Columbia Law School

‘Preferred Lenders’ for Financial Aid: A Big Racket?

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calculator Above the Law blog.jpgNew York’s new Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, has some big shoes to fill. Governor Eliot Spitzer, during his time as New York AG, was a very busy bee.
It looks like Cuomo has found a juicy scandal to sink his teeth into — one with possible implications for many of the law students among you. From the NYT:

The directors of financial aid at Columbia University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southern California held shares in a student loan company that each of the universities recommends to student borrowers, and in at least two cases profited handsomely.

The personal stake of the three university officials in the company, now known as Student Loan Xpress, is the latest revelation in an expanding investigation by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York into the relationships between student loan companies and universities. Student Loan Xpress is one of the “preferred lenders” recommended at all three universities.

Some interesting info from a tipster, after the jump.

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Our Upcoming Visit to Columbia Law School

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Columbia Law School CLS Above the Law blog.jpgAs we previously mentioned, we will be speaking at Columbia Law School next week, at the kind invitation of the Columbia Federalist Society.
Our talk is open to the public, so feel free to stop by if you’re in the area. Here are the details:

Wednesay, April 11, 5:30 PM 6:00 PM
Columbia Law School
Jerome Green Hall, Room 102
435 West 116th St. (at Amsterdam Avenue)

As one CLS student pointed out to us, our talk unfortunately overlaps (in part) with the Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court finals, scheduled from 4 PM to 6 PM. If you’d like to go to the Moot Court first, please feel free to sneak into our talk late. Needless to say, considering the star-studded bench — which we also plan to watch in action before heading off for our event — we won’t be offended by tardy arrivals.
Update: We’re happy to report that the time of our talk has been changed. We are now speaking at 6 PM, so there’s no need to choose between us and Moot Court.
Hope to see you next week!

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Columbia Law Revue Does Videos, Too

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Earlier today, we shared with you two videos from the NYU Law Revue. In the comments to one of these posts, a vigorous “NYU vs. Columbia” debate ensued.
If you’d like to compare NYU and Columbia on the quality of their law revue videos — a critical measure of law school quality, to be added to next year’s U.S. News rankings — here’s a Columbia Law Revue video for your consideration:

Our observations:

1. We have great admiration for Columbia Law School (and will be visiting CLS to give a talk in the near future). We harbor no anti-Columbia bias. But this video strikes us as kinda lame.

2. Some of the actors, including the Cabaret-inspired emcee, are quite appealing. But the production values leave something to be desired, and some of the jokes are head-scratchers.

3. We must confess, though, that we did laugh at several points — e.g., the Wachtell Lipton quip. Furthermore, after a minute or two, we started to really enjoy the video, in a “so bad it’s good” sort of way.

These are just our personal opinions. Feel free to share yours in the comments.
Columbia Law Revue – EIP [YouTube]

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Get NYU

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In ATL’s March Madness, NYU currently enjoys a sizable lead over their uptown competition at Columbia. So they probably don’t need the electoral boost that might result from this delightful video, produced as part of the annual NYU Law Revue:

Our observations:

1. It’s all in the casting: “Columbia” is a brilliant choice. She’s the twenty-something, female embodiment of John Hodgman. If the whole “law” thing doesn’t work out for her, she should look into acting.

2. “Harvard” and “Yale” are super-cute!!! Of course, we’re assuming that in real life they are NYU law students (and perhaps future NYU law hotties).

3. The video includes a photographic cameo by one-half of FELDSUK. Awesome! (And we love how NYU has brilliantly spun Professor Noah Feldman’s high-profile defection to Harvard.)

Congratulations to the NYU Law crew that put together such an excellent video. Nice work, guys!
P.S. Did they get any help from their brilliant colleagues at NYU’s famous film school?
Update: The answer to that question is no. A tipster tells us that the creator of the video is a mere law student, who produced this video without film school help. This source also adds:

The ad makes fun of NYU as well: we have no waitlist, and can’t use Macs for exams. The video turns against NYU.

Get NYU [YouTube]

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Brokeback Lawfirm: The New York Magazine Piece (Part 1)

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Aaron Charney Aaron B Charney Aaron Brett Charney Ted Partin headshot.JPGWe’ve now finished reading Robert Kolker’s interesting and highly detailed New York Magazine article about Aaron Charney (a piece that we’ve been anticipating for weeks). And we do have a few thoughts on it — besides admiration for Ted Partin’s elegant, black-and-white headshot of a trim-but-borderline-emaciated Aaron Charney, at right.
On the whole, the piece is well-researched and thoughtful. It doesn’t contain THAT much new information for people who have been following this case as slavishly as most ATL readers have. But it’s well-written and engaging, a good read.
Also, it’s commendably balanced. In your reactions to it, some have you attacked it as pro-S&C, while others have criticized it as pro-Charney. This strikes us as evidence of the article’s evenhanded nature. You can view it as either pro-S&C or pro-Charney, depending upon your point of view and what you choose to focus on within the piece.
More detailed thoughts, after the jump.

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Sullivan & Cromwell v. Charney: Do You Know Aaron Charney?

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Aaron Charney 3 Aaron Charney Aaron Charney headshot Aaron B Charney Aaron Brett Charney Above the Law Aaron Charney Aaron Charney Sullivan Cromwell.JPGIf so, then the MSM would like to speak with you. Here’s an email from Robert Kolker, of New York magazine (which we reprint with his permission):

I’m a journalist working quickly on a long-form magazine feature story about Aaron Charney. Part of the story would benefit from some insight from people who know him, either now or even remember him back during law school – but there’s no need for this insight to be on the record. I’d appreciate a chance to talk on the phone about Aaron – again, confidentially.

