Final KMS Nota Bene Profile EIC

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Katherine

Mereand-Sinha

Editor-in-Chief

Opinions Writer

Photographer

2011-2012

Nota Bene A GW Law Publication



Class Year 2011-2012 As Editor-In-Chief of Nota Bene this year

I have written articles

✴ Profiling SBA President Nick Nikic

✴ Profiling GW Law attendance at Indian moot court competitions

✴ Regarding the role of privacy in society

✴ Profiling Justice Scalia’s speech at the Law Review Symposium

✴ Advocating individual lockers for 1Ls

✴ Discussing hate and racism in today’s society

✴ Discussing journalistic integrity

✴ Profiling all GW Law student groups

✴ Profiling the thankless work of the SBA

✴ Encouraging students to network

I have photographed

✴ SBA President Nick Nikic

✴ The SBA Town Hall Debate

✴ Justice Scalia

✴ Empty Halls of the Law School

✴ Student lockers laden with Umbrellas

✴ George Washington & the Quad

I have fund-raised

✴ Advertisements from AdaptiBar and Barbri

I have advocated

✴ To maintain the Nota Bene budget

✴ To recruit staff

✴ To solicit articles from student groups

I have created

✴ Crosswords on Constitutional Law, Property Law, Classes at GW Law, & Legal Latin

✴ 384 Tweets, and counting

I instituted

✴ Distributing Nota Bene to all faculty, adjunct faculty, and staff via email



Profile of an SBA President: Nick Nikicby Katherine Mereand-Sinha February 19, 2012

On the last day of 1L orientation in 2009, he was still on the wait list of other law schools,

hoping. Today, without hesitation Nick Nikic will say "I love this school."

In twenty years he hopes that when he looks back he will remember people and how friendly

everyone was. GW Law took him by surprise. It captured him with hellos in every hallway, and

with strangers becoming friends when times where tough. Second semester 1L year his

grandfather passed away, and before he even made it home his Legal Research & Writing

small section had sent a basket of food.

Photo by Katherine Mereand-Sinha

Nick's warm reflection of the nature of his peers is only paralleled by his immediately apparent

extreme busyness. Law school is filled with students who work insane hours. Nick may or

may not beat them out, but as Student Bar Association (SBA) President he answers dozens

of emails a day, tweets incessantly, and keeps several running tasks in his head. The

formalized and now personalized weekly emails he sends to the student body alone take two

hours to compile each week.



He’s tried to use organizational systems like computer programs for project planning, but he

finds no matter what he tends to live and breath the tasks he’s doing. The two hours I sat

with him in the hard lounge for this interview he was subject to a constant barrage of

questions from those passing by. Many of his discussions with fellow SBA members or

student group leaders were continuations of other conversations that were clearly ongoing

referencing only pronouns without any proper nouns to be heard.

It is hard to separate how much this constant buzz of energy is inherent to the nature of

being SBA President and how much is inherent to the man. But the energy speaks to

something rather key about his tenure. His habit is to create and build community and he has

a very hands on approach. As Dean Renee DeVigne notes, “‘he will graduate with much

more than his degree as he leaves a lasting legacy of improving the well being of the Law

School community”.

Community at the law school means many things. But to Nick Nikic, community matters,

whether it is as Dean DeVigne mentions, his efforts to promote and launch WellnessWednesdays by finding space and working closely with the University Counseling Dept., or

whether it is simple things like marketing the SBA so that students know what services are

available to them. Nick took special care this year with the SBA logo, with flyers, and with

supporting the redevelopment of the web site. While at first that may not sound

groundbreaking, his support allowed talented individuals in the SBA, like Mr. Sam Dillon, to

completely revamp the site and now even host student group profile pages.

Facilitating the amazing work of other law students is part of the role that Nick saw for himself

as SBA President. The President has a VP board that, other than the Executive Vice

President, is appointed. The process of appointments is based on interviews of students who

step forward, but Nick indicates that an important part of being President is finding and then

helping the right people to share the burdens of running the SBA. Because at the end of the

day, everyone on the board and in the SBA has their law school career and their life to deal

with as well, and leaders of student groups in law school can only ask so much of their peers

who truly are their equals in every way. Given that, perhaps the best and most challenging

lesson Nick says he learned was learning to listen, and learning how to accept opposing view

points or even change his mind.

Talking to Nick today, he speaks of the role of SBA President as one of service, specifically

constituents services, which he performs often by helping to connect students to the

appropriate individuals in the administration or reporting when rows of electrical sockets are

broken in a class room. Dean Berman praised Nick’s concern for substantive and positive

change at the law school, but also noted that he was “particularly impressed by his

dedication to students”. And Dean Molinengo mentioned that Nick kept the administration on

their toes and made sure that they “knew what the students were thinking and what their

concerns were”.

Nick did not come to law school planning to be SBA President, and he did not hold an SBA

elected office 1L year. His goal sounds familiar. He was going to be top of his class and

therefore would not have time for such things. But he found himself hosting barbecues for

Section 13, and organizing the section to help raise over thirty-five hundred dollars for HaitianEarthquake relief.



Much as he had always done, Nick gravitated towards leadership. He has a has a habit of

becoming involved. He started with student government in the eight grade as then class

president. (He was treated to a taste of the vagaries of politics, too, when eighth grade

factions chose to boo or cheer him at assemblies.)

But the leadership roles that meant the most to him in his years before coming to GW Law

were those in the Albanian Student Society when he was an undergraduate at Boston

University which grew and became more active while he was there. Nick hails from a close

knit Albanian immigrant community in New York City. He came from a very close community,

and he hopes to return to it shortly after law school to build a career and a life.

Nick came to law school because after getting a journalism degree and working for a couple

of years; he thought he would like litigation. He does, in fact, like the process of litigation and

would also consider a future in business. While his parents came to the US from Yugoslavia

where his father’s farmhouse had a packed dirt floor and wax paper windows, througheducation and experiences like those at GW Law he has been able to build a bright future for

himself.

Some people are disappointed with what they find in law school, but not Nick. As he put it, “I

do feel transformed. I have learned so much, and in the best way think like a lawyer.”

What it means to think like a lawyer means different things to different people. But perhaps

Nick helped the class of 2012 think like lawyers of our generation. As Dean Molinengo said,

“2012 is a great class - socially and environmentally conscious and to my eyes, they are good

to each other. I think Nick had something to do with that. ”

*****



GW Law Students Expand Horizons at Indian Moot

Court Competitionby Katherine Mereand-Sinha on February 14, 2012

Third year students Elizabeth Saxe and Puja Bhatia brought home the first and second place

oralist (speaker) awards from the Eight Annual KK Luthra Memorial Moot Court Competition

held in New Delhi, India this January. This is the second year that a George Washington

University Law School team attended the Luthra competition, and the second year that a GW

team was honored with an award. Last year Shauna Johnston, now a third year student, and

Anne Sidwell, who graduated in the class of 2011, won the tournament and brought home

the award for best brief. Ms. Johnston returned this year with Assistant Dean David Johnson,

Director of Advocacy Programs, to lead an informational session about appellate advocacy

skills.

Nota Bene interviewed Ms. Saxe and Ms. Bhatia about their success at the competition and

the exciting trip halfway across the globe. Neither had been to India prior to this trip, but both

would be excited to return to see more. We also spoke with Ms. Johnston, Assistant Dean

Johnson, and Dean Susan Karamanian about the unique experience that is the Luthra

competition, which is one of two Indian moot court competitions that GW Law students are

attending this year.

This week third year student Christy Milliken and second year student Sam Stone are

attending the Gujarat National Law University Moot Court Competition and thus were not

available to be interviewed for this article. GW Law teams attended, and won, the Gujarat

competition for the last two years. We got in touch with the 2012 team just after they landed

in India and were adjusting to the significant time difference. The Gujarat Competition will

close on February 12, and we wish the best to Ms. Milliken and Mr. Stone. Dean

Karamanian worked with the team to prepare for the Gujarat competition, but the team

traveled to the competition on their own.

As Dean Johnson noted, GW is fairly unique among its peer law schools in that we rarely

send advisors to advocacy competitions, but that allows us to send more teams to more

competitions each year. That decision is made by each of the skills boards, but given how

well GW teams perform generally it seems to be a system that works. His and Ms.

Johnston’s attendance this year was by special invitation of the competition, and so no one issure whether such presentations will be invited again should GW return to compete in future

years.

GW Law’s attendance at the Luthra competition owes its genesis to Mr. Aditya Singla, who

earned an LLM from GW last year. He advocated for and arranged for sponsorship of the

2011 team. We understand that Mr. Singla is now working with the Virginia-based Institute of

Multi-Track Diplomacy to help support peace building programs between India and Pakistan

along the border in the Punjab region.

GW was the only American school to send a team to the Luthra competition this year. Although most of the teams were Indian, a team from Pakistan and a few other international



teams from the UK attended. The international aspect of the competition benefitted our

students not only by focusing their efforts on international law, but also by allowing them to

meet and interact with international students and practitioners. For students interested in

pursuing careers in international law, the opportunity to speak to students from other

countries about “law school and what the first few years of practice are like”, as Ms.

Johnston noted, are invaluable.

Ms. Saxe described this year’s problem as “a comparative criminal law problem arising in a

new, hypothetical common law jurisdiction”. In comparing the problems from each year, Ms.

Johnston noted that this year’s problem was particularly challenging including a lot of local

law and “and an entirely fake constitution modeled very closely off of the India constitution”.

In contrast, last year’s problem focused on International Criminal Court Statute.

Ms. Bhatia suggested that the nature of the problem presented an additional challenge that

national competitions do not present: finding good sources for the appropriate law early in

the research process. She stated that it was critical to success and noted the the staff at theGW Law Library were particularly helpful in tracking down the best sources.

Those sources are not only used to compile the brief, but are compiled into a binder that

competitors bring on site for use and reference during the competition. How to build and use

the binder to the greatest advantage was part of the focus of Ms. Johnston’s presentation,

and, as Dean Johnson mentioned, part of GW Law’s continuing success at the competition.

Through competitions like KK Luthra and Gujarat, the GW Law community is able to learn

more, and share more, about diverse appellate advocacy skills and approaches. As Ms.

Bhatia noted, GW teams were more likely to incorporate and address their opponents

arguments into their responses during the competition and as Dean Johnson noted were

more likely to rely upon case law. Traditional Indian appellate advocacy, in contrast, is more

likely to reply upon direct readings from law treatises.

But law students in India appear keen to sharpen their appellate advocacy skills by

incorporating lessons from GW Law students and faculty, if the jam-packed room for Ms.

Johnston and Dean Johnson’s joint presentation is any indication. While Ms. Johnston’s

presentation focused specifically on how to succeed in the Luthra competition, Dean

Johnson spoke for about 45 minutes about pure advocacy skills regardless of jurisdiction.

While future participation in the Luthra competition is not guaranteed, there are many reasons

for GW to continue with it in specific and with engagement with Indian law schools in general.

Both the competition and the reception for the presentation underscore the immense value of

GW Law connections with Indian law schools. As Dean Karamanian noted, the law school

has a significant incentive to continue to engage with “the world’s largest democracy”.

Particularly given GW Law’s impressive IP portfolio and India’s booming tech sector, avenues

for future growth are many.

But as Ms. Bhatia, Vice President for External Affairs of the Moot Court Board, also

highlighted, all external competitions are of great value to the students who are able to

attend. All students interested in increasing their advocacy skills should be persistent in tryingto make the board and find external competitions to attend.



