Category Archives: Academia

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak…

May 6, 2009 – 9:06 am

I was at an event for restitution lawyers the other day, when one of the academics present made a good point. She said that she thought restitution lawyers had “tidy minds”. They wanted the law to be tidy. I think she is absolutely correct. The desire is that like cases be treated alike, regardless of [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Equity, Law, Restitution | Tagged , | Comments (35)

Blue

April 12, 2009 – 5:48 pm

This Garfield cartoon pretty much sums it up for me right now (it’s always been one of my favourites).
I’ve said before, “Sometimes I feel like I’m juggling multiple balls and if I don’t watch out, I’ll drop them all.” I think I’ve reached the point where I’ve dropped the balls. I had a plan this [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Children, Depression, Feminism, Motherhood | Comments (51)

On being deserted by the Explanation Fairy ™

February 14, 2009 – 12:32 am

One of the things I’ve always strived for when I write is clarity.  Most of the time in my writing career, I’ve been successful in achieving this clarity, and people haven’t had to come back to me with queries like ‘what does this mean?’ and ‘please explain’. Other faults – my disagreeable politics, my abysmal taste, [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Education, Fark! | Tagged , , | Comments (26)

Efficient breach canned by HCA

February 13, 2009 – 8:31 pm

What happens when you sign a contract? How binding is it? Can you force the other side to perform their side of the bargain?
Non-lawyers might be surprised to learn that from the perspective of contractual remedies, the principal remedy is damages, with specific performance of the contractual obligation said to be a secondary remedy when [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Economics, Equity, Law, Restitution | Tagged , , , | Comments (15)

Here we go again…

December 7, 2008 – 9:02 pm

Once again, the endlessly tedious arguments about academic bias in humanities departments at universities are to the fore, with a Senate Report on same just released. Mark over at Larvatus Prodeo has an interesting discussion going, which I recommend. Some of the lefties (but not any of the LP posters) are doing themselves no favours [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Education | Comments (44)

Student evaluations again

September 17, 2008 – 12:29 pm

I’ve written before on student evaluations, with a bit of a giggle about some of the answers I get.
As I have said, my worry has always been that the kinds of questions asked are too vague, and the responses don’t really reflect, well…anything:
There is also a “multiple choice” part of the questionnaire that students must [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Education, Law | Comments (21)

“Why did I get this mark?”

September 2, 2008 – 1:14 pm

One of the problems I found with my law degree is that I was never quite sure why I received the marks I did. So I am very sympathetic to students when they consult me for exam feedback. I go through the exam with the student and point out where they lost marks, and what could [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Education, Law | Comments (28)

Restitution Blog Posts

August 25, 2008 – 4:35 pm

Anyone who loves restitution law will have been aware for some time of the Restitution Legal Resource page, maintained by Steve Hedley. It’s a fantastic resource for restitution scholars.
Now Steve has added a page of restitution-related blog posts. How awesome is that? I’m proud to say that a few of them have been penned by [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Blogging, Internet, Law, Restitution | Comments (5)

Exercising the brain

August 18, 2008 – 6:10 pm

Given that a recent comment thread on Germaine Greer turned into a discussion of dyslexia and learning difficulties, I thought I might start off a direct discussion of learning difficulties in a post. I just read a book called The Brain that Changes Itself, which discusses neuroplasticity and the capacity of the brain to change. It had [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Children, Education, England, Society | Comments (22)

Private law oils the wheels of society

August 4, 2008 – 6:02 pm

Since I’ve become an academic, I’ve become aware of an insidious belief. It is this: study of private law is just not sexy. I’m thinking here of contract, tort, restitution, property law and trusts. Such subjects are compulsory in undergraduate years, which never makes them look appealing. Equitable doctrines are probably the closest private law gets [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Law, Politics, Restitution, Society | Comments (20)