awesome atty bio pics

wtf is wrong with this firm...

http://www.bcm-law.com/Bio/RobertWinston.asp
http://www.bcm-law.com/Bio/MichaelBrandow.asp

Degenerate Friends

In continuation of my drunken incident... below is a convo of my close friend's weekend. Oh how I love having degenerate friends - they bring joy to my life.

Me (11:37:25 PM): hows your weekend
Friend (11:38:11 PM): nice
Friend (11:38:15 PM): it was X's bday
Friend (11:38:25 PM): got trashed at "club"
Friend (11:38:43 PM): "B" ran down the ramp to the metro and broke his knee and shoulder
Me (11:38:11 PM): ...
Friend (11:38:53 PM): otherwise it was a good jackass moment

Quick Question

So... I got piss drunk yesterday, and apparently, I was sniffing my friend's friend's hair... and said her hair smelled really good. I proceeded to call her "shampoo girl". Does this constitute me being a pervert? Please answer seriously, because this may have serious repercussions.

Courageous...

All hats off to BITTER 2L for his stance.

Law Schools - Fraudulent Business

One of my few friends from law school and I had a really long conversation (more than an hour long, and made me feel homosexual for a second) about life (which included a lengthy healthy discussion about the fucked up system of law school itself + how fucking poor you still are even if you make six figures in NYC + how much little $ I would save post graduation in the City that knows how to fuck up the real estate market). After talking to him, and after seeing a fellow Blogger's website, I wrote a long comment. After reading it over (shut it I'm a dork), I decided to make it into an actual post. I think it completely makes sense, and here it goes with some minor revisions thereafter.

You know what's funny about law school (that's not in the Top 15 of the USNWR ranking since pretty much every student will get market jobs)? We're taught to be ethical by disclosing every fucking shit we've done in the past to the character & fitness committee, because we have to have a higher standard of ethics. The funny thing is, law schools (besides the top 10 schools) NEVER EVER disclose the material facts on their employment statistics, that could FULLY inform prospective candidates.

It's absolutely fucking hypocritical, and I want to ask the ABA how/why they don't find this to be just a "tad" bit ironic. We learn in corporations/securities regulations that companies must disclose all MATERIAL facts to potential investors (and would hold the CEO and the lawyer personally liable after the enactment of SOX). Granted, publicly traded securities and law schools are vastly different; but they have many commonalities to them.

First, the average law student racks up at least $100,000 in debt - if that's not a fucking investment, you tell me what that is. Second, as potential law students make choices and expect some kind of return on this "investment", just like any other investors would. Third, there is a market for law schools (supply and demand), just like the stock market itself, or any securities market.

Yet, law schools are allowed to manipulate their employment statistics all they want, and allow misled prospective law students to think that they'll be arguing 1st Amendment rights billing $700/hr (or negotiating the next break-through merger deal that's going to revolutionize a specific industry). It's such bullshit - and I get angry because I was one of those people (read: idiots) that was completely misled by faulty employment statistics. Furthermore, while I was fully aware of the fact that rankings mattered a lot if you weren't in the top 10 law schools, I didn't realize how subjective the grading system was. It's such bullshit, someone needs to step up to the ABA and let the voice of the majority of the law students be heard.

I honestly shouldn't complain, since I'm a 2L and have a "good job" lined up, and that was because I was a "sleazeball" and used one of my networks to get the job. But a good amount of people I know don't, and they weren't "privileged" enough to have the resources to abuse their network resources. And frankly, it pisses me off. It would be different if the law school were to honestly disclose what % of students graduate and are employed by "market-rate" firms, what % of students are in real "clerks" (e.g. not a traffic court), etc, and after full knowledge, the prospective candidate decided to go to the school anyway (it's called assumption of risk).

In all honesty, friend and I were talking... and I have a goal in my mind. I hope that friend is going to stick through with me on this idea. It's ballsy, but I feel that it'll be something for the first time in a long time, I have something to be passionate over.