For more information about these competitions see www.kkluthramoot.org and http://

gnlu.ac.in/gimc/gimc2012.html. *****

Property Law Basics1 2 3 4

5 6

7 8 9

10

11

12

13 14 15

16

17

18

19 20

21 22

23

24

Across1. Created in a parking garage

3. Rule in whose case?

8. Permanent interest in land

11. Ownership for unbroken bloodlines

13. Open and notorious, and five other things

16. Form in which property law conceptuallypackaged

18. Finders keepers only when stuff is

20. Intent + Delivery + Acceptance =21. A legal action to get your stuff back

22. Tangible personal property

23. Government granted monopoly for 20 years

24. Private property for public use

Down1. Innocent purchaser of stolen stuff

2. Pierson v. Post

4. Right of way to get to the beach

5. Property can always be transferred as a ____

6. If a freehold is not absoluate then it is

7. Authorized devitation from zoning ordinance

9. Under the fifth amendment government can use

10. Making someone's elses property a lot better

can result in ______12. Land regulation

13. Title independent of everything except thegovernment

14. Rights for water allocation

15. Creating multiple parcels from one

17. Promise about land use

19. Doctrine of as good as you can get



Property Law Basics

B1

A I L M E N T C2

S3

H E4

L L E Y

O G5

A D6

A

V7

N F8

E9

E S I M P L E S

A A M F T F E A10

R F11

E E T A I L T U E M C

I I N Z12

R A E C

A A13

D V E R14

S E P O S S15

E S S I O N E

B16

U N D L E I N N U I T S

C L P T I B B C17

S

E O A18

B A N D O N E D L O I

C19

D R O G I20

N T E R V I V O S

Y I I M V E N

P A A A I N

R21

E P L E V I N I S C22

H A T T E L

E N I N

S O P23

A T E N T

T24

A K I N G S

Across1. Created in a parking garage [BAILMENT]

3. Rule in whose case? [SHELLEY]

8. Permanent interest in land [FEESIMPLE]11. Ownership for unbroken bloodlines [FEETAIL]

13. Open and notorious, and five other things[ADVERSEPOSSESSION]

16. Form in which property law conceptuallypackaged [BUNDLE]

18. Finders keepers only when stuff is[ABANDONED]

20. Intent + Delivery + Acceptance = [INTERVIVOS]

21. A legal action to get your stuff back [REPLEVIN]

22. Tangible personal property [CHATTEL]

23. Government granted monopoly for 20 years[PATENT]

24. Private property for public use [TAKINGS]

Down1. Innocent purchaser of stolen stuff [BONAFIDE]

2. Pierson v. Post [CAPTURE]

4. Right of way to get to the beach [EASEMENT]5. Property can always be transferred as a ____

[GIFT]

6. If a freehold is not absoluate then it is[DEFEASIBLE]

7. Authorized devitation from zoning ordinance[VARIANCE]

9. Under the fifth amendment government can use[EMINENTDOMAIN]

10. Making someone's elses property a lot bettercan result in ______ [ACCESSION]

12. Land regulation [ZONING]

13. Title independent of everything except thegovernment [ALLODIAL]

14. Rights for water allocation [RIPARIAN]

15. Creating multiple parcels from one[SUBDIVISION]

17. Promise about land use [COVENANT]

19. Doctrine of as good as you can get [CYPRES]



On Privacy by Katherine Mereand-Sinha on January 25, 2012

A tall skinny man wearing a TSA uniform bore his eyes into mine. A crowd of 400

Washingtonians looked on in hushed silence.

I had never met him before. He did not even have a copy of my I.D. Nonetheless, he knew

my name, my new fully hyphenated married name that isn’t on my I.D. or almost any

documentation yet. He knew where I was born. He knew I was a law student in my third year

at this law school. He knew where I was working and where my last three internships had

been. He knew that I had recently lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan and in Baltimore. He knew

that I had taken a trip to Scotland last August. And he knew the date on which my now

husband had proposed. The crowd gaped and gasped in horror as I verified that fact after

fact he rattled off was perfectly correct.

As it turns out, I have a penchant for sitting in the first row of plays, and thus I was the target

of a Second City sketch at the Woolly Mammoth theater during the semester break. The box

office had apparently given the comedy troupe my name before the show, and the actor in

the TSA costume had researched (read: Googled) then memorized me.

For all that I was a little startled to have my life on parade as lines in a play, I was nonetheless

nonplussed. With a few flourishes he had essentially told about 400 potential employers my

résumé; it is hard to quibble with free advertising. He knew nothing much more than the

default public identity that I have consciously curated for public consumption. I only wish I

could better search engine optimize myself–a task Google just made more difficult with

“Search, plus Your World”.

This incident underscored that my personal privacy threshold is low, but I may be fairly

unusual in that. I had attended the show with six or seven close friends, most of whom were

horrified by what had just happened. They were terrified that the person on display might just

as easily have been them instead of me.

I do not want to presume to suggest that I have an answer for how our generation, or

generations, should be addressing the burning question of personal privacy in the internet

age. Nor do I feel it necessary to inform anyone that the decisions society makes now about

privacy may have fundamental, world-shifting impacts on the future of society and humanity. At the law school we have entire classes and internships dedicated to exploring some of the

foremost legal scholarship and thought on this very topic. And for months and years to come

we may be dissecting the opinion and concurrences in this Monday’s Supreme Court

decision in US v. Jones in which even Justice Scalia, writing for the majority, upheld Judge D.

Ginsburg’s reasoning from the DC Circuit to find in favour of an individual’s “reasonable

expectation of privacy” when going about daily travels.

Currently, what is available about me on Google is quite distinct from ubiquitous

police surveillance. This incident has, however, forced me to examine, evaluate, and defend

to those six or seven friends why I choose what to post when I post it. Because I am part of



the market of socially available information, and my market behavior affects their valuation of

appropriate online behavior whether or not they directly agree with my strategies.

This incident crystallized an idea in my mind that many have suggested before me. How

privacy is shaped over our lifetime may have less to do with Supreme Court decisions about

the Fourth Amendment, promulgated rules, or enacted legislation than the collective behaviorwe all exhibit. We participate in a market; our actions collectively build norms. Our actions

and reactions add up to “reasonable expectation[s] of privacy”. In light of that, do we create

and protect curated identities? Do we hide and refuse to engage in privacy-threatening

activities (like Facebook)? Or do we let it all hang out? And what do we do if someone

maliciously interacts with that identity however it is presented: if they stalk, harass, or simply

attempt to be friendly but are by our own estimations a bit weird and overly friendly?

There are strong institutional advocates for privacy: actions by agencies like the FTC, private

groups, and scholarship. But the idea of privacy, amorphous as it seems to be a global world,

could easily die the death of a thousand cuts. Advocates can only do so much to staunch thebleeding if we consciously or negligently refuse to defend it, allowing the evolving standard of

reasonableness to evolve to virtual extinction.

I do suggest that we should all know–personally and individually–whether, why, and how we

believe privacy should be addressed through our own actions and interactions. If you don’t

know where to start in creating your own standard, imagine you are being grilled about what

Google says about you in front of 400 perfect strangers–like a cold splash of water it might

help clarify your thinking.

*****



Justice Scalia Gives Keynote Speech at Law Review

Symposiumby Katherine Mereand-Sinha on November 9, 2011

Opening this year’s Law Review Symposium last Thursday, Justice Anton Scalia addressed

George Washington University Law students and faculty regarding “The Methodology of

Originalism”. As Dean Berman aptly stated in his remarks, such an honor is one that students

at other law schools would “kill for” but not an uncommon occurrence at GW Law.

Indeed, Justice Scalia was not the only judicial luminary gracing this year’s symposium.

Several appellate court judges took part in a panel discussion on day two, including

Easterbrook, Kavanaugh, Lettow, Raggi, Sutton, and Diane Wood. Students on the law

review and those who secured the lottery tickets for the keynote or rsvp’d to the panels on

Friday were treated with discussions relating to the 100th Anniversary of Farrand’s Records of

the Federal Convention.

The late Max Farrand, a Professor of History at Yale and a president of the American History

Association, reconstructed records from the Federal Convention in 1787. The compilation

relied heavily on individual notes of the official secretary and other attendees such as James

Madison; the three volume collection was published in 1911. Farrand’s Records, which were

meticulously constructed, have long been cited as a primary source for determining the

framer’s “original intent”.




Reading the 200-year-old tea leaves of original intent, however, is something Justice Scalia

emphatically rejects. He went as far as to say “I detest the term” intent. In his remarks and

during an audience Q&A he more than once stated “I don’t care” what law makers, from any

era, intended. Words have “fair meaning” and there is “nothing but the text” to determine the

true purpose of a law. If the drafters of a law did not look up the meaning of the language at

the time, too bad because they should have.

How, then, might the Justice find the Records, the Federalist Papers, or even Blackstone’s

useful? He admits that intent is of no judicial import and the meaning of words change

overtime, but also proudly highlighted that he used definitions from Blackstone in the Court’s

recent “originalist opinion” in Heller. He walked the audience through several aspects of

Heller, including the fact that Blackstone’s definition of the right to bear arms considered it

one of the “fundamental rights of Englishmen” at the time of the founding of America.

He drew a fine but clear line when during the Q&A many questioners attempted in vain to

catch him in a logical fallacy or inconsistency for relying on ancillary historical texts in someopinions. The meaning of words, under his theory of originalism, is reliant upon a framework

of their meaning in the context of law at the time they were written.

Thus the meaning of words is not what “99 percent of people” think and we cannot expect

the “Joe the Plumber” equivalent in any era to understand such technical meaning. Instead,

he says, it is uniquely the judge or the lawyer’s role to determine the “reasonable” meaning

within the context of the law. And while no source is definitive, “clues in mysteries always

point in different directions” he explained, determining the appropriate weight of historical

authority is eminently judicial. He likened his role to that of the Oxford English Dictionary,

albeit for a smaller, more focused lexicon.

A few reasons underpin the important distinction between Justice Scalia’s brand of

originalism and all other legal theories, most particularly the legitimacy of judicial power and

the “ease of lawyerly application” of the law. The first speaks to the distinction between

legislative and judicial power. Citing issues such as abortion, sodomy, assisted suicide,

capital punishment, and capital punishment applied to minors, he finds that these are not

new phenomenon that the framer’s did not or could not have contemplated, in sharp contrast

to the Internet. It was in fact, common, he reminded the audience, for children as young as

12 to be put to death in late eighteenth century. For the judiciary to stray into addresses

settled phenomenon in a new ways is to invite jurists to apply their own moral philosophy to

the law. That is why Justice Scalia maintains that originalism is not perfect, it is merely the

lesser evil that better avoids judicial abuse.

The Justice shared his opinion on a few other related topics as well, from the integral role of

history in law and law in history, to what he calls the unfortunate trend of professorial amici as

“advocacy parading as disinterested scholarship”, and to the fact that there is nothing

distinctive about female judges compared to male judges–there are simply good judges and

bad judges.

Perhaps most directly useful to students, however, were the Justice’s remarks about oral

arguments. When asked whether he found them of value, he confessed that at first heassumed that they would be nothing more than a “dog and pony show”. Yet, to his surprise



he became a big believer in their value, as they allow lawyers to be true advocates. Briefs, by

their nature, are logically structured often spending more time explaining complicated minutia

than simple but key ideas. In oral argument however, he suggested, “logical order be damned

[...] put your big point up front”.

*****



Simple Things: Individual Lockers for Allby Katherine Mereand-Sinha on October 26, 2011

First year students at GW Law should have their own lockers, and until they do they should

be upset that they do not have them. It is a simple thing, and mundane enough that it is hard

as a first year student to complain. So much else is more important that this often stress-

inducing situation is relegated to little thought. Besides, who wants to be known as the

person who complains about lockers?

There are obvious logistical constraints within the law school that make adding more lockers

hard, and there may even be a plan to provide more space when the new law school

buildings are built. I have not asked anyone why adding more lockers has not happened. I am

an example why nothing on this front changes. When the problem ceased to be my problem,

I ceased to care.

When one is a first year student, however, struggling to cram all books, lunches, coats, and

whatever else into a shared locker, one does not have time to complain. Instead, each pair

deals with the lack of space in their own way. Some people have quiet wars all year, resolved

by who arrives first to the law school each day. Some people have open fights. All too often

one person cedes their right to the locker and simply carries all of their books and belongings

in an enormous backpack or giant wheeled contraption that must become disgusting in the

undercarriage. I am sure there are other accommodations made and have even heard rumors

about complex schedules of rights to more space that some students put together.

But after creating the strategy at the beginning of the year, despite the annoyance, it is is not

often revisited once someone knows how and where to complain. Actual school work and

jobs are by far more important. Once one becomes a 2L and eventually a 3L, it is easy to

look back at it as a right of passage and move on. I am suggesting that this year’s first year

students do not do to their future classmates what we did to them: move on without trying to

make their future classmates’

lives easier.

