Civil Clinic do not need to interview with the supervising attorney.  Descriptions of each clinic are available at the Clinic office or in the course catalogue. Students wishing to enroll in any section of Clinic must complete a pre-registration application and have interviewed* with the instructor, if required, before the end of the day on Thursday, March 31, 2011.

Please stop by at the open house to get your questions answered, fill out a Clinic Application, schedule an interview, and sample the refreshments.

* Interviews will be scheduled from Wednesday, March 23 through Thursday, March 31.

You do not need to dress up.  A resume is only required for the Sports Law Clinic.

Forgoes the day when a woman put on a lace ruffled apron with a matching pearl set as she prances through the kitchen in classic pumps. Well, if you came to my house, this “1950’s sitcom vision” is not too far off. I am lucky to have a wonderfully gracious mother who cooked for our family, and still does, every night as we sit together for dinner. Go figure, like mother-like daughter, I’ve learned quite a bit from her and have carried on the tradition with me to law school, where nothing brings a bigger smile to my face than baking treats for my friends.

While in the aisle of Wal-Mart, I frustratingly search for frozen pastry sheets. The woman next to me must have realized I was a bit annoyed to have learned they were sold out, because she began to talk to me. When she found out I was a law student, her jaw dropped a bit. Politely, she laughed saying, “You cook AND are a law student?”.  As our conversation progressed, I questioned why this woman found it so unusual that I knew how to cook. Then, she answered my question with her last statement. “Honey, they have breadsticks similar to the ones you wanted to whip up in the frozen section at the end of the aisle.”

Maybe it is the race against the clock that has men and women forgetting the delight of fresh ingredients baked into a recipe passed down by one’s ancestral line. Both my Italian grandmother and Polish grandmother always sat down at the table with me sharing tricks and tips on how to improve recipes or how to make that “special” dish. (My grandmother’s latest tip: Add a tablespoon of Sweet Vermouth to your pasta sauce, trust me, it will change your world). Frozen, already prepared meals takes away from those special moments. What is worse than the decline of old-fashioned cooking is the stereotype that goes along with cooking.

And so, I began to research. There is a book “Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office” which offers advice to women aspiring for that dream career in a male dominated world. The legal profession is no exception. The 1990’s have transformed the career, as women more and more establish their rightfully respected place. What disturbs me in this book is the discouragement of bringing in your feminine qualities to the corporate office. They suggest refraining from spilling about any baking or cooking skills you may possess because this “typically” feminine trait leaves the impression of weakness. I would LOVE to hear arguments for how a career-driven woman who can ALSO cook is weak.

Many of my friends can attest that I cook and bake probably more than what is considered “average”. I can’t even put a frozen pizza in the oven without adding my own touch of spices to the top of it (which I blame my mother for). As a first year law student, I believe my interest in cooking has spiked as a reaction to the stress. But honestly, I see it as a good thing. I look forward to the day when I can share my mom’s and grandmother’s recipes with my future little girl. The ability to cook requires a particular degree of patience, attention to detail, and stamina. These traits are all transferable to the career world. Never will I let my goals of moving up in a career impede my adoration of cooking because in the end, it is all about balance. Entering a predominantly male career in a few years, I believe it is extremely important to embrace being a woman. My advice for now, watch out for that ‘nice girl’ in your law class; pretty in pink and pearls may later surprise you as she does in fact get that future corner office—cooking skills included.

The grip of law school second semester malaise has hit full force. Symptoms include the sluggish ability to read property, falling asleep over torts, and headaches induced by constitutional law opinions that last 30 pages. The cure is possibly spring break or sleeping for 24 hours, probably both. I knew when the malaise hit. It was a beautiful weekend, where I spent more time in the library slugging through cases on extraterritoriality than doing anything else. As I sat in that back corner, I could feel the will to work being sucked out of me.
Feeding this second semester funk is a whole slate of classes that are even more complicated than last. Reading property feels like I am learning French all over again. No matter how hard I try, I feel terminally confused by a condition subsequent and a condition precedent. Mostly, I am left with the feeling that I should never own property or even advise on property problems. Seriously, who would want a lawyer who can’t tell a fee simple from a fee tail?
The fog of my second semester sickness has clouded my thinking. I try to fight the urge to slack. I try to fight that niggling in the back of my brain that I have this law school figured out. And that thought is probably my worst enemy right now. I know my knack for bad short cuts and procrastination will be my undoing. I need to keep briefing, to keep reading. I am not even terrified of getting called on in Torts any more. I have lost my fear of failure and that is a bad thing.
I really do not have this whole law school thing figured out. Torts teaches me that every Tuesday and Thursday. Who knew it would be important whether or not the host served beer at a party. Or whether a girl bitten by a dog was supervised. But I guess that is just law school for you. It is the smallest detail that changes everything. The moment you get the littlest grip on what you should be doing to find that small idea, bam, it finds a new way to punch you in the face.
Right now, I am just trying to ward off this second semester funk long enough to bang out my appellate brief and get to spring break. Hopefully, I can come out of spring break cured of this illness. I need to start in March fresh for the final sprint toward finals.