Douchebaggery Part III

So my "journal" is making all of us stay till 12 tonight for next year's EIC elections. Unbelievable. For the past hour, I've heard of why these "candidates" deserve EIC. Unbelievable. The fact that a fucking journal promotes why people believe they're the shit goes to prove that law school culture embraces douchebaggery. Whatever happened to humbleness?

Here We Go Again.

Is it terrible that EVERY fucking time I hear Pete Yorn somehow, I think of you? Jesus fucking Christ... what the hell do I have to do to get you out of my mind?????

Madness

So after the 1st rounds...

#1 out of 55 people in one of my brackets.

#9 out of 65 people in one of my other brackets.

I should replace Dick Vitale.

W00t!!

Am I a Douchebag? Part II

I had a fucking miserable day.

1) I forgot to charge my iPod so I couldn't listen to my morning jams before work. Trust me, it matters a lot. I need my morning music + venti iced coffee from starbucks (I'm fully aware that I sound like a lil bitch on her period right now)

2) I got into an argument with my roommate via email exchanges from work. The origin of the argument - I joked with him to see if he wanted to get off work and I'll miss class to go golfing. The fact that we got into a huge argument with that was what pissed me off. I felt like I was in a marriage at that point.

3) Stock market - not US, but Asian stock market. Just so I don't narrow my identity, I'll leave it at that, but I lost $2600 in the last 36 hours (I pulled out my stocks fyi).

4) While eating Chipotle's from work, I spilled it on my pants. I had a huge bean stain that looked like diarrhea stain.

5) Continuation from #4, I was clearly foreshadowing going to my school afterwards and having to deal with "nice" law students asking me wtf happened to my pants. I had a script ready to say: I shat myself.

6) I have this GIGANTIC fucking useless litigation going on with some douchebags from Singapore that I got staffed on. These fuckers made my life at work for the last week a burning hell.

7) I was about to just miss school due to 1-6), but I realized I had to stay in late to judge for Moot Court. I was furious that I had to stay at school till 8 with my shit stain on my pants.

All in all, today was AWESOME and GLORIOUS. Now moving on to my new topic:


In continuation of the *project* I set out forth (see below post - I'm conducting a research to see what qualifies one as a douchebag in law school), I have come across a very interesting article posted by Barely Legal almost a year ago. In sum, the post discusses 20 things not to do to make sure you're not a douchebag. I'm going to be honest in answering these 20 "tips"/"questions" from my memory of what I was like my first year. Bolded part is my reply to this 20 point checklist. The general rule: if I answer to the affirmative on more than 10, I will consider myself a d-bag.

***********************************************
20 Tips to Avoid Being A Douchebag in Law School....

We have been getting lots of requests lately from anxious 1Ls-to-be, asking for advice on a variety of topics, from “how close should I live to school” to “what is the best method to highlight my casebooks”. My advice to them is not nearly as narrow as their questions. Simply put, I tell them not to go. Sadly, these folks don’t realize that if they are asking me for law school advice, things probably aren’t going to work out quite like they hope. But if they refuse to listen to me, and insist on starting school in the fall, I will dispense one crucial piece of advice: Don’t be a douchebag. Here’s how:

1) Don’t ask random bloggers about how to highlight your casebooks.

Did not do this. I didn't even know blogs existed until I came to law school.

2) Don’t be the person at orientation talking about how you have already done the reading for the first day.

Did not do this. I didn't realize that we had an assignment in the first place. I thought that it was like undergrad where professors introduce who they are, and we go around introducing ourself, and class ends. Needless to say, my first class (Contracts) ever in law school - I was the FIRST one (imagine that) to get called on. I still remember the question: "Mr. X, what is the only state that has not adopted the UCC?" Trust me, I'll forever know the answer to that question (Louisiana).

3) Actually, don’t read for the first day of class before orientation starts.

Did not do this.

4) Don’t make a color coded graph of when you are going to study and for what. And if you do, please, don’t share it with other people. (Seriously, I actually was subjected to a detailed explanation of someone’s study plan at orientation.)
No. However, I know of many OCDs who do this regularly.

5) The following words should never leave your mouth: “I pulled an all-nighter at the library”; “I started outlining after the first week”; “I started outlining after the first month”; “I started outlining before Thanksgiving Break”; “My outline is longer than yours.”
"I started outlining before Thanksgiving Break" - yes, I did this and said this. Damn it, that's 1.