I was headed to class in the

basement of Lerner the otherday, where thankfully LL102 has

warmed up slightly from the icy

chill that was its hallmark in

previous years. I noticed that as

usual when it rains, the first year

students had hung umbrellas

outside of their lockers in

profusion. I first noticed that the

umbrellas hung were larger than

before, but then I noticed thatsome student were hanging




their jackets on their locks. It seemed excessive until I remembered having to kick my locker

shut to accommodate everything that my “locker buddy” and I tried to store amicably. After

kicking it closed, we simply carried our heavy wool coats along with everything else we could

not store.

In coming to law school I moved from spending six years with my own office and keepingseveral pairs of extra shoes under my desk to being a nomad with back pain who could not

bring lunch to school because I lacked the capacity to store or carry it. I took a saddle bag

approach with two bags to balance the excessive weight, and I watched friends turn into

virtual camels when they donned their enormous backpacks.

I understand that the law school has a lack of space, but there are fifty-five full height lockers

in the basement of Stuart that could be chopped in two. Perhaps there are other options like

that. I am not blaming the administration, there is no easy answer given the pure lack of

space. I do, however, encourage the current crop of first year students to make this point,

clearly, to the SBA if you have a problem with lockers. I have heard grumbles and anecdotes,but often change only happens if someone advocates for it. Do your future classmates a

favor and make sure to continue to ask for a solution to what, for many, is more than mere

annoyance. Oh, and if you do have a giant backpack, through no fault of your own, do

everyone a favor. Be careful when you turn quickly and do not back up without looking! Given

the amount of times I have been hit with one in the Lerner stairwell, I can attest that those

things are dangerous.

Update to this article on October 26, 2011. Dean Paul Schiff Berman contacted Nota Beneto mention that students do not need to take concerns about lockers only to the SBA

because they can also bring such concerns directly to him. Dean Berman typically has open

office hours on Tuesdays. See this post on his blog 20th & H for more details about how and when to drop-in.

*****



The law school felt very empty when all of the 1Ls went on fall break. . . .








He Did Not Hurt Me, But It Hurtby Katherine Mereand-Sinha on October 19, 2011

I was walking by myself on 20th between L & M Streets, NW, at about 8:50 p.m. last

Wednesday. A stranger in a wide-brimmed felt hat and a nice trench coat walked towardsme. He stepped close, too close, said coldly “white bitch”, and flicked a lit cigarette butt at

me. It hit my neck, but it did not burn. He hadn’t truly broken his stride and simply continued

walking. I turned around to look at him, shocked. I demanded of him “Why?” He continued

walking. Feeling helpless, in the middle of the sidewalk I shouted at his back, recounting the

event to all could hear at the top of my lungs. I did this so that he could hear that others

could hear what he had done. I said that he should be ashamed. He continued walking

without looking back or changing his pace. I cried.

This article is not really about that man nor is it about garnering sympathy for or engendering

disdain about what occurred. Rather, it is an attempt to distill the complex emotional reactionto hate, to show that the display of hate causes a separate and distinct if lesser harm from

violence, and to ask open-ended questions about interracial hate and racism in our society.

I can no longer count on one hand the number of times that someone has threatened

violence to me and said the same exact words that person said to me last Wednesday.

Usually in DC, sometimes in Detroit, I have repeatedly had similar incidents occur. I have been

chased. Car windows have been smashed with bricks. I have had to fight to regain control of

my wrist when someone has unexpectedly latched on.

Two things set this incident apart… First, in all of the other incidents, the persons I

encountered were either clearly homeless or youth, groups who often are hyper-marginalized

within our society and who not infrequently engage in antisocial behavior. The man on

Wednesday, in contrast, was well-dressed, middle-aged, and seemed completely in control

of his faculties. Second, I was not actually afraid that this man would do serious violence or

cause me physical harm. That fact is critical to thinking about this as a distillation of hate.

What directly inspired his actions I will never know. How I reacted, however, I can dissect.

A few minutes later I posted the incident on Facebook but not to Twitter. Underlying that

decision was the need to retell the incident to exorcise the tangled emotions but also a fear of

being publicly misunderstood. The reason for that fear gnawed at me. Calling out ‘anti-white

racism’ is a challenging thing to do–particularly in a liberal crowd. When I have seen incidentsof other people being verbally assaulted on the bus or on the street with the same dynamic,

the bystander effect occurs but is perhaps strengthened by an uncertainty of what the

correct reaction should be. I think the correct reaction is to say that the antisocial behavior is

wrong, but a strong current of racially-motivated guilt stays a lot of reactions.

I did feel a level of guilt for condemning the man’s behavior, because I know that I am not

subject to the negative impacts of the chasm that is the racial divide in America. But the guilt

felt unproductive, and permitting it space felt like legitimizing the behavior. Forcibly setting the

guilt aside helped me to see that the hurt that remained was multi-faceted.



Mostly, I think, it hurt because he intended it to hurt. When we think of hate, I think many of

us naturally think of horrific violence that someone perpetrates motivated by bias. The most

recent national hate crime legislation is, rightfully, named for Matthew Sheppard and James

Byrd, two victims of unconscionable acts of hate-motivated violence. Considering the

connection between hate and violence is entirely appropriate when considering criminal and

legal penalties and sanctions.

But the incident on Wednesday, which although technically assault arguably was barely so,

allowed me to see something distinct that I personally rarely see from this perspective. Very

few times in my life have I been singled out for scorn due to my race; it has occurred more

times than I can count on one hand but few enough that I can count it upon two. In the other

incidents, I was primarily afraid of the threat of violence. I believe that the perpetrators wanted

me to be afraid. Not so on Wednesday.

Instead, I felt the impact of his two words as a very intentional, flattening denial of my

personhood. Those words were cold, uncaring, and unseeing–born of circumstances I canonly speculate about and imagine, probably unsuccessfully. He did not know me. He did not

care to know me. I did not represent a person to him. I represented an institution. He reduced

me to a race and a gender, and then spat upon me for what he saw. I was helpless to do

anything other than receive the hate.

On another level it hurt because I was not able to rationally explain his hate. I have this weird

vision that crops up in my mind that suggests perhaps he had a daughter who faced some

sort of hardship or simply a hard life. I do not know why that idea comes to my mind; there is

no logical reason to conjure up such a vision. It simply is not relevant, and yet this idea

lingers. I fundamentally know that nothing so tangible need be at the heart of the matter, but

a part of me wants to attach his hate to something tangible outside of myself to be able to

make sense of it. If I can do that, I can label it, put it in a metaphorical box, and dismiss it.

Instead I must face that I cannot fathom what it is like to spend everyday knowing that

others flatten my identity to see only my race and my gender. I can, somewhat, perceive how

institutional disadvantage and soft cultural bias place constant downward pressure on a

community. I have certain tells in my mannerisms, my speech, and to some extent aspects of

my appearance that bespeak my roots, but to a great extent those are erasable and not

visible to the world. They are not visible when I walk down the street in Washington, DC.

In this context acknowledging that I do not know what it is like to be a minority in American

society is not a manifestation of guilt so much as a of fear of being powerless to fix what is

broken.

My inability to do anything constructive in that moment mirrors my sense of helplessness

when facing the larger, structural issue of racism in our society. I can call out racist, antisocial

behavior as wrong. I can be sure to talk about race and racism and encourage others to do

so. But there is a strong cultural undercurrent that suggests that it is unseemly for me to do

so because I am not myself a minority. That perspective holds that I have no legitimacy and it

is not my affair. Interestingly, a similar undercurrent mouths empty platitudes when minorities

do broach the subject. Mass culture pretends tension due to race is something tangible,easily dealt with, and then put aside.



But it does nothing to stop a pervasive “us vs them” mentality. Many readers may have

already labeled me ‘the white girl’. Some might have thrown in additional adjectives, but as

for the basics I identified as much above. I am curious, however, how many readers

envisioned the race of this man, although I have declined to openly identify it other than

implicitly as “not white”. The great irony of my attempt at an academic exploration of a

visceral reaction to a personal interaction is that as much as he reduced me to nothing butmy race and my gender, quite possibly retelling inexorably does the same to him.

*****

Parties to Landmark SCOTUS CasesAn original N.B. crossword.

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9

10

11 12

13 14 15

16 17

18

19 20

21 22

23 24

25 26 27

28

Across

1. Student organizations at public universities maynot limit members to particular religions.

6. A student's right to privacy does not extend toitems in plain view during a reasonable search.

7. Groups cannot be prohibited from peaceful

assembly due to the content of their message.10. Exclusionary rule upholds the sanctity of thehome.

13. Commerce clause allows federal government toregulate interstate commerce.

15. State courts must provide attorneys to criminaldefendants who cannot afford counsel.

17. Jury exclusion due to national origin violates the14th Amendment.

18. Informing arrestee of their rights.19. This first time SCOTUS ruled against the death

penalty.21. Separate but equal.22. Confirming the constitutions implied powers.24. Desegregation of schools.25. Cities can take private property to turn it over to

private developers.

Down

2. FDA Modernization Act of 1997 was overturnedfor restricting commerical speech.

3. Nativiity senes in a court building violates theEstablishment Clause.

4. Allows the use of a "gag" order to limit pretrial

publicity.5. Mandatory use of the death penalty wouldviolate the 8th Amendment.

8. Religuous clubs must be allowed to meet afterschool if other groups are allowed to meet.

9. First instance of the SCOTUS applied strictscrutiny to racial discrimination by thegovernment.

11. Free speech in schools.12. NY's requirement of a prayer to open shool was

unconstitutional.14. Chaplain's opening legislative sessions does not

violate the Establishment Clause.16. Denying people the designation of citizen.17. Free speech isn't violated by educators

exercising editorial control for pedagogicalconcerns.



Parties to Landmark SCOTUS CasesAn original N.B. crossword.

C1

H R I S T2

I A N L E G A3

L S O C I E T Y S4

H L HG

5

T6

L O V7

I L L A G8

E O F S K9

O K I E

R M10

A P P E O O P

E P G O T11

R E12

P

G13

I B B O N S M14

H D G15

I D E O N A

G S A E N N M G R

D16

O H17

E R N A N D E Z K A E D

M18

I R A N D A S Y W E T L

E Z H C S R S

D E O C F19

U R M20

A N

P21

L E S S Y L M22

C C U L L O C H A

C W N U W23

B24

R O W N

K25

E L O O T B26

A K27

K E B

T R28

O E Y A E U

T D T K R

Z S Y

Across

1. Student organizations at public universities maynot limit members to particular religions.[CHRISTIANLEGALSOCIETY]

6. A student's right to privacy does not extend toitems in plain view during a reasonable search.[TLO]

7. Groups cannot be prohibited from peacefulassembly due to the content of their message.[VILLAGEOFSKOKIE]

10. Exclusionary rule upholds the sanctity of thehome. [MAPP]

13. Commerce clause allows federal government toregulate interstate commerce. [GIBBONS]

15. State courts must provide attorneys to criminaldefendants who cannot afford counsel.[GIDEON]

17. Jury exclusion due to national origin violates the14th Amendment. [HERNANDEZ]

18. Informing arrestee of their rights. [MIRANDA]19. This first time SCOTUS ruled against the death

penalty. [FURMAN]21. Separate but equal. [PLESSY]

Down

2. FDA Modernization Act of 1997 was overturnedfor restricting commerical speech.[THOMPOSON]

3. Nativiity senes in a court building violates theEstablishment Clause. [ALLEGHENYCOUNTY]

4. Allows the use of a "gag" order to limit pretrialpublicity. [SHEPPARD]

5. Mandatory use of the death penalty wouldviolate the 8th Amendment. [GREGG]

8. Religuous clubs must be allowed to meet afterschool if other groups are allowed to meet.[GOODNEWSCLUB]

9. First instance of the SCOTUS applied strictscrutiny to racial discrimination by thegovernment. [KOREMATSU]

11. Free speech in schools. [TINKER]12. NY's requirement of a prayer to open shool was

unconstitutional. [ENGEL]14. Chaplain's opening legislative sessions does not

violate the Establishment Clause. [MARSH]

16. Denying people the designation of citizen.[DREDSCOTT]



What is a Newspaper? What is the News?by Katherine Mereand-Sinha on September 26, 2011

In the coming months, I hope to answer this question more definitively. At present, I merely

seek to ask it–of everyone. What is a newspaper? What is the role of an independent press?

