Ask Howard Treesong About Law or Lawyering

[kurosh]

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I have a libertarian nut-job view of animal rights, so I'll stay away from my personal view of this issue unless someone is particularly intersted in it. It's likely to start a threadjack if I articulate it.


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DO IT

[El Diablo]

HT,

1: Don't threadjack w/ it. Do start a new thread on that, though.

2: Do you watch Law & Order (or have you ever)? If so, what is your general impression of the courtroom scenes, specifically the motions/objections/etc. that are made?

[Howard Treesong]

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Let me also observe that I thought the vigilante situation was not clear cut. I do not think we should live in a society that permits theft or robbery without significant risk to the perp

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Imprisonment isn't a significant risk?

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Hard to say. I think there are plenty of places in this country where simple theft isn't prosecuted all that often, or, as in my case, where the nearest police station to my house growing up was twenty minutes away, easy. I think the argument is here that private deterrence really does have an impact on this type of crime.

I don't have a good feel for how valid that arugment is, though.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

Howard,

Is Barry Bonds a criminal now? was he before he was indicted?

[knockonwood]

What made you want to become a lawywer? Being accepted into law school usually indicates you are a very capable person and would imply you have a lot of options. Why did you choose law over the other options you had?

[Howard Treesong]

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What made you want to become a lawywer? Being accepted into law school usually indicates you are a very capable person and would imply you have a lot of options. Why did you choose law over the other options you had?

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I went to MIT as an undergrad and struggled to do well at engineering stuff. Political science and humanities were much easier for me, so I opted out of engineering, got a poli sci degree, and went to law school. Part of that was familiarity: Father Treesong taught law at UCLA for almost forty years. Mother Treesong was a secretary for a Supreme Court Justice and Stepmother Treesong was a lawyer, law professor, and official in government. My brother is also a lawyer; I think there was some benefit being familiar with the general notion of what lawyers did and how.

[Howard Treesong]

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Howard,

Is Barry Bonds a criminal now? was he before he was indicted?

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Absolutely not. I think that the label "criminal" requires either a guilty plea or a conviction. I think he is soon to be a criminal because practically everyone on the planet is sure he is guilty as sin, but until that's formal, he's simply the "defendant" or the "accused." According to Bonds's lawyer, Barry is probably a "victim," although I rather obviously disagree with that.

[turnipmonster]

what kind of pro bono work do you do, if any? what area of law do you find the most interesting?

[gumpzilla]

To ask a less hijacky question than my first, what level of knowledge about the law should a random person have? If it's hard to give a broad answer here, what criteria cause you to adjust your answer?

[Howard Treesong]

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To ask a less hijacky question than my first, what level of knowledge about the law should a random person have? If it's hard to give a broad answer here, what criteria cause you to adjust your answer?

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I think a general survey undergrad course is a good idea. I think you should know what a tort is. I think a general education requires a general working knowledge of the Constitution. And I think it behooves everyone to know at least a little bit about criminal procedure.

After working on a federal court of appeals for a year, I am very very careful to have my hands on the dashboard and radio off by the time a policeman that has pulled me over gets to my car. And before I move my hands, I tell him exactly what I'm doing ("Officer, I'm reaching over to the glove box to get my insurance card.")