Top Law School Stories of 2008 (Part 3): Listservs

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 3:14 PM - By Kashmir Hill

ATL 2008 in review.jpg In our first two installments of 2008 law school stories, we looked back at our favorite law school students of the year and important trends. For our third post in the series of four, we’re indulging in one of our favorite topics: law school listservs.

When tightly-wound law students use the e-mail list as their forum for airing grievances, the back-and-forth can get rather catty. A mixture of Type A personalities, the desire to procrastinate, and extreme law school stress has resulted in some explosive exchanges in 2008.

Whether you call them list servs, list serves, listservs, listserves, list-servs, or list-serves, we call them extremely amusing. Find out which three law schools made the “Best of” listserv list, after the jump.

Tales from these three schools may make you think twice, thrice, four times before sending out your next listserv e-mail. In ascending order of audacity, we give you the best law school listservs of 2008.

YLS toilet.jpg 3. Yale Law School: Yale may top the US News law school rankings, but it barely made the bottom of our listserv listing with its “Prissy Chicks of YLS” exchange. One alliterative YLS student, tired of having her bottom “dampened by prissy potty puddles,” blasted the listserv with a plea for other women to either sit their asses down on the toilet seat whilst peeing or to wipe the seat of droplets sent flying after squatting.

We loved that this was sent out on the listserv, rather than written on a note inside the offending stalls. Ah, the inefficient beauty of the modern electronic age. The responses ranged from sympathy, to “this is inappropriate for The Wall,” to passing the blame—undergrads have access to the bathroom too, one respondent claimed, while another said the droplets were sprayed by the “force of the vacuum” when those particular toilets are flushed.

Revisit the exchange here. If it makes you laugh until you pee, please make sure to wipe up any droplets.

american university washington college of law.jpg 2. American University Washington College of Law WCL’s listserv makes our list for the rejection it suffered. A WCL student who transferred to Harvard Law School decided to rub the noses of the entire listserv in the good news, while asking how to get off the now irrelevant listserv. Said student wrote:

How do I get off this listserv? I transferred to Harvard, and have no need to continue receiving emails from WCL.

Amusing, yes, but not enough to make number two on the listserv list. The Washington College of Law got an extra bump from another electronic communication exchange: Kids These Days: Or, Why You Should Always Sign Out of a Public Computer.

In that instant message exchange, inadvertently left on a public computer, two rambunctious WCL students discussed their plans for a blow job appointment. Very romantic. The chat made the rounds around school, and eventually found a home here at ATL.

mich law catfight copy.jpg 1. University of Michigan Law School: The University of Michigan listserv was a gift that kept on giving this year. Many an exchange found its way to the ATL inbox in 2008:

‘How To Handle This?’: How to sum up? One law school student wrongs another by not returning a borrowed cell phone. Profanity ensues. Wronged law school student sends exchange out to the listserv, and asks “how to handle this.” Lots of responses later, the answer is clearly, by not sending it out over the listserv.

Stolen Sandwich: Another indignant Michigan student used the listserv to air grievances. After half a Subway sandwich disappeared from the communal fridge, the victim sent a mass e-mail addressed to “the SLEAZE who likes taking people’s lunches” with a list of three reasons not to steal. One kind student asked that the listserv not be used for such things, and suggested that the student instead “notify our deans of the problem” if it should happen again.

Prostitution Scandal moves from ATL to the Michigan listserv: Michigan 2L . Prostitution scandal. University professor.

“Stop Sending Listserv E-mails to ATL!”: One Michigan student sent out an e-mail to the listserv that began: “I have one question to ask the ATL e-mail forwarder: Why would you want to make a laughingstock out of *the school you attend?” Appropriately, the e-mail was promptly forwarded to us.

We hate to tell you, but it’s not just one e-mail forwarder. We have a whole cadre of Michigan listserv tipsters, and we hope they keep them coming in 2009.

As always, please send hilarious law school listserv e-mails to tips@abovethelaw.com.

Earlier: ‘Prissy potty puddles’ on the Yale Law School list-serv
American University / Harvard Law Student Adopts More Fire, Less Bridges Platform
Kids These Days: Or, Why You Should Always Sign Out of a Public Computer
‘How To Handle This?’ (By not sending out over the law school list-serv?)
The Voracious Wolverine
Michigan 2L Responds
Michigan Law School Circles The Wagons (Almost)