Category Archives: Academia

Exam hand cramp = bouncer on the forearm

July 2, 2008 – 3:26 am

I did my third exam today, and for the first time in my life experienced what I’ve only heard about before - hand cramp. Maybe it’s because Oxford exams are longer than other exams (three or three and a half hours, depending on subject). The longest written exam I’ve ever encountered in the past was [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Cricket, Fark! | Comments (14)

Nice try but no cigar…

July 1, 2008 – 7:26 pm

No, it’s not a post about Havana or Bill Clinton. Just an update to say that, as I suspected would be the case, I did not get an ongoing position at university next year. I know that I said I wouldn’t hope for anything, but despite my best efforts, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed when [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Law, Personal | Comments (10)

Servant to the masses

June 25, 2008 – 11:07 pm

I’ve written before about how frustrating it is to be a sessional staff member at a university: I am an “un-person” without clear status and rights. “How long are you taking off on maternity leave?” asked one colleague the other day, and I fixed her with a wry glance. “Maternity leave? Um, this coming term, [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Education, Personal | Comments (7)

Poor old Keith Mason

June 25, 2008 – 12:06 pm

Another post on the restitution vs equity divide! But this time, inspired by a MSM attack by Janet Albrechtsen on Keith Mason (former president of the NSWCA). I feel sorry for Mason - kicked in the teeth by the HCA, and then by Janet. Let’s have a look first at what Keith Mason said in [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Equity, Law, Restitution | Comments (0)

Nature abhors a vacuum…

June 19, 2008 – 8:38 pm

… whereas the present Australian High Court abhors restitution lawyers.
On that point, I’m going to do something I don’t normally do, and talk “shop”, which may be boring for all those not obsessed with unjust enrichment, but I have to get it off my chest. After all, I am a restitution lawyer of sorts, although [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Law, Restitution | Comments (10)

Who let the loons out?

June 18, 2008 – 6:43 pm

I’ve always been a bit suspicious of the concerns about leftist academic bias common on the right. The central issue for me is fairness, not politics. As long as academics and teachers mark fairly, I’m not too worried if they believe that we’re all secretly manipulated by a race of purple midgets living on Mars [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Fark!, Middle east | Comments (23)

The vagaries of publication

June 10, 2008 – 8:47 pm

One of the more difficult parts of being an academic is submitting work to be published. Sometimes you don’t hear back from the journal for ages, sometimes you never hear back. Sometimes you get a vicious response from a reviewer. But I’ve never had an experience like the one related below.
I’ve noted before that Professor [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Law | Comments (5)

Intellectualism and the Emperor’s New Clothes

June 5, 2008 – 8:51 pm

I’ve been reading the interesting string of posts on the question of intellectualism and anti-intellectualism. It all started off at PrawfsBlog, where Rick Hills explained why he was an anti-intellectual. At Slate, Eric Posner and Richard Ford mounted a defence of intellectualism, while still maintaining a dislike of deliberate obscurantism.
Hills’ example of intellectual obscurantism was Judith Butler’s [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Education, Law, Philosophy, Society | Comments (31)

Teaching students to read a full case

May 24, 2008 – 10:00 pm

I’ve just marked a bunch of essays. One thing that made me particularly liable to get out the red pen with a vengeance was if the student cited an extract of the case from the casebook, rather than going to read the original case. You see, we are a common law country in Australia (although [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Education, Law | Comments (11)

Confirmed

May 2, 2008 – 9:17 pm

No, I haven’t suddenly become a Christian or anything - but I found out today that my PhD was confirmed. It’s been a bit of a nerve-wracking week. I had to give a 25 minute presentation to the department on my topic. Somehow giving a talk to friends and colleagues is a very scary prospect, probably [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Personal | Comments (1)