Nota Bene has been an independent student newspaper at The George Washington

University Law School for twenty-six years. This year, after a quarter of a century of free press

reporting, our ability to maintain a print edition, maintain editorial independence, and

transition to having a strong and independent web presence are in doubt. We are not fighting

against malevolence as much as the general apathy of the powers that be.

Despite that, we have an exciting year lined up and are ready to display a wonderful diversity

of voices from amazing students, dedicated faculty, and unsung heroes in the administration

and staff. We are striving to work with the Deans, the Faculty, the Staff, the Student Groups, Alumni, and the Student Bar Association to highlight the wonderful things about the law

school. And in the same breath we will tell this community if and when we see items of

concern or things that could be improved.

We want to hear your answers and ideas, GW Law. What is a newspaper? What is the

news? Email us at [email protected]. We will accept article submissions, quotes,

questions, and anonymous tips.

My own answer starts with a story, but it only starts there.

I very much wanted to be a journalist when I came to GWU undergraduate in 1999–well

before the terrorist attacks and before I realized how compromised journalism could become.

I left the journalism major shortly after a professor told me in no uncertain terms that the only

way to become a “real” journalist was to sell the news and to sell-out. Earlier that semester

he had presented to the class what he called a classic hypothetical. Pretend you are a

photojournalist in an African country that is experiencing a horrid plague of famine. You visit

the camps of the dying to take photos to show this travesty to the world. While there, you

see a young child–an infant–being approached by a vulture. The child is still alive but too

weak to move. You can do one of two things. You can walk over to save the dying child who

will inevitably die anyway. Or, you can take a photo which may, if you are lucky, convince the

world to intervene in the famine and save a million lives.

He contended that one could be a journalist in today’s world if they were not willing to take

the photo let the child die a particularly horrific death before your eyes. He denied the idea

that one could take a photograph and then rush to the child. That option would break the

hypothetical and besides would demonstrate that you had no objectivity as a journalist.

Many years later I attended the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue here in DC. In an exhibit

about Pulitzer Prize winning photographs I saw Kevin Carter’s award winning 1993 photo of a

starving child being approached by a vulture in the Sudan. I read the caption that indicated

Kevin Carter committed suicide shortly after he received the Pulitzer in 1994. Back then, Ireflected on the conditions in the Sudan. Today, I reflect upon the conditions in Somalia.



…

I also reflect upon this: when the network television stations first covered the news, they did

so as a public service. It was assumed that news departments would lose money, but that

providing the news was in some way the duty of media companies that had been handed the

airwaves for free. Sometime in the last fifty years, with the rise of cable, for many the newsceased to be universally seen as a public service. We saw a new rise of yellow journalism and

the news became a profit-making venture with graphics, gotcha journalism, and salacious

details which play on and to stereotypes that sell ratings and editions. Real journalism still

exists, but it fights for survival against entertainment, advertising, and sponsorship.

An independent press is a struggle to maintain but a pleasure to behold. We ask for your

support, GW Law. Explore with us, report with us, talk to us, and read us this year. We want

to hear your voices, tell your stories, and help you see more layers of your community than

individuals alone can see.

*****



GW Law Students Groups Invite You To Get InvolvedCompiled by Katherine Mereand-Sinha on September 14, 2011

All George Washington University Law School student groups were invited to submit a profileto Nota Bene for publication. Groups that responded are profiled within. We encourage law

students to get actively involved in student life on campus. It is both fun and career building.

Have an interest not listed here? Do not let that stop you. Consider starting a new student

group if you have the gumption to get it off the ground. The SBA has details and instruction

here. http://www.gwsba.com/student-organizations/ .

Or if you think you have what it takes, apply to join the staff of Nota Bene. Benefits include a

ready excuse to talk to anyone you want on or off campus and practice your networking

skills, an opportunity to have your work officially published, useful additions to your resume,

writing samples that highlight your passions and your flair, and helping to create a more

vibrant law school community by asking tough questions and highlighting important issues

about the law school and the law for the student body and the faculty. Contact us at

[email protected].

The Student Bar Association

The Student Bar Association is the chief lobbyist on campus on behalf of the law students.

We are organized into Executive, Legislative and Judiciary Branches, and handle everything

from logistical aspects of student life (locker rentals, books, business cards, etc.) to outreach

(community service, ABA interaction, Public Interest activities) to fun (Thirsty Thursday, Bar

Review, Halloween Party, etc.). Most recently, we have helped plan orientation and have

engaged in a serious process to create a new alcohol policy for the Law School. Another

initiative the SBA has been working on is the institution of flexible final exam scheduling.

The SBA Senate passes legislation allocating money to student groups, deals with important

academic development issues and meets twice a month. Senators are elected in Fall and

Spring SBA elections and serve to represent the students as entirely separate from the

Executive and Judiciary branches. While the role of the SBA Supreme Court is not fully

defined, there are opportunities open for students to become judges and we encourage

interested students to apply through the mechanisms on the SBA website.

This year, the SBA has put a new focus on communication with students, changing the email,

updating the website and actively engaging in social media. Visit www.GWSBA.com for more

information on everything the SBA does and to find out how you can get involved, including

through executive appointments to SBA committees, the SBA Supreme Court and to GW

Law student-faculty committees. Continue to read the weekly newsletter for continuous

updates on what’s going on around campus!



The American Constitution Society

The American Constitution Society is a national legal organization dedicated to encouraging

discussion of the Constitution and related doctrines. The organization seeks to promote the

values of “individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, access to justice, democracy and

the rule of law.” The GW Chapter of the American Constitution Society has a lineup of engaging speakers, panel discussions and networking opportunities for interested students.

We will be kicking off our year with our first general body meeting at 6:00 PM on Sep 13th,

complete with free food. The fun will continue with a discussion on Privacy and Security: Ten

Years after 9/11 at 4:00 PM on Sep 14th and finally a trip to the National Press Club to see a

preview of the upcoming Supreme Court term at 11 AM on the 15th.

Interested students can contact [email protected] to learn more about upcoming

events and how to get involved.

The Art, Law, and Entertainment Society

ALES gathers students passionate about art and cultural heritage to acquaint them with the

legal and social questions posed by creative expression. We offer events that are fun,

thought-provoking, and accessible to the entire GW student community. Art Law

encompasses international law, intellectual property, commercial transactions, and free

speech rights in the industries of fine arts, fashion, cultural heritage, museums, and much

more.

Events: Selected events for the fall semester include an introduction to art law, our annual

wine law event, and museum and cultural event outings. For the spring semester, we plan tohost events on cultural property, art theft, and fashion law. We look forward to the input of our

members, so please contact a board member to make an event suggestion (or run for a

board position!). Our first general interest meeting and introduction to art law will take place in

September.

Fall Elections: In September, we will hold elections for board positions including Treasurer, 1L

section representatives, and class representatives. We encourage 1Ls, evening students, or

any student interested in becoming involved in ALES to run for a position! Please contact any

current board member with questions.

Main email [email protected]; blog www.gwartlaw.tumblr.com, President: Shirley Liang,

2L, [email protected], Vice President: Andrea Hamilton, 3L, [email protected],

Secretary: Mary Jacobson, 2L, [email protected], Public Relations Chair: Virginia

Lenahan, 2L, [email protected], 2L Representative: Coryn Rosenstock, 2L,

[email protected].

The Asian/Pacific American Law Student Association

APALSA is a national organization for Asian/Pacific American (APA) and other interested law

students. Its goals are to provide academic and social support for incoming as well as

continuing students; to assist members in job searches; and to increase Asian/Pacific

American enrollment and participation at the George Washington University Law School.



Upcoming events include: First General Meeting(September 13), Welcome BBQ (October 1),

and APALSA/SALSA Alumni Networking Event (October 13).

Other events include the following: educational and professional panels, lectures and film

screenings, with a focus on APA issues, including legal careers/internships in Asia, law in

various Asian countries, and human rights in Asia; networking and social activities with other APA groups and APALSA organizations, including annual spring ski trip, happy hours,

karaoke contests and basketball tournaments; cultural events to raise APA awareness, such

as Lunar New Years banquet and cultural foods potluck; public service projects to give back

to the community, including with APALRC and ABAPA.

APALSA has also instituted an internal mentorship program whereby 2L/3L students help

new 1L students transition into law school. APALSA strives to foster a sense of community

not only within the GW community, but also outside with APALSA organizations from other

schools, practicing APA attorneys in the greater DC metro area, and the APA community at

large. Interested students, please contact Valerie Chang at [email protected] for moreinformation.

The GW Black Law Students Association

he GW Black Law Students Association (BLSA) exists: (1) to use the legal training of GW law

students to bear upon some of the problems in the black community; (2) to influence the

legal community to use their legal expertise and prestige to effectively bring about changes in

the legal system responsive to the needs of the black community; (3) to articulate and

promote the needs and goals of GW’s black Law students; and (4) to serve as a source of

information for current and prospective black law students of GW Law.

Last year, BLSA hosted several events including “Justified Arts” which won a Gavel award for

the most creative new event by a student organization. Poets, musicians and a step team

participated in the Justified Arts event, which served to commemorate Black History Month

and to celebrate GW professors and alumni who have been active with BLSA. Proceeds from

the event went towards the Jeanette Michael Memorial Scholarship Fund. This event will take

place again during Black History Month.

Additionally, BLSA will be hosting several noteworthy events during the fall semester,

including a student mentoring program, an academic success week (with tips and tools to

help 1Ls perform well during their examinations) and a mock examination for 1Ls.

BLSA will also be launching exciting employment opportunities such as a firm-mentoring

program, and a networking series. Finally, service is one of our main goals, and will be

hosting at least two service events including fundraising for DREAM Act activism and a ‘Serve

2 B Served’ community service event.

BLSA welcomes ALL GW students to join our membership and participate in our events. To

find out more information about GW BLSA, you can visit www.gwblsa.com, or find us on

Facebook or Twitter (@gwblsa). You can also contact us at [email protected]. Pictures

from BLSA events are available on our website www.gwblsa.com.



The Cyberlaw Students Association

The Cyberlaw Students Association (CLSA) is a group committed to cutting edge legal issues

related to the internet or computers. These issues include intellectual property, internet

privacy, telecommunication, computer crime, and many other subjects. CLSA’s focus is to

provide an avenue for discourse that allows students to learn and critically think about theseissues, and to prepare for eventual careers in these areas. This is most typically

accomplished by bringing in speakers on key issues and holding cyberlaw-related events. We

plan to have events this year that include a career panel about opportunities in cyberlaw, and

discussions on the AT&T/T-Mobile merger, and the state of online privacy regulation. Please

contact CLSA at [email protected] for more information and to get involved.

The Election Law Society

The Election Law Society is a group of students interested in issues surrounding election law,

including campaign finance, voting rights, election administration, redistricting, and manyother issues.

Last year we hosted several successful events including fundraisers, panels and networking

events. We won the Best New Event Gavel Club award last year for our panel on campaign

finance followed by a networking event with election law practitioners. Panel members

included Craig Engle (Arent Fox), Professor Spencer Overton, Neil Reiff (Sandler, Reiff &

Young), and Leslie Rutledge (RNC). We also hosted a successful screening of the film

Gerrymandering while it was still in theaters.

This year, we are planning on hosting an Election Law week at the law school. Events willinclude daily programs related to different areas of election law. In the spring we will host a

panel on a relevant area of election law and are planning several brown bag lunches

throughout the year.

We would love to see new faces at our events and general body meetings. We encourage

new people interested in election law to email us at [email protected] for

more information.

The Evening Law Student Association

The Evening Law Student Association (ELSA) serves as a forum for any student who is

interested in promoting the academic, professional and social advancement of the evening

law student community at GW Law. We are especially focused on ensuring that the

administration understands and is reminded of the special circumstances of evening students

and the value-added we bring to the community. Our Executive Board includes the evening

student representatives of the SBA Senate, which makes us a great sounding board for your

concerns and suggestions as to how we can work together to enhance the law school

experience of evening students, who are primarily on campus on weeknights, hold full-time

jobs, and have families, spouses, and community responsibilities.

