On Friday morning, I’ll be participating in a panel discussion at the Short Hills Hilton about whether New Jersey should adopt Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and thereby become a “Daubert” reliability state w/r/t expert testimony. Here is a description of what we will be discussing In three seminal cases, Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., General […]
Author Archive | David Bernstein
Ann Coulter vs. Young Libertarians on Stossel
Best line of the evening: “I don’t think you’re stoners… You’re nerds!”
Some Expert Evidence Law News from California and Wisconsin
Bucking the trend in jurisdictions that apply the Frye general acceptance test (such as Florida and Illinois), in November the California Supreme Court stated that trial courts have “substantial gatekeeping” responsibilities, and favorably cited federal Supreme Court precedents like Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Joiner v. General Electric Co., and Kumho Tire v. Carmichael. Perhaps […]
Republican Party Doing Surprisingly Well, from at Least One Perspective
Imagine in 1983, if you had told a Republican political operative that in 30 years: (1) Crime will no longer be an important political issue; (2) The USSR will have dissolved, and a Republican president will so botch a foreign war that the Democrats will have a clear public opinion advantage on foreign policy; (3) […]
More on Washington and Lee Law School
By David Bernstein on February 14, 2013 4:35 pm in Academia, Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
Professor Jim Moliterno of Washington and Lee Law School has a lengthy post over at The Legal White Board, which is in part a response to my post on this blog suggesting that the jury remains out as to whether W & L’s innovative curriculum is a hit among prospective law students. I noted that […]
Human Rights Watch and “Prisoner X”
Media in Australia and Israel are abuzz with news about a detainee in an Israeli prison, a dual Australian and Israeli citizen named Ben Zygier working for the Mossad who committed suicide in late 2010 after being held in solitary confinement for unknown security offenses. I don’t have anything to add to the basics of […]
Too Soon to Pronounce Washington and Lee Law School’s “Experiential Curriculum” a Hit with Law School Applicants
By David Bernstein on February 3, 2013 10:00 pm in Academia, Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
Bill Henderson has a post over at The Legal Whiteboard that has been getting a lot of attention in law school circles, praising W & L’s innovative curriculum, which focuses on practical lawyer skills, as both an educational success and as a hit with law school applicants. Bill goes over some of W & […]
Some Federal Courts Continue to Neglect Federal Rule of Evidence 702
The admissibility of expert testimony in federal court is governed by FRE 702. FRE 702 was amended, in fact completely rewritten, in 2000. As I’ve noted before, that hasn’t stopped some federal courts from ignoring the text of the rule in favor of other considerations. Thus, not for the first time, we find a court […]
Packing for Lima
We get ten suitcases, plus carry ons, plus car seats. We get an 800 pound air shipment which is supposed to arrive in 1 to 3 weeks, but apparently actually takes months to get through Peru customs. Then we get 7,200 pounds and a car by boat. Everything else goes to storage. This is much […]
Law School Applicant “Capitulation”
By David Bernstein on December 14, 2012 8:43 am in Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
Back in 2008 or so, a VC reader told me that because of my blogging about the housing bubble in 2004-05, he put off buying a house and was very glad he did. Now, he said, he was wondering when would be the best time to buy a house from a capital gains perspective. I […]
The Volokh Conspiracy’s New Latin America Correspondent
will be me! Barring the unforeseen, my family is moving in January to Lima, Peru for a couple of years for my wife’s job. I’ll be on leave from George Mason, but I may arrange do some teaching in the U.S. via commuting in 2014. Blogging will continue, though I may be throwing in occasional […]
Whitewashing the Early Twentieth Century Progressives, Part 10 Billion
Tim Egan in the Times: “The Progressives of the early 20th had an amazing run — direct elections of senators, regulation of monopolistic trusts, modernization of public schools, cleaning up the food supply — with only one major blooper: Prohibition.” I’m not a big fan of either the Seventeenth Amendment or of antitrust law, but […]
How They Light Hanukkah Candles at the Technion (Israel’s MIT)
I can’t seem to embed the You Tube video, but here’s a link. Trust me, it’s worth clicking. H/T: Dad
Looking for a Hanukkah or Christmas Gift?
With the holidays approaching, I thought I’d provide a friendly reminder that books by Volokh Conspiracy bloggers make great presents for that special legal theory nerd/historian/law student/libertarian/law geek/Second Amendment enthusiast/educated lay reader/etc. on your list. It’s also a nice way of showing appreciation for our bloggers. And some links for your convenience: Adler, ed., Rebuilding […]
A “Buffett Tax” Resolution
(1) Whereas, the U.S. government is in desperate need of revenue. (2) Whereas, Warren Buffett is worth tens of billions of dollars, almost all of which is destined for private foundations and thus will completely escape federal tax. (3) Whereas, Warren Buffett has publicly proclaimed that he is undertaxed. (4) Resolved, the U.S. government should […]