The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
Who Are You? (For Lawyers, Law Students, Etc.)
Say hello in the comments, and tell us a little about who you are, how long you've been reading the blog, and anything else you'd like to add. If you have some fun blog-related stories, please mention them. (My favorite, of course, is a marriage that indirectly stemmed from the parties having both been readers of the blog; but you don't need to feel like you have to measure up to that!)
Non-lawyers: Please do the same, but in the other post I'm putting up.
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I would be interested in hearing from any employees of any government, even using fictitious names.
So far, no Supreme Court Justice. Some have repeated ideas from the Comments. Of course, these are self evident, not especially profound. But, they are impossible for deniers to understand.
What are you talking about?
Ohio Attorney. JD from Ohio State University (1985). LL.M. from University of Florida (1986). 7 years as Assistant Attorney General (Tax) with the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Justice. 10 years as Hearing Officer with the Ohio Department of Taxation. 2 years as Director of Special Programs with the Christian Coalition of America (and I am not Christian; I am Jewish). 1 year as a criminal prosecutor. 1 year doing criminal appellate work. 1.5 years as a hearing officer for child support.
Whew. How did I get to be so old?
I have no idea how long I've been following the blog, but I remember meeting Sasha at a Federalist Society Convention and the last time I attended that was in November 2004.
I remember having an interaction with an interaction here with someone under the name of Neurodoc. Turns out, we knew some people in common.
Just finished up my second year of law school at UCLA. I have read this blog since I was 14, so for nearly 10 years. I have a great blog story. This blog back when it was on WaPo was what alerted me of a fantastic scholarship possibility at UCLA. So because of this blog, I'm attending UCLA Law on a full tuition scholarship (I would have never known to apply for it otherwise). This blog also was the beginning of my obsession with Con Law. So naturally, I have to also credit this blog with helping discover that passion and decide to be a public defender which is very con law adjacent. Also made me much more interested in meeting you, Eugene (we have chatted quite a few times, and it's always a pleasure)
Brace for disappointment.
I mean, con crim pro is real and a large part of practice (and 99% of appellate practice).
I'm certainly not knocking criminal law - it's basically the only practice area I've worked in my career, and I have no intention of changing it up any time soon.
But while there are certainly relevant constitutional considerations, the day-to-day practice (including appellate work) is not, in any conceivable sense, what I could imagine a law student describing as "con law adjacent".
I've worked at both federal and state public defender agencies. Tons of con law issues come up, are you kidding? The very act of criminal defense is con law in action. I'm not expecting to explore new and novel con law issues daily, not at all (although that's much more likely at a federal pd office)
Spoken like a true law student.
Beat me to it. Who cares if it has been your entire career's work, @Noscitur a sociis? The kid's idealistic expectations trump your actual experience. Are you kidding?
The disconnect here is what I mean by con law adjacent. Most of criminal defense is fact intensive issues. I'm just saying con law colors the practice
You could go one step further, and note that for most practitioners, Con Law is the reason they have employment at all. If we were to return to the Original Public Meaning of the Sixth Amendment, which I suspect is something like "The government is not allowed to prevent you from hiring an attorney", the Legal Aid Societies would dramatically shrink.
While I am here, I guess I will introduce myself: I practiced law for a few years in the Brooklyn DAs office, after graduating from George Washington Law in 1988. Since then I have not practiced law, but I do enjoy reading this blog. I tell people it keeps the legally trained synapses in my brain from completely disappearing.
I would put in a few years as a prosecutor. Prosecuting can be a lot harder than defending; you have to prove the cases beyond a reasonable doubt. You will learn to think like a prosecutor. That experience will be incredibly valuable after you move over to defending. Also, you will understand why prosecutors do things the way they do.
I can remember a long time ago I was at a friend's house and he had a guest, an Irish filmmaker who was working on a documentary about a man on death row in Ohio. He started talking about the bad things that the prosecutors and the various judges did in the case. I don't think he had ever talked to a prosecutor. I started giving him an alternate interpretation of those "bad things." We had a really great conversation. I think it helped him make a better film.
I suggest you and every law student spend a half a day in Traffic Court, the most likely place people encounter the law. It is run in accordance with the Rules of Criminal Procedure. I predict you will spend 90% of your time hand carrying plea deals to your hapless clients, 20% of which are innocent. You can be replaced by email.
In Traffic Court, see what happens if a defendant tries to assert innocence. See what happens if a point of con law is asserted. You would be interrupting a machine making $10000 an hour. Imagine the consequences.
