My most legal-rific cartoon ever

This one appeared here in the latest issue of the Advocate, Idaho's State Bar publication. The Ninth Circuit came to hear some arguments at the University of Idaho Law School's new and schnazzy courtroom. These three judges are, from left to right, Senior Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace, Circuit Judge N. Randy Smith, and Senior Circuit Judge Stephen Trott.

Professor Jack Miller

Visiting Professor of Law Nora O'Callaghan

Prof. O'Callaghan teaches Con Law. And now I will complain about the US judicial system. The judicial branch is considered the "least dangerous branch" because it doesn't have a purse our a sword. I'd say it should be called the fuzziest branch. Its as dangerous as any other of our branches. The judciary shapes our society, and that's just as important as our money or our army.

Basic Legal Accounting

I can't take credit for the grading method described in this cartoon (click for bigger version). Dean Seamon did in fact use it for Civ Pro II.

Denied

The law school's plan to open a branch in Boise was "dismantled" by the Idaho Board of Education. Plan B is a 3rd year program in Boise. The University of Idaho will continue to build its "legacy of leading" from the prominant location of Moscow while the applicant pool faces the temptation of a private law school in Boise. Meanwhile, U of I Law students will continue to commute for internships, externships, and semesters in practice in Boise.

Mandatory Meeting

At the podium is Anne-Marie Fulfer, Director of Career Development. These meetings generally cover the basics of job-hunting. Attending this meeting are my classmates, Dave, Hope, and Matt.

Judges and Clerks

Pictured from right to left:
Judge Bail, a District Judge for Ada County.
Judge Williamson, the Administrative District Judge for the Fourth Judicial District.
Carol, Judge Bail's clerk.
Janine, Judge Williamson's Clerk.

Ken Star

Kenneth Star came to University of Idaho back in April to speak at the Law school. Here he is taking notes while the other guest speakers gave their thoughts. Because he is so famous I will make an exception to my usual policy of giving a heads-up and veto power to the subject of my post.

Outlines

Law school introduced me to the concept of outlining. My brain gagged on it at first, but now I dig it. My organizational enlightenment (which hasn't helped my desk stay clean) illustrates a profetic statement by Professor Goble:

We're going to get inside your heads, mush everything up, and restructure the way you think.

The mushing part was kind of uncomfortable. . . Law students: be sure and click on the cartoon for the full sized version, so you can read my outline of first year law idioms.

Sunrise Ayers, Attorney at Law

Sunrise Ayers also works at Idaho Legal Aid. Mostly she covers the Senior Advice Line. There's a lot of heartbreaking cases, and a lot of advice to give. A lot of the cases are similar and she goes through a case or two of canned notes a day. She also deals with the occasional whopper of a legal question. And then there's the time-keeping, every .1 hour has to be recorded.

Bureaucrat at Law Jim Cook

Jim Cook is an attorney at Idaho Legal Aid Services. He writes grants and otherwise digs up funding. His Dog, Lucy comes to work with him. Lucy is a specially trained grant-hound who can smell a dime-sized contribution from a mile off. When she finds one, she barks and points with her nose. But most of the time there are none to be found, so Lucy just lays around looking bored while Jim does all the work.

the Honorable James A (J.R.) Schiller

A Magistrate Judge in Canyon County.

Mr. Jud Bailey, Ada County Marshal

I have yet to see one of these guys use force in the courtroom, but they look very prepared to. . .

Ritchie Eppink, Attorney at Law

Ritchie Eppink works at Idaho Legal Aid Services. We law students know him for his study aids and website found at Usefulinfo.org. Here at ILAS, one of the most common questions is, "Is Ritchie here?" That's partly because he works out of two offices. This caricature is incomplete in that it's missing the characteristic stack of books and files that he usually lugs around. I'm also not quite sure about it's eppink-ness. Hopefully, I can squeeze in some time to create a better one some day.

The Judges Honor Allyn Dingel

Today a courtroom full of judges, justices, commissioners, and other lawyers gathered to honor Mr. M. Allyn Dingel, Jr. by naming a courtroom after him. Numerous judges had signed this large printout which was presented to Mr. Dingel as a light-hearted part of the ceremonies. Much earlier, I made the sketch-work for this project at a committee meeting where he was present. I ate cookies and secretly sketched him while holding my notebook under the table. This was at the request of a local judge, who shall remain nameless, because judges aren't supposed to have any dealings under the table.

Predatory Mortgage and Consumer Lending Training

I went to an all-day training on predatory lending. "Predatory lenders" is apparently an elusive term lacking a solid definition. Let me provide one here: A predatory lender is a lender with (a) fangs 2.5 inches or longer, (b) the mouth parts of a leach, or (c) a lender who doesn't actually check and make sure that the borrower can support the mortgage. They said today that lenders don't have such a fiduciary duty, especially when the borrower lies, but come on guys, have a heart!

* * *

The following are quick sketches of the three main speakers:

Brenda Gauer, National Legal Training Project.
Anthony Polidori, supervising examiner/investigator with the Idaho Department of Finance.

* * *

Deputy Attorney General Brett DeLange, Idaho Law Foundation.

Interns

These are all hanging up at work. Thank goodness for the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, but can I bring myself within the statute? Should I report my papercut? These are burning legal questions.

Uiniversity of Idaho Law school Professor Caricatures

During my 1L year of Law school I made cartoons of all my professors. They were all great sports about it.

Professor Anderson, Criminal Law. By way of interpretation, this is a diagram that represents the criminality of a bear eating a man who is guilty of attempted drug running.

* * *

Dean Seamon, Civil Procedure II. This isn't a real citation, but my dad was tricked into looking it up in the federal tax code.

* * *

Professor Bridy, Contracts. She came up with the contract in the background, it's official boilerplate contract terms.

* * *

Professor Goble, torts, let me know that a cartoon can count as defamation. uh-oh.

* * *

Property, Professor Beard. The textbook had a color print of an abstract sculpture, several pictures inside, and two cases about paintings. The rest was all legal stuff.

* * *Professor Friendshuh, Legal Research and Writing. There are special rules about when to italicize a comma, seriously.

* * *

Professor Williams, Civil Procedure I. Shoe, Jx, all that good stuff.

* * *

Validity of the System

Throwing a quiz out due to vague reports of cheating didn't help me out in this case. On the other hand, without the curve I would have flunked it.

Grading

There is much stress about law school grades.

All my law toons are going to go here

if you're not a lawyer, lawstudent, or my wife, you probably don't have to look at these