Among the members of our Executive Board you will find a high school teacher, a patent

examiner, a law enforcement officer, a political appointee at the State Department, and a



research assistant at the IMF. Together, we are dedicated to holding a variety of events

throughout the year geared toward evening students. We understand the importance of

maintaining a healthy work/law school/life balance, and encourage evening students to get

involved.

Follow us on Facebook (page name: GW ELSA), email us at [email protected] to join ourlistserv and get involved, or feel free to reach out to a member of our Executive Board:

President: Holly Trogdon; Vice President: Angela Buckner; Treasurer: Sam Dillon; Secretary:

Kristin Rininger; Academic Liaison: Max Bonici; SBA Senators: Robert Russo, Justin

Scheininger (3LE and 1LE positions are currently vacant but will be filled in September’s

elections).

The Feminist Forum

The Feminist Forum is dedicated to promoting the fair treatment of all individuals regardless

of sex/gender, race, class, income, sexual orientation, and religion. To this end the FeministForum seeks to engage the law school and greater Washington DC community through

innovative events, panels and pro bono work.

This year the Feminist Forum plans to hold several events including a Feminist Meet-and-

Greet, a progressive networking event, an Equal Pay Day Bake Sale, a Femintines-making

party, service learning projects, and several panels and speakers. For more information

contact us at [email protected].

GW Military Law Society

Purpose: To introduce GW Law students to the world of military law, including military justice,

operational law, and military issues in international law.

Events: Social events (happy hours, brown bags) throughout the year, military appellate court

outreach arguments and court visits, and military facility field trips.

Contact: [email protected].

GW Street Law

GW Street Law provides students in D.C. public schools with practical, participatory

education about the law and how it affects their daily lives. Trained law student volunteers

team up to create and teach law-related lessons at local elementary and middle schools, and

to run moot court and mock trial events for student participants. This year, GW Street Law

hopes to expand with a partnership with the National Youth Justice Alliance teaching juveniles

in detention at D.C.’s Youth Services Center, law student career panels at D.C. high schools,

and possibly a teaching placement at the Arlington County Detention Center.

Email [email protected] for more information or to be added to our listserv, and add

GW Street Law on TWEN.



The Hispanic Law Student Association

The Hispanic Law Student Association (HLSA) is dedicated to organizing events that bring

together Hispanic and other students at GW, while fostering an appreciation for Hispanic

language and culture. HLSA activities include social events to meet fellow law students,

panels featuring experienced attorneys to discuss career and legal topics, and student-runpanels to provide academic and career advice to 1L students. Past HLSA events include: a

panel on gang-based asylum, a visit to the White House featuring a roundtable discussion

with Rosie Rios, participation in the Hispanic National Bar Association annual convention, and

salsa classes at Cafe Citron. All students are welcome to participate in HLSA, especially

those who have an interest in Latin American cultures or the Spanish language. We look

forward to meeting you!

The International Law Society

The International Law Society is one of the law school’s largest and most active studentorganizations, providing a forum for students to explore international law outside the

classroom. Each year I.L.S. organizes numerous events including discussions with professors

and practitioners, visits to outside institutions, and career development panels. Want to learn

a new language, or improve your existing skills? Join one of our language groups! Every

spring, we host our Embassy Gala at one of Washington, D.C.’s beautiful foreign embassies.

If you are interested in becoming involved with I.L.S., make plans to attend our first general

body meeting of the year on Monday, September 12th at 8:15 PM. There, you will have a

chance to meet the executive board, learn more about I.L.S., and become a dues-paying

member . Quest ions? Fee l f ree to contact Pres idents Rob Armstrong([email protected]) and Lisa Lederberger ([email protected]). See you

soon!

The Jewish Law Student Association

An organization for those Jewish students that are making their parents proud and doing

what every Jewish child should do… become a lawyer. Our mission is to bring together the

Jewish community at GWU Law be it through fun social activities, holiday events, or

interesting lectures. Please email us at [email protected] for more information or to be

added to our listserv. Thanks!

Lambda Law

Lambda Law is an organization of law students interested in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and

transgender (LGBT) legal issues, including employment concerns, developments in LGBT-

related law, and the fostering of tolerance and awareness on campus. The organization

provides students with a network for professional and social interaction between LGBT and

ally students, faculty, and legal professionals, as well as for the education of the law school

community about issues facing LGBT individuals.

Since 1989, Lambda has been a visible and active force at the law school. The organization

was involved in adding “sexual orientation” to GW’s nondiscrimination policy, developing



programs with the Career Development Office to provide professional networking

opportunities, and shaping the Law School’s position toward issues concerning military

recruiters on campus.

Events this year will include a student-mentor program, discussions on LGBT legal issues

such as DADT and LGBT immigration, sponsoring student attendance at a national LGBT legal conference, blood drives, the AIDS Walk, and drag races in Dupont!

All students are welcome and encouraged to join Lambda Law. To learn more, email

[email protected] to join our listserv or look for posters of our events around campus!

The Muslim Law Students Association

The Muslim Law Students Association (MLSA) provides a religious, social, and career

network for Muslim law students both within the Law School and in the larger Muslim legal

community. MLSA is dedicated to enriching the intellectual diversity of the Law School byhosting events related to Islamic law and other issues affecting Muslims both domestically

and internationally. MLSA works in conjunction with a broad-based coalition of student

organizations on campus and in the Washington, DC area. Last year, the Dean awarded our

organization “The Student Organization of the Year Award.” This year we plan to continue

sponsoring many successful exciting and intellectual events.

To join MLSA you can email the President, Yosra Shaaban at [email protected] to be

added to the listserv, also look out for flyers promoting all our events.

Phi Alpha Delta

Phi Alpha Delta is the world’s largest legal fraternity. In fact, one out of every six attorneys in

the US is a member of Phi Alpha Delta. Some of the more prominent members include

former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and a majority of the sitting

supreme court.

When you join Phi Alpha Delta you join a dedicated community of students and practitioners

with a long-standing history of promoting the bonds of fraternalism and pursuing the

advancement of professional ideals. A legal fraternity can offer unique opportunities for

professional advancement, community involvement, and academic development and GW’s

Jay chapter maintains a strong tradition of professional excellence combined with a unique

atmosphere of camaraderie.

Awards and Events: New members of GW’s chapter will be initiated by a sitting Supreme

Court Justice, at the Supreme Court in October. District XXIII, GW’s district, was awarded

outstanding 2010-2011 chapter nationally. See our website at http://phialphadelatagw.com

and contact us at [email protected].

The South Asian Law Students Association

SALSA’s goal is to promote awareness about India’s diverse and remarkable culture and

simultaneously provide students with access to a rich source of legal networking



opportunities. SALSA accomplishes this goal through a variety of cultural, professional,

community service and social activities, as well as a mentoring program and career panel

events.

Events this fall will include a general body meeting for the new board to introduce itself and

get to know its new members, which will occur during the second week of classes. Our mainfall event is one of the largest events held by any student organization: Diwali Banquet, held

in mid-October. Much like an “autumn ball,” Diwali Banquet is hosted by GW and is

frequented by law students from American University and Georgetown. Last year, over 100

people dressed in their finest, and enjoyed an evening of dinner, drinks and dancing at an

upscale restaurant just a few blocks from the GW.

Other fall events will include Navratri Garba, Ramadan Ifthaar Dinner with Muslim Law

Students Association (MLSA), and an Alumni Networking Event with Asian Pacific American

Law Students Association (APALSA) on October 13th.

Events this spring will include Holi, a festive outdoor party celebrating the onset of spring, and

several diversity events including a Diversity Week with the SBA Diversity Affairs committee,

and a CDO Luncheon with the Career Development Office, a Community Service Event with

South Asian Americans Leading Together and a movie viewing.

Details, dates and locations will be provided for SALSA events during the course of the

school year. The easiest way to keep track is to subscribe to our emails by contacting SALSA

at [email protected]. See you at our events and have a great year!

The Student Animal Legal Defense Fund

The Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF) chapter at The George Washington

University Law School (GW Law) is dedicated to protecting the lives and furthering the

interests of animals through the legal system. By providing a forum for education, advocacy,

and scholarship, SALDF seeks to advance the field of animal law.

Throughout the year, SALDF organizes a number of events, including the ever popular annual

pet photo contest (and accompanying calendar sales), an adoption event on the quad in

association with Washington Humane Society (WHS), and a number of panels exploring the

possibilities of successful careers in animal law.

SALDF members also work in collaboration with the Animal Welfare Project, which is an

independent pro bono project through which law students participate in activities to improve

the language and enforcement of animal welfare laws. Current projects include summarizing

animal cruelty statutes to assist prosecutors in the enforcement of these laws.

On the national level, SALDF members participate in the National Animal Law Competitions,

which includes Moot Court, Closing Argument and Legislative Drafting and Lobbying

Competitions. This year, SALDF will be sending an additional moot court team to the Animal

Law Competition established by the University of Chicago. SALDF members also have the

opportunity to participate in the Annual National Animal Law Conference organized by the



Lewis and Clark School of Law. For more information, please sign-up for our listserv by

emailing [email protected]. We look forward to seeing you at our events!!!

The Student Health Law Association

The Student Health Law Association (SHLA) was established to increase student interest inthe growing field of health law, based on the premise that as health care grows, so too does

the demand for excellent health lawyers. The SHLA informs students about local seminars on

health law and sponsors programs that introduce students to attorneys practicing in diverse

areas of this field. SHLA welcomes any interested students. Please contact Betsy Rosen at

[email protected].

The Federalist Society, GWU Chapter

Purpose: Founded in 1982, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is a

group of conservatives and libertarians dedicated to reforming the current legal order. Our40,000 members are committed to the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom,

that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is

emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to determine what the law is, not what it

should be.

Events: Debates and panels throughout the year, including “Does Constitutional Law Have

Anything to Do with the Constitution?” (Thursday, 9/22)

Contact: Email ([email protected]), Twitter (@GWFedSoc)

The Promissory Notes

The Promissory Notes was founded at GW Law in the fall of 2009 by a group of students

seeking to share their music with each other and with other students at the law school. What

began as a musical outlet and a break from studying quickly transformed into an opportunity

to contribute to the greater GW and Washington, DC community. The Promissory Notes has

performed at numerous official and unofficial school events as well as off-campus venues

such as the Velvet Lounge on U Street. We sing all different types of music, from pop to

musical theater to country to hip hop, and our members come from a broad variety of

musical backgrounds. We were featured in Nota Bene in January 2010: http://

www.notabene.gwsba.com/story/488-promissory-notes-bring-music-gw-law

Our members are Andy Brookshire, Bill O’Hara, Daniela Murch, Julia Jarrett, Lenny Rubin,

Marianne Kies, Matt Lane, Morgan Yuan, Peter Biberstein, Supraja Murali, Susannah Norvell.

This semester we are holding auditions on September 12, 8pm and callbacks on September

14, 8pm, both in room S301. We are seeking all voice parts and/or beatboxers! For more

information, please contact [email protected].

The Student Intellectual Property Law Association



The Student Intellectual Property Law Association is proud to have an extensive JD and LLM

membership hailing from a variety of backgrounds, including recent college graduates,

seasoned patent examiners, international lawyers and experienced faculty. Our members are

interested in many IP issues, ranging from worldwide and local developments in copyright law

to international and domestic problems in patent and trademark protection. We aspire to

cater our events and opportunities to all of the different IP students in the law school.Because of GW Law’s extensive involvement in the local and national IP communities, SIPLA

enjoys the benefit of panels, meetings, conferences and events featuring professionals from

all levels of experience in the IP world.

This year, SIPLA will be expanding its annual mentorship program to not only provide upper-

level student mentors to interested 1Ls, but to also include opportunities for upper-level

students (including LLMs) to meet and build one-on-one relationships with IP professionals

from the DC area. We will also be hosting the popular annual panel, “How to get a 1L job in a

patent law firm”, late during the first semester. Additionally, we will be presenting panels on

copyright and trademark issues and organizing trips to the Federal Circuit Court and theUSPTO. We hope to again co-host receptions with the IP department of GW Law, providing

opportunities for SIPLA members and the IP faculty to get to know one another better.