Excellent idea. On a side note, my first work in criminal prosecution was during my time with the USVI DOJ when I was a civil litigator; they assigned traffic prosecution cases to me because of a backlog and a shortage of criminal prosecutors. You learn a lot handling traffic cases. That is a good place to learn since any mistakes have no serious consequences (gee...the defendant is acquitted for a parking ticket or a moving violation in a parking lot).
Boston-based attorney. Currently clerking in federal court and heading to a lefty public interest organization next year. I disagree with ~80% of the content on this blog, but I very much appreciate the thoughtful commentary and insight into how people with vastly different ideas about what the law should be think about various issues.
Not a lawyer here. I'm the son of a lawyer who practiced for about 60 years. 50 years ago watching that convinced me that I wouldn't want to be a lawyer. But I always liked listening to his stories about his cases.
I can't remember how long I have been reading this blog, but I have liked the topics that were chosen and how they were expressed. When the opinions that were expressed differed from mine it never bothered me as it would have in many other places. I think all you guys are great. So I've kept reading.
welp, that sounds vaguely similar to why I didn't go into academia 🙂
Florida Attorney. Current Assistant Attorney General and former law clerk to state appellate judge. I was introduced to this blog by my mentoring law clerk (now judge) when I began with the court of appeals. I absolutely appreciate the varying views of the authors to this blog, even with those with whom I may disagree. Keep the debates going!
"the varying views of the authors to this blog"
They have all kinds of views here . . .
I have done this before. I am a 60-something real estate partner at an Amlaw 100 (bottom 50) firm. I have been reading the Conspiracy for a long long time, maybe 20 years, minus the time it was behind a paywall.
In a sentence, former law teacher, barrister, Solicitor General for New South Wales and judge of the Federal Court of Australia. Dual citizenship, Australia and Canada. Now living in Canada. Have read the blog for years and, because of its current incarnation, now reading Reason as well. I Often find interesting things in the blog and it's part of my daily compulsory reading.
There is a lawyer from Sydney named Gray Connolly whose twitter account I read. Do you know him?
Attorney in small firm private practice in New York with family member(s) who have been taught by a namesake of this site.
Attorney in Mom and Pop firm practicing Social Security Law. Started as an attorney for the Social Security Administration in 1977 and left in 1988. Representing claimants for benefits ever since. Reading Blog for many years, not sure how many. Socially Liberal and economically very conservative.
Litigation attorney at a firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Been following the blog regularly since my first year in law school (2003). I can't remember exactly how I found it. It was either from a fellow student or, more likely, a message board on an exercise/bodybuilding website. Honestly, I think it was the latter.
Texas lawyer licensed since 1976. I began in commercial litigation but migrated over to a transactional practice. I derived more enjoyment from putting something together than in picking over something's bones. In later years, I concentrated on commercial real estate. Now I'm mostly retired.
I've been following the blog longer than I can recall. Even if little of it directly related to my practice, I've found it interesting. I particularly look forward to IJ's summaries on Fridays.
Solo practitioner running a firm focused exclusively on enforcing Wisconsin's open records and open meetings laws - http://www.wiopenrecords.com. I started following in law school (I don't recall but I imagine a professor mentioned it, or maybe somebody at a Fed Soc meeting). Graduated in 09, clerked on the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a year. Helped start up a non profit public interest law firm dedicated to conservative and libertarian principles. Left almost two years ago now to form the Transparency Project and haven't regretted it.
Just finished 3L. Clerking next year.
I'm a retired lawyer (this is my real name -- who would make that up?). Harvard BA 1965, Columbia LS LLB 1968. I practiced from 1969-2003 with the Washington, DC firm then called Hogan & Hartson. After my retirement from the partnership in 2003, I continued to practice part-time as Of Counsel to H&H. After awhile I moved from that giant firm to Of Counsel of a small firm, then known as McLeod Watkinson & Miller. My practice was a mix of real estate and railroads. Real estate included DC's rent control laws (which I unsuccessfully tried to have invalidated), it's wierd law requiring landlords to offer apartment buildings to tenants before selling them, condominium and cooperative conversions, eminent domain, and other stuff. The railroad practice including the valuation of the Penn Central assets taken over by Conrail (representing the US Govt), successfully opposing the proposed merger of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroads, representing the holding company of the Chicago Milwaukee St Paul & Pacific in connection with the valuation of its properties, and representing a major coal shipper in efforts to encourage competitive rail service.
I can't remember when I first discovered the Volokh Conspiracy. It must have been when Adam was a pup. Keep up the good work.
Not sure what post I should respond to as I'm a retired lawyer. I started in the USDOJ Civil Division in March 1976 in the General Litigation Section. When the Carter Administration reorganized the Division, I went to the Division's Federal Programs Branch, where I remained until I retired in May 2017. I still live in the DMV because my children and grandchildren all live in the area.