6) Don’t announce your intentions to be on Law Review, even if it’s the one goal that would make your life complete.
I didn't announce this, but I thought of it. Does that count? Shit.... Let's say this is 2 just because I thought like a douchebag.

7) And don’t “coincidently” buddy up to 2Ls on Law Review either. Your intentions couldn’t be more obvious if you sent them a dozen roses and a pair of your underwear.
No. But I did think for a second of wanting to bang this one chick on LR so I tried talking to her. Didn't work out too well.

8) Don’t go introduce yourself to your professors. They don’t care who you are, nor should you want them to know who you are.
No. But wait... I did go to office hours to ask about Erie Doctrine for Civ Pro... does that count? 3.

9) Don’t wear work clothes to school unless you either just came from work or are going directly to work. No one is impressed.
I wore timbs and jeans with my hoodie to class. Now, I have to dress like a dick because I go to class straight from work M-Thurs.

10) Unless you have had major surgery on your back, do not buy a rolling book suitcase thing. If you can’t carry your books on your back, hit the gym.
No.

11) Don’t have a douchebaggy name like Jordon, Jacob, Moiz, Kyle, or Ethan. Seriously consider a name change.
Ha. FAAAAARR from it. trust me.

12) Don’t email us and announce your intentions to start a blog and become our successors. If we had a dollar for every time someone did this, we’d have enough to buy one of each item on the McDonald’s Extra Value menu.
No. But I do give you credit for giving me the 20 checklist guideline of what douchebags in law school consists of.

13) Don’t brag about having lunch with your professor.
Nope.

14) In fact, don’t have lunch with professors.
Had to. First year - my professor held a brown bag session for our small section. That's 4... getting there.

15) Don’t raise your hand and arrogantly give the professor an answer. You came here to learn the law, don’t act like you already know it. You don’t know shit.
5. I do this - I admit, but only when professors themselves are saying dogshit material that's filled with bias of socialism with a hint of Mao Ze Dong's Red Book.

16) Don’t wear your fraternity shirts to law school. I don’t care how great your Kappa Sigma Fall 2004 Annual Moonlight Semiformal Barn Dance was; now you just look like a tool.
I was in a frat and I de-activated myself after a year. Does it look like I would?

17) Do not refer to books like One L, or Law School Confidential for guidance. Even if you have read these books, never ever, when a situation arises, say “Well, inOne L, Turow says…”
Nope.

18) Do not, under any circumstances, raise your hand when there are five minutes or fewer left in class. And if someone who routinely does this should happen to get struck by a car, his classmates cannot be blamed if they don’t rush to his aid.
6. I did this once (don't ask.. I got tramped on by my classmates afterwards, and thereafter became a loner)

19) BarBri will try to get you to reserve your seat as a 1L. Keep walking. It’s probably a good idea to make sure you can pass first year classes before you start worrying about the bar exam.
7. I signed up the second week.

20) Finally, don’t be the person that schleps the Westlaw water bottles the size of a big gulp around all the time, and causes a huge backup at the water fountain because it takes seven minutes to fill. Just because it's free doesn't mean you have to use it. Save a shred of dignity.
Nope.

-------------------------
All in all, I'm almost a douchebag. But so far, not yet there. I need more studies to do...

Just Another Anti-Law School Bash

Am I a hypocrite for thinking that a majority of law students are d-bags? My thought comes from the fact that I'm absolutely judgmental toward a substantial majority of the law student population.

After blogging around, I see that I'm not alone. But audience, let's take a step back - aren't we at times being hypocrites calling law students d-bags? I mean, at that same time, those kids could be calling us d-bags. So I think I'm really trying to analyze what about these d-bags makes them d-bags. In other words, what qualities do these d-bags possess that I think I can distinguish myself, so as to not call myself for being a hypocrite for thinking I'm "that much better" than these other law students.

