Mac Law Students

NY Times on Law Firm Layoffs and Cutbacks

Erik Schmidt — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:29:47 -0600

This article tells us something we already know: Law firms are playing it careful these days. I wonder though, how are law schools going to respond to this? Some law school graduates (self included) elect not to become lawyers. Some want to become lawyers but can’t find good jobs in the legal field. And some find legal jobs and get the axe because of circumstances beyond their control.

From what I’ve seen, law schools give lip service to the notion that a law degree is useful in a variety of non-legal fields, but they don’t do a very good job of exposing those options for students. The result is that many students go into tremendous debt and wind up having to scramble to find a job outside the legal profession, without any real help from the school that was more than willing to take their tuition money.

I guess this gets to a fundamental question about the role of law schools: Are they simply professional schools that churn out lawyers? Or are they graduate schools that turn out critical thinkers who can apply their skills in a variety of jobs?

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Macs In Law Offices (MILO) Has 900 Members

Erik Schmidt — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:09:18 -0600

Back in the bad old days, when using a Mac was looked at as a form of deviant behavior, Mac users could always count on each other. The “Mac community” isn’t just an empty moniker; Mac users have always helped each other out.

Now that the Macintosh platform has been reborn, it’s heartening to know that the same community spirit still prevails. Witness the growth of MILO, the online forum for Mac-using lawyers. Founded by über Mac advocates (Get it? Lawyers… advocates… I slay me) Ben Stevens and Grant Griffiths, this group now has over 900 members and is going strong.

If you want to see how lawyers use Macs “in the field,” check out MILO.

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Obama Looking for Voter Protection Volunteers

Erik Schmidt — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:01:53 -0500

Before I write anything more, let me first tell you this: I deliberately have kept this blog as politically neutral as possible, in order to be as welcoming as possible to readers of all political persuasions. With that said, I also think there is room to respectfully disagree on politics. After all, the cornerstone of a democratic society is the rule of law, which is really at root a common set of beliefs about how society functions. We can agree to disagree, in the knowledge that healthy debate only makes us stronger.

With that caveat out of the way, here’s my little pitch. The Obama campaign is looking for volunteer attorneys and law students who can help with voter protection in swing states. If you’re interested in volunteering, here’s a link to the Obama Voter Protection Program signup page.

And whether you’re an Obama voter or not, I think we can all agree that business as usual isn’t working too well in America. Exercising our right to vote is the first step in affecting change.

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CodeWeavers CrossOver - Windows Apps on Your Mac - Free on Tuesday

Erik Schmidt — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:46:02 -0500

On Tuesday, October 28th, you can download CrossOver, an app that lets you run Windows apps on your Mac without Windows, for free. CodeWeavers primarily creates tools that allow for rapid porting of Windows apps to the Mac, and their CrossOver product is not really designed to compete with MVware Fusion or Parallels. But as the CodeWeavers folks put it, it is “a product with amazing promise.”

Note that CrossOver is not a substitute for running Windows on your Mac with Boot Camp, and trying to run SofTest under CrossOver would likely not work. Even if it did work, you’d likely earn the wrath of your school’s IT department for trying.

CrossOver is probably not for you unless you’re already interested in tinkering with your Mac and don’t mind a few surprises. If you fit the profile, you may want to check it out. The price certainly is right.

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MacGuard is Malware

Erik Schmidt — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:28:28 -0500

Don’t get taken in by MacGuard. As Ars Technica reports, the application is designed to infect Macs with malware.

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