Partner in 2-lawyer firm specializing in creditors' rights, landlords' rights, and representation of HOAs and property management companies throughout Iowa. I've been following the blog since I first encountered it in law school circa 2006. Father of 3 human children, plus a dog and 2 cats. Married to a school teacher for the last 20 years.
In-house Washington state attorney at a very large manufacturing company, graduated from law school in 93, also a member of the patent bar. I've been reading for at least fifteen years, maybe longer.
Florida appellate judge. Been following the blog for about year. I forget how I came across it, but glad I did.
Florida Circuit Court Jud
Florida Circuit Court Judge.
General Counsel at title agency with main business from commercial/government/institutions since mid 1990s. Graduate of Ohio public universities for both BA and law. Married, two early adult kids.
Been here since the independent days in 2001. Veteran of 2000 comment Sarah Palin posts.
Just finished up my 2L year at Tulane Law. Originally from Texas and looking to line up a federal clerkship after graduation. Can't remember exactly how I found this blog, but I've been reading it for a little over a year now.
Good luck. Process has never been more competitive due to Covid. Try leveraging whatever connections your professors or contacts in your network have. Also Judges who don't use Oscar get fewer applications ...
Double Dog (UGA undergrad/law — just baaaaarely missed Herschel), lifelong Braves fan, False Claim Act qui tam attorney, solo practitioner in the Atlanta area. Also Dogs/Braves fan, if I didn’t mention that.
Hurray. Another qui tam attorney, solo practitioner. I'm in Chicago.
I graduated from the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah last Friday. I'm currently preparing to take the Bar exam, after which I will clerk for Chief Justice Durrant of the Utah Supreme Court. I began reading the blog after watching a webinar involving Professor Volokh regarding Section 230 and the potential regulation of social media platforms. (I wrote a seminar paper this semester analyzing various state proposals to regulate platforms.)
Currently clerking on the Second Circuit. Have been a reader since well before law school, and continue to find most of the posts interesting.
Con Law professor and Associate Dean at Regent University Law School in Virginia Beach. Studied at Chicago under Scalia, Epstein, Geoff Stone, and Cass Sunstein (so I was exposed to very diverse perspectives early on!). I have loved the respectful disagreements of the VC for years -- America's legal/political culture needs to relearn how to debate issues while treating others with respect.
Hi, Brad!
I've been in private practice for 21 years in NJ/NY; recently started my own small firm with a partner who I've worked with for about 15 years. Primarily federal litigation, currently mainly involving employment and the public accommodations aspects of the ADA.
I've been reading the VC since the early 2000s, the pre-comment era; I suspect I learned about it from Instapundit.
David, coming over to measure the heights of sinks in your office bathrooms.
Judicial staff attorney at a state supreme court for 3 decades, working for justices appointed by governors of both parties. Semi- retired. Graduated from UCLA Law School the same year as Stewart Baker, but lower in the class. (As I recall, he was either 1st or 2nd.)
I'm retired. Spent half of my career as a state prosecutor, half with the USDOJ. Have read the blog for at least ten years. Have self-published a couple of law books on Amazon and run a Web site (http://www.trialdex.com) to amuse myself. The law books have sold well, the Web site is a bit lonely.
Recovering ex-partner of LA firm where Eugene was a summer associate. Apparently my lunchtime patter was insufficiently enthralling to overcome the lure of public attack by one's dean. To each his own I suppose.
Media and First Amendment lawyer at boutique firm in Beverly Hills. Been here since the start.
Current AUSA in the Criminal Division of a US Attorney’s Office within the Fourth Circuit. Clerked for a district judge for two years and a magistrate judge for one year before joining the US Attorney’s office. Before clerking, I spent one year doing civil litigation at a top regional firm in the area. Graduated from a regional law school in 2016. I don’t recall how or when I first found the blog, but I’ve been following it for at least two years now. And I’m glad I found it!
You also write novels.
If you’re going to use an alias, it might as well be a famous one!
I have been reading various incarnations of this blog since at least 2013.
Jared here (formerly Diogenes). I have been reading the blog in various forms for ages. I practice entrepreneurial law in the NY Metro area. I am a former Chief of the NJ Bureau of Securities and was on the speakers' trail with Eugene back in the 90s when "Internet law" was in its formative state. I introduced the world to Internet securities fraud. I consider myself a "conservatarian", a hybrid conservative/libertarian. As Eugene knows, I have a keen interest in the First Amendment and the encroachment of government on all aspects of individual and business behavior.