Put yourself out there, be Unique, and get Recognized
By Matthew Suter
Guest Writer

I wasn’t sure if you knew this, but the economy is in bad shape. Fortunately it has improved a little after the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007 but for us law students the damage has been done. The result from the mass firings across all job markets increased the attendance of graduate programs. Law schools, allowing someone 3 years to hide, had the largest increase in enrollment. In 2008 there were 142,922 students enrolled in JD programs, which is roughly 47,000 graduates a year. That’s a ton of lawyers. To make things worse, there are only around 32,000 legal jobs available for these graduates. For those that have trouble with basic math, 15,000 law graduates will be, or have been, left out of the legal community each year.
So why am I depressing you with these statistics? It’s not because I want you all to quit, even though it would help out my chances, but to get motivated. Yes there are non-traditional jobs for law students but I came to law school to be a lawyer, not a human resources manager. How do we increase our chances for one of those 32,000 jobs? Put yourself out there, be unique, and get recognized.
After sending my information to countless firms I started to see how my resume was a little, well, blah. I realized that I needed something that would set me apart from the stacks of applicants competing for the same job. Law review will always be a bullet point that makes a resume “pop” but as you all know, the vast majority of law students will not be a part of law review and never get a chance to publish their own work. I decided to look outside the box for ideas to get published, one that was not offered to me by my school, and I came up with starting my own blog.
You may be thinking: how would this get recognition with literally millions of blogs all over the Internet? Well surprisingly there are only around 1000 blogs dedicated to legal issues. Many of those made by law students are personal journals where they rehash how hard law school can be and who really wants to read that? My original idea was to write about issues that got my attention, but then I started to see the big picture, to make a blog for all law students to get their name out there.
I decided to name my site Lawster. Lawster stands for the Law Student Editorial Resource. This site allows law students from all around the country to publish articles about current legal or political topics that grab their attention. Lawster gives students the opportunity to get noticed by future employers and to be able to show published writing samples. The site is very new, and needs a lot of work, but so far students from Valparaiso, Northern Illinois, Indiana University, and IU Indy have joined as authors. I’m not saying that everyone should start a blog, but to get an edge on other students you should find a niche to set yourself apart. Find something that interests you and enhances your talents. With enough passion behind a unique idea, employers will always give you a second look. The Lawster web address is www.lawster.wordpress.com

Matt Suter is a 2L and can be reached at matthew.suter@valpo.edu

Law school nightmares plague me all winter break. The third time I woke up gasping for breath, with a racing heart, was about three days after Christmas. I had done well up until that point. I refrained from checking DataVU everyday. I had focused on my feverous Christmas shopping and my beloved Steelers enough for the first part of break to be relaxing. But something snapped after Christmas and my shell-shocked psyche decided tormented me late at night. I think the worst of the nightmares was the one where I was sitting in Tabor trying frantically to work through my contracts exam. Suddenly, the paper surged off the table and started sucking out my soul.
Ok, maybe I exaggerated the last nightmare. But still, I was haunted by the absolute certainty that I had failed my contracts exam. It loomed over every conversation I had with friends and family. It was impossible to explain my gut feeling that there was no way on in heaven or hell I actually passed contracts. They would laugh and try to placate me with meaningless platitudes as I insisted it went completely wrong. Nothing could convince me I was just fine. I nervously waited for what I was sure was going to be my doom. Naturally, I ate some serious crow, when to my surprise I did pass.
Grades seemed to have an interesting effect on everyone I noticed. When January 10 came along, I could just feel the nervous energy during the day as we all waited for our fate. That energy bled into a strange confusion as we bewilderedly tried to figure out exactly where we fit in this new order and what was the number of the bus that hit us. I have developed a nasty habit of looking around my fellow 1Ls and wondering if they were ahead of me in the rankings.
So, now that I have been through an entire semester of law school I am no longer afraid. I know when to start outlining (about week 3), when to start studying for finals (right after spring break), and how to brief a case (in the book… I mean on paper). Now, I have brand new worries to think about this semester. I spend most of my week holding my breath during Torts class hoping that I do not get called on. I still don’t completely understand this phobia. I am more than willing to answer questions during class any other time. I think the problem is the whole issue of standing up. I am ok with volunteering information on my own, but single me out and I shake like a puppy about to be swatted on the nose with a newspaper. I am sure I will be relieved once I get called on. However, I am absolutely convinced the anticipation is going to be the death of me.