I think this is going to be a long-term project. In the meantime, I may stop calling out so many ppl d-bags. I think it's much more of the environment of law school itself. I thought I was a minority when I thought that LS was just like HS, but after seeing some few blogs, I realized that perception isn't a minority perspective. Do I think I'm more mature than a lot of these people? Not really - I admit, I'm a goofyass kid. Those who know me that I'm almost as immature as it gets. One blog I was reading had a theory - the environment that LS is makes it such that HS is an appropriate analogy - you have proms, you have events where alcohol is a prerequisite, etc. I think this in turn, createas cliques, which breeds in it of itself, the result product of douche + bags.

Ok, so why the all of a sudden introspection? I come from a religious background where I was taught not to be judgmental (catholic + protestant). I try to uphold by that principle of not judging someone by his cover, but it's really hard when you see the environment being so cliquey.

I was talking to one of my friends (who betrayed me and left to another school), and we were wondering how law school is so especially douchebaggery. Is it the potential lawyer's mindset of being a douche? I don't know...

Edit: I';m in the school library and someone just found out I blogged. Will continue this post later.

Edit: Damn it, my identity has been revealed to one person.... but that one person, rest assured me that he'd keep it a secret - i HOPE so buddy....

WGWAG

I have to admit, I'm a fan of AutoAdmit.com, otherwise known as XOXOhth [insert Trademark logo here], otherwise known as "the Most Prestigious Law School Discussion Board". I've been a fan of it since my friend's referral, and the few friends I have in law school (four, to be exact) and I speak on AutoAdmit's languages via aim (I know, as autoadmit posters would say, I'm a troller).

E.g.: TITCR = This is the credited response, P3WNED = self-explanatory, CGWBT = Caucasian girl with big t..., HTH = Hope this helps (or some variations of it, HTFH = hope this f*ckin helps), etc.

Though I never post stuff on it (I was tempted to once), I thoroughly enjoy reading it during Con Law. One of the most recent developments on the thread (besides its huge publicity for bashing on females and objectifying them) is this one dumbass poster - his alias is superstudyasian. All he talks about is WGWAG = White girls with Asian guys. Seriously, that's all he talks about. For example, he could start a thread on T14 schools with most WGWAG, and develop some variations on it. At first, it was funny - I'm Asian, and it really is interesting as to why there are no variations from white girls dating Asian guys. Then, his posts just got annoying. If I ever meet him, I want to stab this guy in the face - he's the fucking reason why we get such bad reputation. God forbid, I really hope he really isn't Asian.

Anyways, one good thing I learned from that post was that Asian guys have a huge negative stereotype. And to a certain extent, I absolutely agree with it - not a day goes by where I thought I should've gone into Finance. My roommate works at an investment bank, and trust me - his bank, and trust me, his group at least is OWNED by Indians and Asians (read: Chinese), with the exception of the MDs, who are predominantly Jews (but which fields do Jews not run?).

Some stereotypes that I agree are true:

1) We're shy - yes. We keep things to ourselves, and try not to stand out. Counterpoint: we don't want to look like toolbags and the douchebags that are oh-so plentiful in any law schools (typically an annoying hessidic Jew or a Liberal who idolizes Hitler/Stalin, or a washed up Jock). Of course, when I have alcohol ingested in me and my inhibitions are completely destroyed, I become like those toolbag whiteboys.

2) We're nerds - yes. I fully blame (read: thank) my parents and any orthodox asian families for valuing education. In the retrospect, is it really our fault that we were raised in an environment where education was a top priority? To let you ignorant fools in persepctive, one of the MAIN reasons Asian immigrants existed in the first place was to let their future children obtain an education the parents could never obtain.

3) Asian guys are shy around girls - yes (for me at least). This, is why the title is WGWAG. This is not necessarily a good thing. In my defense, I did date a white girl last summer. It turned out sour. I haven't even bothered trying looking for anything serious thereafter. But one thing I'm actually trying to figure out is why I don't have the "balls" to not give a fuck and just go hit on any living vagina out there. This I will try to change. I live in New York for god fucking crying out loud, and conservatively, there's at least 2 million women in this 10-mile raduis of Manhattan. But it's actually kind of hard.. I honestly don't know why - my friends (non-Asian) always ask me why I'm a fucking prude. And I can't answer them, I don't know why. My goal - to grow some fucking balls... this leads to the next point.