Born in Moscow, Russia; VGIK undergrad; Brooklyn JD; NYU LLM; Zicklin School of Business MBAs (HR and Int'l Fin); Extramural Studies (Leicester, UK, and Moscow Academy of Jurisprudence); USCIT clerk; Proskauer HQ litig associate; EU resident counsel (Vienna, Austria, and Moscow, Russia); EEOC mediator, DNJ career attorney (constitutional), MSPB attorney examiner (NYC and DC), VA associate counsel. As a hobby, translate Russian poetry to English, as well as British and American poetry to Russian. Have been reading this blog on and off for a year: it was recommended by a colleague.
I just finished 2L at Wake Forest. I found the Blog from Reason a couple of years ago. I am working at Pacific Legal Foundation this summer, and I hope to do public interest litigation focussed on individual rights after I graduate.
Meeting my future spouse through reading the blog sounds incredible! If you might be interested in the same feel free to reach out.
3L at UCLA Law, graduating this Friday. I've been reading this blog since the summer before I started my 1L year and plan to read it for many more years. Hi Prof. V!
Law Student from Europe. Reading because the law in europe is boring and this is much more fun...
Municipal public defender from Ohio - began reading the blog some time in the 2006-2010 time frame.
Retired admiralty and antitrust lawyer. Big firms, small firm, sole practitioner. Forty years ago was a U.S. Magistrate. Mid-seventies. Love this blog; share it [particular articles] with other retired [smart] lawyers and judges.
Hi, I am in Ohio. I am a corporate counsel and pharmacist with an MBA and a LLM (IP Law). I serve a local law school as an adjunct professor teaching firearms law and am an NRA basic pistol instructor. Been reading this blog since the pre-Reason days.
Colorado attorney, clerked on the state court of appeals, spent several years in private practice, and now serve as an assistant attorney general. Had a summer internship with David Kopel many years ago. Been reading the blog since time immemorial (mid-2000s?).
I am an aging litigator in a public interest, charity firm in Chicago doing First Amendment cases for the religiously conscientious and legally aggrieved. Much more interesting work than in the previous job I held at the world's largest lawyer trade association.
Texas appellate prosecutor for 15+ years. I have no idea how long I've been reading this blog, but through multiple host changes!
Pennsylvania Attorney. Grew up in California. JD from Emory, Class of 2019. Started at a large but local firm around the beginning of 2021. Adjunct professor for an undergrad class around the same time. Previously at a small firm in a small town in PA. Inaugural law clerk for one of the many new federal district judges in PA before that. One of my professors is a co-blogger, so I started reading more frequently in law school. However, I've had vague knowledge of the existence of this blog long before that.
Alaskan attorney with 35 years' experience, now working for a disability rights firm. Reading the blog since about 2010. Often reading it for the same reason that while working in Boston at a legal aid clinic, I'd pick up a Wall Street Journal, which was then crusading against the Legal Services Corporation. It's a good idea to see what your opponents are thinking, especially when those thoughts are expressed in an intelligent and generally thoughtful way.
Also, it's fun for a former child custody attorney to read Eugene's libertarian/First Amendment takes on speech in family law cases.
Sixtyish, small town Illinois solo practitioner. General civil practice. Law is a second career for me. Got into law school in my forties. Been reading the VC since it was on the WaPo website.
I have been reading this blog since it first appeared in the Washington Post (to which I no longer subscribe for obvious reasons). I am a mid-80s graduate of Harvard Law School and spent the majority of my career in the federal government, specializing in energy law. I am currently retired and living in Florida, where I am happy to have an excellent Republican governor and two Republican senators. That is a sweet change after decades of Washington, DC's far left, one-party rule.
Currently non-practicing lawyer in university tech transfer. Was a judge advocate with experience in criminal/admin separation defense, discipline, legal assistance, and operational law advice.
Sixty something partner in the Boston office of AmLaw 100 firm. I started following this blog when you were at WaPo. For some reason I became obsessed with the legal challenges to the ACA which impacts precisely none of what I do for a living. This blog was ground zero for those challenges. I'm still in wonderment that the "regulating inactivity" argument ever got traction.
Entirely fictional, I'm afraid.
(See: A. Trollope, The Eustace Diamonds, Chapter XXVIII; https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7381/7381-h/7381-h.htm#c28 )
But legal fictions are solemn things.
Mr. D.
I'm guessing you're also a Gilbert & Sullivan fan. I once performed in the chorus of the show you're quoting from.
When intercalated with Dead show tapes, they're excellent writing music. As for being a fan, well, I'm open to conviction.
Mr. D.
Just like crazy Otto, just like Wolfman Jack
Litigation attorney with a splash of CJA work. I starting visiting while I was a 3L. That was pre-WaPo.