GW SIPLA is committed to bringing the GW IP community, at all its different levels, closer

together. If you are interested in joining us or even just following our events, send an email to

SIPLA President Thara Russell at [email protected]. We also have a Westlaw TWEN

page (GW Student Intellectual Property Law Association) where we may occasionally provide

information about upcoming events and opportunities.

Other Groups

Some student groups did not submit information to Nota Bene, but if you are interested you

may be able to find information about these groups on the main GW Law page: http://

www.law.gwu.edu/Students/Organizations/Pages/default.aspx . And if you are a student

group with outdated information on that site, do not forget to contact the webmaster at

[email protected].

*****



Welcome to GW Law




Law Students Leave Junk for the SBA to Clean Upby Katherine Mereand-Sinha on September 2, 2011

Books and lunches. Umbrellas on the locks when it rains. Work out clothes, work clothes,

and “emergency” ties or heels. Overnight bags. Toiletries. Necessities. The odd case of wine(believe me, it happens).

The humble lockers that the SBA rents to students in singles and in pairs have seen a lot of

use. They are locked and stickered (mostly with Apple stickers), kicked and sometimes

jammed full. And every summer someone has to clean out the remnants and scraps left

behind.

This year was no different, and this year the SBA was greeted with a cache of a few personal

effects, a lot of food, and an absolute surprise.

A few individuals clearly cared about their personal fragrances at one point, as they left

behind sticks of deodorant, bottles of ‘black bear’ cologne, and 11 sample sizes of Armani

perfume.

In a festive food binge, other left behind a complete easter basket full with a large chocolate

bunny, Godiva truffles, a box of peeps, and a chicken that lays bubble gum eggs.

One unnamed individual last year apparently kept no books in their locker, as it was filled to

overflowing with food. In this one locker alone the SBA found a pound of peanuts, a full-sized

box of Ritz crackers, a 16 oz. bag of trail mix, a bag of pretzels, a tin for Danish butter

cookies full of tea bags, a Clif bar, a 7-hour energy shot, five boxes of fruit roll-ups, box of

granola bars, and a can of ‘spicy thai seasoned tuna medley’. In addition this classmate

stored a cutting board and two inspirational posters.

However, one among us takes the prize for the most daring locker detritus left behind. One

student kept a Justin Beiber tribute in their locker. Whether that tribute was intended

unironically or in jest, you be the judge.

*****



Rain Danceby Katherine Mereand-Sinha on September 2, 2011

In this economy GW Law students need to be optimistic, driven, and passionate about a fewchoice areas of the law. While the same could be said of anyone interested in a job in the field

of law even during boom times, the imperative during an economic depression like the

double-dip we are experiencing today is sharpened to a painful point. The most fascinating

and capable individuals–without an obvious showcase for their passions, their interests, and

their talents–face the prospect of securing a job that is a poor fit leading to poor avenues for

advancement and happiness, or worse no job at all.

Such prospects create fear about the next couple of years, quietly, in the hearts of many law

students. But thinking about the next couple of years is not enough, and it is not a roadway

to the achieving most successful possible career for law students today. The long-term healthof our careers depends on long-term planning beyond short-term strategies. Such planning is

hard when uncertainties proliferate and certain unalterable realities predominate the minds of

[most] law students: loans, grades, and the shrinking legal job market.

Everyone knows that the job market shrank. How everyone reacts, however, is subject to a

degree of variation. Panic is usually hidden but for some it bursts out during times of

significant stress, like during finals. For some depression creeps in but is also generally

suppressed. Many simply close fears away entirely by closing out thoughts about the future

leading to an underinvestment in planning and preparation. These are troubling reactions

particularly when not expressed openly–even if they are fairly common and natural. It is

perhaps a shared psychosis created by the overall economic condition permeating the US

and most Western economies, but it also exacerbates those conditions.

Not to drive fear into 1Ls as fear is counterproductive, but never forget that it is easy for law

students to assume that they are brilliant and talented people. In general we are. It is also

easy for law students to assume that most work places would benefit by bringing them on

staff. In general, most work places would benefit greatly to have any GW Law graduate in

their employ. Being brilliant and talented is simply insufficient in this economy. Those who

succeed most will set themselves apart from the pack of brilliant and talented people by

bringing yet more to the table. What was previously required to succeed is what will be

required, for us, to tread water in our careers.

The plain fact is that we were dealt a difficult hand. Traditional paths to success will be

objectively more difficult for us to follow than those who came before us. The state of the

economy today very likely lessens our lifetime earning potential, as longitudinal studies like

the work of Yale economist Lisa Kahn show that students of most degree programs who

enter the work force during an economic recession of any sort usually face negative, long

term consequences that are not of their own making. In March 2010 The Atlantic published

an article spelling out the various troubles our cohort is likely to face, based upon the

experiences of those who came before us. We are likely to be less confident in switching jobs

and therefore stay in less than ideal positions. We will have fewer peers in positions to assist



us in the traditional ways that networking works. We will likely face a persistent wage gap

regardless of our merit.

The future, in this economy, is a bit bleak. We cannot let that matter. If GW Law students give

in to the overall mood of the economy consciously or subconsciously, that mood consisting

of deflated consumer confidence and business simply refusing to hire or expand production,they will do themselves and their peers and grave disservice. Falling victim to that psychosis

will simply hamstring attempts to overcome the challenges we must face.

In this economy pessimism can be a death knell for a job search, and it can be a contagion.

Pessimism rarely sells well in an interview, and arguably it is audible in a cover letter too. We

need acknowledge but then to seek to overcome bleak thoughts in ourselves and others,

including our peers and potential employers.

Optimism on demand and on display is a crucial tool for a job seeker. Because unlike the

well-meaning warnings the law school is faithfully issuing to 1Ls in these first few weeks of schools, to batten down the hatches on all personal information and pictures of oneself online

for the realistic fear of embarrassing oneself, I am proposing a more engaged approach to

creating one’s future. By all means students should clean out anything embarrassing and

keep away from future embarrassing situations. That is necessary but not sufficient.

After removing anything negative, GW Law students must build something positive. Names

should be Google-able and if possible a top hit. Someone who wants to know who a GW

Law student is and what they find interesting in the law should be able to find a history of that

which goes deeper than an artificial cover letter. We cannot hide from the world if we hope to

succeed. Beyond initiative, in this economy we need gumption. Students can no longer

display themselves as highly capable blank slates and empty vessels awaiting cultivation in

their first jobs that will mold them. GW Law students need to cultivate a persona now: a real,

vibrant vision of themselves that employers will find compelling, not simply safe. Safe, again,

is necessary but not sufficient.

There are many options for creating a vibrant professional persona. Being active in forums

like LinkedIn, state bar associations, and committee sections of the ABA helps. Success in

journal or the skills boards at the law school can help. Winning awards can help. Taking

leadership positions in student organziations helps. Blogging or microblogging (twitter) about

legal issues can help. Chatting with your peers and professors about your legal interests

helps. Writing for Nota Bene and being published in print and online helps.

Being too afraid of embarrassing oneself to engage the world of law really doesn’t help.

The worst mistake any law student can make in this economy, and many do, is to focus only

on getting the first job out of law school assuming that any job will do. Any port in a storm is

an unhelpful bromide at best. Contrary to the actions of many law students, the

conversations we have today will impact us for the remainder of the career. It is not enough to

be safe, smart, versatile, and willing to take any job that pays.

The new normal will be for our cohort to cultivate one of the most vaunted of lawyerly skills.GW Law students all need to think like rainmakers and create business opportunities for



themselves. It goes almost without saying that we need to be smart, professional, and

honest. Now we must also be bold.

Katherine Mereand is the Editor-In-Chief of Nota Bene, and a member of the class of 2012 at

the George Washington University Law School pursuing a career in the field of competition

law. If you would like to submit comments or a response to this article, please do not hesitatecontact [email protected] or [email protected].=

*****

Legal Latin

An original N.B. crossword.1 2 3 4 5

6 7

8

9 10

11 12

13

14

15 16 17

18 19

20 21

22

Across1. said by the way (plural)

3. sworn statement of fact

8. promises must be kept

11. among other things

12. essential condition

14. guilt

15. by right

16. beware of dog

18. the thing itself speaks20. proportional

21. for the sake of argument

22. inappropriate forum

Down2. regarding fact

3. repeated to the point of boredom

4. in the chamber

5. in the matter of

6. opinion of law

7. wild animals

9. let the reader beware

10. within the power [of]

13. trustee14. to show, prove, or ascertain

17. at the threshold

19. for the public good



Legal Latin

An original N.B. crossword.

O1

B I T E R D2

I C T A A3

F F I4

D A V I5

T

E D N N

O6

F F7

N C R

P8

A C T A S U N T S E R V A N D A E

I C R U M C9

I10

N I11

N T E R A L I A S12

I N E Q U A N O N

F13

I O E E R V T

I O N C14

U L P A E R

D15

E J U R E C16

A V E C A N E M I17

A A

U U T R N T V

C R

18

E S I P

19

S A L O Q U I T U R L L II I R R I I E R

A S O E O M C E

R B A R I T S

Y P20

R O R A T A A21

R G U E N D O

N R E R

F22

O R U M N O N C O N V E N I E N S

Across1. said by the way (plural) [OBITERDICTA]3. sworn statement of fact [AFFIDAVIT]

8. promises must be kept [PACTASUNTSERVANDA]11. among other things [INTERALIA]

12. essential condition [SINEQUANON]

14. guilt [CULPA]15. by right [DEJURE]

16. beware of dog [CAVECANEM]18. the thing itself speaks [RESIPSALOQUITUR]

20. proportional [PRORATA]

21. for the sake of argument [ARGUENDO]22. inappropriate forum [FORUMNONCONVENIENS]

Down2. regarding fact [DEFACTO]3. repeated to the point of boredom [ADNAUSEUM]

4. in the chamber [INCAMERA]5. in the matter of [INRE]

6. opinion of law [OPINIOJURIS]

7. wild animals [FERAENATUREA]9. let the reader beware [CAVEATLECTOR]

10. within the power [of] [INTRAVIRES]13. trustee [FIDUCIARY]

14. to show, prove, or ascertain [CERTIORARI]

17. at the threshold [INLIMINE]19. for the public good [PROBONO]



Flyers Designed toPromote

Nota Bene



www.TheNotaBene.org

Nota Bene is now online!

Check out the site.Send us photos to share.Submit upcoming event info.

And if you tweet with the “hash tag”#GWLaw,

we'll retweet it.

(@gwnotabene)For more information, contact us at

[email protected].



N

O

T A

B

EN

E

Build your

resume;demonstrate

your writing

prowess .

Display your

interests,

your

passions,

&

your wit .

Critique,

criticize,

demand

change .

Write for the law school’s student-run

newspaper. We cover the law school,

the law. From the latest SCOTUS

opinion to the need for more t.p. in

the ladies’ room, we cover all issues

of major, and major, importance to thelaw school community.

Contact any member of the

editorial board or simply write to

[email protected].

Kate Mereand

editor-in-chief

Jillian Meek

managing editor

Alex Giannattasio

news editor

&

David Keithlyopinions editor



A New Twitter

Account



With Photos

Of Ongoing

Eventsat the

Law School













Administrative

Documents

to Plan

&

to Advocate



By advertising in Nota Bene, you will be communicating with over 1500 students, and over 100faculty who follow N.B. to find out about events and news from the campus and the surroundingneighborhood. You will not only be spreading your message, but also supporting a vitalresource for this community.

Schedule of PublicationAugust 29th, 2011

September 13th, 2011September 27th, 2011

October 12th, 2011

October 26th, 2011

November 9th, 2011

January 17th, 2012

January 31th, 2012

February 14th, 2012

February 28th, 2012

March 20th, 2012

Thank you for considering us!