4) Asian guys have small penises: whoever fuckhead decided the origin of this myth needs to die. Trust me, at least I know myself that I'm well endowed (yes, I've been told numerously). So I don't fucking know how this myth came about.

That leads to my next question: to any non-Asian ladies reading this post, is it true that you guys would never want to sleep with an Asian male? Are we, just being Asian alone, at a clear disadvantage in being on equal footing with other males? Honest replies helpful. Thank you.

Hypocrite

I'm really the last person to say.. "shame on you" for being disloyal. I've had my share in the past - and I ended up hurting and breaking into pieces the one person that I actually thought I loved.

I had my share of being in such BS with a woman, that I got completely burnt out and turned away from the women mindsets (do they even have a logically functioning mind, or is it just emotionally compelled/driven?) So when I hang out with girls, I'm honest with them about my point of view - they sometimes ask me if I was ever in a serious relationship, I tell them yes, but because of my past problems (note: 11 incidental problems) with commitment, I think I made her hate me for the rest of my life. The woman typically, thereafterwards, nags at me (note: if it's an asian girl, she nags at me 4x more than the average girl would).

Now that I've told you the background, let me get down to the main story, what happened last night. Because I stopped doing drugs (voluntarily), I started drinking about.. conservatively speaking, 5x more so than before. So me and friend go out. Friend has a serious boyfriend, and is doing some coast-to-coast long distance relationship.

Before we go drinking, we hang out at a coffee shop. She tells me about a guy that has been seriously liking her. Our plan is to i) go to this ghetto club and then ii) go to my friend's bday party (where that guy will be present in). Anyways, back at the coffee shop, she tells me about how he wants her more than friends, while knowing all to well shes metaphorically engaged. Not only do I not understand that sleazyness (oh wait, I can't say anything about that - I was grinding with this friend for hours at a club 2 months ago... but that's for another time), but Friend literally told me: "I can't do this.. I need to stop. This is just going to get awkward." So I asked her what her plan was; her reply: "I just need to stop being nice to him and not send any signs to him whatsoever." I reply back: "fair enough."

We head out to our first destination - a black club. We drink some, we bump heads, we drink a bit more. We now end to our second destination - it's a filth-placed bar in midtown east. I hate why bars allow their place to fill up to the point that you can't even move. Ok, so here we are - I say hi to my friends while she goes upstairs to say hi to her "admirer". She comes back down, we drink more - to be specific, 4 goose/tonic EACH (this whole abstinence from drugs is really making me an alcoholic). Yes, we're intoxicated... we're talking, having fun. Then it begins.

I go to the bathroom to take a leak. I pee. I come out. I see a cute asian girl, I try talking to her - but I think I got rejected. I come back down. I can't find her. I go back upstairs - I see her. Holding hands with "admirer" with her arms around him as well. I smirk to myself, head back downstairs. I chat with my friends for a bit, I think for like 30 minutes. I go back up, and I see that she's all over him.

At that point, I don't know why, but I got really annoyed. I realized why: GIRLS ARE FUCKING HYPOCRITES. You whores bitch about guys being sleazy, yet you're the same whores that can't stop yourself from being unfaithful with your own metaphorically engaged boyfriend(s).

Needless to say, once this realization, I left. I texted her to not do anything she'd regret.

She called me today. I ignored her. She left me a voicemail. I didn't return her call. She sent me an e-mail. I didn't reply back. I think she needs to realize her hypocrisy before ever talking to me again.

Continuation

This is retarded. I got a new computer and I lost my password for my previous site. Thank goodness there were no incriminating materials on that previous entry or I definitely would've been f-ed. Moral of the Story: never ever leave out any identifiable information on public blogs.

So let's get this ball rolling...

For those that want to get the most information out of me: I'm a 2nd year law student living in NYC. As the title reads, I'm Asian (if you want, you can go fantasize who this could possibly be out of the 11 NY/NJ metro law schools - conservatively speaking, there's about 30 asians per class. so 30 x 11 = 330. Congratulations, you have narrowed the field down).