I'm a retired lawyer. Boalt Hall 1968--a few years with a San Diego precurser to DLA Piper--then 25 plus years as in house counsel at a major oil company.
I did steer one of my college fraternity brothers (a non lawyer) to this blog. He told me that he enjoyed the reasonable and understandable explanations of legal issues that are a feature of the blog.
Retired law professor, JD from Boalt (as it was then known) in 1963. Eight years in practice (deputy DA for a couple of years and then law practice) before teaching. I was a Naval Aviator for four years before law school (flew mostly helicopters). Taught Civ Pro and Evidence mostly, but some other stuff along the way. I was involved in two California judicial redistrictings-1973 and 1991.
I've been reading VC for several years (I lose track of time, it may have been close to a dozen years?) My main quirk is that I'm an opera fan.
Having been reminded by other comments, I realize I've been reading VC since at least a few years of Juan non-Volokh days, how long ago was that? According to John Adler's CV, he became an Associate Professor in 2004 and full Professor in 2006 so I've probably been reading VC since the early 2000s.
I just finished my first year at U of Iowa College of Law. I started reading the blog a few months ago because I’m interested in con law and economics.
MIT undergrad, Univ of Iowa Colege of Law, Fed D.Ct. clerk, biglaw, now solo practice focused on IP. What a long strange trip it's been, as they say.
Good luck, tim!
Legal Theory Professor from Brazil. My research interests include freedom of speech and law and religion. I've been reading the blog since 2017. Initially attracted to posts on exemptions and the Establishment clause by Eugene. Then stayed because I learn a lot! Thanks for the work!
Been reading this blog virtually since inception when it was independent. My post sparked the famous "mentor-mentee" controversy, and Professor Volokh converted me intellectually, albeit not emotionally, from the prescriptivist to descriptivist view of language usage. In other words, I will concede a usage I abhor is proper, but I will still deem the writer to be ill-educated, poorly-read and semi-literate.
Background: Top 5 law school, concentration in representing whistleblowers under federal and state false claims acts. Also have done general litigation and arbitration work in election law, civil rights, school law, securities, business and commercial litigation, class actions and antitrust. Currently I do a fair amount of transactional work as well. Been on my own since 2007. Did both big firm (9 years) and litigation boutique (5 years). Had the honor of arguing before Amy Coney Barrett at the Seventh Circuit just weeks before she was nominated to the Supreme Court.
Took a ten year break to own a restaurant for 10 years and publisher/edit a monthly literary magazine for 6 years. Big sci-fi and fantasy fan.
Hi! Long time reader of the blog from pre-WP days. I am a career federal law clerk (7+ years). This is one of my favorite news analysis places anywhere. Thanks for keeping this going with so many fresh perspectives, civil tone, and deep insights.
Majored in actuarial science in undergrad and went to law school to delay deciding what to do. Nearly all of career (over 35 years) with state supreme court, specializing in the death penalty cases, developing rules of court and jury instructions, and reviewing court opinions and orders before being finalized and made public. Eventually became clerk of the court before retiring. Have been reading this blog since retirement because of the range of topics and some intelligent commentary.
34 year old CLO of a startup, from Hungary, Budapest. (Hungarian qualified) Previously, I was an attorney for several years, mostly dealing with project finance and tax.
I have been reading this blog for 6+ years.
California attorney here, admitted in 1981. I've been following the blog since it moved to the Reason website. At that time, I was working for the Superior Court as a Trial Court Judicial Attorney (i.e., research attorney). Now I've retired from that and work part-time from home as an independent research attorney, writing briefs and memoranda for other lawyers and, mostly, researching and writing arbitration decisions for a retired Court of Appeal justice.
AUSA in the Pacific Northwest. I became a prosecutor after 10+ years in private practice with mid-sized firms. I've been following the blog longer than I can remember - from back when it was its own website, before it migrated to WaPo and then here. I've met Orrin Kerr in person is my blog claim to fame.
Hi all I am a lapsed lawyer with a Masters in Public Adminstration living in Denver Colorado. Most of my legal work was done as a federal agency lawyer with a stint in the local US Attorney's office. My non legal work has been on the policy sideniverisity think tanks- a mix of strategic planning, program evaluation, qualitative research, analysis, teaching at the graduate level, and philanthropy. My teaching is around law and policy, the thesis being that you can't do your job as a public servant or concerned citizen advocate if you don't understand how courts actually work and their role(s) in shaping public policy. The contributors to the Volokh conspiracy have been some of my star "go-tos" because of their trenchant and articulate writings on the legal issues of the day-I've been following you all for a long time! Thanks