Advertising Rates and Schedule, 2011-2012

Katherine MereandEditor-in-Chief

Jillian MeekManaging Editor

• 1/8th Page (20 square inches)

• 1/4th Page (40 square inches)

• Half Page (80 square inches)

• Full Page (160 square inches)

$75

$125

$200

$300

THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITYLAW SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

N o t a B e n

e



! Katherine Mereand and Jillian Meek

Breakdown of Capital and Operating Budgets

List of Planned Expenses

(PROPOSED) NOTA BENE BUDGET! ACADEMIC YEAR 2011-2012

$5500

Print Edition

• 11 issues (1 per month Sep-Apr, 3 special issues)

• 8 black and white pages per issue

• 200-400 copies

• Estimates range from $450-550 per issue

Website Operation

$30 Domain names

$355 Website “server” (Amazon slice)

$25 Photography storage account

Website Redesign

$50 “Basic Maths” theme - rights purchase

$2000 Consultant for setup, building classifieds

Collaboration and Editing

$480 Basecamp—Editing / Project Tracking platform

$240 Highrise—CRM, records of comm. with suppliers

$360 Backpack—Internal Wiki, Data & File Repository

$120 Campfire—enhanced group communication

Student Activities

$450 “Thirsty Thursday”

$150 Transition Dinner

$240 Food for several Staff & Election Meetings

$10000 Requested Budget

On e- t i m e

C o s t

MORE FOR LESS

Nota Bene has been asked to make

economies, to free up more money

for other student groups. We are, of

course, willing to do so, being good

members of the law school

community, but are hoping to reform

N.B. to be a more effective service

for the faculty, staff, and student

body, at the same time.

There are several ways in which we

hope to reconcile these goals:

INDEPENDENTREVENUE

We hope to drive traffic to our

website, and use advertising and

(inexpensive) classifieds to develop

an independent revenue stream, to

reduce the burden we place on the

Student Activities budget.

BETTER ORGANIZATIONBETTER CONTENT

By organizing our staff better, to:

• Increase the amount of content, by

increasing the number of writers,

and the capacity of the editors

• Improve the quality of the

content, in source material as well

as in the rigor of the editing.

The path to this radical increase in

capabilities is through a far more

effective collaboration platform.

NO STAFF PAYMENTSWe are eliminating the salaries of

staff members, to cut costs for theLaw School and the SBA.

A WEB FUTUREWe were considering eliminating the

print edition altogether. While the

Law School community has clearly

indicated they oppose that idea, we

hope to draw more and more of the

readership to the web version, with

the eventual goal of phasing out the

costs associated with printing.

I

II

III

IV



! Katherine Mereand and Jillian Meek

viz.Details of selected line items

Consultant

While the software platform used to publish the web edition of Nota Bene should

be easy enough for students to use (at least with the assistance on one N.B. staff

member who will specialize in its operation), it is unlikely that the staff could set it up

the first time. The consultant will do the initial installation, and most of the design

work to bring it to the standard the Law School and the SBA would expect of their

newspaper.

The classified section, as it will require a fair amount of computer programming,

is definitely beyond the skillset of the N.B. staff. As this is a service from which N.B.

hopes to draw revenue to offset later reductions in its budget, the quality of the

platform is naturally of the essence.

Backpack

One challenge most students groups have, but Nota Bene (with the complexity of

its operations) truly struggled with in the past, is institutional memory. With no staff

member spending more than three years on the paper, it is difficult to retain acquired

knowledge, whether about the journalism, the operations, or the management of the

organization, or even passed story ideas and covered topics. An internal wiki will

provide space for the staff to build a knowledge base that can be used by later cohorts

of GW Law students, long after the current staff have left the university.

Basecamp

As the paper strives to improve the quality and quantity of its content, it will need

to maintain a larger team of writers. Managing this larger team, and coordinating

between the inevitably larger team of editors, requires a platform through which tasks

can be assigned, milestones set, and the complex process of preparing each issue for

print overseen. Basecamp is specifically well-suited to the workflow of a newspaper, and

will allow detailed oversight of each issue, while still facilitating long-term planning for

other initiatives of the editorial staff may conceive.

Highrise

With the increase in size of the organization, as well as considering the

institutional memory difficulties mentioned above, a CRM platform appears necessary.

It will help current staff monitor communications with external suppliers (specifically

the printers, but also others) as well as future staff review a record of the past messages

back and forth regarding institutional contacts that none of them may have personally

interacted with.

Campfire

Nota Bene has, in the past, had difficulty keeping in touch with its writers, as well

as maintaining a flow of communication between the various editors. The problemwould naturally be worse as the organization expands. A set of communal “chat”

rooms where groups of staff can discuss various issues, substantive and procedural, as

well as initiate ad-hoc conference calls without difficulty or additional cost, will assist in

ensuring a large staff without (much) office space or time for scheduled meetings can

still coordinate and collaborate without difficulty.

Web server

The software that will publish the online edition of the newspaper cannot be

operated on GW’s servers, for technical and security reasons. Another host is necessary.

The additional requirement of being able to host a classifieds database means that this

must be a “virtual private server”. The cheapest and most reliable option the staff

could identify would be an EC2 cloud computing account with Amazon.

INVESTOR NEWSLETTER ISSUE N°3! FALL 2009(PROPOSED) NOTA BENE BUDGET! ACADEMIC YEAR 2011-2012



These are just thoughts in the form of an early proposal, not a plan of action. Much maychange, and can change based on your input. Please don’t feel that a radical shift in

Nota Bene has been decided upon without comment or discussion; rather, this proposalis being circulated in order to start a discussion about the future of the paper.

Further, while these changes as described seem dramatic, their actual implementationwould be evolutionary as much as revolutionary, a direction as much as a destination.

2011-12

Proposed Nota Bene Reforms,for Academic Year

N o t a B e n

e

KATHERINE MEREAND

&

JILLIAN MEEK

Focused Content. Expanded Issues. Higher Readership. Larger Staff.

Nota Bene must change, tothrive. We need to do thingsdifferently.

The past few years have made clear that

the paper as currently organized andoperated is unsustainable. We’ve lurched

from one crisis to another, barely fillingpages, barely meeting deadlines. We’ve had

issues with quality, but had no scope to reject

articles without any surplus capacity.Nota Bene has, at times, seemed rather

unprofessional (which admittedly, for an

amateur publication, is neither a surprise nor a damning indictment).

Nevertheless, we can reform our procedures, and make this a truly stellar

institution that provides us (and students to

come) benefits while we’re at GW, and after as well.

While the changes will become clear in

the following pages, the basic principles areto grow to get the staffing to put out a truly

excellent paper without putting too manydemands on students who, obviously, have

other priorities as well they must tend to, to

change our content to become trulycompelling to our fellow students and

professors, use this higher readership to

better market ourselves to advertisers, anduse that funding to help pay for these

improvements.

Following this, we’ll hopefully be able toturn Nota Bene into an institution that creates

a community that lasts beyond one’s tenure atGW. With frequent contacts between emeritus

staff and current members, Nota Bene canbecome a networking/recruitment conduit that

will hopefully improve its brand, make servingas a staff member more compelling to new

students, and afford those of us who will have

graduated a forum to get back together withold friends, and useful contacts.

Working on Nota Bene should bebeneficial to the staff member, reading it

should be helpful to the reader, and funding it

should be rewarding for advertisers and theSchool administration.

Hopefully, by implementing the changes

that are described in the following proposal,those ambitious objectives can be made a

reality.

Yours,

Areas of Change• Reorganizing the Paper 2

• Intra-School Coordination 3• University Outreach 3

• Incentives 3

• Editorial Processes 4

• Production Workflow 4

• Serialized Content 4

• Internal “Issue Themes” 4

• Recruitment and Retention 5

• Soliciting Alumni Contributions 5

• Graphical and Design Ideas 5

Katherine Mereandcandidate, Editor-in-Chief

Jillian Meek

candidate, Managing Editor



Chan e

Law School Students

in the focus, as well as

organization, of the paper may be warranted. Instead of

trying to serve a generalinterest (and being distinct only

in the sense that the content is

generated by law students)

the Changing LawTrends and events in the

practice of (or case law

about) various practice areasof law.

Around the SchoolCoverage of new events at,

changes in, and information

about, the GW Law School

Being a Law Studentcolumns for:

• International Students

• Non-traditional Students• 1L/2L/3L lifecycle

perhaps Nota Bene should be

defined by its market and their shared interests: viz. the

concerns of Law Students.

Nota Bene will probably never

have the best international

reporting, sports coverage, or

SCOTUS reviewOverview of new decisions,trends in the Justices’

questions, analysis of

interesting or importantdecisions or dissents.

From the SchoolAn article about/by aprogram or division of the

School. e.g. CDO,

Outplacement, the Writingprogram, the Clinics

Student Activitiescolumns for:• The SBA

• interviews w/ each Thirsty

Thursday sponsor

the Legal IndustryRoundups of various changesand trends in the Legal

Industry, (biglaw, small/solo

practice, nonprofit/gov’t) aswell as hiring trends.

the School’s ClassesReviews and thoughts aboutindividual classes and

programs of study. Potentially

should be published withoutattribution.

DebateArgument for and against aproposition.

A chance for students to get an

article out as a hit whenthey’re Googled.

Being an AttorneyThoughts on the life, benefits,or challenges of being an

attorney. Alumni contributions

here would be helpful.

Beyond the SchoolDiscussion and perspectivesfrom fellow students’

experiences in internships and

other external programsaround the area.

Outside the Lawcolumns for:• Food & Drink (Joon’s wine)

• Around DC

As well as other articles thataddress non-Law School life.

Obviously this proposal presents

several difficulties:

• We’d need a lot more staff to

provide the new volume of content

• We’d need funding to publish alarger paper with more pages

• We’d need access to andcooperation from School staff

These issues will be addressed later in

this proposal.

Reorganizing the Paper The traditional organization of a

newspaper (into News, Opinion/Editorial,and Features) was meant to both reassure the

reader that the News section would be

arranged, articles selected, and copy written,solely with an eye towards objective coverage

of the most impor tant events of the day. TheOpinions section being distinct would give the

impression that it was the only area where

staff would allow themselves to reveal their

views. Finally, Features would provideperiodic coverage of areas that, while not

newsworthy as such, were of interest to thereader on an on-going basis.

Nota Bene’s readers, the GW Lawcommunity, have few if any of these concerns.

Most topics of interest to students are of

continual interest, most neither believe thatNota Bene will be objective nor care, and

none believe it has the resources to providecoverage that equals that of the Times and

the Post, on the issues of the day.

What then should the role of NB be?

Law/School/StudentsWhat Nota Bene’s readers can’t get

elsewhere is critical coverage of the Schoolitself, commentary about student life at the

School and in the city, and coverage of the

law that isn’t either aimed at laypeoplereading at an 8th grade level, or attorneys so

steeped in their field of practice as to needlittle to no background before jumping into

discussion of new trends.

In these three areas, Nota Bene can find

space to provide a useful service; a spacewhere the reader can find this specialized

content. Each of these interests’ divisions willneed focused attention from a dedicated

editor who can try to push the level of coverage to new heights of breath and depth,

a far more useful arrangement than having a

News Editor, an Opinions Editor, and aFeatures Editor.

While the topics listed above might needreview (and new suggestions are welcome!),

they should, in aggregate, hope to address (if

not answer) every question or concern a

student may have over the course of three

years where they simply can’t find any sourcethat can provide good information that is a

quick-enough read that they can fit it inamong the various, competing demands on

their time.

Finally, hopefully, these are areas whereour staff will feel that they are (and actually

be) qualified to comment helpfully (if notauthoritatively) on the material. The views of

a 1L on the Libya situation may not be very

compelling to most; their views on New

Student Orientation may be.



Stakeholder IncentivesThis isn’t the New York Times; why

should anyone care about NB?

1. Nota Bene (the organization)Considering Nota Bene as a discreteentity, if the paper expands (in terms of

staff), it gains a bit of reserve capacityand content capability. Higher readership

(drawn by better/broader/deeper

content) would help secure more (andmore secure) funding.

2. Nota Bene Staff

We aren’t journalism students; there haveto be compelling reasons for staff

members to commit time and energy to

Nota Bene, or we’ll have lackluster content, broken commitments, and

recruitment difficulties.To make NB compelling to law students, it

must serve career, as well as personal,

objectives. If it is a forum to get“published” earlier/more often than the

journals (and particularly, becoming

known to professors through their submissions), if it is a community that can

provide networking opportunities downthe road, and if it gains a reputation for

being a serious publication, perhaps

students will see value in being membersand investing in their contributions.

