Based on the number of posts, class seems more interesting these days . . . .

Solution: Don't go to class. They're worthless anyways.

There's a fundamental problem with Law School's banning laptops - it's insanely condescending. The average age in law school is 26 i.e. adults. You don't get to treat adults like children. Step 1: no laptops. Step 2: mandatory nap time?

They blocked our internet in class here at Michigan Law for a while. Then they realized we were all getting around the block and gave up. I'm sure the Chicago students will figure away around it like we did.

My school, Harvard, actually hired Chuck Norris to physically intercept and block all of the wireless waves carrying the internets to and fro. He mainly uses his steel-toed cowboy boots to block them, but sometimes he has to throw his 20-gallon hat to block some.

Unfortunately, there is no "way around it."

Kash -- Will you marry me?

what happened to SEN?

co-sign 2:49 but would add that a corrolary to treating law students like children is the tendency of universities to forget that law students are CUSTOMERS. (More so at lower ranked schools where, trust me, there is no prestige to being there. It is more like going to PennCo. Tech. or ITT Tech. - it is purely vocational.)

That's right. If you want to read your email during class, for $40,000/year you have the right.

Bring back SEN!!!

I like the ban. I simply didn't have the willpower to not read ATL while I was in class. Thank u Dr. Levmore!

I formerly read the news in class so I'm significantly less well versed in world happens, but people pay more attention in class, which is good when people are randomly called on. I still think the way it was implemented was condescending (in the past there was an isolated incident in which a prof asked the class to vote on laptops and decided to ban them, and that's fine with me) but having internet-less classrooms in and of itself is fine.

- UChi!L

I formerly read the news in class so I'm significantly less well versed in world happens, but people pay more attention in class, which is good when people are randomly called on. I still think the way it was implemented was condescending (in the past there was an isolated incident in which a prof asked the class to vote on laptops and decided to ban them, and that's fine with me) but having internet-less classrooms in and of itself is fine.

- UChi!L

I think it's a good idea. I always get really distracted when I see people surfing the internet in the rows in front of me.

--Bradley Blair, 1L

My comment didn't appear to post last time, so I will post it again: I get really distracted by people's laptops, so I think the ban is a good idea.

--Bradley Blair, 1L

Comment still doesn't appear to be posting. Here's hoping third time is a charm:

People surfing the internet on their laptops is distracting, so I personally like the ban.

--Bradley Blair, 1L

Jeez Louise. What's wrong? Everyone's comment except mine (pointing out the distracting nature of laptops in the front rows) appears to be posting. What gives?

--Bradley Blair, 1L

Wow! It's been almost three days since Kash last put a picture of her incredibly average face in a post. And no, I'm not some bitter shrew. Just a guy who can name at least eight better looking chicks who work on my floor, let alone the multitude I could find if I walked out onto Sixth Ave. 2:56, I'm talkin' to you. Get some taste and stop embarrassing yourself.

MODERATORS: I'm not able to post my comments. Something appears to be wrong with the site. Please advise/correct.

--Bradley Blair, 1L

Cornell has been doing this for years.

I graduated not too long ago (2005), and my class managed to get through three years of law school with no wireless whatsoever in the whole school. If you can't make it through 50 minutes of lecture without the internet, how will you ever fake attention on a four hour conference call in the partner's office?

If you are easily distracted by shiny objects (i.e. the laptop screen in front of you), law school is not the place for you.

MODERATORS: My comments are appearing multiple times but I am unable to see them. Something appears to be wrong with my web browser. Please advise/correct.

--Bradley Blair, 1L

Lat, would you please fix Bradley's web browser?

Bradley Blair - I hope that is your real name and one day a prospective employer googles your name and finds this page.

My bad. Apparently, there is a short delay between submitting your comment and having it post to the site. Maybe there should be a little disclaimer about that on the site to avoid future misunderstandings.

--Bradley Blair, 1L

A Chuck Norris comment, 2 years too late! Hilarious! Moderators, post this ish for me since it obviously won't actually post. Ya dig?

--Bradley Blair, 1L

bradley blair = troll

Bradley - Unfortunately, I suspect even the moderators have stopped reading the site. Perhaps you should try posting on the WSJ blog.

Cheers,
Murray

Kash = troll

Hey Bradley Blair....Did you eat paint chips as a kid?

Kash if you go out on a date with me, you can write a post about it.

Bottom line: laptops have altered the learning environment. Not only is the internet a huge distraction, but we are no longer engaged with the professor. It's hard to maintain eye contact when there are huge screens blocking everyone's face!

Bradley Blair must go to UPenn St. What a clown.

I'm pretty sure the media recently reported that George W. Bush uses the pen-name "Bradley Blair" when he posts to blogs.

Dear Bradley Blair, 1L,
Please note that directly above the box were you write your comment, there is a disclaimer reading: "After submitting a comment it may take several minutes to appear. Please only submit your comment once."
You are on your way to becoming a fine lawyer.

Okay, if you cannot check your e-mail, check game scores, *and* pay attention in class, you don't have the skills to sit through a meeting with partners in Biglaw.

And if you get *distracted* by other people checking their e-mail while you're trying to follow a discussion, you really will *never* make it in Biglaw.

Chicago's only hurting their students by not teaching them real world skills. Instead of turning *off* Internet access, they should pay undergrads to sit in classes, click away on Blackberries, and look up occasionally and say, "I'm sorry, could we go back to the last point."

If I decide to browse ATL in class, it's either because I have an extremely low opinion of that particular class, or because I have a less low opinion of a particular ATL article.

I don't need, and I don't want a law school to force study habits on me.

