All three are finding new uses for the “tools of the Internet.” Here are three recent stories that caught our attention but didn’t warrant full posts:

1. The Justice Department now tweets. Last week, the DOJ revamped its website and joined Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Twitter. If you want to stalk Attorney General Eric Holder, you can do that here.

2. UNC law held moot court in the virtual world of Second Life last month. It’s hard not to mock, said one tipster:

You have got to be kidding me. Here’s an idea: do one in real life! Everyone will be sitting at a computer at the same time anyway - why not just have them all sit in the same room, say the UNC mock court room that was built specifically for this purpose, and actually do it in person? I’m not planning on being a litigator, but from all those episodes of Boston Legal I’ve watched I’m pretty sure that speaking is a pretty significant part of the litigation process.

What good could possibly come from this? Learning how to type out pre-prepared questions without being distracted by the naked half raccoon man that inevitably will show up and streak across the courtroom?

We think real-life Playboy bunnies at UNC might prove more distracting.

3. Law school applicants are using social networking sites to cozy up to law school admission officers. According to Kaplan, 48% of law school admission officers surveyed say that they or a fellow admissions officer at their school have received a “friend request” on Facebook or MySpace from applicants. The officers did not reveal whether this helps or hurts applicants’ chances.

And with that, we urge you to keep it real, ATL readers.

Justice Dept. on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter [CNET]
Students Explore Mock Trial Options in Virtual World [UNC School of Law]

Some of you, especially the straight males, may recall Stephanie Shimek (née Stephanie Haney). She’s the University of North Carolina law student who tried out for Playboy, to wit, the “Girls of the ACC” issue. We wrote about her in a post entitled “Career Alternatives for Law Students: Playboy Bunny.”

Multiple ATL readers — who read Playboy just for the articles, we’re sure — have alerted us to the good news: Stephanie made it into the magazine! WCHL reports:

A UNC student has had her dreams of being featured in Playboy magazine come true in the 2009 October ‘Girls of ACC” issue.

Twenty-four year old Stephanie Christine says ever since she first picked up a copy of the magazine at her aunt’s house, she wanted to be like one of the Bunnies.

That’s one open-minded aunt! (Based on an interview with Stephanie on the WCHL website, however, it seems that the issues belonged to her uncle — no lesbianic aunt here.)

Stephanie is a 3L, and as we’ve discussed, 3L recruiting is a nightmare this year. But don’t worry about Steph; she has backup options. According to WCHL, she aspires to work in entertainment law — but if that doesn’t work out, “[f]uture involvement with Playboy has been extended to her.” In addition, “her parents and family have been really supportive.”

As diligent journalists, we went out to a local newsstand and picked up a copy of Playboy’s “Sex on Campus 2009” issue. After showing photo ID — we got carded (yesss!!!) — and plunking down $5.99, we took the plastic-wrapped periodical back to the office, where Elie gave us a brief tutorial in female anatomy. (We’ve never seen a woman’s private parts in real life, except this one time we went to a nude beach in France.)

After the jump, we present you with pictures of Stephanie, plus one other young woman who aspires to a legal career. We have carefully redacted the photos — drawing on skills honed during document review years ago, before online doc review became commonplace — so they are safe for work. Enjoy.

On Monday, we warned you that student loan forgiveness programs were under attack. Today, the University of North Carolina School of Law informed students that the school could not afford to make the promised loan repayments to students in low income jobs. Here’s the email from UNC Law Dean Jack Boger:

We are writing to share news about a regrettable delay in our implementation of the new LRAP program at UNC School of Law. Unfortunately, because of the grave economic downturn that has hit the North Carolina state budget, we will not be able to go forward this spring with Loan Repayment Assistance Program funding. As you may know, various statewide freezes and other severe restrictions have been imposed this spring on all state funds, including the UNC law school account that was designated for LRAP purposes. Moreover, the state has made clear that it intends to ‘recapture’ those funds to meet its larger budgetary needs sometime before June 30, the end of this fiscal year. This will leave us without the financial means to make LRAP awards.

While we share your disappointment with this turn of events, we remain committed to the LRAP program - and will keep your application on file. We hope to be able to relaunch this program sometime during the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Thank you for your patience, and for your help in the development of this program. We also thank you for your continued support of Carolina Law.

Sincerely yours,

Jack Boger, Dean, UNC School of Law

UNC Law seems to be developing a pattern of raising people’s hopes, and then dashing them.

A student affected by this decision shares an interesting viewpoint after the jump.

