The Blackbook Legal Blog

Recent Posts from The Blackbook Legal Blog


  • Clerkship Applications up 66% From Last Year...

    Back in February, we inquired whether the economic climate would lead to fewer candidates applying for judicial clerkships. As we noted: [W]ith firms laying off by the dozen and swelled profits drying up, can anyone…

  • Next Stop: Poor House

    California just can't get a break. From the LA Times:Less than four months after California leaders stitched together a patchwork budget, a projected deficit of nearly $21 billion already looms over Sacramento, according to a…

  • Follow up: Is President Obama Aborting his Campaign Promises?

    A few weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed its healthcare bill by a vote of 220-215. As Jeffrey Toobin reports, a significant factor contributing to the Democrats' success was their "big tent" approach to…

  • How do you get your blog posts published into a book?

    Be Nobel Prize winning economist Gary Becker, or legal intellectual giant Judge Richard Posner. Since 2004, both Becker and Posner have been writing a blog on current economic and legal issues. Recently, "their essays from…

  • Notes on Justice Sotomayor's Bench Presence During Oral Arguments

    From the National Law Journal:As Sotomayor wraps up her second full argument cycle as a Supreme Court justice, it has become clear that she is a prolific and fearless questioner. She can be tenacious and…

  • A Current Look at the Deficit and Proposed Tax Changes

    Time for an update on our nation's deficit. As you may know, the United States' total debt is limited to a statutory ceiling set by Congress. Currently, this ceiling is $12.1 trillion. As of Friday,…

  • Is Law School a Good Investment?

    Not according to the new research paper, "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Lawyers." From Economix: The paper tries to measure the return on investment in a law school education, using three…

  • U.S. Treasury: Accepting Donations This Holiday Season

    With Christmas right around the corner, a lot of us often forget how blessed we truly are. This is why I am a proponent of helping those who are less fortunate during the holiday season.…

  • Through the Looking Glass

    I am a huge history buff. In particular, I love to see where two particular cultures or countries diverged and then examine whether the reason for that divergence was justified. In 1791, the United States…

  • Is Law School Non Partisan?

    Law students are often inherently interested in controversial political issues, upcoming legislation, and elections. So how do those interests manifest themselves in a school setting? Well, the presidential election of 2008 is considered by many…