The Eyes of the Law: Judge Kozinski in the Windy City

Two hotties for the price of one: Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski, the #1 Superhottie of the Federal Judiciary; and our super-cute correspondent, Justin, a student at the DePaul University College of Law.
West Coast folk, don’t say we neglect you here at Above the Law. Earlier today, we wrote about some Ninth Circuit benchslappery. And now we bring you a delicious judicial sightation, of an Article III celebrity from sun-kissed California: Judge Alex Kozinski, the hottest federal judge in all the land.
Earlier this week, Judge Kozinski visited DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, where he was a guest lecturer in Professor Roberta Kwall’s Copyright/Trademark class. One of the students in that class, Justin (pictured above), provided us with a witty and insightful report about the proceedings.
Justin describes how Judge Kozinski conducted the class (brilliantly), mentions the jurist’s weakness for a certain carbonated beverage, and provides the backstory behind the photograph above. It’s a fun and interesting read, not to be missed.
Check out Justin’s full write-up, after the jump. You won’t be sorry!


Here is Justin’s report on Judge Kozinski’s appearance before his Copyright/Trademark class:
Getting a songwriting lesson from Elvis Costello, or a personal software design tutorial from Bill Gates, would be an emotionally taxing proposition. One would not, after all, want to be anything less than perfect. Any mistake would cause utter, instant, and lifelong mortification. One’s palms would sweat.
Such is as it was during the first five minutes when Alex Kozinski taught my copyright and trademark class on Thursday. Then, it turned into a preposterous amount of fun.
For one, Kozinski’s totally charming. For two, he didn’t teach so much as conduct — in the evocative, physical, orchestra-related sense of the term — a chaotic discussion about the rights of publicity and privacy. He got palpable delight at revving up two ideas and smashing them head-on into each other. The class encompassed Hugh Grant, Mark Foley, Bette Midler, Tootsie, Snoopy, peoples’ annoying habit of oversharing personal details in public places on their cell phones, Pam and Tommy and, naturally, Kozinski himself. (He devised the term “nominative fair use” in the New Kids on the Block case because “it sounded as good as anything else.”)
The whole lecture was both over-the-top wacky and more educational than some semester-long classes that I’ve taken.
Then I had to go to work. Because I had to go to work, I missed a panel discussion/luncheon featuring Kozinski and the Seventh Circuit’s own Judges Richard Posner and Diane Wood.
I know, I suck. But I had a whole bunch of deadline projects at the office, and my roommate quite enjoys when I chip in my share of the rent. If I had skipped work to spend $35 to attend a luncheon, I would’ve had to hear about it *forever*.
I really thought about it, though.
Sigh.
Some partial redemption came at that evening’s wine-and-cheese reception that DePaul held in Kozinski’s honor. Kozinski hiked in fashionably late and proceeded to gab about whatever to anybody who felt like saying hello.
He enjoys the occasional Mountain Dew, it turns out.
The memories were great and all. As noted by my actual copyright/trademark professor, Roberta Kwall, it really was one of the highlight days of our class’s educational career.
But I wanted a souvenir. So, after steeling myself with a splash of free law school booze, I asked him if he wouldn’t mind taking a photo. He was sitting on a couch at the time and virtually leapt up, so as to inquire where I wanted him to stand, what sort of pose was in order, everything like that. He couldn’t have been sweeter. I just tossed my camera to someone nearby and we winged it.
Anyways, after that, Kozinski graciously took snapshots for anybody who wanted one, proving that he was not only smart, funny, talented, and generally adorable, but he was also a hell of a nice guy.
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FANTASTIC! We thank Justin for this delightful write-up of his brush with judicial celebrity. And what a great photo, too!

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