I can assure everyone of the utmost discretion and fairness. They can call me at 212-508-0811, or email me, and I’ll be happy to give them more information.

Many thanks,

Bob Kolker
(212) 508-0811
robert_kolker AT newyorkmag DOT com

A long-form magazine piece on Aaron Charney? We can hardly wait! If you know Aaron Charney firsthand, we beg you to contact Mr. Kolker, so he can have the benefit of your insight.
In addition, we’d love to hear from you ourselves. We’ve heard from a few people who know Aaron personally, but we’d welcome more.
After the jump, we reprint comments from two law school classmates of Aaron.

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Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: December 10, 2006

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Legal Eagle Wedding Watch NYT wedding announcements Above the Law.jpgWe were starved for Wedding Watch material in the weekend of December 9-10. We couldn’t even find the standard three couples in which at least one spouse is a lawyer.
So we did the next best thing — we found two couples in which a parent of a spouse is a lawyer (and a third couple of two lawyers). Here are this week’s contestants:

1. Cornelia Henning, Nicholas Van Amburg

2. Ariella Rosenberg, Matthew Maron

3. Marla Tusk, Josh Gottheimer

Scores and commentary for this trio of lovebirds, after the jump.

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Morning Docket: 12.20.06

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* Maryland becomes the latest state to temporarily halt lethal injection executions, this time because of procedural issues with the way the lethal injection protocol was adopted. [Washington Post via How Appealing]
* Church burners expected to plead in Alabama [CNN]
* No good deed goes unpunished in Libya. [Jurist]
* First the minimum was too much, and now 10 years is not enough. Why doesn’t the appellate court just go ahead and sentence the child-renter?. [CNN]
* And in more bad parenting news…. [CNN ]

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Justice Alito’s OT 2006 Law Clerks

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michael lee mike lee christopher paolella chris paolella matthew schwartz matt schwartz gordon todd.JPGsamuel alito jr samuel a alito jr justice alito.jpgSorry it has taken us so long. As promised months ago, we now begin our series profiling current Supreme Court clerks (aka the “October Term 2006″ or “OT 2006″ law clerks).
We’ll be going chambers by chambers, starting with the most junior justice. Here are the four law clerks to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr.:

1. Michael S. Lee (BYU ’97/Benson (D. Utah)/Alito)

2. Christopher J. Paolella (Harvard ’99/Alito)

3. Matthew A. Schwartz (Columbia ’03/Alito)

4. Gordon D. Todd (UVA ’00/Beam)

As a member of the Alito extended family explained to us, here’s the key to understanding the Alito chambers: 3:1. This golden ratio perfectly captures the demographics of the OT 2006 Alito clerks. Consider:

1. Familial status: three are married with children, one is not (Chris Paolella — married, but no kids yet).

2. Undergraduate institution: three are Princetonians, one is not (Michael Lee — BYU).

3. Prior Alito clerkship: three previously clerked for then-Judge Alito on the Third Circuit, one did not (Gordon Todd).

4. Religious affiliation: three are Christian,* one is not (Matthew Schwartz — he’s Jewish).

5. College debate: three were gods of the parliamentary debate circuit, and former presidents of the American Parliamentary Debate Assocation (APDA); one was not (Michael Lee).

But we wouldn’t want such commonalities to overshadow the individuality of these gents. Check out our profiles of Messrs. Lee, Paolella, Schwartz, and Todd — after the jump.
* Mitt Romney footnote: Michael Lee is Mormon, which we consider to be Christian. Presidential candidate Romney hopes that evangelical Christians voting in the Republican primaries will agree with us.

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Wherein We Receive An Email from Celebrity Law Prof Tim Wu

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Tim Wu Timothy Wu Above the Law.jpgAlthough we mentioned it in passing, we didn’t give adequate attention to Anna Schneider-Mayerson’s delightful profile of Tim Wu when it appeared earlier this month in the New York Observer. (It was discussed on several other prominent blogs.)
Now we have an excuse to double back and correct the error: We’ve received an email from the good professor! Here it is (reprinted with permission):

Hi this isn’t exactly a tip — I just read your entry for above the law and the FedSoc conference, and wanted to say sorry I couldn’t meet you at the Net Neutrality panel…. It turned out I had the wrong date and it conflicted with my Thursday copyright class, so I couldn’t come….

I hope to run into you in person one of these days.

Best,
Tim

Wow! When we received this email, we giggled girlishly with excitement. First, Professor Wu is brilliant. As noted in the profile, he was nicknamed “the Genius Wu” by no less an authority than Judge Richard Posner, who knows genius when he sees it (e.g., when he looks in the mirror).
Second, Professor Wu is quite handsome (see photo). How many other Columbia Law School professors have earned themselves a music video tribute (“Ain’t No Other Man But Wu”) from their students?
(Our only grooming suggestion to Professor Wu: Have those eyebrows thinned. We go to someone very good for ours, but she’s probably not convenient for you given that you’re in New York.)
Finally, we were glad to learn why Professor Wu missed the Federalist Society panel: he misread his calendar. It’s nice to know that a member of the Elect — and not just any old Supreme Court clerk, but one who has been called “indefatigable” and “a valuable man in chambers” by his former boss, Justice Breyer — makes scheduling mistakes. How utterly charming!
Wu-Hoo! Nutty Professor Is Voice of a Generation [New York Observer]
Tim Wu, Voice of a Generation [Volokh Conspiracy]
George Clooney’s Got Nothing On Tim Wu [WSJ Law Blog]
“I Heart Wu” [YouTube]

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