If my poor study habits result in disrupting class, lower my grade. If they don't, what business does a law school have in telling me how to learn?

We've never had internet in the classrooms at Cornell and it really isn't that big a deal. People find numerous other ways of procrastinating. DVDs w/ subtitles, Solitaire, Snood spring to mind.

Never fear ATL readers, if you're truly dedicated to wasting time, you'll find a way!

What are the "T14" schools doing about this? We haven't heard from you. And by T14, I mean schools ranked 11-14 whose students/grads like to make themselves feel better by using the term T14 because they think people who went to top 10 schools will be tricked into believing they are prestigious rather than safety schools. That means you, Duke, Northwestern, GULC and UPenn St.

Bradley Blair just made my day. What an idiot.

now i play yahoo games in class. you tell me if that's less distracting than shopping or reading the news.

Is Bradley Blair, 1L the new Loyola2L?

hey 4:07, NU and UPenn are top 10 schools, so should we just talk about top 5, or is that so Columbia and NYU students feel their school's are as prestigious as Y,H, or S?

MOAR KASH PICS!

429- you make a good point. yes, it should just be top 3. but it is still amazing that the T14 make such a big deal out of it.

it's pretty ironic that professors in a field so decidedly unobsessed with the quality of pedagogy in general harp on such a trivial detail as whether or not students are browsing the internet during class. yeah, i browse the internet during class, but guess what, our generation browses the internet ALL THE TIME. i could browse the internet while in the physical act of love with my wife and perform the task ably, with due diligence and respect, all the while keeping up with the vital happenings of the 2008 election cycle in an efficient and timely fashion. if it's not the internet, professors hate laptops because they're convinced students are "taking notes wrong." jesus fucking christ on a rubber crutch i couldn't think of anything more patronizing.

i don't think it's a particularly bad thing that professors are newly incentivized to make class more interesting in light of obvious distractions during class. this is professional school after all; it's not exactly as if not paying attention to every word they say is tantamount to truancy.

--hys/v3 poster, 3.8gpa

I used to think one of Levmore's justifications for the ban, that internet browsing was "parasitic" (ie that one person's browsing motivates another person to browse) was silly.

But last week I noticed that all the windows users in front of me were playing solitaire... and then one switched to minesweeper, within a few minutes, all the solitaire players were now playing minesweeper!

--Chicago 2L

motherfuckers at NYU better not do this
LEAVE INTERNET ALONE!!1!!one!

Bradley Blair, I imagine you find many things distracting.

KASH -- See you tonight!

4:29
There is no such thing as Top 3, that's just a metric used by disgruntled students in Harvard and Stanford to gain cachet by associating themselves with Yale.

There is no such thing as a Top 1, that's just a metric used by disgruntled students at Yale to compensate for not doing something more meaningful with their lives.

Hey Bradley Blair you are an idiot for not waiting for your message to post. Have some patience.

Hey Bradley Blair you are an idiot for not waiting for your message to post. Have some patience.

Hey Bradley Blair you are an idiot for not waiting for your message to post. Have some patience.

Well dammit, it's not working. Let's try this again.

Well crap, the damn thing is not working. What kind of a two bit operation is this?

Hey Bradley Blair you are an idiot for not waiting for your message to post. Have some patience.

Finally this stupid thing works. ONce again:

Hey Bradley Blair you are an idiot for not waiting for your message to post. Have some patience.

Guys in my high school used to hang out with bradley blair all the time. It was no big deal.

Bradley Blair to Posting!

I can't imagine going to law school without internet access....Doh! I did it in 1990. And no cellphone.

Since Levmore banned internet in class I have become awesome at Freecell and Hearts. Banning internet doesn't make a difference - those that don't want to pay attention will find other ways to distract themselves.

"--hys/v3 poster, 3.8gpa"

A pretty lame way to end a comment.

OMG 7:17-7:20 is the most hilarious thing I have seen on this site...ever. good job.

Bradley Blair to the short bus!

Bradley Blair's comments crack me up. They're obviously posted by one of Bradley's classmates who must really, really hate him. Someone please tell me the story of how horrible this guy is that it would inspire other people to post in his name on the internets. God, I wish I had thought of that when I was in law school.

Also, Friday 3:18 p.m. -- if you graduated from Chicago in 2005, it sounds to me like you didn't attend class (which means you didn't have any classes with Lichtman, as he is fond of holding people back from graduating if they dare to hurt his feelings by skipping his *totally important* patent class). By the end of 2004 you could occasionally get wireless in Room IV, and in 2004-2005, all of the newly-renovated classrooms had wired and wireless internet access.

Levmore is a blight on the face of my formerly fine law school. Pay attention, Chicago. Douchebags like Levmore are why I don't donate money.

--Chicago 6L

Chicago on its way to TTT territory... forcing students back to the stone age...

I think the problem is old, out of touch profs and administrators who can't comprehend how people multi-task while online. I mean - I am here on ATL AND studying for law school exams at the same time - no harm done :-)

at BC they just make the wireless signal so crappy that half the classrooms don't get it anyways

Some profs at NYU have banned laptops from their classes. That's even worse than not having wireless access.

Chicago 6L- totally agree. No money for UofC until Levmore is gone.

Plus, what happened to Chicago's "free flow of ideas" and the free market system? Seems like a dictatorship to me...

UCLA got rid of internet after my 1L year (those were glorious times let me tell you). But, as someone else pointed out, we students have found ways to adapt. (Go Go Peggle!) What are they going to when everyone has an internet capable phone in a few years (months)? I just tether mine to my laptop and I'm back in business. Suck it Professor!