Tired of talking about terrorism, torture, and related topics? You might not be alone. At a Federalist Society discussion we attended on Tuesday night, entitled Do We Have the Legal Tools to Prevent Terrorist Attacks?, even some of the panelists wondered why these subjects still generate so much discussion, over seven years after the 9/11 attacks. (More about the panel later today.)

Similarly, when former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey made the war on terror the focus of his recent commencement address at UNC School of Law, some of the graduates (and their families) were less than pleased. From one attendee:

Michael Mukasey just spoke at UNC commencement and used the entire speech to cover his own ass on torture. It was wildly inappropriate for a graduation….

A lot of people were very upset. The speech hardly mentioned the students graduating, if at all, and was instead a 30-minute legal argument defending torture. He focused on Jose Padilla for most of the speech, basically talking about how bad of a person he was and how much information they got from him. People in the audience were walking out, including all ten members of my family who were present.

This is not the first time Mukasey has caused commencement controversy. See here (first paragraph), discussing events at Boston College Law School last year.

Some way harsh reviews of ex-AG Mukasey, after the jump.

For those just tuning in, earlier today, we wrote about Stephanie Haney, a 2L at UNC who hopes to be one of Playboy’s Girls of the ACC. (See Career Alternatives for Law Students: Playboy Bunny.)

After our initial post went up, Maxine Eichner — a professor at UNC School of Law — emailed Above the Law directly to say that Ms. Haney was not a student at the law school. We updated the post and wondered:

Who is Stephanie Haney? Does claiming to be a law student really help you get into Playboy? Perhaps Haney didn’t get the memo after an accidental admission offer? Is she actually a student but using an assumed name? We don’t know the answers, but we’re trying to get them.

We sent out some inquiries and now we have answers for you. Stephanie Haney is enrolled at UNC as Stephanie Shimek. Haney is her maiden name. Here’s a note from UNC Law.

Dear Ms. Hill:

Thank you for checking in. Stephanie Shimek is a 2L at UNC School of Law. We believe that Ms. Shimek did not intend to cause any confusion about her identity; she has personal reasons for a recent change in her last name.

Regards,
KEB

Katie Bowler, MFA
Assistant Dean for Communications

Fair enough.

After the jump, commenters weigh in and Mrs. Shimek/Ms. Haney explains the personal reasons behind her name change.

Despite the rise in applications to law schools, many current law school students might be lamenting their decision to pursue a J.D. There’s more news about Biglaw firms firing than hiring these days. Summer associate programs are shrinking in size, being shortened, or being cut altogether. Start dates for 3Ls are being pushed back to next decade. What’s a law student to do?

Instead of aiming to get her head shot on the website at Boies Schiller, one (alleged) UNC 2L is doing an OCI hoping to get into the pages of Playboy. The men’s magazine is recruiting students from across the country for its college issue and is at UNC looking for models for “Girls of the ACC.” From the Daily Tar Heel:

Second-year law student Stephanie Haney, 24, said that she would be honored if chosen. “The women in Playboy are the most beautiful women in the world,” she said.

Haney said she would only pursue modeling in the short run so she can finish school. But she’s willing to put her degree on hold. “I feel like this is something you have to take if it comes up,” Haney said.

If “it comes up,” it would be a good sign for Haney’s future in pornography, or as she refers to it, “the entertainment and image industry.”

More discussion, plus some UPDATES, after the jump.

There was a snafu over in the admissions department at UNC Law School. A tipster reports the basic details:

UNC Law sent out a number of e-mail invitations to their admitted student weekend today leading to the recipients of the e-mail believing they had been accepted. 15 minutes later they sent out this e-mail to the students who had received the invitations.

Kind of like the ultimate “sike” isn’t it? Here’s the copy of the retraction letter the almost-admitted students received:

Hello [Redacted],

You just recently received an email inviting you to the UNC School of Law admitted students days. That email was sent in error. Please disregard the email. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you. If you have any questions regarding this. Please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes,
Dean States

Another tipster didn’t hesitate to cross UNC off of his list:

I received an email welcoming me to the University of North Carolina Law School. Thirty minutes later I received a second email telling me to disregard the first. When I called the admissions office to clarify, I was stonewalled by an overly defensive and patently unapologetic Dean of Admissions. Please let me know if you would like me to forward the emails to you guys. North Carolina can “go to hell!”

Coach Roy Williams probably thinks this student should focus more about basketball and spend less time worrying about which law school he’s getting admitted to.

How did this happen? Assistant Dean for Admissions Michael J. States explains after the jump.