Vacation and snow

The big hubub at the UW lately concerns employees having to take vacation time following the campus closures last week, aka the "Suspended Operations Policy". Different rules apply to different classes of employee. It always makes for an unpleasant work environment when the administration segregates employees.

The Frightening Economy - Parts 1 & 2

"This American Life" has had two good and really informative shows that explain why we (the average American who is not working on Wall Street, investing $50 million a day, or holding onto a sub-prime mortgage) should be concerned about the financial crisis:

Part 1 - The Giant Pool of Money (May 2008)
Part 2 - Another Frightening Show About the Economy (October 2008)

Death row exoneree addresses UW law students

Juan Roberto Melendez-Colon spent almost 18 years on Florida's death row before being exonerated and released in 2002. He will speak to UW law school students about his experience Thursday, October 2 at 12:30 in Room 133 of William H. Gates Hall. More...

Professor Schnapper to Argue before U.S. Supreme Court

UW School of Law Professor Eric Schnapper will argue for the plaintiff in Crawford v. Metro Nashville on October 8 in a legal case that could have significant impact on U.S. employment law. More...

Law Professor Paul Miller Inducted into College of Labor and Employment Lawyers

Law professor Paul Steven Miller was inducted as a fellow into the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, the premier non-profit professional association of labor and employment lawyers. More...

UW School of Law hosts law dean Chemerinsky

Erwin Chemerinsky, founding dean of the UC Irvine School of Law, will be speaking at the UW School of Law Tuesday, September 23 from 2:30-3:30 p.m. in William H. Gates Hall Room 138 on the University of Washington campus. More...

Afghan Scholars Find Legal Footing in U.S.

With the experience and education they received after three long years, three visiting Afghan scholars were rewarded for their sacrifice and hard work by receiving LL.M. degrees from the UW School of Law. More... (King County Bar Bulletin, September 2008)

UW Conference Looks at Legal Education

The UW School of Law will host a working conference, Legal Education at the Crossroads — Ideas to Accomplishments: Sharing New Ideas for an Integrated Curriculum, September 5-7, 2008. (more...)

recyling car seats

I found this blog ("mom go green: recycle car seats?") while trying to find a way to toss our old car seats (Nat just moved up to a booster seat). According to someone I talked to at theWashington State Booster Seat Coalition, there are no car/booster seat recycling programs (unless you live near Portland, OR).

It amazes me there is no program in WA state to recycle car seats. Parents are REQUIRED by LAW to have a car seat or booster for your child until their 8th birthday or are 4'9". And, the legal "life" of a car seat is 5-6 years. If you have 2 children and 2 cars, you will own (and toss) at least 4 car seats. So, in Seattle, you will be charged 20 cents to use a plastic grocery bag, but there is no incentive to keep you from tossing car seats in the landfill. Huh?

FTC, UW School of Law Host Meeting to Explore Contactless Payment

College and university students and professors are invited to attend a meeting on July 24, 2008 at the UW School of Law titled "Pay on the Go: Consumers and Contactless Payment," a free event examining emerging uses of contactless payment devices and their implications. More...

The Docket features UW School of Law faculty, symposium

The Docket: July 6, 2008


In this edition of The Docket, Professor Deborah Maranville is featured as representing a client in a case heard by the Washington State Supreme Court, Sara D. Spain v. State of Washington. Also included are highlights from The Prosecutorial Ethic: A Tribute to King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng.

The 4th in Everett

After a spectacular weekend, it has to be noted that Everett, Wash. is a pretty great place to live. The parade and fireworks on the 4th were great (given that this is only a town of 100,000 souls). Ended the weekend with an Aqua Sox game where the Frogs almost pulled off a great comeback in the bottom of the 9th. All in all, we live a nice little community!

LRAP Campaign Makes Goal

With the support of students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends, the UW School of Law is proud to announce that we have met the challenge by the Washington State Legislature to raise $250,000 by June 30, 2008 for a loan repayment assistance program (LRAP) endowment fund. (More...)

UW Regent Stan Barer Pledges $4 Million to UW School of Law

The University of Washington School of Law has received a $4 million pledge from UW Regent Stanley Barer '63 and his wife, Alta, to create the Barer Institute for Law and Global Human Services.

College Alumni Magazines Struggle to Compete With Facebook

New York Times
By CATE DOTY
Published: June 2, 2008

Most people read their college alumni magazines for the class notes, immediately flipping to the back to see who was married, had a baby or was promoted to an envy-inducing job. The columns tend to be meatiest at this time of year — class reunion season.

The advent of social networking on the Internet has created a quandary for these magazines, which want to maintain a conversation with alumni but have been slow to embrace the Web. Most schools have set up password-protected sites where graduates can change their contact information, drop a class note or donate money.

But younger alumni, accustomed to second-by-second updates from friends and classmates, are exchanging information in real time on Facebook and MySpace. Why wait for your alma mater to churn out a quarterly journal when you can Twitter all day?

More...

(Comment: Well, because those of us who work in advancement offices at universities and colleges still have to reach out to our older alumni. Multi-platform communication is no longer a luxury...in today's world, it is a necessity.)

