It's Funny Because It's (Often) True

Announcements!!!

Congrats on surviving the first week of fall semester! It's been quite a week. Here are some reminders:

• You should have gotten a Lexis Advance password via email. If you did not, or you deleted it, or your email account got wiped clean, or the dog ate it, or whatever, please send me an email. (If you have already sent me an email, you don't need to send me another one.) Please check to make sure your username and password work. Do NOT wait until you have an assignment due.
• Ivy Tech Student Life is showing the movie "Home" tomorrow at 9 p.m. Bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on. If you're in one of my classes, you are eligible for 10 points if you attend. I doubt that there's a sign-in sheet, so take a selfie. 
• Lafayette Civic Theatre is putting on a staged reading of the play "The Amish Project" on September 15, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. This is a pay-what-you-can event. If you're in one of my classes, you are eligible for 10-20 points if you attend. Get there early. It's a small theatre, and a big cast with lots of friends and family! Click on the link to see the Civic Theatre's page for more information.  The Amish Project
• The Monday afternoon PARA 101 class will be going on a field trip to the Tippecanoe County Courthouse on October 5, 2015. We'll be there from 2:30 until they kick us out at 4:30 (ish). Class lasts until 5:20, so I am hoping to scope out a meeting location downtown where we can discuss what we saw afterwards.
• Next week we will bid a very fond semi-farewell to Linda O'Gara who is leaving us (partially) for a full-time job. She will continue to teach her Torts and Legal Research classes this semester. Duran Keller will be taking over for her in Contracts, and Sue Sansone will be teaching the Bankruptcy Law class.

Have a great weekend!!!

Welcome to Fall Semester 2015!

A Cautionary Tale for the New Semester

If you've ever had me for a class, you'll know why this particular story from the ABA Journal tickles my fancy. And if you haven't had me yet ... you'll learn.

Judge fines himself for ringing cellphone

Posted Aug 21, 2015 05:45 am CDT

By Debra Cassens Weiss

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A judge in Hillsboro, Ohio, held himself to the same standards as others in his courtroom Tuesday when his cellphone began to ring.
Judge Rocky Coss fined himself $25 for the infraction, WCPO reports.
Coss has a sign warning all those who enter his courtroom to turn off their cellphones, and he enforces the measure with $25 fines when he hears a ringing phone.
Coss says he left his cellphone in his shirt pocket and forgot all about it until his wife called him. It’s his first offense, he adds.
“I don’t see how I can hold someone else in contempt and fine them for disrupting the proceedings when I do the same thing and not fine myself,” he tells WCPO.

Great Advice for the Fall Semester

I want to share an article I just found about dealing with school-based anxiety. The article is written for law students, but it's equally applicable to paralegal students (or, really, any student). It addresses fears of failure, of speaking in class, and of exams, and there isn't a bad piece of advice in it. Honestly, I can't think of a better way to prepare for the upcoming semester, for both new and returning students.

Conquering Fear

Lexis Advance

If you're a currently registered Paralegal student, you should have gotten (or will soon be getting) a Lexis Advance user ID and password. These replace any Lexis user ID and password you had before. You'll like Lexis Advance.Seriously. It's less overwhelming than Lexis used to be--more like Google Scholar.

Alumni--Stay in touch!

I often get calls from attorneys looking for recent--or not-so-recent--graduates of our program to work in their offices. I am working hard at convincing the local attorneys of the advantages of hiring current students part-time and training them while they complete their education, but these things take time.

In any event, it's great that our alums have acquired such a good reputation that attorneys think of turning here first. I'm looking forward to working with all of you to keep that reputation up!

In the meantime, if you are an alumnus looking for a job, or if you know of someone who is, please send them my way. I know people who are looking for you.

Just because you've graduated doesn't mean you're not still part of the family.

Tenants' Rights Workshops

I just got this flyer from Legal Aid. These are FREE tenants' rights workshops being hosted at various locations around Lafayette. Great information for yourself or your friends, perhaps; a chance to learn about landlord-tenant law; and an opportunity to schmooze with attorneys.

Law as (almost) Poetry: Justice Kennedy on Marriage

Below is the last paragraph of Justice Kennedy's majority opinion in the gay marriage case. Too good not to share:

Fair Housing--Last SCOTUS Bombshell of the Day?

The Court also upheld the federal Fair Housing Law. The FHL was enacted roughly 40 years ago in an attempt to eradicate housing discrimination. Over the years it had been held to outlaw not only overt discrimination, but policies or laws that didn't appear discriminatory on their face, and yet had a discriminatory impact.

In the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, the question was whether that was still true.

By a 5-4 vote, the answer is yes.

Turns Out, It IS Adam and Steve

In Obergefell v. Hodges, the Court recognized the right of same-sex couples to marry in the United States. This 5-4 decision makes same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.

Sometimes a Typo Is Just a Typo

In King v. Burwell, a handful of citizens challenged the Healthcare Affordability Act (Obamacare). The premise of the case stemmed from the wording of a single phrase contained in the dishearteningly long statute which seemed to indicate that the government could not give tax credits to citizens of states that had their own health insurance exchanges (which would be most of the states). Everyone agreed that that was not what Congress had intended. Everyone agreed that the unfortunate wording came about in the process of amending and re-amending the proposed law. And yet, there it was, right?

There were lots of problems with this lawsuit, by the way--the most pressing of which being that most (possibly all) of the plaintiffs lacked standing, or any legally recognizable harm. But the Supremes left those issues aside and tackled the question head on.

It's a typo. Move on. Obamacare can proceed as intended. (This case was decided by a suprisingly sturdy 6-3 majority.)

Big Week at the Supreme Court

Lots of major decisions are being handed down this week at the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). I'm posting a link to SCOTUSBlog, which is a well-respected blog that covers SCOTUS decisions, with thoughtful commentary on the reasoning behind them and their impact going forward. If you want to know what people who actually understand law are saying about the Court, this is the place to look.

Kramer v. Catholic Charities

Several of you attended an Indiana Supreme Court argument at Purdue last fall. In the case, Kramer v. Catholic Charities, the adoptive parents of a baby girl sued the adoption agency for negligence when they learned that that biological father had stepped forward to claim the child. The adoptive parents' claim was based on their allegation that the agency breached a duty to them by failing to check the putative father registry or by failing to warn the parents that the agency had not done so.

The Supreme Court, while sympathetic to the adoptive parents' anguish, was not sympathetic to their legal claims.

You can read the whole opinion here:

Kramer v. Catholic Charities

Who's a Drama Queen? I'm a Drama Queen!

Lafayette Civic Theatre will hold its annual 10-minute play festival next Friday and Saturday, June 12 & 13.

Why am I announcing it here?

Because I am making my dramatic debut, that's why. I have been cast in the role of "Mom" in the play "Fun House Debt." This is my first dramatic role since the 4th grade. I am cast alongside two seasoned performers. Yikes.

I push all of you to move beyond your comfort zones on a regular basis. This is your chance to see the tables get turned. :-) A link for information about the 10-minute Play Festival is below.

Lafayette Civic Theatre 10-Minute Play Festival