.

3. The ReadersThe primary audience for NB are the

students and faculty of GW Law. Theformer must find content that meaningfully

assists them in navigating the material theyare studying, the institution they are

studying at, and the life they are leading

as they are students.The latter will hopefully find interesting the

thoughts, views, and perspectives of their students, especially as those are more

clearly expressed within NB.

4. The Administration

Advertising may be nice, but ultimately NB

is deeply dependent on GW Law’sfinancial support. The organization mustserve the School’s overall interests of

educating and promoting the careers of its

students, even as it at times plays thegadfly in its content.

5. The Subjects

Only by raising the profile of NB, andmaking it (more) central to the GW Law

experience, will the various groups and

people who may serve as subjects of interviews, or sources of content, bother

with cooperating with the publication and

its staff.

In order to broaden the base of labor

that generates content for Nota Bene, as well

as to obtain some valuable viewpoints, weshould begin to liaise with other

organizations, both student and official.

Student GroupsGiving various student groups a chance

to reach students via Nota Bene will allow

them to reach interested students moresuccessfully. In turn, by mediating their

outreach through Nota Bene (by conducting

interviews rather than just surrenderingcolumn inches), NB staff can explore student

activities’ programs, conduct, andmanagement beyond simply writing “puff

pieces”.Organizations like GW’s students groups

are often hotbeds of poor governance, and

missed opportunities. Conversely, the best runoften can’t capitalize on their successes due

to poor exposure.

This is all the more the case regardingthe SBA, which right now seems to be

quiescent. We should go beyond simply

publishing candidate statements, and reallypush candidates on what they plan to do for

the student body. Current office holderslooking for re-election or promotion should be

able to point to positive action they’ve taken.

School EntitiesMany (if not most) students don’t know

how best to leverage the facilities and

programs the school has to offer. Hopefullydiscussions with them might shed some light

on what they might do to make students’ lives(and job searches) easier and more

rewarding.

(If not, perhaps the articles’ conclusionsmight spur some discussion, and in holding

the School to account, provoke positive

change.)Some offices that could really use some

investigative journalism:

• the CDO

• GWULS IT

• Outplacement

• the Writing Program

• the Clinic program

The content could be presented as a sortof point/counterpoint, where the organisation

writes a piece introducing themselves, anddiscussing some of the constraints and

difficulties they have in pursuing their

missions, and an NB writer writes a response,

critiquing the organization and evaluating

their performance. Another option would beto arrange interviews with staff members,

working their perspective and studentconcerns into one single discussion.

Now, obviously, it may be difficult to get

interviews. The usual threat is that, havingcollected information from other people/

sources, the article will be published withouttheir views being adequately represented.

Hopefully that wouldn’t prove necessary.

These organizations do, after all, have astheir primary mission providing services to the

student body, and perhaps they will see thatreaching out to the student body through

Nota Bene will advance their goals.

Skills Boards / JournalsThe skills boards compete against other

schools, and their fellow students learn very

little about these competitions and thecompeditors’ progress. Nota Bene can cover

the competitions, write about the selectionprocess, and generally increase the profile of

these organizations.

The journals, meanwhile, can be tappedto contribute content to Nota Bene (something

some of the smaller journals might welcome),and can again provide material for NBwriters, covering individual articles in depth,

reviewing students’ notes, overviews of wholeissues, and again, the selection process.

Intra-School Coordination

University Outreach

The broader University community

also has resources, both in terms of content and labor, that NB could use

in developing its publications.

The various departments’ professorsmay have external perspectives on

the topics currently being debated inthe legal world. The most obvious are

economics and political theoryprofessors, but critical theory,

sociology, and engineering/computer

science may all have interesting viewson various subjects within the Law.

The students, meanwhile, may be

interested in the newspaper if they

are “pre-law” and curious aboutadmissions and post-matriculation

challenges



Production Workflow

(Obviously this would needto be revised as we put thesereforms into practice)

6 weeks before print deadline

All staff (writers and editors alike) suggest topics and themes for the

given issue


Topics (and a theme if any) areselected by the editors in committee,

and are handed to the individual

editors for writer selection

4 weeks before print deadlineWriters have received their topics,and begin drafting their articles


Writers have submitted their drafts,

and copy and content editing takesplace

1 week before print deadline

The final version of the articles are

approved, content is frozen, and thepaper as whole moves to layout

Obviously this would mean that atany given time, three of these stageswould be on-going in parallel.

•topic selection would be occurringfor Issue 6

•while writers would be writing

articles for Issue 5•while Issue 4 was being laid out,

and Issue 3 had been published

the previous week.

The goal of such an elongatedproduction pipeline is to make the

workload more manageable for all

involved. There is a lot of "give" in asix week pipeline, that didn't exist in

the two week serial approach NotaBene had been taking. This means

there is a greater ability for any

given staff member to distribute theworkload for each issue cognizant

of their own personal study andwork schedules, and other demands

on their time, allowing them to more

easily contribute to Nota Benewithout having to suffer the burdens

of stress and sacrifice to the same

degree as before.

Internal Issue Themes

To help ensure that Nota Bene is timely

and relevant, and to help ensure thatwhen in doubt all writers can find

something to write about, many if not

all issues should have a “theme”. Wewould not label issues externally

because doing so has attendantproblems, but we suggest utlizing them

internally, and on a schedule similar to

this:•Welcome Bank (FRP, 1L series

begins, New to DC)•Focus on Student Activities

•1l Midterm Edition (hopefully a

column or interview with many of the 1l Professors

•Fall Finals Prep/NALP deadlineedition (a column from CDO and

perhaps Dean DeVigne)

•Skills Boards Edition•Public Interest (finding the right

think-tank, approaching the

government, etc)•Writing Center and Journals

Edition•Class Selection Edition (reviews of

various classes, discussions of

unofficial prerequisites)•SBA elections

•Spring Break Edition•Good bye and Good Luck

Obviously there is some overlapbetween constant “departments” and

issue themes; determining what is bestpresented continuously, and what is

better suited to a focused edition will

take some thought and discussion.

Editorial ProcessesThere have been some difficul ties over

the last two years that we feel could be

alleviated by having a cohesive editorialboard. It will be even more critical to have

this oversight capacity as the paper expands,and writers begin to be given topics/

assignments that will stretch over the course of

several issues.This may require fundamental changes in

how topics are selected, by whom, and howearly before a given print deadline. Writers

can/should suggest topics for later issues, but

for a given issue, perhaps topics should behanded out by the editorial staff. The goal

isn't centralization of input into the topics;everyone has an equally valuable perspective

on what might interest the readership. Rather,

the aim would be to ensure even and equal

coverage of a variety of subjects, and thatmay require editorial control of what gets

published.Further, perhaps we should move to a

system that does not assume everyone'scontribution will be published in the edition

for which it was submitted. In order to raise

the quality standard, articles that don'tappear to meet that standard would be

referred back to writers for a rewrite, or tabled altogether.

One matter to discuss with the writing

staff would be the option of having a generalwriter pool, where writers essentially claim

articles on an ad hoc basis, or "beats" that

are assigned to a given writer for a while. Thelatter allows for specialization, while the

former allows for variety on the part of thewriter.

Another would be to determine how

much oversight over each editor the editorialcommittee or the Managing editor should

provide. Certainly, without any, one editor’sperformance flagging (for personal or

academic reasons) could seriously threaten

the general standard of the publication.

Serialized ContentIn order to maintain interest from one

issue to another, and to provide on-goingcoverage of an issue, many subjects might be

best presented as part of a series: ClassSelection (reviews), 1L adaptation, Anatomy

of an Internship, etc.

These subject series are a frequent tacticof other periodicals to carry forward

audiences from one issue to the next, as thegreatest difficulty any periodical has is simply

convincing a potential reader to pick it up.

The creation of a single-article serial (afive part enquiry into the vagaries of ERISA,

for example), is a different beast than the

more department-like series. This alternativeallows a single staff writer (or a few!) to work

on one topic for several issues, and truly

develop content of value, to the student bodyand ultimately to themselves. As a writing

sample, such a piece would display depth of knowledge similar to a research paper, but

have been edited and polished by a team of

other students (far in excess of what a typicalassignment receives) and further, display

interest in the subject beyond what the Schooland its classes required.

Hopefully with that as an incentive, such

an opportunity can be used as a reward for high-quality submissions of a more mundane

variety, allowing the editorial staff to maintaina balance between more journal-like (in their

tone and topics) serials, and lighter fare, such

as a GW-area lunch option roundup, and the

like.



Advertising and Funding

Administration

The School’s funding is an obvious

source of concern, as at some point,faced with another tuition increase, the

administration may turn its cost-cuttingeyes in our direction.

It will be all the more important to be

constantly reinforcing why NB is agood investment for a law school.

Advertising

With 1650 free-spending law studentsas our readership, we should be veryaggressive in soliciting NB-specific

promotions for local merchants(especially bars) to include with their

advertising in our paper. This would

also serve to make NB a morevaluable resource for the student

body.Further, NB should solicit advertising

from national entities interested in law

student mindshare; the obviouscandidates include Westlaw, Lexis,

Barbri (and its competitors), as well as

solo/small firm software vendors.Medium law firms, as well as firms

primarily outside the major markets,may also have some interest, as the

legal economy improves.

Other Revenues

Perhaps there may be ways to

monetize NB’s web presence to offer

RecruitmentWe propose aggressive recruitment of

incoming 1Ls and LLMs during orientation andin the early fall. This body count will allow for the increased content demands to fall upon

more shoulders (to remain manageable wherea smaller staff might be overwhelmed), as

well as simply raise the profile of the

publication in the unaffiliated student body.We have quite a bit to of fer, if we

highlight the value of being published early

and often, having the student’s Google resultslink to content other than embarrassing party

pictures, and the networking benefits of across-cohort community that extends into the

working world (more about this, later).

Reaching students that early may requiresignificant cooperation from the School

administration, something we’re more likely toget as a result of other initiatives we have, in

this proposal, described.

RetentionKey points towards retaining members

and reducing attrition include:

•More editors with smaller portfolios,allowing for better oversight, and more

frequent contact.

•More staff activities (happy hours,etc) to develop internal relationships

•A better product, to raise moraleand incent more personal investment

Nota Bene AlumniA ff d h ld i

hindsight, and (anonymously) reviews of the

workplaces where they labor.Beyond the content creation, this keeps

the NB community together, which shouldprovide us all value later in life, both in therelationships preserved themselves, and in

terms of the networking value when we’relooking to make lateral shifts between firms/

agencies/organizations. Simply put, we’ll all

(hopefully) be in the position to help oneanother down the road, if we keep our

community intact.

A further benefit will be the retention of institutional knowledge; one of the greatest

difficulties student groups face is the losttraining and insight every year that has to be

redeveloped, often from scratch. Simply

having the ability to get an alumna or alumnus on the phone to answer a question is

of great value itself.

Other GWULS AlumniReaching out to long-since-departed GW

alumni who are in the working world, andasking them for an interview or a piece about

a subject in their professional portfolios, will

both fill column-inches, provide them a chanceto market themselves, and reinforce alumni-

student relationships.

This sort of contact should be easy tomarket to the Administration as a particular

value of Nota Bene, as the more obviousattempts of the Development office are often

futile (and more expensive).

Approaching these alumni (and gettingbusy professionals to share their time and

expertise) may itself be a challenge, but alsooffer the staff that do so another benefit; the

Graphical and Design

Ideas

Switch to Berliner/Midi

format (1/2 way between

broadsheet and tabloidlayout/paper sizes)

Look into graphical data

(sparklines, infographics,

perhaps tapping localgraphic arts programs)

Develop an easily

identifiable wordmark/

logo to associate w/ NBon posters/flyers/etc.

Look into cost implicationsof a four-color process or

improved newsprint.

Revisit serif vs sans-serif usefor headlines vs body text.

Tie in staff blogs(Vinicultured, etc) into the

main NB web presence.

Revise columns and layout

in light of research abouteye travel patterns (the

“reverse N”)

Recruit photographers from

the Law School to cover various events, provide

establishing images, etc.

Review web presence, and

outreach technologies(RSS, Twitter, email

editions, etc)