UW School of Law hosts conference in honor of Norm Maleng

The UW School of Law will host a day-long conference on Friday, May 30, 2008 titled "The Prosecutorial Ethic" as a tribute to the late King County Prosecutor and law school alumnus Norm Maleng in Room 138 of William H. Gates Hall on the UW campus. Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago), and former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington John McKay will speak about high profile cases at the event.

More...

Couple Frantic to Find Loved Ones in Rubble

Very rarely do I cry when I listen to the radio anymore, but Melissa's Block's story, Couple Frantic to Find Loved Ones in Rubble, certainly made for an emotional commute home.

UW School of Law Announces 2008 Gates Scholars

The UW School of Law is proud to announce the five recipients of the Gates PSL Scholarship for 2008-09: Wyatt Golding, Lillian Hewko, Nicholas Marritz, Miranda Strong, and Rebecca Watson. All three law school class years at the University of Washington will have a complement of Gates Scholars when these students arrive on campus next fall.

Gates PSL Scholars have the opportunity to attend the UW School of Law and then pursue public interest law without the burden of educational debt. The scholarship program covers all cost of tuition, books, room and board and incidental expenses during law school. In exchange, students dedicate five years to public service law practice.

More...

UW School of Law to Honor Outstanding Alumn

The UW School of Law will honor four alumni at the 2008 Alumni Recognition Banquet on Thursday, May 22, 2008 at the Grand Hyatt in Seattle:
Chief Justice Gerry Alexander '64,
Professor Marjorie Rombauer '60,
Judge William Downing '78, and
J.H. Jerry Zhu, LL.M. '82.
The awards are bestowed by the Law School Alumni Association.
More...

Bush makes big sacrifice...he gives up (gasp) golf!

U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he quit playing golf in 2003 out of respect for the families of Americans killed in the war in Iraq. Oh my God - how courageous of him! I think I'll sacrifice my monthly pedicure out of respect, too! Oh, wait, I don't get pedicures and that wouldn't really fit into the definition of sacrifice, anyway.

PR blunder: Russert's Dad is NOT Dead

Terry McAuliffe, Hillary Clinton's campaign director, tells Tim Russert that Russert's dad is dead. Thing is, he's still alive. Yikes!

Just get it over with, already!

Reading the result from last night's primaries. Just really wishing one candidate would concede (Clinton!) and run as VP. At this rate, we might as well hand McCain the keys to the White House today and save ourselves the heartache that's bound to come in November.

Austria & Texas - we haven't come very far

Reading the very disturbing stories about the FLDS ranch in Texas and the just posted story from Austria, am troubled that we still haven't come very far. Women and children are abused and subjected to the most humiliating circumstances around the world. Too often the abusers either go unpunished or are able to commit these horrible acts undetected for far too long.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. It also happens to be unfortunately true that often it takes a village to destroy a child or a family by turning a deaf ear and blind eye.

No one said it would be easy...

...but no one said it'd be this hard! Just got Calvin registered for Kindergarten after a year of stressful sleepless nights and handfuls or grey or lost hair. My God, it's got to be as crazy as selecting a college used to be! I spent months poring over data, talking to parents, prinicpals, teachers, etc. For KINDERGARTEN. I guess a box of crayons and a bottle of glue are just not enough anymore. I've officially joined the "helicopter" child-obsessed, over-involved cadre of parents.

Anyway, all of that angst was for naught - turns out the school we dreaded sending him to (our assigned school) is underperforming under No Child Left Behind. Through something the school district called AYP, he can go to the next nearest school...the school we had already applied for a variance for! (This may be the one and only positive result of NCLB.) What this means for us is that this is our assigned school and Natalie will go there as well (w/out applying for a variance). What this means for our community is that the socioeconomic gap keeps widening.

Even social networking sites are class-ist

Dear God, the rich and "famous" have their own social networking site. Heaven forbid they rub elbows with the lowly peasant commoners who pollute the cyberworld. A message to the Uber Affluent: there are more of us than you think!

In memory of Annie

Our sweet kitty, Annie, died last night. She was with me/us for 14 years. Thankfully, I can be totally honest when I tell the kids she died in her sleep. This is the first time I've handled the death of a pet as "the mom" (this is where I am in total awe of my own mother). What do you do with a dead cat? Growing up in the country, I had my own "pet cemetary" (which included some chickens raised by hand that I refused to let my father put on the dinner table). But in the city, I had this nightmare that, if we buried her in the backyard, we would wake up to pieces of her strewn across the yard from raccoons, rats, etc. When in doubt, call the vet! Dr. Zastrow is awesome and her office handled the whole thing (cremation) with dignity. Her staff were super to the kids. And, speaking of kids, it's amazing how this process was much more, well, I think complete is the right word. It's wasn't any less sad or easy, but talking through with the kids and going through the process w/them helped me take it a lot better than I expected.

I expect to be sad for a few weeks. Here's some pics of Annie that show her funny personality:

Pondering Daylight Savings Time

Here's my most recent article in the King County Bar Bulletin, Daylight Saving Time: A Way To Save Lives.

Lord Hills: 1.8 miles

The two youngest Tomsics have shown interest in hiking - and Mom is ecstatic!